By John Fritze, Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — Becky Pepper-Jackson, the high school sophomore at the center of the Supreme Court appeal on transgender sports, flashes a grin when asked to describe the basic technique of the shot put, one of her favorite track and field events.

“It’s just throwing something that’s heavy,” the 15-year-old West Virginian said. “Far.”

That description could also apply to her blockbuster legal case.

While Pepper-Jackson sounds like any teen navigating school assignments, friends and a demanding practice schedule, the transgender girl has also been carrying the weight of a national cultural and political battle that will reach a crescendo Tuesday when the Supreme Court debates two appeals dealing with state bans on trans girls playing on women’s teams.

And Pepper-Jackson understands that — in the hands of a 6-3 conservative court that has been increasingly skeptical of transgender rights — her effort is a long shot.

“Someone has to do this because this is just a terrible thing,” Pepper-Jackson told CNN in an interview with her family and attorneys. “I know that I can handle it and it’s never crossed my mind to stop, because I know I’m doing it for everybody.”

The Supreme Court over the past year has repeatedly ruled against LGBTQ Americans. In May, it allowed the Trump administration to enforce a ban on transgender service members in the military. In June, the court let stand state laws that bar transgender care for minors. Nearly five months later, a majority of justices let the administration require US passports to include a traveler’s sex at birth, rather than a person’s gender identity.

Now, in one of the most divisive issues on the court’s docket this year, the justices will decide if state laws banning transgender athletes from competing on sports teams that align with their gender identity violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment or the landmark 1972 anti-sex discrimination law known as Title IX.

The appeals have arrived at a moment of enormous political backlash against transgender people. Roughly two-thirds of Americans believe that athletes should play on teams that match their sex at birth and more than half of US states have enacted laws similar to the one in West Virginia.

Supporters of those bans say that the promise of Title IX, and the vast expansion of participation in women’s sports in the decades since, is threatened by transgender athletes. Cisgender women, they say, would be forced to compete against “bigger, faster, and stronger” athletes who were born as males and would ultimately lose.

“To say that allowing only biological females to compete in girls’ sports violates Title IX fails the commonsense test,” West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey, a Republican, told CNN. “What we’re talking about here is the need to have fair and safe playing fields for them to compete.”

Critics say that assumes an influx of transgender students trying out for girls’ sports team

By Michelle Krupa, CNN

(CNN) — In four short videos on an electronic device found with his body, the suspect in last month’s fatal shootings at Brown University and of an MIT professor laid out a patchwork of details about the attacks.

Woven among his confessions to the crimes and winding related thoughts, several nuggets match facts that emerged as authorities were identifying Claudio Neves Valente, 48, as wanted in the killings of students Ella Cook and MukhammadAziz Umurzokov, and Professor Nuno F.G. Loureiro.

As the videos’ transcripts – translated from Portuguese and released this week by the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts – raise fresh questions, they also intersect with key known elements of the case. Here’s how some of the suspect’s own words flesh out – or further blur – the crimes that rocked Greater Boston and a manhunt that captured national attention.

Video 1 transcript

6 mins, 26 secs

As he’ll more clearly explain, Neves Valente was hurt during one of the shootings. His eye injury was not shared publicly, if known at all, by law enforcement between the Brown attack on December 13 and the discovery five days later of the suspect dead by suicide at a storage facility.

The suspect seems to reveal how long he planned at least one of the attacks. But even as he speaks of “final conclusions” and his “only objective,” he offers no motive for the shootings at this or at any point in the videos; it’s a critical element of the case still under scrutiny by federal investigators.

Neves Valente doesn’t go into what exactly he “had to put up with” before pivoting to his location: the storage space he says he rented far longer than the few weeks investigators had thought.

After killing his former academic colleague Loureiro on December 15 in Brookline, Massachusetts – about 50 miles away from the Brown attack in Providence, Rhode Island – the suspect immediately drove about 40 miles and swiped into the storage unit in Salem, New Hampshire, according to Rhode Island’s attorney general. It appears he never swiped out.

From Entroncamento in central Portugal, Neves Valente was a “very bright” but reclusive young man who was estranged from his family and whose mother once told a neighbor her son “needs help, but he doesn’t want to get it,” said his former neighbors in Lisbon, where he and Loureiro both were students between 1995 and 2000 at a prestigious engineering school.

Por Eric Bradner y Michael Williams, CNN

En cada ciudad a donde los agentes de inmigración del presidente Donald Trump han llegado en masa, han sido seguidos por personas que intentan monitorear o protestar por sus actividades, a menudo en espacios reducidos.

En ocasiones, estos dos grupos han chocado con resultados trágicos, como la muerte de de Renee Nicole Good por parte de un agente del Servicio de Inmigración y Control de Aduanas (ICE) el miércoles por la mañana, cuando parecía intentar huir de los agentes del ICE que le ordenaban salir de su vehículo en una calle de Minneapolis. Un video obtenido por CNN el viernes muestra a la esposa de Good y a Jonathan Ross, el agente que disparó los disparos fatales, grabándose mutuamente con sus celulares antes de que Good intentara huir.

Según la administración Trump, esos manifestantes, incluyendo a Good, son “agitadores” o incluso “terroristas domésticos”. El vicepresidente J. D. Vance describió a Good como parte de una “red de izquierdas para atacar, revelar información confidencial, agredir e imposibilitar que nuestros agentes de ICE hagan su trabajo”. El director del FBI, Kash Patel, ha sugerido que las fuerzas del orden federales investigarán a los líderes y financiadores de los grupos poco organizados que han seguido y documentado las medidas de control migratorio.

Las personas que rastrean a ICE se burlan de la idea de que sean terroristas o parte de alguna célula organizada.

“Quiero decir, caramba, somos como mamás en Toyota Corollas”, dijo una activista del área de Minneapolis que participa en patrullas contra ICE y se negó a dar su nombre porque temía represalias por parte de la administración.

“Somos trabajadores de salud mental, docentes, personas conectadas con nuestras comunidades de tal manera que vemos que se está haciendo daño”, dijo. “No hay nadie en mi grupo de contacto que sea agitador profesional”.

Los momentos que llevaron al encuentro que terminó con la muerte de Good en esa calle helada de Minneapolis aún no están claros. Si bien la secretaria de Seguridad Nacional, Kristi Noem, acusó a Good de “acosar a los agentes todo el día”, su exesposo declaró a Associated Press que ella acababa de dejar a su hijo de 6 años en la escuela y se dirigía a casa cuando vio a un grupo de agentes de ICE en la calle.

La esposa de Good, Becca Good, declaró a MPR News que el miércoles por la mañana, “se detuvieron para apoyar a nuestros vecinos. Nosotros llevábamos silbatos. Ellos tenían armas”. No dio más detalles sobre los preparativos del tiroteo.

En los días posteriores al tiroteo de Good, varios activistas anti-ICE hicieron comparaciones con un incidente ocurrido en Chicago el año pasado. Marimar Martínez, ciudadana estadounidense, recibió cinco disparos de un agente de Aduanas y Protección Fronteriza en Chicago, quien la acusó de embestir su vehículo contra su camioneta. Martínez sobrevivió, y su abogado defensor alegó que fue el agente quien la golpeó. Posteriormente, el Departamento de Justicia retiró los cargos contra Martínez.

La muerte de Good parece haber endurecido la determinación de los manifestantes en Minneapolis, provocando tensos enfrentamientos. Para quienes se encargan de rastrear los movimientos del ICE y advertir a sus vecinos sobre su presencia, la muerte ha avivado sus preocupaciones sobre seguir a una agencia del orden que ha empleado Read more

Por John Towfighi, CNN

El presidente Donald Trump dice que las empresas estadounidenses ahora tendrán acceso a las vastas reservas de petróleo de Venezuela. Pero otros recursos del país también han llamado la atención de su administración.

Venezuela posee cantidades no verificadas de minerales, metales y potencialmente elementos de tierras raras, según expertos. Estas materias primas son indispensables para industrias que van desde la defensa hasta la tecnología, y la administración ha recalcado repetidamente su importancia para la seguridad nacional de Estados Unidos.

Sin embargo, aunque Washington aspire a asegurar los elementos críticos de Venezuela, es una tarea difícil, afirman los expertos, y no haría mucho para fortalecer la cadena de suministro estadounidense.

La cantidad y viabilidad económica de los recursos minerales de Venezuela son inciertas. Las empresas también enfrentan grandes riesgos al explotar minas en Venezuela sin garantías de seguridad sostenidas.

Muchos de estos territorios cuentan con presencia de guerrilleros y grupos armados que participan en la minería ilegal de oro, según los expertos. La minería de tierras raras, que requiere mucha energía, también puede dañar el medio ambiente.

“Existe una conciencia dentro de la administración de que, incluso más allá del petróleo, hay un valor más amplio en los recursos naturales del país”, dijo Reed Blakemore, director de investigación del Atlantic Council Global Energy Center.

“Sin embargo, si hablamos de las condiciones bajo las cuales podríamos explotar esos recursos minerales y llevarlos al mercado, la historia es mucho más complicada”, señaló Blakemore. “Y, francamente, incluso más complicada que la del petróleo”.

Incluso si las empresas estadounidenses intentaran extraer tierras raras en Venezuela, sacarlas del suelo es solo una parte del proceso. Estos materiales suelen enviarse a China para su refinación.

China representó más del 90 % del refinado mundial de tierras raras en 2024, según la Agencia Internacional de Energía. El país mantiene un monopolio virtual en el procesamiento y refinado de estos materiales debido a décadas de subsidios gubernamentales, expansión industrial y regulaciones ambientales laxas.

Las tierras raras se han convertido en un importante punto de fricción en las tensiones comerciales entre Estados Unidos y China. Beijing implementó el año pasado algunos controles a la exportación de tierras raras durante disputas comerciales, lo que generó preocupación sobre la falta de cadenas de suministro seguras en Estados Unidos para estos materiales críticos.

“China todavía mantiene una capacidad casi única para procesar metales de tierras raras, y esa ventaja industrial y geopolítica no se puede superar de la noche a la mañana”, dijo Joel Dodge, director de política industrial y seguridad económica en el Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator.

El Servicio Geológico de Estados Unidos designa 60 “minerales críticos” vitales para la economí

By Eric Levenson, CNN

(CNN) — Nearly eight months after Brendan Banfield’s wife and a stranger were killed in the Banfields’ Virginia home in February 2023, police returned to the scene of the killings.

They entered the home and went to the bedroom where Christine Banfield was fatally stabbed. There, on the bedside table, investigators found a framed photo of Brendan smiling with another woman – the family’s au pair, according to court records.

Brendan Banfield now faces a double-murder trial, with jury selection scheduled Monday, as prosecutors allege he plotted with the au pair to kill his wife and another man. Prosecutors say that man had been lured to the home to frame him for Christine’s death – and to make his own killing appear to be an act of self-defense.

Banfield – a former IRS agent, according to CNN affiliate WUSA – has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and a firearm offense in the fatal stabbing of his wife and the fatal shooting of Joseph Ryan.

Prosecutors say Brendan Banfield and the family’s Brazilian au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhães, were having an extra-marital affair and carried out the plan together. The salacious plot features allegations of BDSM sexual role play, trips to the gun range and false 911 calls, all in an attempt to kill Banfield’s wife and frame Ryan, according to prosecutors.

Peres Magalhães was initially charged with murder and has since pleaded guilty to a lesser count of involuntary manslaughter for fatally shooting Ryan.

She has agreed to cooperate with prosecutors in exchange for a recommendation that she be sentenced to time served, according to the plea agreement. She is likely to be the star witness in Banfield’s murder trial.

The trial is expected to last about four weeks.

Banfield has been held without bond since his arrest, according to police. He faces up to life in prison on the murder charges.

Salacious allegations to face jury

The case began with calls to 911 from within the Banfields’ Herndon, Virginia, home on February 24, 2023. In one call, Banfield told dispatchers he’d shot a man who stabbed his wife, according to police. There was no forced entry at the home.

In an upstairs bedroom, police found Christine Banfield, 37, with stab wounds and Ryan, 39, dead of gunshot wounds nearby. She was taken to a hospital and later pronounced dead, according to Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis.

Peres Magalhães, 25, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and a firearm offense in October 2023 and has been in custody since her arrest.

When police searched the home, they found a framed photo of Banfield and Peres Magalhães smiling together on his bedside table.

A year later, in October 2024, court records show Peres Magalhães pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. At a plea hearing, prosecutors read aloud a statement laying out the key allegations in the case.

As they alleged, Peres Magalhães began working as an au pair for the couple in late 2021, and in August 2022 she and Brendan Banfield began an extra-marital relationship.

“In the fall of 2022, Brendan Banfield expressed to Peres Magalhães his desire to be rid of his wife and soon thereafter began planning to kill his wife as well as