America’s top diplomat on Tuesday criticized a decision by FIFA to threaten players at the World Cup with yellow cards if they wear armbands supporting inclusion and diversity.

Speaking alongside his Qatari counterpart at a news conference, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said it was “always concerning … when we see any restrictions on freedom of expression.”

“It’s especially so when the expression is for diversity and for inclusion,” Blinken said at Doha’s Diplomatic Club. “And in my judgment, at least no one on a football pitch should be forced to choose between supporting these values and playing for their team.”

FIFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment over Blinken’s remark.

Just hours before the first players with the armbands in support of the “One Love” campaign were to take the field on Monday, soccer’s governing body warned they would immediately be shown yellow cards — two of which lead to a player’s expulsion from that game and also the next.

No player wore the “One Love” armbands Monday though seven European teams had said they planned to wear them ahead of the tournament. England’s Harry Kane wore a FIFA-approved “No Discrimination” armband that was offered as a compromise in the match with Iran.

Blinken arrived in Qatar on Monday, where he visited a youth soccer program tied to the World Cup. He later watched the U.S. tie with Wales on Monday night.

While openly critical of FIFA, Blinken struck a more measured tone with Qatar. This energy-rich Mideast nation has been criticized ahead of the tournament over its treatment of migrant laborers and criminalizing gay and lesbian sex.

“We know that without workers, including many migrant workers, this World Cup simply would not have been possible,” Blinken said. “Qatar has made meaningful strides in recent years to its labor laws to expand worker rights.”

However, he made a point to add: “Real work remains on these issues, and the United States will continue to work with Qatar on strengthening labor rights and human rights more broadly long after the World Cup is over.”

Blinken spoke alongside Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, at the news conference.

Blinken’s visit comes as part of a strategic dialogue with Qatar, which also hosts some 8,000 American troops at its massive Al-Udeid Air Base that’s serves as the forward headquarters of the U.S. military’s Central Command. The base was a key node in America’s chaotic 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan and evacuation of Afghan civilians.

One major issue to discuss is Iran. Nonproliferation experts say Iran now has enough uranium enriched up to 60% — a short step from weapons-grade levels — to reprocess into fuel for a nuclear weapon if it chooses to do so.

Tehran insists its program is peaceful, though it has drastically expanded it since the collapse of its 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Meanwhile, Iran is being rocked by monthslong protests following the Sept. 16 death of a 22-year-old woman who had been earlier arrested by the country’s morality police.

A crackdown by authorities and violence surrounding the demonstrations have killed at least 434 people, according to Human Rights Activists in Iran, a group that’s been monitoring the protests. Iran is playing at the World Cup as well, and will face the U.S. on Nov. 29.
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One of the world’s largest auto shows is underway in Los Angeles. The headline this year is high tech and electric vehicles. Veronica Villafañe has a sneak preview and more on this growing industry.
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Authorities in the city of Colorado Springs Monday said they had charged a 22-year-old man with hate crimes in the wake of a shooting at a LGBTQ nightclub over the weekend that left five dead and 18 wounded.

Officials said that the suspect was arrested on five counts of murder and five counts of “bias-motivated crime causing bodily injury,” language that reflects Colorado’s hate crimes law. Other charges related to the dozens injured in the assault remain likely when the suspect is formally charged in court.

It was unclear Monday precisely how officials determined what motivated the suspect. In an interview with CNN Monday morning, Colorado Springs Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said that the suspect remains in the hospital and is “determined not to speak to investigators.”

Late-night attack

The assault took place late Saturday night at Club Q, a major social hub for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs. Officials and the club’s owners have said that the killer entered the club wearing body armor and carrying an AR-15 style rifle, and immediately began shooting.

On Monday, Richard M. Fierro, a 45-year-old former U.S. Army officer who served combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The New York Times that he had fought the gunman, throwing him to the ground and causing him to drop the rifle. Fierro then seized a handgun from the suspect and beat him over the head with it while other patrons assisted in subduing him. An owner of Club Q told the paper that security footage seems to support Fierro’s account of what happened.

Police were on the scene within minutes and took the suspect into custody.

The killings come at a time when the LGBTQ community in the U.S. is under increasingly strident attack from right wing politicians and activists. Much of that vitriol has been directed at drag performers, and Club Q had announced that on Sunday it would hold a drag show and drag brunch to mark Transgender Day of Remembrance.

Grief, trauma and sorrow

At the state and national levels, LGBTQ advocacy organizations were quick to react to the massacre, some connecting it to the efforts by right wing organizations to demonize their community. Some pointed to the dozens of state-level laws aimed at limiting the freedom of the LGBTQ community to express itself publicly which have been proposed over the past year.

“There are no words that will undo the horror that continues to devastate our communities,” Nadine Bridges, executive director of the advocacy group One Colorado, said in a statement. “Our safe spaces continue to become places of grief, trauma, and sorrow due to gun violence, mass shootings and the general disrespect for our human condition. Not one more life should be taken or lost. No one should feel unsafe to celebrate or live authentically in public.”

“While horrifying, the mass shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs should not come as a surprise,” Kierra Johnson, executive director of the National LGBTQ Task Force, said in a statement. “This is what happens when violent rhetoric and anti-LGBTQ legislation is relentlessly directed at our community.”

Government officials react

Public officials were quick to condemn the killings. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, the first openly gay man to serve as governor in U.S. history, ordered flags at public building to be flown at half-staff for five days, one for each of the victims killed.

“This is horrific, sickening and devastating,” Polis said in a statement released to the media. “My heart breaks for the family and friends of those lost, injured, and traumatized in this horrific shooting. … We are eternally grateful for the brave individuals who blocked the gunman likely saving lives in the process and for the first responders who responded swiftly to this horrific shooting. Colorado stands with our LGTBQ community and everyone impacted by this tragedy as we mourn together.”

On Sunday, President Joe Biden also issued a statement, saying, “Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence. Yet it happens far too often. We must drive out the inequities that contribute to violence against LGBTQI+ people. We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Complicated politics

Although Colorado is one of the most welcoming U.S. states when it comes to the treatment of LGBTQ people, Colorado Springs itself is a particularly conservative community. It is home to, among other things, both the U.S. Air Force Academy and the socially conservative activist organization Focus on the Family, which has for years lobbied against LGBTQ rights.

Rep. Doug Lamborn, who represents Colorado Springs in the U.S. House of Representatives, used Twitter to issue a statement on the killings Sunday, writing, “I am saddened to hear of the senseless loss of life in the shooting last night. Law enforcement and first responders are to be commended for their rapid response. All people should pray for the victims and their families.”

Lamborn immediately came under attack from other users who pointed out his history of anti-LGBTQ activity. Many were quick to note, for example, that he attempted to eliminate funding for the Public Broadcasting System after it aired a cartoon that included a same-sex wedding.

Rep. Lauren Boebert, another conservative Republican whose district abuts Lamborn’s, also tweeted about the attack, saying that “the victims & their families are in my prayers.”

Boebert, who has used Twitter to attack the LGBTQ community by, among other things, baselessly accusing it of “grooming” children for sexual abuse, immediately met a storm of protest, much of it from her fellow lawmakers.

“[Y]ou have played a major role in elevating anti-LGBT+ hate rhetoric and anti-trans lies while spending your time in Congress blocking even the most common-sense gun safety laws,” Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted in response. “You don’t get to ‘thoughts and prayers’ your way out of this. Look inward and change.”
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The United States is seeking international condemnation at the United Nations Security Council of North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile test.

“We will offer another opportunity for the council to hold the DPRK accountable for its dangerous rhetoric and its destabilizing actions,” U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a meeting called by the U.S. on Monday. “The United States will be proposing a presidential statement to this end.

A presidential statement of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council is one step below a resolution and requires consensus of all members.

Thomas-Greenfield underscored that Friday’s test was Pyongyang’s eighth ICBM launch this year and part of a record 63 ballistic missile launches in 2022 – more than double its previous annual record of 25.

“Sixty-three times this year the DPRK has flagrantly violated Security Council resolutions and attempted to undermine the global nonproliferation regime,” she said.

The latest ICBM — the second this month — flew an estimated 1,000 kilometers and impacted within Japan’s exclusive economic zone off its northern territory, just 200 kilometers from Hokkaido.

Japan’s ambassador said calculations based on flight trajectory indicate the estimated capable range of the missile could exceed 15,000 kilometers.

“In that case, all of Asia, all of Europe, all of North America — including New York — all of Africa, and even part of South America, could be within range of this delivery system of unlawful nuclear warheads,” Ambassador Ishikane Kimihiro told the council, adding it is “outrageous” to allow North Korea to take the entire international community hostage.

Friday’s launch was widely condemned, including by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who called on North Korea to halt any provocative acts.

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said in a statement carried by state media on Monday that the country’s missile tests are part of its legitimate right to self-defense and accused the U.N. chief of being a “puppet” of the United States.

Pyongyang has said its tests are in response to U.S. and South Korean military drills.

South Korea’s ambassador said the longtime military exercises could never be an excuse for Pyongyang’s illicit nuclear and ballistic missile development.

“We have witnessed how the DPRK is fully taking advantage of this council’s inaction and divisions to build up its nuclear arsenal,” Ambassador Joonkook Hwang said.

“Since the Security Council failed to adopt a resolution because of the opposition of two permanent members in May, the DPRK has launched 40 ballistic missiles and promulgated its new law on nuclear weapons policy, which set the threshold for using nuclear weapons far lower than any other country,” he added.

Despite condemnation from most Security Council members and growing concern about advances in North Korea’s illicit weapons programs, it appeared by the end of Monday’s meeting that the two members that blocked the May resolution — China and Russia — would again obstruct council action.

China’s ambassador said Beijing is concerned about the spiral of rising tension and confrontation on the Korean Peninsula, which he said serves no party’s interests.

“The Security Council should play a constructive role on this issue and should not always condemn, always pressure on DPRK,” Ambassador Zhang Jun said. “Deliberations at the council should be to ease tensions, promote de-escalation of the situation at an early date, so as to leave room for diplomatic efforts, rather than create obstacles for this.”

Asked by VOA after the meeting if China would support the U.S. proposed statement, Ambassador Zhang said, “I don’t think so. I’ve made my statement. I think you have my answer.”

Russia also looked likely to block, as its envoy blamed Washington and its allies for stoking tensions with its military exercises and sanctions.

Possibly anticipating council disunity, the U.S. ambassador, flanked by the representatives of 13 countries, including Japan, South Korea, and several current and incoming Security Council members, read out a joint statement strongly condemning the ICBM launch.

“We invite all [U.N.] member states to join us in condemning the DPRK’s unlawful ballistic missile launches and call for full implementation of the existing Security Council resolutions,” Thomas-Greenfield read out. “We also urge the DPRK to abandon its unlawful weapons programs in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.”

She reiterated their commitment to diplomacy to resolve tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
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As bullets tore through a gay nightclub in Colorado Springs, killing five people and wounding many more, one patron who’d been partying moments before rushed into action, grabbing a handgun from the suspect, hitting him with it and pinning him down until police arrived just minutes later.

He was one of at least two customers who police and city officials credit with stopping the gunman and limiting the bloodshed in Saturday night’s shooting at Club Q. The violence pierced the cozy confines of an entertainment venue that has long been a cherished safe spot for the LGBTQ community in the conservative-leaning city.

“Had that individual not intervened this could have been exponentially more tragic,” Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers told The Associated Press.

Police identified the alleged gunman as 22-year-old Anderson Lee Aldrich, who was in custody and being treated for injuries.

A law enforcement official said the suspect used an AR-15-style semiautomatic weapon in the attack, but a handgun and additional ammunition magazines also were recovered. The official could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Club Q on its Facebook page thanked the “quick reactions of heroic customers that subdued the gunman and ended this hate attack.” Investigators were still determining a motive and whether to prosecute it as a hate crime, said El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen. Charges against the suspect will likely include first-degree murder, he said.

Already questions were being raised about why authorities didn’t seek to take Aldrich’s guns away from him in 2021, when he was arrested after his mother reported he threatened her with a homemade bomb and other weapons. Though authorities at the time said no explosives were found, gun control advocates are asking why police didn’t try to trigger Colorado’s “red flag” law, which would have allowed authorities to seize the weapons his mother says he had. There’s also no public record prosecutors ever moved forward with felony kidnapping and menacing charges against Aldrich.

Of the 25 injured at Club Q, at least seven were in critical condition, authorities said. Some were hurt trying to flee, and it was unclear if all of them were shot, a police spokesperson said. Suthers said there was “reason to hope” all of those hospitalized would recover.

The shooting rekindled memories of the 2016 massacre at the Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, that killed 49 people. Colorado has experienced several mass killings, including at Columbine High School in 1999, a movie theater in suburban Denver in 2012 and at a Boulder supermarket last year.

It was the sixth mass killing this month and came in a year when the nation was shaken by the deaths of 21 in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.

Authorities were called to Club Q at 11:57 p.m. Saturday with a report of a shooting, and the first officer arrived at midnight.

Joshua Thurman said he was in the club with about two dozen other people and was dancing when the shots began. He initially thought it was part of the music, until he heard another shot and said he saw the flash of a gun muzzle.

Thurman, 34, said he ran with another person to a dressing room where someone already was hiding. They locked the door, turned off the lights and got on the floor but could hear the violence unfolding, including the gunman getting beaten up, he added.

“I could have lost my life — over what? What was the purpose?” he said as tears ran down his cheeks. “We were just enjoying ourselves. We weren’t out harming anyone. We were in our space, our community, our home, enjoying ourselves like everybody else does.”

Detectives were examining whether anyone had helped the suspect before the attack, Police Chief Adrian Vasquez said. He said patrons who intervened during the attack were “heroic” and prevented more deaths.

Club Q is a gay and lesbian nightclub that features a drag show on Saturdays, according to its website. Club Q’s Facebook page said planned entertainment included a “punk and alternative show” preceding a birthday dance party, with a Sunday all-ages drag brunch.

Drag events have become a focus of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and protests recently as opponents, including politicians, have proposed banning children from them, falsely claiming they’re used to “groom” children.

To substantiate a hate-crime charge against Aldrich, prosecutors would have to prove he was motivated by the victims’ actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. So far, the suspect has not been cooperative in interviews with investigators and has not given them clear insight yet about the motivation for the attack, according to the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

President Joe Biden said that while the motive for the shootings was not yet clear, “we know that the LGBTQI+ community has been subjected to horrific hate violence in recent years.”

“Places that are supposed to be safe spaces of acceptance and celebration should never be turned into places of terror and violence,” he said. “We cannot and must not tolerate hate.”

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, who became the first openly gay man to be elected a U.S. governor in 2018, called the shooting “sickening.”

“My heart breaks for the family and friends of those lost, injured and traumatized,” Polis said.

A makeshift memorial sprang up Sunday near the club, with flowers, a stuffed animal, candles and a sign saying “Love over hate” next to a rainbow-colored heart.

Seth Stang was buying flowers for the memorial when he was told that two of the dead were his friends. The 34-year-old transgender man said it was like having “a bucket of hot water getting dumped on you. … I’m just tired of running out of places where we can exist safely.”

Ryan Johnson, who lives near the club and was there last month, said it was one of only two nightspots for the LGBTQ community in Colorado Springs. “It’s kind of the go-to for pride,” the 26-year-old said of the club.

Colorado Springs, a city of about 480,000 located 70 miles (112 kilometers) south of Denver, is home to the U.S. Air Force Academy, the U.S. Olympic Training Center, as well as Focus on the Family, a prominent evangelical Christian ministry that lobbies against LGBTQ rights. The group condemned the shooting and said it “exposes the evil and wickedness inside the human heart.”

In November 2015, three people were killed and eight wounded at a Planned Parenthood clinic in the city when authorities say a gunman targeted the clinic because it performed abortions.

The shooting came during Transgender Awareness Week and just at the start of Sunday’s International Transgender Day of Remembrance, when events around the world are held to mourn and remember transgender people lost to violence.

Since 2006, there have been 523 mass killings and 2,727 deaths as of Nov. 19, according to The Associated Press/USA Today database on mass killings in the U.S.
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