Lifestyle
Boxer Imane Khelif advances to gold medal fight after another win amid gender controversy
PARIS (AP) — Algerian Imane Khelif advanced Tuesday night to fight for the gold medal in the ladies’s welterweight division on the Paris Olympics, moving one win away from what she calls the most effective response to the worldwide criticism she has faced due to misconceptions about her gender.
Had she won another victory, Khelif would have won Algeria’s second boxing gold medal and first in women’s boxing.
Khelif beat Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand 5-0 within the semifinals of Roland Garros, with the gang roaring for her and chanting her name repeatedly throughout her three-round bout. Khelif has won three straight matches in Paris and can win a gold or silver medal when she finishes the tournament Friday against Yang Liu of China.
Khelif has flourished within the Paris ring amid criticism and stigmatization outside it. The problems stem from the choice by the International Boxing Federation, which has been banned from the Olympics, to disqualify her and fellow Paris medalist Lin Yu-ting of Chinese Taipei from last yr’s world championships for allegedly failing a qualifying test.
The controversy has turn into certainly one of the most important stories of the Paris Olympics, but it surely has not had a negative impact on her performance within the ring.
“I don’t care,” Khelif said through an interpreter. “I want to be ready and show a good level, show my talent, because I want to entertain everyone.”
Khelif had already won Algeria’s first medal in women’s boxing before she entered the ring, drawing a thunderous applause from Court Philippe Chatrier. She then controlled the fight against Suwannapheng, who took an eight-point lead by the top of the third round after absorbing a series of punches.
“I heard about the news about her, but I didn’t follow it closely,” Suwannapheng said. “She is a woman, but she is very strong.”
Khelif won every round on every judge’s card in her two fights, which went all the best way to the finish in Paris. She got here into a very powerful tournament of her international profession under probably the most pressure she has ever faced.
“I am very happy,” Khelif said. “I have worked eight years for these Olympic Games and I am very proud of this moment. I would like to thank the support of the people at home.”
The ending of Khelif’s first fight in Paris put her at the middle of a world divide over gender identity and safety regulations in sports. Her first opponent, Angela Carini of Italy, tearfully pulled out after just 46 seconds, saying she was in an excessive amount of pain from Khelif’s punches.
Carini’s abandonment of the fight led to comments from former US President Donald Trump, Harry Potter creator JK Rowling and others who falsely claimed Khelif was a person or transgender. Carini later apologized for her decision.
In an interview Sunday with SNTV, The Associated Press’ sports video partner, Khelif said the wave of hatred she faces “hurts human dignity” and called for an end to intimidation of athletes.
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Khelif also said she believes the “best response” to the commotion surrounding her can be to win a gold medal — and he or she is now one win away from doing so.
After embracing Suwannapheng and holding the ropes for her opponent in a conventional show of boxing sportsmanship, Khelif celebrated by running furiously in place and pumping her fists as the gang roared for her again. The celebration was more joyful than her cathartic ending to her quarterfinal victory over Hungary’s Anna Luca Hamori, when she slammed her hand down on the canvas and cried.
Khelif underwent a post-fight medical and was leaving the Roland Garros arena when she was surrounded by fans near the exit. They hugged Khelif, demanded selfies and waved Algerian flags as she walked backstage.
Khelif received cheers that echoed through the famous tennis arena from the moment she entered to face Suwannapheng. Roland Garros welcomed a big turnout of Algerian fans expressing their national pride in a boxer whose negative highlight has been taken very personally in her country.
Both fighters got here out aggressively, trading blows from distance, with Khelif more accurate, winning the primary round on all five cards, and repeating the feat within the second.
The fight became more physical within the third round, with Suwannapheng pushing forward to mount a comeback. The fight was stopped standing on the count of 8 late within the third round when Suwannapheng took several headbutts in a row, although Suwannapheng seemed to shrug it off as if it wasn’t essential — as is commonly the case in Olympic boxing, where referees can stop a fight for relatively minor reasons.
“I tried to use my speed, but my opponent was just too strong,” Suwannapheng said.
Khelif, 25, is in the most effective type of her amateur profession on the Olympics. She has had solid international showings and even won a couple of regional tournaments, but Khelif was never a dominant player on the world stage until her two strong performances — and 46 seconds of easy motion against a 3rd — that helped her reach the ultimate in Paris.
The IOC and its president Thomas Bach have repeatedly defended Khelifa and Lin’s qualifications for the Olympic Games while condemning the IBA as an incompetent and biased organization.
Khelif and Lin were disqualified by the IBA eventually yr’s world championships due to what it said were failed qualifying tests for the ladies’s event. The IBA was banned from the Olympics before the Tokyo Games, and the organization struggled to explain the explanations for its decisions within the Khelif and Lin cases at a news conference Monday.
Lin also won a medal and advanced to the Olympic semifinals. She will face Esra Yildiz Kahraman of Turkey on Wednesday evening.
The Algerian Olympic team has responded strongly to the criticism and negative attention surrounding Khelif, and the turnout at Roland Garros was evidence of the seriousness with which the accusations have been taken in her homeland and among the many French diaspora.
Chinese Taipei responded with equal condemnation of the IBA’s claims and the worldwide scrutiny whirlwind. Sports officials said Tuesday they were considering legal motion against the IBA after sending a letter protesting the International Boxing Association’s “continuous publication of false information, obfuscation of facts and attempts to disrupt the normal course of the event without regard to the rights and interests of athletes.”
Lifestyle
Halle Berry surprises fans by re-wearing her iconic 2002 Oscars dress
This week, Halle Berry surprised fans with a significant twist. While attending Elie Saab’s “1001 Seasons” event in Saudi ArabiaBerry hit the runway in Saab’s iconic sheer, embroidered scarlet gown that she wore to the 2002 Academy Awards, where she was the primary black woman to win Best Actress.
Looking just as stunning within the dress 22 years later, the actress commemorated the moment on Instagram.
“There are moments in life that just happen and change our lives forever! “Winning the Oscar in my @eliesaabworld gown was one of those moments for me,” Berry captioned the post. “Thank you, Mr. Saab, for being part of the tapestry of my life, as we have been inextricably linked for 22 years now! It was my honor to celebrate you and your 1001 seasons. I wish you many more wonderful years of joy, creativity and sparkle!”
In 2002, Berry appeared on the Oscars in a Saab gown and a particular fairy cut. Fast forward twenty years and the one difference between then and now’s the elegant knot at the highest of the star.
The actress was then nominated for best actress for her role within the 2001 film “Monster’s Ball.” In addition to earning her first Oscar nomination and win, Berry admitted that it was a historic moment for Black Hollywood.
“This moment is so much more important than me,” she said during her acceptance speech. “This moment is for Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne and Diahann Carroll. This is for the women who stand next to me; Jada Pinkett, Angela Bassett and (and) Vivica Fox. And it’s for every nameless, faceless woman of color who now has a chance because that door opened tonight.”
In 2023, Elie Saab’s dress was exhibited on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles as a bit of Hollywood history. Sharing photos of the dress within the museum, Berry explained the impact of its placement.
“Not only this historic @eliesaabworld dress will remain under the professional care of the museum’s curators and conservators,” she wrote on Instagram. “But it will also be accessible to generations of people for whom the dress also matters, and it will forever be a reminder that anything is possible.”
Lifestyle
A single mom from California is taking TikTok by storm after posting a viral video showing her family’s emotional reaction to passing the bar exam on the first try.
It can be unimaginable to root for Rhiannah Gordon, the single mother from California whose moment of vindication gave many individuals around the world a reason to smile and an excuse to cry.
Gordon’s video, which shows her joyful reaction to passing the bar exam on her first try, has racked up nearly a quarter of a billion views because it was posted on November 9.
Videos of individuals overwhelmed by excellent news are nothing latest on TikTok, but Gordon’s reaction video of a bear hugging her 10-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son as all of them cry with joy highlights the sacrifice the family shared and the joy felt after overcoming enormous adversity.
“Over the years I have posted videos of kids taking classes with me, of me studying at their sporting events, or of me studying at a bar” – Gordon he said “Good morning, America. “Therefore, it was natural to share the results of the family’s long-standing investment in the law school and the bar.”
Gordon has already found a job at a law firm in Sacramento. Passing the bar marks the official end of a journey that began greater than nine years ago when she broke up with her “first love.”
“Our relationship was toxic and full of mental and physical abuse,” she writes, after a montage of photos of her battered face and black eyes filled the screen.
Gordon decided she wanted to turn into a lawyer, becoming the only single mother in her UC Davis School of Law graduating class of 260 that yr. Gordon described her hectic life there TikTok account@yougonloverhi. But none made as much of an impact as her latest film, simply titled “I Passed!!!
The caption on her screen read, “POV: You’re a single mom and you passed the CA bar exam on the first try.” Adding: “She cried for 30 minutes before… she stressed me out.”
@yougonloverhi I PASSED!!!! #barexam #barexam2024 #advocate #blacklawyer #singlemom #single mom life #singlemomamsoftiktok #lawyer #blacklawyer #blacklawyers #blacklawyerssoftiktok #joy #blackgirlmagic #blackmothers #blackmomsoftiktok #lawyer #shedidit #idiot #tears of joy #happytears #challenge #cabarexam #California ♬ original sound – Ya BabyDaddy Favorite Lawyer
Since the starting of this yr only 55 percent of scholars passed the exam on the first try at schools accredited by the California ABA. Nationally, the pass rate is normally 60-80%.
By race, Gordon was in good company with 58 percent of African-Americans passing the exam on the first try.
Gordon’s viral video generated 200,000 comments and nearly 6 million likes.
“Look here!!!!! You make children cry, strangers cry… all of us just cry!!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! – wrote one fan.
“Explain to me why I’m crying when I don’t even know what the CA Bar Exam is,” said one other.
Many felt that Gordon provided them with much-needed inspiration.
“You’re killing the game of life! Keep it up, mom!” said one other.
Lifestyle
The average cost of an apartment in New York with the agent’s fee reaches 13,000. dollars
A brand new evaluation reveals the high fees New York brokers charge tenants, with costs as high as $13,000.
A recent study by apartment rental company StreetEasy found that the average upfront cost of renting an apartment in New York City, including an agent’s commission, has skyrocketed to almost $13,000. This huge sum covers agent’s remuneration, first month’s rent and deposit, reports.
In 2023, the average upfront cost for broker-fee apartments was $12,667, up from $9,984 in 2019. The increase comes at a key time as New York City prepares for Wednesday’s City Council vote. The City Council will consider a bill geared toward relieving tenants of costly brokerage fees. The bill, generally known as the Fairness in Rental Housing Act (FARE), appears to have strong, almost veto-proof support.
For the study, StreetEasy surveyed over 500 renters and located that over 80% of respondents believed that landlords should cover agent fees. Additionally, 76% said they felt forced to pay a broker’s commission to secure a house in New York’s highly competitive rental market.
“The average New Yorker will spend more than 10 percent of their annual income just to cover these upfront costs,” said Kenny Lee, senior economist at StreetEasy.
Tenants are objecting to the high fees they’d to pay brokers to rent an apartment in New York.
“It doesn’t seem like this happens anywhere else,” said Kayla, 31, of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. She estimates she paid $4,000 in broker fees for her apartment seven years ago. “Because I did all the work for this (apartment), I feel like I wasted my money.”
Jemma Rowlands from Melbourne, Australia, thinks the realtor’s fee she paid for her first New York apartment in 2018 seemed “expensive and unnecessary.” Giving up upfront costs “seems good to me,” he says of the proposed bill.
Supporters of the Local Government Act argue that it’ll reduce the financial burden on tenants. But critics say landlords will offset the broker’s fee by increasing rental prices for annual leases.
“The FARE Act will fundamentally disrupt the New York real estate market, raise rents, and make it even more difficult to find housing, and nothing StreetEasy has proposed will solve any of these problems,” said York.
Supporters of this solution argue that the law will profit each tenants and intermediaries, the latter of whom often rent property with none guaranteed payment.
“When the bill comes into force, both landlords and agents will have the opportunity to negotiate how compensation is paid, and tenants will finally have a choice as to whether they want to work with a broker,” Lee said.
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