Donald Trump is riffing off his inflammatory rhetoric by banning trans athletes competing in America
The Olympics has been put on notice – comply with Donald Trump or face his wrath.
If transgender women are not banned from the 2028 Los Angeles Games, they’ll be banned from entering the United States.
And the president delivered a blunt warning from the White House: “Nobody’s going to be able to do a damn thing about it.”
The International Olympic Committee cannot have been surprised.
Trump had been riffing off this inflammatory rhetoric throughout the campaign, complaining transgender women competing in women’s events are cheating and endangering rivals.
This East Room ceremony – surrounded by female athletes – turned the policy pledge into reality through an executive order.
“This is one of the big reasons that we all won,” he said, between meandering into how he could have built a bigger ballroom for the occasion.
How will the IOC cope with Trump in the build up to LA 2028?
That could be determined by their own presidential election outcome in March.
The president signed the executive order surrounded by girls with the timing to coincide with National Girls and Women in Sports Day. Pic: AP
One candidate, Sebastian Coe, is already chiming with Trump, having already excluded anyone assigned male at birth from women’s categories in his role as World Athletics president.
For now this US order only directly impacts education institutions receiving federal funding.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Trans athlete ban ‘is common sense’
But Trump is putting pressure on the IOC, which leaves eligibility rules to each sport to determine.
“In Los Angeles in 2028 my administration will not stand by and watch men beat and batter female athletes,” Trump said.
“We’re just not going to let it happen and it’s going to end and it’s ending right now.”
How many athletes would this policy have impacted at the Paris 2024 Olympics?
Technically, none.
👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈
There was a trans man fighting who was female at birth. And two non-binary athletes competing in their assigned sex at birth categories. They are not in Trump’s sights.
But two female boxers were targeted, falsely classified by Trump as trans women based on disputed gender eligibility tests.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has been told to “make clear to the International Olympic Committee… that America categorically rejects transgender lunacy”.
Trump added: “We want them to change everything to do with the Olympics and this absolutely ridiculous subject.”
Maybe this was the moment the IOC started regretting awarding 2028 to Los Angeles. Trump boasts about winning that Olympic vote during his first term having never anticipated being in power for the Games themselves.
Read more from Sky News:
White House appears to contradict Trump
Trump to recognise only male and female
Race to avoid Trump tariffs
While protecting women’s sport is the mission, the inclusive, unifying and celebratory messaging promoted by the Olympics is being undercut.
The Department of Homeland Security was ordered “to deny any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying themselves as women athletes”.
Activists advocating for LGBT+ rights in sport decried the targeting of another marginalised community by the Trump administration.
Athlete Ally said in a statement: “Our hearts break for the trans youth who will no longer be able to know the joy of playing sports as their full and authentic selves.”
But many across the United States are sure to endorse Trump delivering on his “common sense” agenda.
“You’ve been waiting a long time for this,” he said, before signing the “No Men in Women’s Sports” executive order into law.
Former US president Joe Biden has prostate cancer, his office has said.
The statement said Mr Biden, who left the White House in January, is reviewing options for treatment with his physicians.
It read: “Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms.
“On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterised by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.
“The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
File pic: Reuters
According to Cancer Research UK, a Gleason score of 9 means the cancerous cells “look very abnormal” and the disease is “likely to grow quickly”.
A source familiar with Mr Biden and his family’s thinking has told Sky’s US partner network, NBC News, that the former president is considering “multiple treatment options” – including hormone treatment for the cancer.
They added he is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and that as of now, it is unclear where the former president will be treated.
Mr Biden, 82, was the oldest person to ever serve as president, with concerns about his health raised regularly during his campaign for re-election last year.
After a poor debate against Donald Trump in June, he withdrew from the 2024 election and endorsed his vice president Kamala Harris.
In February 2023, he had a skin lesion removed from his chest that was a basal cell carcinoma, a common form of skin cancer.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
A Mexican navy ship has hit the Brooklyn Bridge during a promotional tour in New York City.
The New York Fire Department said authorities were responding to injuries but had no details about how many people might have been hurt or whether they were on the vessel or on the bridge.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports that at least three people were seriously injured in the incident.
The Mexican navy said in a post on X that the Cuauhtemoc, an academy training vessel, was damaged in the accident, which has prevented it from continuing its voyage.
Eyewitness video of the collision posted online showed the mast of the ship, which was flying a large Mexican flag, scraping the underneath of the bridge.
Pic: AP
The vessel then drifted toward the edge of the river as onlookers scrambled away from shore.
The Mexican navy said the status of personnel and material was under review by naval and local authorities, which were providing assistance.
The Cuauhtemoc is about 297ft long and 40ft wide, according to the Mexican navy. It sailed for the first time in 1982.
Pic: AP
Each year, it sets out at the end of classes at the naval military school to finish cadets’ training.
It left the Mexican port of Acapulco, on the Pacific coast, on 6 April with 277 people onboard, the navy said at the time.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Please refresh the page for the fullest version.
You can receive breaking news alerts on a smartphone or tablet via the Sky News app. You can also follow us on WhatsApp and subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with the latest news.
One person has died in a bomb explosion near a reproductive health clinic in California, authorities have said.
The incident took place in Palm Springs, a city two hours east of Los Angeles, and is being investigated as a possible car explosion.
The city’s mayor Ron DeHarte said one person died in the blast, adding that the bomb was “either in or near” a vehicle. The deceased’s identity is not known, Palm Springs police said.
Dr Maher Abdallah, who runs the American Reproductive Centers clinic, told the Associated Press his facility was damaged but all staff were safe and accounted for.
The explosion damaged the office space where the practice conducts patient consultations, but the IVF lab and stored embryos were unharmed, he added.
“I really have no clue what happened,” he said. “Thank God today happened to be a day that we have no patients.”
Debris covers the ground after the explosion. Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
In a statement posted on Facebook the clinic said it was “heartbroken” to learn someone died in the explosion and added: “Our deepest condolences go out to the individuals and families affected.”
It continued: “Our mission has always been to help build families, and in times like these, we are reminded of just how fragile and precious life is.
“In the face of this tragedy, we remain committed to creating hope – because we believe that healing begins with community, compassion, and care.
The clinic will be fully operational on Monday, it added.
“This moment has shaken us – but it has not stopped us. We will continue to serve with strength, love, and the hope that brings new life into the world,” the statement concluded.
Pic: ABC7 Los Angeles/AP
The Palm Springs city government said in a post on Facebook that the explosion happened on North Indian Canyon Drive, near East Tachevah Drive, before 11am local time (6pm GMT).
A burned-out car can be seen in a parking lot behind the building in aerial footage.
The blast caved in the clinic’s roof and blew debris across four lanes of the road.
Another person said he was inside a cannabis dispensary nearby when he felt a massive explosion.
Nima Tabrizi said: “The building just shook, and we go outside and there’s massive cloud smoke.”
Investigators from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are travelling to the scene to help assess what happened.
California governor Gavin Newsom has been briefed on the explosion, his press office said.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway