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Trans athlete defies US President Trump's criticism to win two golds and silver at California state athletics meet
High-schooler AB Hernandez cleared 5 feet, 7 inches in high jump with no failed attempts and also won triple jump and finished second in long jump, sharing the first position with other athletes in the first two events. read more
AB Hernandez, a transgender student at Jurupa Valley High School, won two gold and a silver medal at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, California. AP
A transgender high school athlete won two gold and a silver and shared the medals with rivals under new rules aimed at tamping down controversy over her participation in the California State Track & Field Championships on Saturday.
AB Hernandez, 16, cleared 5 feet, 7 inches (1.70m) in the high jump with no failed attempts and shared first place with Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle – who each cleared the same height with one failed attempt.
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They topped the podium together at the championships held in Clovis, outside of Fresno, under new rules announced this week by the California Interscholastic Federation in response to criticism of the policy that allows transgender athletes to compete in girls' events.
CIF first modified their championship entry rules so that biological females were not excluded from competition due to the participation of trans athletes.
They then issued a rule change targeting events in which Hernandez had qualified to compete – high jump, long jump and triple jump – saying any 'biological female student-athlete who would have earned a specific placement on the podium will also be awarded the medal for that place' in those events.
AB Hernandez, center, flashes a sign as she shares the first-place spot on the podium with Jillene Wetteland, left, and Lelani Laruelle during a medal ceremony for the high jump at the California high school track-and-field championships in Clovis, California. AP
The changes came after days of controversy that included a social media post from US President Donald Trump, who threatened to withhold future federal funding from California if Hernandez was allowed to compete.
'As a female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable. THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS,' Trump wrote.
'Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to…This is a totally ridiculous situation!!!'
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The US Department of Justice has also launched an investigation into whether California has violated Title IX, the law that prohibits sex discrimination in educational programs that receive federal funding.
On Thursday, Clovis mayor Diane Pearce also called for CIF to block Hernandez's participation.
During preliminary competition on Friday, a small plane circled the stadium pulling a banner that read: 'No boys in girls sports!'
Plane flies 'No Boys in Girls' Sports' banner at California track and field state championship.
AB Hernandez, a boy, will compete in the girls' high jump, triple jump, and long jump finals tomorrow.
Great work by @WomenAreReals and @icons_women 🙌🏼
pic.twitter.com/6azlcsB8Xy — Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 31, 2025
About a dozen protesters outside the venue sported T-shirts and signs reading 'Save girls sports.'
Hernandez shrugged off the controversy, also winning the triple jump and finishing second in the long jump.
In the triple jump, Hernandez leapt 42 feet 2.75 inches (12.87m) and shared gold with Kira Gant Hatcher, who jumped 40 feet five inches.
Loren Webster won the long jump with a jump of 21 feet 0.25 inches (6.40m). Hernandez was second with 20 feet 8.75 inches and shared silver with Brooke White, who jumped 19 feet 4.25 inches.
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How Ukraine drone strikes deep inside Russia serves as a lesson for other countries
Ukraine's Operation Spider Web — a coordinated series of drone strikes — lays bare the gaps in airspace which can be used by any party with enough planning and the right technology. What Ukraine did was to combine the cheap drones in a way that existing systems could not prevent the attack, or maybe even see it coming read more Plumes of smoke are seen rising over the Belaya air base in the Irkutsk region in eastern Siberia after a Ukrainian drone attack in the Irkutsk region, more than 4,000 kilometres from Ukraine. AP Ukrainians are celebrating the success of one of the most audacious coups of the war against Russia – a coordinated drone strike on June 1 on five airbases deep inside Russian territory. Known as Operation Spider Web, it was the result of 18 months of planning and involved the smuggling of drones into Russia, synchronised launch timings and improvised control centres hidden inside freight vehicles. Ukrainian sources claim more than 40 Russian aircraft were damaged or destroyed. Commercial satellite imagery confirms significant fire damage, cratered runways, and blast patterns across multiple sites, although the full extent of losses remains disputed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The targets were strategic bomber aircraft and surveillance planes, including Tu-95s and A-50 airborne early warning systems. The drones were launched from inside Russia and navigated at treetop level using line-of-sight piloting and GPS pre-programming. Each was controlled from a mobile ground station parked within striking distance of the target. It is reported that a total of 117 drones were deployed across five locations. While many were likely intercepted, or fell short, enough reached their targets to signal a dramatic breach in Russia's rear-area defence. The drone platforms themselves were familiar. These were adapted first-person-view (FPV) multirotor drones. These are ones where the operator gets a first-person perspective from the drone's onboard camera. These are already used in huge numbers along the front lines in Ukraine by both sides. But Operation Spider Web extended their impact through logistical infiltration and timing. Operation Spider Web exposes vulnerabilities Nations treat their airspace as sovereign, a controlled environment: mapped, regulated and watched over. Air defence systems are built on the assumption that threats come from above and from beyond national borders. Detection and response also reflect that logic. It is focused on mid and high-altitude surveillance and approach paths from beyond national borders. But Operation Spider Web exposed what happens when states are attacked from below and from within. In low-level airspace, visibility drops, responsibility fragments, and detection tools lose their edge. Drones arrive unannounced, response times lag, coordination breaks. Spider Web worked not because of what each drone could do individually, but because of how the operation was designed. It was secret and carefully planned of course, but also mobile, flexible and loosely coordinated. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A satellite image shows damage to aircraft at an airfield in Irkutsk, following Ukrainian drones attack targeting Russian military airfields, in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in Stepnoy, Irkutsk region, Russia. Reuters The cost of each drone was low but the overall effect was high. This isn't just asymmetric warfare, it's a different kind of offensive capability – and any defence needs to adapt accordingly. On Ukraine's front lines, where drone threats are constant, both sides have adapted by deploying layers of detection tools, short range air defences and jamming systems. In turn, drone operators have turned to alternatives. One option is drones that use spools of shielded fibre optic cable. The cable is attached to the drone at one end and to the controller held by the operator at the other. Another option involves drones with preloaded flight paths to avoid detection. Fibre links, when used for control or coordination, emit no radio signal and so bypass radio frequency (RF) -based surveillance entirely. There is nothing to intercept or jam. Preloaded paths remove the need for live communication altogether. Once launched, the drone follows a pre-programmed route without broadcasting its position or receiving commands. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As a result, airspace is never assumed to be secure but is instead understood to be actively contested and requiring continuous management. By contrast, Operation Spider Web targeted rear area airbases where more limited adaptive systems existed. The drones flew low, through unmonitored gaps, exploiting assumptions about what kind of threat was faced and from where. Lessons to be learnt from Operation Spider Web Spider Web is not the first long-range drone operation of this war, nor the first to exploit gaps in Russian defences. What Spider Web confirms is that the gaps in airspace can be used by any party with enough planning and the right technology. They can be exploited not just by states and not just in war. The technology is not rare and the tactics are not complicated. What Ukraine did was to combine them in a way that existing systems could not prevent the attack or maybe even see it coming. This is far from a uniquely Russian vulnerability – it is the defining governance challenge of drones in low level airspace. Civil and military airspace management relies on the idea that flight paths are knowable and can be secured. In our work on UK drone regulation, we have described low level airspace as acting like a common pool resource. This means that airspace is widely accessible. It is also difficult to keep out drones with unpredictable flightpaths. Under this vision of airspace, it can only be meaningfully governed by more agile and distributed decision making. Operation Spider Web confirms that military airspace behaves in a similar way. Centralised systems to govern airspace can struggle to cope with what happens at the scale of the Ukrainian attacks – and the cost of failure can be strategic. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Improving low-level airspace governance will require better technologies, better detection and faster responses. New sensor technologies such as passive radio frequency detectors, thermal imaging, and acoustic (sound-based) arrays can help close current visibility gaps, especially when combined. But detection alone is not enough. Interceptors including capture drones (drones that hunt and disable other drones), nets to ensnare drones, and directed energy weapons such as high powered lasers are being developed and trialled. However, most of these are limited by range, cost, or legal constraints. Nevertheless, airspace is being reshaped by new forms of access, use and improvisation. Institutions built around centralised ideas of control; air corridors, zones, and licensing are being outpaced. Security responses are struggling to adapt to the fact that airspace with drones is different. It is no longer passively governed by altitude and authority. It must be actively and differently managed. Operation Spider Web didn't just reveal how Ukraine could strike deep into Russian territory. It showed how little margin for error there is in a world where cheap systems can be used quietly and precisely. That is not just a military challenge. It is a problem where airspace management depends less on central control and more on distributed coordination, shared monitoring and responsive intervention. The absence of these conditions is what Spider Web exploited. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Michael A. Lewis, Professor of Operations and Supply Management, University of Bath This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Russia Ukraine war: Satellite images reveal massive destruction of warplanes caused by Sunday's drone strikes at air bases. See photos
Ukraine said that 41 Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft, were destroyed or damaged in Sunday's operation, which officials said was planned over 18 months. This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after a Ukrainian drone attack targeted the Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia in Russia on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (AP photo) Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC captured on May 17, 2025 shows the Belaya Air Base before a Ukrainian drone attack in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia in Russia. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after a Ukrainian drone attack targeted the Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia in Russia on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads This satellite image from Planet Labs PBC shows damage after a Ukrainian drone attack targeted the Belaya Air Base in the Irkutsk region of eastern Siberia in Russia on Wednesday, June 4, 2025. (Planet Labs PBC via AP) FAQs Satellite photos analyzed experts on Wednesday showed seven destroyed bombers on the tarmac at a Russian air base in eastern Siberia, one of the targets Ukraine said it struck with drones in one of the most daring covert operations of the war. The photos provided by Planet Labs PBC showed aircraft wreckage and scorched areas at the Belaya Air Base, a major installation for Russia's long-range bomber force. In the images, at least three Tu-95 bombers and four Tu-22Ms appeared to be destroyed. The planes were parked on an apron beside a runway surrounded by grassland. Other aircraft at the base appeared unscathed, as per by The Associated said that 41 Russian warplanes, including strategic bombers and other types of combat aircraft, were destroyed or damaged in Sunday's operation, which officials said was planned over 18 months. The attack delivered a heavy blow to Russia's air force and its military Russian Defense Ministry said the attack set several warplanes ablaze at air bases in the Irkutsk region and the Murmansk region in the north, but the fires were extinguished. It also said Ukraine also tried to strike two air bases in western Russia, as well as another one in the Amur region of Russia's Far East, but those attacks were President Vladimir Putin hasn't commented on the Tu-95 is a is a four-engine turboprop plane that can fly intercontinental missions and was designed in the 1950s to rival the U.S. B-52 bomber. The Tupolev Tu-22M is a sweep-wing twin-engine supersonic has used the heavy planes in the all-out war, which began in February 2022, to launch waves of cruise missile strikes across decades, long-range bombers have been part of the Soviet and Russian nuclear triad that also includes land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and atomic-powered submarines carrying ICBMs. The strategic bombers have flown regular patrols around the globe showcasing Moscow's nuclear might.A1. President of Russia is Vladimir Putin.A2. Ukraine said that 41 Russian warplanes.
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