Jeane Marie urges NHL to 'clean it up' and enforce a domestic violence transparency policy
Los Angeles Kings
clashed with the
Edmonton Oilers
for a spot in the 2025
NHL
Stanley Cup Playoffs, which began on April 19, a rally unfolded outside the arena.
While thousands of fans flocked to witness the Kings' opening playoff game, Marie and others rallied outside the venue, advocating for DV survivors. The demonstration marked one year since DV charges were dismissed against
Boston
Bruins forward Milan Lucic when his wife, Brittany Lucic, declined to testify following an alleged assault in November 2023, as reported by USA Today.
NHL members involved in contoversies over the year include
Evander Kane
, who was
reportedly accused of "neglect
," and Stan Bowman who was in ivolved in an
alleged sexual assualt lawsuit last year
. Activist Jeane, citing the lack of specific NHL policies on player suspensions related to DV, organized the protest to champion justice for the affected individuals.
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"The NHL has no policy, no accountability and no excuse," Jeane declared to The Mirror US, underscoring their commitment to supporting survivors over safeguarding reputations.
Rally organizers conveyed to the press: "This is not just a demonstration; it's a public reckoning," highlighting the gravity of their demands from the NHL.
At the Crypto Arena, as advocates pushed for reform, Jeane spoke out about the rally's goal: to compel the NHL to implement policies that hold players responsible for their actions. "We urge the NHL, we urge the L.A. Kings, to please enforce rules and guidelines and make a change today," she implored during an interview with The Mirror US.
Protestors took to the Crypto Arena with signs of NHL players with crossed-out faces.
(Image: Irish Star)
She went on to say, "There are so many athletes who beat their wives and girlfriends, and it always gets swept under the rug. The NHL is not taking accountability for implementing policies to stop it from happening."
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Tyler Sebago, an actor and activist, joined Jeane in her protest and was straightforward with his thoughts. "Every other major American sports league has a clear domestic violence policy," he declared at the rally.
Advocates are hopeful the right steps will be taken to fix the reported issue.
(Image: Express US)
"The NHL needs to stop hiding behind publicists and PR stunts and enact a clear set of policies that lay down the ground rules for those who choose to abuse."
Jeane is hopeful that all DV survivors, not just spouses within the NHL community, will join her in this cause to shield those who haven't yet spoken up about their abuse. To further the cause, Jeane has even
created a petition
.
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16-07-2025
- Libyan Express
US ambassador urges Israel to investigate killing of Palestinian American in West Bank
The funeral of Saif Musallet The United States ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has urged Israeli authorities to conduct a thorough investigation into the killing of a Palestinian American citizen in the occupied West Bank, describing the incident as both 'criminal' and 'terrorist' in nature. The victim, 20-year-old Sayafollah Musallet, was reportedly beaten to death last Friday near the town of Sinjil, north of Ramallah. According to his family, Musallet — a US citizen from Florida — was visiting relatives when he was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers. They allege that emergency medical services were delayed, and that he died before reaching hospital. Ambassador Huckabee, a long-time supporter of Israel and its settlement policies, made an uncharacteristically direct public statement on Tuesday, saying on social media: 'I have asked Israel to aggressively investigate the murder of Saif Musallet, an American citizen who was visiting family in Sinjil when he was beaten to death.' Israeli military officials have confirmed that an inquiry is underway. They say clashes broke out after Palestinian residents allegedly threw stones at settlers, resulting in minor injuries. The army stated that it deployed non-lethal means to disperse the groups. Conflicting accounts of the incident remain unverified by independent sources. The killing comes amid a marked rise in violence across the West Bank since the start of Israel's war in Gaza in October 2023. Attacks by settlers against Palestinians — and retaliatory violence by Palestinians — have become increasingly frequent. In recent years, several US citizens have been killed in the West Bank, including Palestinian American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and teenager Omar Mohammad Rabea. American-Israeli citizens have also been victims of deadly attacks, such as Elan Ganeles, who was fatally shot near the Jordan Valley in 2023. The United Nations' top court has ruled that Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law and should be dismantled. Israel disputes this position, citing security concerns and historical claims to the land, which it captured during the 1967 war.
EVN Report
07-07-2025
- EVN Report
The Silence That Followed the Sirens: Iranian-Armenians and the 12-Day War
It was still hours before sunrise in Tehran on June 13 when the first missiles turned buildings to rubble. For Ani Davidyan, the silence that followed was paralyzing. While the ground did not physically shake beneath her home across the border in Yerevan, Armenia, the internet blackout that swept Iran left her toggling between WhatsApp, news alerts and satellite maps tracking Israeli and American strike zones. In Yerevan's Arabkir district, the 22-year-old video game visual effects artist sat with relatives, praying the missiles hadn't reached her loved ones before she could. Somewhere beneath those flashing targets were her aunts, uncles and cousins, including a girl just four years old. At work, the hours collapsed into each other. Her hands moved on autopilot—opening emails, clicking through tabs—while her mind looped the same unanswered questions. Are you hurt? Did you get out in time? Are you still alive? Are you still alive? Are you still alive? Her aunt paced the apartment beside her, unable to sleep, phone in hand, waiting for anything to break the silence—a missed call, a blue checkmark, some proof of life from her sister still in Tehran. Each hour stretched heavier than the last. The screen lit up and a familiar face came into view. Davidyan's family crowded around the phone, bracing for whatever might come next—a smile, a sob, or a goodbye. Her cousin grinned, greeting them in his typical witty manner to lighten the mood. The ironic casualty allowed relief to permeate slowly, delayed by days of panic. For a few minutes, it was almost easy to pretend nothing had happened. But the war was still there, just outside their walls in Tehran's Zarkesh province, just beneath their voices. In the forthcoming days, uncertainty and respite would oscillate like the airstrikes themselves, as the families on either side of the Armenia-Iran border fought to remain connected amidst a surge in death tolls, debris and dial tones. 'War is so widespread and reoccuring, my family constantly mentions how it follows them everywhere and pops back up just when they think they can relax,' says Davidyan, sharing her family's hesitation to leave because they don't believe anywhere has ever truly felt safe for them. 'My aunt said during one of the calls, 'Whatever happens to our people, we will go through it with them.'' Even before the missiles, before the blackout, Armenians inside and outside Iran understood what it meant to live with one foot hovering near the door. Davidyan recalled her mother saying something nearly identical to her aunt's message during Armenia's Nagorno-Karabakh War with Azerbaijan in 2020. They, too, debated if to flee. They chose to stay. Armenians in Iran have endured revolutions, repression and sanctions for centuries alongside their Iranian neighbors. But this war felt different. In a world where messages and alerts now move faster than missiles, families in Armenia lost contact with loved ones across the border as Iranian cities were plunged into silence. Others packed bags they never used, torn between the fear of staying and the fear of leaving everything behind. The Israel-Iran War lasted just 12 days. But when U.S. President Donald Trump called for a ceasefire , many Armenians woke to a new reality: even without bombs falling, the ground beneath them had shifted. The 12-day war began after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized a series of airstrikes on June 13, just hours before a planned round of U.S.–Iran negotiations in Oman. Israel targeted three of Iran's most sensitive nuclear facilities : the Fordow Uranium Enrichment Plant, the Natanz Enrichment Complex and the Isfahan Nuclear Technology Center. Israeli officials claimed the sites—long monitored by the nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)—were being used to accelerate uranium enrichment, allegedly bringing Tehran dangerously close to building a nuclear weapon. In the attacks, Israel also conducted targeted killings of several senior nuclear scientists and top military officials , including General Hussein Salami, commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and Mohammad Bagheri, Iran's highest ranking military officer. Netanyahu referred to the operation as a necessary act of preemption, framing it as a last resort against an existential threat . Iran denied the allegations, insisting its nuclear program remained strictly peaceful and for civilian purposes . Still, the strikes came after years of warnings from the United States and European leaders that a nuclear-armed Iran would destabilize an already volatile region. The formal position of the U.S. and its Western allies is clear: Iran must not obtain nuclear weapons , amid longstanding concerns about its nuclear ambitions. Israel's actions have now opened new questions about what deterrence, diplomacy and escalation will look like in the Middle East going forward. In response to the airstrikes, Iran announced on July 2 that it has suspended cooperation with the IAEA , prompting concerns that international inspectors will no longer be able to monitor its nuclear program. Although cooperation has been curtailed, Iran remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). For the older generations in Iran, brutal wars with regional adversaries are a familiar shadow. Many have already lived through the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s where hundreds of thousands of Iranians were killed over eight years. But for those born after, this is their first experience of large-scale military conflict on Iranian soil, a jarring shift from years of economically debilitating sanctions to bunker-buster bombs landing right outside their door. Among those affected by the war are Iran's Armenians, a community with centuries of history in the country. In 1603, Shah Abbas I of Persia forcibly relocated thousands of Armenians from the town of Julfa in Nakhchivan to Isfahan, creating what became New Julfa, one of the oldest Armenian diasporic communities in the world. Today, that legacy stretches across Iran in Tehran's Armenian neighborhoods—in the city of Tabriz, near the border with Azerbaijan, and in Isfahan, where centuries-old cathedrals stand as monuments to both survival and permanence. Smaller Armenian communities remain in Shiraz and Urmia. Armenians in Iran are a recognized religious minority, protected under the Iranian constitution, but never fully untethered from their homeland to the north. They have their own churches, schools, newspapers, cultural organizations and seats in the Iranian parliament. For many Armenians living in Iran, the Persian state is their home. Even if presented with the choice, leaving is not an option. '[My family] never left Iran,' says Davidyan, who explained her family had just given their passports and legal documents to a travel agency for an upcoming vacation. When the war began, they were unable to leave the country. 'Some of my family also didn't want to be split apart, so many of those who could have potentially left, still chose to stay.' As the airstrikes landed in Tehran, Davidyan's cousin and her spouse made the decision to move north, toward Shomal. The capital had begun to feel untenable, especially with a four-year-old child in tow growing increasingly anxious by the sounds of the bombs. Other family members dispersed to the home of relatives in Rudehen, just east of Tehran. But soon after their arrival, an attempted attack triggered air defense systems. As air raid sirens blared, it became clear that safety there was no guarantee either. Compounding their fears, the area lacked access to electricity and running water. With basic necessities scarce and the war expanding, they chose to return to their neighborhood in Tehran, where nearly one thousand Iranians would perish during the conflict. Severing of Lifelines Iranian authorities said the internet blackout was a security measure—a way to prevent Israeli drones from geolocating targets and to stop footage of the bombings from flooding the outside world, risking losing any upper hand in negotiations and warring optics. But for Davidyan and those who also had loved ones trapped in Iran during the war, it was the severing of lifelines amidst emergency evacuations. Tigran Davudyan, an expert on Iranian studies and a former journalist at Alik , an Armenian-language newspaper in Tehran, has lived in Armenia for more than three decades. He described how the war has disrupted daily life for Iranian civilians—including a recent strike that destroyed a building near the Alik editorial office. The blast killed several people and shattered windows at the paper's headquarters, though the staff escaped unharmed. Banks halved their hours and limited withdrawals. ATMs stalled following an Israeli cyber attack . Gasoline, once plentiful in an oil-rich nation, was rationed to 20 liters per car. Storefronts were shuttered and shattered. Electricity flickers, at times shutting off for hours unexpectedly (even before the strikes), and medicine is in short supply—both largely due to heavy sanctions from the international community. Summer homes, ordinarily weekend retreats, became improvised refuges for those able to flee highly dense population centers like Tehran. Those with the means began preparing to leave. But even that decision required a delicate negotiation between scarcity and bureaucracy. With airports closed, escape was only possible via roadways and only for those who had a cabotage permit (a document that allows Iranian cars to cross into neighboring countries). Without it, people are forced to abandon their vehicles at the border, crossing on foot or by bus. Bus tickets to Yerevan were sold out for weeks, while taxi drivers in Armenia significantly raised fares . '[We've] urged my relatives in Iran to pack up their most important documents as well as emergency kits to have at the ready if anything comes to worst and they need to flee their homes,' says Davidyan. 'Some plans were [made] for them to drive to the Armenian border and be picked up by my family there, so as to not go through the hassle of paperwork relating to importing a car. But the idea of really leaving Iran was always on the backburner.' 'In Yerevan, there are cars with Iranian license plates,' says Davudyan. 'That means they had a cabotage ready. They were prepared to leave before the war began.' Years of sanctions had already hollowed out household savings. While some families still had the money to leave, restricted bank withdrawals meant many couldn't access it. Unless cash was previously stored at home before the war, there was little for anyone to take with them to safety. 'The strikes are disturbing, they hit constantly at night, then in the morning,' says a friend of Davudyan from Tehran via phone call, who didn't want to be named for safety concerns. 'Maybe it is targeted, but if you hit a target in the middle of the city during the day, you should know that many people will be killed. It is absurd, people are just walking and quite a few people are killed. It is clear that the civilian population is suffering a lot.' He shared that he knows many people in his community who fled to Armenia and that while some are starting to return, they are afraid of what could come next. When a ceasefire was suddenly called on the 12th day of fighting, Davidyan and her family were in disbelief. '[My family] had a gut feeling, positive thinking, that everything would be more or less okay,' says Davidyan.'But for a ceasefire to be called and followed by all sides so quickly was unbelievable. Especially under the conditions Trump had announced, without Iran giving its [demands] or having agreed to a ceasefire. It all felt rushed and unrealistic.' She described feeling grateful, but skeptical. 'We're all glad things have mellowed,' Davidyan says, 'but we don't know for how long.' Even as some outside Iran hope the war might hasten regime change , many Iranians aren't convinced, nor are they interested in toppling their government through foreign intervention. '[Iranians] feel they're fully capable themselves to take action through less lethal methods,' says Davidyan. 'Taking down the current regime under the conditions of war would only put the country in survival mode and start a bigger, long lasting war with more unnecessary casualties, instead of creating room for the change that the U.S. is supposedly aiming for.' Her hesitation is echoed by others, including Davudyan. As for American involvement, he says 'it will ruin things even more.' The targeted assassinations of Iranian military officials, he added, have already tipped the fragile sociopolitical balance within the country dangerously. '[Iranians are] afraid,' says Davudyan. 'If someone kills the Iranian Supreme Leader, [Ayatollah Sayyid Ali Khamenei], and the radicals get angry, they could drop a thousand bombs on Israel. Trump says, ' We know where the leader is , but [the United States] won't kill him.' We can't say the same about Israel.' On social media, the fear is palpable. Iranian-American author, Sahar Delijani, posted on Instagram that, following the June 24 ceasefire, 'ordinary people are living in fear of the regime's intensified crackdown.' She listed mass arrests of dissidents and activists, executions of alleged Israeli spies, a surge in the violent deportation of Afghan refugees and assaults on political prisoners. All of it, she wrote, is 'setting back people's hard-won progress in their fight against the regime, stoking dangerous waves of nationalism and xenophobia and reversing the bitterly fought-for steps taken by Iran's civil society toward equality and freedom.' For now, Davidyan's family plans to stay. They see Iran as no less safe than anywhere else in the world and no less a homeland than Armenia. Leaving, they say, is unimaginable. 'You never know when another war might break out on the other side of the world,' Davidyan says, echoing her aunt's sentiments. 'You might as well fight the odds in your homeland.'
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
Koepka gets Oakmont scolding and leaps into US Open title hunt
Five-time major winner Brooks Koepka of the United States, right, talks to coach Pete Cowen, left, during a practice round at Oakmont that helped Koepka fire a two-under par 68 to stand two off the lead at the US Open (ROSS KINNAIRD) Three days after taking a 45-minute scolding from short-game coach Pete Cowen, five-time major winner Brooks Koepka finds himself back in major title contention at the US Open. The 35-year-old American took his lesson in a bunker at Oakmont and responded by firing a two-under-par 68 to stand two off the lead after Thursday's firt round. Advertisement "It's nice to put a good round together. It has been a while," said Koepka. "I've been working hard, just got into some bad habits and bad swing positions. We worked pretty hard last week." Koepka works with Englishman Cowen on his short game and with coach Jeff Pierce on his putting. Both instructed him last week. Cowen went back at it on Monday in a practice round. "Pete got into me again on Monday, in the bunker for about 45 minutes. I just sat there, and he scolded me pretty well," Koepka said. "It's just a matter of executing the feels versus perception for where I've been. It has been so far off, it's on opposite sides, but now it's starting to click. Advertisement "Unfortunately, we're about halfway through the season, so that's not ideal, but we're learning." How intense was Cowen's teaching session? "JT (Justin Thomas) thought he had to come check on me in the bunker. We were in there for about 45 minutes and he was on the other side of the green... He was like, 'I was worried, your head was down.' "Yeah, Pete, I'll keep that between us. I wasn't happy with it, but it was something I needed to hear at the right time. It's not the first time he's done it. He's not afraid to." Koepka said he had not done it since the 2017 US Open at Erin Hills, when Koepka won the title. Advertisement "I don't like having 'yes' people around me. I just want somebody to tell me the truth, tell me what's going on, what they see," he said. Koepka won the 2017 and 2018 US Open titles and the PGA Championship in 2018, 2019 and 2023. But after five wins in Saudi-backed LIV Golf, Koepka has not won since last August at Greenbrier and not managed a top-10 major finish in two years. "Still the same person. Just mechanics were off," Koepka said. "Getting on the right track. "I wasn't consistent enough. When I felt like I cut one, it was drawing. I felt like I blocked one, it would go straight. I just had no sense of reality of where things were. My perception was so far off." Advertisement Long practice range sessions last week paid off, Koepka said. "It's starting to click," he said. "I'm starting to see the ball flight evolve where it's a nice little fade and I don't have the two-way miss going. Very consistent now." js/rcw
