When Annabel Reyes joined the Navy in 2007, she expected to spend most of her life serving her country. But a lifelong dream of military service was cut short after Reyes was kicked out of the military. Because Reyes was involuntarily discharged for "homosexual conduct," she wasn't eligible to receive veteran benefits. And she is hardly alone.

Massachusetts

Discharged LGBTQ+ veterans still denied benefits

More than 100,000 troops were discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation before Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed. Now many of them have embarked on a new kind of fight to get their veteran benefits restored. Sometimes life leads us down roads paved with painful memories of the past. I was stationed in Virginia, in Norfolk. Annie Reyes joined the Navy in 2007, a lifelong dream cut short after two years when Reyes was involuntarily discharged from the Navy for being gay. What year were you kicked out? In 2009. 2009. What was it like when you were actually finally, you know, discharged? It didn't really hit me at first because it happened really quickly and I wasn't expecting to get kicked out. To this day, it all still stays with the 40-year-old. I just sense a lot of pain still. I wake up in 2009. Because Reyes was involuntarily discharged for homosexual conduct, she wasn't eligible for veterans benefits. And she is hardly alone. Between World War II and 2011, when Don't Ask, Don't Tell was repealed, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates more than 100,000 service members were discharged because of their sexual orientation. Under that policy, gay, lesbian and bisexual people could be kicked out of the military. Tens of thousands of LGBTQ plus veterans have no access to VA benefits right now, including health care. Why are we, like, risking our lives for a country that is so concerned about the people that you're sleeping with that they'd rather get rid of a good sailor than to just let people live their lives? Their service deserves to be recognized as honorable. That is Peter Perkowski, a clinical instructor for the Legal Services Center of Harvard Law School. They are currently helping dozens of veterans, including Annie Reyes, petition the government to have benefits restored to LGBTQ plus veterans who aren't eligible right now due to the character of their discharge. For me, it's about justice. I didn't serve in the military, but I feel like the people who did kind of deserve the things that they've earned. Earlier this year, the Department of Defense announced they would be proactively reviewing records of military veterans discharged because of their sexual orientation. A new website has also been launched to help veterans with their appeals process. But the process can take years and sometimes requires veterans to out themselves, even years after being kicked out of the military. It's all about righting the historical wrongs. And I don't even think the administration, the Pentagon itself or its military departments really kind of grasp the size and the scope of the problem. These days, Annie Reyes has embarked on a new kind of mission, motherhood. Reyes and her wife recently welcomed their second child. All the while, the 40 year old continues to wait for her appeals to have her records cleared to go through. She started the process eight years ago and still hasn't received all of the VA benefits other veterans are eligible for. Why do you think that it is so important for this wrong to be made right? Not just for you, but for other veterans out there? I think that if we are going to have the gall to say that we're the best country in the world, then we should prove it. This Veterans Day, Reyes is just hoping to get the recognition she deserves for the time she served her country. Chris Conte, Scripps News, Hubberston, Massachusetts.

Hong Kong's first district elections saw a turnout of 27.5 percent, the government said Monday, a record low for a race that had shut out all opposition candidates. China has barred pro-democracy candidates from entering the race this year, reserving the ballot for "patriots."

Sha Tin

Hong Kong elections witness record low turnout

Elon Musk has reinstated far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on the social media platform X, a year after vowing never to let him return. Jones, who claimed that a December 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that killed 20 children and six educators was a hoax, was banned from the platform in 2018 for violating its "abusive behavior policy."

Mountain View

Elon Musk lifts X ban on far-right conspiracist Alex Jones

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon is warning the escalation in hostilities along the Israeli border could widen. The Israeli army has carried out multiple air strikes on frontline villages in some of the fiercest bombardment yet. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah is also stepping up attacks against Israeli military outposts. 

Beirut

Israel-Gaza War

Violence escalates between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah

The Federal Government has announced its new migration strategy, which plans to reduce migrant intake by raising requirements for international students and some workers to get a visa, including minimum English language requirements.

Canberra

Government announces crackdown on migration

As Israeli troops move closer to the centre of Khan Younis, Gaza, and residents attempt to find safety, the UN warns that half of Gaza’s population is starving.



Sderot

More people flee Gaza as UN warns of mass starvation

In the final days of COP28, finding greener ways to produce clean drinking water is a big topic of conversation, but the pressure is on for an official statement about fossil fuels.

Dubai

Climate Crisis

Drinking water, fossil fuels lead COP28 agenda in final days

Residents as far south as Mackay are being warned to brace for damaging winds as Cyclone Jasper continues to track toward the coast. It's expected to cross as a Category Two on Wednesday.

Mackay

North Queensland residents prepare for Cyclone Jasper landfall

The competition to follow Annastacia Palaszczuk as Queensland Premier is heating up after her announcement that she's retiring from politics at the end of this week. 

Brisbane

Race to replace Queensland Premier heats up

Israeli tanks battled their way to the centre of Khan Younis in a major new push into the heart of the main city in the southern Gaza Strip which is sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians who fled other parts of the enclave. 

Israeli tanks reach center of Khan Younis

Three Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been arrested, just before voting began in a "patriots only" district election that has marginalised formerly popular opposition figures in the city amid a national security clampdown.

Shenzhen

Hong Kong activists arrested in city's 'birdcage' election

Foreign investors who leave their homes vacant will be slugged with a six-fold increase to penalties as the Federal Government seeks to free up more housing stock.

Foreign investors to be penalised for leaving homes vacant

The Federal Government is set to unveil a major new migration strategy tomorrow that aims to dramatically cut Australia's intake.

Government plans to 'drastically cut' migration

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday approved two gene therapies for sickle cell disease, making one of them the first treatment in the United States based on the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing technology.

Maryland

US approves two gene therapies for sickle cell disease

Israel bombing of the Gaza Strip has intensified in an expanded phase of its war against Hamas. This is after the United States wielded its U.N. Security Council veto to shield its ally from a global demand for a ceasefire.

Jerusalem

Intensified fighting in Gaza as U.S. vetoes ceasefire

EU lawmakers and policymakers have reached a deal on rules regulating the use of artificial intelligence, EU industry chief Thierry Breton said on the X social platform.

Brussels

Rise of AI

EU reaches landmark deal to regulate AI threat

The U.S. has vetoed an emergency resolution at the UN security council — triggered by the secretary-general with a rarely-used power to force a vote — for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to allow more aid into the area.

New York

United States vetoes UN vote on immediate Gaza ceasefire

Israel's military says it has struck 450 targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours, roughly double the figure it's typically reported since the end of the truce with Hamas. It marks a new expansion of the war.

Israel ramps up airstrikes on Gaza targets amid new phase

Russians and Belarusians who qualify in their sport for the Paris 2024 Olympics can take part as neutrals without flags, emblems or anthems at the event next year, the International Olympic Committee has ruled.

Paris

IOC rules Russian athletes can compete at Paris Olympics

Cyclone preparations are underway in north Queensland. Communities in North Queensland are bracing for Category Four Jasper to approach mainland Queensland by mid-next week.

Townsville City

North Queensland braces for Category Four cyclone

The Hamas-run health ministry reported 40 dead in strikes near Gaza City on Friday, and dozens more in Jabalia and the main southern city of Khan Yunis. So far, the fighting in the Palestinian enclave has left 17,487 people dead, according to the ministry's latest published figures. 

Hamas health ministry says over 17,000 dead in Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday told soldiers who had fought in Ukraine that he would run for the top job again in the 2024 election - a move that will allow the former KGB spy to stay in power until at least 2030. 

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

Russia's Putin tells soldiers he will run for president again

Ahead of a U.N. Security Council vote on a resolution for a ceasefire in Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in his strongest public criticism of Israel's conduct of the war on Hamas in south Gaza, said there was a gap between the government's declared intentions to protect civilians and the casualties.

Washington

U.S criticizes Israel over Gaza civilian toll

2023 has been declared the hottest year in recorded history a month earlier than scientists would usually confirm the evidence. Temperatures are now nudging one and a half degrees Celsius higher than pre-industrial levels, giving the UN climate talks in Dubai a heightened sense of priority.

Council of the City of Sydney

Scientists confirm 2023 is the hottest year on record

The Department of Justice filed new criminal charges against U.S. President Joe Biden's son, Hunter, indicting him for allegedly failing to pay $1.4 million in taxes while spending millions of dollars on a lavish lifestyle. 

Delaware

Hunter Biden hit with new charges for tax evasion

Two months since the initial Hamas attack on southern Israel, doctors in Gaza are treating many times the number of patients they are equipped to handle, and a UN official says there is no safe place for humanitarian operations to continue.

Israel pushes deeper south as war with Hamas passes 2 months

Emergency authorities are on alert as severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper intensifies in the Coral Sea. The category four system is continuing its gradual march towards the North Queensland coast, but its exact path remains uncertain.

Tropical Cyclone Jasper strengthens off Queensland coast

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visited Greece and met with Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Thursday. The two leaders agreed to reboot their relations, establishing a roadmap designed to usher in a new era of closer ties between the two NATO allies but historical foes. 