San Diego, CA
Trial of Navy Chief Petty Officer Accused of Espionage Kicks Off in San Diego
The trial of a Navy chief petty officer accused of espionage is underway, kicking off in San Diego on Tuesday, court documents and service officials confirmed.
Chief Petty Officer Bryce Steven Pedicini, a fire controlman, is alleged to have committed espionage aboard the destroyer USS Higgins in Virginia and while in Japan, and was charged in January with the wrongful communication of defense information and disobeying lawful orders. The court-martial is set to run through April 19, according to the Navy’s online docket.
Cmdr. Arlo Abrahamson, a spokesman for the Navy’s Pacific Fleet, noted to Military.com in an email that Pedicini “has only military counsel and has elected trial by a judge.”
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Records provided by the Navy in February showed that Pedicini was last assigned to the Higgins, which is homeported in Japan, but has been in pre-trial confinement since May.
Pedicini is accused of delivering two sets of classified national defense documents — which are named only as “Article 1112” and “Article 1223” — to “a citizen and employee of a foreign government” between November 2022 and February 2023 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, according to the charging documents.
The charging documents allege Pedicini broke up the two documents and delivered them both over several instances.
The charges also allege Pedicini provided “images of a [secret-level classification] computer screen to a citizen and employee of a foreign government” in mid-May in Yokosuka, the same Japanese city that hosts the Navy base and the Higgins.
Neither the documents nor Navy officials have provided the identity of the country that Pedicini is alleged to have spied for, but the charge sheet notes that the chief petty officer had “reason to believe that it would be used to the injury of the United States and the advantage of a foreign nation.”
Pedicini is at least the third sailor in about a year to face espionage-related charges — though the first in recent memory to be tried by the military and not civilian courts.
In January, Petty Officer Second Class Wenheng Zhao — who went by the name Thomas Zhao — was sentenced to just over two years in federal prison for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to a Chinese intelligence officer. Zhao had sent more than 50 technical and mechanical manuals for various systems of the USS Essex and similar ships to his Chinese handlers, court documents said.
Zhao was arrested and charged in 2023 alongside Jinchao Wei, a machinist’s mate who was also assigned to the Essex in San Diego and charged with multiple counts of conspiring and sending defense information to a foreign citizen.
Wei’s trial is currently set to begin in December, according to court records.
Both Wei and Zhao are alleged to have received thousands of dollars for their alleged actions — court records for Wei even note that the sailor “boasted that while other U.S. Navy sailors were driving cabs to make extra money, all he had to do was leak secrets” — but no such information has been publicly revealed in Pedicini’s case.
Related: Navy Chief Allegedly Shared Classified Information with Foreign National While Stationed in Virginia and Japan
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San Diego, CA
Karepango San Diego Comic-Con 2026 Debuts, Merchandise
Karepango, the colorful and unapologetic brand that aims to bring a smile in the most unexpected time, is coming to Comic-Con to spread joy, and give attendees the chance to show the world they are imperfect, yet still proud.
Find them at booth #5034, located in the Hall G area of the convention center, and will have dozens of their classic bestsellers, recent products and even a brand new exclusive (and very limited) shirt.
All purchases will receive free gifts, with an extra special gift for purchases over $100.
All clothing is available in sizes XS through 2XL, but in limited quantities per size.
Let’s get shopping:
Have A Good Day Shirts – $48
Limited to 75 pieces
Purple or brown with front and back printing
100% Cotton Knit Sweaters – $88
Oversized and pre-shrunk
100% Cotton T-Shirts – $48
Various Designs
Oversized and pre-shrunk
Tote Bags, Plush Bags, Puffy Bags, IRO Bags, All Sorts of Bags – $28-$45
Various designs
Drink Holders, Mesh Pouches, Nylon Pouches, Headbands, Blind Box Toys, Plush Trinkets – $15-$25
Various designs
Caps, Bucket Hats, Plush Hats, Beanies – $28-$30
Various designs
Bags, Plush, Rugs, Scarves – $50-$80
Various designs
Stickers, Socks, Pins, Air Fresheners – $4-$15
Various designs
Seek and ye shall find:

San Diego, CA
Eons: Life and Death on Pangea – Special Preview Screening
Travel back more than 250 million years with PBS Eons during a special San Diego Comic-Con preview screening of Eons: Life and Death on Pangea before the series officially premieres.
On Saturday, July 25 at 10am, attendees can watch the first episode of the new four-part miniseries, which explores the Permian Period and the “Great Dying,” Earth’s largest known mass extinction event that wiped out more than 80% of all species.
Following the screening, hosts Gabriel-Philip Santos and Michelle Barboza-Ramirez, along with series writer Farhan Mitha, will take fans behind the scenes of the production and stick around for a Q&A about bringing this prehistoric world to life.
San Diego, CA
Gibraltar ushers in a new era as British territory’s border fence with Spain is removed
MADRID (AP) — Thousands of people who travel every day between the southern tip of Spain and the British territory of Gibraltar will no longer have to cross a physical border, beginning on Wednesday.
The official opening at midnight on Tuesday, after a border fence was removed, allows a new freedom of movement under a historic treaty between the European Union and the United Kingdom. It came after years of post-Brexit wrangling.
The contested British Overseas Territory of 38,000 people is perched at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula, in a strategic location mere miles from Morocco where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea.
Soon after midnight, crowds crossed freely between Spain’s La Línea de Concepción and Gibraltar in both directions. Many wore Spanish soccer jerseys after Spain’s victory against France in the World Cup semifinal on Tuesday, adding to the celebratory mood.
“What you feel here is the brotherhood between the two people,” Gibraltar’s Chief Minister Fabian Picardo told Spanish broadcaster RTVE.
A deal that took years to realize
When Britain left the EU in 2020, the relationship between Gibraltar and the bloc had been left unresolved.
Previous talks on a deal to ensure people and goods could keep flowing across the border had made halting progress. In 2025, the EU and U.K. announced an agreement on those issues, with the two sides and Gibraltar’s government signing a treaty Tuesday that eases border crossings.
The U.K.’s Foreign Office Minister Stephen Doughty said Tuesday that the agreement secured Gibraltar’s long-term economic future and interests.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade representative, praised the agreement, too.
“It has taken four years of patient, complex negotiation, but the outcome speaks for itself,” Šefčovič said. “It is a very special feeling to see a fence come down.”
Without a deal, Gibraltar could have a faced a hard land border with full passport checks, posing economic risks for the territory deeply dependent on some 15,000 Spaniards — almost half Gibraltar’s workforce — who cross the frontier every day for work.
Mendez Segura, 51, crossed into Gibraltar from Spain on Wednesday for work, unused to the newfound freedom of movement.
“I’ve been crossing over and working in Gibraltar all my life with my identity card,” the home care worker said. “I know you’ll be able to cross without it, but it’s just what I’m used to.”
Leisure visits by people crossing both sides of the border would have been affected, too.
“People who are visiting family in Spain, or whose Spanish family is visiting them in Gibraltar. Children who are going to football matches and extracurricular activities, either in Spain or in Gibraltar. They will be able to do that without having to worry about frontier queues,” Picardo told The Associated Press in an interview.
The deal in effect brings the territory into the EU’s Schengen free travel area. At Gibraltar’s airport and port, entry and exit checks will be conducted by both U.K. and Spanish border officials. The arrangement is similar to what’s in place at Eurostar train stations in London and Paris, where both British and French officials check passports.
Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713, but Spain has maintained its sovereignty claim ever since. Relations between the two countries on the issue of Gibraltar have had their ups and downs over the centuries. The treaty that removed the border fence does not resolve the territory’s contested status.
In Britain’s 2016 Brexit referendum, 96% of voters in the Rock, as the territory is popularly known in English, supported remaining in the EU.
Travelers to Gibraltar from countries outside the Schengen Area, including the U.K., will have to contend with the EU Entry-Exit System, or EES, which was rolled out in Europe in April and replaced passport stamps with biometric data collected through photographs and digital fingerprints.
Facial recognition cameras at the Rock
With the border fence gone, Gibraltar officials have set up live facial recognition cameras at entry points and throughout the territory.
Chief Minister Picardo said the territory will have many more CCTV cameras and that it has increased its police presence as well as resources for customs and Coast Guard agencies.
“The fortress has become a digital fortress now,” Picardo said.
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