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☆ Spain's Supreme Court drops sedition charges against Catalan separatist leader
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MADRID, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Spain's Supreme Court on Thursday dropped sedition charges against the leader of Catalonia's failed bid for independence, Carles Puigdemont, after a reform of the country's penal code abolished the crime. Puigdemont, who is in self-imposed exile in Belgium to avoid prosecution in Spain, still faces charges of disobedience and embezzlement, which carry jail terms of up to eight years. Spain's previous bids to have Puigdemont extradited during his stays in Germany, Belgium and Italy have failed. Puigdemont posted a video on Twitter in which he vowed to fight "to the end" against his extradition in European courts. Puigdemont has been living in self-imposed exile in Belgium since late 2017 and served as a member of the European Parliament since 2019.

☆ Brazilian judge orders arrest of Bolsonaro’s ex-minister after Brasília rampage
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +6 min

BRASILIA, Brazil — A Brazilian Supreme Court judge ordered the arrest on Tuesday of the capital’s most recent public security chief after supporters of right-wing former President Jair Bolsonaro led a rampage through government buildings. Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro storm the National Congress building in Brasília on Sunday. In the arrest warrant, Moraes cited their failure to ensure proper security forces were in place. A Reuters witness spotted police at the Torres family residence in an upscale Brasília neighborhood, where a resident said they left carrying bags. His son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro, denied on Tuesday that the former president was responsible for the riots on Sunday.

☆ Brazil questions some 1,000 detained protesters after rampage in capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Leonardo Benassatto | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Most of the supporters of far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro were detained on Monday as troops dismantled a camp in Brasilia where demonstrators set off on Sunday before storming Brazil's Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace. Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes, who is running investigations of the "anti-democratic" protests, vowed in a speech on Tuesday to combat the "terrorists" at work in Brasilia. "Democracy will prevail and Brazilian institutions will not bend," said Moraes at the swearing-in of a new head of the federal police. They visited the ransacked Supreme Court building, which was the site most damaged by the pro-Bolsonaro rioters. The former president was admitted on Monday to hospital in Florida where he flew 48 hours before his term ended.

☆ A female cabin crew applicant says she was rejected from a job because she's 'dark-skinned,' report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-06 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A cabin crew applicant to Kuwait Airways says she was rejected from a job because she's "dark-skinned." After being selected to work for Kuwait Airways, Maria was asked to send documentation including several photographs of herself. "I felt denigrated, discriminated against, like a commodity," told El Diario. Recruiters said they were checking for "scars, birthmarks or tattoos," a source told El Diario. Kuwait Airways did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Russia's Navalny accuses authorities of using prison to break his health
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

In a post on Twitter, he also complained of being injected with unknown drugs. "See how the system works when you are not allowed to beat up a person, but your leadership ordered you to hurt them badly," the Twitter post said. Navalny said he had asked for a month and a half to see a doctor. The Twitter post included images from Navalny's medical records, which he said had been released to him a month after he asked to see them. Navalny, his allies and Western governments and rights groups say he was the victim of trumped-up charges designed to silence him.

☆ Navalny: mercenary boss visited his jail to recruit for Ukraine war
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Dec 21 (Reuters) - Jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said on Wednesday that Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner private military company that has taken a major part in the Ukraine war, had visited his prison to recruit convicts. He did not say when the alleged visit took place. The Wagner Group, which Prigozhin has said he founded in 2014, has become increasingly prominent during the Ukraine war, including during a brutal, long-running battle for the small city of Bakhmut. In his Twitter post, he said the recruitment of convicts to fight in Ukraine showed the corrosion of the Russian state. In his response, Prigozhin took issue with the fact that many of Navalny's supporters had been allowed by the state to flee abroad.

☆ Griner urges supporters to contact Whelan, help Americans detained abroad
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-21 | by ( Amy Tennery | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"Thanks to the efforts of many, including you, I am home after nearly 10 months," Griner wrote in a letter posted on her Instagram account. Griner said the letters she received showed the "power of collective hands". "There remain too many families with loved ones wrongfully detained," wrote Griner, who left the Brooke Army Medical Center last week and said she intends to resume her career in the WNBA next season. "I hope you'll join me in writing to Paul Whelan and continuing to advocate for other Americans to be rescued and returned to their families," she added. Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed OsmondOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ The Year in Pictures 2022
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( The New York Times | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +57 min

Every year, starting in early fall, photo editors at The New York Times begin sifting through the year’s work in an effort to pick out the most startling, most moving, most memorable pictures. But 2022 undoubtedly belongs to the war in Ukraine, a conflict now settling into a worryingly predictable rhythm. Erin Schaff/The New York Times “When you’re standing on the ground, you can’t visualize the scope of the destruction. Jim Huylebroek for The New York Times Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb. 25. We see the same images over and over, and it’s really hard to make anything different.” Kyiv, Ukraine, Feb 26.

☆ Russia's Wagner Group officers hide in cover and watch with drones as 'expendable' troops are sent to die in Ukraine, UK intel says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Wagner Group paramilitary, known for brutality, is fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine. Wagner is one of the many feuding factions carrying out Russia's invasion of Ukraine alongside its main armed forces. The UK update said his Wagner militia was taking a "major role in attritional combat" in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. Prigozhin, was seen traveling to prisons and penal colonies in September to recruit soldiers after Russian troops suffered major losses in Ukraine. Since fighting in Ukraine, the group has been forced to lower its standards in order to replenish its ranks.

☆ Russian convicts recruited to fight in Ukraine were warned they'd be shot if they deserted. One who did was returned to Russia — and was killed with a sledgehammer instead.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-18 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Convicts and mercenaries have been recruited to help fight Russia's war in Ukraine. One convict recruited to the Wagner group deserted and turned himself in to Ukrainian forces. After being returned to Russia in a prisoner swap, a video on Telegram showed his execution. Many of those men were recruited by Wagner, a notorious mercenary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. During the interviews, he said he joined the Wagner group in order to leave prison and wanted to join Ukrainian forces and fight with them, The Guardian reported in November.

☆ Brittney Griner Says She Plans to Play Professional Basketball Again
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Joseph De Avila | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner said she plans to restart her basketball career this season in her first public comments since she was released from a Russian penal colony. Ms. Griner said in an Instagram post Friday that the last 10 months have been a battle for her, but she was happy to be home. The Biden administration negotiated her return to the U.S. earlier this month through a prisoner exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout .

☆ Tornadoes in Louisiana, Mississippi Kill at Least Three
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Brittney Griner Returns Home: A Timeline of Her Detainment and Release Basketball star Brittney Griner landed in the U.S. after being released from a Russian penal colony in a negotiated prisoner swap, a U.S. official said. WSJ examines the events that led to Griner’s detainment, sentencing and release, and what comes next. Illustration: Adele Morgan

☆ Brittney Griner Says She Wants to Return to WNBA After Release From Russia
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Joseph De Avila | Robert O'Connell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Women’s basketball star Brittney Griner said she plans to restart her basketball career this season in her first public comments since she was released from a Russian penal colony. Her decision to return to the court after a harrowing foreign incarceration, announced in an Instagram post on Friday, sets up a comeback that has no precedent in U.S. sports.

[1/2] U.S. basketball player Brittney Griner, who was detained at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport and later charged with illegal possession of cannabis, is escorted before a court hearing in Khimki outside Moscow, Russia July 27, 2022. Griner arrived at the medical center last Friday after U.S. officials secured her freedom from Russia in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner, 32, was arrested on Feb. 17 at an airport outside Moscow for carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. U.S. officials pressed for the release of both Griner and Whelan, who is being held on what Washington called "sham" espionage charges, a Biden administration official said. "(I) encourage everyone that played a part in bringing me home to continue their efforts to bring all Americans home," said Griner.

1 men’s tennis player Boris Becker has left for Germany after serving just eight months of his sentence in the UK, his lawyer said on Thursday, after UK media reported he had been released from custody and was due to be deported. Becker “has served his sentence and is not subject to any penal restrictions in Germany,” his lawyer, Christian-Oliver Moser, said in a statement. Boris Becker, originally from Germany, has lived in London since 2012 but does not have British citizenship. Becker made tennis history when he won Wimbledon aged 17 in 1985 and went on to win five more grand slam titles over the next 11 years. He has remained active in the tennis world since retiring from the sport, notably as the coach of Novak Djokovic and through frequent media appearances as a commentator and pundit.

☆ FTX Collapse Hearing: Key Moments From John J. Ray’s Testimony
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-14 | by ( Wall Street Journal | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Black women played a critical role in securing Griner’s release, advocates say. “It was painful for so many, particularly Black women, to see another Black woman be in those harsh conditions, to just see the pain in her face,” Jotaka Eaddy, founder of Win With Black Women, told The Hill. The Win With Black Women collective received 1,200 signatures of women in a letter of support for Griner that they sent to the Biden administration in July. So the idea was to keep the awareness going and build a coalition.”Griner’s case has renewed conversations about the vulnerability of Black women in America, especially Black queer women. Monica Simpson, the executive director of SisterSong, highlighted this vulnerability, and Black women’s collective power, in a statement to NBC News.

CNN —The global soccer players’ union, FIFPRO, said it is “shocked and sickened” by reports that Iranian soccer player Amir Nasr-Azadani faces the possibility of execution “after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country.”“We stand in solidarity with Amir and call for the immediate removal of his punishment,” FIFPRO said in a statement posted on Twitter on Monday. In the report, Jafari said Nasr-Azadani had been charged with rioting against authorities. He has been in custody since November 27, but no sentence has been issued yet for the accused, the report added. FIFPRO is shocked and sickened by reports that professional footballer Amir Nasr-Azadani faces execution in Iran after campaigning for women’s rights and basic freedom in his country. That followed the execution of another man last Thursday, in the first known execution since protests began.

CNN —The body of Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda, a fighter recruited by the mercenary group Wagner for combat operations in Ukraine, was returned to Zambia on Sunday. The body was received by Nyirenda’s family and foreign ministry officials, the ministry stated in a series of tweets Sunday. A relative of Lemekani Nyirenda, who died in the conflict in Ukraine in September, is consoled as his coffin arrives at the Kenneth Kaunda International Airport in Lusaka on Sunday. A hearse carrying the remains of Lemekani Nathan Nyirenda at Lusaka's Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. Salim Dawood/AFP/Getty ImagesFlorence Nyirenda, Lemekani Nyirenda's mother, is comforted by family members at the airport in Lusaka, on December 11.

☆ 'I want to talk': WNBA star Brittney Griner opened up during her long trip home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-12 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

American basketball star Brittney Griner gets out of a plane after landing at the JBSA-Kelly Field Annex runway on December 9, 2022 in San Antonio, after she was released from a Russian prison in exchange for a notorious arms dealer. WNBA star Brittney Griner didn't want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. She then asked Carstens, referring to others on the plane: "But, first of all, who are these guys?" Ultimately, Griner spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said. "I was left with the impression this is an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person, a patriotic person," Carstens said.

☆ ‘I want to talk’: Brittney Griner opened up during her long trip home
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner didn’t want any alone time as soon as she boarded a U.S. government plane that would bring her home. I want to talk,” Griner said, according to Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who helped secure the basketball star’s release and bring her back to the U.S. last week. “It was really amazing.”Ultimately, Griner spent about 12 hours of an 18-hour flight talking with others on the plane, Carstens said. The U.S. State Department declared Griner to be “wrongfully detained” — a charge that Russia has sharply rejected. But the U.S. was unable to secure the freedom of Paul Whelan, who has been held in Russia for nearly four years.

☆ Newly freed Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said he 'wholeheartedly' supports Russia's war in Ukraine and would 'certainly' volunteer: report
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout said he would "certainly" volunteer to fight in Russia's war against Ukraine. Bout is newly free after being swapped for Brittney Griner, who was detained in Moscow for nine months. Bout was imprisoned in the US on a 25-year sentence for conspiring with a terrorist organization. "If I could, I would share the skills I have and I would readily volunteer," Bout said on the Russian state television network RT, formerly known as Russia Today. While he was in prison, he said he had a portrait of Russian President Putin displayed in his cell, according to CNN.

☆ Brittney Griner is 'getting appropriate mental health care' in Texas for 'reintegration back into American society,' White House says
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Katie Balevic | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Brittney Griner is getting mental healthcare at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. A White House official said Griner is working on her "reintegration back into American society." Griner was serving a 9-year sentence in Russia until the US agreed to a prisoner swap last week. After nine months in Russian custody, Griner touched down in San Antonio, Texas early Friday morning. Griner was detained in Moscow in February after officials said she had cannabis oil in her luggage.

He was interviewed by Maria Butina, a Russian gun-rights enthusiast-turned TV personality who now works for the network. Viktor Bout arrives at Westchester County Airport November 16, 2010 in White Plains, New York. When asked if he had a portrait of President Vladimir Putin in his prison cell, Bout said: “Yes, always. Griner, 32, returned to the United States early Friday after being released from custody in an exchange for an international arms dealer. The families of Griner and Whelan had urged the White House to secure their release, including via prisoner exchange if necessary.

WNBA star Brittney Griner arrived back in the United States early Friday after being freed from Russian custody, bringing a nearly yearlong ordeal to an end. Eric Gay / APIn earlier video, Russian media had showed Griner crossing paths with Bout after walking off a Russian plane in Abu Dhabi, where she was met by a U.S. official during the exchange. President Joe Biden, who said he approved the deal that saw Griner freed, said Thursday that she had been "held under intolerable circumstances." In a written statement Thursday night, the Griner family thanked Biden, his administration and others for their efforts. Whelan’s family said they had been told by the Biden administration in advance that he would not be part of the prisoner swap Thursday that freed Griner.

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