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That the WNBA star, who lost her appeal Tuesday, is a gay Black woman could add unknown variables to a penal system that is known to be remote and harrowing. “Conditions in prisons and detention centers varied but were often harsh and life threatening,” a 2021 State Department report on Russian human rights abuses said. “Russian prisons are grim, even relative to prisons in other countries. Prisoners were used for farming, mining or logging in sparsely populated areas of the country or worked in sweatshop conditions. It can often take weeks for prisoners to arrive at the prisons on prison trucks and specially designed train carriages called Stolypins.

The U.S. Air Force dispatched two F-16 fighter jets to intercept a pair of Russian bombers that flew close to Alaska on Monday, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said in a statement. Air Defense Identification Zones are areas of airspace that require all aircraft to be identified, located and have their flight plan controlled "in the interest of national security," according to the Federal Aviation Administration. NORAD, a combined air defense organization of the United States and Canada, said the Russian activity was "not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative." The appearance of Russian bombers and their interception by U.S. fighter jets does come at a fraught time in the relationship between the two countries, however. He noted that his deputy, Pyotr Tolstoy, had previously proposed holding a referendum in Alaska, RBC reported.

A Russian military bomber crashed Monday into the courtyard of an apartment complex in the Russian resort town of Yeysk, which is a few dozen miles across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine, Russia's Defense Ministry said. Calling it an accident, the Defense Ministry said the pilot had been performing a training flight of the SU-34 aircraft when the engine ignited during takeoff. “They were poisoned by combustion products," the deputy governor of the Krasnodar territory, Anna Minkova, said on her Telegram channel. The Armed Forces of Ukraine and its Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment. There was a large fire at a Russian military enlistment office in June, according to a report from Komsomolskaya Pravda, a Russian tabloid.

The family of a retired U.S. Marine believe he is on life support in a separatist-controlled hospital in Ukraine after he went to fight back the Russian invasion alongside the Ukrainian military. Grady Kurpasi, 50, traveled to Ukraine shortly after the war began in February to help with evacuations and train Ukrainian soldiers. Courtesy Don TurnerA State Department spokesperson said the agency was “aware of unconfirmed reports regarding a missing U.S. citizen in Ukraine. The center has brought up the retired Marine in recent discussions with the Russian government, a spokesperson confirmed. A retired Marine Corps officer, Kurpasi was adopted by an American couple from South Korea as a young child.

“They broke their promise to Black farmers and other farmers of color,” John Boyd, a plaintiff and the president of the National Black Farmers Association, told NBC News on Wednesday just before he held a press conference on the matter. John Boyd, president of the Black Farmers Association, plants winter wheat in one of his fields in Baskerville, Va., on Jan. 8, 2019. The $4 billion was never delivered to Black farmers and other people of color, however. The new legislation aims to circumvent white farmers’ grievances and create two new funds while nixing the initial relief program. In 1920, there were more than 925,000 Black farmers in the U.S., making up about 14% of the farmer population, according to data analysis by the consulting firm McKinsey.

While going through a costly divorce earlier this year, Cavanaugh's flood insurance coverage lapsed. Many people in the small coastal community, which faces the Gulf of Mexico southwest of Fort Myers, did not have flood insurance coverage. It appears that, despite an increased occurrence of devastating flood events, a declining percentage of people nationwide have flood insurance policies. Chuck Larsen / SantivaChronicle.com via APOne significant issue is that many homeowners assume a typical homeowner's insurance policy covers floods. The average cost of flood insurance from the National Flood Insurance Program is $995 a year, according to Forbes Advisor analysis.

Hurricane Ian is speeding toward the Gulf Coast of Florida at a perilous time for property owners in the state, who have been weathering an insurance crisis that the Category 3 storm could now exacerbate. “Florida’s property insurance market was the most volatile in the U.S. before Hurricane Ian formed and will most likely become even more unstable in the wake of the storm,” said Mark Friedlander, a director at Insurance Information Institute in Florida. These issues have created problems in the market that have shepherded many insurers toward closure or left them on precarious financial footing. A dozen insurance companies operating in Florida have gone out of business since January 2020. The insurance crisis is largely the result of countless roofing scams in which contractors and attorneys file numerous fraudulent damage claims on behalf of homeowners and force insurance companies to settle, NBC News previously reported.

“After years of neglect, Jackson’s water system finally reached a breaking point this summer, leaving tens of thousands of people without any running water for weeks. Lumumba said Monday that his administration intends to cooperate with federal officials. In late 2019, the state Health Department notified the EPA about concerns with the city’s water system. An inspection by the EPA raised alarms about problems, including not having enough properly credentialed staff members at the city’s water treatment plants. Mark Chalos, an attorney who filed the most recent class-action lawsuit, said many Jacksonians remain suspicious of the city’s water quality.

Videos show the moment two American veterans touched down on U.S. soil and were reunited with their families after being held hostage for three months by Russian forces. The two men were among ten foreign fighters captured by Russian forces in June after they traveled to Ukraine to aid in the war. They were held by Russian proxies in the contested Donbas region that remains at the center of the war. Dianna Shaw and Bunny Drueke, the aunt and mom of Drueke, said they were "thrilled" that he was finally free. The 10 foreign fighters included Drueke and Huynh, five British fighters, and one Moroccan, Swede and Croatian, according to the Saudi Ministry of Media.

The main challenge the Russian military faces after almost seven months at war looks likely to remain a basic one: manpower. Russia had about 1 million active personnel at the start, according to the institute’s estimates, though it did not dedicate all its troops to Ukraine. Both of these have made it hard to identify how the new additions to the Russian military could be trained or used effectively in this war. ‘New territory takes time’The “partial mobilization” comes after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive broke through Russian lines outside Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city. The military support of mobilization and the veneer of territorial security that annexation could provide will likely take a while, however.

Ten foreign fighters, including two Americans who joined the war effort in Ukraine before they were captured and held by Russian forces, were released Wednesday as part of an exchange of prisoners of war between Russia and Ukraine. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi government had successfully negotiated the release of the foreign fighters and transferred them to Saudi Arabia, where they were "facilitating procedures for their safe return home." The 10 foreign fighters are five British fighters, two Americans, and one Moroccan, Swede and Croatian, according to the Saudi Ministry of Media. U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss said in a tweet that she was elated to hear that the British nationals had been released. They are believed to be the first Americans to be captured during the war between Ukraine and Russia.

A group of Jackson, Mississippi, residents filed a class action lawsuit on Friday over the water crisis that left over 150,000 people in the city without access to clean running water. As a result of water crisis, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit allege they weren't able to "readily go about normal daily activities like using the bathroom, brushing [their] teeth, and cooking." Late last month, Lumumba told reporters the city had been dealing with the water crisis "for the better part of two years." Tate Reeves declared a state of emergency late August, saying the water crisis in Jackson threatened “critical needs” after rain and flooding pushed the Pearl River to dangerous levels, according to officials. A team from the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector general’s office is conducting a top-to-bottom review of what caused Jackson's water crisis.

Other voices in Russia have pressed for an end to the invasion and a withdrawal of forces. Putin even admitted Thursday after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that Xi has “questions and concerns” about the war. “They’re doing it at some political risk, but if the Russian army truly loses, I don’t think Putin can survive that defeat.”The nuclear option? With his own position perhaps more vulnerable as the war shifts in Ukraine’s favor, some analysts have warned that a cornered Putin might turn to Russia’s nuclear arsenal. Fears of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and NATO have eased since the start of the war, but analysts said a small-scale tactical strike against Ukraine could remain a possibility — especially if Putin’s prospects continue to sour.

Supporters of the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics Act — or PACT Act — overwhelmingly expected the House-passed bill to sail through to the president's desk for signature. The PACT Act would have expanded VA health care eligibility to more than 3.5 million post-9/11 combat veterans who were exposed to toxins while serving in the military. When the bill returned to the Senate, the bill had not changed much but the view — and vote — of 25 senators did. "But what is shocking is that so many senators would literally be willing to play with veterans’ lives so openly like this." Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., speaks at a news conference about the Honoring Our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxics (PACT) Act in Washington on Thursday.

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