The Associated Press

In early 2022, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich wrote on social media that “reporting on Russia is now also a regular practice of watching people you know get locked away for years.”. A year later, he was the one locked up — arrested in March 2023 on charges...

Long before his arrest, US reporter lamented that many friends in Russia were being locked up

The Independent

British-Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza has pledged he will return to Moscow “sooner than you think” despite his ordeal as a political prisoner under Vladimir Putin’s regime. The Cambridge-educated political leader, who spent much of his teenage years living in London, was one of 16 prisoners swapped for eight detainees held in the West on Thursday in the largest such exchange since the Cold War Also involved were three US citizens, including journalist Evan Gershkovich, three Germans and nine Russians. In return, Moscow received eight Russians accused of murder, spying and money laundering.At a news conference in Bonn on Friday evening,...

Freed prisoner Vladimir Kara-Murza: I told the Russians ‘I’ll be back sooner than you think’

CBS News

Stunning new details emerged Friday on the largest prisoner swap since the Cold War, with the Kremlin acknowledging for the first time that some of the Russians held in the West belonged to its security services — and the children of a Russian couple posing as spies only learned their true nationality on the flight to Moscow.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that a detained couple released in Slovenia —Artem and Anna Dultsev— were undercover intelligence officers commonly known as "illegals." Posing as Argentine expats, they used Ljubljana as their base since 2017 to relay Moscow's orders to other sleeper agents...

Spies' children found out they were Russian on flight to Moscow

Russian President Vladimir Putin receives the Russian citizens released in a prisoner swap with the US as they disembarked a plane upon arrival in Moscow from Ankara, Turkey.

See Putin welcome Russian prisoners back to Moscow after swap

The Kremlin on Friday said that at least three Russians freed in a landmark prisoner exchange were undercover Russian agents, a rare public admission into the work of Moscow's top-secret security services. Moscow said Vadim Krasikov -- who was serving life in prison in Germany for the 2019 brazen murder of a former Chechen separatist commander in broad daylight in a Berlin park -- was an elite operative with Russia's FSB security agency. Krasikov was one of the central figures in Thursday's historic multi-country exchange, with Putin having publicly lobbied for his release in a bid to get the deal over the line in the face of hesitation from Berlin. The Kremlin almost never reveals details about its sprawling intelligence agencies, but it confirmed Friday that at least two others freed in the deal were also long-term undercover agents stationed in the European Union. Russian President Vladimir Putin has portrayed them as returning heroes, personally thanking them for their service to the "Motherland" and promising to shower them with state awards. For in-depth analysis on the largest US-Russia prisoner swap in post-Soviet history, FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by Melinda Haring, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director of the Atlantic Council’s Eurasia Center.

Putin's ominous message: 'We can kill people in broad daylight in EU, we'll take care of our people'

New York City, NY

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Cheryl E Preston

Yesterday was the third time this year that an ad stating Chelsea Clinton lives in a beautiful Virginia home popped up on my laptop. My computer did not warn me this was a dangerous site, so this time, I clicked on the link.

Chelsea Clinton is rumored to be living in Virginia but probably still in NYC

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday denounced NATO's summit promise to grant eventual membership to Ukraine and said Russia should work towards the "disappearance" of both Ukraine and the military alliance. In a social media post, Medvedev quoted in English from NATO's declaration at its Washington...

Former Russian President Medvedev Says Moscow Should Seek 'Disappearance' of Ukraine and NATO

Reuters

tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA396402082024RP1-PREVIEW:48000:MP3 mpeg. tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA396402082024RP1-STREAM:22.050:MP3 mpeg. tag:reuters.com,2024:binary_LOA396402082024RP1-STREAM:48000:M4A aac.

Children of freed sleeper agents learned they were Russians on the flight, Kremlin says

Business Insider

Russia freed Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former US Marine Paul Whelan, and 14 others in a massive prisoner exchange with the West.

Videos show the moment Americans were freed from Russian captivity after high-stakes prisoner swap

Denver, CO

Contributors represent independent, third-party users who have joined our contributor program and self-verified their accounts. They have also demonstrated their experience writing hard news for other outlets. Contributors are expected, like all users, to adhere to our Community Standards.

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David Heitz

In addition to collecting more than 8,000 used needles in the past year from Denver drug users, the Harm Reduction Action Center passed out 10,000 meth pipes and “snort kits,” according to a newsletter sent to its supporters Thursday. They also connected about 1,700 people to medical, mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Denver group hands out 10K meth pipes, ‘snort kits,’ connects 1,700 to treatment annually

NBC News

Russian and Chinese nuclear-capable strategic bombers patrolled near the U.S. state of Alaska in the North Pacific and Arctic on Thursday, the two countries said, a move that prompted the United States and Canada to scramble fighter jets. Russian Tu-95MS “Bear” strategic bombers and Chinese Xi’an H-6 strategic bombers took...

Russian and Chinese nuclear-capable bombers patrol near U.S.

Orange County, CA

Corcoran, CA

NewSantaAna

CORCORAN – California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials are investigating the July 28, 2024, death of an incarcerated person at California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility as a homicide.

Pimp arrested in Orange County killed by an inmate at a state prison

TheDailyBeast

Russia freed American Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and others on Thursday in the biggest prisoner swap deal between the U.S. and Moscow since the end of the Cold War, with a Russian assassin heading back to his homeland as part of the arrangement. A total of 26 people and seven countries were involved in the exchange, which took place in Ankara, Turkey, the Turkish presidency said. It also confirmed that Vadim Krasikov—an FSB hitman jailed in Germany for a shocking daylight murder—was included in the exchange. As well as Gershkovich, fellow American and former U.S. marine Paul Whelan...

Putin Frees Gershkovich and Other Americans in Exchange for Russian Hitman

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Total Apex Sports & Entertainment

In the charmingly delightful world of astrology, you should know that each of the zodiac signs carries a specific set of traits. Those characteristics influence how individuals navigate the challenges they may meet in life. Some signs are known for their over-the-top boldness. These are the people who usually have such a strong willingness to face conflicts head-on.

3 Zodiac Signs That Hate Confrontation

Chicago, IL

Foodie in Chicago

Shortly before 3 AM, people in the Chicago area may have felt their houses shake as a 3.4-magnitude earthquake occurred about 60 miles west of the city. (CHICAGO) The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake around Somonauk, IL. Somonauk is in DeKalb and LaSalle Counties, 64 miles west of Chicago.

Did You Feel the Earthquake?

A former U.S. paratrooper and rock musician detained in Russia more than a year ago on drugs charges was on Thursday sentenced to 13 years in jail, Moscow's courts service said.Michael Travis Leake, who fronted Moscow-based rock band Lovi Noch, was detained in June 2023 after prosecutors accused him of "organizing a drug dealing business involving young people."Moscow's Khamovnitchesky court convicted him of offences linked to the sale of illegal narcotics, the courts service said in a post on Telegram.It sentenced him to "13 years' imprisonment in a strict regime colony."Leake was jailed alongside Veronika Grabanchuk, another defendant convicted of...

Ex-U.S. paratrooper and rock musician gets 13 years in Russian prison

Russia freed US journalist Evan Gershkovich and former US Marine Paul Whelan on Thursday, according to the Turkish presidency. Their releases were part of the largest East-West prisoner exchanges since the end of the Cold War.

Russia frees US journalist Gershkovich in multi-country prisoner swap

Waiting outside an overwhelmed clinic to watch the regular arrival of bodies salvaged by rescue teams, he had no expectations that his relatives and neighbours had managed to do the same. "My wife's father can't walk well," he told AFP. "I called my sisters the night before, they were at...

'No hope' as anguished families wait for India landslide bodies

On Wednesday, Iranian officials met in Tehran with representatives of the so-called "Axis of Resistance" -- a loose alliance of Tehran-backed groups hostile to Israel -- to discuss retaliation for the deaths of Hamas's leader and Hezbollah's top military commander, said a source close to Lebanese group. "Two scenarios were...

Iran, allies plan joint but limited retaliation against Israel

Relentless downpours and howling winds hampered Wednesday's search for survivors of landslides that struck Indian tea plantations and killed at least 160 people, most believed to be labourers and their families. Days of torrential monsoon rains have battered the southern coastal state of Kerala, with blocked roads into the Wayanad district disaster area complicating relief efforts.

US reporter Gershkovich among 26 freed in Russia prisoner deal

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