Evan Gershkovich was determined to keep reporting from Moscow since the Kremlin's seismic Ukraine offensive, seeing it as his duty to keep telling Russia's stories, despite the risks, in a country he loved.. "I said to him this is the country that I left and this is the country that you love," his mother said in the video interview.
US journalist Evan Gershkovich's court appearance in Moscow on Tuesday will be a rare break from his isolation in Lefortovo prison -- a symbol of repression since Soviet times.. "It's a frozen prison, they're isolating you as much as possible from the outside world and from other prisoners, apart from your cellmate," said Igor Rudnikov, a former detainee and journalist.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday launched his own television show on a public channel, a year before the next presidential elections are due.. The Venezuelan opposition frequently criticizes the government's use of public media, complaining that it has very little access in the face of an omnipresent Maduro.
US authorities arrested two men Monday for allegedly setting up a Chinese "police station" in New York and charged dozens of Chinese security officials over a campaign to monitor and harass US-based dissidents.. "The MPS established a concrete outpost, an off-the-books police station right here in New York City, to monitor and intimidate dissidents and other critics of the PRC within one of the United States' most vibrant diaspora communities," said David Newman, the Justice Department's principal deputy assistant attorney general for national security.
Rached Ghannouchi, one of the main opponents of Tunisian President Kais Saied, has been arrested, his Ennahdha party said on Monday, the latest in a string of opposition figures held.. Ghannouchi, 81, whose party was the largest in parliament before Saied dissolved the chamber in July 2021, was arrested by police at his Tunis home and taken "to an unknown location," the Islamist-inspired Ennahdha said in a statement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Monday that Israel would continue its "fight" to prevent arch-foe Tehran from developing nuclear weapons, during a Holocaust ceremony attended by Iran's exiled crown prince. . Attending the ceremony was Iranian crown prince Reza Pahlavi, whose father was the shah overthrown in the 1979 Islamic revolution.
A US helicopter raid on Monday killed a senior Islamic State group leader in Syria suspected of plotting attacks in Europe and the Middle East, US Central Command said.. "Early this morning, April 17, US Central Command forces killed Abd-al Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali, a senior ISIS Syria leader," Centcom said in a statement, using another acronym for IS. It said he was an "operational planner responsible for planning terror attacks in the Middle East and Europe".
Russia's foreign minister thanked Brazil Monday for seeking to mediate peace talks on Ukraine ahead of a meeting with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose statements on the conflict have dismayed some in the West.. The minister, Sergei Lavrov, who is visiting Brazil at the start of a Latin American tour, is expected to discuss the war with Lula, whose office confirmed the two would meet Monday evening.
Former chancellor Angela Merkel received Germany's highest honour on Monday despite facing continued criticism of her legacy since leaving office, especially over her policy towards Moscow.. The long-time leader has in particular faced criticism of her policy towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and for leaving Germany dependent on Russian energy -- a weakness laid bare by the war in Ukraine.
US law enforcement officials are pleading for residents to come forward with information on a weekend shooting that devastated a small Alabama town, leaving four people dead and 28 injured at a teen's birthday party.. Hospital officials said the majority of those shot were teens, and witnesses said the victims had been attending a Sweet 16 birthday party held at a rented dance studio on the community's town square.
