International
The US accuses Russia of using its nationals as a “exchange currency”
As part of the anniversary of the arrest in Russia of the American journalist of The Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, the United States accused Moscow on Friday of using its citizens as a “exchange currency.”
“We will continue to denounce and impose costs for Russia’s atrocious attempts to use Americans as a bargaining chip,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Gershkovich, 33, was arrested at the end of March 2023 in Yekaterinburg, capital of the Urals, and on April 7 he was formally accused of espionage by the Federal Security Service (FSB, former KGB).
According to the FSB, “he was on behalf of the American side, he compiled secret information about the activities of one of the companies of the Russian military industrial complex.”
This week, the Russian Justice extended his arrest until June 30. By then, he will be in pretrial detention for one year and three months.
Biden said that the United States will continue to work “every day to achieve his release” and will continue to remain “firm” against all those who “seek to attack the press or attack journalists, the pillars of free society.”
“Journalism is not a crime and Evan went to Russia to do his job as a reporter, risking his safety to shed light on the truth about Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
In another similar statement, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, stated that to date “Russia has not provided any proof of irregularities” because “Evan did nothing wrong.”
“Journalism is not a crime. In the year since Evan’s unjust arrest, Russia’s already restrictive media landscape has become more oppressive, with a continuous attack on independent voices that point to any form of dissent,” he said.
Blinken recalled Paul Whelan, a former Marine infantryman, who was arrested in Moscow at the end of 2018 and sentenced for espionage to 16 years in prison in 2020.
The United States “continues to be committed to bringing Evan and Paul home,” said the head of American diplomacy.
“People are not a currency. Russia should put an end to its practice of arbitrarily detaining people for purposes of political influence and should immediately release Evan and Paul,” he said.
The Wall Street Journal published this Friday in white part of the cover of its printed edition to remember its correspondent in Russia, Evan Gershkovich.
About the blank space the headline ‘Your story should be here’ and that accompanies a note about what the journalist has not been able to enjoy on a personal and professional level during the year in which he has been in prison.
The digital edition publishes instead of the blank space a photo of the journalist with the same article but under the title of ‘Evan Gershkovich, a year stolen in a Russian prison’, which also includes biographical data.
The Wall Street Journal also published other articles about the danger faced by journalists.
“Evan Gershkovich was supposed to be with his friends in Berlin the first week of April 2023,” the report begins and highlights the plans that the young reporter had to share with a group of journalist friends.
“It was the beginning of his stolen year,” the note adds.
International
Pope Francis meets former Gaza hostages
Pope Francis met on Thursday at the Vatican with 16 Israelis who had been held hostage in Gaza for months by the Islamist group Hamas, according to the official Vatican news website.
The group consisted of ten women, four men, and two children, as reported by the same source. Several of the former hostages showed the Argentine pontiff banners or photos of their loved ones who remain in captivity.
Francis had previously met with the families of hostages in April this year and November 2023, but this was the first time he had met with individuals who had personally endured captivity.
Since the conflict between Israel and Hamas began, the pope has repeatedly called for the immediate release of Israeli hostages, while also condemning the suffering of the Palestinian population.
The war erupted on October 7, 2023, when Islamist militants attacked southern Israel, killing 1,206 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 251, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages who died in captivity.
Of the kidnapped, 97 are still being held in Gaza, but the Israeli military estimates that 34 of them have died.
The military offensive launched by Israel in response has killed at least 43,736 people in the Gaza Strip, mostly civilians, according to data from the Ministry of Health in the Hamas-governed territory.
International
Israeli airstrikes on Damascus kill 15 and injure 16, including women and children
Israeli forces carried out airstrikes on residential buildings in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and its surroundings on Thursday, resulting in at least 15 deaths and 16 injuries, according to Syria’s Ministry of Defense and state television.
The ministry stated that around 3:20 p.m. local time (12:20 GMT), the Israeli military launched an aerial attack from the direction of the occupied Golan Heights, targeting several residential buildings in the Mazzeh neighborhood in western Damascus and the Qudsaya suburb to the northwest of the capital.
The airstrikes “resulted in the death of 15 people and injuries to 16 others, including women and children,” based on initial estimates, in addition to significant damage to private property and civilian buildings, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, state television reported Israeli airstrikes on three buildings in Mazzeh and another on a building in an educational complex located in a residential area of Qudsaya.
Following the strikes, loud explosions were heard throughout the city, and thick plumes of smoke could be seen rising from the targeted locations. Ambulances and emergency services rushed to the scene to attend to the victims.
International
Drug trafficker dies after boat collision with Guardia Civil Vessel in Sanlúca
Three people were on the boat that collided with a Guardia Civil vessel around midnight at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, near the Andalusian city of Cádiz, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard reported.
Two officers sustained “contusions,” the spokesperson explained.
The drug traffickers managed to bring the boat to shore, where one of them was “abandoned” severely injured. The other two fled.
The Civil Guard officers attempted to resuscitate the victim before transporting him to Sanlúcar de Barrameda, but he ultimately died early in the morning.
The other two suspects took advantage of the officers’ absence while they were taking the victim and returned to set their boat on fire.
The collision occurred very close to the site of another accident on September 1, where a drug trafficker died following a Guardia Civil pursuit.
The suspects’ boat traveled “400 meters” before crashing head-on and “at full speed” into the riverbank, where a hundred bundles of hashish were found.
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