
3 U.S. citizens, 2 Spaniards held over alleged plot to "destabilize" Venezuela
CBSN
Three American citizens, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen have been detained in Venezuela on suspicion of plotting to destabilize the country through "violent actions," the government said Saturday, adding that hundreds of weapons had been seized.
The Venezuelan government identified the men detained on Saturday in an online video. One of them was identified as an American Navy sailor detained in Venezuela earlier this month while visiting the country on personal travel, several U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News. The enlisted sailor is a petty officer first class and formerly a Navy SEAL who was assigned to a West Coast team, several U.S. officials and a senior Defense Department official told CBS News.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said that the five were held on suspicion of planning an attack on President Nicolas Maduro and his government. The arrests come amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and both the U.S. and Spain over Venezuela's disputed July 28 presidential election, which the country's opposition accuses Maduro of stealing.

Russia has released Ksenia Karelina, a dual U.S.-Russian national who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for treason in August last year, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post early Thursday, offering no information about the terms of her release. The Wall Street Journal first reported Karelina's release, saying she was freed in a prisoner swap orchestrated by the two countries' intelligence agencies.

London — The British government's broadcasting regulator Ofcom announced Wednesday that it is investigating an online suicide forum reportedly linked to 50 deaths in the U.K. Ofcom said it was using new powers granted under British law to look into whether the site's service provider had "failed to put appropriate safety measures in place to protect its U.K. users from illegal content and activity."

Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo — Anthrax poisoning has killed about 50 hippos in Virunga, Africa's oldest national park, which is located in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled east, the head of the park told AFP on Tuesday. The toxin is caused by a spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus anthracis, which survives for decades in soil where animals that died of anthrax or were carriers were buried. It is transmissible to humans and potentially fatal in its inhaled form.

Moscow — An appellate court in Russia's far east on Monday reduced the prison sentence for an American soldier convicted of stealing and making threats of murder, Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti reported. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, flew to the Pacific port city of Vladivostok to see his girlfriend and was arrested in May 2024 after she accused him of stealing from her, according to U.S. officials and Russian authorities.