
US basketball star Brittney Griner appears in Russian court on drug smuggling charges
CNN
The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist Brittney Griner went on trial at a court near Moscow on Friday, on drug smuggling charges which can be punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Griner, 31, a Phoenix Mercury player who plays in Russia during the WNBA's off season, was arrested February 17 at a Moscow airport, a week before Russia invaded Ukraine.
Griner's supporters and US officials say she is wrongfully detained and have called for her release as fears mount that she is being used as a political pawn amid rising tensions between Russia and the US.

Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate
A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities

The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.










