List of All Articles with Tag 'rica'

For the past two years, Ray Epps has been living a surreal nightmare, one born out of the same conspiracy theory universe that launched a riot in the halls of Congress, hundreds of criminal investigations, and a blockbuster defamation lawsuit against one of the most influential cable networks in the country. He cast his vote for Donald Trump weeks before he would end up at the centre of a conspiracy theory on that same network, one he loyally watched. Mr Epps traveled to Washington DC from Arizona to support the president while a joint session of Congress certified the results of an election he lost but refused to accept. He moved past exterior barricades as an unruly mob pushed through police and stormed the US Capitol. He never went inside, and he was never arrested, fuelling an ongoing conspiracy theory that the now 66-year-old was working with law enforcement to instigate a riot to entrap Trump supporters, part of a long-running belief among Republicans that federal authorities are using the levers of power to discriminate against them. Those claims have circulated across social media, among members of Congress – and in dozens of segments on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News platform, now the subject of a defamation lawsuit from Mr Epps. The man in the middle of the right-wing conspiracy theory surrounding January 6 has accused the far-right pundit of amplifying a “fantastical” story that has destroyed his family and his business, accusations that echo an historic $787m settlement between Fox and Dominion Voting Systems, which accused the network of spreading defamatory statements about the company in the election’s aftermath. A lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court on 12 July points to the mountains of allegations from that case, noting that “Fox’s role in creating and disseminating destructive conspiracy theories has already been well documented”. The complaint was signed by Brian Farnan – who served as the lead Delaware counsel for Dominion in its suit against Fox. “Defamation is defamation, so if Tucker and Fox News defamed Ray Epps, it doesn’t ultimately matter what happened with Dominion,” Michael Teter, an attorney for Mr Epps, told The Independent. “It certainly is possible for us to prove a pattern of disregard for the truth. I think it will resonate with a jury that there should be additional punitive damages associated with Fox’s behavior and conduct,” he said. “I believe that this case is ripe for punitive damages, not just because of the willfulness on the part of lying about Ray and the egregious lies but also because there’s a past conduct here of disregard for the truth.” Rodney Smolla, president of Vermont Law School who consulted for Dominion in its case against Fox, told The New York Times that when it comes to proving defamation “no case is easy” but the lawsuit from Mr Epps is “certainly, in my view, viable.” The challenge, Mr Smolla said, is for a judge to agree that the conspiracy theory is “so inherently, bizarrely improbable that only a reckless person would put it into circulation.” The lawsuit follows a cease-and-desist letter that Mr Teter sent to the network earlier this year, demanding that Carlson retract his “false and defamatory” statements about him and deliver a “formal on-air apology” for the “lies” he promoted. Fox did not respond, Mr Teter said. The extensive filings in the Dominion case documented how Fox employees “were harassed and intimidated and threatened by Fox viewers because of the lies that Fox was spreading about the company,” according to Mr Teter. “And if a company is going to feel the brunt of that, then an individual who’s singularly targeted by Fox is going to especially feel that, and so they acted with a heightened degree of malice and disregard for the consequences of their actions,” he said. The Independent has requested comment from Fox. On his Tucker Carlson Tonight, Carlson claimed there is “no rational explanation” why this “mysterious figure” who “helped stage-manage the insurrection” had not yet been charged, among more than two dozen statements collected in the lawsuit, which notes that the claims were not isolated to Carlson’s prime-time program. “Fox repeatedly published defamatory falsehoods about Epps, including by broadcasting and rebroadcasting defamatory statements by Tucker Carlson who devoted over two dozen segments to Epps and by republishing those falsehoods” across Fox platforms, according to the lawsuit. The House select committee that investigated the January 6 attack and efforts to overturn the 2020 election also dismissed the conspiracy theory surrounding Mr Epps. In his interview with committee investigators, he testified that he was not a federal agent, and that the “crazy” conspiracy theories surrounding him have torn his life apart. “It’s almost like an out of body experience like, ‘is this really happening to me?’” Mr Teter said. “They had one life that was serene and calm and happy and contented and busy and prosperous. And then within a matter of weeks or months, after lies started being told about them, all that disappeared, all of it.” Ray and his wife Robyn Epps received threatening messages, including death threats and a plastic bag with a bullet casing inside and voicemails threatening to burn their house down, according to the complaint, which includes several examples of harassing emails, letters and text messages. They were forced to sell their five-acre ranch in Arizona, out of which they ran their wedding business, according to the complaint. They moved into a 350-square-foot mobile home in Utah. “The business went with it,” Mr Teter said. “They didn’t get to sell the business separately. It just was part of the house going for the appraised value and that was it. There was no additional value of the business. So they’ve lost their business. They’ve lost their livelihood.” The lawsuit also seeks unspecified “significant” damages for the extensive emotional harm the couple has endured. The Epps’s story illustrates the depths of the conspiratorial coverage driving right-wing media – the irony of a Trump-supporting Fox News viewer turning into the star of a conspiracy theory is not lost on Mr Teter. “I think it demonstrates the extreme nature of conspiracy theories and that conspiracy theories are often born out of his political tool,” He said. “You could look at any amount of evidence existing prior to January 6 to see that Ray Epps and Robyn Epps supported Donald Trump and supported Republicans. The fact that they would turn against some of their own demonstrates that it really is about serving some other interests and other purpose.” Those claims have also been echoed by Republican members of Congress who have made Mr Epps the subject of investigative hearings. On the same day the lawsuit was filed, House Republicans grilled FBI director Christopher Wray about alleged federal agents at the scene of the attack. “I will say this notion that somehow the violence at the Capitol on January 6 was part of some operation orchestrated by FBI sources and agents is ludicrous and is a disservice to our brave, hardworking dedicated men and women,” Mr Wray said in his sworn testimony to the House Judiciary Committee. Carlson, in his first interview since his exit from the network in the wake of the Dominion settlement, said he doesn’t know why he was fired. The network announced that Carlson “agreed to part ways” days after Fox agreed to the settlement with the voting machine company over bogus claims that Carlson privately disputed but amplified on air. Fox also reached a $12m settlement with Abby Grossberg, a former producer for Tucker Carlson Tonight, who alleged a culture of misogyny at the network in a federal lawsuit that depicted an environment where women are routinely verbally violated “by a poisonous and entrenched patriarchy.” Speaking about her case, Ms Grossberg alleged that she was directed to find lawyers for January 6 defendants who would speak to and validate a conspiracy theory surrounding any alleged federal involvement in the attack. When none of them would, she was told to find someone else, she said. “Tucker was very set on finding an FBI person who was implanted in the crowd and spinning this conspiracy that they were ultimately the ones responsible for the Capitol attack,” she told MSNBC. An attorney told her, twice, “there is no conspiracy, get away from this stuff, this is dangerous, tell Tucker to stop,” she said. “The response was, ‘Find somebody else. Tucker is really intent on this,’” she said. Mr Teter said they are keeping the door open for potential settlement discussions, but attorneys have not had any communication from the network’s legal team after issuing the cease-and-desist letter in March. “They’ve had opportunities to reach out to us,” he told The Independent. “Maybe it takes the formality of a complaint to get those conversations started. And if they want to engage in those conversations, we are always open to them.” Ray and Robyn Epps face the prospect of a similar media circus that descended on the near-trial in the Dominion case, with media reporters and news outlets from around the US parked in front of the Delaware courthouse in Wilmington. “They’ve been scrutinized for two years. And so in some sense, having a framework and a forum that is fair and deliberate and meaningful will be much better for them than what they’ve had to experience,” Mr Teter said. “They’re open-eyed about it. They know their lives will never be the same as they were before.” Read More How conservatives turned Ray Epps into a Capitol riot scapegoat FBI director shoots down ‘ludicrous’ January 6 conspiracy theory Damning court documents reveal Rudy Giuliani knew claims about Georgia election workers were false Executives who helped create Fox News say network has become dangerous ‘disinformation machine’ Tucker Carlson doesn’t know why he was fired from Fox News Meet Jesse Watters, the Fox News host helming Tucker Carlson’s primetime slot Justice Department challenges prison sentences for Oath Keepers convicted on January 6 charges

Federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results have questioned his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, among other witnesses to see if the former president acknowledged he had lost. Mr Kushner testified in Washington DC last month, according to a report from The New York Times, and maintained that the former president believed the election was stolen, a source briefed on the matter said. It has also emerged that other key administration figures including Alyssa Farah Griffin and Hope Hicks were also questioned. Elsewhere, special counsel Jack Smith told a federal judge there is “no basis in law or fact” for indefinitely postponing the federal trial of Mr Trump and urged the court to proceed with jury selection in December. In a new court filing, Smith wrote that one of Trump’s legal arguments "borders on frivolous" and said there’s no evidence that waiting until after the 2024 presidential election would make the process any easier. Meanwhile, recent financial disclosure forms show Melania Trump was paid as much as $155,000 by a Super PAC linked to her husband for “event planning and consulting”. Read More Ron DeSantis rules out being Trump’s running mate: ‘I’m not a number two guy’ GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him. We’re sick of it’ Trump sees democracy as ‘enemy territory’ says journalist who helped bring down Nixon Everything we know about Ray Epps, the man conservatives blame for the Capitol riot

The House Ethics Committee has reportedly revived a probe into Representative Matt Gaetz (R-FL) regarding allegations of misconduct, as investigators have reportedly begun reaching out to witnesses. A witness from Florida told CNN they spoke with investigators recently about alleged “lobbying violations.” Other witnesses have also been contacted by the Ethics Committee, a source close to the matter told CNN. The Ethics Committee investigation is a continuation of their 2021 probe into Mr Gaetz’s alleged “misconduct” while serving as a representative. It is unclear what misconduct the witnesses were interviewed for, though the initial probe regarded sexual misconduct, illicit drug use, misuse of state identification records and bribery. Earlier this year, the Department of Justice (DOJ) declined to charge Mr Gaetz after a sex trafficking investigation that was deferred to them by the Ethics Committee upon request. Last year, an ex-associate of Mr Gaetz, Joel Greenberg, was sentenced to 11 years in prison after pleading guilty to six federal crimes, including sex trafficking of a minor. After the DOJ reached a conclusion, the Ethics Committee restored its own investigation. A spokesperson for Mr Gaetz directed The Independent to comments he made to CNN regarding the investigation. The Florida lawmaker said the investigation is “not something I’m worried about” adding that he’s “focused on the work.” “The Ethics Committee typically operates through leaks and so this is no surprise,” Mr Gaetz said. “But the Ethics Committee has never found me to be in violation of House rules, though they’ve been investigating me during my entire seven years in Congress.” He added: “It’s also funny that the one guy who doesn’t take the corrupt lobbyist and PAC money seems to be under the most Ethics investigation.” The committee’s decision to pursue the investigation by reaching out to witnesses marks the first time investigators have taken steps since the probe was revived. The Ethics Committee is currently led by Rep Michael Guest (R-MS). Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy declined to comment to CNN about the investigation claiming he doesn’t “know anything” regarding the details of it. Read More Gaetz and Boebert vow to force McCarthy into ‘monogamous relationship’ Matt Gaetz associate Joel Greenberg asks court to delay sentencing in trafficking case The debt limit vote signals the beginning of the end for Kevin McCarthy Matt Gaetz takes CPAC victory lap over sex trafficking probe: ‘Vindication looks pretty good on me’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s obvious impatience over Nato’s slow-moving decision-making process has reportedly irritated US officials enough that they reconsidered Ukraine’s invitation to join the alliance. For months, Mr Zelensky has appealed to Nato leaders hoping they would accept his country’s application to join the alliance as they fight off Russian troops. But Nato countries have been reluctant – not wanting to rock the boat too much with Russia during the middle of the war. Then, after Nato countries failed to deliver a specific timeline to Mr Zelensky on Nato membership before the summit this week, Mr Zelensky’s frustration resulted in a more aggressive approach in the form of a tweet. “It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about "conditions" is added even for inviting Ukraine. It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to NATO nor to make it a member of the Alliance,” Mr Zelensky wrote on Tuesday. “This means that a window of opportunity is being left to bargain Ukraine’s membership in NATO in negotiations with Russia. And for Russia, this means motivation to continue its terror.” He added: “Uncertainty is weakness. And I will openly discuss this at the summit.” Mr Zelensky’s strong message was a clear response to Nato’s unspecific and vague statement regarding Ukraine’s membership: “We will be in a position to extend an invitation to Ukraine when allies agree and conditions are met” However the Ukrainian’s message to Nato leaders left US officials feeling particularly “furious”, a source familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. Several US officials allegedly questioned whether the alliance should get rid of the passage which Mr Zelensky found “absurd”, The Post reported. The US has already given Ukraine more than $75bn in assistance. Most recently the Pentagon announced that they had sent the controversial cluster munitions to assist in Ukraine’s fight against Russia. Despite the hiccup, byy the end of the Nato summit on Wednesday, Mr Zelesnky had come to Nato’s accept decision calling it a “significant security victory” while still reiterating the preferred outcome would be an invitation to join Nato. Read More Pentagon says cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine The Nato summit was not the triumph that Zelensky hoped it would be Nato could have sent a stronger signal on Ukraine’s future – Iain Duncan Smith Pentagon says cluster munitions have arrived in Ukraine Senators renew effort to bar future US withdrawal from Nato Republican senator should drop his 'irresponsible' protest and OK military nominees, Biden says

Federal prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election results have questioned his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, among other witnesses to see if the former president acknowledged he had lost. Mr Kushner testified in Washington DC last month, according to a report from The New York Times. During his testimony, the former president’s son-in-law maintained that Mr Trump believed the election was stolen, a source briefed on the matter said. Other people close to Mr Trump, including Alyssa Farah Griffin, the former White House director of strategic communications, and Hope Hicks, the former White House communications director were questioned as well. More follows Read More Zelensky’s Nato tweet infuriated US officials so much they reconsidered, report says Trump 2020 election interference probe hears from Michigan official – live California still has an anti-gay marriage law on the books. Voters could remove it next year

Evan Gershkovich appeared tense as he paced back and forth inside a glass cage in the Moscow City Court on 22 June. Gershkovich, 31, had been arrested and detained in Yekaterinburg, Russia, nearly three months earlier on 29 March on suspicion of espionage while on assignment for The Wall Street Journal. Wearing a black T-shirt and light blue jeans, Gershkovich was briefly paraded before cameras inside the courtroom box known as an “aquarium”, a relic of Soviet show trials. After the media was ushered out, he chatted to his parents in the public gallery while waiting for a judge to rule on an appeal challenging his pre-trial detention, according to an Associated Press report. The appeal was quickly dismissed, and Gershkovich was returned to the feared Lefortovo prison where he has reportedly been kept in solitary confinement since his arrest. “Evan continued to show remarkable strength and resiliency in these very difficult circumstances,” US Ambassador Lynne Tracy, who was present in court, told reporters afterward. Now in his fourth month in captivity on charges that have been widely condemned as spurious and politically motivated, diplomatic efforts to secure Gershkovich’s release are intensifying. On Thursday 13 July, President Joe Biden confirmed that US officials were in talks with their Russian counterparts to secure a prisoner swap for Gershkovich. “I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter,” Mr Biden said during a press conference in Helsinki. “And that process is underway.” In the meantime, Gershkovich’s contact with the outside is limited to a handful of visits from family, US officials and advocates, and weekly letters to his sister and close friends. The Federal Security Service (FSB), Russia’s top security agency and successor organisation to the KGB, has claimed that Gershkovich had been caught collecting information on “the activities of one of the enterprises of the military defence complex”. The Journal, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and the US Congress have denied the allegations and demanded his immediate release. The State Department has since designated Gershkovich as “wrongfully detained”, allowing its Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs to lead the case for his release. Who is Evan Gershkovich? The son of Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union who grew up speaking Russian at home in Princeton, New Jersey, Gershkovich graduated from the prestigious Bowdoin College in Maine. He later embarked on a career in the media and moved to Russia in late 2018, working for The New York Times, then The Moscow Times and then Agence France-Presse. In 2022, he joined the WSJ, where he began covering Russian affairs just a month before the invasion of Ukraine last year. The accomplished reporter “fell in love” with his parent’s homeland, according to the Journal. He was determined to tell important stories at a crucial juncture for the country, despite the risk. He would spend his weekends chatting to friends about news, politics and sport in saunas, and hanging out with punk bands in Moscow dive bars. At the time of his arrest, Gershkovich was reporting on the impact of sanctions on the Russian economy from the Ural mountains. His final report, published the day before his arrest, was headlined Russia’s Economy Is Starting to Come Undone. Gershkovich wrote that the Russian economy was feeling the heat of Western sanctions and faced a slowdown, adding that the government’s revenue was “being squeezed”. The arrest Evan Gershkovich was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg on spying charges, the FSB announced on 29 March. According to the Journal, Gershkovich texted a colleague at about 4pm that day to say he had just arrived at a steakhouse in the city. The first sign of trouble came in a vague Telegram post that FSB agents had arrested a diner at a restaurant in the city. Concerned colleagues tried desperately to reach Gershkovich. The next day, the FSB said it had “stopped the illegal activities” of a US citizen it identified as “Gershkovich Evan... who is suspected of spying in the interests of the American government”. Images on Russian state media showed the journalist being led from the restaurant surrounded by plain clothes FSB officers. The FSB claimed Gershkovich had been tasked “by the American side” with gathering information about “the activities of one of the enterprises of the military defence complex”, believed to refer to a factory, although the FSB declined to name the facility or its exact location or provide any documentary or video evidence of Gershkovich’s guilt. The journalist had reportedly been visiting Nizhny Tagil, the site of Russian battle tank producer Uralvagonzavod, according to Russian news website Meduza, which is based in Latvia. Dozens of companies producing weapons are based in the city. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova claimed that Gershkovich’s activities in Yekaterinburg were “not related to journalism”. The arrest sent a chill through other western journalists based in Russia. The Kremlin’s bullish spokesman Dmitry Peskov said other journalists working in Russia could remain provided they had the right credentials, adding: “Those carrying out normal journalistic activity will obviously keep working, if they have proper accreditation. There will be no problems with that.” What an authoritarian regime chooses to consider “normal journalistic activity” or otherwise, however, is open to question. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many foreign journalists have pulled out of the country, particularly after Vladimir Putin’s administration enacted laws to punish anyone who discredits its forces taking part in the conflict. The State Department had repeatedly advised all Americans to leave Russia. Of the foreign correspondents still operating from Moscow, many remain uncertain about where precisely the line is, but saying anything critical about the Russian military or the economy being in a state of decline appears to carry a severe risk. Punishment without crime The detained journalist made his first court appearance at a closed hearing on 30 March, where he was ordered held in pre-trial detention until 29 May. Daniil Berman, a lawyer representing Gershkovich, said he would be taken to Lefortovo, the 19th century central Moscow jail notorious for torture and executions during Soviet-era purges. When Josef Stalin began the “Great Terror” of mass arrests in the 1930s, Lefortovo was one of the main holding centres for designated “enemies of the people”. Prominent former inmates at the prison included members of the attempted 1991 coup d'état, and Alexander Litvinineko, the Russian dissident who was poisoned by FSB agents with polonium-210 in London in 2006. “Lefortovo is the most isolated place to be, and this is the torture,” Litvinenko’s wife Marina told the Journal in April. Gershkovich pleaded not guilty to the espionage charges, but as the case was marked “top secret”, authorities have still not produced any evidence against him. Most espionage trials are carried out in secret in Russia, and almost always result in conviction. The Journal said it was “deeply concerned” for his safety and that it “vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter”. The White House echoed those sentiments, saying in a statement that the “targeting of American citizens by the Russian government is unacceptable”. It added: “We condemn the detention of Mr Gershkovich in the strongest terms. We also condemn the Russian government’s continued targeting and repression of journalists and freedom of the press.” Asked on 31 March about the matter, US President Joe Biden urged Russia to release Gershkovich. “Let him go,” he told reporters in Washington when asked if he had a message for the Kremlin. A Russian state prison monitor, Alexei Melnikov, revealed on 3 April that Gershkovich was in a quarantine cell while undergoing medical checks, had been reading a book from the prison library and had access to a TV, radio and refrigerator. On 4 April, lawyers were allowed to see the defendant for the first time. “Evan’s health is good, and he is grateful for the outpouring of support from around the world. We continue to call for his immediate release,” WSJ’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, said in a note to her newsroom, adding that the newspaper was encouraged by the visit. Gershkovich’s family, she said, “are relieved to know we finally have contact with Evan.” His first meeting with a US official following his detention came on 17 April when Ambassador Tracy was granted access. “He is in good health and remains strong,” she told reporters after her meeting. On 18 April, Gershkovich appeared at a hearing on his appeal, where the Moscow City Court upheld his detention. Appearing before cameras inside the “aquarium”, Gershkovich smiled and appeared to be in good spirits. His wrists bore marks showing he appeared to have been kept in handcuffs. The court denied requests to grant Gershkovich bail, move him to another jail or put him on house arrest. On 23 May, Russian media reported that Gershkovich’s detention had been extended until 30 August. The court hearing where that decision was made had not been announced in advance and details remain scant. The next week, a Russian court upheld his pre-trial detention until at least 30 August. “Although the outcome was expected, it is no less an outrage that his detention continues to be upheld,” the Journal said in a statement at the time. The US House of Representatives has since passed a bipartisan resolution calling for Gershkovich’s immediate release. Potential prisoner swap As Gershkovich spent his 100th day in prison on 7 July, officials in both the United States and Russia confirmed they had been in talks about a possible prisoner swap. “We are prepared to do hard things in order to get our citizens home, including getting Evan home,” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said. “I do not want to give false hope.” His comments came two days after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed talks had been going on behind the scenes. “We have said that there have been certain contacts on the subject, but we don’t want them to be discussed in public,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters, according to the Associated Press. “They must be carried out and continue in complete silence.” The AP noted that Russian officials had carried out consular visits with Vladimir Dunaev, a Russian citizen in US custody on cybercrime charges. Hopes were raised further on 13 July, when President Biden said he was seriously considering a prisoner exchange during a joint press conference with Finnish president Sauli Niinistö in Helsinki. Gershkovich’s sister Danielle, speaking at a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington DC on 13 July, said she received a letter from her brother about once a week. “I’m so proud of him…I don’t know how he’s staying so brave,” Ms Gershkovich said. Speaking to ABC News this month, Gershkovich’s parents Mikhail Gershkovich and Ella Milman said that Mr Biden had promised to do “whatever it takes” to bring their son home. The precedent Gershkovich’s arrest makes him the first American reporter to be arrested on espionage charges in Russia since 1986, when Nicholas Daniloff of The US News and World Report was arrested by the KGB. Daniloff was released without charge 20 days later in a swap for an employee of the Soviet Union’s UN mission, who had been arrested by the FBI, likewise on spying charges. But he is not the only American currently being held on spying charges by Russia. Former Marine and corporate security executive Paul Whelan was arrested on dubious espionage charges in 2018 and has since been convicted, although the US government and his family believe they are trumped-up and have called for his release. Brittney Griner was exchanged in December last year for arms dealer Viktor Bout after being jailed on spurious drug charges relating to the possession of cannabis vape oil. She has since called for Gershkovich’s release. Gershkovich is one of at least 59 American citizens wrongfully detained or held hostage abroad, according to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation. The tributes The Reporters Without Borders group said it was “alarmed” by the arrest of Gershkovich and that it “looks like a retaliation measure of Russia against the United States”. Friends and colleagues were shocked by the news and took to social media to describe the defendant as a committed journalist, dismissing the allegations as bogus and ridiculous. “Journalism is not a crime,” they posted. Henry Foy, The Financial Times’ European diplomatic correspondent based in Brussels, tweeted: “Evan is an exemplary foreign correspondent, a brilliant reporter and a wonderful, kind-hearted friend.” Joshua Yaffa, a Russia-Ukraine reporter for The New Yorker, posted: “Evan was not unaware or naïve about the risks. It’s not like he was in Russia because no one bothered to tell him it was dangerous. He is a brave, committed, professional journalist who travelled to Russia to report on stories of import and interest.” Oliver Carroll, a foreign correspondent for The Economist and formerly of The Independent, tweeted that he hopes Gershkovich’s bravery “carries through in these very dark hours. It’s something you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. Let alone Evan, who is one of the nicest guys in journalism.” Read More The Body in the Woods | An Independent TV Original Documentary The harrowing discovery at centre of The Independent’s new documentary Biden says he’s ‘serious’ about prisoner exchange with Russia for Wall Street Journal reporter Blinken says WSJ reporter 'wrongfully detained' by Russia Biden adviser says US is pressing for the release of reporter who has spent 100 days in Russian jail Lawyers meet with jailed American reporter in Moscow prison

Vice President Kamala Harris has been left somewhat red-faced after a clip of her attempting to explain artificial intelligence was viewed more than 800,000 times. Ms Harris describing AI as a “fancy thing” during a roundtable with advocacy representatives has been roundly mocked, with many people comparing the answer to some of the gaffes that President Joe Biden has become known for. “I think the first part of this issue that should be articulated is AI is kind of a fancy thing, first of all, it’s two letters, it means artificial intelligence but ultimately ... it’s about machine learning,” Ms Harris said. “And so the machine is taught and part of the issue here is what information is going into the machine that will then determine, and we can predict then if we think about what information is going in, what then will be produced in terms of decisions and opinions that may be made through that process.” One Twitter user referred to Ms Harris’ description as being like “the introduction to a 6th-grade essay on AI”, while another suggested the vice president “always speaks as if she is talking to a room of 3rd graders”. “It’s nearly impossible to tell the difference between Kamala Harris speaking about AI and Bart Simpson’s book report on Treasure Island,” another user added. Ms Harris has previously been mocked for past comments, in particular after she told Today in January 2022 on the topic of the coronavirus pandemic: “It is time for us to do what we have been doing, and that time is every day. Every day, it is time for us to agree that there are things and tools that are available to us to slow this thing down.” The vice president currently has an approval rating of 39.2 per cent, according to polling averages from FiveThirtyEight, while President Biden has a slightly higher approval rating of 40.6 per cent. Read More Vice President Kamala Harris makes history with tiebreaking votes in Senate Kamala Harris arrives in Ghana to ‘deepen ties’ with country amid competition from China Ron DeSantis rules out being Trump’s running mate: ‘I’m not a number two guy’

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is attempting to rally support for a bill that would reveal to Americans if their household devices are spying on them. Mr Cruz took to the Senate floor on Tuesday to rally support for the Informing Consumers about the Smart Devices Act — warning that as more and more Americans bring smart devices into their homes, the result could be a loss of privacy. “In Texas, we’ve become very aware of that cost,” Mr Cruz said. “The past few years, smart thermostats have allowed electric companies to control the temperature in your own home from afar in the name of conserving energy. Furthermore, a lot of Americans don’t realize or expect that the growing number of smart household devices and appliances, have cameras on them, and microphones that can surreptitiously record families and transmit data.” Mr Cruz says his bill would require technology manufacturers to clearly disclose whether their appliances have listening devices, cameras, or any other spying technologies. The bill would not apply to cell phones, laptops, or other devices “that a consumer would reasonably expect to include a camera or microphone.” Mr Cruz first introduced the proposal back in January with Sen Maria Cantwell of Washington, a Democrat. Sen Raphael Warnock of Georgia also joined the bill as a co-sponsor in late March, shortly after it was marked up by the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation committee. According to Mr Cruz’s testimony, the bill passed the Commerce Committee by a voice vote but has not yet been taken up by the full Senate. At its core, Mr Cruz said, the bill is designed as a consumer protection measure to let Americans know what they’re bringing into their home — a right that he feels takes precedent over concerns about government overreach. “Now, I’m sympathetic to the argument that there are too many mandates from government and that many of the mandates are unnecessary, burdensome, and costly,” Mr Cruz said. “But requiring a manufacturer to tell you if they’re spying on you does not fall into that category. And I have to say in assessing the minimal burden, the disclosure burden, against the harm, I fall down on the side of individual liberty. I fall down on the side of privacy.” Privacy is, in many ways, one of the defining issues of the internet age — particularly at a time when the buying and selling of people’s personal data is a multi-billion dollar industry that is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years. “I don’t think the American people want their air fryer spying on them,” Mr Cruz said. “And at a minimum, they have a right to know if their air fryer is spying on them.” Read More Ted Cruz accuses new Barbie movie of ‘pushing Chinese propaganda’

The world just had its hottest June ever for land and sea, with ocean temperatures setting new highs

The gunman who killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue in 2018 is eligible for the death penalty, a jury ruled on Thursday. White supremacist Robert Bowers stormed the Tree of Life synagogue armed with an AR-15 and three handguns on 27 October 2018, killing worshippers as they began Sabbath worship in what was the deadliest antisemitic attack in US history. The 50-year-old truck driver from Baldwin, Pennsylvania, was convicted last month on 63 counts including obstruction of the free exercise of religion resulting in death and use of a firearm to commit murder. A jury took less than two hours to decide that Bowers was eligible for the death penalty, according to the Associated Press. To reach the verdict, the jury had to answer three questions: whether the gunman was over 18, if he had intent, and whether there were one or more aggravating factors. The trial now moves onto a final sentence selection phase where jurors must decide whether he is sentenced to life in prison or death. Prosecutors had argued that Bowers meticulously planned the attack for six months and deliberately chose vulnerable victims, including 97-year-old Rose Ballinger who was shot dead next to her daughter. Experts called by Bowers’ defence attorneys said he had a long history of mental illness, been committed to psychiatric hospitals by the age of 13, and had acted out delusions without any intent to commit murder, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. Jurors heard conflicting testimony from doctors about whether medical scans showed Bowers had suffered significant brain damage. Experts for the defence told the court that Bowers had significant brain damage that could show he was suffering from schizophrenia, and washable to manage emotions, stress and conflict. A prosecution witness argued that the scans showed largely normal brain activity. Read More The Pittsburgh synagogue gunman should be eligible for the death penalty, prosecutor argues Tree of Life synagogue shooter is too delusional to get death penalty, defence argues Synagogue massacre survivor cried 'Mommy' as her 97-year-old mother was shot and killed by her side

By Nyasha Chingono HARARE Zimbabwe and Iran signed 12 memorandums of understanding on Thursday to strengthen bilateral ties,

An elderly man has been killed and two other people injured in a hit-and-run by a driver trying to flee the Secret Service in Washington DC. The tragic incident unfolded just before 1.30pm on Wednesday close to the National Mall when uniformed Secret Service agents spotted a vehicle with an expired registration. Secret Service spokesperson Lt Paul Mayhair said that the officers tried to pull the Honda Accord over at the intersection of 17th Street NW and Constitution Avenue, next to the Ellipse. Initially, the unidentified driver indicated that they would pull over but then suddenly sped off south along 17th Street NW, crossing through a red traffic light and striking three pedestrians who were walking across the crosswalk, authorities said. An eyewitness told NBC Washington that he was standing by the intersection at the time of the crash and saw the 75-year-old man thrown into the air when the car hit him. The victim landed on the hood before the driver allegedly ran over him again and then fled the scene. “All of a sudden, it just hit the guy. The guy flew up – I saw him when he was flying up. He came down on the hood,” said the unnamed witness. “All of a sudden, he backed up a little bit and ran over him again and kept on continuing down until the light.” The Secret Service agents rendered aid to the victims – including a 75-year-old man and a 13-year-old girl – on the scene. The elderly man was then rushed to hospital in critical condition where he died from his injuries. The other two victims suffered minor injuries. The suspect, whose identity is still unknown, managed to get away in the chaos and is still believed to be on the run as of Thursday morning. Authorities are now looking for the suspect and for the blue 2006 Honda Accord with Virginia tags 8718BE used in the hit-and-run. An alert has been issued to law enforcement agencies in the area to be on the lookout. Anyone with information is urged to call 911 immediately. The incident comes just weeks after a 19-year-old crashed a U-Haul van into the barricades outside the White House. Sai Varshith Kandula, from Missouri, was arrested on the scene by Secret Service agents who found he was carrying a Nazi flag in the van. Investigators say Mr Kandula plotted the attack for six months in an attempt to try to “seize power” from the government. Read More A U-haul truck, a Nazi flag and threats to kill the president: What we know about the White House crash GOP lawmaker compares Hunter Biden to glitter: ‘You cannot get rid of him. We’re sick of it’ Fox host complains Biden doesn’t push other world leaders out of his way physically like Trump did