Ballerina held: Russia has arrested a ballerina from Los Angeles and says she may be guilty of treason for having made a small contribution to support the people of Ukraine. The ballerina is Kseniya Karelina. She was born in Russia but became a U.S. citizen about two years ago. She went to Russia at the beginning of the year and was taken into custody Feb. 8. In a different case, a Russian court ruled yesterday that Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich will continue to be held in custody while awaiting trial on espionage charges.
Russian help for Trump: Information that House Republicans used to justify their investigating President Biden and his son Hunter came from a Russian disinformation campaign designed to help Donald Trump win the 2024 election according to the former FBI informant who supplied the Republicans with the information. That revelation is in a document filed in federal court in Las Vegas, where former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov has been charged with lying to the FBI. According to the filing by federal prosecutors, Smirnov now has admitted that information he was passing along to Republicans in Congress actually was given to him by Russian intelligence sources.
Food convoy: CNN reported today that Israeli troops fired on a U.N. convoy bringing food to Gaza and then blocked the convoy from continuing on its mission. CNN reported that the food was destroyed. CNN said it has seen a document showing that the convoy’s route had been agreed to beforehand by the U.N. and the Israeli military. The Israel Defense Forces said it is looking into the incident but beyond that had no comment for CNN.
Sanctions: The European Union today approved a new package of sanctions against Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. This is the 13th time Western European countries have imposed sanctions on Russia because of the war it started. President Biden announced that a package of new U.S. sanctions against Russia will be announced Friday. The latest sanctions come in the wake of the death of Russian dissident Alexey Navalny in a Russian prison camp last week.
Port moves: Today, a White House Executive Order takes effect that bolsters the Department of Homeland Security’s authority to directly address maritime cyber threats. It includes giving the U.S. Coast Guard the authority to respond to malicious cyber activity in the nation’s ports. It allows the Coast Guard to control the movement of vessels that present a known or suspected cyber threat to U.S. maritime infrastructure. The Coast Guard is able to inspect those vessels and facilities that pose a threat to U.S. cybersecurity. Also, the White House announced that the U.S. will invest approximately $20 billion to replace cranes made in China that are in use at U.S. ports with cranes made in the U.S.
Embryos: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean- Pierre says that the Biden Administration will continue trying to protect women’s reproductive rights following the Alabama Supreme Court’s decision that frozen embryos are children and anyone destroying a frozen embryo can be put on trial for committing a wrongful death. The Alabama court ruled in cases brought by couples whose frozen embryos were destroyed in an accident at a fertility clinic. All nine judges on the Alabama Supreme Court are Republicans.
