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Brittney Griner: Russia frees US basketball star in swap with arms dealer Viktor Bout

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Brittney Griner, an incarcerated American basketball player, was traded to Russia for notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout, who had been detained in an American jail for 12 years. According to President Joe Biden, Griner is safe and returning home from the United Arab Emirates on a plane.

He stated at the White House, “I’m delighted to hear Brittney’s in excellent spirits… she needs time and space to heal. Russian media reported that Bout, also known as the “dealer of death,” has returned to Moscow.

After arriving in Russia, Bout made a few brief comments to a reporter from national television. “In the middle of the night they just woke me up and said ‘Get your things together,’ and that was it,” he claimed.

Bout allegedly hugged his mother and wife as he descended the plane’s stairs while carrying a bunch of flowers. Griner was detained in February at a Moscow airport for having cannabis oil, and last month he was transferred to a prison camp.

In July, the Biden administration suggested a prisoner swap, knowing that Moscow had long demanded Bout’s release. Two private aircraft flew the pair from Moscow and Washington to Abu Dhabi airport for the elaborate swap, and then flew them back home.

Footage on Russian state media – apparently provided by Russian security services – showed them crossing on the tarmac with their respective teams.

“The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Speaking in the Oval Office, Brittney Griner’s wife Cherelle praised the efforts of the Biden administration in securing her release: “I’m just standing here overwhelmed with emotions.”

A joint Saudi-UAE statement claims that UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman were instrumental in the mediation efforts.

The Saudi heir to the throne enjoys good ties with Vladimir Putin of Russia, and in September he assisted in organising a complicated exchange of hundreds of captives held by Russia and Ukraine.

However, the White House insisted that no mediation had taken place. “The only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia,” said press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.

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Wirecard trial of executives opens in German fraud scandal

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An accusation of complicity in the largest fraud case in German history has been brought against the former CEO of the notorious German payment provider Wirecard. Its rapid ascent from humble origins to one of Germany’s major financial monsters was overseen by Markus Braun, 53.

Politicians and businesspeople were enthralled by Wirecard’s success up until its equally stunning fall from grace. The trial on Thursday will take place in a secure courtroom at Munich’s Stadelheim prison. The former CEO of Wirecard, Mr. Braun, is being held in pre-trial custody at the jail and maintains his innocence.

Also on trial are two additional former managers. In charge of the Dubai division of Wirecard was Oliver Bellenhaus, and Stephan von Erffa oversaw accounting. If found guilty, they might spend several years in prison.

The courthouse, which is 5 metres (16 feet) below ground and has a bomb-proof ceiling, was created for the trials of alleged terrorists or mafia members. A dramatic backdrop that may be appropriate for a lawsuit that completely upended Germany’s financial and political system.

The former COO of Wirecard is one person who is not facing charges. Jan Marsalek had left by the time the full scope of the scandal involving the payments industry giant became public in June 2020.

He was regarded as Markus Braun’s number two and quickly became both Germany’s and Europol’s most wanted man after allegedly engaging in commercial gang fraud.

Before taking a private jet to Belarus, he is thought to have fled to an airport south of Vienna. The government in Moscow has denied claims that he developed close ties with its security services, but recent reports place him in Russia.

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Greek Roma boy shot by police prompts outrage in Greece

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A police officer shot a teenager in the head as he fled a gas station, apparently without paying, and the boy is now fighting for his life in a hospital in Greece. The 16-year-old Roma youngster was shot twice by the cop in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city.

On Monday, protesters flocked to the streets and doused police with gasoline bombs. The incident has brought attention to the persistent problem of police violence in Greek cities. In a car pursuit outside of Athens last year, an 18-year-old Roma man named Nikos Sampanis was shot and killed, and on December 6, 2008, a 15-year-old child was killed in the nation’s capital during a police night patrol.

Every year, there are significant protests in Athens and other towns in remembrance of Alexis Grigoropoulos’s death in Exarchia’s central district. On Tuesday, thousands of officers were stationed throughout the capital to quell unrest.  The juvenile who carried out the most recent shooting refuelled his car with fuel costing €20 (£17) before driving off. Four cops were in the gas station at the time, according to CCTV published on Tuesday.

Police on motorcycles after the 16-year-old as he fled in his car. He allegedly turned his car at them with the intention of striking them, according to the police. After hearing of his shooting, members of the neighbourhood Roma community demonstrated in front of the Thessaloniki hospital where the youngster underwent surgery to remove the bullet from his skull. Protesters joined friends and relatives at the scene and stones were thrown at police, who responded with stun grenades.

According to local sources, in the west of the city, Roma protesters set fire to tyres and trash cans. The police officer who was shot in court was also charged with attempted homicide and other offences. A video from outside the court that later went viral shows a man who has been identified as the boy’s father being physically assaulted by police. While being flung to the ground, the individual is seen being surrounded by riot cops.

The Council of Europe estimates that there are over 270,000 Roma (Gypsies) in Greece, the majority of whom reside in squalid conditions. The boy’s lawyer told reporters that they did not want him to turn into another Alexis Grigoropoulos as the young man lay in a severe condition at a hospital in Thessaloniki.

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Russia: Bodies of 2,500 seals found along Caspian Sea coast

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On the southern Russian shore of the Caspian Sea, authorities have discovered some 2,500 dead seals. According to officials, there is no evidence that they perished violently.

Although initially just 700 dead seals were recorded, later research has shown a substantially greater number, and counting is still ongoing. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed Caspian seals as endangered since 2008.

According to a statement from Zaur Gapizov, director of the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, the seals likely passed away two weeks ago. According to him, there is no proof that the animals were killed or caught in fishing nets.

A significant number had been discovered between the mouths of two rivers, the Sulak and the Shurinka, according to a Telegram post from the Dagestan region’s ministry of natural resources and the environment.

The ministry stated that experts have taken samples from the seals and that the causes of the deaths would be determined once the lab results are in. Through decades of overhunting and industrial pollution, the Caspian Sea’s seal population has significantly decreased.

Just 70,000 people remain today, according to the Caspian Environmental Protection Center, compared to more than a million a century ago.

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Ukraine war: Fighting set to slow for winter months, says US intelligence

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US intelligence agencies predict that the combat in Ukraine will continue to wane through the upcoming winter. However, according to US head of intelligence Avril Haines, there hasn’t been any indication of Ukrainian forces’ resistance weakening.

Both sides, according to her, would endeavour to “refit, replenish, and reconstitute” for any springtime counteroffensive. The crucial energy infrastructure of Ukraine had already been attacked by Russia.

Even though Russia has lost more than half of the territory it had conquered, the war in Ukraine is already in its ninth month. The majority of the combat is presently taking place near the eastern Ukrainian cities of Bakhmut and Donetsk, Ms. Haines stated at a defence symposium in California.

She said fighting had slowed down following Russia’s withdrawal of troops from the west of the Kherson region last month.

“We’re seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict… and we expect that’s likely to be what we see in the coming months,” she said.

She said both Ukraine and Russian militaries would be looking to prepare for any counter-offensive after the winter.

“But we actually have a fair amount of scepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be, in fact, prepared to do that,” she said.

“I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that time frame.”

According to Ms. Haines, US intelligence believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin is now unaware of the full extent of his military’s difficulties.

“We observe ammo shortages, morale problems, supply problems, logistics, and a host of other issues that they are dealing with.”

On the other hand, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that a price ceiling imposed on Russian oil exports by his Western partners was “weak” and that it was not “severe” enough to harm the Russian economy.

The cap, which is set to take effect on Monday, aims to prevent nations from paying more than $60 (£48) a barrel for Russian crude oil that is transported by sea.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, stated that although Moscow had planned for the action, it would not sell its oil under the quota.

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Finland’s Sanna Marin says Europe would be in trouble without US

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According to Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin, Europe “is not strong enough” to resist Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on its own and has been forced to rely on US assistance. The head of the potential Nato member stated that Europe’s defences needed to be bolstered while on a visit to Australia.

She added, “I have to be brutally honest with you, Europe isn’t strong enough at the moment. Without the United States, “we would be in serious difficulty.” The majority of Ukraine’s military support comes from the US. According to a research briefing released by the UK’s House of Commons last month, it has invested $18.6 billion (€17.7 billion; £15.2 billion) in support since the conflict began in February.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, the European Union is the second-largest donor, followed by the United Kingdom. However, the US’s contributions much outweigh theirs. Additionally, Ms. Marin argued that more needs to be done to strengthen European defences as military supplies from European nations to Ukraine are running low.

Ms. Marin stated: “The United States has contributed a lot of weaponry, a lot of money, a lot of humanitarian aid to Ukraine and Europe isn’t strong enough yet” on Friday at the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney.

She continued by saying that Europe needed to “develop those capacities in terms of European defence, European defence industry, and making sure that we could handle in different sorts of situations.”

Donald Trump, the president of the United States, frequently criticised NATO members who do not spend enough on defence while in office. According to estimates, the US spent slightly over 3.7% of its GDP on defence in 2020, compared to an average of 1.77% for NATO members in Europe and Canada.

Prime Minister Marin continued by criticising recent initiatives by some European nations to improve their relations with Russia.

The UK said in June that its defence spending would reach 2.5% of GDP by the end of the decade under then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

According to NATO, all members must pledge 2% in order to “guarantee the alliance’s military readiness.” Additionally, new proposals have been made for NATO countries to raise their defence spending to 3% of GDP.

Finland, which has a significant border with Russia, submitted an official application to join NATO in May. Accession protocols were signed in July, but all other members have not yet ratified them.

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Jeanne Dielman: Film directed by woman picked as best ever

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An expert panel has selected a female-directed movie as the best ever made.  The British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound survey placed Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, directed by Chantal Akerman, in first place.

It is the first time a female director’s film has made it into the top ten. The poll, which is conducted every ten years, has drawn flak for its lack of diversity.  For 40 years, Citizen Kane by Orson Welles occupied the top slot. Vertigo, a film by Alfred Hitchcock, surpassed it in 2012.

Jeanne Dielman, released in 1975, is the story of a Belgian widow who turns to prostitution to make ends meet, but kills one of her clients. The film runs for almost three and a half hours.

It has been praised as a “masterpiece” and a groundbreaking work of feminist film, despite not  being as well known outside of the field of film criticism as past winners. The 65-year-old Belgian director Chantal Akerman passed away in 2015.

The poll’s contributor, writer and film critic Lillian Crawford, called the movie the “essential text” of female cinema.

“Jeanne Dielman isn’t a film that I would say to someone getting into cinema ‘Oh, this is the first film you absolutely must see’,” she told the BBC.

“I think if you’re going to work through the list, maybe do it in reverse order and sort of build towards it, because it’s quite an ask to invite people to see this.

“But in an academic sense and thinking about cinema and encouraging more people to seek out experimental film, films by women, and in terms of the history of feminist cinema, this is absolutely the sort of essential text.”

In an article for the British Film Institute, Laura Mulvey, a professor of film studies at Birkbeck University, called the vote a “sudden shake-up”.

In 2012, Touki Bouki by Djibril Diop Mambéty and Jeanne Dielman, both directed by black filmmakers, were the only two black films to be included on the list.

The quantity and variety of those consulted have grown over time. The best 10 movies of the year were chosen by 1,639 critics, programmers, curators, archivists, and academics.

Vertigo, the previous winner, came in at number two, followed by Citizen Kane at number three.

Fourth place went to Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, and fifth place went to Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love.

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Germany to ease entry rules for skilled workers

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In order to draw qualified individuals to its labour market, the German government has agreed to loosen its immigration regulations. The cabinet wants a points system a la Canada to hire people who speak German or possess the necessary qualifications.

Europe’s largest economy, Germany, requires an additional 400,000 foreign workers annually, according to analysts. According to Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the changes will result in “the most modern immigration law in Europe.”

Conservative opposition leader Friedrich Merz criticised the measures, claiming that Germany was underutilizing its potential and had more than two million unemployed people.

He claimed that while it already benefited from the EU’s commitment to freedom of movement, individuals did not want to relocate there because “the paperwork is horrendous, the taxes are too expensive.” The workforce in Germany is getting older and there are shortages in the IT, healthcare, and construction industries. Hubertus Heil, the minister of labour, estimated that by 2035, seven million skilled workers will be required.

According to Rainer Dulger of the BDA employers’ confederation, “We need people who will help us to retain our success in this country.” The three-party coalition in power seeks to enact a “opportunity card,” based on a points system, which would be used to evaluate non-EU candidates by taking into account things like education and linguistic proficiency.

The process for recognising foreign qualifications would be simplified and unskilled workers would also be allowed in to fill certain sectors.

The suggestions may not be presented to the Bundestag, the German parliament, for several months, but Robert Habeck, the minister of economics, said there is now a pressing need to address the issue: “We have been aware of the impending demographic issue for years, but not enough has been done.”

The proposed immigration reforms follow closely on the heels of ideas to speed up the citizenship process for immigrants living in Germany. Chancellor Olaf Scholz stated that certain persons might be allowed to become citizens after only three years as opposed to up to eight.

The proposed law would further shorten the five-year waiting period for applicants who can demonstrate integration and German language proficiency.

Additionally, the government intends to amend the constitution to permit dual citizenship, which is currently virtually prohibited in Germany.

This week, Mr. Scholz claimed that immigrants “are bringing Germany ahead” and that Germany had transformed into “a land of hope” for those seeking to start new lives.

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Formula 1: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto to leave at end of year

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At the end of the year, Mattia Binotto will step down from his role as Ferrari team principal. The 53-year-old resigned from his position, according to a statement released by Ferrari on Tuesday, adding the search for a replacement was “underway”.

Since 1995, Binotto has been a member of the Ferrari team. He recently announced his decision to leave the company with regret. As difficult as it has been for me to make this decision, it is right to move forward.

Binotto rose through the ranks of the organisation, first overseeing the engine division, then serving as the technical director for the entire F1 team, and then becoming the helm. He leaves at the end of a season in which Ferrari achieved their goals of returning to winning races, but which was marked by a series of reliability failures and operational errors.

Binotto said: “I am leaving a company that I love, which I have been part of for 28 years, with the serenity that comes from the conviction that I have made every effort to achieve the objectives set.

“I depart from a solid and expanding team. I wish a strong team all the best in the future as they work together to accomplish the highest goals.”

Binotto was praised and given good wishes by Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, who also said that because of his efforts, the team was “in a strong position to relaunch our challenge, above all for our amazing fans across the world, to win the ultimate reward in motorsport.”

Binotto’s successor is expected to be Frederic Vasseur, team principal of Alfa Romeo.

In an effort to eliminate the climate of fear that many people say prevents creativity and courageous actions at the team, Binotto strove to build a no-blame culture at Ferrari.

Ferrari was worried, though, because despite this, there didn’t seem to be any progress being made in resolving the team’s fundamental issues.

The goal of a no-blame culture is to foster an atmosphere of accountability and trust where problems may be recognised, comprehended, and resolved without anyone concerned about losing their job. Despite the numerous mistakes, however, not much seemed to change at Ferrari this year.

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Operation Desert Light: Europol take down massive cocaine ‘super cartel’

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According to police, a drug “super cartel” that was in charge of almost a third of Europe’s cocaine supply has been broken up. 49 persons were detained as part of Operation Desert Light, which involved six different European nations, according to Europol, the EU’s police agency.

One of them, a British national, is thought to be the operation’s leader. According to Europol, more than 30 tonnes (30,000 kg) of drugs were recovered during the two-year investigation.

Authorities from Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Operation Desert Light collaborated to dismantle the cartel, according to a statement from Europol. Six “high-value targets,” or those most sought after by international law enforcement, were among those detained.

The “drugpins” had established a “prolific criminal network engaged in large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering,” according to Europol. The size of the narcotics operation was described as “vast” in the addition.

It is the most recent in a string of police initiatives to access encrypted phones used by organised crime networks to smuggle drugs and launder cash. The majority of the arrests were made in the Netherlands in 2021, where cocaine imported from South America via the Netherlands was the main subject of the investigation.

According to Europol, the other raids took place earlier this month, from November 8 and 19, during planned operations in the other six nations. Teams of detectives and sniffer dogs were seen investigating homes filled with luxury cars in a video uploaded to the agency’s YouTube page, although it is not apparent if they found anything.

Data from the previous ten years, according to analysts, suggests that Europe’s annual access to cocaine is rising.  With an estimated 3.5 million adults using the substance in the last year, crimes involving cocaine use or possession are also on the rise.

The biggest stash of cannabis ever recovered was found earlier this month during a series of searches by Spanish police. The quantity of packaged marijuana discovered amounted to roughly 1.1 million plants.

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