Latest news with #EvanGershkovich
CBS News
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBS News
Russian state media says American Joseph Tater out of country after arrest, psychiatric hospitalization
Joseph Tater, a U.S. citizen arrested in Russia in August 2024 after an apparent tussle with hotel staff and then forcibly admitted to a psychiatric hospital in April this year, without ever standing trial, has left Russia, according to the country's state-run TASS news agency. TASS said Tater, 46, was discharged from a psychiatric facility in Moscow, where he spent over a month. In April, TASS reported that Tater had been examined by doctors and diagnosed with a mental disorder, and then admitted for compulsory psychiatric treatment. Tater was accused by Russian authorities of abusing hotel staff in Moscow upon his initial arrest. Officials later said he was also being investigated on suspicion of assaulting a police officer, a charge that could have seen him face up to five years in prison. Tater claimed during a court hearing that he was being persecuted by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and was seeking political asylum in Russia. In this photo released by Meshchansky District Court press service on Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024, U.S. citizen Joseph Tater stands in a courtroom facing criminal assault charges after allegedly attacking a police officer in a Moscow hotel. Meshchansky District Court Press Service via AP Russia imprisoned several Americans as tensions with Washington soared in recent years. Paul Whelan, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and teacher Marc Fogel were all designated wrongfully detained by the U.S. government, along with dual U.S.-Russian national Ksenia Karelina. All four of those Americans have been freed in prisoner swaps with Moscow. Among the U.S. nationals still jailed in Russia is U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, whose three-year, nine-month prison sentence for robbing and threatening his Russian girlfriend was reduced in April by seven months. Robert Gilman, 72, is currently serving a 3 1/2-year sentence in Russia for assaulting a police officer, and Travis Leake, a musician convicted on drug charges, was sentenced to 13 years in prison last summer. A Russian court sentenced another 72-year-old American, Stephen Hubbard, to nearly seven years in prison in October for fighting alongside Ukraine's military. TASS quoted Tater's lawyer, Polina Vlasyuk, as saying she had no information regarding his whereabouts or circumstances. contributed to this report.
The Sun
12-05-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Pope Leo urges release of jailed journalists around the world in passionate speech backing free speech
POPE Leo spoke up for the 'precious gift of free speech' yesterday and called for the release of jailed journalists. Leo told of the scourge of fake news and online hatred in an address to 6,000 members of the media in Vatican City. 3 3 The pontiff echoed his predecessor Francis's plea for careful communication 'in favour of peace' rather than inflammatory rants. His speech took aim at nations including China, Israel, Myanmar, Belarus and Russia, which have jailed the most journalists. Those held by tyrannical regimes include Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich. He was released 16 months after being held on trumped-up charges in Vladimir Putin's Russia in 2023. Pope Leo said: 'Peace begins with each one of us… 'In the way we look at others, listen to others and speak about others. In this sense, the way we communicate is of fundamental importance. 'We must say 'no' to the war of words and images, we must reject the paradigm of war. The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press Leo 'Let me reiterate the Church's solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned for seeking to report the truth, and I also ask for the release of these imprisoned journalists. "The suffering of these imprisoned journalists challenges the conscience of nations and the international community, calling on all of us to safeguard the precious gift of free speech and of the press.' Leo hit out at social media bullies and trolls who try to dominate online debates. Robert Prevost elected as Pope Leo XIV - the first from North American He said: 'We have experienced — we can say together — truly special days. 'We have shared them through every form of media: TV, radio, internet, and social media. 'I sincerely hope each of us can say that these days unveiled a little bit of the mystery of our humanity and left us with a desire for love and peace. 'For this reason, I repeat the invitation by Pope Francis: 'Let us disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred; let us free it from aggression. 'We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.' Leo added: 'You are at the forefront of reporting on conflicts and aspirations for peace, on situations of injustice and poverty. I ask you to choose consciously and courageously the path of communication in favour of peace.' 3
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Bloomberg Doc Reveals Social Media, Teen Drug Deaths Link: 'This Is a Public Health Crisis' (Exclusive)
There's nothing new in claims that social media platforms as they target young users cause children a host of mental health issues, from unhappiness and depression to online bullying and even teen suicides. But a Bloomberg News feature documentary, Can't Look Away: The Case Against Social Media, set to premiere April 4 on Jolt, has spotlighted a link between online drug dealers and social media algorithms that allow the sale of fake pills to young people online, and a resulting epidemic of drug overdose deaths. More from The Hollywood Reporter Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief Apologizes After Outlet Broke Evan Gershkovich Prisoner Swap Embargo Reggae and Remembrance Take the Stage at New York's City Winery A Whitesell Brother's Ex Is Pitching a TV Show 'This is a public health crisis. We're facing a mental health emergency. It is tied in many ways to social media,' Perri Peltz, who co-directs the feature doc with Matthew O'Neill, tells The Hollywood Reporter. Can't Look Away will also have a theatrical run at DCTV's Firehouse Cinema in New York City and will appear on Bloomberg Media platforms starting in July 2025. The doc includes a David vs. Goliath legal battle by parents whose children died from consuming fentanyl-laced pills to potentially hold tech giants accountable for the harm allegedly caused by their negligence and threatening algorithms. Can't Look Away, in part, focuses on the Social Media Victims Law Center and its lawsuit against Snapchat on behalf of families whose children met tragic ends after consuming counterfeit prescription drugs acquired through the disappearing messaging app run by parent Snap. O'Neill argues the increasing trade in harmful pills sold on social media sites results from drug dealers now being able to move from street corners to online sites where preset algorithms are designed to become addictive to young people. What's more, online drug pushers can easily keep their illegal activities away from the eyes of parents or the authorities by using disappearing or encrypted messages. The social media sites themselves could do far more to protect young users, not least by allowing greater regulation of their platforms. As O'Neill put it, 'these social media platforms consistently choose profits over real harm to children, and these are things a social media company can target.' The Bloomberg News film includes interviews with parents involved in efforts to secure wins in the courts and the halls of power in Washington D.C. to regulate social media platforms. The Can't Look Away trailer includes an interview with Jaime Puerta, who lost his only child after his son contacted a drug dealer on Snapchat and died from fentanyl poisoning. 'They have the best distribution system in the world, and nobody has stopped them,' Puerta, who in a lawsuit alleges Snapchat had a role in his son's death, declares from the steps of the U.S. Congress. Can't Look Away, based on investigative reporting by contributing producer Olivia Carville, warns at one point about the use of Snap Map, which identifies a user's geographical location. That potentially allows drug dealers to more easily target potential customers. Peltz, whose earlier credits include Axios on HBO and 'Surveilled' with Ronan Farrow, countered prevailing myths about young people making bad decisions on social media sites. She argued that, too often, teen users see what's offered to them by preset algorithms. 'Your kids are looking at content they didn't ask to see. They're looking at content that an algorithm decided they should see because the algorithm knows what is most 'sticky' for young people, and that's a euphemism for addictive,' Peltz insisted. All of which underscores an urgent call to action from the Can't Look Away film for industry reform and political action around social media and its use of algorithms to target and potentially exploit and endanger vulnerable young people. That campaign has been dealt a blow by the increased lobbying by social media giants with the new Donald Trump administration, with an eye to turning a once adversarial relationship between government and Big Tech to their advantage. 'You saw, as we all did, so many leaders of tech companies in an unprecedented way appear at President Trump's inauguration, and obviously one of the biggest tech leaders in the world, Elon Musk, is a very important element in this administration,' O'Neill conceded. But he added that politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington, D.C., increasingly see common causes to work for parents and families to lessen the harm social media sites can cause young users. And O'Neill, a two-time Oscar nominee, dismissed any talk about Silicon Valley giants needing fewer guardrails, and not more, to protect U.S. dominance in digital technologies against global competitors like China. 'The United States managed to dominate the automobile industry and innovate with seat belts, and I don't see why we can't do the same with technology and with communications and social media,' he insisted. Ultimately, O'Neill sees young people forcing politicians to impose real regulation on tech giants. 'Kids aren't suckers and a lot of young people as they discover the ways in which social media companies are taking advantage of them are fueling a backlash. That's not the power of regulation. That's the power of public conversation,' he said. The film is also produced by O'Neill and Peltz, and executive produced by Kristin Powers. It is Bloomberg News' second original feature documentary after Ruin, an earlier original doc about Sam Bankman-Fried and the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Harvey Weinstein's "Jane Doe 1" Victim Reveals Identity: "I'm Tired of Hiding" 'Awards Chatter' Podcast: 'Sopranos' Creator David Chase Finally Reveals What Happened to Tony (Exclusive)
