- Weezer And The Detroit Youth Choir Blow Away Simon Cowell On ‘America’s Got Talent’: Watch Stereogum
- And the winner of ‘America’s Got Talent: All-Stars’ is… Yahoo Entertainment
- Tom Ball Sounded So Angelic Performing With the Voices of Hope Children’s Choir NBC Insider
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Demise of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan would be ‘disastrous blow to Black Americans’ – CNBC
- Demise of Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan would be ‘disastrous blow to Black Americans’ CNBC
- #SCOTUS will soon hear the legal challenges against #Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan The Cato Institute
- Student Loan Forgiveness: Republican Lawmakers Petition Supreme Court To Stop Biden’s ‘Political Gambit’ Yahoo Finance
- White House severely underestimates the cost of changes to student loan program The Hill
- Political analyst weighs in on controversy over Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan WLOS
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Adani abandons $2.5 billion share sale in big blow to Indian tycoon
NEW DELHI, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Gautam Adani’s flagship firm called off its $2.5 billion share sale in a dramatic reversal on Wednesday as a rout sparked by a U.S. short-seller’s criticisms wiped billions more off the value of the Indian tycoon’s stocks.
The withdrawal of the Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS) share offering marks a stunning setback for Adani, the school dropout-turned-billionaire whose fortunes rose rapidly in recent years in line with stock values of his businesses.
“Today the market has been unprecedented, and our stock price has fluctuated over the course of the day. Given these extraordinary circumstances, the Company’s board felt that going ahead with the issue will not be morally correct,” Adani said.
“Our balance sheet is very healthy with strong cashflows and secure assets, and we have an impeccable track record of servicing our debt. This decision will not have any impact on our existing operations and future plans,” the billionaire added in a statement to Indian exchanges.
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Adani, whose global business interests span ports, airports, mining, cement and power, is battling to stabilise his companies and defend his reputation.
“Once the market stabilizes, we will review our capital market strategy,” he added.
A report by Hindenburg Research last week alleged improper use by the of offshore tax havens and stock manipulation by the Adani Group. It also raised concerns about high debt and the valuations of seven listed Adani companies.
The Jan. 24 report has since triggered a $86 billion erosion in market capitalisation of seven listed Adani Group companies.
Adani Group has denied the allegations, saying the short-seller’s allegation of stock manipulation has “no basis” and stems from an ignorance of Indian law. The group has always made the necessary regulatory disclosures, it added.
REFUNDS
Adani Group was working with its bankers to refund the proceeds received by in the secondary share sale of Adani Enterprises. Anchor investors who had supported the issue included Maybank Securities and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority.
The company aims to protect the interests of its investing community by returning the proceeds, it said.
Adani Group had on Tuesday mustered enough support from investors for the share sale to proceed, in what some saw as a stamp of investor confidence amid the storm.
But after a brief respite, the selloff in Adani Group stocks and bonds resumed on Wednesday, with shares in Adani Enterprises plunging 28% and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSE.NS) dropping 19%, the worst day on record for both.
The fundraising was critical for Adani, not just because it would have helped cut his group’s debt, but also because it was being seen by some as a gauge of confidence as he faced the biggest business and reputational challenge of his career.
Wednesday’s stock losses saw Adani slip to 15th on the Forbes rich list with an estimated net worth of $75.1 billion, below rival Mukesh Ambani, the chairman of Reliance Industries (RELI.NS) who ranks ninth with a net worth of $83.7 billion.
The share sale had succeeded on Tuesday even when the Adani Enterprises stock price in Mumbai markets traded below the offer price of the share sale.
“I do not know how the markets will behave in short term. But this is a measure to enhance (Adani’s) reputation since the investors were staring at a 30% loss even before the shares were alloted,” said Rajesh Baheti, chief executive, Crossseas Capital Services, an algo trading firm.
Reporting by Aditya Kalra and Jahnavi Nidumolu in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva, Kirsten Donovan and Alexander Smith
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Exclusive: Google parent to lay off 12,000 workers in latest blow to tech sector
Jan 20 (Reuters) – Google’s parent Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) is eliminating about 12,000 jobs, or 6% of its workforce, the company said Friday, in the latest cuts to shake the technology sector.
Sundar Pichai, Alphabet’s CEO, said in a staff memo shared with Reuters that the company had rapidly expanded headcount in recent years “for a different economic reality than the one we face today.”
“I take full responsibility for the decisions that led us here,” he said.
The cuts come days after rival Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) said it would lay off 10,000 workers.
Alphabet’s job losses affect teams across the company including recruiting and some corporate functions, as well as some engineering and products teams.
The layoffs are global and impact U.S. staff immediately.
Alphabet has already emailed affected employees, the memo said, while the process will take longer in other countries due to local employment laws and practices.
The news comes during a period of economic uncertainty as well as technological promise, in which Google and Microsoft have been investing in a burgeoning area of software known as generative artificial intelligence.
“I am confident about the huge opportunity in front of us thanks to the strength of our mission, the value of our products and services, and our early investments in AI,” Pichai said in the note.
Reuters was first to report the news.
Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Davos, Switzerland; Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Alexander Smith
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
200MP photo captured with Galaxy S23 Ultra could blow your mind
Last updated: January 19th, 2023 at 12:17 UTC+01:00
The Galaxy S23 Ultra will feature a new ISOCELL HP2 camera sensor, and for the first time, the S-series flagship will jump to a resolution of 200 megapixels. Samsung appears to have engaged in the megapixel battle once again, but it’s not just for the sake of numbers. The Galaxy S23 Ultra will supposedly be able to capture amazing photos, and an alleged camera sample is lending a lot of weight to that theory.
The sample photo you see below was supposedly captured using the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s primary 200MP camera. It might not look like it, but this isn’t a telephoto image shot at 5x or 10x zoom. Instead, the source says this is a regular 200MP photo, which was later zoomed in at 12x and cropped using a photo editor. The method used is unclear, and the photo editing app is unmentioned, but that’s the gist of it. (via @UniverseIce)
Galaxy S23 Ultra camera captures an incredible level of detail
This alleged sample photo from the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s primary 200MP camera shows the incredible level of detail the upcoming flagship can capture. The image is crisp, without oversampling, noise, or other visual artifacts you’d usually get from zooming in on a photo captured with a different sensor. It’s almost as if it’s not even a crop.
The ISOCELL HP2 is a 1/1.3-inch sensor with 0.6-micron pixels. It promises faster and better autofocus in low-light conditions thanks to Super QPD (Quad Phase Detection). Samsung’s leaked promotional material already teased the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s low-light photography, and it’s obvious that this new sensor will be one of the upcoming flagship’s main selling points.
Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S23 Ultra at Unpacked on February 1. The company is already accepting reservations for the device (as well as the Galaxy Book 3), and early adopters can benefit from $50 in Samsung Credit — or $100 if they reserve both a Galaxy S23 phone and a Galaxy Book 3 laptop.
Kate ‘paying price’ this Christmas for ‘serious’ Meghan and Harry blow | Royal | News
Columnist Daniela Elser believes the Princess of Wales will be among the royals to “pay the price” for much of the turmoil and changes that happened in the Firm in the past few years and will need to shoulder up much of the work of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.
In an op-ed penned for the New Zealand Herald, the commentator said: “The loss of the Sussexes from the royal fold dealt the Royal Family not only a serious reputational blow but a hands-on one too.
“The Duke and Duchesses’ patronages and his military roles can be added to those that Prince Andrew was forced to officially relinquish earlier this year, including such prestigious posts as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. Factor in too here the more than 50 organisations, including Royal Ballet and the London Symphony Orchestra, who boasted the late Queen as their patron.
“The question isn’t who will take these over but who can feasibly find time to take them on?
“Today, of the remaining working members of the royal family, nearly two-thirds are over the age of 70, with the remaining “staffers” being Edward and Sophie, Earl and Countess of Wessex (58 and 57 respectively), and William and Kate, who are both 40.
“This ageing, reduced working royal family will be expected to shoulder the same sort of workload – all the shaking of hands and planting commemorative trees – as they always have.
“Bottom line, the remaining HRHs are going to be stretched ever thinner.”
Biden signs gay marriage law, calls it ‘a blow against hate’
WASHINGTON (AP) — A celebratory crowd of thousands bundled up on a chilly Tuesday afternoon to watch President Joe Biden sign gay marriage legislation into law, a joyful ceremony that was tempered by the backdrop of an ongoing conservative backlash over gender issues.
“This law and the love it defends strike a blow against hate in all its forms,” Biden said on the South Lawn of the White House. “And that’s why this law matters to every single American.”
Singers Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper performed. Vice President Kamala Harris recalled officiating at a lesbian wedding in San Francisco. And the White House played a recording of Biden’s television interview from a decade ago, when he caused a political furor by unexpectedly disclosing his support for gay marriage. Biden was vice president at the time, and President Barack Obama had not yet endorsed the idea.
“I got in trouble,” Biden joked of that moment. Three days later, Obama himself publicly endorsed gay marriage.
Lawmakers from both parties attended Tuesday’s ceremony, reflecting the growing acceptance of same-sex unions, once among the country’s most contentious issues.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., wore the same purple tie to the ceremony that he wore to his daughter Alison’s wedding. She and her wife are expecting their first child in the spring.
“Thanks to the millions out there who spent years pushing for change, and thanks to the dogged work of my colleagues, my grandchild will get to live in a world that respects and honors their mothers’ marriage,” he said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told the crowd that “inside maneuvering only takes us so far,” and she thanked activists adding impetus with “your impatience, your persistence and your patriotism.”
Despite Tuesday’s excitement, there was concern about the nationwide proliferation of conservative policies on gender issues at the state level.
Biden criticized the “callous, cynical laws introduced in the states targeting transgender children, terrifying families and criminalizing doctors who give children the care they need.”
“Racism, antisemitism, homophobia, transphobia, they’re all connected,” Biden said. “But the antidote to hate is love.”
Among the attendees were the owner of Club Q, a gay nightclub in Colorado where five people were killed in a shooting last month, and two survivors of the attack. The suspect has been charged with hate crimes.
“It’s not lost on me that our struggle for freedom hasn’t been achieved,” said Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign. “But this is a huge step forward, and we have to celebrate the victories we achieve and use that to fuel the future of the fight.”
Robinson attended the ceremony with her wife and 1-year-old child.
“Our kids are watching this moment,” she said. “It’s very special to have them here and show them that we’re on the right side of history.”
The new law is intended to safeguard gay marriages if the U.S. Supreme Court ever reverses Obergefell v. Hodges, its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex unions nationwide. The new law also protects interracial marriages. In 1967, the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia struck down laws in 16 states barring interracial marriage.
The signing marks the culmination of a monthslong bipartisan effort sparked by the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion available across the country.
In a concurring opinion in the case that overturned Roe, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested revisiting other decisions, including the legalization of gay marriage, generating fear that more rights could be imperiled by the court’s conservative majority. Thomas did not reference interracial marriage with the other cases he said should be reconsidered.
Lawmakers crafted a compromise that was intended to assuage conservative concerns about religious liberty, such as ensuring churches could still refuse to perform gay marriages.
In addition, states would not be required to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if the court overturns its 2015 ruling. But they will be required to recognize marriages conducted elsewhere in the country.
A majority of Republicans in Congress still voted against the legislation. However, enough supported it to sidestep a filibuster in the Senate and ensure its passage.
Tuesday’s ceremony marks another chapter in Biden’s legacy on gay rights, which includes his surprise endorsement of marriage equality in 2012.
“What this is all about is a simple proposition: Who do you love?” Biden said then on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Who do you love and will you be loyal to the person you love? And that is what people are finding out is what all marriages at their root are about.”
A Gallup poll showed only 27% of U.S. adults supported same-sex unions in 1996, when President Bill Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, which said the federal government would only recognize heterosexual marriages. Biden voted for the legislation.
By the time of Biden’s 2012 interview, gay marriage remained controversial, but support had expanded to roughly half of U.S. adults, according to Gallup. Earlier this year, 71% said same-sex unions should be recognized by law.
Biden has pushed to expand LGBT rights since taking office. He reversed President Donald Trump’s efforts to strip transgender people of anti-discrimination protections. His administration includes the first openly gay Cabinet member, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, and the first transgender person to receive Senate confirmation, Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
Is Dominion’s $1.6bn defamation lawsuit a death blow for Murdoch and Fox News? | Rupert Murdoch
Rupert Murdoch rarely has to answer for the alternative realities presented by his hugely profitable US cable network, Fox News.
Its conspiratorial claims of a parade of cover ups from the 2012 Benghazi attack to the climate crisis and Covid-19 have been lapped up by Fox viewers and scorned by much of the rest of America, and then the world moved on. But on Tuesday, the 91-year-old billionaire media mogul will be obliged to answer difficult questions under oath about the inner workings of Fox.
Dominion Voting Systems is suing the cable news station and its Murdoch-owned parent company, Fox Corp, for $1.6bn (£1.3bn) over repeated claims that it rigged its voting machines as part of a conspiracy to steal the 2020 presidential election from Donald Trump.
The suit shines a spotlight on Fox News’ part in promoting Trump’s “stop the steal” campaign and its hand in driving the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. But legal experts say that Dominion, which supplied voting machines to 28 states, appears to be building a wider case that Fox News has a long history of misinformation and steamrolling facts that do not fit its editorial line.
Over the past few months, Dominion’s lawyers have been working their way up the tree of Fox News producers, executives and presenters with interrogations under oath about the network’s work culture and its weeks of conspiratorial, and at times outlandish, claims about Trump’s defeat. On Monday, lawyers deposed Murdoch’s eldest son, presumed successor and Fox Corp CEO, Lachlan.
Now, Dominion has reached the top of the tree. Months of accumulated testimony are expected to put Murdoch, the chair of Fox Corp, in the difficult position of either having to deny he has control over what happens at his most influential US news operation or defend its campaign to promote the biggest lie in US electoral history.
Murdoch is already grappling with the costly legacy of phone hacking by British newspapers the News of the World and the Sun. His UK company has paid more than £1bn ($1.2bn) over the past decade to keep the gruesome details from being heard in open court with no end in sight after a high court judge earlier this year refused to prevent the filing of new claims.
When Murdoch was called to give evidence to a UK parliamentary hearing in 2011 about News of the World hacking the phones of a murdered schoolgirl as well as hundreds of politicians, celebrities and other public figures, he said that it was the most humble day of his life. He also claimed to have known nothing about the wrongdoing and said that he had been misled.
“I feel that people I trusted … I’m not saying who … let me down and I think they behaved disgracefully,” he told parliament. “And it’s time for them to pay.”
But he can make no such claim about Fox News, where its misrepresentations were on full display. So far, the only people to pay at the network are the ones who got it right.
The trouble started on election night after Fox called the key swing state of Arizona for Joe Biden. The call drew Trump’s ire and unleashed a backlash against the network from his supporters.
At that point, Fox News CEO Suzanne Scott warned against bowing to pressure to embrace an alternate reality and reverse the Arizona call.
“We can’t give the crazies an inch,” she said, according to court records.
As it turned out, “the crazies” took a mile, as Fox News put a parade of Trump lawyers, advisers and apologists front and centre over the following weeks to promote a myriad of conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen from Trump, including by rigging the voting machines.
Alongside them, some of Fox’s biggest names took up the cry of fraud. NPR revealed that during the discovery process, Dominion acquired an email written by a Fox News producer begging colleagues not to allow one of those presenters, Jeanine Pirro, on the air because she was spreading conspiracy theories about the vote. Pirro, a former district attorney and judge who is close to Trump, continued broadcasting.
Lawyers have also obtained rafts of internal messages that are “evidence that Fox knew the lies it was broadcasting about Dominion were false” and part of a culture of politically loaded reporting and broadcasts far from the network’s claim to be “fair and balanced”.
Dominion claims that without Fox, “these fictions” about electoral fraud would never have gained the same traction among large number of Americans.
“Fox took a small flame and turned it into a forest fire,” the company claims in its lawsuit.
In August, lawyers questioned another presenter, Sean Hannity, who has been described as “part of Trump’s campaign apparatus”. He was grilled for more than seven hours including about a broadcast two weeks after the presidential election in which Trump lawyer and conspiracy theorist Sidney Powell was a guest.
Powell claimed that Dominion “ran an algorithm that shaved off votes from Trump and awarded them to Biden”. She said the company “used the machines to inject and add massive quantities of votes for Mr Biden”. Powell has also claimed that Dominion used software developed to help the late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez steal elections.
Dominion has said that it warned Fox News that such claims were false but that it continued to air them in an attempt to assuage Trump supporters out of concern they would move to other right-wing broadcasters.
“It’s an orchestrated effort,” Dominion’s lawyer told a court hearing. “It’s not just on the part of each host individually, but it’s across Fox News as a company.”
So far the only Fox employees to pay a price for the debacle are those who got it right. Weeks after the election, the network fired its political director, Chris Stirewalt, who had infuriated Trump and other Republicans by refusing to back down from calling Arizona for Biden. The Washington managing editor, Bill Sammon, who supported Stirewalt’s decision, took retirement.
Fox argues that Hannity and the other presenters are protected by journalistic privilege but that position has been complicated by the Fox host’s own description of his role.
In defending his overt bias in favour of Trump and Republicans, Hannity has more than once said he is not a journalist but a talk show host, and so does not have to adhere to the profession’s ethical standards. He took the same position earlier this year after the January 6 congressional committee exposed dozens of his messages to Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, offering advice and seeking direction as the White House challenged the presidential election result.
76ers blow late lead but ‘glad’ for chance to take down Lakers in OT
PHILADELPHIA — Shortly after his 76ers escaped with a 133-122 overtime victory over the Lakers, coach Doc Rivers eased into a chair before the news conference and, before he could answer a question, summed up how his night played out.
“I thought we would start this about 15 minutes ago,” Rivers said with a smile.
So did virtually everyone else inside Wells Fargo Center on Friday night when Joel Embiid split a pair of free throws to make it 119-110 with 34.8 seconds to go in regulation.
From there, however, a comedy of errors allowed the Lakers to not only get back into the game but have a chance to win it in regulation.
The Sixers committed three turnovers in the span of 21.6 seconds, as well as split a pair of free throws, to give their opponents life.
“Just trying to figure out what the hell was going on, honestly,” said Embiid, who had 38 points and 12 rebounds in 46 minutes, when asked what was going through his mind during Philadelphia’s fourth-quarter collapse. “It should have never been in that position. But I’m glad we got another opportunity at it, and we went to overtime and closed it out.”
While Philadelphia was doing its part to give Los Angeles a chance, the Lakers did plenty to help their own cause, getting a layup from Patrick Beverley, a pair of free throws from Anthony Davis and a 3-pointer from Austin Reaves to pull to within 120-117 with 10.5 seconds to go.
At that point, Reaves was fouled by Matisse Thybulle on a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds to go, sending the second-year forward to the free throw line with a chance to tie the score. But after Reaves made the first two free throws, he missed the third. In the ensuing scrum for the ball, it wound up being last touched by LeBron James — giving Philadelphia possession with 5.5 seconds to go and a chance to, finally, get the ball inbounds successfully.
Instead, Tobias Harris lofted a pass in the air toward Embiid after he had nowhere to go with the ball — only for it to hit Embiid in the face and bounce away.
The ball wound up in Davis’ hands, who then executed a give-and-go with Russell Westbrook before Harris fouled him with 3.7 seconds to go.
But with a chance to put the Lakers up 1 — and on the verge of securing a truly improbable win since Philadelphia had no timeouts left — Davis missed the second free throw, allowing the 76ers new life and sending the game to overtime instead.
“It hurts for sure,” said Davis, who finished with 31 points — 25 of which came after halftime — 12 rebounds, two assists and two blocks in 36 minutes.. “Especially when you make the first one.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself to make free throws, especially in that type of situation. I’m still kind of shocked that I missed it.”
For as dramatic as the end-of-game sequence was, the overtime period wound up being rather anticlimactic. Rather than continuing their descent into madness in the extra session, Philadelphia immediately got its bearings, outscoring Los Angeles 13-2 in the extra session, as Westbrook missed more shots by himself (going 0-for-5) than the 76ers took as a team in the overtime period (going 3-for-4, plus a perfect 7-for-7 from the free throw line).
“Honestly, probably just the disappointment for blowing that [lead] and allowing it to get that close,” Harris said, when asked how he and his teammates got back on track.
“We knew we needed to do anything possible to come out of here with a victory.”
The bizarre collapse in the final moments overshadowed what was the game of the career of guard De’Anthony Melton, who finished with 33 points on 11-for-16 shooting, including 8-for-12 on 3-pointers, to go along with seven steals.
“Honestly, my teammates was just finding me,” Melton said. “Some of those passes, the way they got through, I mean, I’m pretty sure they didn’t think they were going to get through. But they kept getting through, they kept finding me and they kept leaving me open so I kept shooting it and shooting it with confidence.”
Even though the 76ers managed to, after a disastrous performance in the closing moments of Monday’s loss in Houston to the lowly Rockets, coupled with their foibles late in this one, Rivers said that those issues are going to be sorted out moving forward.
“All our guards, we all have to come to the ball,” Rivers said. “We have to get open. We have to play through fouls at the end of the game … it can’t happen. We’ll fix that.”
ESPN’s Dave McMenamin contributed to this report.
Ilya Yashin: Kremlin critic jailed for eight and a half years, in latest blow to what’s left of Russian opposition
CNN
—
A Moscow court on Friday sentenced Kremlin critic Ilya Yashin to eight years and six months imprisonment, according to Russian state media RIA Novosti, in a blow to what’s left of the country’s opposition.
It is unclear if Yashin’s prison sentence for spreading “false information” about the Russian army includes the time he has already spent in jail during court hearings.
Russian investigators say his statements about the circumstances of the killings in Bucha are a criminal offense under recently introduced legislation, which considers discrediting the Russian armed forces to be illegal.
Yashin slammed the “authors” of the “hysterical verdict” in a post on his official Telegram account.
“The authors of the verdict are optimistic about Putin’s prospects. In my opinion, they are too optimistic,” he said.
“But we also have no reason to be sad, because we have won this trial, friends. The process started as a denunciation of me as “people’s doctor,” but turned into an anti-war tribune. We spoke the truth about war crimes and called for an end to the bloodshed. And in response, they heard a hodgepodge of slogans from the Cold War, which was confusedly voiced by the prosecutor,” Yashin continued.
“With this hysterical verdict, the government wants to intimidate us all, but in fact, it only shows its weakness. Strong leaders are calm and self-confident, and only weaklings seek to shut everyone up, burn out any dissent. So today it only remains for me to repeat what was said on the day of my arrest: I am not afraid, and you should not be,” the post read.
In closing remarks to the court on Monday, ahead of the verdict, Yashin made a statement addressing the judge, President Vladimir Putin and the Russian public. “As if they will sew my mouth shut and I would be forbidden to speak forever. Everyone understands that this is the point,” he said.
“I am isolated from society because they want me to be silent. I promise as long as I’m alive I’ll never will be. My mission is to tell the truth. I will not give up the truth even behind bars. After all, quoting the classic: ‘Lie is the religion of slaves.’”
Yashin, also a close ally of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, came to prominence during protests he helped organize between 2011 and 2012 against Putin’s re-election for a third term.
Yashin remained a fierce Putin critic for years to come, also serving as a municipal deputy in a small Moscow municipality before being barred from running for public office again.
In June, he was sentenced to 15 days behind bars for being disobedient to police, charges he described at the time as part of a pressure campaign by the authorities to force him to leave Russia.
Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent in 2020, an attack several Western officials and Navalny himself openly blamed on the Kremlin. Russia has denied any involvement.
After a five-month stay in Germany recovering from the Novichok poisoning, Navalny last year returned to Moscow, where he was immediately arrested for violating probation terms imposed from a 2014 case. Earlier this year, Navalny was sentenced to nine years in prison on fraud charges he said were politically motivated.
Navalny criticized Yashin’s imprisonment on Friday. “Another shameless and lawless Putin verdict will not silence Ilya and should not intimidate the honest people of Russia,” he said in a statement posted on his social media accounts.
“This is another reason why we must fight, and I have no doubt that we will win in the end.”
Navalny said in the statement Yashin was his “first friend” he made in politics and knew him since the age of 18. “Knowing Yashin for so long, I won’t even try to write something like: “Hold on, Ilya.” And so I know that he did everything right and will endure everything,” he said.
Navalny concluded by saying that he is proud of Yashin and that he and Russia will be free.
Russian investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov, who is on Russia’s wanted list and lives in exile in London, told CNN Yashin was “an extremely brave person” who “chose to remain in Russia and to speak against the war.”
He added he believed Yashin was a symbol of Russian resistance against the war.