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World

Prince Harry says ‘heinous, horrible’ stories have been ‘spoon-fed’ to press from the palace

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CNN
 — 

Prince Harry told CBS’ 60 Minutes Sunday he hasn’t spoken with his brother, Prince William, for “a while,” in the second of two major interviews ahead of the publication of his memoir, “Spare,” on Monday.

The Duke of Sussex told Anderson Cooper he doesn’t “currently” speak with the Prince of Wales, “but I look forward to us being able to find peace,” he said. It follows an interview with ITV’s Tom Bradby, ahead of what is likely to be an explosive week for the British royals with the release of Harry’s memoir.

Prince Harry also told Cooper that he hasn’t spoken to his father, King Charles III, in “quite a while,” adding the “ball is very much in their court” when asked about the possibility of the family reconciling after Harry’s highly publicized disclosures.

Buckingham Palace has repeatedly declined to comment on the contents of Prince Harry’s forthcoming memoir, which has been the subject of leaks since last week detailing some of his most controversial claims. CNN has not seen a copy of the book but has requested an advance copy from the publisher Penguin Random House.

His most recent interviews cover a wide range of topics from the death of his mother, the Princess of Wales, his frustration towards the British press, the treatment of his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and the subsequent fallout with his family since his marriage.

The interviews set the stage for the string of revelations that are expected to be made public Monday, as Prince Harry continues to push back against what he refers to as “the institution,” offering a revealing look inside the estranged family.

Despite the fractured relationship between the two brothers, Prince Harry told Cooper he loved William “deeply.”

“My brother and I love each other. I love him deeply,” the Duke of Sussex said. “There has been a lot of pain between the two of us, especially the last six years.”

He added that nothing he has written is “ever intended to hurt my family.”

“But it does give a full picture of the situation as we were growing up, and also squashes this idea that somehow my wife was the one that destroyed the relationship between these two brothers,” Prince Harry said.

The book’s title of “Spare” is a reference to an “heir and a spare,” a saying in the United Kingdom that refers to the need to have a child to inherit an aristocratic title. Harry was next in line to the British throne after William until William’s children were born – now he’s fifth in the line of succession.

The strained relationship between the brothers has been a common theme in leaked excerpts from the book and Harry’s media interviews, which revealed deep divisions between the siblings.

Perhaps the most incendiary revelation to emerge was Prince Harry’s claim of a scuffle with the Prince of Wales during an argument over his wife in 2019, as he described while reading in an excerpt of his memoir on ITV on Sunday.

Prince Harry said his brother never tried to dissuade him from marrying Meghan, but expressed some concerns and told him, “‘This is going be really hard for you,’” Prince Harry recalled during his interview with Bradby.

“I still to this day don’t truly understand which part of what he was talking about,” Prince Harry continued. “Maybe he predicted what the British press’s reaction was going to be.”

In the interview and in excerpts from his memoir shared by ITV, the Duke of Sussex addressed how strife in his family has been fueled by the relationship between Buckingham Palace and media outlets.

“We’re not just talking about family relationships, we’re talking about an antagonist, which is the British press, specifically the tabloids who want to create as much conflict as possible,” Prince Harry told Bradby. “The saddest part of that is certain members of my family and the people that work for them are complicit in that conflict.”

He also stated that the “leaking” and “planting” of “a royal source” to the press “is not an unknown person, it is the palace specifically briefing the press, but covering their tracks by being unnamed.”

Prince Harry added that he thinks “that’s pretty shocking to people. Especially when you realize how many palace sources, palace insiders, senior palace officials, how many quotes are being attributed to those people, some of the most heinous, horrible things have been said about me and my wife, completely condoned by the palace because it’s coming from the palace, and those journalists have literally been spoon-fed that narrative without ever coming to us, without ever seeing or questioning the other side.”

Prince Harry echoed those sentiments with CBS’ Cooper, adding even at the young age of 12, he felt resentment toward the British media.

“It was obvious to us as kids the British press’ part in our mother’s misery and I had a lot of anger inside of me that luckily, I never expressed to anybody,” he said. “But I resorted to drinking heavily. Because I wanted to numb the feeling, or I wanted to distract myself from how … whatever I was thinking. And I would, you know, resort to drugs as well.”

In both interviews, Prince Harry spoke about how his mother was hunted by paparazzi, recalling the traumatic night his father told him Princess Diana had died from injuries sustained in a car crash.

“I really think about how many hours he’d been awake. And the compassion that I have for him, as a parent having to sit with that for many, many hours, ringing up friends of his, trying to work out, how the hell do I break this to my two sons?”

Harry said he never wants to find himself having to do the same.

“I don’t want history to repeat itself. I do not want to be a single dad. And I certainly don’t want my children to have a life without a mother or a father,” Prince Harry told ITV’s Bradby.

Diana was killed in 1997, when the car she was traveling in crashed inside a Paris tunnel. Prince Harry was 12 years old at the time. He told Cooper his memories of the days that followed are blurry, but recalls seeing the throng of people outside Buckingham Palace who came to offer their condolences.

“I think it’s bizarre, because I see William and me smiling,” he said. “I remember the guilt that I felt … The fact that the people that we were meeting were showing more emotion than we were showing, maybe more emotion than we even felt.”

Prince Harry told Cooper he “refused to accept she was gone” and for “may years” believed she had decided to disappear.

The Duke of Sussex said he only cried once his mother’s coffin went into the ground. “That was the first time that I actually cried… there was never another time,” he said.

Prince Harry also recalled the events around the death of his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, who died on September 8 at Balmoral Castle. The duke was at a charity event in London when the palace announced that the queen was under medical supervision.

“I asked my brother – I said, “What are your plans? How are you and Kate getting up there?” And then, a couple of hours later… all of the family members that live within the Windsor and Ascot area were jumping on a plane together, a plane with 12, 14, maybe 16 seats,” he said. “I was not invited.”

He recalled spending time with the Queen in her bedroom after she had died.

“I was really happy for her. Because she’d finished life. She’d completed life, and her husband was waiting for her. And the two of them are buried together,” Prince Harry said.

The Duke of Sussex also told ITV’s Bradby about his decision to write the book, saying, “38 years of having my story told by so many different people, with intentional spin and distortion felt like a good time to tell own my story and be able to tell it for myself. I’m actually really grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to tell my story because it’s my story to tell.”

Prince Harry pointed out that he has tried over the last six years to resolve his concerns with his family privately.

“It never needed to get to this point. I have had conversations, I have written letters, I have written emails, and everything is just, ‘No, you, this is not what’s happening. You, you are imagining it,’” he said. “That’s really hard to take. And if it had stopped, by the point that I fled my home country with my wife and my son fearing for our lives, then maybe this would have turned out differently. It’s hard.”

The duke said he wants “reconciliation but first there needs to be some accountability,” with respect to his family.

Prince Harry has previously blamed the constant media intrusion as a critical stressor for him and his wife that ultimately led to their decision to step down as working members of the Royal Family in 2021.

In a six-part Netflix documentary released last month, the couple said press attacks, the lack of action from the palace to prevent them and the couple’s increasing suspicions that the royal household was actually feeding the media pushed Meghan to a dark place.

“You can’t just continue to say to me that I’m delusional and paranoid when all the evidence is stacked up, because I was genuinely terrified about what is going to happen to me,” Prince Harry told ITV’s Bradby.

“And then we have a 12-month transition period and everyone doubles down. My wife shares her experience. And instead of backing off, both the institution and the tabloid media in the UK, both doubled down,” he added.

Still, the duke said, “forgiveness is 100% a possibility.”

“There’s probably a lot of people who, after watching the documentary and reading the book, will go, how could you ever forgive your family for what they have done? People have already said that to me. And I said forgiveness is 100% a possibility because I would like to get my father back. I would like to have my brother back. At the moment, I don’t recognize them, as much as they probably don’t recognize me,” Prince Harry said.

On Monday, the duke’s interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Michael Strahan will air on the ABC show, followed in the evening by a half-hour special on ABC News Live. And to top things off, the duke will make an appearance on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” hours after his book is released on Tuesday.

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Entertainment

Veteran CNN investigative journalist Drew Griffin dead at 60

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CNN
 — 

Drew Griffin, CNN’s award-winning Senior Investigative Correspondent, known for getting even the cagiest of interview subjects to engage in a story, died Saturday after a long battle with cancer, his family said. He was 60.

A gifted storyteller, Griffin had a well-earned reputation for holding powerful people and institutions accountable.

“Drew’s death is a devastating loss to CNN and our entire profession,” CNN CEO Chris Licht said in a note to staff. “A highly acclaimed investigative journalist, Drew’s work had incredible impact and embodied the mission of this organization in every way.”

Griffin worked on hundreds of stories and multiple documentaries over the course of nearly two decades on CNN’s investigative team. His reporting had been honored with some of journalism’s most prestigious awards – Emmys, Peabodys, and Murrows among them.

“But people mattered more to Drew than prizes,” Licht said.

– Source:
CNN
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Jake Tapper pays tribute to Drew Griffin

Griffin had an incredibly strong work ethic, colleagues said. He kept his illness private from most of his co-workers and had been reporting up until the day he passed.

Michael Bass, CNN’s Executive Vice President of Programming, also shared his admiration for Griffin in a note to the investigative team Sunday.

“Fearless and artful at the same time, he knew how to push a story forward to its limits, but also tell it in a way that would make everyone understand,” Bass said. “How many times has he chased an unwilling interviewee? How many times has he spoken truth to power? How many times has he made a difference on something important … It was an honor to be his colleague and to be witness to his work and the ways it changed the world.”

Griffin’s reporting had significant impact and prompted change.

He led a yearlong investigation that uncovered delays in medical care that contributed to patient deaths at Department of Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide. The team’s reporting led to the resignation of the VA secretary, which was followed by the passage of federal legislation and a fundamental change in how veterans’ appointments are handled. 

– Source:
CNN AP
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The journey to Shinseki’s resignation

Amid his reporting into the high number of sexual assaults allegations against Uber drivers, the company changed its background check process and introduced new safety features in its app. Following the CNN investigation, Uber announced it would do away with a policy that previously forced individuals with sexual assault complaints into arbitration and made them sign non-disclosure agreements.

Patricia DiCarlo, Executive Producer of CNN’s investigative unit who worked alongside Griffin for nearly a decade said Griffin was an exceptional writer who crafted pieces into “compelling, must-see TV stories.”

“You know when a Drew Griffin story starts – it’s going to be great,” she said. “His way with words set him apart.”

Griffin’s tenacious approach toward the most challenging stories and his ability to get some of the most reluctant public figures to open up and give their side of the story underscored his sense of fairness. Still, he never missed an opportunity to grill them with tough questions.

Griffin’s incisive, Emmy-award winning investigation into fraud claims against Trump University in 2016 exposed the questionable, financially draining tactics of a series of real estate seminars that resulted in class action lawsuits by participants. In an exclusive interview, Griffin pressed a former Trump University instructor about his role in the scheme – not teaching real estate strategies, but luring participants into paying for more seminars: “We were bringing in the money,” he told Griffin.

– Source:
CNN
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Trump University instructor: What I did was sales

When election denialism persisted, Griffin worked to dispel the myths of widespread election fraud, confronting one of the biggest names in misinformation: MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell. After reviewing the so-called evidence, Griffin sat down with Lindell for a lengthy interview to evaluate his claims and, ultimately, laid out the truth: Lindell had “proof of nothing.”

There were times, though, when Griffin, like all reporters, could not get his subjects to talk right away – resulting in memorable on-camera confrontations with government officials, in particular.

When Griffin learned of the rampant fraud in California’s state drug rehab program in 2013, he pressed the officials in charge for answers. He finally tracked down the head of California’s Health and Human Services Agency, who tried dodging Griffin’s questions by running to a restroom, which was locked. Griffin’s investigation resulted in a legislative probe and a public apology from the director of the program.

More recently, Griffin’s body of work in the aftermath of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol exposed the dangers of election deniers and was cited in court filings by the Department of Justice and House select committee investigating the insurrection.

– Source:
CNN
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‘You know that’s not true’: CNN reporter corrects man who stormed Capitol

While investigative journalism was at the heart of Griffin’s work, he often jumped into breaking news coverage – from mass shootings to devastating hurricanes. Among his more memorable on-air moments was during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, when he rescued a man by pulling him from a sinking pickup truck.

Griffin’s confidence, hard work and doggedness spoke for itself on camera, yet it was his graciousness and compassion that defined him behind the scenes. Few in the audience would know that after those hard-hitting interviews, Griffin would often craft hand-written thank you notes to those who appeared in a story. And, while intensely private, Griffin took great care to wrap up the big stories – some of which swept him across the world – so he could get home and spend time with his family.

Colleagues remembered the veteran journalist as a kind, consummate professional who took the time to mentor younger reporters, cared deeply about his team – and was always ready to lend a hand.

DiCarlo compared her time working with Griffin to “winning the career lottery.”

“There are just so many people who worked with him and loved him – this is a devastating loss,” DiCarlo said, reflecting on the team of producers who closely worked with Griffin on his stories. “There was no one else like him. We were Team Drew.”

A Chicago native, Griffin began his reporting career as a reporter/cameraman for WICD-TV in Champaign, Illinois. He spent stints working for TV stations in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Washington. He became an investigative reporter when he joined KIRO-TV in Seattle. He joined CBS 2 News in Los Angeles in January 1994, where he worked as a reporter and anchor and helped create the station’s investigative reporting team and won multiple local awards.

When he wasn’t chasing his next scoop, family members said he loved to travel with his wife Margot, play the trumpet or enjoy a round of golf with friends. He also doted over his three children whose names were inspired by jazz greats – daughter, Ele Gast; sons, Louis and Miles Griffin – and two grandchildren.

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Sports

LeBron James and Billie Jean King lead tributes to American journalist Grant Wahl

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CNN
 — 

The death of prominent journalist Grant Wahl at the World Cup in Qatar has led to an outpouring of shock and grief across the sports world, with NBA star LeBron James and tennis great Billie Jean King leading the tributes to the American.

Wahl, 49, died after collapsing while covering Friday’s Argentina-Netherlands match. The circumstances around his death are unclear.

King said Wahl’s death was “heartbreaking.”

“A talented journalist, Grant was an advocate for the LGBTQ community & a prominent voice for women’s soccer,” King tweeted Saturday. “He used his platform to elevate those whose stories needed telling. Prayers for his family.”

On Friday in Philadelphia, basketball star James said he had been “very fond of Grant.” While Wahl was at Sports Illustrated, he did a cover story on James when James was in high school.

“I’ve always kind of watched from a distance even when I moved up in ranks and became a professional, and he went to a different sport,” said James, speaking at a postgame press conference. “Any time his name would come up I’ll always think back to me as a teenager and having Grant in our building … It’s a tragic loss.”

Tyler Adams, the captain of the US men’s national soccer team, which was knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands in the last 16, sent his “deepest sympathy” to Wahl’s wife, Celine Gounder, and to those who knew him.

“As players we have a tremendous amount of respect for the work of journalists, & Grant’s was a giant voice in soccer that has tragically fallen silent,” Adams wrote on Twitter.

Qatar’s World Cup organizers said on Saturday that Wahl “fell ill” in the press area, where he received “immediate medical treatment on site.”

He was then transferred to Hamad General Hospital, said a spokesperson for the Supreme Court Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the body responsible for planning the tournament.

Wahl was treated in the stadium “for about 20-25 minutes” before he was moved to the hospital, Keir Radnedge, a columnist at World Soccer Magazine, told CNN Saturday.

“This was towards the end of extra time in the match. Suddenly, colleagues up to my left started shouting for medical assistance. Obviously, someone had collapsed. Because the chairs are freestanding, people were able to move the chairs, so it’s possible to create a little bit of space around him,” Radnedge said.

He added that the medical team were there “pretty quickly and were able to, as best they could, give treatment.”

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre reacted to Wahl’s death on Saturday, adding that senior State Department officials were in touch with Qatari officials and Grant’s family.

“Grant Wahl was an inspiration to many. Our thoughts are with his wife Dr. Céline Gounder and all those who loved him. State Department officials are in touch with Grant’s family and with senior officials in the government of Qatar to ensure his family gets the support they need,” Jean-Pierre wrote on Twitter.

“Only some days ago, Grant was recognized by FIFA and AIPS (the International Sports Press Association) for his contribution to reporting on eight consecutive FIFA World Cups,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a statement.

Infantino and FIFA media director Bryan Swanson were at the hospital on Saturday to offer any kind of support needed for the family, friends, and the journalists who were also his housemates in Qatar.

The co-editors in chief of Sports Illustrated, the publication where Wahl spent the majority of his career, said in a joint statement they were “shocked and devastated at the news of Grant’s passing.”

“We were proud to call him a colleague and friend for two decades – no writer in the history of (Sports Illustrated) has been more passionate about the sport he loved and the stories he wanted to tell,” said the statement.

It added that Wahl had first joined the publication in November 1996. He had volunteered to cover the sport as a junior reporter – back before it reached the heights of global popularity it now enjoys – eventually becoming “one of the most respected soccer authorities in the world,” it said.

The statement said that Wahl also worked with other media outlets including Fox Sports. After leaving Sports Illustrated in 2020, he began publishing his podcast and newsletter.

Other current and former US soccer players, including Ali Krieger and Tony Meola, shared their condolences, as did sporting bodies such as Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.

Wittyngham, Wahl’s podcast co-host, told CNN on Saturday the news of his death had been hard to fathom.

“For Americans, Grant Wahl is the first person you read covering soccer. He was kind of the only person for a while … Grant was the first person who really paid genuine attention to this sport in a meaningful way,” Wittyngham said.

Several journalists shared stories of reporting alongside Wahl, and having encountered him at multiple World Cups over the years.

“Before he became the best covering soccer he did hoops and was so kind to me,” wrote famed broadcaster Dick Vitale.

Timmy T. Davis, the US Ambassador to Qatar, tweeted that Wahl was “a well known and greatly respected reporter who focused on the beautiful game.”

“The entire US Soccer family is heartbroken to learn that we have lost Grant Wahl,” US Soccer said in a statement on its official Twitter account.

“Grant made soccer his life’s work, and we are devastated that he and his brilliant writing will no longer be with us.”

US Soccer praised Wahl’s passion and “belief in the power of the game to advance human rights,” and shared its condolences with Wahl’s wife and his loved ones.

Gounder also posted the US Soccer statement on Twitter.

“I am so thankful for the support of my husband Grant Wahl’s soccer family and of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight. I’m in complete shock,” wrote Gounder, a former CNN contributor who served on the Biden-Harris transition Covid-19 advisory board.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the department was in “close communication” with Wahl’s family. The World Cup organizers also said they were in touch with the US embassy “to ensure the process of repatriating the body is in accordance with the family’s wishes.”

Wahl had covered soccer for more than two decades, including 11 World Cups — six men’s, five women’s – and authored several books on the sport, according to his website.

He had just celebrated his birthday earlier this week with “a great group of media friends at the World Cup,” according to a post on his official Twitter account, which added: “Very thankful for everyone.”

In an episode of the podcast Futbol with Grant Wahl, published days before his death on December 6, he had complained of feeling unwell.

“It had gotten pretty bad in terms of like the tightness in my chest, tightness, pressure. Feeling pretty hairy, bad,” Wahl told co-host Chris Wittyngham in the episode. He added that he sought help at the medical clinic at the World Cup media center, believing he had bronchitis.

He was given cough syrup and ibuprofen, and felt better shortly afterward, he said.

Wahl also said he experienced an “involuntary capitulation by my body and mind” after the US-Netherlands game on December 3.

“This isn’t my first rodeo. I’ve done eight of these on the men’s side,” he said at the time. “And so like, I’ve gotten sick to some extent at every tournament, and it’s just about trying to find a way to like get your work done.”

He further described the incident in a recent newsletter published on December 5, writing that his body had “broke down” after he had little sleep, high stress and a heavy workload. He’d had a cold for 10 days, which “turned into something more severe,” he wrote, adding that he felt better after receiving antibiotics and catching up on sleep.

Wahl had made headlines in November by reporting that he was detained and briefly refused entry to a World Cup match because he was wearing a rainbow t-shirt in support of LGBTQ rights.

He said security staff had told him to change his shirt because “it’s not allowed,” and had taken his phone. Wahl said he was released 25 minutes after being detained and received apologies from a FIFA representative and a senior member of the security team at the stadium.

Afterward, Wahl told CNN he “probably will” wear the shirt again.



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World

Jacinda Ardern and Sanna Marin hit back at reporter’s question on age and gender

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As two of the youngest heads of government and among a small percentage of female world leaders, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin have long faced questions about their age and gender.

But they were quick to shoot down a journalist who asked about the purpose of the first-ever visit to New Zealand by a Finnish prime minister on Wednesday.

“A lot of people will be wondering are you two meeting just because you’re similar in age and, you know, got a lot of common stuff there,” the journalist said during a joint news conference in Auckland.

Ardern, 42, was quick to cut off the questioner.

“I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age,” she said, in reference to the former prime ministers of the United States and New Zealand.

“We, of course, have a higher proportion of men in politics, it’s reality. Because two women meet it’s not simply because of their gender.”

Marin, 37, who is in New Zealand with a Finnish trade delegation, emphasized the country’s growing trade ties.

“We are meeting because we are prime ministers,” she said in response.

She ends her visit to the southern hemisphere in Australia later this week.

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World

BBC journalist ‘beaten and kicked by the police’ as protests spread across China

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CNN Business
 — 

Edward Lawrence, a journalist at the BBC, was arrested by police in Shanghai at the scene of protests on Sunday night, according to the BBC and as captured on what appears to be mobile phone footage of the arrest.

While he has since been released, a BBC spokesperson has expressed extreme concern about his treatment, saying he was “beaten and kicked by the police.”

Protests have erupted across China in a rare show of dissent against the ruling Communist Party, sparked by anger over the country’s increasingly costly zero-Covid policy.

Among the thousands of protesters, hundreds have even called for the removal of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who for nearly three years has overseen a strategy of mass-testing, brute-force lockdowns, enforced quarantine and digital tracking that has come at a devastating human and economic cost.

Hear protesters in China call for Xi Jinping’s resignation

The BBC statement reads in full: “The BBC is extremely concerned about the treatment of our journalist Ed Lawrence, who was arrested and handcuffed while covering the protests in Shanghai. He was held for several hours before being released. During his arrest, he was beaten and kicked by the police. This happened while he was working as an accredited journalist.”

The statement continues, “It is very worrying that one of our journalists was attacked in this way whilst carrying out his duties. We have had no official explanation or apology from the Chinese authorities, beyond a claim by the officials who later released him that they had arrested him for his own good in case he caught Covid from the crowd. We do not consider this a credible explanation.”

At a regular press briefing Monday, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian acknowledged the detention of Lawrence, but claimed that he did not identify himself as a journalist before he was led away by police.

“China always welcomes foreign journalists to report in the country in accordance with the law and has provided lots of assistance,” Zhao said. “At the same time, foreign journalists should comply with Chinese regulations when they are reporting in China.”

Public protest is exceedingly rare in China, where the Communist Party has tightened its grip on all aspects of life, launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent, wiped out much of civil society and built a high-tech surveillance state.

At least two clips of the arrest were posted online by a Twitter user who says they witnessed the scene. One clip, filmed from above, shows at least four police officers standing over a handcuffed man whose face is obscured.

In a second clip of a man wearing the same clothing, Lawrence’s face is clearly identifiable, as police quickly led him away, and then shouts, “Call the consulate now.”

The witness who shared the videos said they saw the journalist get “sieged and dragged to the ground by several cops.”

It is unclear what happened in the lead-up to Lawrence’s arrest. The video available online begins with his arrest and does not show what happened prior.

In an interview with Sky News on Monday, the UK government called Lawrence’s arrest a “considerable concern.”

“There can be absolutely no excuse whatsoever for a journalist that was simply covering the process going on for being beaten by police,” said UK Business Secretary Grant Shapps.

Lawrence wasn’t the only foreign journalist detained by Chinese police on Sunday. Michael Peuker, China correspondent for Swiss broadcaster RTS, was also briefly detained while reporting live from a protest in Shanghai, RTS said.

“The tension is at its peak here. As a proof, I am now surrounded by three police officers, I will be taken to the police station after this live hit,” Peuker said on air. “I will leave you now and go to the police station,” he added.

Peuker said on Twitter that he was released moments later.

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World

Ksenia Sobchak: Kremlin critic with ties to Putin flees Russia after apartment search

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CNN
 — 

Russian TV host and 2018 presidential candidate Ksenia Sobchak has fled Russia for Lithuania, Russian state news agency TASS reported Thursday.

Sobchack entered Lithuania using her Israeli passport, according to the country’s State Security Department director Darius Jauniskis.

“Yes, I can confirm that Sobchak is in Lithuania,” TASS cited Jauniskis as saying.

Sobchak left the country after it was revealed on Wednesday that her apartment had been searched as part of the criminal case against her commercial director Kirill Sukhanov, who was detained on extortion charges.

“Our commercial director Kirill Sukhanov has been arrested. They are trying to charge him with extortion,” Sobchak wrote on her Telegram channel Wednesday.

Sobchak denounced this as “nonsense” and an attack on her editorial team.

“I don’t believe [these charges] at all, and I hope that now they will quickly sort everything out and will see that all this is some kind of nonsense,” she said. “If not, then it is obviously a raid on my editorial office – the last free editorial office in Russia, which had to be clamped down.”

Sobchak is a suspect in the case of her director accused of extortion of 11 million rubles (roughly $179,000) from the head of Rostec state corporation Sergei Chemezov, a law enforcement agency source told TASS.

The defense is planning to appeal Sukhanov’s detention, his lawyer Svetlana Lipatova said Wednesday.

Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Sobchak has close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was mentored by her late father, reformist politician Anatoly Sobchak, at the start of his political career.

In the 2010s Ksenia Sobchak frequently attended opposition protests and rallies, but lost support from opposition figures after running for the Russian presidency in 2018.

Her decision to run for the presidency was widely criticized by leaders of the Russian opposition, including Alexey Navalny, who accused her campaign of being a sham and labeled her as a “Kremlin project.”

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World

Arshad Sharif: Prominent Pakistani journalist killed in Kenya

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Nairobi
CNN Business
 — 

Arshad Sharif, a prominent Pakistani journalist who fled the country after he was charged with sedition, has died in Kenya after he was shot by police responding to reports of a stolen vehicle, authorities said.

“The officers trailing the motor vehicle … alerted police in Magadi who erected a road barrier,” Bruno Isohi Shioso, a spokesperson for Kenya’s National Police Service, said in a statement.

Sharif’s car allegedly drove through the road barrier and “it is then that they were shot at,” Shioso said. Sharif was “fatally wounded by a police officer,” he said, adding that the incident was being investigated.

According to a police report seen by Kenyan national news outlet The Nation, the roadblock had been set up after reports of a kidnapping that involved a car bearing a similar license plate number to that of Sharif’s.

Kenya’s Independent Policing Oversight Authority (IPOA), a civilian watchdog organization, said it has already started investigating the incident.

“I lost friend, husband and my favourite journalist @arsched today, as per police he was shot in Kenya,” Sharif’s wife, Javeria Siddique, tweeted Monday.

Sharif fled Pakistan in August due to sedition charges leveled against him for allegedly criticizing state institutions and “abetting mutiny” within the military.

He had interviewed opposition politician Shahbaz Gill, a close ally of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Following the interview, Gill was also charged with sedition by the Pakistani police for making what they claim were “anti-state comments.”

Sharif’s channel ARY initially claimed that it was “being hounded by the present regime,” but then said it had cut ties with Sharif after it was taken off air for about a month on August 8 by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority.

Sharif had to “flee Pakistan in August to save his life,” a close associate of his told CNN. He had initially gone to Dubai but was forced to flee from the UAE due to “harassment by Pakistani officials,” the associate added.

Sharif had “only been in Kenya for a few weeks since that is one of the few places Pakistani passport holders don’t need a visa for entry,” the associate said.

Pakistan’s embassy officials in Nairobi are waiting for a the police report, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Though not technically under military rule today, Pakistan has been ruled by the military for much of its 75-year history.

The Foreign Press Association, Africa (FPA Africa) said it is “deeply disturbed” by Sharif’s killing, especially the circumstances in which he died.

“Sharif’s death has robbed the media fraternity globally of a dedicated and forthright journalist,” FPA Africa said in a statement.

The association added that it is calling on authorities in Kenya to investigate the incident and thereby assure “foreign journalists based in the country and covering Africa, including those who visit on assignment and other professional undertakings that they’re safe.”

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan tweeted on Monday that “a long, grim record of violent tactics to silence journalists explain why the reported murder of journalist Arshad Sharif in Kenya has sent shock waves through the journalist community.”

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted that he was “deeply saddened by the shocking news” of Sharif’s death. Shehbaz also said he had a phone conversation with Kenyan President William Ruto and “I requested him to ensure fair & transparent investigation into shocking incident. He promised all-out help including fast-tracking the process of return of the body” to Pakistan.



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World

Russian journalist who protested on live television escapes house arrest

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CNN
 — 

Marina Ovsyannikova, a Russian journalist who staged a daring protest live on state-run television, has been declared a fugitive after going on the run, Russian media reported.

Ovsyannikova was placed under house arrest in August. She had been charged with disseminating false information about the Russian military after participating in a protest in July, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS. Her detention was supposed to last until Sunday.

Ovsyannikova’s ex-husband said that she had escaped house arrest with her daughter on Saturday, TASS reported. Her lawyer, Dmitry Zakhvatov, said he could not confirm those allegations.

“All I know is that she’s gone,” Zakhvatov told CNN.

Ovsyannikova has been added to the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ “wanted list,” TASS reported on Monday.

The 44-year-old journalist shot to international fame in March when, as an editor at Russia’s state-controlled Channel One television station, she stood behind an anchor and held up a sign that read “No War” during a live broadcast.

The Kremlin described her actions as “hooliganism,” a criminal offense in Russia. Following her protest, Ovsyannikova was arrested, interrogated for more than 14 hours, released and fined 30,000 rubles (around $500).

A Moscow court found her guilty of organizing an “unauthorized public event” and she fled Russia, but returned in July, according to her official Facebook page.

Ovsyannikova was later fined 50,000 rubles (around $820) over a video recorded on July 13 in which she spoke out against the conflict.

She also shared content of herself holding a one-woman anti-war demonstration on an embankment opposite the Kremlin in Moscow on July 15.

The on-air protest was particularly risky for Ovsyannikova, as it came during an increased crackdown on both political dissent and freedom of the press, forcing local Russian media to curtail their coverage of the invasion or shut down altogether. International news networks including CNN temporarily suspended broadcasting from Russia in the days that followed the invasion.

Ovsyannikova said she felt “ashamed” of her work at Channel One, which she said was effectively peddling Kremlin propaganda. But after the invasion, she said she felt it was “impossible to stay silent” and wanted the world to know that many disagreed with the war.

“The decision was brewing for quite a long time,” she told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour shortly after the initial protest. “The war was the point of no return, when it was simply impossible to stay silent.”

Speaking to CNN from Germany in May, where she was working as a correspondent for the newspaper Die Welt, Ovsyannikova said she was subject to online harassment, bullying and attempts to discredit her — including from Ukrainians who disapproved of a former Russian propagandist covering the conflict.

— David Goldman and Joshua Berlinger contributed to this report.

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US

Columbia University acknowledges submitting inaccurate data for consideration in college rankings

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CNN Business
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Columbia University said that it relied on “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies” in submitting data to U.S. News & World Report for consideration in the publication’s 2021 college rankings, according to a statement released by the university Friday.

“The Columbia undergraduate experience is and always has been centered around small classes taught by highly accomplished faculty. That fact is unchanged. But anything less than complete accuracy in the data that we report – regardless of the size or the reason – is inconsistent with the standards of excellence to which Columbia holds itself,” the statement reads. “We deeply regret the deficiencies in our prior reporting and are committed to doing better.”

In February, Columbia Mathematics Professor Michael Thaddeus questioned the Ivy League school’s rise in rankings from 18th place, on its debut in 1988, to 2nd place in 2021. In a statement posted on Columbia University’s Department of Mathematics’ website, Thaddeus noted that “few other top-tier universities have also improved their standings, but none has matched Columbia’s extraordinary rise.”

Thaddeus pointed to data submitted by the university to U.S. News & World Report in questioning Columbia’s seemingly meteoric rise in rankings.

“Can we be sure that the data accurately reflect the reality of life within the university?” Thaddeus rhetorically asked. “Regrettably, the answer is no.”

The math professor then tabulated data on “undergraduate class size, percentage of faculty with terminal degrees, percentage of faculty who are full-time, and student-faculty ratio” submitted by Columbia University to U.S. News & World Report and compares the data “with figures computed by other means, drawing on information made public by Columbia elsewhere.”

In his findings, Thaddeus said there were “discrepancies sometimes quite large” which seemed to always work in Columbia’s favor.

In response to Thaddeus’ findings, Columbia University Provost Mary Boyce said in a June statement that the university would “refrain from submitting data to U.S. News and World Report” for consideration in the publication’s 2022 undergraduate college rankings.

“On two of the metrics questioned by our faculty member [Thaddeus], class size and faculty with terminal degrees, we determined we had previously relied on outdated and/or incorrect methodologies. We have changed those methodologies for current and future data submissions, as reflected in the newly posted Common Data Sets,” Boyce noted in June.

Boyce said starting Fall 2022, the university would start participating in the Common Data Set (CDS) Initiative, “a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers” to provide accurate information to students seeking information on institutions of higher education, according to the initiative’s website.

The CDS Initiative, represented by U.S. News & World Report, the College Board and educational services company Peterson’s, was launched in 1997 to provide institutions of higher education with “a set of standards and definitions of data items rather than a survey instrument or set of data represented in a database.”

U.S. News Chief Data Strategist Robert Morse told CNN Monday that schools report most of the information for their Best Colleges rankings directly to U.S. News.

“Each year, U.S. News sends an extensive questionnaire to all accredited four-year colleges and universities,” he explained. “U.S. News, a founding member of the Common Data Set initiative, incorporates questions from the CDS and proprietary questions on this survey. U.S. News relies on schools to accurately report their data.”

Coupled with the commitment of participating in the CDS Initiative, Boyce also announced the launch of a new webpage providing detailed context and analysis of the Columbia University undergraduate experience.

In July, U.S. News & World Report unranked Columbia University “from a number of rankings in the 2022 edition of Best Colleges (first published September 2021)” saying that the university “failed to respond to multiple U.S. News requests that the university substantiate certain data it previously submitted,” according to a blog post by U.S. News. It is unclear whether Thaddeus’ publication of his investigation into the data that Columbia presented to U.S. News & World Report may have contributed to the university being unranked.

In Friday’s statement, Boyce said the university posted two Common Data Sets, one for the Columbia College and Columbia Engineering, and one for Columbia General Studies.

“The information included in the two Common Data Sets reflects the University’s work in recent months to review our data collection processes, following questions raised by a faculty member regarding the accuracy of certain data the University submitted to U.S. News and World Report in 2021 for its ranking of undergraduate universities,” Boyce said.

“U.S. News publishes annual rankings for more than 11,500 schools and hundreds of individual programs as part of the Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools, Best Online Programs, Best Global Universities and Best High Schools rankings,” Morse said in a statement Monday.

“To produce the rankings, U.S. News collects tens of thousands of data points from the schools themselves and other sources, including the U.S. Department of Education, state and local governments and higher education associations. A very small proportion of the total number of schools that are ranked – typically less than 0.1% each year – inform U.S. News that they have misreported data that were used to calculate their school’s ranking.”

U.S. News & World Report released a breakdown of how their publication calculated the 2022-2023 Best Colleges Rankings in an article Monday.

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