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Pakistani 19-year-old went on OceanGate trip to please his dad for Father’s Day, report says The 19-year-old Pakistani college student who was the youngest to die in the implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submarine was "terrified" about going on the deep-sea journey to the Titanic wreckage, his aunt has revealed. Azmeh Dawood, in an interview with NBC News, said her nephew, Suleman Dawood, also informed a relative that he "wasn’t very up for it" but went on the excursion anyway because it happened over Father’s Day weekend, and his dad Shazada, whom he wanted to please, was passionate about the sunken ocean liner. "I am thinking of Suleman, who is 19, in there, just perhaps gasping for breath... It's been crippling, to be honest," Azmeh Dawood told the network. "I feel disbelief," she added following an announcement from U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral John Mauger that underwater debris found Thursday was "consistent with a catastrophic implosion of the vessel." Azmeh, who is Shahzada’s older sister, also said she was fixated on international media coverage of the search for Titan this week. "I feel like I've been caught in a really bad film, with a countdown, but you didn't know what you're counting down to," she told NBC News. "I personally have found it kind of difficult to breathe thinking of them." Mauger’s announcement Thursday came hours after the Coast Guard alerted the public that a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle had made a discovery along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean. "The debris is consistent with the catastrophic loss of the pressure chamber. Upon this determination, we immediately notified the families," Mauger told reporters gathered in Boston. "On behalf of the United States Coast Guard and the entire unified command, I offer my deepest condolences to the families."

Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is one of the sport’s most colourful characters and his big-money fights have become world events. But there’s one battle he’ll never win – trying to outsmart his father Barry ‘The only way you can achieve greatness is to be a perfectionist in everything you do’: Eddie Hearn. Photograph: Dean Chalkley/The Observer The boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is telling the world what it wants to hear, live on national television. It is early on a Monday morning. Hearn is in the Hearn family offices, a converted pile outside Brentwood, rural Essex, that was once the Hearn family home, pre-conversion. “Look,” he says. He is talking directly to camera, speaking live to a news anchor down the line. “Everybody knows this is a monstrous fight. It makes perfect sense. How could it not make perfect sense?” It is 24 hours after Tyson Fury boxed Deontay Wilder in a big-money Las Vegas brawl. Fury won, convincingly. Now the news channels are asking about the heavyweight division’s other premium fighter, Anthony Joshua, who happens to be Hearn’s marquee client. Will Joshua fight Fury now? Can Hearn make it happen? “Let’s have it right,” Hearn says. Here he is, a salesman in his element, a heavyweight chatterbox dangling a deal. “We have an opportunity to make an event,” he says. “Not just the biggest event in British boxing history, but one of the biggest sporting events” – pause – “ of all time .” Hearn is not a man to tone down the hyperbole. Nor does he turn down the opportunity to talk. “I’ll do every interview in the line,” he says, of his commitment to promotion, “and I’ll get to the end and it’s some geezer from… ‘Frank’s Boxing Hour’?” He doesn’t have it in him to turn requests down, he says, even when the requests come from amateur YouTubers. But, you know, all publicity is good publicity. After big fights, news channels clamour for Hearn’s take, not just because he is a grade-A gabber – which he is, a truly exceptional gabber – but because his interviews get traction , particularly when they’re chopped up and shared across social media. Almost a million people follow Hearn on Twitter, where he delivers lines with the charm and swagger of a star performer. Some 350,000 people follow an Eddie Hearn fan account that reduces his soundbites to memes. Thanks in part to his social media persona – performative, nearly always delighted at something, game for a laugh – but also to the recent resurgence of the heavyweight division as a popular spectacle, Hearn has shot comet-like over the threshold of boxing and into the public consciousness, and established himself as one of the loudest voices in sports. These days, he turns up, almost miraculously, everywhere: on the news, at weigh-ins, on a talkshow, at press conferences, on your partner’s Instagram feed (telling jokes, from quarantine) . He can come across as a combination of businessman and comedian – a mostly serious man with a side-hustle in laughs. His company, Matchroom Boxing, promotes more than 90 boxers, including several world champions. But of late it has seemed as though Hearn has become more famous than most of his clients. Hearn refers to himself as “a travelling salesman” – his schedule, these days, is not carbon efficient – though really he’d like to be remembered for being an outstanding man of business. Some people see him like that. Others think of him as a kind of Essex wide boy, a chancer, ready to pull the wool over your eyes. The latter take is simplistic. Hearn has sold out events at Wembley and Madison Square Garden. He was the first promoter to make a $1bn streaming deal, with the on-demand service DAZN, and the only boxing promoter to have organised a big-money event in the Middle East (still controversial). He excels at twisting negotiations to benefit the boxers he promotes, particularly their wallets, and subsequently his own, and he is expert at conjuring stories to pitch fights to audiences, especially to those who are only casually interested in boxing. “I love to sell,” he says. “I love to make money. But it’s not just about that. It’s about the achievement of making a breakthrough.”

Apple will cut its app store commissions in half for most developers beginning next year amid an intensifying debate about whether the iPhone maker has been using the fees to unfairly fatten its profits and stifle rivals competing against its own music, video, and other subscription services. FILE - In this June 16, 2020, file photo, the sun is reflected on Apple's Fifth Avenue store in New York. Apple will cut its app store fee in half from 30% to 15% for most developers beginning Jan. 1, the biggest change in its commission rate since the app store began in 2008. The fee reduction will apply to developers who made up to $1 million from the app store in 2020, which is the “vast majority” of developers in the store, Apple said. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File) THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Apple will cut its app store commissions in half for most developers beginning next year amid an intensifying debate about whether the iPhone maker has been using the fees to unfairly fatten its profits and stifle rivals competing against its own music, video, and other subscription services. The concession announced Wednesday will lower Apple's commissions for in-app subscriptions and other purchases from the 30% rate that has been in place since 2008 to 15%, effective Jan. 1. But the discount will only apply to developers with app store revenue up to $1 million annually — a threshold that excludes the makers of some of the most popular apps downloaded on iPhones, iPads and other Apple devices. That group includes two of Apple's fiercest critics, music streaming service Spotify, and Epic, the maker of the popular Fortnite video game. Both those companies have helped spur increasing scrutiny of Apple's app store practices among lawmakers and regulators in the U.S. and Europe. Apple sells music streaming and video services that have been helping to offset a slowdown in iPhone revenue in recent years. The app store commissions feed Apple's services division, which saw its revenue climb 16% to nearly $54 billion during the company's last fiscal year ending in September. Only iPhone sales generate more revenue for Apple than services. Apple is framing its fee reduction as a way to help most of the companies that make the roughly 1.8 million apps in its store during the tough economic times brought on by the pandemic. About 98% of the app developers generate less than $1 million in revenue annually, according to the mobile analytics firm SensorTower. But the reduced commission probably won't leave much of a dent in Apple's revenue. That's because the small developers in line to qualify for the cut only contribute about 5% of Apple's app store revenue, based on SensorTower's estimates. That's probably one reason investors seemed unfazed by Apple's forthcoming fee cut. The company's shares were up slightly during early afternoon trading. Spotify scoffed at Apple's lower commissions as “window dressing" designed to discourage regulators from cracking down on its practices. “This latest move further demonstrates that their app store policies are arbitrary and capricious," Spotify said in a statement. Epic is continuing to pursue a lawsuit it filed against Apple earlier this year in an effort to win the right to sell products within its apps without having to pay Apple's fees.

Arguably the greatest upset in World Cup history and one that made me well and truly fall in love with football Argentina’s Néstor Sensini (left), Juan Simón and Néstor Lorenzo (right) look on in disbelief as François Omam-Biyik heads home for Cameroon. Photograph: AFP via Getty Images Life is filled with memorable summers and among my first was that of 1990. I was nine at the time and for the past year or so a Liverpool supporter. But that was as far as my love of football went – they were the only team I cared about, the only team I wanted to watch, and games that did not involve men in red shirts with Candy across the middle didn’t interest me much. That, however, was about to change. On Friday 8 June 1990 to be precise, when I sat down in front of the living-room television to watch Argentina versus Cameroon in the opening fixture of the World Cup. Diego Maradona was key to my decision to do so. I had heard of him, how he was the best player of his generation and probably of all time, and here he was – on show at the start of a global tournament taking place across an entire month. I was intrigued by what lay ahead and there was to be no disappointment, thanks in large part not to Maradona but rather to the team with lions on their chests and stardust in their boots. Cameroon’s World Cup campaign was magnificent and no more so than on day one when in beating Argentina 1-0 at San Siro they pulled off arguably the greatest upset in World Cup history and one that put African football on the map. Before then teams from the continent had been dismissed and derided, with Zaire’s farcical display at the 1974 tournament, particularly at free-kicks , doing much to shape opinions. Cameroon were not expected to change that given they arrived in Italy as a squad largely made up of journeymen from France’s lower divisions who were in poor form and riven by division. There was no doubt – they were going to be blown away, and especially so by the reigning champions. But on a warm Milan evening, Cameroon torched the odds. It was not a great game but it was a memorable one because of two moments: François Omam-Biyik’s goal on 67 minutes – a towering but weak header that somehow squirmed through the grasp of Nery Pumpido – and then, two minutes from time, Benjamin Massing’s foul on Claudio Caniggia. Caniggia had evaded two Cameroon tackles as he went on a counterattacking surge but stood no chance of evading Massing’s given it was less a tackle and more an assault, waist-high and so strong that it sent Massing’s right boot flying in the air. The referee, Michel Vautrot, had no option but to dismiss Massing, having already sent off his teammate André Kana-Biyik for a far less heinous offence. Massing’s foul on Caniggia is one of those things that lives with you and ever since it is what has come to mind whenever I’ve thought about wildly brutal attacks. Roy Keane on Alf-Inge Haaland – Benjamin Massing. Ben Thatcher on Pedro Mendes – Benjamin Massing. The 2003 invasion of Iraq – Benjamin Massing. To an extent it characterised Cameroon’s approach to this game, yet it would be wrong to suggest Valeri Nepomniachi’s men only beat Argentina because they kicked them off the pitch. Cameroon were rugged and uncompromising (so much so that they kept Maradona quiet throughout) but they also performed with skill and ambition. As David Lacey put it in the Guardian: “The better team won”. That they did so with nine men only added to the scale of the achievement. Cameroon would go on to reach the quarter-finals, where they were beaten by England , and returned home as heroes, no one more so than Roger Milla, their 38-year-old, snake-hipped striker who epitomised the wonder of that side. And for nine-year-old me what they did against Argentina was the hook – now I wanted as much football as I could get. And that summer I got plenty; Matthäus’s piledriver, O’Leary’s penalty, Schillaci’s eyes … Gazza’s tears. It was a feast. Italia 90 may ultimately have been a poor World Cup but it changed my life, personally as well as professionally. And it began with a quite glorious shock

French officials accuse environmental group of 'eco-terrorism The French government issued a decree on Wednesday shutting down a major climate activist group whose demonstrations have frequently resorted to violence and saw fierce clashes with police earlier this year. Uprisings of the Earth (SLT) condemned the shutdown as a violation of human rights and an infringement on the French public’s freedom of speech according to reports. "It's an infringement on freedom of expression, it targets speech and not actions," SLT lawyer Raphael Kempf told Reuters before vowing to contest the decision in the French courts. Protesters, surrounded by tear gas, clash with riot mobile gendarmes during a demonstration called by the collective ''Bassines non merci'' where more than 3,000 police officers and gendarmes have been mobilized.(Photo by Jerome Gilles/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Head of the French Human Rights League, Patrick Baudouin, echoed this sentiment and said it was "part of a wider trend." "For the past few months there have been attacks on several freedoms (freedom of protest, expression and association), that primarily concern the ecologist movement," he added. Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg also threw her support behind the group and according to local news outlet France24 stood alongside supporters of the group outside the Council of State in Paris Wednesday and said, "This is about the right to protest, and this is about defending life." Thunberg said she hopes more people will stand up for the right to protest and demand changes to aid the environment. However, French officials stood by their decision with France’s Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin calling the aggressive acts carried out by the group’s supports the equivalent to "eco-terrorism" after some activists showed "extreme violence against police forces." "Under the claim of defending the preservation of the environment... [SLT] encourages sabotage and property damage, including with violence," he said Wednesday.

Russia seeks guarantees regarding trade with Iran that would undermine west’s sanctions over Ukraine invasion The revived deal would lift US sanctions in return for Tehran complying with with the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Photograph: Majid Asgaripour/AP Russia has been accused of trying to take the Iran nuclear deal hostage as part of its wider battle with the west over Ukraine, after it threw a last-minute spanner into plans for an agreement to lift a swathe of US economic sanctions on Tehran.
After months of negotiations in Vienna, a revised deal was expected to be reached within days, under which US sanctions would be lifted in return for Tehran returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear non-proliferation deal.

But diplomatic efforts have been sent into a tailspin by Russia’s unexpected demand for written guarantees that its economic trade with Iran will be exempted from US sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine.
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, at the weekend cited the “avalanche of aggressive sanctions [on Russia] that the west has started spewing out”, and said: “This meant Moscow had to ask the US for guarantees first, requiring a clear answer that the new sanctions will not affect its rights under the nuclear deal.
“We requested that our US colleagues … give us written guarantees at the minimum level of the secretary of state that the current [sanctions] process launched by the US will not in any way harm our right to free, fully fledged trade and economic and investment cooperation and military-technical cooperation with Iran.”
In a sign of how sanctions will bite, Aeroflot flights from Moscow to Iran were cancelled on Sunday.
If Lavrov’s demand is to require the US to exempt Russian-Iranian trade from sanctions, the west is almost certain to reject the demand since it would open a huge loophole in the sanctions regime. It would then be up to Moscow whether to veto the nuclear deal altogether.
US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, dismissed Russia’s demands as “irrelevant”, saying that sanctions imposed after the invasion of Ukraine “have nothing to do with the Iran nuclear deal.”
They “just are not in any way linked together, so I think that’s irrelevant,” Blinken told CBS.
The Vienna talks have for months been an oasis of diplomatic cooperation between Russia and the west as they painstakingly crafted a compromise acceptable to both Iran and the US. The Russian ambassador to the Vienna talks, Mikhail Ulyanov, has been an indefatigable intermediary, but now risks seeing his work being undone by Moscow’s confrontation with the west over Ukraine.
Iranian officials criticised Russia’s intervention, saying “the Russians put this demand on the table at the Vienna talks two days ago. There is an understanding that by changing its position in [the] Vienna talks, Russia wants to secure its interests in other places. This move is not constructive for [the] Vienna nuclear talks”.
Russia also has a short-term strategic interest in scuppering or postponing the deal. Iran produces more than 2m barrels of oil a day, and if these supplies were able to reach the markets, the upward surge in prices would be slowed.
Russia, a large-scale oil producer, wants to drive the oil price up both to turn the screw on western economies, but also to boost its own budget revenues.
Israel, a fierce opponent of a revived nuclear deal, will be the only major country privately welcoming Russia’s actions.
The parties to the deal are Iran, the E3 (France, Germany and the UK), Russia and China. The US is present in Vienna, but Iran will not directly negotiate with the US delegation.
Separately, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, was in Tehran this weekend trying to secure a deal on the future inspection regime. Grossi was hoping to resolve disagreements over the IAEA’s demand for access to four sites where suspicious nuclear activities were alleged to have taken place.
Iran wants the IAEA to close down these investigations, claiming they are based on false Israeli intelligence. Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Iranian atomic energy association, has also sought assurances that what Iran regards as Israeli intelligence will not form the basis of future IAEA investigations into Iran.
The two sides agreed to exchange documents by June, the likely date for the Iran deal to come back into force, but seemed to have left issues about the inspection regime unresolved.
Meanwhile, the IAEA will continue with an inspection regime in which its surveillance cameras remain in place, and the memory cards of the cameras kept under joint seal.

The Commerce Department’s decision defies an executive order by the president in his effort to crackdown on Chinese social media companies. The department’s decision on Thursday delayed a previous order that would have prohibited companies from providing TikTok with internet-hosting or content-delivery services. (AARONP/BAUER-GRIFFIN/GC IMAGES) THE VIDEO SHARING social media platform TikTok will not be forced to shut down, the Commerce Department said, announcing it would not enforce its previous order that would have forced the Chinese-owned app to shut down. The department's decision on Thursday delayed a previous order that would have prohibited companies from providing TikTok with internet-hosting or content-delivery services, actions that would make the platform inoperable in the U.S. President Donald Trump issued the order earlier this year in his effort to crackdown on Chinese social media companies, claiming it was a matter of national security. However, in the formal government notice announcing the decision , the Commerce Department cited a judicial ruling in a lawsuit in Philadelphia brought by three TikTok users. The judge in the case said the government's action threatens the exchange of information and exceeds its authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the law the Trump administration had cited to take action against TikTok. The platform also directly sued Trump in federal court in September in Washington, D.C., arguing that his ban was unconstitutional. D.C. followed Philadelphia and ruled in favor of TikTok, a decision the government appealed. While the Commerce Department's notice orders that Trump's executive order "WILL NOT GO INTO EFFECT," the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is set to hear oral arguments in TikTok v. Trump on Dec. 14.

One of the stolen deactivated firearms was the Walther PPK - the last gun used by Roger Moore in A View to a Kill. One of the five firearms stolen at the Enfield property. Pic: Met Police Police are appealing for information after five deactivated guns used in James Bond movies were stolen from a property in north London. Officers were called to a property in Aldersbrook Avenue in Enfield at around 8pm on Monday to a report of a burglary. The suspects fled the scene before officers arrived after being disturbed by neighbours, who described the intruders as three white males with Eastern European accents. It is believed the suspects forced entry into the rear of the premises and stole five firearms used in James Bond films, estimated to be worth more than £100,000. Beretta "Cheetah" and Beretta "Tomcat" pistols from Die Another Day and the Walther PPK handgun used in A View to a Kill were reported to have been taken. The other stolen weapons are understood to be a Revolver Smith and Wesson 44 Magnum featured in Live and Let Die and a Llama 22 calibre handgun from Die Another Day. The release date for new James Bond film No Time To Die has been pushed back seven months due to coronavirus. The film, which will feature Daniel Craig in his final outing as 007, was set to be released in UK cinemas from 2 April. It will now come out in November. Detective Inspector Paul Ridley, of North Area Crime Investigation Department (CID) said: "The firearms stolen are very distinctive and bespoke to particular James Bond movies. They will almost certainly be recognised by the public and to anyone offered them for sale. "Many of these items are irreplaceable. For example, the Magnum is the only one in the world ever made in which the whole gun is finished in chrome. It has a six and a half inch barrel and wood grips. He added that the Walther PPK was the last gun used by Roger Moore in A View to a Kill. "The owner is very upset that his address has been violated and he truly hopes to be re-united with these highly collectable items," he said. "I would urge any members of the public that may have witnessed the burglars arriving and leaving, or who know where the firearms are, or may have been offered these stolen items for sale, to come forward to my investigation team as a priority."

Eliza Armstrong, nine, tells Sky News why she is going to the protest and why adults need to listen to Greta Thunberg. Hamish and Eliza Armstrong, seven and nine, are going to the climate change protest in Bristol where Greta Thunberg is speaking. Climate change activist Greta Thunberg is appearing at a protest in Bristol on Friday, where tens of thousands are expected to join her. Nine-year-old Eliza Armstrong, from Bristol, will be attending with her brother Hamish, seven, friends and parents. I'm really excited about going to the climate change protest with Greta Thunberg . I've done some local demonstrations in Bristol before but nothing as fantastic as this - I've been wanting to go for a while and we're making placards to hold up. I'll definitely see Greta but I don't think I'll be able to meet her unfortunately. There's going to be so many other kids there, although I'm kind of anxious to see how many people are aware and see how many have decided to come. It will be amazing to see all the people who have stopped their work to fight against climate change . I hope Greta's going to do quite a convincing speech so lots of people get what she's trying to do and what her aim is. I hope it's really powerful and that everyone's amazed by her. I think adults who look down on her are underestimating her. She's already written lots of books about climate change, but they're still underestimating her and not using what she's done to realise how much she's achieved. Greta's definitely done the right thing by standing up for climate change and she's proving nobody is too small. Quite a few of my year are going to the protest, we've been talking about it all week. It's meant to be raining but the weather isn't going to stop anyone, it would be a bit strange if Greta didn't come because of the weather. Lots of people have been planning to come it would be silly if they didn't just because of the weather, this is why we're fighting for climate change awareness. My year, year four, is probably the most aware of climate change at my school. Maybe because we're the oldest and have an eco-council and we talk a lot about Greta and her actions. With my parents, I think I've had an influence on them, you try to make them understand. I've taught them that maybe you should drive a bit less and I've taught them to not buy so much single-use plastic. When they found out about Greta they stopped using so much plastic and I influenced them to get more recyclable things.

Pennsylvania woman's @Zillowtastrophe TikTok account has garnered over 23.1M likes The account @Zillowtastrophe is filled with seemingly bizarre homes that are or were listed for sale on the real estate website Zillow.(iStock/Jessica More) What does your home say about you? A social media creator has garnered over 714,000 followers on TikTok and 51,000 followers on Instagram for sharing some arguably outrageous homes available for sale on Zillow — an American tech real-estate marketplace headquartered in Seattle, Washington. In 2020, Jessica More, a 35-year-old communications manager from Pennsylvania, was looking for ways to spruce up her home during the pandemic. She began checking out available listings on Zillow, she told Fox News Digital. More remembers a time when social media users started sharing their unique internet finds in the midst of COVID-19. "All of us collectively found this thing to fill our gap of exciting things happening in our lives," More said. She owns the TikTok and Instagram accounts @Zillowtastrophes. "If you found something crazy, it was like hitting the jackpot … and you wanted to share it with other people," she added. As someone who works with social media professionally, More saw TikTok as the next big thing and used her newfound hobby to explore the once-new platform, she said. She first started sending her Zillow discoveries to her friends, she said, and then expanded it by creating @Zillowtastrophes.

Stars are staying at home during the coronavirus crisis, but thanks to Elton John that doesn't mean you can't see them perform. Mariah Carey and Billie Eilish are among the stars taking part in Elton John's living room gig Billie Eilish, Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys are among stars taking part in a fund-raising "living room" gig hosted by Sir Elton John to provide entertainment during isolation. The stars, who are staying at home during the coronavirus pandemic, will film themselves performing on their own mobile phone or camera and audio equipment "to ensure the health and safety of all involved", according to a statement. In an hour-long concert, stars will also pay tribute to health workers on the frontline of the fight against COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus, and fans will be able to donate to charities helping victims and key workers. Viewers will be asked to support two of the charitable organisations aiding victims and first responders during the pandemic: Feeding America and First Responders Children's Foundation. The concert will air on Sunday in the broadcasting slot on US network Fox that had originally been reserved for the iHeart Radio Music Awards. The awards show became part of a wave of cancelled events as the virus started to spread. Other musicians set to take part are Backstreet Boys, Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong and Tim McGraw. Sir Elton, who celebrated his 73rd birthday on Wednesday, shared a video of his lockdown birthday celebrations with his family on his Instagram page. Earlier in March, he posted a photograph of himself holding a poster referencing his husband and sons, saying "#IStayHomeFor David Furnish, Zachary and Elijah". The day after Sir Elton's show, Eilish will be taking part in another streamed show, hosted by James Corden. The British presenter will bring celebrities from around the world together for a Late Late Show special, called Homefest, from his garage on Monday. As well as Eilish, acts set to perform include BTS in South Korea, Dua Lipa in London, and John Legend in LA. Scores of music tours, shows and festivals have been cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic, including Glastonbury in the UK and Coachella in the US. On the big screen, several films have seen release dates pushed back - including the much-anticipated new James Bond film, No Time To Die , for which Eilish has recorded the theme song . Originally due to launch at the beginning of April, Daniel Craig's last outing as 007 is now scheduled for release in November.

Brittney Griner (42) faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. Photograph: Ralph Freso/AP Olympic champion detained in Russia over drug allegations Texas congresswoman calls for player’s release A Texas congresswoman has called for Russia to release Brittney Griner as fears grow Vladimir Putin could use the US basketball star as a pawn during the war in Ukraine. The two-time Olympic champion has been detained by Russian customs authorities, who claim they discovered vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage at an airport near Moscow. The arrest took place last month and the 31-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of bringing drugs into Russia. The situation comes as the US places sanctions on Russia after Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine last month. “We know that there were some issues dealing with vape cartridges and other items but let me be very clear,” said Sheila Jackson Lee, who represents Griner’s hometown of Houston, Texas, in Congress. “Brittney Griner is a United States citizen, she was a guest in Russia … and I will be demanding her release.” Lee said that Russia’s actions in Ukraine undermined their detention of Griner. “I don’t want to disregard a sovereign nation but Putin has disregarded sovereign nations his entire service in this world,” Lee said. “Anyone that is killing and attacking and destroying Ukraine, a neighboring country that is not bothering them, has no right to hold Ms Griner. Period.” Meanwhile, a former Pentagon official told Yahoo Sports she feared Griner could become a “high-profile hostage”.

Brittney Griner: American women’s basketball superstar detained in Russia
Read more “If we want her out of jail, Russia is going to have some terms,” said Evelyn Farkas, who served as the US deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia and Ukraine from 2012 to 2015. “It could be a prisoner swap. They also could use it as an implicit threat or blackmail to get us to do something or not do something. Either way, they find it useful.” In a statement to the Guardian, Griner’s agent Lindsay Colas said: “We are aware of the situation with Brittney Griner in Russia and are in close contact with her, her legal representation in Russia, her family, her teams, and the WNBA and NBA. “As this is an ongoing legal matter, we are not able to comment further on the specifics of her case but can confirm that as we work to get her home, her mental and physical health remain our primary concern.” The WNBA said in a release that Griner has the league’s “full support” and “our main priority is her swift and safe return to the United States”. Griner, like many of her fellow WNBA players, also competes in Russia during the league’s offseason. She has played for UMMC Ekaterinburg since 2015, helping the Russian club to three domestic titles and EuroLeague Women championships in 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021. Her annual salary of $1m with Ekaterinburg is far in excess of her earnings in the WNBA, where the maximum salary is $228,000. Griner, a 6ft 9in center, is considered one of the best players in the world. She won gold medals with Team USA at the 2016 and 2020 Olympics, the WNBA title with the Phoenix Mercury in 2014 and has been named an WNBA All-Star seven times.