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The US-China trade war intensified Thursday, sending the global economy into unknown territory and dampening relief after President Donald Trump’s earlier climbdown from a wider tariff onslaught against the rest of the world.The White House clarified that Trump’s big hike in tariffs on China announced 24 hours earlier had actually taken his total levies this year on imports from the world’s second biggest economy to a staggering total of 145 percent — not the previously reported 125 percent.This was because latest tariff hike comes on top of a 20 percent tariff already imposed earlier. China has retaliated with levies of 84 percent on US imports.The superpower confrontation threw a deep shadow over jubilation that Trump was retreating from threats to impose punishing tariffs on dozens of other countries — everywhere from European Union allies to Asian manufacturing hubs like Vietnam and even tiny, remote ocean islands.Trump maintained a blanket 10 percent tariff on most countries. However, his retreat from more damaging levies against European countries prompted the EU to pause plans for its own retaliation.Amid relief, Asian and European stock markets rocketed, with Tokyo closing 9.1 percent higher.But realization that Trump’s splashy about-face on Wednesday masked the reality of a surging trade war with China dampened spirits.The Dow Jones in New York fell more than three percent and the S&P dropped 4.5 percent in morning trading. Gold prices hit a record high as the US dollar crumbled.- EU wants negotiations -Trump says he wants to use tariffs to reorder the world economy by forcing manufacturers to base themselves in the United States.Howard Lutnick, his commerce secretary, was bullish, posting on social media Thursday that “the Golden Age is coming. We are committed to protecting our interests, engaging in global negotiations and exploding our economy.”Amid questions over how far Trump is ready to push, the European Union welcomed the US president’s partial row-back on his original threat to impose 20 percent tariffs against the bloc.The 27-nation grouping responded with its own olive branch, suspending for 90 days tariffs on 20 billion euros’ worth of US goods that had been greenlit in retaliation to duties on steel and aluminum.”We want to give negotiations a chance,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.She warned, however, that “if negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in” and that all options remain on the table.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump’s reversal a “welcome reprieve” and said Ottawa would begin negotiations with Washington on a new economic deal after elections on April 28.Vietnam said it had agreed with the United States to start trade talks, while Pakistan is sending a delegation to Washington.In its latest measure, Beijing announced it would reduce the number of Hollywood films imported, but said it remained ready for dialogue.”We hope the US will meet China halfway, and, based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, properly resolve differences through dialogue and consultation,” Commerce Ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said.burs-sms/bgs

The United States on Thursday exchanged a sanctions-busting suspect for a ballet dancer held by Russia, the second swap under President Donald Trump as Moscow and Washington push to rebuild ties.Moscow released a Los Angeles-based ballet dancer convicted in Russia of “treason” over a one-time donation worth around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity. Ksenia Karelina holds dual US-Russian nationality.Washington released Arthur Petrov, a Russian-German national accused of illegally exporting US-made electronics to manufacturers supplying the Russian military.The exchange took place at an airport in Abu Dhabi, where a dozen people wearing suits were present, video posted by Russia’s FSB security service showed.Trump has sought to reset ties with Moscow since taking office, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine three years ago plunged bilateral relations to their lowest point since the Cold War.”American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media platform X.”She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year.” Trump will “continue to work for the release of ALL Americans,” Rubio added.The FSB video showed Petrov seated on a plane after he was freed, telling an unseen interviewer that he had not slept for two days but otherwise had no complaints.Petrov, arrested in Cyprus in 2023 and extradited to the United States, was facing 20 years in a US jail for violating export controls.- ‘Positive’ step -CIA Director John Ratcliffe was the key negotiator for the swap, working with Russian intelligence and foreign partners, the CIA said. Ratcliffe in a statement thanked the UAE “for enabling this exchange.””While we are disappointed that other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russia, we see this exchange as a positive step and will continue to work for their release,” a CIA spokesperson said.Asked about the exchange in a daily briefing with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment.Russian and US officials have held several meetings since Trump took office in January.As the prisoner swap took place, delegations from the two sides were holding talks in Istanbul on restoring embassy staffing levels after years of diplomat expulsions.The State Department said after the meeting that Washington renewed concern about rules that prohibit local staff from working for US missions in Russia.The two sides also moved to formalize an agreement on banking access for their diplomats, despite the US sanctions on Russia, the State Department said.- Prisoner swaps -Karelina, 33, was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having donated around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.She was arrested in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in January 2024 while on a trip to visit her family and charged with “treason.”Russia’s Federal Security Service accused her of collecting funds for Ukraine’s army used to purchase “equipment, weapons and ammunition” — charges she denied. Her supporters say she had donated to a US-based organization that delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Petrov was accused by US authorities of having illegally exported electronic components to Russia for military use, in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Moscow over the Ukraine war.In mid-February, following a call between Putin and Trump, Russia released Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28-year-old US citizen arrested at a Moscow airport for transporting cannabis gummy sweets.Washington and Moscow also exchanged US teacher Marc Fogel for Russian computer expert Alexander Vinnik in early February.The largest US-Russia prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War took place on August 1, 2024. It involved the release of journalists, including WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, and dissidents held in Russia in exchange for alleged Russian spies held in the West.Several American citizens remain incarcerated in Russia. Washington has accused Moscow of using them as bargaining chips to secure the release of Russians held in the United States.burs-cad-sct/md

The Republican-led US Congress adopted a budget Thursday that unlocks trillions of dollars for President Donald Trump’s agenda, jump-starting what Democrats say is a plan to dismantle social welfare in favor of tax cuts for the rich.House Speaker Mike Johnson said the blueprint would deliver on promises Trump made in his election campaign, including “historic” spending reductions, as well as an extension of his expiring 2017 tax relief.”We want to make government more efficient, effective and leaner for the American people, and I think that will serve every American of every party, and we’re happy to do that,” Johnson told reporters in a briefing at the US Capitol.But opponents say the framework will trigger a major downsizing of essential services, after Trump’s tech billionaire advisor Elon Musk led a campaign of slashing federal agencies.The budget resolution raises the country’s borrowing limit by $5 trillion to cover a renewal of Trump’s expiring 2017 tax cuts through 2034, expected to add roughly the same amount to the country’s debt.Democrats say it is the opening salvo in long-held Republican plans — spelled out last year in the conservative Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” manifesto — to drastically rein in the federal bureaucracy. The budget blueprint, which passed the House after getting the green light Saturday in the Senate, sets targets for overall spending and mandates $4 billion in cuts.But Republican leaders in both chambers are eyeing much more ambitious savings of $1.5 trillion, including $880 billion that opponents say would have to come mostly from the Medicaid health care program for low income families. Democrats have voiced fears that Trump will also break his promise not to touch Social Security — the federal welfare program for seniors and the disabled that makes up more than fifth of federal spending.- ‘Massive tax breaks’ -They argue that Trump’s 2017 tax cuts disproportionately benefited wealthy individuals and corporations, and extending them would compound inequality.House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries blasted Republicans for what he called “the largest Medicaid cut in American history in order to pass massive tax breaks for your billionaire donors like Elon Musk.””House Republicans broke their promise to address the high cost of living and they lied about their intention to enact their extreme Project 2025 agenda,” he said in a letter to his members.”The harm being unleashed by Donald Trump and the (Republicans) is staggering.” The two sides of Congress were required to adopt identical versions of the budget before lawmakers can move on Trump’s domestic agenda, led by the tax relief, beefed-up border security and boosted energy production.It advanced from the Senate with votes to spare but barely made it through the rubber-stamp vote in the House, put in jeopardy by a rank-and-file rebellion over spending cuts.Both chambers of Congress are Republican-led but right-wing fiscal hawks in the House were furious over what they saw as insufficient cuts in the final version, after it was amended by the Senate.Johnson vowed to pursue his much more ambitious $1.5 trillion spending cuts figure, and this public commitment appeared to have assuaged some on his back benches.Final passage of the budget will be a relief to Trump, after opposition within his party exposed limits to his iron grip and raised doubts over the Republicans’ ability to coalesce around his agenda.

Artificial intelligence giant OpenAI has filed counterclaims against multi-billionaire Elon Musk, accusing its former co-founder of waging a “relentless campaign” to damage the organization after it achieved success without him.In legal documents filed Wednesday in northern California’s federal court, OpenAI alleges Musk became hostile toward the company after abandoning it years before its breakthrough achievements with ChatGPT.”Musk could not tolerate seeing such success for an enterprise he had abandoned and declared doomed,” OpenAI said in the filing.The lawsuit is the latest round in a bitter feud between the generative AI (genAI) start-up and the world’s richest man, who sued OpenAI last year, accusing the company of betraying its founding mission.In its countersuit, the company alleges Musk “made it his project to take down OpenAI, and to build a direct competitor that would seize the technological lead — not for humanity but for Elon Musk.”Musk founded his own genAI startup, xAI, in 2023, and has invested tens of billions of dollars to compete with OpenAI and the other major AI players.OpenAI was established in December 2015 as a nonprofit research lab with the mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence (AGI) — the term used for human-level AI — would “benefit all humanity.”Musk was among its initial backers alongside CEO Sam Altman, giving a key investment to get the project up and running.According to the counterclaims, Musk’s involvement was short-lived.The filing alleges that in 2018, Musk departed after OpenAI’s leadership refused “to bow to Musk’s demands for control of the enterprise or, alternatively, its absorption into Musk’s electric car company, Tesla.”OpenAI also contends that Musk never fulfilled his financial commitment to the organization, delivering “not even close” to a promised $1 billion.The company is now valued at $300 billion after its latest funding round of $40 billion, the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup.OpenAI claims that Musk’s assault has included press attacks and malicious campaigns broadcast to Musk’s more than 200 million followers on X, the platform he owns, as well as “a sham bid for OpenAI’s assets.”The legal battle between Altman and Musk has intensified amid OpenAI’s plans for a restructuring that would transform the company into a public benefit corporation while maintaining the nonprofit parent organization.OpenAI claims Musk is deliberately misrepresenting this move as a full conversion from nonprofit to for-profit status.The AI lab is seeking an injunction to halt Musk’s “further unlawful and unfair action” and compensation for damages allegedly caused by his actions.OpenAI on Monday said it raised $40 billion in a new funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, the biggest capital-raising session ever for a startup.

The EU paused plans for retaliatory tariffs on US goods Thursday after President Donald Trump abruptly suspended higher US duties on the bloc and other countries, leaving China in the crosshairs of his trade war.Trump’s about-face on Wednesday triggered a massive market rebound but Wall Street’s rally fizzled on Thursday and the dollar slumped, as investors remain on edge over the outlook for the world economy.The US president halted steep tariffs on scores of nations for 90 days. But he kept a global baseline tariff of 10 percent intact and punished Beijing for retaliating by slapping a 125 percent duty on its goods.The European Union, which had faced a 20 percent tariff, welcomed Trump’s U-turn, saying it was an “important step towards stabilising the global economy”.The 27-nation bloc responded with its own olive branch, suspending for 90 days tariffs on 20 billion euros’ worth of US goods that had been greenlit in retaliation to duties on steel and aluminium.”We want to give negotiations a chance,” EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement.She warned, however, that “if negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in” and that all options remain on the table.Other countries are also lining up to bargain.Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called Trump’s reversal a “welcome reprieve” and said Ottawa would begin negotiations with Washington on a new economic deal after elections on April 28.Vietnam said it had agreed with the United States to start trade talks, while Pakistan is sending a delegation to Washington.- China hits Hollywood -But there was no let-up in Trump’s trade war with China, which said the US tariffs policy “goes against the will of the world and goes against the whole world”.The heightened tariffs against China took effect at the same time as retaliatory levies of 84 percent imposed by Beijing on US imports.Beijing added Hollywood to its target list on Thursday as it announced it would “moderately reduce” the number of US films it imports.But China’s commerce ministry said the door remained open for dialogue.”We hope the US will meet China halfway, and, based on the principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation, properly resolve differences through dialogue and consultation,” Commerce Ministry spokeswoman He Yongqian said.Trump has predicted that trade deals will be made with all countries, including China, which has for now refused to roll back retaliatory tariffs on US goods.”A deal’s going to be made with China. A deal’s going to be made with every one of them,” Trump said at the White House. However,  China’s leaders “don’t quite know how to go about it”.Trump believes his policy will revive America’s lost manufacturing base by forcing companies to relocate to the United States.The billionaire former property tycoon has particularly raged against China, accusing it of excess production and “dumping” inexpensive goods on other economies.- ‘A little queasy’ -Markets have been on a roller-coaster ride since Trump announced his tariff plans last week, with the 10 percent global levy taking effect on Saturday and the higher ones on Wednesday before the pause.Investors also began to dump US government bonds — a major economic red light since American sovereign debt is normally seen as a haven for investors in troubled times.”I saw last night where people were getting a little queasy,” Trump said Wednesday, though he denied that he backtracked on the tariffs.Wall Street’s main index were all down more than two percent as trading resumed on Thursday, a day after the tech-heavy Nasdaq soared 12 percent higher and the S&P 500 surged 9.5 percent.Asia and Europe caught up on Thursday, with Tokyo closing 9.1 percent higher as the Japanese government welcomed the tariff pause but demanded that other levies be halted.Paris and Frankfurt were up more than five percent in afternoon deals while London rose 4.5 percent.”This will go down in American history as the greatest trade negotiating day we have ever had,” said Trump’s senior trade advisor Peter Navarro.”We’re in a beautiful position for the next 90 days” to seek trade deals with partners, he told ABC News, adding that more than 75 have sought to negotiate with Washington.burs-oho-lth/phz

US consumer inflation cooled last month on plunging gas prices, according to government data published Thursday, as consumers and businesses waited nervously for President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs to come into effect.The US leader last week announced levies as high as 50 percent on imports from some countries, sending stock markets tumbling and bond yields rising — only to abruptly change course on all nations except China on Wednesday. Ahead of the dramatic market movements that accompanied those levies, the consumer price index (CPI) cooled to 2.4 percent in March from a year ago, the Labor Department said in a statement — lower than economists’ estimates. On a monthly basis, inflation actually contracted 0.1 percent from a month earlier, helped by a 6.3 percent drop in gasoline prices, which aided a 2.4 percent contraction in the energy index. The food index rose 0.4 percent in March.”What a difference 24 hours makes,” Northlight Asset Management chief investment officer Chris Zaccarelli wrote in a note to clients. “Not only is the immediate tariff threat pushed off for 3 months, but imminent inflation threat has been avoided for now.”He added that the data is “welcome news for the Federal Reserve, which would like to cut rates if significant damage is done to the economy through increased tariffs, but otherwise would be reluctant to cut rates in the face of an inflation threat.”- Under pressure -The Trump administration has been under pressure in recent weeks to explain how consumers will benefit from its tariff plans — which many economists and Federal Reserve officials say will stoke inflation and cool growth.The data published Thursday only shows the period in the run-up to the imposition of tariffs, and does not paint a picture of either the immediate or longer-term effects of those levies, which currently sit at a 10 percent baseline for all countries except China, with additional duties on specific goods.”Inflation is down, jobs are up, and the Golden Age of America is underway,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a social media post. “We are committed to protecting our interests, engaging in global negotiations and exploding our economy,” Trump’s Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick wrote in a separate post.- Core prices cool -Excluding volatile food and energy costs, inflation inched up by 0.1 percent in March from a month earlier, and by 2.8 percent over the past 12 months. This was “the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021,” the Labor Department said. It also came in below the median estimates of economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and the Wall Street Journal. “President Trump continues to undo the damage done by Joe Biden, and core inflation declined for the second month in row -– great news for American families and businesses,” Karoline Leavitt said, referring to Trump’s Democratic predecessor. The dollar fell further on Thursday after the CPI data was published, accelerating losses caused by the fallout from the stop-start tariff rollout.The data is good news for the Fed, which is grappling with inflation that remains stuck above its long-term two percent target, according to its preferred gauge of price increases. At the same time, the unemployment rate remains close to historic lows, leaving the US central bank in no hurry to cut rates until price pressures cool further — as long as Trump’s tariffs do not cause a sharp contraction in growth, which would likely weigh on employment. Financial markets see a roughly 80 percent chance of the Fed doing nothing at its next interest meeting in May, according to CME Group data. 

The death toll after a roof collapsed at a crowded nightclub in the Dominican Republic has climbed to 218, the head of rescue operations said Thursday, in the Caribbean nation’s worst disaster in decades.Rescuers had worked frantically since the collapse in the early hours of Tuesday to dig out survivors from the rubble of the popular Jet Set club in Santo Domingo.Among the dead were famed merengue singer Rubby Perez, who was performing on stage as the roof caved in, as well as two former Major League Baseball players and a local politician.”Unfortunately and with regret, (there are) 218 people dead as preliminary data,” Juan Manuel Mendez, director of the Emergency Operations Center (COE), told reporters.He said that 189 people had been “rescued alive” since the collapse. More than 500 people were injured in the incident. Up to 1,000 people could have been inside the club at the time of the accident, local media has reported, though no official figure has yet been given. “Our rescue workers are already concluding the search,” Mendez said.”We are saddened by this tragedy that has so saddened the Dominican people.”Authorities ruled out the possibility of finding any more survivors late Wednesday. The government said it will open an inquiry into the disaster as soon as the rescue operations have been completed.Over 300 rescue workers, aided by sniffer dogs, had spent two days combing through mounds of fallen bricks, steel bars and tin sheets, supported by firefighters from Puerto Rico and Israel.Aerial images of the site showed a scene resembling the aftermath of an earthquake, with a gaping hole where the roof of the club — a fixture of Santo Domingo’s nightlife for half a century — had been.A video posted on social media showed the venue suddenly plunged into darkness while Perez was singing.Tributes to the singer, known for hits such as “Volvere” and “Enamorado de Ella,” poured in from across Latin America.The baseball world meanwhile mourned the death of Octavio Dotel, a 51-year-old baseball pitcher who won the World Series with the St Louis Cardinals in 2011, and Tony Blanco, 45, who also played in the United States.President Luis Abinader declared three days of national mourning.Relatives were still waiting desperately for news Wednesday of their loved ones outside the ruined club, at hospitals and at the local morgue.Antonio Hernandez, whose son worked at the Jet Set nightclub, told AFP Wednesday his hopes of finding his son alive had begun fading as he watched more and more bodies, but no survivors, being retrieved.The remains in one body bag resembled his son’s height and build, said Hernandez, but he did not investigate. “I don’t have the stomach to find out the worst yet.”

Russia and the United States exchanged prisoners on Thursday, the second such swap since US President Donald Trump returned to the White House as the two countries push for closer ties.Moscow released US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison on treason charges, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirming early Thursday she was on a plane to the United States.In exchange, the United States released Arthur Petrov, according to Russian state media, citing the FSB security service. The Russian-German citizen had been facing up to 20 years in a US prison for violating export controls.”American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year,” Rubio wrote on social media platform X, adding that Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, told AFP that “the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and, as of a couple of hours ago, she was already flying out of Abu Dhabi.”The Wall Street Journal reported that, in exchange, the United States released Petrov, a German-Russian citizen who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at Washington’s request for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.”CIA Director John Ratcliffe and a senior Russian intelligence official conducted the talks for the swap,” according to the WSJ, which cited an unidentified CIA official.”Ratcliffe was present at the Abu Dhabi airport, where the exchange took place, and greeted Karelina as the US took custody of her, according to a person familiar with the matter,” the report said.A CIA spokeswoman told the paper that “the exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.””While we are disappointed that other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russia, we see this exchange as a positive step and will continue to work for their release,” she said.Russia has yet to confirm the swap, which would be the second since Trump returned to the White House in January.Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have since pushed for a restoration of closer ties between the two countries that were severely damaged by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Several meetings between the two sides have taken place, with a new round of talks beginning Thursday in Istanbul on restoring some of the embassy operations that were scaled back following the Ukraine invasion.- Prisoner swaps -Karelina, who was born in 1991 and lived in Los Angeles, was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having donated around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.She was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in January 2024 while on a trip to visit her family. She was charged with “treason.”Russia’s Federal Security Service accused her of collecting funds for Ukraine’s army that were used to purchase “equipment, weapons and ammunition” — charges she denied. Her supporters say she donated to a US-based organisation that delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Petrov was accused by US authorities of illegally exporting electronic components to Russia for military use, in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.In mid-February, following a call between Putin and Trump, Russia released Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28-year-old US citizen who was arrested at a Moscow airport for transporting cannabis treats.Washington and Moscow also exchanged US teacher Marc Fogel for Russian computer expert Alexander Vinnik in early February.The largest US-Russia prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War took place on August 1, 2024. It involved the release of journalists, including WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, and dissidents held in Russia in exchange for alleged Russian spies held in the West.Several US citizens remain incarcerated in Russia, with Washington denouncing “hostage-taking” to obtain the release of Russians — including alleged spies — imprisoned in the West.

US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelina was on a plane back to the United States on Thursday after being released in a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Washington, her lawyer and America’s top diplomat said.She spent more than a year in Russian prison after being charged with “treason” for donating to a pro-Ukrainian charity.The prisoner swap was the second between Moscow and Washington since US President Donald Trump took office.Here are some of the most high-profile instances of US citizens still in Russian prisons:- Stephen Hubbard -Stephen Hubbard, in his early 70s, is serving almost seven years in prison after a Russian court convicted him of fighting as a mercenary with Ukraine’s army.Originally from Michigan, Hubbard was a retired English teacher living in the Ukrainian town of Izyum, in northeastern Ukraine, when Russia launched its February 2022 offensive.He was captured shortly after and held incommunicado for two and a half years before being put on trial in Moscow in October, accused of being paid to fight with a Ukrainian territorial defence battalion.A Ukrainian soldier detained with Hubbard told AFP last year that the American was beaten with sticks and truncheons, forced to simulate sexual acts with other prisoners and starved while in captivity.- Gordon Black -American soldier Gordon Black was jailed in June 2024 for three years and nine months by a court in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, convicted of having threatened to kill his girlfriend and for stealing from her.A Russian court reduced his sentence to three years and two months on Monday.The then 34-year-old, who completed tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, was visiting a Russian woman he had met and dated while serving in South Korea.US media have said the arrest could have been a “honey trap” operation targeting an American citizen.- Robert Gilman -Former US marine Robert Gilman from Massachusetts is serving seven years after being convicted of having attacked Russian police officers and prison guards.Originally convicted in 2022 of attacking a police officer while drunk, he was handed the longer term last year after prison authorities said he punched staff and attacked a criminal investigator.His backers say the charges are unsubstantiated and that he has been subjected to “forced drugging” and “torture” in prison.- Michael Travis Leake -A former US paratrooper, Michael Travis Leake, was detained in June 2023 and sentenced to 13 years in prison for selling illegal narcotics. CNN reported that Leake, who fronted a Moscow-based rock band called Lovi Noch, had lived in Russia for many years.- Joseph Tater -Joseph Tater faces five years in prison on accusations of assaulting a police officer after a confrontation with staff at a Moscow hotel.In a court hearing last year he rejected his US citizenship and claimed he had been targeted by the CIA for years.Russian state media reported last week that he had been forcibly hospitalised, after a board of Russian doctors accused him of impulsiveness and having “delusional ideas”.- Gene Spector -Russian-born Gene Spector was sentenced to 15 years on espionage charges in December.No details of the accusation against him have been released.Spector, born in Leningrad — now Saint Petersburg — in 1972 was already serving a jail sentence on bribery charges when convicted of espionage.

US-Russian ballet dancer Ksenia Karelina, who had been detained in Russia for 12 years on treason charges, has been released and is flying to the United States, according to the top US diplomat, with her lawyer saying she was part of a prisoner exchange agreed between Moscow and Washington.”American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on social media platform X on Thursday.He said US President Donald Trump “will continue to work for the release of ALL Americans.”Karelina’s lawyer, Mikhail Mushailov, confirmed to AFP she had been released, saying “the exchange took place in Abu Dhabi and, as of a couple of hours ago, she was already flying out of Abu Dhabi.”The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States released in exchange Arthur Petrov, a German-Russian citizen who was arrested in Cyprus in 2023 at Washington’s request for allegedly exporting sensitive microelectronics.”CIA Director John Ratcliffe and a senior Russian intelligence official conducted the talks for the swap,” according to the WSJ, which cited an unidentified CIA official.”Ratcliffe was present at the Abu Dhabi airport, where the exchange took place, and greeted Karelina as the US took custody of her, according to a person familiar with the matter,” the report said.A CIA spokeswoman told the paper that “the exchange shows the importance of keeping lines of communication open with Russia, despite the deep challenges in our bilateral relationship.””While we are disappointed that other Americans remain wrongfully detained in Russia, we see this exchange as a positive step and will continue to work for their release,” she said.Russia has yet to confirm the swap, which would be the second since Trump returned to the White House in January.Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin have since pushed for a restoration of closer ties between the two countries that were severely damaged by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Several meetings between the two sides have taken place, with a new round of talks beginning on Thursday in Istanbul on restoring some of the embassy operations that were scaled back following the Ukraine invasion.- Prisoner swaps -Karelina, who lived in Los Angeles, was serving a 12-year prison sentence for having donated around $50 to a pro-Ukraine charity.The ballet dancer and spa worker, born in 1991, was arrested in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg in January 2024 while on a trip to visit her family. She was charged with “treason.”Russia’s Federal Security Service accused her of collecting funds for Ukraine’s army that were used to purchase “equipment, weapons and ammunition” — charges she denied. Her supporters say she donated to a US-based organisation that delivers humanitarian aid to Ukraine.Petrov was accused by US authorities of illegally exporting electronic components to Russia for military use, in violation of Washington’s sanctions against Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.In mid-February, following a call between Putin and Trump, Russia released Kalob Wayne Byers, a 28-year-old US citizen who had been arrested at a Moscow airport for transporting cannabis treats.Washington and Moscow also exchanged US teacher Marc Fogel for Russian computer expert Alexander Vinnik in early February.The largest prisoner exchange since the end of the Cold War took place between the two rival powers took place on August 1, 2024, allowing the release of journalists, including WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich, and opponents held in Russia in exchange for alleged Russian spies held in the West.Several US citizens remain incarcerated in Russian prisons, with Washington denouncing “hostage-taking” to obtain the release of Russians — including alleged spies — imprisoned in the West.