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[ad_1] CNN  —  Russian investigators have formally charged Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich with espionage, Russian state media reported Friday, adding he denied the accusations.  “The FSB investigation charged Gershkovich with espionage in the interests of his country. He categorically denied all accusations and stated that he was engaged in journalistic activities in Russia,” an agency representative said, according to state news agency TASS.  The representative declined to comment further, as the journalist’s case was marked “top secret,” according to TASS.  Gershkovich was detained by Russian authorities last week, who accused him of spying, signaling a significant ratcheting of both Moscow’s tensions with the United States and its campaign against foreign news media. A Moscow court on April 18 will hear an appeal filed by Gershkovich’s lawyers a

[ad_1] Hong Kong CNN  —  Ride-hailing giant Didi received approval to resume new user registration in China, it said Monday, providing more evidence that Beijing’s regulatory crackdown on tech giants might be coming to an end. The move is the latest sign that regulators are loosening the reins on the country’s beleaguered tech companies in a bid to spur economic growth. “For more than a year, our company has cooperated with the government’s cybersecurity review, seriously dealt with the security issues found in the review, and carried out a comprehensive rectification,” Didi said in a statement posted on its Weibo account. With the approval of the Cybersecurity Review Office, Didi will be able to resume adding new users “immediately,” it added. Didi is a poster child for Beijing’s years-long crackdown on its tech companies. Just days after its $4.4 billion IPO

[ad_1] Editor’s Note: A version of this story appears in today’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, CNN’s three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here . Abu Dhabi, UAE CNN  —  As the Ukraine war approaches the one-year mark , the United States is ramping up efforts to choke off Russia’s economy and it has set its sight on the Middle East. A top US Treasury official arrived in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday to warn the regional business hub that helping Moscow evade sanctions wouldn’t be without consequences. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, Brian E. Nelson, met with senior government officials from several UAE ministries, where he discussed “rooting out evasion of US sanctions, particularly on Russia and Iran,” as well as the US’ “commitment to take additional actions against those evading or fac