Global News

[ad_1] CNN  —  The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has “formally warned” Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova after she was seen wearing a Spartak Moscow soccer jersey ahead of her match against American Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells, a spokesperson told CNN Thursday. World No.1 Iga Świątek was critical of the WTA for allowing Potapova to wear the shirt, saying on Tuesday that “more should be done to help Ukrainian players because everything we discuss in tennis is about Belarusian and Russian players.” Potopova has been pictured wearing the shirt on several occasions, including in Dubai in a photo she posted to her own Instagram account. When asked about the shirt after the match, Potapova said she had supported Spartak since she was 13 and saw no provocation in it, Reuters news agency reported. In an email to CNN, WTA spokesperson Amy Binder said: “Regardi...

[ad_1] CNN  —  Azerbaijan’s tennis federation has called for Karen Khachanov to be sanctioned after the Russian player expressed support for the Armenian-majority population living in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region at the Australian Open. Khachanov, who has Armenian heritage, has written “Artsakh stay strong” on TV cameras after matches in Melbourne. Artsakh is the Armenian term for the breakaway state of Nagorno-Karabakh, an ethnic Armenian-majority region located in Azerbaijani territory that has been the focus of decades of conflict . Armenian forces took control of large swathes of territory in and around Nagorno-Karabakh in the early 1990s; fighting then flared intermittently until 2020, when Azerbaijan seized control over large parts of those territories during a bloody, six-week war. “I have Armenian roots,” Khachanov told reporters after his quarterf...

[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...