Freed American’s family to miss Taylor Swift concert for the very best reason
CNN
Miriam Butorin was supposed to attend Taylor Swift’s concert on Friday for her 13th birthday. She is missing it, but for the very best reason.
Miriam Butorin was supposed to attend Taylor Swift’s concert on Friday for her 13th birthday. She is missing it, but for the very best reason. Miriam’s mother, Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, was released Thursday from Russian detention in a historic prisoner swap. The release of the 47-year-old journalist for the US-backed Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was part of a complex prisoner swap between Russia, the US and other Western nations involving 24 detainees in total, including fellow freed Americans Evan Gershkovich and Paul Whelan. Kurmasheva had been detained in October 2023 and found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian army – charges her family and employer deny. Kurmasheva’s family joined President Joe Biden at the White House on Thursday, where he shared the news that she was on her way back to the United States. There, the president led the crowd in singing happy birthday to Miriam. Minutes before midnight, in an incredibly emotional scene, she was reunited with her mother on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Kurmasheva was the final freed American to emerge from the aircraft that touched down late Thursday. She hugged Biden and the president pressed his forehead to hers. Kurmasheva also greeted Vice President Kamala Harris before running to her daughters and husband.
The Indiana House approved new congressional maps designed to hand Republicans all nine of the state’s US House seats on Friday, setting the stage for a showdown next week in the state Senate.
Honduran presidential candidate Salvador Nasralla said last-minute interference from US President Donald Trump in the country’s closely fought election had damaged his chances of winning and left him trailing as vote counting dragged on.
Vice President JD Vance said he and second lady Usha Vance are largely amused by the online chatter dissecting their marriage, including a recent spate of headlines over photos of her without a wedding ring.
During interviews with the FBI, the suspect arrested in the pipe bomb probe told investigators that he believed the 2020 election was stolen, providing perhaps the first indication of a possible motive for the bombs placed near the DNC and RNC headquarters, people briefed on the matter said.
CNN’s 5 Things AM brings you the news you need to know every morning
The two men killed as they floated holding onto their capsized boat in a secondary strike against a suspected drug vessel in early September did not appear to have radio or other communications devices, the top military official overseeing the strike told lawmakers on Thursday, according to two sources with direct knowledge of his congressional briefings.
As Chad Curry busily ferries his teenage children through the streets of their Chicago neighborhood of West Ridge, he eyes passing vehicles with a skepticism he didn’t have just a few months ago.
Speaker Mike Johnson is a political survivor, weathering crisis after crisis since his unlikely ascent two years ago.
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Elena Kagan are well matched, rhetorically forceful opposites. And they have been clashing for more than a decade over an increasingly relevant question of presidential power: How easy should it be for the president to fire the heads of independent agencies?
The Army gynecologist described in a recent lawsuit as a “predator in uniform” is now being held in the Bell County Jail in Texas, “after apparently violating conditions of liberty imposed by his commander,” according to an Army spokesperson.
Brian Walshe on Thursday came face-to-face for the first time with the man who had been having an affair with his wife before her death, as he took the stand to testify in Walshe’s murder trial.
The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Texas to use a congressional map that will boost President Donald Trump’s effort to keep Republicans in control of Congress, blocking a lower court decision that found the new boundaries were likely unconstitutional because they were drawn based on race.
The US military carried out a strike Thursday on a suspected drug boat in the Eastern Pacific, killing four people on board, according to a social media post from US Southern Command.