Russian security services have accused US reporter Evan Gershkovich of spying on its military. They have provided no evidence. A brief arraignment hearing was held with the case classed as "top secret," his lawyer said. Russia's FSB security agency said on Thursday that it had arrested Wall Street Journal Moscow correspondent Evan Gershkovich.  In a statement quoted by Russian news agency Interfax, the FSB said that it had "stopped the illegal activities of US citizen Gershkovich Evan... who is suspected of spying in the interests of the American government." The security service accused him of gathering information on "the activities of one of the enterprises of the military-defense complex" in Russia "for the American side." He was formally arrested pending after a brief arraignment hearing on Thursday, Russian news agencies reported, pleading not guilty to espionage charges. His lawyer Daniil Berman, a human rights advocate, told reporters that he was not allowed into the courtroom with his client. According to Reuters news agency, he said he was not shown the charges because the case had been marked as "top secret." The Moscow Lefortovo district court said that the journalist was being detained for "a period of one month 29 days, that is until May 29, 2023." WSJ concerned for Gershkovich's safety "The Wall Street Journal is deeply concerned for the safety of Mr. Gershkovich," the newspaper said in a statement reacting to his detention. The paper added that it "vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich. We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family."  Gershkovich also wrote for the English-language Moscow Times. His colleague Francesca Abel noted on Twitter that he had been fully accredited by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She called him "an excellent thoughtful journalist who cares deeply about his work...these allegations are absurd." Covering Russian discontent Gershkovich, who has also worked for several other international media outlets in the past, has long covered Russia and Ukraine. His most recent series of articles for the Journal cover the economic distress of ordinary Russians as a result of the invasion of Ukraine, as well as highlighting the voices of disillusioned Russian soldiers and the clampdown against the anti-war movement across the country. Gershkovich was detained in the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural mountains. FSB has offered no evidence for its claims. If convicted of espionage, Gershkovich faces up to 20 years imprisonment. Russia has tightened censorship laws since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, in what Moscow refers to as a "special military operation." Andrei Soldatov, who writes about Russia's security agencies from outside the country, said on social media: "Evan Gershkovich is a very good and brave journalist, not a spy, for Christ's sake. [His detention] is a frontal attack on all foreign correspondents who still work in Russia. And it means that the FSB is off the leash." Moscow accused of politically motivated arrests This is not the first time Russian or foreign journalists have found themselves detained following critical coverage of the war. Last year, Russia sentenced a former defense reporter, Ivan Safronov, to 22 years in prison on treason charges. Moscow has also been accused of arresting US basketball star Brittney Griner for political purposes. Griner was charged with drug possession and jailed but was later sent back to the US after Russia secured a prisoner swap with notorious arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Indian Army chief Manoj Mukund Naravane on Saturday unveiled Indian Army's United Nation Journal, titled 'Blue Helmet Odyssey'. The journal defines the UN Footprints of the Indian Army and its commitment towards UN Peacekeeping. "#ArmyDay General MM Naravane #COAS unveiled Indian Army's #UnitedNation Journal, titled "Blue Helmet Odyssey" on #ArmyDay. The journal defines the UN Footprints of #IndianArmy and its commitment towards UN Peacekeeping. #InStrideWithTheFuture #AmritMahotsav," tweeted the Additional Directorate General of Public Information, IHQ of Ministry of Defence (Army) today morning. "Lt Gen CP Mohanty #VCOAS and Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi #DCOAS(IS&C) were also present during the unveiling ceremony. (2/2) #InStrideWithTheFuture #AmritMahotsav," the tweet further said. India celebrates Army Day on January 15 every year to acknowledge the importance of the Indian Army and honour the sacrifices of soldiers. On this day in 1949, Field Marshal Kodandera M Cariappa took over as the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Francis Bucher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India. Source: ANI

Specialized global medical journal Lancet overnight endorsed two prospective COVID-19 vaccines, calling their trials to have yielded “encouraging results” as they produced strong immune reactions among patients. Lancet said they reviewed results of two early phase COVID-19 vaccine trials reported by Jenner Institute at Oxford University with supports from drug maker AstraZeneca, and China’s CanSino Biologics. “The safety signals from these two important trials are reassuring,” read the latest edition of the journal issued late yesterday. The international media outlets widely carried the Lancet observations saying the two coronavirus vaccine candidates proved safe for humans and produced strong immune reactions among patients involved in separate clinical trials. Based on the Lancet findings French news agency AFP said the Oxford vaccine trial was carried out among more than 1,000 adults in Britain that found the shot induced “strong antibody and T cell immune responses” against the novel coronavirus. It said a separate trial in China involving more than 500 people showed most had developed widespread antibody immune response. “The studies, published in The Lancet medical journal, constitute a major step on the road towards a COVID-19 vaccine that is effective and safe for widespread use,” the report commented. British High Commission in Dhaka, meanwhile, shared with media an Oxford University’s statement saying a team of scientists at the University’s Jenner Institute and Oxford Vaccine Group has taken the next step towards the discovery of a safe, effective and accessible vaccine against coronavirus”. According to the statement participants who received the vaccine during the study had detectable neutralising antibodies with researchers suggesting the phenomenon to be important for protection as these responses were strongest after a booster dose, “with 100% of participants’ blood having neutralising activity against the coronavirus”. “The next step in studying the vaccine is to confirm that it can effectively protect against SARS-CoV-2 infection,” he statement read while BBC reported that the UK by now ordered 100 million doses of the vaccine. In a simultaneous development Chinese researchers secured the Lancet endorsement for their vaccine, developed using an identical technique as the Oxford scientists.  China’s state-run Xinhua news agency said a phase 2 trial of a COVID-19 vaccine candidate conducted in China found that the vaccine is safe and induces an immune response. It said the results provided data from a wider group of participants than the phase 1 trial, which was published in May while the phase 1 trial involved 108 healthy adults and it demonstrated promising results. “The phase 2 trial adds further evidence on safety and immunogenicity in a large population than the phase 1 trial,” Xinhua said quoting Professor Fengcai Zhu of China’s Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention. He described the trial result as crucial in evaluating “this early-stage experimental vaccine (as) phase 3 trials are now underway”. According to The Lancet, the trial of the Ad5 vectored COVID-19 vaccine candidate was conducted among 508 participants in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the outbreak of the disease was first reported in December last year. Referring to experts Reuters news agency said the CanSino candidate was is one of a handful of vaccines that showed “some promise in early human testing prior to much larger trials to demonstrate efficacy”. “Both vaccines (of Oxford and CanSino) elicited antibody and T-cell immune responses and neither prompted any serious side effects,” it said referring to the Lancet article. Experts at International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in an accompanying editorial said both studies augur well for the large Phase III trials. The developments came as researchers around the globe were developing over 160 vaccines against coronavirus with 26 of them currently on human trials of different stages. Source: BSS Read In Bangla Version AH