World News: This Russian journalist is risking jail by telling the truth

Tuesday, March 8

Putin shut down free press in Russia. But I won't be silenced.

The Russian government has stopped free press. But it hasn't stopped her.

Today's lead column is written by Yevgenia M. Albats, an editor and CEO of a now-blocked political portal, The New Times in Moscow. Independent journalism has been blocked in Russia, but journalists like Albats are still fighting for the truth.

Putin shut down free press in Russia. But I won't be silenced.

By Yevgenia M. Albats

On Feb. 26, I got a letter from the Russian agency in charge of censorship. It officially is the Federal Service for Supervision in the Field of Communications, but we call it the Ministry of Truth. The letter said that New Times' stories (as well as those by nine other outlets) about the "shelling of Ukrainian cities and the death of civilians" were "untrue information."

In fact, according to the agency, use of the words "war," "invasion" and "offense" concerning events in Ukraine were out of the question. The bombardment of Ukrainian cities with missiles must be called a "special operation."

On Feb. 28, the New Times site was blocked on the territory of the Russian Federation. OK, we said, our readers inside the country are to use the VPN (virtual private network), which allows pretending that your phone or laptop is located in, say, Sweden or the United States. We were facing charges, fines and a court hearing. But all that was part of being an independent media in an authoritarian country. I was not concerned.

A much more terrifying thought was that my nation, Russia, where I was born and of which I am a citizen, had started a war of conquest.

Police detain demonstrators in St. Petersburg, Russia, on Feb. 28, 2022, during a rally against Russia's attack on Ukraine.

Dmitri Lovetsky/AP

Police tactics: Change rules that leave kids open to threats

By Miriam Aroni Krinsky and Norman L. Reimer

Last month, a 15-year-old Illinois student was arrested and locked up for a shooting that he had nothing to do with. The high schooler confessed to the crime after police told him that if he did so, he would be released. His parents weren't there during the interrogation and neither was his lawyer, according to a Washington Post report.

Earlier this year, New York City Mayor Eric Adams introduced a plan to address gun violence that included a deeply troubling proposal that allows prosecutors to charge 16- and 17-year-old children in criminal court (versus family court) if they are arrested for carrying a gun and refuse to tell police where they got it.

These are among the latest examples of law enforcement officials using coercion and threats against juveniles – a dangerous practice that often leads to false confessions and puts the United States at odds with international human rights standards.

How dressing as a boy helped me survive war

By Khamsone Sirimanivong

Clothes do more than just cover our bodies. They tell a story about the wearer: our origins, influences, mood, economic status, interests and even occupation. In my case, clothing was a means of disguise, secrecy and camouflage – a means of survival.

I was born in 1974 in the small landlocked country of Laos, in the Lunar Year of the Tiger. It was a telltale sign, as our family had to flee into the forests the following year when communists took over Laos.

The Vietnam War was spilling over into neighboring countries like ours. My father was an officer in the Royal Lao Army, and the extent of his involvement in the United States' secret war to stop communist traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail is still largely unknown to me; his secrets died with him in 1990.