Following the development, CNN International, the global arm of CNN, ABC and CBS News has announced that it will stop broadcasting in Russia.

Bloomberg News, the BBC and Canada’s CBC also said they were temporarily suspending the work of their journalists inside Russia.

This is coming after some Russian officials claimed that false information has been spread by enemies such as the United States and its Western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people.

Bloomberg’s Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait said he greatly regretted the suspension. But “the change to the criminal code, which seems designed to turn any independent reporter into a criminal purely by association, makes it impossible to continue any semblance of normal journalism inside the country,” he said. “We will not do that to our reporters.”

BBC Director General Tim Davie said the new legislation appeared to criminalise the process of independent journalism.

“It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development,” he said in a statement

He added that the BBC News Service in Russian would continue to operate from outside Russia. Jonathan Munro, an interim director of BBC News, said the corporation was not “pulling out” journalists from Moscow but assessing the new law’s effects

The Washington Post, Dow Jones and the Reuters news agency said they were evaluating the new media law and the situation

CBS News stated that it is no longer broadcasting from the country: ‘CBS News is not currently broadcasting from Russia as we monitor the circumstances for our team on the ground given the new media laws passed today.’

ABC News also announced suspension of its media operations in the country. ‘Because of the new censorship law passed in Russia today, some Western networks including ABC News are not broadcasting from the country tonight. We will continue to assess the situation and determine what this means for the safety of our teams on the ground,’ the network said.

Russia has termed its actions in Ukraine a ‘special operation.’ The new law came after foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused the BBC of playing a ‘determined role in undermining the Russian stability and security.’

Interim BBC News Director Jonathan Munro tweeted: ‘It’s with a heavy heart that we have had to suspend @BBCNews operations in Russia until we assess impact of new laws which outlaw independent journalism. Thoughts with colleagues in Moscow whose voices cannot be silenced for long.’

Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor ‘limited’ access to bbcrussian.com and bbcnews.com on Friday.

Other foreign websites have also been blocked, including independent news website Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle and the Russian-language website of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda.

Deutsche Welle posted a letter to Russians on its German website saying it regretted the decision and urged readers to bypass the internet blockade.

Voice of America said in a statement that audiences in Russia deserved access to factual news content and it would continue to support tools that allow them to bypass any blocking efforts.

By ordering his forces into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has sparked the worst crisis between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War, battering financial and commodity markets, sending the ruble into a tailspin and triggering an economic isolation never before visited on such a large economy.

Western governments and tech platforms have also banned the Russian news network RT, with the European Union accusing it of systematic disinformation over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Man expresses surprise at “audacity” of a female friend

Russian soldier breaks down in tears as he’s given tea after surrendering while Ukrainians call his mum on phone (video)

This was disclosed in a memo from the cable news network’s president.

The memo was sent to CNN staff on Thursday, August 5 and was obtained by the Times. “In the past week, we have been made aware of three employees who were coming to the office unvaccinated. All three have been terminated. Let me be clear — we have a zero-tolerance policy on this,” added the memo. “You need to be vaccinated to come to the office. And you need to be vaccinated to work in the field, with other employees, regardless of whether you enter an office or not. Period.”

The names of the dismissed employees were not revealed, according to two staffers at the WarnerMedia unit. Vaccinated employees have been allowed to return to CNN offices voluntarily.

WarnerMedia Passcard requires employees to attest to vaccinations but showing vaccine cards has not been mandatory.

Zucker wrote that the return date “no longer feels appropriate” given the rise in Covid cases across the country. He projected new return date of mid-October.

“We always said that we would be flexible with our decisions on all of this – as evidenced by the recent change to the Atlanta date,” he wrote. “This is another example of that. As new information is made available, we are constantly evaluating our decisions.”

Zucker also said that employees in Washington, Los Angeles and Atlanta would be required to wear masks in the office. He wrote that “it goes without saying that even in places that we don’t mandate it, anyone who wants to wear a mask should absolutely do so. These decisions can be very personal for people – no two situations are the same. Everyone should do what feels most comfortable for them, without any fear of retaliation or judgment from co-workers.”

CNN had in the past week released a report with  videos and eyewitness account explaining what happened during the shooting at the Lekki toll plaza during the #EndSARS protests.

But the Minister of Information and Culture,  Lai Mohammed, had last week described CNN’s report on the Lekki shootings as poor journalism, adding that the network deserved to be sanctioned.

The Minister had also followed up the threat with a letter addressed to the management of CNN in Atlanta.

However, the media organization on Tuesday did a second report with more damning footage showing soldiers shooting at unarmed protesters on October 20, 2020.

The fresh report also shows the Commander, 81 Division, Brig.Gen Ahmed Taiwo, admitting before the judicial panel in Lagos that his men indeed took live ammunition to the tollgate.

The CNN report also highlights the fact that Brig.Gen Taiwo’s claim is at variance with the minister’s who had claimed last week that the army fired blank bullets.

The fresh report also shows protesters running as soldiers open fire at the tollgate, The Punch reports.

The international media house carried out an investigation into the incident and shared its findings on Wednesday, November 18.

At a press conference in Abuja today November 19, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, said the report by the media house was one-dimension and lacked balance. He called for the sanction of the media house.

In a statement released by one of its company spokesperson, CNN said it stands by its investigation.

CNN states “Our reporting was carefully and meticulously researched, and we stand by it. The report was based on testimony from dozens of witnesses, and photos and video obtained and geolocated by CNN. It painted a picture of how members of the Nigerian army and the police shot at the crowd, killing at least one person and wounding dozens more. CNN verified photos and videos acquired from multiple eyewitnesses and protesters using timestamps and other data from the video files. Video footage shows soldiers who appear to be shooting in the direction of protesters. And accounts from eyewitnesses established that after the army withdrew, the second round of shooting happened later in the evening. Prior to publishing the report, CNN tried multiple times to elicit comment from the Nigerian army and police. A Lagos State police spokesman declined to comment because of an ongoing investigation. While a statement from the Lagos State government said that there would be no comment while a judicial tribunal was underway”

The government described the report by the foreign news medium as “irresponsible journalism”.

CNN had on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 published an investigative report claiming soldiers fired live ammunition directly at protesters at the Lekki toll gate.

But the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, on Thursday at a press conference in Abuja, described the report by the foreign news medium as “irresponsible journalism”.

According to him, the briefing was conveyed to address lingering issues regarding the #EndSARS protests for police reform that rocked the nation last month.

He described the event of October 20, 2020 as a “massacre without bodies”, insisting that not a single body has been produced or a single family has come out to claim their family member was killed at the Lekki tollgate.

The minister alleged that CNN relied on social media videos without verification to produce its report. “This should earn CNN a serious sanction for irresponsible reporting,” Mohammed said.

He added that some “unscrupulous persons” including celebrities circulated fake news on the social media that aggravated the violence that trailed the two-week demonstration.

Mohammed also said the government stands by last Saturday’s testimony of the Commander of 81 Military Intelligence Brigade, Victoria Island, Lagos, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Taiwo, who told the Judicial Panel of Inquiry instituted by the Lagos State Government that blank bullets were fired at into the skies at the toll gate.

He advised persons with evidence on the Lekki shootings to give its testimony before the Lagos panel probing the incident.

The State Department called off two briefings that had been scheduled for Wednesday, Senate and House aides confirm to CNN.

Congressional lawmakers had been slated to receive a briefing on embassy security while the Senate Foreign Relations Committee had expected to hear from top State Department officials about the administration’s Iran policy and authorities for the use of force before the last-minute schedule changes.

FBI officials had been expected to brief a group of House lawmakers on counterintelligence issues related to Iran on Wednesday in a separate closed-door session but those plans also changed at the last moment, according to two sources familiar with the planning. The reason for the cancellation remains unclear but the briefing was added to the calendar late last week, one of the sources said.

The FBI did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Additionally, the Pentagon scrapped Thursday’s classified briefing on Iran for the House Armed Services Committee due to scheduling issues, according to a US defense official and House side.

According to numerous people in the room, Milley was the most vocal defender of the intelligence. Multiple Hill Democrats said Milley came across as trying to match the bombast of the President in defending the strike.

One Democratic lawmaker told CNN they were turned off by Milley’s pitch on behalf of the administration, particularly when he insisted that the intelligence was “exquisite.” The lawmaker argued Milley’s rhetoric was divorced from how intelligence is actually assessed.

“General Milley went out of his way to defend the intel behind the QS strike as so utterly compelling,” a Democratic aide in the room told CNN. “It was embarrassing.”

Not everyone reacted that way. Many Republicans and some Democrats came away impressed by Milley and defended him as an “honest broker” in the words of Virginia Democrat Sen. Tim Kaine.

Still, the briefing — and indeed the strike on Soleimani itself— marks a critical moment for the 61-year-old four-star general. At the peak of an illustrious military career, Milley’s non-partisan reputation is being put to the test as he defends the most controversial foreign policy decision of Donald Trump’s presidency.

In doing so, Milley has come dangerously close to wading into political realms that are usually out of bounds for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, who is typically there to provide non-partisan military advice.

This move was initiated to possibly shoot down Iranian drones as intelligence mounted about a threat of an imminent attack against US targets, two US officials tell CNN.

The alert reflects the heightened tensions between the US and Iran in the wake of last week’s US drone strike that killed a top Iranian general, Qasem Soleimani.

US officials have claimed the strike against the general was carried out to prevent an “imminent” attack in the region that would have put American lives at risk, but have so far declined to provide details about the intelligence.

US intelligence also has observed Iran moving military equipment, including drones and ballistic missiles, over the last several days.

US officials said the movement may be an Iranian effort to secure its weapons from a potential US strike, or put them in positions to launch their own attacks.

“There were indications that we needed to monitor the threats” even more closely than is already being done, one of the US officials said, referring to Monday night’s state of heightened alert.

The second official described it as “all Patriot batteries and forces in the area on high alert” against an “imminent attack threat.”

An inter-agency discussion about imposing travel restrictions on countries that are not compliant with electronic documents and information sharing — a key focus of the administration — is underway, according to a senior administration official. Fewer than five countries are under consideration, the official said.

The goal, the official said, is to “bring governments into compliance by using the power of access to the United States.” The travel restrictions would be tailored to the countries, if they’re added, and not impose a ban on them altogether, the official noted.

The administration has argued that the travel ban is vital to national security and ensures countries are in compliance with security measures. But critics say the restrictions imposed by President Donald Trump’s executive order are an attempt to ban Muslims from entering the United States. It’s unclear which countries are currently under consideration and if they are majority Muslim.

In 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third version of the travel ban after previous bans ricocheted through the courts. The ban restricts entry from seven countries to varying degrees: Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen, along with Venezuela and North Korea. Chad was removed from the list last April, after the White House said the country improved security measures.

The third iteration of the travel ban directs the Department of Homeland Security, in consultation with other federal agencies, to assess the list of countries on an ongoing basis and provide a report to the President.

Fox News host Mark Levin asked Booyens whether Donald Trump did more to address the issue than other presidents, including former President Barack Obama. “No question,” Booyens responded on “Life, Liberty, and Levin,” airing Sunday.

Booyens said that despite all the criticism surrounding ICE, the agency has become a vital partner in combatting sex trafficking.

“These are incredible men and women that help us … incredible people who actually go and keep America’s children safe. This president has empowered them to do so,” he told Levin.

His movie “8 Days” tells the story of a 15-year-old girl who’s forced into sex trafficking after attending a party with her friends. Booyens said the film is available on Netflix and other places.

Booyens claimed that he tried taking his story to CNN and MSNBC but faced “closed doors.” “I say that not to point finger or blame, that’s just a fact. This crime doesn’t ask ‘are you conservative or liberal?'”

Levin asked Booyens whether CNN and MSNBC were too focused on their own “ideological agenda” to cover the issue. “You want to believe they’re too busy to pay attention and yes they are because they’re busy with silly stuff — accusing the president,” Booyens responded.

He also argued that sex trafficking was rooted in sex addiction fueled by mass media. “It is sex addiction that in its core is fueled … it starts with a pornographic culture, soft porn, it’s the objectification of women — which we as a country have done a great job at completely objectifying women.” Specifically, Booyens said, Hollywood was to blame along with the Internet.