WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022.

Brittney Griner gets 9-year sentence in Russia

Full Episode

WNBA star and two-time Olympic gold medalist Brittney Griner stands in a cage in a courtroom prior to a hearing in Khimki just outside Moscow, Russia, Aug. 4, 2022. Closing arguments in Brittney Griner’s cannabis possession case are set for Thursday, nearly six months after the American basketball star was arrested at a Moscow airport in a case that reached the highest levels of US-Russia diplomacy.

Evgenia Novozhenina/AP/Pool 

In Moscow on Thursday, WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to nine years in prison on drug charges. Griner was detained at the airport back in February, after security found vape cartridges with cannabis oil in her luggage. Last month, Griner pleaded guilty but said she packed the vape cartridges by mistake. And Kenya’s presidential election is one week away, and polls show that the biggest issue for Kenyans is the high cost of living — especially when it comes to food. The prices of staple foods have risen more than 100% in some cases. Also, an empowered economy minister just took office in Argentina, with the mission to fix complex political and economic problems. Plus, the cheetah reappears in India after its local extinction 70 years ago. 

In This Episode

woman walking through courtroom hallway
WNBA star Brittney Griner was sentenced to 9 years in prison in Russia. How likely is a prisoner swap?
Special Coverage
Taiwan encircled by China’s military
What China wants from these war-games
Folk music protests in Iran
Aboriginal lawmaker protests the queen at her swearing in 
Food prices at the center of Kenya’s election
Argentina’s ‘super’ economy minister faces enormous challenges
At ‘Designing Peace,’ museum asks how art can build and sustain peace 
A male African Cheetah named Dark is released at his enclosure at the Nehru Zoological Park in Hyderabad, India, May 12, 2012.
Cheetahs are being reintroduced to India after their extinction there 70 years ago
Special Coverage