News Wrap: Gershkovich loses appeal to be released while awaiting trial in Russia

Geoff Bennett:

In the day's other headlines: Searchers in Western Afghanistan began scaling back the hunt for survivors of Saturday's devastating earthquake.

The Taliban government says at least 2,000 people were killed in the Herat region. Some villagers were still combing through the rubble today to find remains, while others spent long hours digging mass graves for the victims.

Abdul Sattar, Afghan Earthquake Survivor (through translator):

It was 5:00 in the morning when I arrived here. So far, I have buried 30 dead bodies. So many graves have been dug, more than 500. We dig graves and people bury the dead bodies.

Geoff Bennett:

The country's ruling Taliban reported more than 2,000 homes and 20 villages were flattened in the quake that left thousands injured in an area with just one government-run hospital.

In Russia, American journalist Evan Gershkovich will stay in jail at least through November. The Wall Street Journal reporter lost an appeal to be released today while he awaits trial on espionage charges. Gershkovich appeared in court in a glass cage used for defendants.

The Journal and the U.S. State Department have denied he was spying for the U.S. when he was arrested during a reporting trip last March.

Russia lost its bid today to regain a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council. Moscow's candidacy finished a distant third behind Bulgaria and Albania in voting in the U.N. General Assembly. The Assembly suspended Russia from the human rights body last year after it invaded Ukraine.

Police in San Francisco are trying to figure out why a car crashed into the Chinese consulate building on Monday. They shot and killed the driver, but gave no other details. Cell phone video showed the aftermath with the car in the lobby of the consulate. There were no reports of anyone else being hurt. The Chinese called it a violent attack and demanded a swift investigation.

A new federal indictment today charged Congressman George Santos with 23 criminal counts. In addition to previous counts, the New York Republican is now accused of stealing the I.D.s of campaign donors and making unauthorized charges to their credit cards. Santos has acknowledged lying about his background during his election campaign last year.

On Wall Street, stocks rose as interest rates eased. The Dow Jones industrial average gained 134 points to close at 33739. The Nasdaq rose 78 points. The S&P 500 added 22.

There's word tonight that Olympic champion gymnast Mary Lou Retton is gravely ill with a rare form of pneumonia. Her daughter posted today that Retton has been in intensive care for more than a week, but gave no other details. Retton is 55 years old. She won a gold medal and four other medals at the 1984 Summer Games.

And a passing of note. Hughes Van Ellis died Monday in Denver. He was one of the last known survivors of the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921, when a white mob stormed his neighborhood and killed as many as 300 Black people. Ellis spent decades appealing for justice.

He spoke of his experience before the House Judiciary Committee when he was 100 years old.

Hughes Van Ellis, Tulsa Race Massacre Survivor:

We were made to feel that our struggle was unworthy of justice, that we were less valued than whites, that we weren't fully Americans. We were shown that, in the United States, not all men were equal under law.

Geoff Bennett:

So far, no financial reparations have been awarded to the survivors of the massacre or their descendants.

Hughes Van Ellis was 102 years old.