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The blue buoy and platform located
at Palm beach undergo restoration
Friday
December 9, 2022
T: 582-7800
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A r u b a ’ s O N L Y E n g l i s h n e w s p a p e r
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
WNBA star Griner freed in swap for Hyro Oduber won the ‘plane

Russian arms dealer Bout spotting’ competition at the
airport

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Prime minister of Aruba

met with prime minister of

the Netherlands regarding

Cherelle Griner, wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner, speaks after President Joe Biden announced slavery in the region
Brittney Griner’s release in a prisoner swap with Russia, Thursday, Dec. 8, 2022, in the Roosevelt
Room of the White House in Washington. Also attending are Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left,
and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Associated Press
By ERIC TUCKER, MATTHEW LEE and officials.
ZEKE MILLER Biden’s authorization to release Bout,
Associated Press the Russian felon once nicknamed “the
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russia freed WNBA Merchant of Death,” underscored the
star Brittney Griner on Thursday in a high- heightened urgency that his administra-
profile prisoner exchange, as the U.S. re- tion faced to get Griner home, particularly
leased notorious Russian arms dealer after the recent resolution of her criminal
Viktor Bout but failed to win freedom for case on drug charges and subsequent
another American, Paul Whelan, who has transfer to a penal colony. Griner, who
been jailed for nearly four years. also played pro basketball in Russia, was
The deal, the second in eight months amid arrested at an airport there last February
tensions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, for bringing less than a gram of cannabis
secured the release of the most prominent oil in vape cartridges into the country.
American detained abroad and achieved Griner is a two-time Olympic gold medalist,
a top goal for President Joe Biden. But it Baylor University All-American and Phoenix
carried what U.S. officials described as a Mercury pro basketball star, whose arrest
heavy price. in February made her the most high-profile
“She’s safe, she’s on a plane, she’s on her American jailed abroad.
way home,” Biden said from the White
House, where he was accompanied by Continued on Page 2 Page 7
Griner’s wife, Cherelle, and administration