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These last few days in Russia have been awash in joyful news. At time of writing, 26 of the Arctic 30 have been granted bail, though sadly one has bafflingly been denied bail and given three more months of pre-trial detention.

The Arctic 30 detention hearings are continuing today - you can watch the live feed from court and follow the latest updates - and so far, 15 people have been granted bail. Colin Russell is the notable exception, and we'll be appealing that decision.

Here are two videos straight out of St Petersburg - an uplifting message from Faiza, and a powerful statement from Kieron.

The detention hearings are continuing, and so far everyone has been granted bail - apart from Colin Russell, the ship's radio operator. It's inconsistent and unfair, but as you can see from this video filmed yesterday in court, Colin still looks strong and his words are beautiful.

Watch the court proceedings live from St Petersburg, where the detention hearings for the Arctic 30 are taking place. And follow updates from Twitter below - they're coming from Russia and around the world so of course don't necessarily reflect our thoughts or views.

Gazprom, the Russian oil company that claimed the Arctic 30 carried something “resembling a bomb”, are not famous for safety. However, their news site claims that they have implemented “permanent” emergency vessels to deal with an Arctic disaster:

Support for the Arctic 30 just went pop. In a really good way. And Sir Paul McCartney just made a sure-fire bid to become my favourite Beatle.

Today on his website Sir Paul published a personal letter to Vladimir Putin, in which the ex-Beatle calls for the Arctic 30 to be reunited with their families.

We've just received incredible new footage that shows the moment Russian special forces abseiled onto the heli deck of the Arctic Sunrise and detained the crew at gun point.

It took one call from the crew on Gazprom’s Prirazlomnaya rig to have an armed squad of Russia’s special forces there within an hour. The very next day, Russian agents illegally boarded the Arctic Sunrise and arrested all 30 people on board.

The group of 28 activists and two journalists are now being held in Russian jail on trumped-up hooliganism charges, for peaceful protest against drilling for oil in the Arctic.