Alexei Navalny to be buried in Moscow amid uncertainty, tight security

Police officers stand guard at the Borisovskoye Cemetery where the funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny will be held on Friday, March 1, 2024, in Moscow, Russia. (AP)
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Updated 01 March 2024
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Alexei Navalny to be buried in Moscow amid uncertainty, tight security

  • The Kremlin has denied state involvement in his death

MOSCOW: Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny will be buried in Moscow later on Friday amid tight security and fears of a police crackdown two weeks after he suddenly died at the age of 47 in an Arctic penal colony.
Navalny’s allies — who have promised to livestream the day’s events online — have accused President Vladimir Putin of having him murdered because the Russian leader could allegedly not tolerate the thought of Navalny being freed in a potential prisoner swap.
They have not published proof to back up that accusation, but have promised to set out how he was murdered and by whom.
The Kremlin has denied state involvement in his death and has said it is unaware of any agreement to free Navalny. His death certificate — according to allies — said he died of natural causes.
Navalny, a former lawyer, mounted the most determined political challenge against Putin since the Russian leader came to power at the end of 1999, organizing street protests and publishing high-profile investigations into the alleged corruption of some in the ruling elite.
But a series of criminal charges for fraud and extremism — which Navalny said were politically-motivated — saw him handed jail sentences of over 30 years and most of his supporters have either fled the country or are in jail.
Navalny decided to return to Russia from Germany in 2021 after being treated for what Western doctors said was poisoning with a nerve agent only to be immediately taken into custody.
Putin, who controls all the levers of state and is expected to be comfortably re-elected for another six-year term in two weeks, has yet to comment on Navalny’s death and has for years avoided mentioning him by name.
Though Navalny is well known in the West, state TV inside Russia did not mention him for years either and when it did it was brief and in a negative light.
A religious service for Navalny is due to be held at 1400 local time in the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God in the Moscow district of Maryino where Navalny used to live.
He is then scheduled to be buried at the Borisovskoye cemetery, around 2.5 km (1.5 miles) away on the other side of the Moskva River two hours later.
Navalny’s allies, who are outside Russia and have been designated as US-backed extremists by the authorities, have called on people who want to honor his memory but cannot attend his funeral service to instead go to certain landmarks in their own towns on Friday evening at 7 p.m. local time.
The Kremlin has dismissed statements by his allies as provocative and warned that the police will uphold the law.
Judging from previous gatherings of Navalny supporters, a heavy police presence is likely and the authorities will break up anything they deem to resemble a political demonstration under protest laws.
Navalny’s wife Yulia, with whom he had two children, has said she is unsure whether the funeral itself will pass off peacefully or whether police will arrest attendees. She is outside Russia.
Navalny’s mother Lyudmila, 69, is expected to attend his funeral. It is unclear who else will be allowed into the church for the service.
Navalny was a Christian who condemned Putin’s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine as a crazy enterprise built on lies. But the church that will host his funeral has donated to the Russian army and enthusiastically advertised its backing for the war.
In the run-up to his funeral, his allies accused the authorities of blocking their plans to hold a bigger civil memorial service and said unknown individuals had even managed to thwart their attempts to hire a hearse to transport him to his own funeral.
The Kremlin has said it has nothing to do with Navalny’s funeral arrangements.


ASEAN must deepen integration and stay united to tackle US tariffs, Malaysia says

Updated 4 sec ago
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ASEAN must deepen integration and stay united to tackle US tariffs, Malaysia says

  • ASEAN countries, many of which rely on exports to the US, are reeling from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration
  • ASEAN unsuccessfully sought an initial meeting with the US as a bloc
KUALA LUMPUR: Southeast Asian nations must accelerate regional economic integration, diversify their markets and stay united to tackle the fallout from global trade disruptions resulting from sweeping US tariff hikes, Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Sunday.
Mohamad, opening a meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, also reiterated the bloc’s call to warring parties in Myanmar to cease hostilities in a deadly civil war that has killed thousands and displaced millions of people since a 2021 government takeover by the military.
“ASEAN nations are among those most heavily affected by the US-imposed tariffs. The US–China trade war is dramatically disrupting production and trade patterns worldwide. A global economic slowdown is likely to happen,” Mohamad said. “We must seize this moment to deepen regional economic integration, so that we can better shield our region from external shocks.”
ASEAN countries, many of which rely on exports to the US, are reeling from tariffs imposed by the Trump administration ranging from 10 percent to 49 percent. Six of the association’s 10 member nations were among the worst-hit with tarrifs ranging from 32 percent to 49 percent.
ASEAN unsuccessfully sought an initial meeting with the US as a bloc. When US President Donald Trump last month announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs, countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam swiftly began trade negotiations with Washington.
The meeting of foreign ministers preceded a planned ASEAN leaders’ summit Monday in Malaysia, the bloc’s current chair. A summit is expected to follow on Tuesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and leaders from the Gulf Cooperation Council comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
ASEAN’s unity is crucial as the region grapples with impacts of climate change and disruption from the malevolent use of artificial intelligence and other unregulated techologies, Mohamad said, adding that ASEAN’s centrality will be tested by external pressure, including a superpower rivalry.
“External pressures are rising, and the scope of challenges has never had higher stakes,” he said. ““It is therefore crucial that we reinforce the ties that bind us, so as to not unravel under external pressures. For ASEAN, unity is now more important than ever.”
ASEAN members have refused to take sides, engaging the US and China, which are both key regional trading and investment partners.
ASEAN remained committed to help war-torn Myanmar, which is recovering from a March earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people, Mohamad said.
Myanmar’s military leaders were barred from attending ASEAN meetings after refusing to comply with ASEAN’s peace plan, which includes negotiations and delivery of humanitarian aid.
“We call on the stakeholders in Myanmar to cease hostilities, and to extend and expand the ceasefire, to facilitate the long and difficult path toward recovery,” Mohamad said.
Myanmar’s crisis has challenged the credibility of ASEAN, which has been hampered by its long-held policy of non-interference in each other’s affairs.
After informal consultations with bloc members, Mohamad said Saturday that ASEAN has to step up efforts as Myanmar’s problems had spilled over borders with a growing number of refugees fleeing to neighboring nations and rising transborder crime.
Malaysia’s efforts now focus on de-escalation of violence and greater access to humanitarian aid, but he said plans for political dialogue between the conflicting parties would be challenging due to a “trust deficit.”

North Korea detains 3 shipyard officials over the failed launch of a naval destroyer

Updated 3 min 1 sec ago
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North Korea detains 3 shipyard officials over the failed launch of a naval destroyer

  • Satellite imagery on the site showed the vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of the ship submerged
  • The failed launch was subsequently an embarrassment to Kim Jong Un, who is eager to build greater naval forces to deal with what he calls US-led military threats
SEOUL: North Korea authorities have detained three shipyard officials over the recent failed launch of a naval destroyer, an incident that leader Kim Jong Un said was caused by criminal negligence, state media said Sunday.
The 5,000-tonne-class destroyer was damaged Wednesday when a transport cradle on the ship’s stern detached early during a launch ceremony attended by Kim at the northeastern port of Chongjin. Satellite imagery on the site showed the vessel lying on its side and draped in blue covers, with parts of the ship submerged.
The vessel is North Korea’s second known destroyer. The failed launch was subsequently an embarrassment to Kim, who is eager to build greater naval forces to deal with what he calls US-led military threats.
North Korea launched its first destroyer, also a 5,000-ton-class ship, with massive fanfare last month. The ship is North Korea’s largest and most advanced warship and state media reported it is designed to carry various weapons including nuclear missiles.
Law enforcement authorities detained the chief engineer, head of the hull construction workshop and deputy manager for administrative affairs at Chongjin Shipyard, who they said were responsible for Wednesday’s failed launch, the official Korean Central News Agency said.
Hong Kil Ho, the shipyard manager, also was summoned for questioning, KCNA previously reported.
Kim blamed military officials, scientists and shipyard operators for what he called a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness, irresponsibility and unscientific empiricism.”
In an instruction to investigators Thursday, North Korea’s powerful Central Miliary Commission echoed Kim’s position, saying those responsible “can never evade their responsibility for the crime.”
North Korea denied the warship suffered major damage, saying the hull on the starboard side was scratched and some seawater flowed into the stern section.
North Korea said Friday it needed about 10 days to make repairs, but many outside observers said the country likely understated the damage.

George Floyd’s uncertain legacy is marked five years on

Updated 25 May 2025
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George Floyd’s uncertain legacy is marked five years on

  • An anniversary event is taking place in what has been named George Floyd Square

MINNEAPOLIS: Americans on Sunday mark five years since George Floyd was killed by a US police officer, as President Donald Trump backtracks on reforms designed to tackle racism.
Floyd’s deadly arrest on May 25, 2020 helped launch the Black Lives Matter movement into a powerful force that sought to resolve America’s deeply rooted racial issues, from police violence to systemic inequality.
But since Trump’s return to power in January — he was serving his first term when Floyd died — his administration has axed civil rights investigations and cracked down on diversity hiring initiatives.
BLM, meanwhile, finds itself lacking the support it enjoyed when protesters sprawled across US cities during the Covid pandemic — with many now agreeing the movement achieved little of substance.
An anniversary event is taking place in what has been named George Floyd Square, the area of Minneapolis where the 46-year-old took his final breath as police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck during an arrest.
A small junction in a residential part of the northern US city, the square is covered with protest art including a purple mural that reads “You Changed the World, George.”
That optimistic message painted in 2020 is now, however, at odds with a president whose more extreme allies have suggested he pardon Chauvin, who was convicted of murdering Floyd and sentenced to more than 22 years in prison.
Some experts believe Trump’s re-election was partly a backlash to BLM activism, which included protests that turned to riots in some cities and calls to defund the police.
Floyd’s family members told AFP in Minneapolis on Friday that they wanted people to continue pushing for reform despite the hostile political climate.
“We don’t need an executive order to tell us that Black lives matter,” said his aunt Angela Harrelson, who wore a dark T-shirt depicting Floyd’s face.
“We cannot let a setback be a holdback for the great comeback. Donald Trump just didn’t get the memo,” she added to nods from other relatives standing beside her.
Paris Stevens, a Floyd cousin, agreed: “No one can silence us anymore.”
The Floyd relatives, with around 50 other people, held a moment of silence on Friday afternoon before placing yellow roses on the roadside spot where Floyd’s fatal arrest was filmed and shared around the world.
It was a moment of reflection — others include a candlelight vigil on Sunday night — during a weekend otherwise devoted to music, arts and dancing.
Memorial events have been held annually since Floyd’s death and the theme for this one — “The People Have Spoken” — was suggested by Nelson Mandela’s grandson Nkosi when he visited the square, according to Harrelson.
She said the defiant title was meant to reflect five years of protesting, adding that “even though it’s tiresome, we go on.”
Visitors are expected to pay their respects through the weekend.
Jill Foster, a physician from Minneapolis, told AFP at the square on Friday that she felt honoring Floyd’s legacy was partly a form of political resistance.
“Under the Trump administration, everything is trying to be rewritten and a new reality created,” the 66-year-old said.
“We have to keep the memory going and keep the information flowing.”
Meanwhile, for Courteney Ross, Floyd’s girlfriend when he died, the anniversary weekend brings up powerful feelings of personal loss.
“I miss him so much, I miss him by my side,” Ross, 49, told AFP, dressed in black and holding a bunch of yellow roses.
“It’s beautiful to see all the people come out and celebrate him,” she added.
“You see a unification that you don’t get a lot in this country lately, and people are celebrating a man who, you know, gave his life for us.”


UK renationalizes first train operator under Labour reforms

Updated 25 May 2025
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UK renationalizes first train operator under Labour reforms

  • Train passengers in Britain suffer from frequent cancelations

LONDON: Britain’s South Western Railways on Sunday becomes the first private train operator to be returned to public ownership under the Labour government’s plans to renationalize the country’s much-maligned railways.
Renationalizing all of the UK’s rail operators is among the key policies launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer since his party’s return to government last July following 14 years in opposition.
“Today is a watershed moment in our work to return the railways to the service of passengers,” Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said in a statement.
Train passengers in Britain suffer from frequent cancelations, in addition to high ticket prices and regular confusion over which services they can be used on.
The privatization of rail operations took place in the mid-1990s under the then Conservative prime minister John Major, but the rail network remained public, run by Network Rail.
Four of the 14 operators in England are already run by the state owing to poor performance in recent years, but this was originally meant to be a temporary fix before a return to the private sector.
Labour triumphed over the Conservative party in elections last year, re-entering Downing Street with promises to fix the country’s ailing transport services.
Legislation was approved in November to bring rail operators into public ownership when the private companies’ contracts expire — or sooner in the event of poor management — and be managed by “Great British Railways.”
Alexander said this will end “30 years of fragmentation,” but she warned that “change isn’t going to happen overnight.”
“We’ve always been clear that public ownership isn’t a silver bullet, but we are really firing this starting gun in that race for a truly 21st-century railway, and that does mean refocusing away from private profit and toward the public good,” she added.
In an example of how passengers might not immediately notice much difference, South Western’s first service under public ownership on Sunday was set to be a rail replacement bus.
Government figures show that the equivalent of four percent of train services in Britain were canceled in the year to April 26.
Rail unions — which have staged a stream of strikes in recent years over pay and conditions due to a cost-of-living crisis — welcomed the state takeover.
“We’re delighted that Britain’s railways are being brought back where they belong — into the public sector,” said Mick Whelan, general secretary of union Aslef.
“Everyone in the rail industry knows that privatization... didn’t, and doesn’t, work,” he added.
Two operators serving towns and cities in southeastern and eastern England are next to be brought back into public ownership by late 2025.
All the current contracts are set to expire by 2027.
The government has said renationalization will save up to £150 million ($203 million) per year because it will no longer have to pay compensation fees to rail operators.
The main rail operators in Scotland and Wales, where transport policy is handled by the devolved administrations in Edinburgh and Cardiff, are also state-owned. 


Trump hails US as ‘hottest country in the world’, takes credit for America’s military might

Updated 19 min 35 sec ago
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Trump hails US as ‘hottest country in the world’, takes credit for America’s military might

  • Addressing US Military Academy graduates, Trump said the military needs to focus on core mission
  • Says "I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term”

WEST POINT, New York: President Donald Trump used the first service academy commencement address of his second term Saturday to congratulate graduating West Point cadets on their accomplishments while also veering sharply into politics, taking credit for America’s military might and boasting about the “mandate” he says he earned in the 2024 election.
“In a few moments, you’ll become graduates of the most elite and storied military academy in human history,” Trump said at the ceremony at Michie Stadium. “And you will become officers of the greatest and most powerful army the world has ever known. And I know, because I rebuilt that army, and I rebuilt the military. And we rebuilt it like nobody has ever rebuilt it before in my first term.”
Wearing a red “Make America Great Again” hat, the Republican president told the 1,002 members of the class of 2025 at the US Military Academy that the United States is the “hottest country in the world” and underscored an “America First” ethos for the military.
“We’re getting rid of distractions and we’re focusing our military on its core mission: crushing America’s adversaries, killing America’s enemies and defending our great American flag like it has never been defended before,” Trump said. He later said that “the job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows or transform foreign cultures,” a reference to drag shows on military bases that Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration halted after Republican criticism.

 

Trump said the cadets were graduating at a “defining moment” in Army history as he accused political leaders in the past of sending soldiers into “nation-building crusades to nations that wanted nothing to do with us.” He said he was clearing the military of transgender ideas, “critical race theory” and types of training he called divisive and political.
Past administrations, he said, “subjected the armed forces to all manner of social projects and political causes while leaving our borders undefended and depleting our arsenals to fight other countries’ wars.”
At times, his remarks were indistinguishable from those heard in a political speech, from his assessment of the country when he left office in January 2021 to his review of last November’s victory over Democrat Kamala Harris, arguing that voters gave him a “great mandate” and “it gives us the right to do what we want to do.”
But Trump also took time to acknowledge the achievements of individual graduates.
He summoned Chris Verdugo to the stage and noted that he completed an 18.5-mile march on a freezing night in January in just two hours and 30 minutes. Trump had the nationally ranked men’s lacrosse team, which held the No. 1 spot for a time in the 2024 season, stand and be recognized. Trump also brought Army’s star quarterback, Bryson Daily, to the lectern, where the president praised Daily’s “steel”-like shoulder. Trump later used Daily as an example to make a case against transgender women participating in women’s athletics.

United States Military Academy graduating cadets throw their hats in the air at the end of commencement ceremonies in West Point, New York, on May 24, 2025. (AP Photo)

In a nod to presidential tradition, Trump also pardoned about half a dozen cadets who had faced disciplinary infractions.
He told graduates that “you could have done anything you wanted, you could have gone anywhere.” and that “writing your own ticket to top jobs on Wall Street or Silicon Valley wouldn’t be bad. But I think what you’re doing is better.”
His advice to them included doing what they love, thinking big, working hard, holding on to their culture, keeping faith in America and taking risks.
“This is a time of incredible change and we do not need an officer corps of careerists and yes men,” Trump said. “We need patriots with guts and vision and backbone.”
Just outside campus, about three dozen demonstrators gathered before the ceremony and were waving miniature American flags. One in the crowd carried a sign that said “Support Our Veterans” and “Stop the Cuts,” while others held up plastic buckets with the message: “Go Army Beat Fascism.”
On Friday, Vice President JD Vance spoke to the graduating class at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. Vance said in his remarks that Trump was working to ensure US soldiers are deployed with clear goals, rather than the “undefined missions” and “open-ended conflicts” of the past.
Trump gave the commencement address at West Point in 2020, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the school forced cadets spread out across the country to travel, risking exposure on public transportation, and then land in New York, a coronavirus hot spot.