International
Navalny says subjected to ‘educational activities’ in prison
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny said Friday he was made to sit for hours under a portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as he described his daily routine in his new prison.
His allies including Leonid Volkov and Kira Yarmysh said his new routine was a form of “torture.”
Last month Putin’s top foe was transferred to a strict-regime penal colony described by his allies as “one of Russia’s scariest prisons”. He was taken there after his jail time was extended to nine years in March, in a move supporters say is punishment for challenging Putin.
Describing his life at the new prison, near the town of Vladimir east of Moscow, Navalny said he had to sew for seven hours five days a week.
“After work, you continue to sit. For several hours on a wooden bench under a portrait of Putin,” he said in a post on Facebook.
“This is called ‘educational activities,’” he said.
Navalny was made to sit on a wooden bench even on Sunday, his official day off.
“In the Putin administration, or wherever my unique routine was conceived, they know a thing or two about rest,” he quipped.
“On Sundays, we sit on a wooden bench in a room for 10 hours,” he added.
“I don’t know who such activities can ‘educate’, except for a crooked invalid with a bad back,” he said. “But maybe that’s the purpose.”
Navalny has described his new jail as a “prison within a prison” and said he was serving time with convicted murderers. He said on Friday his prison barrack was surrounded by a six-metre fence.
Despite his ordeal he said he tried to keep his chin up.
“I am having fun as much as I can,” he said.
He added he had learnt a soliloquy from Hamlet at work. He said he was told by his fellow inmates that “when I close my eyes and mumble in Shakespearean English something like ‘in thy orisons be all my sins remembered’, it looks like I’m summoning demons.”
In 2020, Navalny barely survived a poisoning attack with Novichok, a Soviet-designed military-grade nerve agent. He has blamed Russian authorities, but the Kremlin has denied any involvement.
International
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to comply with current water obligations affecting U.S. farmers and ranchers and for Mexico to cover its water deficit to Texas under the 1944 Water Treaty, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement.
The department уточified that the agreement applies to both the current cycle and the water deficit from the previous cycle.
On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump accused Mexico of failing to comply with the water-sharing treaty between the two countries, which requires the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water from the Colorado River, while Mexico must supply 432 million cubic meters from the Rio Grande.
Mexico is behind on its commitments. According to Washington, the country has accumulated a deficit of more than one billion cubic meters of water over the past five years.
“This violation is severely harming our beautiful crops and our livestock in Texas,” Trump wrote on Monday.
The Department of Agriculture said on Friday that Mexico had agreed to supply 250 million cubic meters of water starting next week and to work toward closing the shortfall.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, quoted in the statement, said Mexico delivered more water in a single year than it had over the previous four years combined.
Trump has said that if Mexico continues to fall short of its obligations, the United States reserves the right to impose 5% tariffs on imported Mexican products.
Mexico’s Deputy Foreign Minister for North America, Roberto Velasco, said that a severe drought in 2022 and 2023prevented the country from meeting its commitments.
International
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
Several people were shot on Saturday in an attack on the campus of Brown University, in the northeastern United States, local police reported.
“Shelter in place and avoid the area until further notice,” the Providence Police Department urged in a post on X. Brown University is located in Providence, the capital of the state of Rhode Island.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social that he had been briefed on the situation and that the FBI was on the scene.
At 5:52 p.m. local time (11:52 p.m. GMT), Brown University said the situation was still “ongoing” and instructed students to remain sheltered until further notice.
After initially stating that the suspect had been taken into custody, Trump later posted a second message clarifying that local police had walked back that information. “The suspect has NOT been apprehended,” the U.S. president said.
International
Colombia says it would not reject Maduro asylum request as regional tensions escalate
The Colombian government stated on Thursday that it would have no reason to reject a potential asylum request from Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro should he leave office, as regional tensions persist over the deployment of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean since August.
“In the current climate of tension, negotiations are necessary, and if the United States demands a transition or political change, that is something to be assessed. If such a transition results in him (Maduro) needing to live elsewhere or seek protection, Colombia would have no reason to deny it,” said Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio in an interview with Caracol Radio.
However, Villavicencio noted that it is unlikely Maduro would choose Colombia as a refuge. “I believe he would opt for someplace more distant and calmer,” she added.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro also commented on Venezuela’s situation on Wednesday, arguing that the country needs a “democratic revolution” rather than “inefficient repression.” His remarks followed the recent detention and passport cancellation of Cardinal Baltazar Porras at the Caracas airport.
“The Maduro government must understand that responding to external aggression requires more than military preparations; it requires a democratic revolution. A country is defended with more democracy, not more inefficient repression,” Petro wrote on X (formerly Twitter), in a rare public criticism of the Venezuelan leader.
Petro also called for a general amnesty for political opponents and reiterated his call for forming a broad transitional government to address Venezuela’s prolonged crisis.
Since September, U.S. military forces have destroyed more than 20 vessels allegedly carrying drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters near Venezuela and Colombia, resulting in over 80 deaths.
U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned that attacks “inside Venezuela” will begin “soon,” while Maduro has urged Venezuelans to prepare for what he describes as an impending external aggression.
Panama seizes over three tons of drugs hidden in Caribbean port container
U.S. and Mexico Reach Deal to Address Water Deficit Under 1944 Treaty
Several people shot in attack on Brown University campus
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