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
Erin brings strong winds and storm surge despite weakening offshore
Hurricane Erin weakened to a Category 2 storm on Tuesday but continues to pose a threat to parts of the U.S. East Coast with potentially dangerous flooding, according to meteorologists.
Although the hurricane’s eye is expected to remain offshore, experts are concerned about Erin’s size, as strong winds extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the storm’s center.
In its 18:00 GMT bulletin, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) lifted tropical storm warnings for the Bahamasand Turks and Caicos Islands, but kept them in effect for parts of North Carolina.
Erin was located several hundred kilometers southeast of North Carolina and was moving northwestward.
“This means there is a risk of potentially life-threatening flooding of 60 to 120 centimeters above ground level,” said NHC Director Michael Brennan.
He also warned of the possibility of destructive waves, combined with storm surge, that could cause severe damage to beaches and coastal areas, making roads impassable.
International
Three U.S. Warships deploy near Venezuela to combat drug trafficking
Three U.S. naval vessels are moving toward the coasts of Venezuela, according to international media reports on Tuesday, after White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed that President Donald Trump is ready to combat and curb international drug trafficking.
Reports indicate that the ships will reach Venezuelan waters within the next 36 hours as part of a recent U.S. deployment aimed at countering international narcotics operations.
The announcement coincides with Leavitt’s statement that Trump is prepared to “use the full extent of his power” to halt drug flows into the United States. The naval deployment involves approximately 4,000 military personnel.
“The President has been clear and consistent. He is ready to use every element of U.S. power to prevent drugs from flooding our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela—it is a narco-terror cartel,” the spokesperson said during a press conference.
International
Cuban authorities free salvadoran convicted in 1997 hotel bombing
Salvadoran national Otto René Rodríguez Llerena was released after serving a 30-year prison sentence for his involvement in a terrorist attack at a hotel in Cuba in 1997, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported.
During his trial, Rodríguez Llerena admitted to placing an explosive device at the Meliá Cohiba Hotel under the orders of anti-Castro exile leaders. He was arrested the following year when he returned to Havana with another load of explosives that failed to detonate.
“The Cuban government reiterates its commitment to combating terrorism, respecting human rights, and the need for the international community to hold accountable those who promote such acts,” the statement read.
He was released on August 15 and is the second Salvadoran to complete his sentence. In December of last year, another Salvadoran, Ernesto Cruz León, was released after planting bombs at tourist centers, one of which killed an Italian tourist identified as Fabio Di Celmo.
A third Salvadoran, Francisco Chávez Abarca, also received a 30-year sentence from Cuban courts in 2010 after being extradited from Venezuela through Interpol for actions against Cuba.
Rodríguez Llerena had requested conditional release in 2016, arguing that his actions had not caused any direct fatalities, but no further information was released about his situation until now.
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