Russian Opposition leader, Putin rival Navalny dies in Arctic jail
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Leonid Solovyov, one of Navalny’s lawyers, said that Navalny was “normal” when a lawyer saw him on Wednesday. Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalny’s mother, said he was “alive, healthy and happy” when she last saw him on Monday.
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MOSCOW, Feb 16: Russia's prominent Opposition leader and President Vladimir
Putin's critic Alexei Navalny has died in the Arctic prison where he was serving
a 19-year sentence, it was officially stated. The news comes just 30 days ahead
of the presidential election when Putin is set to win.
The Federal Prison Service said in a statement that Navalny (47) “felt unwell”
after a walk and “almost immediately lost consciousness”. Doctors tried to resuscitate
him, but he died.
Leonid Solovyov, one of Navalny’s lawyers, said that Navalny was “normal” when
a lawyer saw him on Wednesday.
Lyudmila Navalnaya, Navalny’s mother, said he was “alive, healthy and happy”
when she last saw him on Monday.
One of his closest allies, Anti-Corruption Foundation chief Ivan Zhdanov, said
it was "highly likely" Navalny was killed.
Russians have been warned not to join any mass protests. Several people were
detained in Moscow.
US President Joe Biden said if the reports were true, then Vladimir Putin was
responsible: "What has happened is yet more proof of Putin's brutality."
The European Union, Poland, France and Germany have said that Navalny paid
the price for standing up to Putin.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg was “deeply saddened and disturbed”
by the report of Navalny’s death.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said, “He has now paid for this courage with
his life.”
“This is terrible news,” UK's Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on X. “As the
fiercest advocate for Russian democracy, Alexei Navalny demonstrated incredible
courage throughout his life. My thoughts are with his wife and the people of
Russia, for whom this is a huge tragedy,” he wrote.
Alexei Navalny was born on June 4, 1976, in Butyn, Moscow Oblast. He was a
lawyer, who became an anti-corruption campaigner and Russia’s most powerful
Opposition leader. He chartered his journey with his fight against corruption
at high places around the power centre that included Putin nearly two decades
ago. He organised street protests.
In 2013, after he ran for mayor of Moscow, he was barred on various grounds
from running for office. In August 2020 he was poisoned on a trip to Siberia
with a Novichok nerve agent. His team succeeded in flying him out to Germany
for specialist treatment. He was in jail since January 2021 on trumped up charges
when he returned to Moscow after treatment in Germany. He was moved to the IK-3
penal colony, about 60 km north of the Arctic Circle, one of the harshest prisons
in Russia, last December. It is 1,900 km from moscow. Navalny was married to
Yulia Navalnaya. They have a daughter and a son.
Several prominent Russian figures have died challenging Putin's rule. They
include Opposition leader Boris Nemtsov who was shot dead in 2015 and Wagner
boss Yevgeny Prigozhin who was killed in August 2023 in a suspected plane crash
following a mutiny by his private mercenary army that was said to be stronger than the
Russian military.
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SELECTIONS FROM OUR ARCHIVES |
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Top Govt officer thrashed, kicked inside Bhubaneswar office: Incident sparks a debate
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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.
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UK's House of Commons votes to legalise assisted dying: What it means | |
ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!
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What caused Air India Boeing 787 crash? Some questions, some answers | |
The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.
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Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line brings Kashmir Valley on India's rail map |
- The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
- The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
- The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest
railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)
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Work done, Elon Musk steps down from DOGE, leaves White House | |
Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.
PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.
Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people.
(Today's headlines )
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Ailing Asiatic lion Pataudi too dies of bird flu at Kanpur zoo
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Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.
Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.
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48 tourist destinations closed in Kashmir following Pahalgam terror attack
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As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.
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Trump slaps ‘kind’, ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on trading partners; a 'lenient' 26% on India!
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ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!
What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America!
(Today's headlines )
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Trump signs order to shut Education Dept - And the contrast with India
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PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).
In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.
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Sunita, Wilmore's Dragon splashes down in Gulf: What delayed their return? |
THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.
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All 80k health workers in US offered $25,000 voluntary buyout: Administering wrong prescriptions!
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The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.
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Visit Indian Travel Sites
Goa,
Kerala,
Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh,
Delhi,
Rajasthan,
Uttar Pradesh,
Himachal Pradesh,
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Karnataka,
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