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Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny is being held in a prison camp in Russia’s Vladimir region northeast of Moscow known for its strict control of inmates, a message posted on the opposition politician’s Instagram account confirmed on Monday.Navalny’s precise location had been unknown after his legal team said last week that he had been moved from the nearby Kolchugino jail and that they had not been told where he was being taken.On Monday, Navalny confirmed he was fine and being held at the IK-2 corrective penal colony in the town of Pokrov, about 100 km (60 miles) east of Moscow.”Hi everyone from ‘Heightened control sector A’,” Navalny said in a message posted online shortly after his lawyers visited him at the facility.”I have to admit that the Russian prison system has managed to surprise me. I never imagined that it was possible to build a real concentration camp 100 kilometers from Moscow.”The post was accompanied by a picture of Navalny sat on a sofa with his hair cropped close to his head.Navalny, 44, one of President Vladimir Putin’s most prominent critics, was jailed earlier this year for parole violations in a decision that the West has condemned as politically motivated.He is due to serve out a two-and-a-half year sentence and is only able to communicate with the outside world via his lawyers.The Instagram post said that swearing was banned at the facility and that the ban was widely observed by fellow inmates who seemed scared to turn their heads twice.He said he had not seen any prison violence or suggestion of it himself but could believe stories he had heard about past cases of violence.”There are video cameras everywhere, they keep watch on everyone and make reports for the slightest infractions. I think someone high up has read 1984 by Orwell,” he said.He said he was woken up every hour during the night because he had been deemed a flight risk.”But if you regard everything with humor, you can live here. So on the whole everything is fine with me,” he said.Navalny returned to Russia in January from Germany where he had been recuperating from being poisoned with what many Western nations said was a nerve agent. The Kremlin has denied involvement in his illness and questioned if he was poisoned.Western countries have called for Navalny’s release, and the United States and European Union have imposed sanctions against Russian officials over the case.
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Britain said Monday it was imposing new sanctions on Bashar al-Assad’s regime, including asset freezes and travel bans on the Syrian dictator’s close allies.The announcement came on the 10th anniversary of the start of the Syrian uprising. The six sanctioned individuals include Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad, presidential adviser Luna al-Shibl, and two military generals who Britain said were responsible for the violent repression of civilians by troops under their command.The Foreign Office said they also include two prominent businessmen, one of whom, Yassar Ibrahim, allegedly “acts as a front” for the “personal hold on the Syrian economy” wielded by Assad and his wife, Asma, while millions of Syrians go without food.Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemned the Assad regime for subjecting the Syrian people “to a decade of brutality for the temerity of demanding peaceful reform.”“Today we are holding six more individuals from the regime to account for their wholesale assault on the very citizens they should be protecting,” Raab said in a statement.The sanctions were the first against the Syrian leadership under Britain’s new autonomous sanctions regime after Brexit.
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The Vatican decreed Monday that the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions since God “cannot bless sin.”The Vatican’s orthodoxy office, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, issued a formal response Monday to a question about whether Catholic clergy can bless gay unions.The answer, contained in a two-page explanation published in seven languages and approved by Pope Francis, was “negative.”The decree distinguished between the church’s welcoming and blessing of gay people, which it upheld, but not their unions.The Vatican holds that gays much be treated with dignity and respect, but that gay sex is “intrinsically disordered.” Catholic teaching holds that marriage between a man and woman is part of God’s plan and is intended for the sake of creating new life.Since gay unions are not intended to be part of that plan, they cannot be blessed by the church, the document said.“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan,” the response said.God “does not and cannot bless sin: He blesses sinful man, so that he may recognize that he is part of his plan of love and allow himself to be changed by him,” it said.Francis has endorsed providing gay couples with legal protections in same-sex unions, but that is in reference to the civil sphere, not within the church. His comments were made during an interview with a Mexican television station, Televisa, in 2019, but were cut by the Vatican until they appeared in a documentary last year.
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International deliveries of arms were flat in the period from 2016 to 2020, ending more than a decade of increases, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.The United States, France and Germany, three of the world’s biggest exporters, increased deliveries, but decreases in exports from Russian and China offset the rise, SIPRI said.It was the first time since 2001-2005 that the volume of deliveries of major arms between countries — an indicator of demand — did not increase from the previous five-year period, SIPRI said.While the pandemic has shut down economies across the world and pushed many countries into deep recessions, SIPRI said it was too early to tell whether the slowdown in arms deliveries was likely to continue.”The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic could see some countries reassessing their arms imports in the coming years,” Pieter Wezeman, senior researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme, said in a statement.”However, at the same time, even at the height of the pandemic in 2020, several countries signed large contracts for major arms.”The United Arab Emirates, for example, recently signed an agreement with the United States to purchase 50 F-35 jets and up to 18 armed drones as part of a $23 billion package.Middle Eastern countries accounted for the biggest increase in arms imports, up 25% in 2016-20 from 2011-15.Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest arms importer, increased its arms imports by 61% and Qatar by 361%.Asia and Oceania were the largest importing regions for major arms, receiving 42% of global arms transfers in 2016-20. India, Australia, China, South Korea and Pakistan were the biggest importers in the region.”For many states in Asia and Oceania, a growing perception of China as a threat is the main driver for arms imports,” said Siemon Wezeman, senior sesearcher at SIPRI. 
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Queen Bey is closer to sitting on her Grammys throne: The singer won her 26th Grammy on Sunday, almost matching, and on track to surpass, Alison Krauss’ record of 27 wins.Beyoncé, this year’s leading contender with nine nominations, won two honors during the pre-ceremony including best rap performance for “Savage” with Megan Thee Stallion and best music video for “Brown Skin Girl.” She shares the latter with daughter Blue Ivy Carter, who is also having a historic night: At 9 years old, she’s the second youngest to win a Grammy.Beyoncé’s other nominations, including song and record of the year, best R&B performance and best rap song, will broadcast during the live show, which kicked off with host Trevor Noah telling jokes about the coronavirus pandemic and the year that was 2020.He was live from downtown Los Angeles, with attendees wearing masks and sitting, socially distanced, at small round tables.  That was followed by performances from Harry Styles, who is competing for his first Grammys this year, and Billie Eilish, who won five Grammys last year and picked up her sixth honor during the preshow.Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Beyonce Battle for Grammys Top Prizes  Beyoncé, now the most nominated female artist in Grammy history with 79 career nods, leads all comers with nine nominationsOther performances, taped days before the big show, will air throughout the night, including Taylor Swift, Bruno Mars, Cardi B, BTS, Bad Bunny, Megan Thee Stallion, DaBaby, Dua Lipa, Post Malone, Chris Martin, Lil Baby, John Mayer, Maren Morris and Doja Cat.During the preshow, Fiona Apple and Kaytranda were also double winners Sunday. John Prine and Chick Corea both earned two wins posthumously. Lady Gaga, Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, Dan + Shay, James Taylor, H.E.R., Beck, Brandi Carlile, Burna Boy, Tiffany Haddish and Rachel Maddow also won Grammys.While Beyoncé is set to have a historic night, history could repeat itself and she could be shut out of winning a top award — a common occurrence for R&B and rap artists throughout Grammy history. Of her 26 wins, only one has been for one of the big four Grammys, song of the year. She has lost album of the year three times and record of the year five times.Jay-Z has never won a top award, and he and his wife join a list of mostly Black performers who have only won in the rap and R&B categories, including Kendrick Lamar, Kanye West, Mariah Carey, Eminem, Drake, Missy Elliott, Mary J. Blige and more.This year The Weeknd was the one who was snubbed. Despite having the biggest hit of 2020 with “Blinding Lights” and a top-selling, multihit album, he didn’t earn any nominations.  Still, Beyoncé and Megan Thee Stallion’s “Savage” could become the second hip-hop song to win record of the year.Taylor Swift could make history, too, and become the first woman to win the show’s top prize, album of the year, three times. Her first surprise album of 2020, “Folklore,” is competing for the top honor, an award she first won in 2010 for “Fearless,” and again in 2016 for “1989.”  Artists competing with Swift for album of the year include Coldplay, Post Malone, Dua Lipa, Jhené Aiko, HAIM, Black Pumas and Jacob Collier, who picked up a win during the pre-ceremony.The Grammys were originally scheduled for Jan. 31 but were pushed back because of the coronavirus pandemic.
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The World Food Program is leading a project to restore school feeding programs for vulnerable children who have been cut off from this nutritional lifeline because of the COVID-19 pandemic.An estimated 388 million children or one in two worldwide had been receiving school meals when the pandemic struck more than a year ago. The World Food Program says this is the highest number of children in history who had been benefiting from this vital source of nourishment.By April of last year, the U.N. Food agency reports 199 countries were forced to close their schools because of COVID-19 lockdown measures. As a result, it says, 370 million children now no longer receive daily school meals — for many, their only meal of the day.WFP spokesman Tomson Phiri said his agency has begun to assemble a coalition of stakeholders to help governments restore and boost access to school feeding programs for hundreds of millions of poor children worldwide. He said participants are drawn from governments, development agencies, U.N. and private agencies as well as other sectors.“The coalition aims to find sustainable and innovative funding sources for school feeding programs, strengthen evidence and guidance to improve said programs, as well as to bring together multiple sectors to achieve better outcomes for school children globally,” he said.Phiri said this initiative comes at a crucial time. He calls school feeding a game changer for many, not just for the children. Phiri said parents, smallholder farmers and communities as a whole benefit when children are not deprived of food essential for their health and well-being.“Activities help stave off hunger, support longer-term health and help a child to learn and thrive. This is especially true for girls. In places where there is a school meals program, girls attend as well as to stay in school longer. Child marriage rates go down and teen pregnancies decrease,” said Phiri.The World Food Program says it expects more partners will join the coalition over the coming months before the project is launched at the Food Systems Summit on the margins of the General Assembly in September or October.The summit, which will be convened by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, aims to transform the way the world produces and consumes food. 
 
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Dame Zaturoski from Struga, North Macedonia, is a lawyer by training, but his true passion is making models of boats and ships. Reporter Miki Trajkovski went to North Macedonia to see his latest creation and filed this story narrated by Anna Rice.
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London’s Metropolitan Police was under heavy pressure Sunday to explain its actions during a vigil for a woman whom one of the force’s own officers is accused of murdering.  Hundreds defied coronavirus restrictions to gather and protest violence against women, but the event ended with clashes between police and those attending.  Home Secretary Priti Patel said scenes from Saturday’s vigil in south London were “upsetting” and she is seeking a full report on what happened from the Metropolitan Police. The capital’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, said the police response was “at times neither appropriate nor proportionate.”  Police were seen scuffling with some women at the event, and one woman was seen pinned to the ground by two officers. Several women were led away in handcuffs as other attendees chanted “Shame on you” at police. The force later said four people were arrested for violating public order and coronavirus regulations.  Defending the force’s actions, Assistant Commissioner Helen Ball said “hundreds of people were packed tightly together,” posing a very real risk of transmitting the virus. She added that officers had repeatedly encouraged those attending to leave, but “a small minority” of people chanted at police, pushing and throwing objects.  “We accept that the actions of our officers have been questioned,” Ball said. “We absolutely did not want to be in a position where enforcement action was necessary. But we were placed in this position because of the overriding need to protect people’s safety.” Many of those attending the vigil were already wary of police because a serving Metropolitan Police officer, Wayne Couzens, was charged with the kidnap and murder of Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old woman who vanished March 3 while walking home in London. Her body was found a week later.  The case has sparked a national outcry and a heated debate on women’s safety. Organizers had planned an official vigil at Clapham Common, a park near where Everard was last seen alive, but were forced to cancel the event because of COVID-19 restrictions. A huge crowd turned up Saturday nonetheless. Jamie Klingler, who organized the canceled “Reclaim These Streets” event, blamed police for denying women their right to have a silent vigil in the first place. The force got the angry reaction Saturday because they refused to facilitate a peaceful rally, she said.  “I think we were shocked and really, really sad and to see videos of policemen handling women at a vigil about violence against women by men … I think it was painful and pretty triggering to see,” Klingler told Britain’s PA Media news agency Sunday.  Couzens, 48, appeared in court Saturday for the first time. He was remanded in custody and has another appearance scheduled Tuesday at London’s Central Criminal Court.  The Metropolitan Police has said it is “deeply disturbing” that one of its own is a suspect in the case. The force said Couzens joined its ranks in 2018 and most recently served in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, an armed unit responsible for guarding embassies in the capital and Parliament. Everard was last seen walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London at about 10:30 p.m. on March 3. Her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Kent, more than 50 miles southeast of London, on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination was underway, police said Friday. 
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British-Iranian charity worker Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe appeared before Iran’s Revolutionary Court Sunday, facing charges of “propaganda against the system.” “Legally, the court should announce the verdict in a week, but it is up to the judge. I am very hopeful that she will be acquitted,” said her lawyer Hojjat Kermani. Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in 2016 on charges that she was plotting to overthrow Iran’s government, a charge she has denied. Kermani said the trial was held in a “calm atmosphere” and the “final defense” was made.  Zaghari-Ratcliffe was released from house arrest last week and her ankle bracelet was removed, but she was not allowed to travel to join her family in Britain.    She was released from prison last year in March as the coronavirus began to snake around the world.  She had been imprisoned for five years.   British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Zaghari-Ratcliffe must be allowed to return home to Britain to her husband and daughter.  At the time of her arrest, Zaghari-Ratcliffe worked for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, a charity that operates independently of media firm Thomson Reuters and its news subsidiary Reuters. Sunday’s trial comes after Redress, a human rights aid organization, released a statement saying Zaghari-Ratcliffe is in urgent need of mental and physical health care after enduring hours of interrogation while blindfolded and solitary confinement. 
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Clashes broke out Saturday between police and people who gathered in defiance of coronavirus restrictions at an unofficial vigil for a London woman whose killing has spurred a national conversation in Britain about violence against women.The hundreds who gathered on Clapham Common, near where marketing executive Sarah Everard was last seen alive on March 3, defied a judge’s order and a police request to disperse. They were there to honor Everard and draw attention to the fear and danger many women see as a daily part of British life.Everard disappeared while walking home from a friend’s apartment and was found dead a week later. The slaying sent shockwaves across Britain because a police officer is charged with kidnapping and killing her.Video of the informal vigil-turned-rally showed officers tussling with participants. Male officers grabbed several women and led them away in handcuffs as onlookers screamed and shouted, Britain’s Press Association reported.Many participants laid flowers at a bandstand in the park. Among them was Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, who was seen pausing for a moment in front of the sea of flowers. Other people held signs reading “We will not be silenced” and “She was just walking home,” and the crowd chanted, “Sisters united will never be defeated.”The gathering happened hours after Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, 48, appeared in court for the first time since his arrest in Everard’s death. As Metropolitan Police officers approached the Clapham Common bandstand on Saturday evening, boos, jeers and shouts of “Shame on you” came from the crowd, according to the Press Association.Events canceledOrganizers had hoped to hold “Reclaim the Streets” vigils in Everard’s memory at the south London location and in other U.K. cities on Saturday but canceled the in-person events after a judge, in the face of coronavirus curbs on mass gatherings,  refused to grant an order allowing them to go on.Hundreds of people showed up nonetheless.People gather in Clapham Common in memory of Sarah Everard, after an official vigil for the slain kidnapping victim was canceled, in London, March 13, 2021.London Mayor Sadiq Khan decried the police response.”The police have a responsibility to enforce COVID laws, but from images I’ve seen it’s clear the response was at times neither appropriate nor proportionate,” Khan said on Twitter.Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted that he had asked Metropolitan Police for a full report on what happened.In the wake of Everard’s disappearance and killing, many women have taken to social media to share their own experiences of being threatened or attacked while walking outside.A 33-year-old nurse who works in the Clapham area, Mel Clarke, said she felt “very conflicted” about attending Saturday’s gathering because of pandemic restrictions, but in the end “just felt that I needed to be here.””I’m really pleased that there are a lot of men here. I hope that this is kind of an opportunity for men to learn how women feel, how vulnerable we are,” Clarke said. “I hope that this is the start of justice being served for Sarah.”Suspect in courtThe Metropolitan Police expressed shock and horror that one of its own was a suspect in the case. The London police force said Couzens joined its ranks in 2018 and most recently served in the parliamentary and diplomatic protection command, an armed unit responsible for guarding embassies in the capital and Parliament.During his court appearance earlier in the day, Couzens stood wearing a gray track suit as the charges were read to him. He was remanded into custody and has another appearance scheduled Tuesday at London’s Central Criminal Court.Everard was last seen walking home from a friend’s apartment in south London about 10:30 p.m. on March 3. Her body was found hidden in an area of woodland in Kent, more than 80 kilometers (50 miles) southeast of London, on Wednesday. A post-mortem examination is under way, police said Friday.TV and radio presenter Sandi Toksvig said at the start of a vigil held online that a “cultural shift about how women are viewed and treated both in the public and private space” was needed.”I am filled in equal measure with profound sorrow and rage, and I know there are many who share this rage, and I think it is entirely justifiable,” Toksvig said. “But I also know that it will harm rather than help us if we don’t try and direct that anger to good purpose.” 
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Ireland’s Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said Saturday that Britain was demonstrating “perverse nationalism” by seeking to reach a trade deal with the United States before the European Union and questioned whether it was a trustworthy partner.“This idea that Britain can get there first is narrow-minded thinking, frankly. It’s a perverse nationalism when actually Britain and the EU should work together as partners,” he said in an interview with The Times newspaper.Coveney advocated Britain working with the EU and Canada to reach a joint trade deal with the United States, although the EU does not currently have plans for a major U.S. trade deal.He also questioned Britain’s trustworthiness following its plans to unilaterally delay imposing checks required by the Brexit deal on some food products traveling from England, Scotland or Wales to Northern Ireland.“It has reinforced an awful lot of the doubts in Brussels about whether or not this really is a British government we can rely on to be a trusted partner when it comes to implementing what has already been agreed,” he said.Prime Minister Boris Johnson views the ability to strike trade deals as one of the main benefits of Brexit and sees a deal with the United States as a big potential prize.Relations between London and Dublin have deteriorated since Britain voted in 2016 to leave the European Union.Trade arrangements in the British province of Northern Ireland have proved a particular sticking point.In a separate interview with Northern Ireland’s News Letter newspaper, Brandon Lewis, Britain’s Northern Ireland secretary, indicated that “grace periods” for the food checks should be extended indefinitely until a new long-term agreement was reached.“My position and the government’s position in terms of the grace period we’ve got for chilled meats at the moment is not that at the end of that grace period there is a cliff edge; it’s that we use the grace period to get a permanent solution to ensure that those products can continue to flow,” Lewis said.  
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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Saturday that Belarus might submit a new entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after the previous one, by a band known for mocking anti-government protests, was rejected as too political.Featuring lyrics such as “I will teach you to toe the line,” the entry had sparked a backlash from opposition figures and fueled calls by a European Parliament lawmaker for Belarus to be suspended from the popular competition.Eurovision’s organizers, the European Broadcasting Union, Thursday threatened Belarus with disqualification if it did not submit a modified version of the entry or submit a new song.To critics, allowing the original entry to be performed would have added legitimacy to a violent crackdown launched by Lukashenko against mass unrest that swept the country following an August election, which demonstrators say was rigged to extend his 27-year rule.To Lukashenko, it was another example of Belarus being besieged by outside forces. The veteran president has clung to power with support from traditional ally Russia and has accused the West of fueling protests to overthrow him.“They are starting to press us on all fronts. Even at Eurovision, I see,” Lukashenko said, in his first public comments about the row.“We’ll make another song,” he said, adding: “You see that this is all politicized.”He also commented for the first time on a film released this week by a Poland-based opposition news service that accused Lukashenko of spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a luxurious lifestyle.“I will never allow myself to steal something from people,” he said.  
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