beijing — China’s foreign ministry declined to comment Saturday on the death of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny, describing it as “Russia’s internal affair.” 

“This is Russia’s internal affair. I will not comment,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in response to a question from AFP. 

Navalny, the Kremlin’s most prominent critic, died Friday in an Arctic prison, Russian officials said, a month before an election poised to extend Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hold on power. 

Navalny’s death after three years in detention and a poisoning that he blamed on the Kremlin deprives Russia’s opposition of its figurehead at a time of intense repression and Moscow’s campaign in Ukraine. 

Beijing and Moscow are staunch allies and have strengthened their relationship even as Western countries have turned their backs on Russia over its military invasion of neighboring Ukraine. 

Both sides also have made much of the personal relationship between the two leaders, and China’s President Xi Jinping has referred to his Russian counterpart Putin as his “good friend.” 

Dissidents and some Western leaders placed the blame squarely on Putin and his government for the 47-year-old’s death, which followed months of deteriorating health in harsh detention conditions. 
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paris — A new artificial intelligence tool that promises to create short videos from simple text commands has raised concerns along with questions from artists and media professionals. 

OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT and image generator DALL-E, said Thursday it was testing a text-to-video model called “Sora” that can allow users to create realistic videos with simple prompts. 

The San Francisco-based startup says Sora can “generate complex scenes with multiple characters, specific types of motion, and accurate details of the subject and background,” but admits it still has limitations, such as possibly “mixing up left and right.” 

Here are early reactions from industries that could be affected by the new generative artificial intelligence (AI) tool:   

Examples of Sora-created clips on OpenAI’s website range widely in style and subject, from seemingly real drone footage above a crowded market to an animated bunny-like creature bouncing through a forest. 

Thomas Bellenger, founder and art director of Cutback Productions, has been carefully watching the evolution of generative AI image generation.   

“There were those who felt that it was an unstoppable groundswell that was progressing at an astonishing rate, and those who just didn’t want to see it,” said Bellenger, whose France-based company has created large scale visual effects for such touring musicians as Stromae and Justice. 

He said the development of generative AI has “created a lot of debate internally” at the company and “a lot of sometimes visceral reactions.” 

Bellenger noted that Sora has yet to be released, so its capabilities have yet to be tested by the public. 

“What is certain is that no one expected such a technological leap forward in just a few weeks,” Bellenger said. “It’s unheard of.” 

He said whatever the future holds, they’ll “find ways to create differently.” 

Mixed reaction among creators

Video game creators are equally likely to be impacted by the new invention, with reaction among the sector divided between those open to embracing a new tool and those fearing it might replace them. 

French video game giant Ubisoft hailed the OpenAI announcement as a “quantum leap forward” with the potential to let players and development teams express their imaginations. 

“We’ve been exploring this potential for a long time,” a Ubisoft spokesperson told AFP. 

Alain Puget, chief of Nantes-based studio Alkemi, said he won’t replace any artists with AI tools, which “only reproduce things done by humans.” 

Nevertheless, Puget noted, this “visually impressive” tool could be used by small studios to produce more professionally rendered images. 

While video “cut scenes” that play out occasionally to advance game storylines are different from player-controlled action, Puget expects tools like Sora to eventually be able to replace “the way we do things.”   

‘A terrifying leap’

Basile Simon, a former journalist and current Stanford University researcher, thinks there has been “a terrifying leap forward in the last year” when it comes to generative AI allowing realistic-looking fabrications to be rapidly produced. 

He dreads the idea of how such tools will be abused during elections and fears the public will “no longer know what to believe”. 

Julien Pain of French TV channel France Info’s fact-checking program “Vrai ou Faux” (True or False) says he’s also worried about abuse of AI tools. 

“Until now, it was easy enough to spot fake images, for example by noticing the repetitive faces in the background,” Pain said. “What this new software does seems to be on another level.” 

While OpenAI and U.S. tech titans may promote safety tools, such as industry-wide watermarks that reveal AI-created imagery, “what about tomorrow’s competitors in China and Russia?” he posited. 

The Fred & Farid agency, which has collaborated with the Longchamp and Budweiser brands and where a studio dedicated to AI was opened in early January, anticipates that “80 percent of brand content will be generated by artificial intelligence.” 

“Creative genius” will no longer be limited by production skills thanks to generative AI tools, one enthusiast contended.   

Stephanie Laporte, chief executive and founder of the OTTA advertising and influencer agency, believes the technology will “force the industry to evolve.” 

She also anticipates ad companies with lean budgets will resort to AI tools to save money on workers. 

A possible exception, she believes, is the luxury segment, where brands are “very sensitive to authenticity” and “will probably use AI sparingly.” 
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sterling, virginia — One firefighter was killed, and nine others were injured when an explosion in a Washington, D.C., suburb Friday leveled a home where they were investigating a gas leak. Two other people were also injured. 

The firefighters were called to the home in Sterling, Virginia, by a report of a gas smell shortly after 7:30 p.m. and a fiery explosion took place about 30 minutes later, fire officials said. 

The blast and fire occurred while firefighters were inside the building, James Williams, assistant chief of operations for Loudon County Fire and Rescue, said at a news conference. 

“Soon after arrival, with firefighters inside, the house did explode,” Williams said. 

One firefighter was killed, while nine firefighters and two others were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from limited to severe, Williams said. 

“We have all firefighters out of the building. The fire will continue to smolder,” Williams said. He described damage to the home as “total devastation.” 

“There’s a debris field well into the street and into the neighboring homes,” he said. 

Williams said the cause of the fire was under investigation. 

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the Sterling Volunteer Fire Company said its crews had responded to a report of a gas leak before the blast. 

A neighbor, John Padgett, told ABC7 News that he had smelled gas while walking his dog earlier. The blast shook his home, he said. 

“It looked like an inferno,” and insulation from the burning home fell like ash, he added. “It was horrific; it looked like something out of a war zone.” 

Sterling is about 22 miles (35 kilometers) northwest of Washington, D.C. 
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MUNICH — Top diplomats from the U.S. and China on Friday held a “candid and constructive” discussion on issues vexing their strained relations over Taiwan, the situation in the South China Sea, Russia’s war against Ukraine and synthetic opioids, the State Department said. 

The meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference marked the latest and highest-level meeting between the two sides since U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks late last year in California. 

State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken emphasized the importance of maintaining peace in the Taiwan Strait and expanding on nascent counternarcotics efforts. Blinken also raised concerns about China’s support for Russia’s defense industrial base that Washington sees as helping Moscow’s military operations against Ukraine. 

“The two sides had a candid and constructive discussion on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage competition in the relationship,” Miller said. 

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Wang called on the U.S. to remove sanctions against Chinese companies and individuals. 

Wang emphasized that Washington’s policy of “de-risking” economically from Beijing “has become ‘de-Sinicizing,’ ‘building a tall fence’ and ‘de-coupling from China’” and “will come back to bite the U.S. itself,” according to a ministry readout Saturday morning. 

He also called on the U.S. to stop searches of Chinese nationals. Recently, Chinese state media published reports of Chinese citizens being searched at the U.S. border. 

In one prominent case, a group of students led by their professor, Xie Tao from Beijing Foreign Studies University, were interrogated for three hours upon arriving at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, according to Xinhua. Xie is the dean of the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at the University. 

Wang affirmed that cooperation to combat the spread of fentanyl was going “positively” and would continue, as well as the agreement to keep military-to-military communications. Both sides also discussed the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and the war in Ukraine. 

Blinken “reiterated that the United States will stand up for our interests and values and those of our allies and partners,” Miller said, adding that the current situations in the Middle East and with North Korea had also been topics of conversation. 

“Both sides recognized the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and (China) across a range of strategic issues, including consultations and high-level meetings in key areas in the coming months,” he said. 
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A ruling was delivered Friday in the New York civil fraud trial involving Donald Trump. The decision marks a major setback for the former president, whose legal battles have continued to unfold since he left office. Aron Ranen has the story from New York City.
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EAST PALESTINE, Ohio — President Joe Biden on Friday surveyed the federal cleanup in East Palestine, Ohio, more than a year after an explosive fire from a derailed train carrying hazardous chemicals, and saw up close the lingering hostility from victims still angry that he waited so long to visit.

The White House has said Biden was waiting for the right moment to visit. The mayor invited him.

Addressing residents, Biden said he wanted them to understand “that we’re not going home, no matter what, until this job is done, and it’s not done yet,” speaking of the federal government. He did not explain why it took more than a year for him to visit, nor did he address the community’s collective hurt.

He praised what he said were “Herculean efforts” by the federal, state and local governments to clean up after the derailment and fire and, announced federal grants from the National Institutes of Health to study the short- and long-term effects of what happened and blamed the derailment on greed by the railroad company, Norfolk Southern.

The derailment didn’t have to happen, Biden said.

“While there are acts of God, this was an act of greed that was 100% preventable,” Biden said after local officials briefed him on the cleanup and took him to the site of the derailment. “Let me say it again, an act of greed that was 100% preventable.”

Connor Spielmaker, a spokesperson for Norfolk Southern, responded without addressing Biden’s claims of corporate greed. Spielmaker said the company promised to fix things in East Palestine and “we’re keeping our promises.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said last spring in its preliminary report that the derailment was likely caused by an overheating bearing on one of the railcars.

In his remarks, Biden also stressed that the federal government is holding Norfolk Southern accountable. He called on Congress to pass legislation sponsored by Ohio’s two U.S. senators that would require stronger protective measures for trains carrying hazardous material.

He also asked Congress to make sure that no one will have to pay federal taxes on any compensation they receive from Norfolk Southern.

Signs of the community’s still-hurt feelings were evident. Some people shouted profanity as Biden’s motorcade whisked him into town from an earlier stop in Darlington Township, Pennsylvania, where he greeted local officials and first responders. Others held derogatory signs, including one that named the president’s late son, Beau, who died of brain cancer.

Biden arrived at the derailment site and saw what resembled a construction site. Rigs, trucks, generators and covered metal tanks resembling above-ground swimming pools dotted the landscape. Local officials, including the mayor, briefed the president.

Mayor Trent Conaway, who does not support Biden, addressed the president, saying: “Your long-awaited visit to our village today allows us to focus on the things we agree with. Acknowledging this disaster should never have happened. Address the long-term health concerns and the economic growth of the village, and ensure this never happens again to another community.”

As Biden visited, between 50 and 75 people held a counter-rally in support of former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump won nearly 72% of the vote in Ohio’s Columbiana County, which includes East Palestine. He visited soon after the derailment.

Mike Young, the rally’s coordinator, described the grass-roots event as “anti-Biden.” He said he delivered water to the community after the disaster and said the president should have been an immediate presence on the ground.

“The sentiment from residents has been: ‘Where were you a year ago?’” Young said. “Too little, too late. And now Biden shows up at election time.”

Misti Allison, who lives with her family about a mile away from the derailment site, said she was really glad that Biden kept his promise to visit, especially one year in. The family evacuated the night after the accident and returned a week later. She said she worries about their exposure to the chemicals.

“Nobody asked for this to happen and we need to know that the federal government has our backs,” Allison said.

The Environmental Protection Agency engaged in an intense cleanup and says the community’s air, water and soil are now safe.

The agency removed more than 176,000 tons of hazardous waste. More than 49 million gallons of water, rainfall and snowmelt were removed or treated. The federal agency is also collecting 2,500 samples to ensure that the cleanup has succeeded.

Norfolk Southern said it has spent more than $1.1 billion in its response to the derailment. Since the fire began on February 3, 2023, and caused hazardous chemicals to mix, the company says it has invested $103.2 million in the community, including $21 million distributed to residents. 
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pentagon — The United States carried out a cyberattack earlier this month against two Iranian military ships as part of its multipronged response to the killing of three U.S. soldiers by Iran-backed proxies, VOA has confirmed. 

A U.S. official, who spoke to VOA on the condition of anonymity because of operational sensitivities, said the MV Behshad was one of the targeted ships The Iranian military ship was collecting intelligence on vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. A source with knowledge of the cyberattack said an Iranian frigate was also targeted.

The U.S. official said the cyberattack on the MV Behshad was to inhibit its ability to share targeting information with the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen who have been firing missiles into international shipping lanes.

Earlier this month, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned of potential “unseen” retaliatory efforts “to send a very clear message that when American forces are attacked, when Americans are killed, we will respond, and we will respond forcefully.”

Pentagon press secretary Major General Pat Ryder declined to comment to VOA about the attack, which an official said occurred more than a week ago.

NBC News first reported the attack on the Iranian spy ship on Thursday but did not report the cyberattack on the Iranian frigate.

U.S. officials do not typically disclose covert operations, including cyberattacks.

In addition to the cyberattacks, the U.S. this month struck Iranian-backed proxies in seven locations across Syria and Iraq on February 2.

A day later, U.S. and allied forces struck dozens of Houthi targets at 13 locations in militant-controlled areas of Yemen.

A U.S. drone strike on February 7 in Baghdad killed a Kataib Hezbollah commander who the U.S. said was “responsible for directly planning and participating in attacks on U.S. forces in the region.”

There has not been an attack on U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria or Jordan since February 4, according to the Pentagon.

U.S. troops in Iraq, Syria and Jordan were attacked by Iran-backed militants more than 160 times since mid-October, shortly after Hamas’ assault on Israel. Most of the attacks caused few to no injuries or damages, but an attack in late January at the Tower 22 base in Jordan killed three American service members and wounded dozens of others.

Iranian-backed Houthi militants, however, have continued with their series of attacks targeting international shipping lanes in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. 

The Houthis say the attacks are in solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. According to a U.S. defense official, the Houthis have attacked or threatened commercial vessels 48 times since mid-November.

The U.S. has carried out self-defense strikes against Houthi drones and missiles that have been fired into international shipping lanes or that were poised to conduct attacks. The U.S. and its partners also carried out attacks in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen last month, which they said took out key weapons used in the Houthis’ targeting of international ships.
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BERLIN/VILNIUS, Lithuania — Hundreds of protesters, many of them Russian emigres, gathered in cities across Europe and beyond on Friday to express their outrage over the death of Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny.

Often gathering outside Russian embassies, they chanted slogans critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom they blamed for the activist’s death, holding up signs calling him a “killer” and demanding accountability.

Putin’s most formidable domestic opponent, Navalny fell unconscious and died on Friday after a walk at the Arctic penal colony where he was serving a three-decade sentence, prison authorities said.

In Berlin, a crowd of 500 to 600 people, according to police estimates, gathered on the city’s Unter den Linden boulevard, chanting in a mixture of Russian, German and English.

Some chanted “Putin to the Hague,” referring to the international criminal court investigating possible war crimes committed in Ukraine. Police used barriers to close off the road between the Russian embassy and the crowd.

“Alexey Navalny is the leader of the Russian opposition and we always kept hope in his name,” said a Russian man draped in a blue and white anti-war flag, giving his name only as Ilia.

In Lithuania, formerly run from Moscow but now a member of NATO and the European Union and home to a sizable community of emigres, protesters placed flowers and candles by a portrait of Navalny.

“He was always with us, so it is all surreal,” said Lyusya Shtein, 26, a Pussy Riot activist who has lived in Vilnius since leaving Russia in 2022. “None of us yet understand what happened.”

In Russia itself, prosecutors warned Russians against participating in any mass protest in Moscow. Police watched as some Russians came to lay roses and carnations at a monument to victims of Soviet repression in the shadow of the former KGB headquarters.

Rights group OVD-Info, which reports on freedom of assembly in Russia, said that more than 100 people had been detained at rallies in memory of Navalny. Reuters could not immediately verify the report.

Groups also gathered in Rome, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Sofia, Geneva and The Hague, among others.

More than 100 protesters stood outside Russia’s London embassy, holding placards that called Putin a war criminal, while in Lisbon hundreds held a silent vigil. Pavel Elizarov, a 28-year-old Russian living in Portugal, said Navalny had been “a symbol of freedom and hope.”

Near the Russian embassy in Paris, where around 100 protesters gathered, Natalia Morozov said Navalny had also been a symbol of hope for her.

“It’s hard for me to express my emotions, because I’m really shaken,” said Morozov. “Now we no longer have hope for the beautiful Russia of the future.”

Navalny’s death, if confirmed, leaves the scattered groups that oppose Putin without a figurehead, and no obvious candidate to marshal any discontent over his demise into mass protests.

Navalny’s wife, Yulia, was in Munich on Friday, where a vigil also took place. She told the Munich Security Conference she could not be sure her husband was dead because “Putin and his government … lie incessantly” but said that if confirmed she wanted them to know “they will bear responsibility.”

On the other side of the Atlantic, at a vigil outside the Russian consulate in New York City, Violetta Soboleva said she had volunteered for Navalny’s presidential campaign in 2017.

“I really believed that he’s the one and he can lead Russia to a better future,” said Soboleva, a Russian studying for her doctorate in New York. “And now we’ve lost this future forever.”
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state department — The United States has reinstated sanctions on Yemen’s Houthi rebels effective Friday, following their continued attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, endangering maritime security. 

The Houthis were first designated as a terror group three years ago and subsequently delisted due to humanitarian concerns. The relisting follows repeated demands from the U.S. and other countries for the Houthis to stop firing on commercial shipping. 

Those demands have been ignored, and attacks have continued despite a series of airstrikes by the U.S. and Britain aimed at taking out radar systems and launch sites used in the attacks. 

Earlier on Friday, a missile was launched from Yemen, hitting the port side of the India-bound Panamanian-flagged M/T Pollux, which was transporting crude oil. The extent of the damage is presently unclear, but the M/T Pollux is continuing its journey south under its own power. 

Houthi leaders have declared that the group will persist in its attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians, as long as Israel continues what the group termed its crimes against them. 

A spokesperson from the U.S. State Department noted that on January 17, Washington announced its intention to relist the Houthis as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, or SDGT, after 30 days, giving the Iran-backed rebels “the opportunity to scale down their attacks” and “to minimize de-risking across the industry.” 

The spokesperson also accused Iran of aiding the Houthis in destabilizing the region. 

“Iran has been deeply involved in planning the operations against commercial vessels in the Red Sea. This is consistent with Iran’s long-term materiel support and encouragement of the Houthis’ destabilizing actions in the region. Houthi forces have employed various Iranian-origin missiles and uncrewed aerial vehicles against military and civilian targets throughout the region,” the spokesperson said. 

U.S. officials said they have made concerted efforts to mitigate the impact of this designation on the Yemeni people. Washington has actively engaged the shipping industry, financial institutions, banks and humanitarian aid organizations to ensure comprehensive understanding of the broad exemptions associated with this designation. 

In the waning hours of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration in January 2021, the Houthis were designated as both an SDGT and a foreign terrorist organization, or FTO.  

In February 2021, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken delisted the Houthis as both a foreign terrorist organization and as specially designated global terrorists.  

This action was taken as the Biden administration aimed to facilitate a diplomatic resolution to the long-running civil war between the internationally recognized government of Yemen, based in the southern port city of Aden, and the Houthis, whose capital is Sanaa.  

Additionally, the delisting aimed to make it easier to deliver food and humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen. 

The two designations carry distinct penalties. Being named as a specially designated global terrorist empowers the U.S. Treasury Department to disrupt terrorists’ access to funds within the United States and across the international financial system.  

On the other hand, designation as a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department prohibits anyone from providing the group with “material support,” including fighting for the group, or providing financial assistance or training. 

Members of foreign terrorist organizations who are not U.S. citizens are typically banned from entering the United States, except where there is a rare and high-level decision otherwise. The Houthis have not been relisted as an FTO at this time. 

U.S. defense officials said the Houthis have launched dozens of attacks on commercial vessels and naval vessels since mid-November, impacting citizens, cargo and vessels from more than 50 countries.  
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new york — Donald Trump must pay $354.9 million in penalties for fraudulently overstating his net worth to dupe lenders, a New York judge ruled on Friday, handing the former U.S. president another legal setback in a civil case that imperils his real estate empire.

Justice Arthur Engoron also banned Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation for three years.

Engoron canceled his ruling from September ordering the dissolution of companies that control pillars of Trump’s real estate empire, saying on Friday that this was no longer necessary because he is appointing an independent monitor and compliance director to oversee Trump’s businesses.

In the ruling, Engoron wrote that Trump and the other defendants in the case “are incapable of admitting the error of their ways.”

“Their complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological,” Engoron wrote. “Instead, they adopt a ‘See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil’ posture that the evidence belies.”

The lawsuit brought by New York Attorney General Letitia James accused Trump and his family businesses of overstating his net worth by as much $3.6 billion a year over a decade to fool bankers into giving him better loan terms.

Trump’s lawyer Alina Habba said in a statement that the ruling was a “manifest injustice” and “culmination of a multi-year, politically fueled witch hunt” against him.

“This is not just about Donald Trump — if this decision stands, it will serve as a signal to every single American that New York is no longer open for business,” Habba said, adding that she plans to appeal.

Trump and his adult sons, Don Jr. and Eric, were defendants in the case. Don Jr. and Eric Trump were each ordered by the judge to pay $4 million.

Trump has denied wrongdoing and called the case a political vendetta by James, an elected Democrat.

The civil fraud case could deal a major blow to Trump’s real estate empire as the businessman turned politician leads the race for the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic President Joe Biden in the Nov. 5 U.S. election.

During defiant and meandering trial testimony in November, Trump conceded that some of his property values were inaccurate but insisted banks were obligated to do their own due diligence.

Engoron criticized Trump for his behavior during his trial testimony and wrote that the testimony hurt his cause.

“Donald Trump rarely responded to the questions asked, and he frequently interjected long, irrelevant speeches on issues far beyond the scope of the trial,” the judge wrote. “His refusal to answer the questions directly, or in some cases, at all, severely compromised his credibility.”

Trump could be required to deposit his portion of the full judgment plus interest during an appeal, which is standard practice in similar cases.

Trump could also post a smaller amount with collateral and interest by securing a type of loan called an appeal bond. But he may have trouble finding a willing lender after Engoron found he lied to banks about his wealth.

It is unclear how much access to cash Trump has, and estimates of his fortune vary, with Forbes pegging his net worth at $2.6 billion. Trump testified in an April deposition that he had roughly $400 million in cash.

Friday’s ruling came after a contentious three-month trial in Manhattan. The case was decided by the judge without a jury.

Trump used his occasional court appearances as impromptu campaign stops, delivering incendiary remarks to reporters and insisting his enemies are using the courts to prevent him from retaking the White House.

Trump is leading by a wide margin in the race for the Republican nomination despite a host of other legal troubles.

He is under indictment in four criminal cases, including one in New York related to hush money payments he made to a porn actress ahead of the 2016 election. The judge overseeing that case on Thursday set a March 25 trial date over the objections of Trump’s lawyers, who sought to delay it due to Trump’s crowded legal and political schedule.

Trump has also been charged in Florida for his handling of classified documents upon leaving office and in Washington and in Georgia for his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in all four cases.
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The United States is blaming Moscow for the death of Russian opposition figure Alexey Navalny in a remote Russian prison. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports.]
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new york — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed shock Friday on the reported death of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny and called for a credible investigation into his death.  

“The secretary-general expresses his condolences to Mr. Navalny’s family and calls for a full, credible and transparent investigation into the circumstances of Mr. Navalny’s reported death in custody,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.  

Navalny, 47, died Friday in the high-security Arctic penal colony where he was serving a 19-year sentence for extremism, Russia’s prison agency said. Navalny’s family was working Friday to confirm the veracity of the report.    

He was a vocal critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, an anti-corruption campaigner, and had run for public office. His death comes less than a month before elections that are likely to give Putin another six years in power.  

The U.N. human rights office said it is “appalled” at the reports of Navalny’s death and called on Moscow to end the persecution of politicians, human rights defenders, journalists and others sentenced to jail for the legitimate exercise of their rights.    

“Last August, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk highlighted that the latest 19-year sentence raised questions about judicial harassment and instrumentalization of the court system for political purposes in Russia and called for Navalny’s release,” spokesperson Liz Throssell said in a statement.  

She said that if a person dies in state custody, “the presumption is that the state is responsible.” Throssell echoed the U.N. chief and urged “an impartial, thorough and transparent investigation carried out by an independent body.” 

Alice Edwards, who is the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, said on the social media platform X that she was devastated by the news. Edwards said she and several other special rapporteurs had tried to intervene on Navalny’s behalf with the Kremlin. 

She also demanded a full investigation and an independent autopsy to determine the cause of his death.  
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WASHINGTON — West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin said Friday that he is not running for president, according to his spokesperson Jon Kott. For months Manchin, a centrist Democrat, had been flirting with a campaign that threatened to complicate the 2024 presidential race. 

Manchin announced his decision in a speech at West Virginia University billed as “The Future of American Politics.” 

He often bucked his party’s leadership and while considering a run for the presidency had said he thought it would be clear by March if there was a path for a third-party candidate this year. 

Manchin is not running for reelection in 2024. His Senate seat in a heavily Republican state is expected to be a prime pickup opportunity for the GOP.

The West Virginia senator has had talks with No Labels, a centrist group that has been looking into fielding a possible centrist ticket. 

Democrats feared a Manchin presidential bid would likely peel off moderate voters as its looking more likely that November’s election will present a rematch between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. 
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Families of a number of American veterans killed or wounded in Ukraine met with US Congress members in late January to appeal to lawmakers to continue providing assistance to Ukraine. Katerina Lisunova and Irina Shynkarenko have the story, narrated by Anna Rice. Camera and edit: Oleksii Osyka 
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BERLIN/MUNICH — Leading politicians, military officers and diplomats from around the world gather in Munich on Friday for a security conference that will be dominated by the wars in Israel and Ukraine as well as fears over the U.S. commitment to defending its allies.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are among the top officials attending the Munich Security Conference (MSC), an annual global gathering focused on defense and diplomacy.

Israel’s President Isaac Herzog and Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh are also expected to attend the conference, which begins on Friday and runs until Sunday at the luxury Bayerischer Hof hotel in the southern German city.

The conference takes place as the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas, in which more than 28,000 Palestinians and about 1,430 Israelis have been killed, enters its fifth month with no end in sight.

It also takes place shortly before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine enters its third year.

Both wars have ignited fears that will likely be addressed at Munich about possible regional spillover.

“The world has become more dangerous,” Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary-General of the NATO Western defense alliance told Reuters on Wednesday.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said officials from European countries that help to fund the occupied Palestinian territories and key Arab and Gulf states would meet on the sidelines of the Munich event to start discussing the future for Israel and the Palestinian people after a potential ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is also expected to join.

“There are lots of things we need to start talking about now,” Cameron said in remarks to Britain’s House of Lords.

“Whether it’s about this question of how you offer a political horizon to people in the Palestinian territories, or indeed, how we deal with Israel’s very real security concerns.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he would set foot on German soil for the first time to give a keynote speech at the conference, after refraining from doing so as he grew up in a family of Holocaust survivors.

“I will do everything for Israel’s security, securing our future and returning the hostages,” he said.

Ukraine aid bill faces hurdles

Zelenskyy is expected to plead for more support for Ukraine as the U.S. House of Representatives stalls a multibillion-dollar military aid package for the country.

“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” said one senior State Department official, saying the delay was already being felt on the battlefield. “Our support is absolutely essential in achieving the objectives Ukraine has.”

European and U.S. officials are increasingly warning of the risk Russian President Vladimir Putin could attack other countries if his military operation in Ukraine is successful.

“It is clear Putin will not stop at Ukraine,” a second U.S. State Department official said.

No Russian officials were invited to the MSC, for the second year in a row, as they did not seem interested in meaningful dialogue, organizers said.

Trump casts shadow

The event comes as the U.S. commitment to defending its allies more broadly is in doubt as the prospect of a reelection of former President Donald Trump looms.

Such worries have re-ignited a push in Europe for more strategic autonomy. Until recently the idea was championed by only a handful of countries, in particular France, but is gaining traction and will likely be addressed at the security gathering.

Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, suggested last Saturday he would not defend NATO allies who failed to spend enough on defense, prompting consternation in Europe.

Harris is scheduled on Friday to deliver what aides have billed as a major speech on “the importance of fulfilling the U.S. role of global leadership” before meeting with U.S. lawmakers, Zelenskyy and Scholz.

Harris is also likely to be closely watched for her ability to lead after a Department of Justice special counsel report last week described U.S. President Joe Biden, 81, as an elderly man with a “poor memory.” Trump is 77.

Other big international issues will also feature at the conference, such as conflicts in the Horn of Africa increasing food insecurity and displacing millions, and relations between the West and China.
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