Navalny's funeral set to be held Friday
The funeral of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who died earlier this month in a remote Arctic penal colony, will take place Friday in Moscow after several locations declined to host the service, his spokesperson said.
His funeral will be held at a church in Moscow's southeast Maryino district on Friday afternoon, Kira Yarmysh said Wednesday. The burial is to be at a nearby cemetery.
Navalny died in mid-February in one of Russia's harshest penal facilities. Russian authorities haven't announced the cause of his death at age 47, but many Western leaders have already blamed it on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His widow, Yulia Navalnaya, accused Putin and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin of trying to block a public funeral. "We don't want any special treatment -- just to give people the opportunity to say farewell to Alexei in a normal way," she wrote on X, previously Twitter.
Yarmysh described the difficulties his team encountered in trying to find a site for a funeral, saying that most venues claimed they were fully booked, with some "refusing when we mention the surname 'Navalny,'" and one disclosing that "funeral agencies were forbidden to work with us."
Ivan Zhdanov, the director of Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation, said the funeral was initially planned for today -- the day of Putin's annual state-of-the-nation address -- but no venue would agree to hold it then.
"The real reason is clear. The Kremlin understands that nobody will need Putin and his message on the day we say farewell to Alexei," Zhdanov wrote on his messaging app channel.
31 dead in Mali passenger bus wreck
BAMAKO, Mali -- At least 31 people were killed and 10 others injured when a driver lost control of a passenger bus in southern Mali on Tuesday, the country's government announced.
The bus carrying Malians and nationals from the West African subregion was en route to Burkina Faso when it "overturned," said a statement posted on Mali's Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure's Facebook page.
"The provisional toll is 31 killed on the spot and 10 injured, some of them seriously," the statement said. The accident around 5 p.m. local time in Koumantou south of Bamako.
Accidents involving public transport buses are a frequent occurrence in Mali. On Feb. 19, at least 15 people died and more than 46 were injured in a traffic accident between a public transport bus and a lorry in central Mali.
Red Sea ship attacked but undamaged
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- A rocket exploded late Tuesday night off the side of a ship traveling through the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, authorities said, the latest suspected attack to be carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels.
The attack comes as the Houthis continue a series of assaults at sea over Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip and as the U.S. and its allies launch airstrikes trying to stop them.
The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which oversees shipping in the Mideast, reported the attack happened about 70 miles off the coast of the Houthi-held port city of Hodeida. The rocket exploded several miles off the bow of the vessel, it said.
"The crew and vessel are reported to be safe and are proceeding to next port of call," the UKMTO said.
The private security firm Ambrey reported that the vessel targeted appeared to be a Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned bulk carrier in the area at the time. Another ship, a Panama-flagged, Emirati-owned chemical tanker was nearby as well, Ambrey said.
The Associated Press could not immediately identify the vessels involved.
The Houthis typically take several hours to claim their assaults and have not yet done so for the assault late Tuesday.
Pope goes to hospital after weekly address
VATICAN CITY -- Pope Francis, who recently had the flu, was brought to a hospital in Rome for diagnostic testing after the papal audience Wednesday, the Vatican said, without giving further details.
The pope arrived at the Gemelli Hospital on Tiber Island in a small white Fiat 500, leaving again under escort in the same car after a short visit.
Earlier in the day, the 86-year-old pope was pushed in a wheelchair into the audience hall at the Vatican, appearing weary as he dropped heavily into his seat. In recent weeks he has walked the short distance to his chair, but he has been struggling with mild flu symptoms the past week.
The pope also canceled appointments Saturday and Monday because of the flu, but appeared as usual for the Sunday blessing from a window overlooking St. Peter's Square.
The Pope used his brief words at the end of Wednesday's audience to mark the 25th anniversary of the ratification of the Anti-Personnel Mines Convention, expressing his "closeness to the numerous victims of these insidious devices that remind us of the dramatic cruelty of war."
He also appealed for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine and prayed for the victims of attacks in Burkina Faso and Haiti.
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses the European Union's parliament on Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024 in Strasbourg, eastern France. The grief-stricken widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny implored the 27-nation bloc to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The legislature often interrupted her speech with applause and lauded her efforts to keep the memory of Navalny alive. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses the European Union's parliament on Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024 in Strasbourg, eastern France. The grief-stricken widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny implored the 27-nation bloc to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The legislature often interrupted her speech with applause and lauded her efforts to keep the memory of Navalny alive. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses the European Union's parliament on Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024 in Strasbourg, eastern France. The grief-stricken widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny implored the 27-nation bloc to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The legislature often interrupted her speech with applause and lauded her efforts to keep the memory of Navalny alive. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny addresses the European Union's parliament on Wednesday Feb. 28, 2024 in Strasbourg, eastern France. The grief-stricken widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny implored the 27-nation bloc to stand up to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The legislature often interrupted her speech with applause and lauded her efforts to keep the memory of Navalny alive. (AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias)
Pope Francis attends his weekly general audience in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican on Wednesday. (AP/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Francis is hugged by a bride at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. More photos at arkansasonline.com/229francis/. (AP/Andrew Medichini)