| | | | | | | Hello. Vigils have been held outside Russian embassies in various European capitals following reports of the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a penal colony. While Mr Navalny’s team and family members say they have yet to receive confirmation of his death, Sarah Rainsford looks at what made Mr Navalny a defiant and influential opposition leader. African leaders are meeting for the African Union summit this weekend, and their agenda includes a ban on donkey skin trade. Victoria Gill and Kate Stephens examine what that initiative would achieve. Finally, your weekly invitation to test your news knowledge in our quiz - thanks to some lucky guesses, I scored 6/7. |
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| | | | | | Questions Answered | | Kremlin critic put Russia above all else | | | | Alexei Navalny was Russia's most prominent opposition leader of recent times. Credit: Getty Images |
| | As an outspoken critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who could mobilise thousands of people, Alexei Navalny had long represented a thorn in the Kremlin’s side. Throughout his campaigning years, Mr Navalny experienced various forms of intimidation, which culminated in a near-fatal poisoning with the Novichok nerve agent in 2020. He received treatment in Germany and, despite knowing Russia wasn’t safe, chose to return home. | | | | Sarah Rainsford, Eastern Europe correspondent |
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| | Why did Mr Navalny return to Russia? | | The state prison service had warned him he'd go to jail if he returned. But the life of a political émigré, increasingly out of touch and irrelevant, was not for him. I wasn't surprised when he returned to Moscow in January 2021, despite everything. And Mr Navalny wasn't surprised when he was arrested on arrival. | | How had he been coping in jail? | | First in court, and then from prison, he continued to speak out. He would appear via video link for hearings in the multiple criminal cases against him. The charges kept piling up, all excuses to keep a political opponent locked up. He looked gaunt, his head shaven and his prison uniform loose. But he would sound as upbeat and defiant as ever, even speaking from behind bars. | | What message does news of his death send? | | Mr Navalny never abandoned his hope and belief in what his team called "the beautiful Russia of the future" – the end of President Putin’s long and repressive rule and the prospect of political change in his country. But since his arrest, Mr Putin has launched a war on Ukraine, and other well-known critics of the Russian leader have fled the country - or been imprisoned. For them, and for all those who imagined a different Russia, the outlook has never been so bleak. | | | | | | |
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| AT THE SCENE | Nairobi, Kenya | | Hope for a ban on donkey skin trade | | | | In poor, rural communities, a donkey can mean the difference between a modest livelihood and destitution. Credit: Faith Burden | | According to charity the Donkey Sanctuary, an estimated 5.9 million donkeys are killed globally every year for their skin, a key component of a Chinese remedy called Ejiao. About two-thirds of the world's 53 million donkeys live in Africa, where there is a patchwork of regulations on the trade of donkey skin. A continent-wide ban on the practice is set to be discussed this weekend. | | | | Victoria Gill and Kate Stephens, BBC News |
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| That day started like most others. In the morning, Steve left his home in the outskirts of Nairobi and went to the field to get his donkeys. "I couldn't see them," he recalls. "I searched all day, all night and the following day." It was three days later that he got a call from a friend telling him he had found the animals' skeletons. "They'd been killed, slaughtered, their skin was not there."
Donkey thefts like this have become increasingly common across many parts of Africa - and in other parts of the world that have large populations of these working animals. Reflecting on a possible Africa-wide ban, Steve says he hopes it will help protect the animals, "or the next generation will have no donkeys". But could bans across Africa and in Brazil simply shift the trade elsewhere? |
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| | Your weekend listening | | | | Treating anxiety disorders | | Anxiety disorders are the world’s most common mental health condition. The BBC‘s Fergal Keane, who was diagnosed with PTSD in 2008, discusses his experience with Professor of Psychiatry Femi Oyebodea. | | Listen now > |
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| | The big picture | | Four decades of serving fashion | | | | London Fashion Week has built a reputation for being daring and innovative. Credit: Getty Images |
| | London is celebrating 40 years of its Fashion Week. Started in 1984 by PR guru Lynne Franks, the event helped promote the British capital as a fashion mecca on a par with Milan, Paris, New York and Tokyo. Culture reporters Alex Taylor and Charlotte Gallagher picked five memorable moments to mark the anniversary. | | | | |
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| | | For your downtime | | Oscar-worthy dog | | Anatomy of a Fall’s Messi is undoubtedly the breakout star of this award season. | | |
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| | And finally... in Greece | | Greece has become the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to legalise same-sex marriage and same-sex couple adoption. See the scenes of celebrations in Athens after the landslide 176-76 vote in parliament. |
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| | | | | | | | US Election Unspun newsletter | | Cut through the noise in the race for the White House, every Wednesday to your inbox. | | |
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– Sofia |
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