News Wrap: Navalny’s mother pushes for answers after his death in prison

John Yang:

Good evening. I'm John Yang. Now that the mother of Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny has been formally notified of her son's death, she's pressing for details of how the 47-year-old died in a remote penal colony in the Arctic in hopes of seeing her son's body. Lyudmila Navalnaya and Navalny's lawyer went to the morgue where she was told he had been taken. But once they got there, the facility was closed.

She wants his remains handed over for burial. Russia says that won't happen until its investigation is over. There's no official cause of death. Navalny's lawyer says he was murdered.

In Moscow, Navalny's supporters risked arrest to lay flowers at a memorial to him at a monument for victims of soviet era purges. Since word of Navalny's death, Russian police have arrested more than 300 people across the country.

Ukrainian forces have withdrawn from the devastated eastern city of Avdiivka, handing Russia a key victory. Outnumbered Ukrainian soldiers desperately short of ammunition had withstood a Russian assault for four months.

At the Munich security conference, Vice President Kamala Harris met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy said he's hoping for a break in the months long congressional log jam that's bottled up us aid from Ukraine.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President (through translator):

We are counting on this positive decision of the Congress. For us, this package is vital. We do not currently look into alternatives because we are counting on the United States as our partner, strategic partner.

Kamala Harris, U.S. Vice President:

When we talk about the role of America as it relates to our support for Ukraine, we must be unwavering and we cannot play political games.

John Yang:

Harris said there is no plan B if Congress doesn't pass the $60 billion aid package, there is only plan A, she told reporters. The Senate overwhelmingly approved the aid bill, but House Speaker Mike Johnson said he won't even bring it up for a vote.

Also at the Munich conference, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met with Israeli officials to talk about negotiations for the release of the hostages still held by Hamas and a pause in Israeli fighting.

In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not take part in the next round of talks because of Hamas demands he labeled as delusional. Israeli defense miner Yoav Gallant told reporters that Rafah was the next center of gravity in the war, but he wouldn't say when anticipated ground operation will begin.

And the Food and Drug Administration has approved a novel cancer treatment to tackle an aggressive form of the deadly skin cancer melanoma. The treatment, called Amtagvi, uses a patient's own immune cells from the tumor.

In clinical trials, more than 30 percent of participants had their tumors either shrink or disappear altogether. The maker of the treatments of the U.S. retail price is expected to be $515,000 per patient.

Still to come on PBS News Weekend, why farmers around the world are protesting and the growing problem of pollution in earth's atmosphere as the space race ramps up.