Category: News

Vladimir Putin of Russia has admitted that “radical Islamists” were responsible for the deadly attack on a Moscow concert hall that occurred on Friday. However, he has reiterated his assertion that they were connected to the West and Ukraine in some way. Ukraine has dismissed the Russian assertion as nonsensical. The terrorist organization known as the Islamic State (IS) claims responsibility for the 139 fatalities and has made video of the assault public. According to Russian officials, 22 patients—including two children—remain critically ill in the hospital. During a televised conference on Monday, the Russian leader stated: “We know that the crime was committed by the hands of radical Islamists, whose ideology the Islamic world itself has been fighting for centuries.”

He continued, saying, “We want to know who ordered it.” He stated that there were still a lot of unsolved questions and restated the falsehood that the assailants had attempted to escape to Ukraine in the south. He questioned, “Who was waiting for them there?” “This atrocity may be just a link in a whole series of attempts by those who have been at war with our country since 2014.”  According to him, the US was attempting to persuade everyone that Kyiv was unrelated to the incident. Furthermore, he blamed the West, stating that attempts by those who had battled Russia through Kyiv were the only ones that might be connected to the incident. During his weekly video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refuted the Russian accusations, saying, “Putin was talking to himself again… Once more, Ukraine is to blame. A sick and jaded being.”

France has issued a warning of a rise in terrorist threats, while numerous European countries have increased security. The US claims that IS is “solely” responsible for the attack in Moscow. Four Tajikistani nationals have shown up in court on charges of carrying out the massacre. A 31-year-old man from Kyrgyzstan is one of four suspects accused of providing support to terrorism. He is suspected of renting out an apartment used by the assailants. The US embassy issued a warning that “extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts” just over two weeks prior to the incident. It was only last week that Mr. Putin dismissed the warning as inflammatory. The Russian president said that the US was exploiting its threat of an impending attack to “intimidate and destabilize our society,” three days before the shooters targeted Crocus City Hall on the northwest edge of Moscow.

In the meantime, the Russian security agency FSB declared on Tuesday that it had stopped pro-Ukrainian Russian fighters from attacking Samara, a city in the south of the country. It reported that a paramilitary member of the Russian Volunteer Corps had blown himself up after being captured. Antonio Tajani, the foreign minister of Italy, stated that while it was evident that Mr. Putin was seeking excuses to strike Kiev, the attack’s footage was unambiguous, and many claims from the IS supported the assumption that it was responsible. Ahead of a summer filled with significant international sporting events, concerns about fresh jihadist plots in Western Europe have increased following the attack in Moscow, which US intelligence has attributed to the Islamic State-Khorasan, a regional offshoot of IS.

The biggest attack to strike a concert hall in Moscow in years occurred on Friday. Days after President Vladimir Putin took office for a fifth time, gunmen broke into the facility and murdered over 130 people. Four members of the Islamic State group (IS) are claimed to have carried out the attack. This is the current state of knowledge. Just after 20:00 (17:00 GMT) on Friday night, gunmen broke into the foyer of Crocus City Hall, a musical venue for the rock group Picnic, which was scheduled to take place on the outskirts of Moscow, 20km (12 miles) from the Kremlin. On camera, at least four individuals could be seen firing indiscriminately before entering the music hall and starting to fire.  A woman inside the theater claimed that as soon as she realized shots were being fired, she and other guests hurried towards the stage. “I saw a person in the stalls with a sidearm and there were cracks [of gunfire] going off, I was trying to crawl behind a loudspeaker,” she stated on Russian television.

There is a glimpse of flames within the hallway at one point. Later, glass on the top two stories of the seven-story building burst out, and flames consumed the facade. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, “the terrorists used a flammable liquid to set fire to the concert hall’s premises, where spectators were located, including wounded.” Although 160 tonnes of water were dropped by helicopters, it took roughly ten hours to put out the fire. Hundreds had been slain and injured by the time the suspects managed to flee; by some estimates, the attack lasted for roughly twenty minutes. Some people died from smoke inhalation, while many others died from bullet wounds. The members of Picnic’s band escaped uninjured. For the event, almost 6,000 Russians had gone to the shopping and entertainment complex. There has been a steady increase in the death toll. At least 137 deaths have been reported by Sunday afternoon.

According to the initial official list of dead, the oldest victim appeared to be in her 70s and had three children. Authorities have cautioned that additional people could perish in addition to the dead and that at least 60 people are still in critical condition. On the northwest edge of Moscow, Krasnogorsk, Khimki, and other neighboring towns accounted for a large number of the dead and injured.  A manhunt was launched after it seems that the attackers were able to flee the chaos and fire they had left behind. The attackers, according to Russian MP Alexander Khinshtein, drove off in a white Renault. He claimed that when police attempted to halt the car in the Bryansk area, some 340 kilometers (210 miles) from Moscow, they were able to apprehend two persons while the other two ran away. The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) declared that 11 persons had been detained, including four who were “directly involved,” around 14 hours after the initial reports of the shooting. On Sunday, four suspects—Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, Muhammadsobir Fayzov, Shamsidin Fariduni, and Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda—were brought into a Moscow courtroom.

Each of them faces a life sentence in jail after being accused of terrorism. All four were from Tajikistan, according to Russia’s official news agency Tass. IS claimed responsibility for the attack in a succinct statement on Friday. It published a picture on Saturday purporting to show the four attackers, all of whom were wearing masks. Later, the organization made extremely gory attack footage public. The BBC has confirmed the authenticity of the video, which shows one of the gunmen starting to fire on many individuals. This video will not be shown on the BBC. The IS claim was made two weeks after the US issued a warning about a possible attack targeting “large gatherings” in Moscow; Russian officials have not responded to the warning. Russian officials have expressed dissatisfaction with the US intelligence’s lack of specificity. And only last week, Putin said: “Recent provocative statements by a number of official Westerns structures about the possibility of terrorist attacks in Russia… resembles outright blackmail and an intention to intimidate and destabilise our society.”

Now, days of absence and suffering instead of weeks or months, are Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s new calendar. She writes a number on a piece of tape and attaches it to her clothes every morning when she wakes up. It’s the number of days that Hamas kidnapped her son Hersh and claimed him as his own. That number is 155 when we get together in Jerusalem. When she checked her phone in the morning on October 7, she saw two texts from Hersh. First, they said, “I love you.” The second message that was sent out right away was, “I’m sorry.” Her call went unanswered. Her words, “It rang and rang,” I penned, ‘Are you alright? Tell me if you’re alright. There was never any evidence of those texts. My gut turned inside and my throat tightened. I simply knew that a terrible thing was happening, and I knew he knew it too.” Hersh became entangled in the chaos that Hamas had unleashed during the Supernova music festival. He went to a crowded bomb shelter for safety. Hand grenades were being thrown in by Hamas fighters who were nearby.

The 23-year-old’s most recent photo appears in a Hamas video. With shooters all around, he is being carried onto a pickup vehicle. It’s blasted off his left arm. 1,200 Israelis were murdered in the Hamas strikes, the most of them were civilians. Since then, officials in the Hamas-run region of Gaza claim that Israel has attacked the area nonstop, killing over 31,000 people. There, women and children make up 70% of the deceased. Rachel’s quest is to return her son and the other prisoners home while the conflict rages in Gaza. Hersh is one of the 130 hostages from the strikes of October 7th that are still in Gaza. Israel estimates that at least thirty have already passed away. “Every morning I make a concerted effort and say to myself, ‘now, pretend to be human so that I can get up and try to save Hersh and the other remaining hostages’,” she shares with me. “What I want to do is lay in a ball on the floor weeping, but that won’t help them.”

Despite her petite size and slight build, Rachel is a formidable mother of three. We get together at the office of a venture capital firm, which a friend leased us, which serves as her family’s campaign headquarters. She currently works as a campaigner full-time. Ever since the day of the assaults, she has not returned to her job. Jon, her spouse, hasn’t either. However, after five months, both domestically and internationally, attention is beginning to shift away from the hostages. Family members are fighting arduously to maintain their public profile. When you inquire about her, Hersh, a smile appears on her face. “That’s my favourite subject – my children,” she continues. “Hersh is a carefree, easygoing soccer enthusiast. Since he was a young boy, he has been enthralled with travel and geography, and he is a huge music festival enthusiast.” Her son, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, was scheduled to depart for a year or two of travel throughout the globe. He had already purchased his ticket.

The date of departure was December 27. There was talk of a possible agreement to free the Palestinian captives and bring an approximate 40-day peace in exchange for the hostages being released before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A dismal Ramadan has arrived, devoid of any progress. But in the coming day or so, negotiations on a potential deal are scheduled to pick back up in Doha. I’m terrified, uncertain, and anxious all the time, says Rachel. “You know the adage, don’t count your chickens before they hatch? Don’t count yourself hostage, in my opinion, until you’ve given them a hug.” However, she maintains that optimism “is mandatory”. “I believe it and I have to believe it, that he will come back to us.” Even in the midst of her suffering, she recognizes the suffering of Gazan families without delay. The suffering, she believes, has to end, and not just for Israelis. “There are thousands and thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza who are suffering,” she continues. “There is an abundance of misery in the world. And I would adore it if all of our leaders declared, “We’re going to do whatever it takes to make the lives of ordinary people better.”

Janja Garnbret is one of the few people who has experience in the realm of competitive climbing, having won eight world championships and an Olympic gold medal. After reaching the pinnacle of the sport, the Slovenian intends to utilize her position to advocate for change about “cultural” climbing traps that, in her opinion, are fueling the epidemic of eating disorders. According to her, the issue arises from the antiquated belief that a lighter weight corresponds with a speedier ascent. She claims that because of this mentality, young athletes are starting to skip or drastically reduce their meal intake, sometimes with disastrous results.

Although she does not personally struggle with eating disorders, she is well aware of friends and competitors who have harmed their bodies in the name of losing weight. Weight does play a part in climbing, as Garnbret acknowledges in an interview with CNN Sport. “This is a cultural thing in climbing, it’s integrated in our brains that the lighter you are, the stronger you are.” It goes without saying that you don’t want to weigh too much or too little; the ideal weight is somewhere in the middle. “I firmly think that participating in any sport, including climbing, can be done in a healthy way.” Growing up, Garnbret claims that all of her climbing role models were “super skinny,” which only served to perpetuate the idea that losing weight was necessary in order to compete at the international level. “You aspire to emulate those who succeed when you witness them. You wish for outcomes similar to theirs. You wish to resemble them,” she remarks. “I was in the similar situation, but fortunately I escaped this trap.

There were folks there to help me choose the correct course.”I attempted to assist those who had fallen victim to this scam as much as I could. For about two years, I was making a lot of effort to help them escape, but I was unable to do so. I found it really difficult to watch people harm themselves both physically and mentally. These kinds of encounters led Garnbret to write a message regarding eating disorders on Instagram in July 2023. “Do we wish to raise skeletons for the future generation? Having brittle hair, wearing a lifeless expression, and pretending to be alright but are you really? In an extensive post, she attempted to shed light on the previously forbidden subject. US rock climber Sasha DiGiulian was among many who expressed support for the post, which generated a tremendous amount of attention and waves throughout the climbing world.

The syndrome known as Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (REDs) is what Garnbret discussed in her message. It is a condition that happens to people of any gender who have overtrained or underfed for an extended period of time in an effort to increase their athletic performance, frequently without realizing the risks of not making up for the energy they use in training, competition, and daily life. Medical professionals claim that REDs can impair an athlete’s performance on the field as well as their metabolism, immunological system, cardiovascular health, menstrual cycle, mental health, and bone health, which can result in more fractures.

While dismissing Ukraine’s denial of any involvement, Russian official media is adamantly accusing the West and Ukraine for the tragic attack on the Crocus Hall, echoing earlier assertions by the Kremlin. Independent-minded critics, on the other hand, are skeptical of such assertions, claiming that state security failed to stop this attack at home because it was preoccupied with the conflict in Ukraine. The most shocking attempt at misinformation by Russian state media may have been when NTV aired a film featuring Oleksiy Danilov, the top security official in Ukraine, that seemed to have been created using artificial intelligence. Shortly after the incident, the film appeared on Russia’s third most popular station. Danilov was supposedly heard stating, “It’s fun in Moscow today. I hope we can plan something enjoyable for them on a regular basis.”

However, we have proven that the video clip is a combination of two separate interviews that were released over the past week, and that the voice in the video was most likely produced by artificial intelligence (AI). Calling this the “Western version” of events, prominent pro-Kremlin bloggers and Russian TV presenters have questioned whether the Islamic State organization (IS) was behind the Moscow attack. During his prime-time news review program on March 24, popular commentator and pro-Kremlin propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov stated, “There are already attempts to have everyone chasing down the wrong lead.” “IS has distinct characteristics. Suicide attackers who do not attempt to escape after carrying out acts of violence in the name of IS,” he said, asserting: “It is an indisputable fact that the terrorists sought salvation in Ukraine, which is where they headed after committing the crime.” Despite the fact that the Islamic State group (IS) acknowledged responsibility for the attack, these remarks are made.

Additionally, the group has released verified video showing the attackers’ points of view, which the BBC has been able to access. “The motivation behind this act of violence by this bunch of radical Islamists is unknown. State-run Channel One claimed that “the explanations of American experts seem forced, as if tailoring a solution to a ready-made answer.” Similar claims were also made by Margarita Simonyan, head editor of Russia Today, the state channel RT. “The ghouls lacked “shahid belts,” or explosive belts. They were not going to perish. None of them were extreme believers. ISIS wasn’t even close by,” she stated on Telegram. There have also been other attempts to assign responsibility for the attack on Western nations and Ukraine. Some publications, such as the state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, assert that the weapons used by the assailants, which were camouflaged in yellow-green, “are very similar to the weapons that traitors from the Russian Volunteer Corps use.” The gang is fighting for Ukraine as a pro-Russian formation.

Even more absurd accusations were made by certain commentators. Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party, stated on Rossiya 24 TV, a rolling news channel: “Unfortunately, many of our citizens have not fully realised that the Anglo-Saxons, NATO members are simply waging a war of destruction on the Russian world.” He said, “This wild, absolutely disgusting barbaric terrorist attack is eloquent evidence of this,” and then he advanced a conspiracy theory suggesting that the US was responsible for the 9/11 incident. Andrei Medvedev, a State Rossiya 1 reporter, claimed to have seen the hand of MI6, saying that it “chose precisely migrants to carry out a monstrous terrorist attack” and “patronises the Ukrainian HUR” (Main Intelligence Directorate).

Now, days of absence and suffering instead of weeks or months, are Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s new calendar. She writes a number on a piece of tape and attaches it to her clothes every morning when she wakes up. It’s the number of days that Hamas kidnapped her son Hersh and claimed him as his own. That number is 155 when we get together in Jerusalem. When she checked her phone in the morning on October 7, she saw two texts from Hersh. First, they said, “I love you.” The second message that was sent out right away was, “I’m sorry.” Her call went unanswered. Her words, “It rang and rang,” I penned, ‘Are you alright? Tell me if you’re alright. There was never any evidence of those texts. My gut turned inside and my throat tightened. I simply knew that a terrible thing was happening, and I knew he knew it too.” Hersh became entangled in the chaos that Hamas had unleashed during the Supernova music festival. He went to a crowded bomb shelter for safety. Hand grenades were being thrown in by Hamas fighters who were nearby.

The 23-year-old’s most recent photo appears in a Hamas video. With shooters all around, he is being carried onto a pickup vehicle. It’s blasted off his left arm. 1,200 Israelis were murdered in the Hamas strikes, the most of them were civilians. Since then, officials in the Hamas-run region of Gaza claim that Israel has attacked the area nonstop, killing over 31,000 people. There, women and children make up 70% of the deceased. Rachel’s quest is to return her son and the other prisoners home while the conflict rages in Gaza. Hersh is one of the 130 hostages from the strikes of October 7th that are still in Gaza. Israel estimates that at least thirty have already passed away. “Every morning I make a concerted effort and say to myself, ‘now, pretend to be human so that I can get up and try to save Hersh and the other remaining hostages’,” she shares with me. “What I want to do is lay in a ball on the floor weeping, but that won’t help them.”

Despite her petite size and slight build, Rachel is a formidable mother of three. We get together at the office of a venture capital firm, which a friend leased us, which serves as her family’s campaign headquarters. She currently works as a campaigner full-time. Ever since the day of the assaults, she has not returned to her job. Jon, her spouse, hasn’t either. However, after five months, both domestically and internationally, attention is beginning to shift away from the hostages. Family members are fighting arduously to maintain their public profile. When you inquire about her, Hersh, a smile appears on her face. “That’s my favourite subject – my children,” she continues. “Hersh is a carefree, easygoing soccer enthusiast. Since he was a young boy, he has been enthralled with travel and geography, and he is a huge music festival enthusiast.” Her son, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, was scheduled to depart for a year or two of travel throughout the globe. He had already purchased his ticket.

The date of departure was December 27. There was talk of a possible agreement to free the Palestinian captives and bring an approximate 40-day peace in exchange for the hostages being released before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. A dismal Ramadan has arrived, devoid of any progress. But in the coming day or so, negotiations on a potential deal are scheduled to pick back up in Doha. I’m terrified, uncertain, and anxious all the time, says Rachel. “You know the adage, don’t count your chickens before they hatch? Don’t count yourself hostage, in my opinion, until you’ve given them a hug.” However, she maintains that optimism “is mandatory”. “I believe it and I have to believe it, that he will come back to us.” Even in the midst of her suffering, she recognizes the suffering of Gazan families without delay. The suffering, she believes, has to end, and not just for Israelis. “There are thousands and thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza who are suffering,” she continues. “There is an abundance of misery in the world. And I would adore it if all of our leaders declared, “We’re going to do whatever it takes to make the lives of ordinary people better.”

Attorney Gonen Ben Yitzhak, who is a part of the “Crime Minister” movement, declared to 103FM that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is the one responsible for the disintegration of the country. This statement was made in response to demonstrations that took place in front of Netanyahu’s mansion in Caesarea.

Following the rally and the arson that took place on Saturday night at the entrance to the Prime Minister’s Residence in Caesarea, an attorney named Ben Yitzhak offered some insight on the situation. He made the observation that “no one had the intention of approaching, and certainly not breaking into, the Prime Minister’s Residence.”

In a later comment, Ben Yitzhak made a reference to the scenario that is currently taking place in the political sphere in relation to the controversy that is surrounding the draft law for the haredi. He made the statement that “The enemies of the State of Israel want to see the country crumble, and the one who is causing it to crumble is Benjamin Netanyahu by continuing to wage war.” In point of fact, there is no war going on; he is merely extending the duration of this fight. The fact that certain groups within Israeli society are not willing to enlist in the military is something that he finds himself concerned about.

What is the reason that demonstrations are of such great importance at this time?
The former leader of the rallies for judicial reform stated, “I believe that the State of Israel is deteriorating into a state of less democracy than it was because the police are controlled by [National Security Minister Itamar] Ben-Gvir.” Ben-Gvir is the control that Ben-Gvir exercises over the police. His statement, “I believe that the demonstrations are important,” was a deliberate attempt to bring attention to the significance of the demonstrations that are taking place at the present time. Participating in public demonstrations is a duty that falls on the shoulders of citizens in a democratic nation.