China built a mock-up of key area in Taiwan’s capital city at a desert training site, satellite images show


  • Satellite images show China’s mock-up of Taiwan’s presidential office at a desert training site.

  • It is not the first time China has built such mock ups, which indicate a readiness to use force.

  • China has also built mock ups of US warships in the desert for apparent target practice.

Out in the desert at a military training site, China has built a mock-up of a key area of Taiwan’s capital city where the presidential office and other government buildings are located, satellite images show.

The mock-up, like others before it, seems to indicate China’s intentions and focus, though its use is uncertain.

China often engages in aggressive and coercive behavior that alarms its neighbors, is pursuing a significant military build-up and modernization effort, and has never renounced the use of force as an option for achieving unification with Taiwan.

Images of the mock target, located in the desert in the Alxa League area of northern China’s Inner Mongolia, began circulating on social media earlier this week. Taiwanese defense analyst Joseph Wen posted the satellite image, as well as a map comparison of the real area in Taipei, on Monday.

Wen noted that while China had previously created a replica of Taiwan’s president’s office building at another area, specifically Zhurihe, this mock up covered much of the office’s surrounding area and was located at what appeared to be an aerial bombing and gunnery training range.

When compared to an actual map of the area, the mock-up looks relatively realistic, with the roads and the presidential office’s surroundings closely resembling the real place in Taiwan’s capital city, Taipei.

Satellite images provided by Planet Labs to Business Insider show the site, which is still there, has been there since at least December 2022.

A satellite image showing Chinese mock up of Taiwan's presidential office.

Satellite image dated December 2022.Image © Planet Labs PBC

It is unclear though when exactly the mock-up was built, but it’s not the first.

Making Taiwan’s presidential office and US warships in the desert

Back in 2014 and 2015, satellite images showed the other mock-up of Taiwan’s presidential office at Zhurihe, also in Inner Mongolia, and a video broadcast by CCTV in July 2015 captured Chinese troops practicing an assault on the fake building, The Diplomat reported at the time.

The office mock-up was a convincing replica. Imagery from China-based web portals showed troops entering the building conducting some sort of raid.

A general view of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.

A general view of the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.Walid Berrazeg/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

When asked by reporters on Wednesday about the images of the Bo’ai Special Zone mock-up that surfaced this week, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said that any country could imitate another’s facilities and area, adding that Taiwan’s military could also conduct military exercises in simulated locations.

Indeed, this kind of training isn’t necessarily unusual, but it nonetheless signals intent.

China has also been documented building mock-ups of US aircraft carriers and other warships at training sites, likely to test and improve its missiles.

Experts have long warned about the increasing stockpiles and capabilities of its Rocket Force and what role those assets would play should the the US and China go to war, be it over Taiwan or for some other reason.

Fresh worries about a Chinese invasion of Taiwan

The images of the mock-up at Alxa League have surfaced at a time of renewed concern about possible Chinese aggression against Taiwan.

Amid China’s assertiveness at sea and in the air, demonstrated by unpredictable military drills, fiery run-ins with Philippine boats, and close calls with US aircraft, there continues to be concern about a potential invasion of Taiwan.

Just last week, US Navy Adm. John Aquilino, the commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, told the US Armed Services House Committee that China was building its military up at a scale not seen since World War II and was on track to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027.

People watch a video about China's military advancements at the Military Museum in Beijing on March 3, 2024.

People watch a video about China’s military advancements at the Military Museum in Beijing on March 3, 2024.GREG BAKER/AFP via Getty Images

China often employs economic, diplomatic, and militarily aggressive and coercive tactics toward Taiwan, such as pressuring countries that interact with the island or routinely flying fighters and bombers around it, forcing a response.

In response to Taiwan’s election earlier this year, China has turned up the pressure, and ongoing military drills in Taiwan have prompted warnings from China.

Taiwan elected a new president, the Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te, the current Vice President, in January. It’s a historic win for the DPP, which has now been in power for three consecutive terms. It was also China’s worst case scenario.

The DPP has navigated a tricky situation since gaining power in 2016, trying to preserve status quo with Beijing while maintaining Taiwan’s autonomy. Though China is generally opposed to the elections, Beijing would have preferred the Kuomintang’s Hou You-ih, who is not pro-Beijing but has an outlook on relations with China that is softer than DPP’s.

Read the original article on Business Insider



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Video does not show ‘expulsion of Chinese citizens from Indonesian city’


An old video has been reshared in 2024 alongside a false claim it shows Chinese citizens being expelled from a city on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. The video has circulated in social media posts since 2023 about a demonstration against a mining company on Sulawesi island, in eastern Indonesia.

“The expulsion of Chinese citizens in Pakan Baru started today, so that other areas are to follow as soon as possible,” reads the Indonesia-language caption of this Facebook post published on March 8, 2024.

“Pakan Baru” refers to Pekanbaru, a city on Indonesia’s Sumatra island. 

The 51-second video shows a group of people shouting angrily and turning vehicles over in a compound surrounded by trees.

Come on the cities of Padang, Medan, Jambi, Lampung, Palembang don’t just stay still without unity!!!!” the caption continues, referring to major cities in Sumatra.

<span>Screenshot of the false post captured on March 19, 2024</span>

Screenshot of the false post captured on March 19, 2024

Government data shows Chinese workers comprise the majority of foreign workers in Indonesia, with around 76,000 Chinese workers recorded in Indonesia as of November 2023 (archived links here and here).

Similar false posts shared the footage on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and on video-sharing-platform SnackVideo, racking up more than 27,000 views.

However, the claim is false. The original video has circulated online since September 2023 in posts about a protest at a gold mining company on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

There are also no credible reports about Chinese citizens being expelled from Pekanbaru on March 8, 2024.

‘Protest against mining company’

A combination of Google reverse image and keyword search on Facebook found a longer version of the video published on Facebook on September 22, 2023 (archived link).

According to the caption of the 45-minute, 30-second video, thousands of gold miners protested at PT PETS, in Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo province.

PT Puncak Emas Tani Sejahtera (PETS) is a gold mining company located in Gorontalo, Sulawesi island (archived links here and here). The company manages the Pani Gold Project mine (archived link) .

On September 21, 2023, local media reported that protesters vandalised and burned PT PETS’ office during a demonstration to protest the company’s activities that allegedly had negatively impacted the environment (archived link).

AFP also reported on a protest on the same day in Pohuwato. Several arrests were made, police said.

The clip in the false posts corresponded with the scenes seen in the 2023 video from its seven-minute and 37-second mark.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the original video (right):

<span>Screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the original video (right)</span>

Screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the original video (right)

AFP found another report about the protest with corresponding footage, published by local broadcaster Kompas TV Gorontalo (archived link).

In its report, Kompas TV Gorontalo said that a protest at a mining company in Pohuwato regency ended in chaos on September 21, 2023.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the Kompas TV Gorontalo video (right), with similarities circled by AFP:

<span>Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Kompas TV Gorontalo video (right)</span>

Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Kompas TV Gorontalo video (right)

AFP previously debunked false and misleading claims about foreign Chinese workers and citizens in Indonesia here, here, here and here.



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Fans are flocking to bars that show only women’s sports on their TVs


MINNEAPOLIS — Long lines are expected this week outside A Bar of Their Own, where the 12 televisions will be screening March Madness. Only women’s March Madness.

And when the NCAA women’s basketball tournament isn’t monopolizing the airwaves, the bar’s TVs will blast women’s NCAA softball, women’s professional hockey and women’s Olympic qualifiers, among many other sports.

Capturing a boom in women’s sports exemplified by the University of Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, bars showcasing only women’s sports are having a marquee moment, one that’s building into a trend.

“I just knew that, like me, there were lots of women’s sports fans in Minneapolis and in the surrounding area that have tried for years to find women’s sports on TV and not get them,” said Jillian Hiscock, who this month opened A Bar of Their Own, a riff on the title of the 1992 movie “A League of Their Own,” about the first female professional baseball league.

Jillian Hiscock, a former college recruiter who opened A Bar of Their Own, a riff on the title of the 1992 movie "A League of Their Own" about the first female professional baseball league.
Jillian Hiscock opened A Bar of Their Own this month in Minneapolis.NBC News

Hiscock, a former college student recruiter, said her “aha moment” came in 2022 when the University of Minnesota’s softball team was in the national tournament and ESPN was airing it but she couldn’t find a bar showing the game. 

“I was just so frustrated in that moment that for these athletes that had worked so hard to get to this level of competition that a place 2 miles from their campus wasn’t highlighting them,” Hiscock said. 

She said hers is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports, welcoming customers from budding fans to “girl dads” to professional athletes.

Clair DeGeorge, a player for Minnesota of the Professional Women’s Hockey League; rugby Olympian Kathryn Johnson; five-time WNBA champion Rebekkah Brunson; and Diamond Miller, a forward on the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx, have all stopped by to sign the bar’s Athlete Wall of Fame.

A Bar of Their Own is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports.
A Bar of Their Own in Minneapolis focuses solely on women’s sports.NBC News

DeGeorge called the women’s sports bar movement a “testament to the hard work of women,” and Miller said, “They’re pushing the boundaries to grow and develop women’s sports.”

Team jerseys, scarves and game balls line the bar’s walls, along with other paraphernalia marking standout moments in the history of women’s sports. Wheaties even donated some of its classic cereal boxes featuring female champions.

Brunson praised A Bar of Their Own for continuing to “shed light on the enthusiasm that people have when it comes to women’s sports.”

Decked out in University of South Carolina gear, alumna and former student-athlete Em Harding is a regular.

“I think this is, like, our eighth time here,” she said, laughing. “I still can’t believe that this is here, this exists.”

Josh Cleveland, the father of two girls, said sports have always been a big part of his life, and he now has a place to share it with them in a communal setting among other like-minded fans. 

“To see them have a place where they can go and see sports elevated for women is important,” he said. “I think it makes us all better.”

A Bar of Their Own is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports.
A Bar of Their Own is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports, according to owner Jillian Hiscock.NBC News

Nancy St. Germaine, who owns a construction company, said she’s drawn to the bar’s sense of community.

“As a woman in a rare field, I think it’s huge to be able to be in a space where you feel empowered, you feel acknowledged, you feel seen,” she said.

Hiscock said she was inspired by The Sports Bra in Portland, Oregon, which opened in 2022. Its founder, Jenny Nguyen, used her personal savings and money raised through a Kickstarter campaign to open the 40-seat bar, an investment that paid off when it raked in more than $1 million its first year.

“I don’t see a ceiling for it any time soon,” Nguyen said of women’s sports.

The WNBA, the National Women’s Soccer League and collegiate sports all clocked record attendance last year, according to a report from the Wasserman Collective, a company that tracks women’s sports. 

More than 92,000 people packed a Nebraska volleyball match in August, setting a world record for attendance at a women’s sporting event, according to the university.

And then there’s Clark, whose effortless 3-pointers are helping drive massive spikes in viewership of women’s college basketball, which is up 60% across all national networks, according to Michael Mulvihill, president of insights and analytics at Fox Sports.

A recent poll by Seton Hall University in New Jersey found that Clark is the best-known college basketball player in the country, man or woman.

A Bar of Their Own is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports.
A Bar of Their Own is the first bar in the Midwest to focus solely on women’s sports.NBC News

“We have been told as athletes forever that we aren’t as marketable, exciting to watch, and that’s why we don’t get airtime,” said Johnson, who played for the U.S. Olympic rugby sevens team in 2016. “But as soon as we are given some support, we outshine some of the men’s programs.”

Still, women’s sports accounted for just 15% of sports coverage in 2022, Wasserman found.

Hiscock said, “There’s all these sports that people just haven’t had exposure to, because it’s really hard to be a casual women’s sports fan.”

Hiscock said she has received several phone calls from people hoping to open similar businesses in other parts of the country, including Lauren Louise and Allison Zerkle, who plan to open Althea’s, inspired by the groundbreaking professional golfer and tennis player Althea Gibson, in New York City this fall.

“Especially with the rapid growth of women’s sports, attendance and viewership, it’s more important now than ever to be able to provide these spaces for our community,” Louise said.





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What to know about the 2024 New York International Auto Show


What to know about the 2024 New York International Auto Show – CBS News

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As the New York International Auto Show prepares to open its doors to the public Friday, some automakers may face additional challenges after the Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore. Jamie Butters, the executive editor of Automotive News, joins CBS News with what to expect.

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North Korean TV censors British gardening show host’s jeans


North Korea’s state broadcaster, KCTV, has blurred out a pair of jeans worn by veteran British TV host Alan Titchmarsh as part of the country’s censorship of foreign fashion and culture.

KCTV carried an episode of Titchmarsh’s show “Garden Secrets,” originally aired on the BBC in 2010, on Monday.

At one point he can be seen kneeling in a flowerbed, and keen-eyed viewers will notice that the lower half of his body has been blurred to obscure the jeans he is wearing.

Titchmarsh told the BBC that the censorship had given him some “street cred.”

Titchmarsh, pictured during the KCTV broadcast - BBC/KCTV

Titchmarsh, pictured during the KCTV broadcast – BBC/KCTV

“I’ve never seen myself as a dangerous subversive imperialist – I’m generally regarded as rather cosy and pretty harmless, so actually it’s given me a bit of street cred really hasn’t it?” he said.

Nam Sung-wook, a professor of North Korean Studies at Korea University in Seoul, told CNN that the censorship shows North Korea is strictly implementing the newly adopted Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act.

“The act aims to prohibit North Korean residents from imitating foreign countries in various aspects, including how they’re dressed and speak,” he said.

He added that jeans have been banned for residents as a symbol of American imperialism, but some flexibility has been applied to foreign visitors because they can’t prevent them from wearing jeans.

Peter Ward, a research fellow at the Sejong Institute in South Korea, said the censorship is part of a fight against “anti-socialist culture and ideology.”

“Blue jeans are associated with ‘decadent’ Western culture, as they were in the Soviet Union, and Kim Jong Il ordered officials to rid the country of them back in the 1990s,” he said.

“They have had campaigns against anti-socialist culture since at least the early 1990s,” said Ward. “The intensity of these campaigns has increased, especially since 2020.”

The Reactionary Ideology and Culture Rejection Act was introduced that year, banning the population from distributing, watching or listening to any cultural content deemed to be anti-socialist.

Violations are punishable by years of hard labor for small quantities of banned material and even death for larger amounts.

At that time, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported that the law prevents “the introduction and dissemination of anti-socialist ideology and culture….so that North Koreans can protect their own ideology, spirit, and culture.”

For decades, North Korea has been comparatively closed off from the rest of the world, with tight restrictions on free expression, free movement and access to information.

Its dismal human rights record has been criticized by the United Nations. Internet use is heavily restricted; even the privileged few who are allowed smartphones can only access a government-run, heavily censored intranet.

Foreign materials like books and movies are banned, often with severe punishments for those caught with black market contraband.

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How difficult is it to operate a massive container ship? Experts show why it’s so hard to avoid bridge crashes


Mass Maritime Academy provides look inside high-tech container ship training simulator


Mass Maritime Academy provides look inside high-tech container ship training simulator

03:06

BOURNE – A massive container ship that had lost power slammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore early Tuesday morning, sending vehicles and people into the water below. Mariners in Massachusetts said the tragedy shows just how difficult it is to operate the vessels.

Since navigating through bridges is such a common scenario for any mariner, it’s a big part of the training at Massachusetts Maritime Academy at the entrance to Cape Cod.

How cargo ship operators train

When the staff awoke to reports of tragedy in Baltimore, the news hit home.

“There’s no substitute for being at sea,” said captain Michael Burns, executive director of the school’s Maritime Center for Responsible Energy, which houses the next best thing. It’s a video-game quality simulator to prepare for real-life scenarios that are far from any game.

5p-hager-bridge-collapse-mass-maritime-frame-593.jpg
A simulator shows what it’s like to learn how to operate a cargo ship.

CBS Boston


In a demonstration Tuesday, Burns powered the system up with a view from a container ship approaching the Verrazzano Bridge in New York City.

How long does it take to stop a cargo ship?  

“It’s extremely challenging, and takes years of experience and training in order to be able to do this safely,” he said. “It can take up to a mile for some of these ships to get stopped, depending on the circumstances, so we really need to think well out, miles ahead of the ship.”

Near Mass Maritime, ships regularly move through Cape Cod Bridges some 60 miles south of the major cargo ships pulling into the Port of Boston.

“You get all that force, all that momentum just going, sliding through the water,” said captain Angel Montanez, who’s an assistant port engineer in Boston’s port. “If you’re going so fast in the water, you just don’t have brakes. You just can’t stop, or drop the anchor, because by the time the anchor goes out and grabs something, just swings around or stops it from going the direction it’s going, it’s too late.”

What can be learned from Baltimore bridge collapse

What happened in Baltimore is a tragedy that he and the instructors at Mass Maritime Academy hope the industry can learn from.

“Certainly we try to prepare our cadets for these type of scenarios,” Burns said. “Every ship has emergency procedures for these type of things.”



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Costco is cracking down on its food court. You now need to show your membership card to eat there.


Costco cracking down on membership sharing


Costco cracking down on membership sharing

00:23

Wholesale store Costco is taking action to ensure that only paying members get to enjoy its popular $1.50 hot dog and soda combo deal, available at its food courts. 

Images of signs posted on Reddit, the social media platform that recently went public, suggest the discount shopping club is cracking down on interlopers. While Costco officially restricted food court access to members in 2020, the newly posted signs detailing store policy suggest tougher enforcement is needed.

“Effective April 8, 2024, an active Costco membership card will be required to purchase items from our food court. You can join today. Please see our membership counter for details,” reads one sign, seen at a Costco store in Orlando, Florida. 

The move is the latest effort made by the wholesaler to enforce its membership requirements, so that people who wish to shop at the store actually pay up for the privilege. In January, Costco started rolling out new technology, requiring members to scan their cards at some store entrances, in an effort to crack down on membership sharing and nonmember walk-ins. 

Presumably, the more restrictive stance is designed to entice more people to purchase memberships and in turn boost Costco’s bottom line. Membership fees accounted for $4.6 billion, or 73% of Costco’s total profit in 2023.

screen-shot-2024-03-25-at-12-04-18-pm.png
Costco will be checking membership cards in its food courts. 

Screenshot/Reddit


Costco did not immediately respond to CBS MoneyWatch’s request for comment on its existing policies and whether or not those rules are formally changing.

A basic membership costs $60 annually, while the executive membership, which has perks like a 2% cash-back reward, is $120 per year.

Costco explained how it feels about non-members getting access to perks reserved for members.

“We don’t feel it’s right that non-members receive the same benefits and pricing as our members,” Costco said over the summer, when it started asking for members’ photo IDs along with their membership cards at self-checkout registers.



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Court says 2 of 4 men charged in Moscow attack admit guilt as suspects show signs of beating


Four men accused of staging the Russia concert hall attack that killed more than 130 people appeared before a Moscow court Sunday showing signs of severe beatings as they faced formal terrorism charges. One appeared to be barely conscious during the hearing.

A court statement said two of the suspects accepted their guilt in the assault after being charged in the preliminary hearing, though the men’s condition raised questions about whether they were speaking freely. There had been earlier conflicting reports in Russian media outlets that said three or all four men admitted culpability.

Moscow’s Basmanny District Court formally charged Dalerdzhon Mirzoyev, 32; Saidakrami Rachabalizoda, 30; Shamsidin Fariduni, 25; and Mukhammadsobir Faizov, 19, with committing a group terrorist attack resulting in the death of others. The offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The court ordered that the men, all of whom are citizens of Tajikistan, be held in pre-trial custody until May 22.

UKRAINE-RUSSIA-ATTACK-SHOOTING
People light candles during a memorial gathering in Donetsk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, on March 24, 2024, as Russia observes a national day of mourning after a Moscow concert hall massacre that killed more than 130 people.

VALERY MELNIKOV/AFP via Getty Images


Russian media had reported that the men were tortured during interrogation by the security services, and Mirzoyev, Rachabalizoda and Fariduni showed signs of heavy bruising, including swollen faces,

Rachabalizoda also had a heavily bandaged ear. Russian media said Saturday that one of the suspects had his ear cut off during interrogation. The Associated Press couldn’t verify the report or the videos purporting to show this.

The fourth suspect, Faizov, was brought to court from a hospital in a wheelchair and sat with his eyes closed throughout the proceedings. He was attended by medics while in court, where he wore a hospital gown and trousers and was seen with multiple cuts.

Court officials said Mirzoyev and Rachabalizoda admitted guilt for the attack after being charged.

The hearing came as Russia observed a national day of mourning for the attack Friday on the suburban Crocus City Hall concert venue that killed at least 137 people.

The attack, which has been claimed by an affiliate of the Islamic State group, is the deadliest on Russian soil in years.

The Crocus city hall building was destroyed by fire in the
The Crocus City Hall building was destroyed by fire in the aftermath of a terrorist attack that claimed the lives of at least 137 people.

Vlad Karkov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images


Russian authorities arrested the four suspected attackers Saturday, with seven more people detained on suspicion of involvement in the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address to the nation Saturday night. He claimed they were captured while fleeing to Ukraine, something that Kyiv firmly denied.

Events at cultural institutions were canceled Sunday, flags were lowered to half staff and television entertainment and advertising were suspended, according to state news agency RIA Novosti. A steady stream of people added to a makeshift memorial near the burned-out concert hall, creating a huge mound of flowers.

“People came to a concert, some people came to relax with their families, and any one of us could have been in that situation. And I want to express my condolences to all the families that were affected here and I want to pay tribute to these people,” Andrey Kondakov, one of the mourners who came to lay flowers at the memorial, told AP.

“It is a tragedy that has affected our entire country,” kindergarten employee Marina Korshunova said. “It just doesn’t even make sense that small children were affected by this event.” Three children were among the dead.

Rescuers continued to search the damaged building and the death toll rose as more bodies were found as family and friends of some of those still missing waiting for news. Moscow’s Department of Health said Sunday it had begun identifying the bodies of those killed via DNA testing, saying the process would take at least two weeks.

Tribute To The Victims Of Moscow Terror Attack
People lay flowers at the makeshift memorials for the victims of the terrorist attack at the “Crocus City Hall” concert venue on March 24, 2024, in Moscow, Russia.

Tian Bing/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images


Igor Pogadaev was desperately seeking any details about his wife, Yana Pogadaeva, who went to the attack concert. The last he heard from her was when she sent him two photos from the Crocus City Hall music venue.

After Pogadaev saw the reports of gunmen opening fire on concertgoers, he rushed to the site, but couldn’t find her in the numerous ambulances or among the hundreds of people who had made their way out of the venue.

“I went around, searched, I asked everyone, I showed photographs. No one saw anything, no one could say anything,” Pogadaev told AP in a video message.

He watched flames bursting out of the building as he made frantic calls to a hotline for relatives of the victims, but received no information.

As the death toll mounted Saturday, Pogodaev scoured hospitals in the Russian capital and the Moscow region, looking for information on newly admitted patients.

His wife wasn’t among the 182 reported injured, nor on the list of 60 victims authorities had already identified, he said.

The Moscow Region’s Emergency Situations Ministry posted a video Sunday showing equipment dismantling the damaged music venue to give rescuers access.

Putin has called the attack “a bloody, barbaric terrorist act” and said Russian authorities captured the four suspects as they were trying to escape to Ukraine through a “window” prepared for them on the Ukrainian side of the border.

Russian media broadcast videos that apparently showed the detention and interrogation of the suspects, including one who told the cameras he was approached by an unidentified assistant to an Islamic preacher via a messaging app and paid to take part in the raid.

Putin didn’t mention IS in his speech to the nation, and Kyiv accused him and other Russian politicians of falsely linking Ukraine to the assault to stoke fervor for Russia’s fight in Ukraine, which recently entered its third year.

U.S. intelligence officials said they had confirmed the IS affiliate’s claim.

“ISIS bears sole responsibility for this attack. There was no Ukrainian involvement whatsoever,” National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.

Gunfire Reported At Concert Venue Outside Moscow
People walk past Crocus City Hall on March 23, 2024 in Krasnororsk, Russia.

Getty Images


The U.S. shared information with Russia in early March about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow, and issued a public warning to Americans in Russia, Watson said.

The raid was a major embarrassment for Putin and happened just days after he cemented his grip on the country for another six years in a vote that followed the harshest crackdown on dissent since the Soviet times.

Some commentators on Russian social media questioned how authorities, who have relentlessly suppressed any opposition activities and muzzled independent media, failed to prevent the attack despite the U.S. warnings.

IS, which fought against Russia during its intervention in the Syrian civil war, has long targeted Russia. In a statement posted by the group’s Aamaq news agency, the IS Afghanistan affiliate said that it had attacked a large gathering of “Christians” in Krasnogorsk.

The group issued a new statement Saturday on Aamaq, saying the attack was carried out by four men who used automatic rifles, a pistol, knives and firebombs. It said the assailants fired at the crowd and used knives to kill some concertgoers, casting the raid as part of the Islamic State group’s ongoing war with countries that it says are fighting against Islam.

In October 2015, a bomb planted by IS downed a Russian passenger plane over Sinai, killing all 224 people on board, most of them Russian vacationers returning from Egypt.

The group, which operates mainly in Syria and Iraq but also in Afghanistan and Africa, also has claimed responsibility for several attacks in Russia’s volatile Caucasus and other regions in past years. It recruited fighters from Russia and other parts of the former Soviet Union.



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Bleak images show snapshots of daily life in the closed world of North Korea


  • An AFP photographer captured rare shots showing everyday life in North Korea.

  • Pedro Pardo accessed a remote part of the border in China’s Jilin province to get the photos.

  • `The images show a bleak picture of life in the completely isolated nation.

An AFP photographer captured rare images showing daily life in North Korea.

To get the photos, Pedro Pardo accessed a remote part of North Korea’s border with China in the latter’s Jilin province.

The images Pardo took between February 26 and March 1 offer a bleak yet fascinating look at life in a country shrouded in secrecy.

North Korea was founded in 1948 under Kim Il-sung as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), inspired by strict Marxist-Leninist principles.

Its population of roughly 26 million people lives largely in isolation from the rest of the world in the austere communist state, barred from going abroad without permission from the government and subjected to state-run media that blare propaganda praising the nation and its supreme leader, Kim Jong Un.

North Korea’s self-imposed isolation is largely due to its guiding principle of “juche,” or “self-reliance” — the idea that it should be able to function completely independently and remain separate from the rest of the world.

In practice, this has achieved little other than to stifle the country’s economy and trade, and many of its citizens face high poverty levels and severe food shortages. The CIA says North Korea “remains one of the World’s most isolated and one of Asia’s poorest.”

Since the 1950s, it is estimated that around 31,000 North Koreans have sought to escape and defected to South Korea, The Guardian reported in January.

That number surged last year amid what the unification ministry in Seoul called “worsening conditions in North Korea.”

Pardo’s photos present a unique look into those conditions and life in one of the world’s last communist states.

North Korean soldiers working on the border.

North Korean soldiers working on the border.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

The North Korean city of Hyesan.

The North Korean city of Hyesan.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

A wagon in the North Korean city of Namyang.

A mobile wagon in the North Korean city of Namyang.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

A sign on a hillside in the town of Chunggang reads: “My country is the best.”

A sign saying "My country is the best"

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

A watchtower by the border in Hyesan.

A watchtower on the border in the North Korean village of Hyesan.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

Portraits of former North Korean leaders Kim Il sung and Kim Jong Il in Chunggang.

Chunggang.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

Another set of portraits of the former leaders on a government building in Namyang.

A government building in Namyang.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

North Korean people working in a field.

North Korean people working in a field.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

A sign in Chunggang reading: “Let’s unify the party and all society with the revolutionary ideas of comrade Kim Jong Un!”

A sign reading, "Let's unify the party and all society with the revolutionary ideas of comrade Kim Jong Un!" in Chunggang.

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

Trucks crossing a border bridge connecting Changbai, China, and Hyesan, North Korea.

Trucks crossing the border bridge that connects the Chinese towns of Changbai (L) and the North Korean of Hyesan

Pedro Pardo / AFP via Getty Images

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6-year-old boy who shot his Virginia teacher said “I shot that b**** dead,” unsealed records show


The 6-year-old boy accused of shooting and seriously wounding his first-grade teacher in Virginia later said, “I shot that b**** dead,” according to newly unsealed redacted search warrants.

A reading specialist was restraining the boy when officers arrived at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News on Jan. 6, according to the documents. She’d grabbed him after the classroom shooting and held him in place until police arrived. 

“I did it,” the boy allegedly said as he was being restrained. “I got my mom’s gun last night.”

Police later confirmed the boy used his mother’s gun, which was purchased legally.

While the boy has not been charged, his mother, Deja Taylor, was indicted in April on charges of felony child neglect and misdemeanor recklessly leaving a loaded firearm as to endanger a child. She was additionally charged in June with unlawfully using a controlled substance while in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of a firearm.

She pleaded guilty on June 12 to illegally obtaining and possessing a firearm and making a false statement on a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives form to purchase the firearm. Taylor will face a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison when she is sentenced in October.

Teacher Abigail Zwerner, 25, suffered gunshot wounds to her chest and hand. She needed four surgeries to recover. Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit after the shooting. In it, she accused school officials of gross negligence for allegedly ignoring multiple warnings that the boy had a gun and was in a “violent mood” on the day of the shooting.

According to the search warrant, multiple staff members, including Amy Kovac, the reading specialist who restrained the boy, heard from two students on the day of the shooting who said the 6-year-old boy had a gun in his book bag. Kovac and the administrator searched the boy’s bag while the class was at recess, but they did not find a gun.

The shooting happened after the class returned from recess. Police found a loaded 9mm handgun on the classroom floor.

During their investigation, detectives on Jan. 23 interviewed a retired Newport News elementary school teacher who had taught the accused shooter, according to the warrant. She alleged that on Sept. 27, 2021, the boy walked behind her while she was sitting, placed his arms around her neck and pulled down, “choking her to the point she could not breathe.” A teacher’s assistant forcibly removed the boy from the classroom.

The search warrant also details efforts to get school records about the boy from Child Protective Services and Newport News Public Schools.

The school district, when asked about the warrant, told CBS affiliate WTKR that Newport News Public Schools was unable to comment on the matter because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act.

“Unfortunately, FERPA, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, prevents schools from releasing information from a student’s education record,” the district told WTKR. “U.S. Department of Education guidance states ‘schools must have written permission from the parent or eligible student in order to release any information from a student’s education record.'”



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