All posts tagged: poisoned

European states say Navalny poisoned with dart frog toxin in Russian prison

European states say Navalny poisoned with dart frog toxin in Russian prison

Published by Sam Flores

Protesters and mourners rally at the Russian Embassy following the death of Alexei Navalny on February 16, 2024 in Washington, DC. KEVIN DIETSCH / AFP Five European countries, including Britain, France and Germany, accused Russia of “poisoning” opposition leader Alexei Navalny in prison in 2024 using a “rare toxin,” on Saturday, February 14, on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. “The UK, Sweden, France, Germany and The Netherlands are confident that Alexei Navalny was poisoned with a lethal toxin,” the countries said in a joint statement, following “analyses of samples” from his body. The staunch critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin died in an Arctic prison in February 2024, while serving a 19-year prison sentence. The epibatidine toxin found in the skin of dart frogs native to South America was found in samples and “highly likely resulted in his death,” the European states said. “Only the Russian state had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin to target Navalny during his imprisonment in a Russian penal colony in Siberia, and we …

5 European nations say Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin : NPR

5 European nations say Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin : NPR

Published by Sam Flores

FILE – Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny speaks to the media in front of security officers standing guard at the Foundation for Fighting Corruption office in Moscow, Russia, Thursday, Dec. 26, 2019. Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP hide caption toggle caption Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP LONDON — Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the Kremlin with a rare and lethal toxin found in the skin of poison dart frogs, five European countries said Saturday. The foreign ministries of the U.K., France, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands said analysis of samples taken from Navalny’s body “conclusively confirmed the presence of epibatidine.” It is a neurotoxin found in the skin of dart frogs in South America that is not found naturally in Russia, they said. A joint statement said: “Russia had the means, motive and opportunity to administer this poison.” They five countries said they were reporting Russia to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for a breach of the Chemical Weapons Convention. The announcement came as Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, attended the Munich Security Conference in Germany …

Alexei Navalny died after being ‘poisoned with dart frog tox | World | News

Alexei Navalny died after being ‘poisoned with dart frog tox | World | News

Published by Sam Flores

The Russian state killed opposition leader and Vladimir Putin nemesis Alexei Navalny using a poison developed from a dart frog toxin, the Foreign Office has said. Two years on from the death of Mr Navalny at a Siberian penal colony, Britain and its allies have pinned the blame on the Kremlin following analysis of material samples found on his body. There is no innocent explanation for the toxin epibatidine being found on Mr Navalny’s body, the Foreign Office said. Speaking from the Munich Security Conference, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Since Yulia Navalnaya announced the loss of her husband here in Munich two years ago, the UK has pursued the truth of Alexei Navalny’s death with fierce determination. Only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia. Today, beside his widow, the UK is shining a light on the Kremlin’s barbaric plot to silence his voice.” Western governments said laboratory testing had “conclusively confirmed” the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found …

This Week in History: From poisoned Russians to life on Mars?

This Week in History: From poisoned Russians to life on Mars?

Published by Daniella Wilson

Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more Stay ahead of the curve with our weekly guide to the latest trends, fashion, relationships and more It is a turbulent week for Russia, from stark warnings that “poisonous” pollution is cutting down life expectancy, to a UK inquiry decades later linking Vladimir Putin directly to the infamous poisoning of Alexander Litvinenko. Meanwhile, the Soviet-era city of Baku sees tens of thousands gather in defiance of a Soviet military crackdown that would later become known as Black January. In Washington, this week proves transitional as George H W Bush is sworn in as US president, promising a new political era and distancing himself from the “selfish” excesses of the Reagan era. Beyond our terrestrial plane, attention turns skywards as new images from Mars reveal frozen water on the planet’s surface, raising fresh questions about its past – a significant step in …

Researchers Find 60,000-Year-Old Poisoned Arrowheads in Africa

Researchers Find 60,000-Year-Old Poisoned Arrowheads in Africa

Published by Jenni Sidey

Researchers from South Africa and Sweden have found traces of poison on 60,000-year-old arrowheads in South Africa. Their discovery, reported by Stockholm University in the journal Science Advances, is the earliest direct evidence of the use of poisoned hunting weapons in the world so far. The oldest poisoned arrowheads known prior to the present study date to approximately 6,700 years ago. The quartz arrowheads were collected from sediment at Umhlatuzana Rock Shelter in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa dated to the Pleistocene age. By analyzing the chemical structure of residue on the arrowheads, researchers identified a poison made from gifbol (Boophone disticha), a plant still used by traditional hunters in the region. Related Articles “[The find] shows that our ancestors in southern Africa not only invented the bow and arrow much earlier than previously thought, but also understood how to use nature’s chemistry to increase hunting efficiency,” says study co-author Marlize Lombard, a researcher at the Palaeo-Research Institute at the University of Johannesburg. Similar poisons have been found arrowheads collected in South Africa in the late 1700s, …

Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors

Elon Musk’s Worthless, Poisoned Hall of Mirrors

Published by Daniella Wilson

Over the weekend, Elon Musk’s X rolled out a feature that had the immediate result of sowing maximum chaos. The update, called “About This Account,” allows people to click on the profile of an X user and see such information as: which country the account was created in, where its user is currently based, and how many times the username has been changed. Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, said the feature was “an important first step to securing the integrity of the global town square.” Roughly four hours later, with the update in the wild, Bier sent another post: “I need a drink.” Almost immediately, “About This Account” stated that many prominent and prolific pro-MAGA accounts, which signaled that they were run by “patriotic” Americans, were based in countries such as Nigeria, Russia, India, and Thailand. @MAGANationX, an account with almost 400,000 followers and whose bio says it is a “Patriot Voice for We The People,” is based in “Eastern Europe (Non-EU),” according to the feature, and has changed its username five times since …

Neo-Nazi leader admits plot to give poisoned candy to Jewish kids in New York City

Neo-Nazi leader admits plot to give poisoned candy to Jewish kids in New York City

Published by skeptic

NEW YORK (AP) — The leader of an Eastern European neo-Nazi group has pleaded guilty in New York to trying to recruit others to commit violent attacks against Jews and racial minorities, including one plot that would have involved dressing as Santa Claus to hand out poisoned candy to children. Federal prosecutors said they would seek a sentence of up to 18 years for Michail Chkhikvishvili, a 22-year-old from the Republic of Georgia who goes by the nickname “Commander Butcher.” He pleaded guilty Monday before a federal judge in Brooklyn to soliciting hate crimes and distributing information about making bombs and ricin. Prosecutors described Chkhikvishvili as the leader of the Maniac Murder Cult, an international extremist group that adheres to an ideology that promotes violence intended to trigger a racial and religious war. They said the group’s violent solicitations — promoted through Telegram channels and outlined a manifesto called the “Hater’s Handbook” — appear to have inspired multiple real-life killings, including a school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee, earlier this year that left a 16-year-old student …