INTERNACIONAL
US warning to Americans about imminent attack in Moscow proves prophetic 2 weeks later
Two weeks before Friday’s attack on a large concert hall in Russia on the outskirts of Moscow that has left more than 130 dead, the U.S. embassy sent out a warning to Americans to «avoid large gatherings,» including concerts, because of «imminent plans» for an attack by «extremists.»
«The Embassy is monitoring reports that extremists have imminent plans to target large gatherings in Moscow, to include concerts, and U.S. citizens should be advised to avoid large gatherings over the next 48 hours,» stated the March 7 alert.
The Islamic State group (ISIS) claimed responsibility for Friday’s attack, which the U.S. has confirmed, despite Russian officials trying to point blame at Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the U.S. warnings as «blackmail» just days before the attack.
WHAT IS ISIS-K, THE TERRORIST GROUP TIED TO MOSCOW CONCERT HALL ATTACK AND 2021 ABBEY GATE BOMBING?
Just three days before the attack, Putin said, «All this resembles outright blackmail and the intention to intimidate and destabilize our society,» calling the warnings «provocative,» according to Russian news agency TASS.
The State Department confirmed to Fox News that U.S. intelligence had information about a planned terrorist attack in Moscow, which prompted the agency to issue a public advisory to U.S. citizens in Russia.
The U.S. government also shared this information with Russian authorities in accordance with its longstanding «duty to warn» policy.
RUSSIA CONCERT HALL GOES UP IN FLAMES AFTER ATTACK INVESTIGATED AS TERRORISM
On Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken put out a statement saying, «The United States strongly condemns (Friday’s) deadly terrorist attack in Moscow. We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and all affected by this heinous crime. We condemn terrorism in all its forms and stand in solidarity with the people of Russia in grieving the loss of life from this horrific event.»
Also on Saturday, Putin addressed the nation in a televised broadcast, slamming the massacre as «a bloody, barbaric terrorist act.» He declared Sun., March 24, a day of mourning.
Putin said that additional security measures have been put in place throughout the country following the attack – the deadliest in over 20 years.
«All four direct perpetrators of the terrorist attack, all those who shot and killed people, were found and detained,» Putin said. «They tried to hide and moved towards Ukraine, where, according to preliminary data, a window was prepared for them from the Ukrainian side to cross the state border,» suggesting there may have been a Ukrainian link to the bloodbath.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has denied any involvement by his nation.
The surprise attack began when gunmen donning combat gear burst into Crocus City Hall, where concertgoers were gathering to hear the Russian band Picnic. Video online showed gunmen opening fire, shooting attendees at close range and setting off smoke bombs.
The gunmen also threw explosives inside the concert hall during the attack, rocking the building and setting it on fire, Russian media reported. People were being evacuated, but some remained trapped inside the burning building, Russian media noted.
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The roof of the theater collapsed in the early hours of Saturday morning as firefighters spent hours fighting the flames. Russians laid flowers at memorials and lined up to give blood.
Putin said that the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia and other law enforcement agencies are working to identify the entire terrorist support base.
«Those who provided them with transport, planned escape routes from the crime scene, prepared caches, caches of weapons and ammunition,» Putin said. «It is already obvious that we are faced not just with a carefully and cynically planned terrorist attack, but with the organized mass murder of peaceful, defenseless people. The criminals were cold-blooded and purposefully going to kill, shoot our citizens at point-blank range — our children.»
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The intelligence community said it believes the ISIS affiliate in Afghanistan called Islamic State Khorasan, or «ISIS-K» as it is known, carried out the attack, a U.S. official told Fox News.
It is the same terrorist group that killed 13 American service members at Abbey Gate during the hasty U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
Fox News’ Michael Dorgan and Lucas Y. Tomlinson contributed to this report.
INTERNACIONAL
A tiny grain of nuclear fuel is pulled from ruined Japanese nuclear plant, in a step toward cleanup
A robot that has spent months inside the ruins of a nuclear reactor at the tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi plant delivered a tiny sample of melted nuclear fuel on Thursday, in what plant officials said was a step toward beginning the cleanup of hundreds of tons of melted fuel debris.
The sample, the size of a grain of rice, was placed into a secure container, marking the end of the mission, according to Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings, which manages the plant. It is being transported to a glove box for size and weight measurements before being sent to outside laboratories for detailed analyses over the coming months.
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Plant chief Akira Ono has said it will provide key data to plan a decommissioning strategy, develop necessary technology and robots and learn how the accident had developed.
The first sample alone is not enough and additional small-scale sampling missions will be necessary in order to obtain more data, TEPCO spokesperson Kenichi Takahara told reporters Thursday. «It may take time, but we will steadily tackle decommissioning,» Takahara said.
Despite multiple probes in the years since the 2011 disaster that wrecked the. plant and forced thousands of nearby residents to leave their homes, much about the site’s highly radioactive interior remains a mystery.
The sample, the first to be retrieved from inside a reactor, was significantly less radioactive than expected. Officials had been concerned that it might be too radioactive to be safely tested even with heavy protective gear, and set an upper limit for removal out of the reactor. The sample came in well under the limit.
That’s led some to question whether the robot extracted the nuclear fuel it was looking for from an area in which previous probes have detected much higher levels of radioactive contamination, but TEPCO officials insist they believe the sample is melted fuel.
The extendable robot, nicknamed Telesco, first began its mission August with a plan for a two-week round trip, after previous missions had been delayed since 2021. But progress was suspended twice due to mishaps — the first involving an assembly error that took nearly three weeks to fix, and the second a camera failure.
On Oct. 30, it clipped a sample weighting less than 3 grams (.01 ounces) from the surface of a mound of melted fuel debris sitting on the bottom of the primary containment vessel of the Unit 2 reactor, TEPCO said.
Three days later, the robot returned to an enclosed container, as workers in full hazmat gear slowly pulled it out.
On Thursday, the gravel, whose radioactivity earlier this week recorded far below the upper limit set for its environmental and health safety, was placed into a safe container for removal out of the compartment.
The sample return marks the first time the melted fuel is retrieved out of the containment vessel.
Fukushima Daiichi lost its key cooling systems during a 2011 earthquake and tsunami, causing meltdowns in its three reactors. An estimated 880 tons of fatally radioactive melted fuel remains in them.
The government and TEPCO have set a 30-to-40-year target to finish the cleanup by 2051, which experts say is overly optimistic and should be updated. Some say it would take for a century or longer.
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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said there have been some delays but «there will be no impact on the entire decommissioning process.»
No specific plans for the full removal of the fuel debris or its final disposal have been decided.
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