Moscow Demands That Kiev Surrender Terrorism Suspects
Moscow has demanded that Ukraine surrender everyone in the country it suspects of terrorism, including Kiev’s domestic spy agency boss Vasily Malyuk, and to immediately stop supporting any related activities such individuals and groups undertake, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday.
The ministry said it had officially contacted Kiev with the demands under the UN-adopted International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings and International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism. The demands include the “immediate arrest and extradition” of all the suspects which Moscow has identified and linked to the recent terrorist attacks against Russia.
The deadly attack on the Crocus City Hall, which “shocked the whole world is, by far, not the first terrorist attack endured by our country recently,” the ministry noted.
”The investigations carried out by the competent Russian bodies indicate that the traces of all these crimes lead to Ukraine,” it stressed.
READ MORE: Terror mastermind told attack suspects to flee to Kiev – investigators
Apart from the concert hall attack, which left at least 144 people dead and more than 500 injured, the ministry cited such incidents as the assassination of the military blogger Maksim Fomin (best known by his pen name Vladlen Tatarsky), the deadly bombing of the Crimean Bridge, as well as recent cross-border raids into Belgorod Region and elsewhere which have been attributed by Kiev to the so-called Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK). The paramilitary unit, advertised as composed of Russians collaborating with Ukraine, has been designated as a terrorist entity by Moscow.
The ministry did not reveal any of the names of those it has demanded due to their suspected involvement, aside from the head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Vasily Malyuk. The spy boss “cynically admitted on March 25 that Ukraine organized the bombing of the Crimean Bridge in October 2022 and revealed details on the organization of other terrorist attacks in Russia,” it noted.
Failing to meet Russia’s demands will constitute a breach of Ukraine’s international obligations with respect to fighting terrorism and “entail its international legal responsibility,” the ministry warned.
“Fighting against international terrorism is the responsibility of every state. The Russian side demands that the Kiev regime immediately stop any support for terrorist activities, hand over the perpetrators and compensate for the damage done to the victims,” it stressed.
Researchers Discover Why You Recall Some Memories And Forget Others
The findings, published in Science, pioneered the initial connection between nighttime brain activity and corresponding daytime behavior in the hippocampus – part of the brain involved in emotion, learning, and short- and long-term memory.
Neuroscientists have found that reflecting on life events shortly after they occur increases the likelihood of etching them into long-term memory.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Gyorgy Buzsaki, a Briggs professor of neuroscience at NYU Langone Health, four other NYU researchers, and a data analyst from the Mila-Quebec AI Institute, focused on the hippocampus. Using advanced techniques, they monitored the activity of hundreds of neurons simultaneously in the hippocampus of lab mice navigating a maze for tasty rewards.
The scientists observed that when a mouse paused to savor its reward after successfully navigating a maze, they recorded distinct sharp wave ripples (SWRs) – rhythmic patterns generated by highly synchronized neuronal activity within the hippocampus – numbering about five to 20 each time.
According to the study team, reflecting on an event shortly after it occurs can enhance the formation of long-term memories, even though the brain’s unconscious bursts of electrical activity are responsible for this process.
During the mouse maze experiment, SWRs were detected in the mice’s brains while they slept.
As the mice slept in the lab, neurons in their hippocampus, which had previously activated during daytime maze activities, fired rapidly once more. This activity resembled the animals “playing back” the recorded events repeatedly throughout the night, occurring thousands of times.
Dr. Buzsaki and his team propose that activating hippocampus neurons is responsible for storing geographical information in memory, such as the layout of rooms or the paths taken in a maze.
“Our study finds that sharp wave ripples are the physiological mechanism used by the brain to ‘decide’ what to keep and what to discard,” Dr. Buzsaki told NBC News.
He suggested that a leisurely walk post-activity could significantly boost retention, offering a practical tip for memory enhancement.
Dr. Winnie Yang, one of the study’s co-lead authors, expressed optimism about potential therapeutic applications, particularly for individuals struggling with memory disorders or PTSD. She envisioned future interventions harnessing these insights to enhance memory function or alleviate traumatic memories.
Dr. Daphna Shohamy of Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute (who was not part of the research) highlighted the relevance of their findings to human cognition, emphasizing the link between successful task completion and memory retention.
US Congressman Calls For ‘Hiroshima And Nagasaki’ Solution in Gaza And Ukraine
Michigan congressman Tim Walberg believes Washington should not waste money on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza or Ukraine, and instead focus on supporting Israel and Kiev’s war efforts, to achieve “quick” victories.
Walberg made his remarks during a meeting with members of the public in Dundee, Michigan last week. In a video posted on social media on March 25, the Republican congressman criticized President Joe Biden’s policies, telling a small audience that the US should better spend Gaza aid money on supporting Israel, which he labeled Washington’s “greatest ally, arguably, anywhere in the world.”
“We shouldn’t be spending a dime on humanitarian aid. It should be like Nagasaki and Hiroshima. Get it over quick,”Walberg could be heard saying.
“The same should be in Ukraine. Defeat Putin quick. Instead of 80% in Ukraine being used for humanitarian purposes, it should be 80-100% to wipe out Russian forces,” he added.
After his statements went viral, Walberg claimed that his words were misreported and misinterpreted, arguing that he was merely speaking metaphorically and did not advocate for the actual use of nuclear weapons.
“In a shortened clip, I used a metaphor to convey the need for both Israel and Ukraine to win their wars as swiftly as possible, without putting American troops in harm’s way,” Walberg said in a statementposted on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday.
“The use of this metaphor, along with the removal of context, distorted my message, but I fully stand by these beliefs and stand by our allies,” he added, arguing that the quicker these conflicts end, the “fewer innocent lives will be caught in the crossfire.”
Owner of Russian Gay Bar Arrested For ‘Propaganda’
A Russian court has ordered the owner of the Pose gay club in the city of Orenburg to be placed in custody for allegedly organizing “extremist” activities associated with spreading LGBT propaganda.
The suspect will remain in custody until May 18 while the investigation is ongoing, according to a statement by the Orenburg Central District Court on Sunday.
The court has not released the name of the suspect, but some media have identified him as Vyacheslav Khasanov, reportedly detained at Sheremetyevo Airport in Moscow on March 28.
According to the investigation, the club owner was conspiring with a group of individuals supporting activities of the banned LGBT movement. He is said to have carried out organizational functions such as renting premises and converting them into a bar, appointing managers, selecting artists, approving performances and events, and subsequently posting photo and video materials promoting non-traditional relations on the club’s Telegram channel, thereby “providing access to this information to an indefinite number of persons.”
Earlier this month the club’s art director Aleksander Klimov, and business executive Diana Kamilyanova, were arrested on similar charges. If found guilty, they could face up to ten years in prison.
Read more Russian gay club managers added to list of ‘terrorists’
LGBT propaganda has been outlawed in Russia since 2022, and in November last year the Supreme Court ruled that the activities of the “international LGBT social movement” are to be recognized as “extremist.” Last week, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) included the “movement and its structural units” to the list of persons and organizations deemed to be involved in extremist activities or terrorism.
The Pose club case is the first criminal investigation in Russia associated with the Supreme Court’s ruling. Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously stated that anti-LGBT legislation should not affect people’s personal lives, provided they “don’t flaunt it” in public and do not involve children.
German Establishment Parties Unite to ‘Protect’ Constitutional Court From ‘Extremists’
The German Union parties (CDU/CSU) are again considering backing an initiative by the left-globalist ‘traffic light’ coalition to amend Germany’s constitution in an attempt to keep the anti-establishment Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party from influencing the Federal Constitutional Court.
Negotiations between the Union and the governing parties concerning the latter’s proposed draft law—framed as necessary to ‘protect’ the court from ‘extremists’—began in late January but concluded shortly thereafter when the CDU and CSU stated that they found no compelling reason for the constitutional amendment.
At the time, politicians from the traffic light parties sharply criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz’s decision to withdraw from talks, accusing him of “naivety,” “negligence,” and failing to take what they regard as the necessary action required to protect Germany’s constitutional state.
The Union, for whatever reason, has since reversed its position, with parliamentary group leader Merz last weekend asking Federal Justice Minister Marco Buschmann (FDP) to draft a proposal to ‘protect’ the Federal Constitutional Court from ‘extremists.’
“We are open to talking about anchoring a core of proven structures of the Federal Constitutional Court in the Basic Law,” Merz told the German press.
The Federal Ministry of Justice on Thursday, March 28th, made a draft of the proposal available to the Rheinische Post. According to the 12-page draft law, the following points are to be enshrined in Basic Law: the independence of the court, the existence of two senates, the election of eight judges each by the Bundestag and the Bundesrat, office term limits of twelve years, and an age limit of 68 years.
Most notably, the draft law proposes that changing a judge, which presently requires a simple majority, should only be possible with a two-thirds majority. This would prevent judges from being removed from office relatively easily after a change in government, and make it far more difficult for the AfD to appoint judges.
If implemented, the proposed alterations to the Basic Law would be “exempt from change with a simple majority in the future,” solidifying the party proportional representation system for appointing judges and rendering any further changes to it next to impossible through coalition efforts following the next election.
The Union faction will now scrutinize and assess the draft before further discussions. Negotiations should be finished after Easter, the faction said. Given that amendments to the German constitution require a two-thirds majority in both the Bundesrat and Bundestag, the traffic light coalition needs the Union’s support to push this through.
In Easter Ruling, Judge Orders Release of ‘Border Riot’ Migrants Who Overwhelmed National Guard
A group of migrants involved in a riot at the southern US border have been ordered to be released by an El Paso magistrate judge.
The swarm of migrants overwhelmed Texas National Guard soldiers who were trying to organize them into groups to be taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). At one point, a migrant attempted to grab a soldier’s firearm, one National Guard source told the NY Post.
Following the riot, authorities confiscated knives and shanks from some of the migrants.
“These people were willing to assault military,” said the Post‘s source. “They were willing to assault law enforcement. They have complete disregard for our laws.“
In an Easter Sunday decision, presiding Magistrate Judge Humberto Acosta ordered the rioters released after accusing the El Paso DA’s Office of being unprepared to proceed with detention hearings for each defendant, so they should be released, the El Paso Times reports.
This is the moment when TX National Guard became overrun by migrants rioting to get across the border here in El Paso today
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
We were there and saw it all happen. Absolute chaos here. pic.twitter.com/VN6Kf663ie
“It is the ruling of the court is that all the rioting participation cases will be released on their own recognizance,” Acosta ordered, noting that they will only remain jailed if there’s a federal immigration hold blocking their release.
The arrests were made by the Texas Department of Public Safety in connection with a March 21 stampede of asylum-seeking migrants — mostly men from Venezuela — who torn down razor wire along the Rio Grande and rushed the border fence at Border Safety Initiative Marker No. 36 in the Riverside area of El Paso’s Lower Valley.
Some migrants face charges of assault of a public servant for knocking down National Guard troops before order was regained. The migrants had sought to surrender themselves to U.S. Border Patrol in bids for asylum.
It was unclear if Acosta’s decision applied only to the “riot participation” charge, or the assault and criminal mischief charges related to the border incident.
BREAKING: A riot just broke out here in El Paso
— Jennie Taer (@JennieSTaer) March 21, 2024
Hundreds of migrants decided they had enough of TX National Guard returning them to Mexico and rushed the border wall here.
Thankful to be here w/ @JamesBreeden pic.twitter.com/sY84y8QiYi
It is unknown how many migrants were booked on the charge of “riot participation,” a Class B misdemeanor – though Acosta referred to “hundreds of arrestees,” who he says are entitled to individual detention hearings within 48 hours.
The DA’s office requested a continuance to have the hearings at a later date, however Acosta rejected the request.
“So if the DA’s office is telling me that they are not ready to go, what we’re going to do is we’re going to release all these individuals on their own recognizance,” Acosta said at the hearing.
Meanwhile on Sunday, two other migrants – including a Colombian man, had separate hearings on criminal mischief charges for allegedly cutting border fencing. After being jailed with a $2,000 bond each, Magistrate Judge Antonio Aun also released them on personal recognizance bonds, however both men have immigration holds.
Last week, Texas sent 700 National Guard soldiers to El Paso, including 200 with the Texas Tactical Border Force, to reinforce the border.
As the El Paso Times notes further, ‘Operation Lone Star video shows troops boarding a transport plane and on the border with riot shields moving migrants back so crews could replace rolls of damaged razor wire along the banks of the Rio Grande.’