As armed captors released 26 women and children yesterday from the southern Russian school where hundreds of others were still held, the UN and governments were united in a chorus of condemnation of the hostage-taking that has shocked the world.
Meanwhile, two large explosions roared out yesterday from the area of a cordoned-off school in southern Russia, where armed militants are holding 350 hostages including children for the second day.
A cloud of black smoke rose from the vicinity of the school after the blasts, which took place about 30 hours after the school was seized. The immediate area around the school had been cordoned off and details of the blasts could not be seen.
Officials could not immediately be reached for clarification, but a correspondent for Russia's NTV television said the explosions sounded like grenade launchers that had been fired from the school.
After the first blast, many of the anxious relatives and neighbors of the hostages who were milling in the area hurried toward the cordons, the ones in front craning their necks across the police lines to try to discern what had happened.
President Vladimir Putin pledged yesterday to do everything possible to save the lives of the hostages. The militants had reportedly threatened to blow up the building if authorities stormed it, and warned that they would kill hostages if any of their gang was hurt or injured.
In his first public remarks since the Wednesday morning hostage-taking, Putin said: "Our main task is, of course, to save the life and health of those who became hostages."
As negotiators scrambled to find a way out of the tense stand-off, crowds of distraught relatives and townspeople waited helplessly for news of their neighbors and loved ones, their distress sharpened by the sporadic rattle of gunfire from the cordoned-off crisis site.
Details about who the militants are and what they wanted remained unclear.
Pediatrician Leonid Roshal, who aided hostages during the deadly seizure of a Moscow theater by Chechens in 2002, was leading the talks. Russia's NTV television reported that Roshal, whose participation the militants had demanded, conveyed to the hostage-takers the promise of a safe corridor out, but the offer was refused.
Also see story:
Amid crisis, Russia calls UN meeting
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique