The United Kingdom and its allies announced on Saturday that Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was killed using a poison derived from the skin of an Ecuadorian dart frog, a neurotoxin classified as a chemical weapon. The announcement, made at a security conference in Munich, was described as a deliberate move to grab global headlines, according to Sky News.
The UK and its allies stated the poison was likely manufactured in a laboratory, rather than directly extracted from the frogs, according to Sky News. The toxin is believed to be 200 times stronger than morphine, and victims suffer in agony, as stated by Germany's foreign minister. Navalny died in a Russian prison.
The timing of the announcement was strategic, as naming those allegedly responsible for a political assassination is a form of information attack, according to Sky News. The article also stated that "Only Putin's Kremlin" could be behind Navalny's death. The Russian state has a history of using exotic poisons to murder its opponents, including nerve agents like Novichok and radioactive plutonium isotopes, according to Sky News.
In other news, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a formal statement on Friday, condemning a US-funded vaccine trial as unethical. The trial, conducted in Guinea-Bissau, Africa, would withhold a safe and potentially lifesaving hepatitis B vaccine from some newborns. The WHO concluded the trial was inconsistent with ethical and scientific principles, citing concerns about its potential harm and low quality, according to Ars Technica. The trial has faced widespread condemnation from health experts since the US funding was made public in December.
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