European governments have accused Russia of murdering opposition figure Alexei Navalny with a toxin found in a South American frog, according to a statement released Saturday. The accusation, made by the foreign ministries of Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands, marks the most concrete Western claim yet that the Russian government was responsible for Navalny's death in an Arctic prison two years ago.
Samples taken from Navalny's body showed the presence of epibatidine, a toxin found in poison dart frogs native to South America, according to the statement. The statement also noted that the toxin is not found naturally in Russia. The governments asserted that "only the Russian government had the means, motive and opportunity to deploy this lethal toxin against Alexei Navalny during his imprisonment in Russia."
In other news, the Trump administration secretly deported nine migrants to Cameroon in January, despite the fact that most had been granted U.S. court protections against being sent back to their home countries, according to government documents obtained by The New York Times. The United States has not made any public deal with Cameroon to accept deportees who hail from other nations. Several of the deported individuals told The Times they were unaware they were being sent to Cameroon until they were handcuffed and chained on a Department of Homeland Security flight.
Meanwhile, Iran is ready to consider compromises to reach a nuclear deal with the U.S. if the Americans are willing to discuss lifting sanctions, according to an Iranian minister who spoke to the BBC in Tehran. US officials have repeatedly emphasized that Iran, not the US, is holding up progress in this protracted negotiating process. On Saturday, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Donald Trump preferred a deal but it was "very hard to do" one with Iran.
Finally, armed gunmen on motorcycles killed dozens of people in dawn raids across three villages in north-western Nigeria, according to reports. The attacks occurred on Saturday morning in Niger state, where the gunmen shot or cut the throats of their victims, lit homes on fire, and abducted an "undetermined" number of people, according to the AFP news agency. The attacks occurred near the site of a suspected jihadist massacre earlier this month, in which more than 100 people were killed in a similar style of attack.
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