Moscow: at least 93 dead in attack on concert hall, Islamic State claims responsibility

Today's news: Israel decrees 800 hectares of "state land" in the Jordan Valley, a premise for new settlements; Chinese coast guard damages Philippine vessel with water cannons in disputed sea area; In one area of India, half of the farm workers have undergone hysterectomies; New clash between Seoul and Tokyo on Japanese history books; In Tajikistan a law decrees that students must walk to school.

RUSSIA

The number of people killed in last night's terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, a packed concert hall on the outskirts of Moscow, has risen to at least 93, Russia says. Over 100 people were injured. The attack was claimed by the Islamic State which claims that the commando managed to escape. The Russian government has so far not commented on the claim, but the security services announced this morning that they had arrested four people who were allegedly involved in the action.

ISRAEL

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich - a member of the settler movement - has adopted a measure declaring 800 hectares of land in the West Bank as "state land", the step always used by Israeli governments to acquire new land for settlements. The area - which is located near the settlement of Yafit, in the Jordan Valley - is the largest ever affected by a similar provision since the years of the Oslo Accords, when the then Israeli Prime Minister Rabin decreed a crackdown on this practice .

CHINA-PHILIPPINES

The Chinese Coast Guard this morning used water cannons against a Philippine supply vessel that was en route to the BRP Sierra Madre, a makeshift Philippine military outpost in Ayungin Shoal. According to reports from the Philippine army, the Unaizah May 4 - a wooden boat - suffered serious injuries. The Sierra Madre is a World War II ship that purposely ran aground in 1999 in the Ayungin Shoal, an area of the South China Sea that lies within the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), not recognized by Beijing.

CHINA-UN

The Chinese delegation yesterday interrupted the attempt by several non-governmental groups to pay homage to a Tibetan activist at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The groups wanted to honor Cao Shunli, who died 10 years ago after being detained for staging sit-ins outside China's Foreign Ministry. NGOs called her death a “deadly retaliation,” claiming that the denial of medical care led to her death. China denies this, saying the woman had been ill for some time and that she died despite treatment.

INDIA

Years of failed monsoons, extreme heat and drought have pushed residents of Beed - a district of Maharashtra - to abandon their fields to become day laborers on sugarcane plantations. According to research by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), more than half of migrant women in Beed have undergone surgery to remove their uterus, compared to less than a fifth among families who remained in the district. “Contractors cut a day or two of wages and women feel they have no choice but to have their uterus removed to prevent menstruation or pregnancy from preventing them from working,” said Ritu Bharadwaj, author of the report .

SOUTH KOREA-JAPAN

South Korea has summoned Tokyo's ambassador over Japan's approval of school textbooks that dilute the war's atrocities and strengthen its territorial claims to the Dokdo islets. Japan's Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has approved 18 school textbooks in the social studies category, which includes geography, civics and history, for use in middle schools starting in 2025.

TAJIKISTAN

The parliament of Tajikistan has approved a new law "On education", which among other things prohibits students from going to school by motorcycle, car or any "mechanical means of transport", including electric scooters, it is not clear whether for ecological, safety reasons or more likely to equalize the social status of children.

• Asia
• Today