(FLORIDA) — Elsa, which was the first hurricane of the Atlantic season, has weakened to a tropical storm, though it is bringing damaging winds and rain as it moves through the Caribbean.
After lashing parts of the eastern Caribbean with strong winds and heavy rain Friday, the storm weakened as it approached the southern coast of Hispaniola, with maximum sustained winds dropping to 70 mph. Portions of Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Hispaniola were also hit with heavy rain, gusty winds and rough surf Saturday.
The storm’s center was about 130 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, as of Saturday evening, as it speeds west-northwest at 28 mph.
Tropical storm watches and warnings are in effect across much of the region, and a hurricane warning remains in effect along the southern coast of Haiti due to the strong tropical storm, which is close to minimal hurricane strength at this time.
Life-threatening surf and rip current conditions are expected this weekend through the Caribbean Sea.
At least three people have died during the storm in the Caribbean, including one person in St. Lucia and a 15-year-old boy and 75-year-old woman in the Dominican Republic, according to The Associated Press.
The Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, the Florida Peninsula and the Florida Keys are all advised to monitor the progress of Elsa.
Elsa is forecast to remain a tropical storm as it passes over Cuba and approaches the Florida Peninsula. A tropical storm warning is now in effect across eastern Cuba, with a tropical storm watch for much of the western half. Jamaica also has a tropical storm warning in effect.
The storm is forecast to impact eastern Cuba and Jamaica later Saturday evening and into the night with torrential rain, flash flooding, strong winds and rough surf.
There could still be some fluctuations in the strength over the next few days, though the storm is expected to slow down as it moves over Cuba and turns toward Florida. It is on track to impact southern Florida late Monday into Tuesday. A tropical storm watch is in effect for portions of the Florida Keys.
Elsa is forecast to track up Florida’s Gulf Coast Tuesday into Wednesday. Scattered showers and thunderstorms could start to develop later Monday afternoon in the Florida Keys and South Florida.
Ahead of the storm, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Hardee, Hernando, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Manatee, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota counties.
Elsa could potentially impact the ongoing rescue efforts in Miami-Dade County following last week’s deadly condo collapse in the beach town of Surfside. So far, at least 24 people have been confirmed dead and 124 others remain unaccounted for since the 12-story residential building partially collapsed on June 24.
(NEW YORK) — The Pentagon confirmed on Friday that it had turned over the sprawling Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan to the Afghan government and also announced that it now expects the total withdrawal of U.S. troops to be completed “at the end of August.”
The withdrawal of all U.S. military personnel from the base marks a major milestone in the withdrawal process as it had been the main hub for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan for the last 20 years.
Handing over control of the base had been seen as a key indicator that the end of the withdrawal from Afghanistan would be completed in July — months earlier than the Sept. 11 deadline set by President Joe Biden.
But the Pentagon announced Friday that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had approved a plan to transfer command authority for the U.S. Forces Afghanistan from Gen. Austin Scott Miller to Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Miller will remain in Afghanistan for “a number of weeks.”
“The idea is to have him remain there … to effect all this, the turnover responsibilities, and … make preparations for Gen. McKenzie to assume those responsibilities,” said Kirby.
U.S. Army soldiers from the elite 75th Ranger Regiment helped to close Bagram Airfield on Thursday, a military source confirmed to ABC News.
U.S. military operations at the base ended with the departure of the last military flights carrying out American military personnel and equipment. Earlier this week, U.S. Central Command had said that 896 C-17 cargo flights of material had already taken place.
Kirby also said that the total U.S. military drawdown “process” from Afghanistan would be completed by the “end of August.”
The spokesman also said that the current defensive airstrike authority that Miller has to target the Taliban in support of the military will be transferred to McKenzie.
That development eases concerns that the Afghan military would be even more vulnerable to Taliban forces without American combat air support after all U.S. troops had left.
Even after the completion of the U.S. withdrawal, a force of 650 American military personnel will remain in Kabul to help defend the U.S. Embassy and the civilian airport in Kabul, according to a U.S. official.
This force will be led by Rear Adm. Peter Vasely who will be based at the embassy in command of what will be known as U.S. Forces Afghanistan-Forward.
While Turkey had agreed to provide security at the airport, a move seen as vital in ensuring the safety and operations of the U.S. Embassy, the pace of the U.S. military withdrawal had moved so quickly that questions remained about whether Turkey would have its forces in place.
Also, many details remain to be finalized for plans to remove at least 9,000 Afghan interpreters and their families outside of Afghanistan.
In addition to the new command in Kabul, Army Brig. Gen. Curtis Buzzard will be based in Qatar to lead the defense security cooperation management office that will administer U.S. funding to the Afghan military.
(HONOLULU) — Three Honolulu police officers involved in the fatal shooting of Lindani Myeni, an unarmed South African rugby player, will not face criminal charges, according to the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney.
Honolulu prosecuting attorney Steven S. Alm announced Wednesday that the officers were justified in using deadly force because Myeni, who is Black, refused to comply and attacked the officers. Alm did not name the officers involved in the shooting.
Myeni, who had recently moved to Hawaii with his wife and two young children, was fatally shot on April 14 by Honolulu police who were responding to 911 calls after he apparently accidentally entered a neighbor’s home. According to a wrongful death lawsuit filed by his widow, Lindsay Myeni, her husband may have confused the home he entered for a next-door public temple.
Doorbell camera video obtained and made public by the Bickerton Law Group, which is representing the family of Lindani Myeni, shows Myeni arriving at a house, removing his shoes, entering the home and then quickly leaving after his presence confused the occupants. He repeatedly apologized in the video.
Once officers arrived, Myeni repeatedly punched one of the officers who pointed a gun at him and told him to get on the ground, according to documents provided to ABC News by Alm’s office. Alm said the other two officers attempted to stop Myeni by using a stun gun on him and tackling him to the ground before the first officer shot him once in the chest.
Even after being shot in the chest, Alm said Myeni continued punching the officer before another police officer shot him three times, striking him in the torso and right thigh. It was only after the shooting that police can be heard identifying themselves on body camera video. Myeni was pronounced dead of multiple gunshot wounds.
Alm said there was no evidence race played a role in the shooting.
In a statement provided to ABC News, the Bickerton Law Group said the civil case is not affected by this decision and they will continue to move ahead.
“In the civil case, we will address the central questions that Mr. Alm appears to have avoided completely,” the statement said. “When you avoid addressing the very first wrongful act committed, your analysis of what comes afterwards should not be accepted by the public.”
Lawyers representing the family denounced Alm’s decision, saying in a statement that he “did not address whether it was lawful for Mr. Myeni to defend himself from the unknown assailant with a gun. Without that analysis, the rest of his analysis can have no weight.”
“The big question was whether Mr. Myeni knew they were officers, and not a private security detail of the hysterical 911 caller standing behind them who had, just minutes before, falsely pretended to report a ‘break in’ to someone,” the statement continued. “We know that Lindani said ‘Who are you?’ at least twice.”
The Bickerton Law Group said the civil suit will “definitely” address Mr. Alm’s analysis and his “unsupported conclusion that, because of the ‘lighting,’ Mr. Myeni knew they were officers.”
“Mr. Alm did not explain why the officers all had to use flashlights if the lighting was so good, or why Officer #1 says repeatedly after the shooting ‘I couldn’t see him,’ or why Mr. Myeni says, ‘Who are you?'” said James Bickerton, one of the lawyers representing Myeni’s widow. “Nor did Mr. Alm report doing any forensic tests to see what a person in Mr. Myeni’s position would see if a 600 lumens tactical light is shone in their direction on a moonless night.”
The city has not publicly identified the two officers who fired the fatal shots that resulted in Myeni’s death, but Bickerton Law Group said they have identified the officers through an investigation. On Thursday, lawyers representing Myeni’s widow filed papers to name the two officers who fired the fatal shots as additional defendants in the suit.
“I just never thought, I would think of Honolulu as a bad place, as a dark place … it’s just full of love and aloha,” Lindsay Myeni told ABC News in an interview last month. “To have this place be so dark, and to actually have this other side where our police are just like the rest of the mainland, it’s like there’s no safety, there’s actually fear now.”
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — At least 22 people, including three children, have been confirmed dead and 126 others remain unaccounted for since a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last week.
The partial collapse occurred around 1:15 a.m. on June 24 at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Assistant Chief Raide Jadallah. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the debris in hopes of finding survivors.
Two more bodies were pulled from the rubble Friday, as crews search the area of the collapse, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a press briefing Friday evening.
Two bodies also were pulled from the rubble on Thursday night, including that of a 7-year-old girl who was the daughter of a Miami firefighter, according to Levine Cava. The firefighter was not part of the crew that discovered the girl’s body but he was notified, according to Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky.
“It goes without saying that every night since this last Wednesday has been immensely difficult,” Levine Cava said during a press briefing in Surfside on Friday morning. “But last night was uniquely different. It was truly different and more difficult for our first responders.”
Meanwhile, 188 people who were living or staying in the condominium at the time of the disaster have been accounted for and are safe, according to Levine Cava, who has stressed that the figures are “very fluid” and “continue to change.” The number of those accounted for has gone up as detectives continue to audit the list of people reported missing, a development that Levine Cava called “very good news.”
However, no survivors have been discovered in the rubble of the building since the morning it partially collapsed, and the hope that more people would be found alive appeared to be fading Friday.
Cominsky said rescue workers are “emotional” after the discovery of a first responder’s own daughter, which “takes a toll.” But he said that won’t stop them from continuing to search for those who are still missing.
“I just was hoping that we would have some survivors,” Cominsky said at the press briefing on Friday morning.
City of Miami Department of Fire Rescue Chief Joseph Zahralban later confirmed in a statement that a member of the team lost his 7-year-old daughter in the disaster.
The massive search and rescue operation, now in its ninth day, was temporarily halted for much of Thursday due to safety concerns regarding the structural integrity of the still-standing section of the building. Movement in the pile of rubble as well as in the remaining structure prompted the hours-long pause, according to Scott Nacheman, a structure specialist with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Urban Search and Rescue support team.
On Friday, Levine Cava signed an emergency order authorizing the demolition of the rest of the condominium “in the interest of public health and safety,” she said.
“Our top priority remains search and rescue, I want to be very clear about that, and we will take no action that will jeopardize our ability to continue the search and rescue mission,” she said. “I want to acknowledge that this was not a decision we made lightly, and I know especially how difficult this is for the families who escaped the building and who have lost their homes and their belongings. The building poses a threat to public health and safety, and bringing it down as is critical to protect our community.”
Nacheman, who is helping develop the plans, told reporters it would be “weeks” before a “definitive timeline” is available. Signing the emergency order will “help us move quickly,” Levine Cava said.
The structure was cleared by crews last week, and all search and rescue resources have since been shifted to focusing on the pile of rubble. But the two sites are side-by-side and the remaining building has posed challenges for the rescuers trying to locate any survivors or human remains in the wreckage.
“Given our ongoing safety concerns about the integrity of the building, we’re continuing to restrict access to the collapse zone,” Levine Cava said during a press briefing in Surfside on Thursday evening.
Shortly after search and rescue efforts resumed Thursday evening, the Miami-Dade County mayor noted that the crews “looked really, really excited to get back out there.”
Levine Cava told reporters on Friday morning that structural engineers are working to expand the search area as quickly as possible when it is safe to do so.
“Here we are, day nine,” she said. “Our first responders have been hard at work, as they have been this entire time, continuing to search through the pile that is accessible to them.”
Heat, humidity, heavy rain, strong winds and lightning storms have also made the conditions difficult for rescuers, periodically forcing them to pause their round-the-clock efforts in recent days. Officials are monitoring weather systems in the region as the Atlantic hurricane season ramps up.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his office is beginning to prepare a potential state of emergency declaration due to Hurricane Elsa, the first of the Atlantic season, which could possibly hit Surfside. The storm’s track is not yet clear, but DeSantis said tropical force winds could arrive in South Florida as early as Sunday night. So officials are making the necessary preparations to ensure that both the search area and the remaining structure in Surfside is protected.
“This is just what we do but we are adding the special emphasis on this site because we understand the sensitivities involved,” DeSantis said during the press briefing on Friday morning.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden traveled to Surfside on Thursday to meet with officials, first responders, search and rescue teams, as well as families of the victims. Recalling the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and 1-year-old daughter as well as badly injuring his two sons, the president told reporters: “It’s bad enough to lose somebody but the hard part, the really hard part, is to not know whether they’ll survive or not.”
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation.
Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
A structural field survey report from October 2018, which was among hundreds of pages of public documents released by the town of Surfside late Sunday, said the waterproofing below the condominium’s pool deck and entrance drive was failing and causing “major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas.”
A slew of lawsuits against the Champlain Towers South Condo Association have already been filed on behalf of survivors and victims, alleging the partial collapse could have been avoided and that the association knew or should have known about the structural damage. A spokesperson for the association told ABC News they cannot comment on pending litigation but that their “focus remains on caring for our friends and neighbors during this difficult time.”
The association’s board released a statement Friday saying its surviving members “have concluded that, in the best interest of all concerned parties, an independent Receiver should be appointed to oversee the legal and claims process.”
“We know that answers will take time as part of a comprehensive investigation,” the statement continued, “and we will continue to work with city, state, local, and federal officials in their rescue efforts, and to understand the causes of this tragedy.”
In the wake of the Surfside building collapse, the city of North Miami Beach ordered that another condominium close immediately amid safety concerns connected to the 40-year recertification process, officials said.
The Crestview Towers Condominium is “structurally and electrically unsafe,” based on the review of a recertification report submitted Friday, city officials said in a statement.
“The city of North Miami Beach has taken the steps that we recommended to review to make sure that the recertification process was being done in a timely basis. And as I understand it, as a result of that audit, they found a building that had not been recertified, and when the information came in, they took some steps,” Levine Cava said Friday evening.
Some 300 residents have to evacuate, according to ABC Miami affiliate WPLG, while a full structural assessment is conducted.
The 156-unit condo was built in 1972.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
John Lennon, Ozzy Osbourne, Pearl Jam and Jimi Hendrix are among the music stars who are being turned into Funko Pop! figures.
The toy company has announced a slew of new, music-themed editions of its ever-popular big-headed collectables as part of its Popapalooza event.
Multiple Lennon figures were revealed in a post on Funko’s official Twitter feed, including one depicting the late Beatles legend wearing a khaki army jacket, and another showing him as he looked in a famous 1974 photo taken of him flashing a peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty. However, the post notes that the designs currently are “subject to licensor approval.”
The Ozzy figure is inspired by the cover of Osbourne’s 1981 solo album Diary of a Madman and is packaged in a box that features a replica of the album.
The Pearl Jam Funkos feature figures of all five band members packaged together and are designed after Eddie Vedder and company’s early stage look.
The Hendrix toy shows the guitar great in the outfit he wore for his Live in Maui performance. The figure’s design also is “subject to licensor approval.”
It’s all happening, and by “it’s,” we mean a Mariachi version of the Saint Motel single “It’s All Happening.”
The updated track, recorded by the group Mariachi Los Toros, recreates the melody of the tune with strumming acoustic guitar in upbeat, yet mournful horns. You can listen to it now streaming on YouTube.
The original “It’s All Happening” appears on Saint Motel’s new album, The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, which was released last Friday. The record also includes the singles “Van Horn” and “Preach.”
Cory Marks has premiered the video for “Blame It on the Double,” his collaboration with Theory of a Deadman frontman Tyler Connolly.
The clip finds the “Outlaws & Outsiders” artist in the studio with Connolly as the two record their vocals and throw back one or several glasses of whiskey. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
“Blame It on the Double” originally appears on Marks’ 2020 debut album, Who I Am. He released a version with Connolly and ex-Five Finger Death Punch guitarist Jason Hook this past April, as well as a special “country mix” of the collaboration for his new EP, Nashville Mornings, which dropped in June.
Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
John Lennon, Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix are among the music stars who are being turned into Funko Pop! figures.
The toy company has announced a slew of new, music-themed editions of its ever-popular big-headed collectables as part of its Popapalooza event.
Multiple Lennon figures were revealed in a post on Funko Pop!’s official Twitter feed, including one depicting the late Beatles legend wearing a khaki army jacket, and another showing him as he looked in a famous 1974 photo taken of him flashing a peace sign in front of the Statue of Liberty. However, the post notes that the designs currently are “subject to licensor approval.”
The Elvis figure shows the late King of Rock ‘n’ Roll wearing a bejeweled white jumpsuit and is packaged in a box that features a replica of Presley’s 1975 Pure Gold compilation.
The Hendrix toy shows the guitar great in the outfit he wore for his Live in Maui performance. The figure’s design also is “subject to licensor approval.”
Nas has dug into his massive catalog to bring new life to some of his classic records from the 1990s. The rap veteran tapped Freddie Gibbs, Cordae, and his Grammy-winning producer Hit-Boy to finish his track “Life Is Like a Dice Game.”
Nas recorded the original version as a freestyle during sessions for his classic 1994 debut album, Illmatic. He says industry vet Carl Chery convinced him to finish the record for the RapCaviar x Spotify Singles collaboration series.
“Spotify pulled out a leak from the ’90s that I did ago and asked if I could resurrect it,” Nas tells Complex. “I can’t remember where I recorded it or who produced it — maybe Easy Mo Bee, he was killin’ the game at the time. Carl Chery from Spotify suggested we connect with Freddie Gibbs and Cordae to bring the song new life, and I loved it.”
Projecting it to be a hit, Nas concluded “Life Is Like a Dice Game” with the declaration, “When I finish this s***, it’s gonna be a hit.”
Nas also released an expanded edition of his sophomore album, It Was Written, to celebrate its 25th anniversary today. The upgrade features the cassette-only bonus track “Silent Murder,” and a bonus verse on “Street Dreams.”
The installment begins by noting that although Deacon didn’t write as many songs as his three band mates, some of his compositions were among Queen’s biggest hits.
The narrator first points out that it was John’s bass part that helped drive the band’s classic 1981 collaboration with David Bowie, “Under Pressure.”
The episode then looks at one of the first tunes John contributed to the group, “You’re My Best Friend,” which appeared on Queen’s 1975 album A Night at the Opera. The song reached #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #9 on the U.K. singles chart.
Next up is “Spread Your Wings,” from 1977’s News of the World. Cited as a “fan favorite” by the narrator, the song also broke into the top 40 of the U.K. singles chart.
The third song profiled is none other than “Another One Bites the Dust,” which sold over seven million copies worldwide, making it Queen’s best-selling single. The funky tune, from the band’s number-one album The Game, spent three weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1980.
The fourth Deacon-penned track that the episode looks at is “I Want to Break Free,” from 1984’s The Works. The single, whose memorable music video featured the band members in drag, just missed the top 40 in the U.S., but reached number three in the U.K.
The final song showcased in the episode is 1986’s “Friends Will Be Friends,” which John co-wrote with Freddie Mercury. It hit #14 in the U.K.
