(NEW YORK) — After several weeks of steady increases in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations, there are encouraging signs that the latest viral resurgence may be abating in the United States.
The rate of new infections appears to be dropping, with the U.S. now reporting 107,000 new cases each day — an average that has fallen by 12% in the last week, according to data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The number of virus-positive Americans currently receiving care in hospitals across the country has plateaued at around 43,000 patients, according to data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Throughout the summer, hospital admission rates had been rising in many areas of the country, particularly in the South.
Hospitalizations, however, remain significantly lower now than during every other COVID-19 surge. There were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus during the surge last winter.
On average, nearly 400 American deaths to COVID-19 are reported each day, a daily total that has not seen any significant declines since the spring.
Over the last seven days alone, the U.S. has reported just under 2,700 COVID-19 deaths.
The latest viral surge has been largely driven by highly infectious variants, which continue to infect and reinfect Americans. It has been more than eight months since the original omicron variant emerged, and although the original strain is no longer circulating in the U.S., its subvariants continue to spread.
BA.5, a subvariant of omicron, is currently estimated to account for more than 87% of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S.
Omicron and its subvariants have been better at chipping away at vaccine efficacy, which has caused health experts to reignite their call for Americans to get vaccinated and boosted.
Last week, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government’s top infectious disease expert, warned that Americans who are not up to date on their COVID-19 vaccinations may be in “trouble” this fall, with immunity waning over time.
Although the burden of hospitalization and death continues to affect primarily individuals who are still unvaccinated, as well as those at highest risk, such as the elderly or the immunocompromised, other people who “don’t fall into those categories” may also find themselves at-risk for severe disease, Fauci said during an interview with KNXAM.
More than 70 million Americans remain unvaccinated. Less than half of eligible Americans have received their first booster and only about one-third of people 50 years and older, who are eligible for a second booster, have received their supplemental shot.
Fauci stressed that in order to “get your arms around” the pandemic, more people must be vaccinated, domestically and globally, “so you don’t give this virus such ample opportunity to freely circulate, and when you do that, the virus has more of an opportunity to mutate, and when you give it an opportunity to mutate, that’s when you get new variants.”
(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Supporters and critics of Donald Trump continued to gather outside Mar-a-Lago two days after it was searched by the FBI.
Trucks toting Trump flags were seen on the road outside of his residence and private club in Palm Beach, Florida, though the former president was in New York on Wednesday for a previously planned deposition in state Attorney General Letitia James’ investigation into allegations he inflated the value of his business and properties. (He has said he did nothing wrong and indicated he pleaded the Fifth in the deposition.)
It isn’t clear how many people have been congregating outside Mar-a-Lago on Monday and Tuesday. But a report from ABC affiliate WPBF showed that at one point it was less than a few dozen, along with press and law enforcement.
WPBF reported that the groups grew larger as it got later both Monday and Tuesday.
Residents there gave differing views on the FBI search and not all of them were pro-Trump.
“It’s wrong. It’s wrong. It’s wrong,” Stephen Moise, of Jupiter, told WPBF on Monday. “They shouldn’t be doing this to him.”
“I think it’s high time that we’ve seen the government finally take some action against this man,” said Michael Kennedy, of West Palm Beach.
According to WPBF, those gathered at Mar-a-Lago broke down multiple times into “profanity-laced arguments,” but there was no violence.
Trump said the raid was “not necessary or appropriate” and amounted to persecution by “Radical Left Democrats who desperately don’t want me to run for President in 2024.
Sources told ABC News that agents were at Mar-a-Lago as part of an investigation into the removal of classified documents from the White House when Trump left the presidency and decamped to his Florida resort.
While it’s not yet known precisely what the FBI was searching for or what was seized, Republicans in Congress have panned the unprecedented search as an egregious overreach and vowed to open investigations into it should they retake the House in November.
ABC News confirmed that, separately, law enforcement agencies across the country have been actively monitoring angry and violent rhetoric online sparked by the raid, with agencies preparing for possible acts of violence they fear could occur at or near pro-Trump protest demonstrations.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Three towns on Maryland’s Eastern Shore will pay $5 million to the family of a Black teenager who was killed in an encounter with police officers almost four years ago, according to the attorneys for the family.
Anton Black, a 19-year-old former star high school athlete, died on Sept. 15, 2018, after being restrained by three officers from the Centreville, Greensboro and Ridgley police departments who held him face down for about six minutes, pinning his shoulders, legs and arms, according to a lawsuit filed in federal district court in Baltimore in late 2020.
“I had to watch those police officers kill my son, while he pleaded for his life and called out to me. There are no words to describe the immense hurt that I will always feel when I think back on that tragic day, when I think of my son,” Black’s mother, Janell Black, said in a statement Monday.
Under the settlement, the three towns have also agreed to make changes in their police departments’ training of officers in order to avoid future deaths of this nature, according to the family’s lawyers.
The changes include an overhaul in “use of force” policies for the three Eastern Shore municipalities, more resources for police confronting mental health emergencies and mandated officer training in de-escalation, intervention and implicit bias, the lawyers say. The policy changes also strengthen hiring transparency and public complaint reporting.
The federal lawsuit was filed after local prosecutors declined to pursue charges over Black’s death. The police officers involved argued that they did not use excessive force and that drug use or Black’s mental illness instead contributed to the cardiac arrest that ended his life.
On the night of his killing, a woman called 911 claiming that Black was fighting with another boy, according to the lawsuit. Another witness said the boys were engaged in “ordinary roughhousing,” according to the lawsuit.
Black had been diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder just months before the incident, the lawsuit said. At the time of the 911 call and police response, Black was enduring a mental health crisis, according to the lawsuit.
Black ran when confronted by a responding police officer, the lawsuit said. The other officers and a bystander then chased him, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit said that the officers used a taser to get him on the ground, where he was pinned face-down until he went unconscious.
One of the officers wrote in a court affidavit that he and another officer had to struggle with Black in order to keep him restrained and handcuffed.
That lawsuit argued that the officers involved used excessive force and then tried to cover up the killing by using false claims that Black was under the influence of marijuana that was laced with another drug, leading to the officers accusing Black of demonstrating “superhuman” strength.
A toxicology report released months after Black’s death showed no drugs in his system, according to the lawsuit.
David Fowler, the state medical examiner at the time, released an autopsy four months after the incident that instead blamed congenital heart abnormalities for Black’s death, classifying the death as an accident. Fowler said there was no evidence that the police officer’s actions had caused the death.
Black’s family is still pursuing litigation against the medical examiner’s office and Fowler, who have been linked to the cover-up of Black’s killing, according to the family’s lawyers.
Lawyers representing Fowler and the medical examiner’s office have not yet responded to ABC News’ request for comment. A response from Fowler to the family’s lawsuit said that his and his office’s actions were “reasonable and legally justified.” The response stated that Fowler is not liable for Black’s death and neither are the officers involved.
“No one deserves to be killed like this,” Black’s sister, LaToya Holley, said in a statement Monday. “Anton Black did not deserve this. He will never be forgotten. He was such a sweet, nice, and loving person. There will always be a part of him in my heart.”
The settlement reached with the towns also covered the family’s claims against individuals involved in Black’s death, including Thomas Webster IV, a former Greensboro police officer; Michael Petyo, the former chief of the Greensboro Police Department; Gary Manos, the former chief of the Ridgely Police Department; and Dennis Lannon, a former Centreville police officer.
Lawyers representing the defendants, and the three towns, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
“Today, we are hopeful that by reforming these local police departments, we will start to move a little closer in the right direction, away from white supremacy and closer to a nation of true equality and justice,” Richard Potter, a member of the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black which joined the lawsuit against the three towns, said in a statement Monday.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Wednesday enacted legislation that will expand the Department of Veterans Affairs, providing health care support to millions of veterans — as well as their families and caretakers — who were exposed to toxic burn pits.
Known as the PACT Act, the package grants more time to enroll in VA-provided care for veterans exposed to the toxins while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the White House.
“This is the most significant law our nation has ever passed to help millions of veterans who are exposed to toxic substances during their military services,” Biden said in remarks during the bill signing ceremony in the White House’s East Room.
The legislation simplifies how the VA determines if someone’s service put them at risk, which the White House and veterans say is often difficult to prove on an individual basis.
Some veterans or their survivors diagnosed with one of 23 specific conditions will no longer need to prove a direct service connection, per the new law, which also invests in toxic exposure research, among other things.
Burn pits in Afghanistan and Iraq could be “the size of football fields,” Biden said at the signing. The U.S. military used them to incinerate waste from operations there, which included “tires, poisonous chemicals, jet fuel and so much more,” he said.
The issue is personal for the president, who for years has wondered if late-son Beau’s brain cancer stemmed from exposure to burn pits during his deployment in Iraq.
“When they came home, many of the fittest and best warriors that we sent to war were not the same. Headaches, numbness, dizziness, cancer. My son Beau was one of them,” Biden said.
But the PACT Act, which the president called on Congress to take up last year, almost didn’t make it to his desk for a signature.
The proposal had faced uncertainty in the Senate after some Republican lawmakers changed their minds, voting against ending debate on the bill after they voted in favor of it weeks earlier — a convoluted timeline because a change to the text in the House required a re-vote.
It ultimately passed the Senate a second time, last Tuesday, with 11 Republican holdouts after protesters, many of them veterans, spent days advocating for their cause in front of the Senate steps. (GOP lawmakers had cited concerns about what they said were Democratic spending maneuvers bundled in the bill.)
Among the demonstrators urging PACT’s passage was actor and comedian Jon Stewart, who himself protested for hours outside the Capitol and walked the halls of Congress to meet with senators last week. He attended the bill signing Wednesday morning.
“What you’ve done matters,” Biden told Stewart, who received a standing ovation. “It really, really matters … And we owe you big.”
Some veterans and survivors who lobbied on the Hill last week also joined Biden and lawmakers at the signing.
Biden spoke with several of them before he left the East Room, handing out challenge coins to some, embracing others and thanking them for their service.
“This law is long overdue, but we finally got it done together,” he said.
ABC News’ Mary Bruce and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
Shahram Poursafi is wanted for his alleged involvement in criminal activities to include material support to terrorism and the attempted murder for hire of a former high-ranking United States Government (USG) official. – FBI
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Wednesday unsealed charges against an Iranian national and member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps whom prosecutors say allegedly tried to arrange the murder of Donald Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton in “likely” retaliation for the killing of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani when Trump was president.
The criminal complaint against 45-year-old Shahram Poursafi, who remains at large abroad, accuses him of attempting to pay various individuals in the U.S. $300,000 to kill Bolton, beginning in October.
Poursafi is charged with use of interstate commerce facilities in the commission of murder-for-hire and with providing and attempting to provide material support to a transnational murder plot.
In a statement after the case was unsealed Wednesday, Bolton said, in part: “I wish to thank the Justice Department for initiating the criminal proceeding unsealed today; the FBI for its diligence in discovering and tracking the Iranian regime’s criminal threat to American citizens; and the Secret Service for once again providing protection against Tehran’s efforts.”
“While much cannot be said publicly right now, one point is indisputable: Iran’s rulers are liars, terrorists, and enemies of the United States. Their radical, anti-American objectives are unchanged; their commitments are worthless; and their global threat is growing,” Bolton said.
The complaint and supporting law enforcement affidavit further allege how the Tehran-based Poursafi and the person he wanted to hire in the U.S. to arrange the killing — identified by the FBI as a confidential human source — conducted months of video and photo surveillance of Bolton at his home and office, in the Washington area, in late 2021 and early 2022.
According to the affidavit’s timeline, on Oct. 22 Poursafi asked an unnamed U.S. resident to take photographs of Bolton while claiming it was for a book that Poursafi was writing. The resident later introduced Poursafi to the FBI’s confidential source and Poursafi offered this person money to hire someone to “eliminate” Bolton, adding he had another “job” for which he would pay $1,000,000, the affidavit claims.
Investigators also said that Poursafi appeared to have private information about Bolton’s routine and schedule, though the source of his information was not clear.
At one point Poursafi allegedly suggested Bolton be killed by car or in the parking garage at his work and later said he should be shot — either while he was alone or, if he was in a group, without harming anyone else — the FBI said in the complaint affidavit.
The source whom Poursafi allegedly worked with told Poursafi they were working with a third individual who had ties to a cartel, the affidavit states.
The complaint affidavit also documents extensive communications between Poursafi and the confidential source. At one point, according to the complaint, he advised the source that killing someone “was like crossing the street; it was better not to spend too much time looking in one direction, but just to do it.”
Poursafi also told the FBI’s source that his “group” would require video confirmation of the target’s death, according to the affidavit. Poursafi repeatedly made further contact with the source, stating he was under pressure from his “group” or “his people” to have the killing carried out.
In January, the FBI alleged in the affidavit, Poursafi told the source he had a second “job” once Bolton was killed and he suggested that someone working for the Revolutionary Guard Corps was conducting surveillance on an unnamed second target in the U.S.
“This is not the first time we have uncovered Iranian plots to exact revenge against individuals on U.S. soil and we will work tirelessly to expose and disrupt every one of these efforts,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen said in a statement Wednesday.
ABC News’ Adam Carlson and John Santucci contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump on Wednesday indicated he invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against testifying against himself during a scheduled deposition that day as part of the New York attorney general’s civil investigation into his family real estate business.
The former president was seen arriving at the attorney general’s office in New York City around 9 a.m. local time.
In an emailed statement to reporters about an hour and a half later, Trump said, in part, “Under the advice of my counsel … I declined to answer the questions under the rights and privileges afforded to every citizen under the United States Constitution.” His statement also included lengthy attacks on the state attorney general’s investigation.
A source with knowledge of the matter subsequently confirmed to ABC News that Trump was declining to answer questions from investigators.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, Trump remained at the attorney general’s office — across the street from one of the Trump-branded buildings included in the civil investigation.
A spokesperson for New York Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment.
The deposition in the civil case follows an escalation in a separate federal investigation into Trump’s handling of classified material. On Monday, the FBI searched Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Florida.
Wednesday’s deposition, which had been delayed from July due to the death of Trump’s ex-wife Ivana, comes after a months-long court fight during which Trump was held in contempt as he fought the attorney general’s subpoena.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has called the investigation politically motivated.
“My great company, and myself, are being attacked from all sides. Banana Republic!” he said in a statement on his social media outlet, Truth Social, shortly before Wednesday’s deposition.
Two of his grown children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have already been deposed as part of the civil probe, sources said.
Trump argued unsuccessfully that he should not have to sit for a deposition while the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was conducting a parallel criminal investigation. While the Manhattan DA’s case remains active, two senior prosecutors who had been leading it resigned earlier this year over the lack of an indictment.
James has said her office uncovered evidence of potentially fraudulent conduct in the way the Trump Organization valued its real estate holdings when seeking loans and when asking for tax breaks.
Lawyers in her office have said in court that the office is nearing a decision on an enforcement action.
ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Inflation data released on Wednesday revealed that price increases slowed in July, easing the strain on household budgets as the Federal Reserve fights inflation with a series of borrowing cost hikes.
While still elevated, price hikes waned from the near-historic pace reached in June, giving hope to policymakers and consumers that inflation has peaked.
The consumer price index, or CPI, rose 8.5% year-over-year in July, a marked slowdown from 9.1% in June, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 1.3% in July, remaining unchanged from the rise seen in June, according to the bureau. While food and shelter costs increased over the last month, the gasoline index price fell 7.7% in July to offset those increases.
The inflation data arrives as other indicators have sent mixed signals about the economy in recent weeks.
A slowdown in the inflation rate emerged in part because the national average price of gasoline, which makes up a key portion of the consumer price index, has declined for more than 50 consecutive days, according to AAA.
Meanwhile, a government report on Friday revealed that hiring in July more than doubled economists’ expectations, defying Fed efforts to slow the economy and rebuking fears of a recession.
The significant uptick in hiring last month — an added 528,000 jobs and unemployment rate drop to 3.5% — came alongside elevated wage increases that may put upward pressure on consumer prices.
The heightened wage increases match a pattern that stretches back months. A closely observed measure of U.S. wages, called unit-labor costs, rose 9.5% over the second quarter of this year, the fastest rise of that metric since the first quarter of 1982, according to data released by the federal government on Tuesday.
When facing high inflation, policymakers fear what’s referred to as a price-wage spiral, in which a rise in prices prompts workers to demand raises that help them afford goods, which in turn pushes up prices, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of runaway inflation.
The Fed has sought to avoid a price-wage spiral with a series of borrowing cost increases, Maurice Obstfeld, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.
“The data is telling us not that rate hikes have been ineffective but that the Fed will have to go quite a bit further,” Obstfeld said.
However, other data suggests that inflation fears have waned significantly.
A survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday showed that consumers expect inflation to slow down.
Individuals who responded to the July survey said they expect inflation to run at a 6.2% pace over the next year and a 3.2% rate for the next three years, both of which marked significant declines from the inflation expectations expressed by consumers in the month prior.
(CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.) — One manufacturer believes it has a solution to the gun violence plaguing the United States – a personalized smart gun that uses fingerprint technology to make firearms safer.
Ginger Chandler is the co-founder of LodeStar Works in Chattanooga, Tennessee. She said she believes her company’s smart gun can be a solution to the rising gun-related deaths in the country.
Chandler said the smart gun can only be fired by an authenticated user; in this case, verified by his or her fingerprint.
“What we know is if an unauthorized person picks up that firearm in a time of stress or they’re going to do something quick, they’re not going to be able to do it,” said Chandler.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recently published data, overall firearm-related deaths increased by 15% in 2020, to over 45,000 deaths, the highest number ever recorded by the CDC since it began tracking firearm deaths in 1968.
Daniel Webster is the co-director of Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions. He has been researching approaches to reduce gun violence through a public health lens rather than solely a criminal justice approach.
“By thinking about this as a public health problem, you really expand how you think about it and the potential solutions that you have to address it…[For example] reducing unintentional shootings involving young people, teen suicides and juvenile perpetrated homicides,” said Webster.
An analysis from the New England Journal of Medicine labeled the increasing firearm-related mortality rates as a “preventable cause of death.”
Chandler said that the three fail-safes — an app, a pin-pad and a fingerprint — manufactured into the smart gun can help combat some of those preventable deaths.
“First, there’s an app on the phone… The other way to unlock it is just a pin-pad on the side,” said Chandler. “And then if you put your fingerprint on that pad.”
Not all are convinced. Webster said that, despite “some really big safety gains” from smart guns, it is “not realistic” that the guns will help lower the homicide rate.
In the past, the National Rifle Association has supported smart guns, but raised concerns about the tech becoming mandatory for all firearms sold in the United States.
But many Americans favor gun control laws. An ABC News IPSOS poll found 89% of Americans support background checks for all buyers.
Chandler said that making guns safer is a “net positive” — without taking away guns from Americans.
“I’m a shooter. I hunt. It is something I am involved in. It’s a passion. I enjoy it,” said Chandler. “I absolutely respect the person who says we should not have any more guns… I respect that and I just want the same respect.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Aug 10, 10:06 AM EDT
Russian strike kills at least 13 civilians in southeastern Ukraine
Russian shelling killed at least 13 civilians in eastern Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region early Wednesday morning, local authorities said.
At least 11 others were injured, with five people remaining in critical condition, according to Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko, who said Russian forces fired 80 rockets at residential areas in the region.
“They deliberately and sneakily struck when people were sleeping in their homes,” Reznichenko said in a statement Wednesday.
Russian shells hit civilian objects in the region’s southern Nikopol district from the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops some 30 miles away, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak.
More than 20 high-rise buildings, two schools, a city council building and several other administrative buildings in the city of Marhanets were damaged in the attack, Yermak said.
The city of Nikopol and the surrounding areas have been subject to regular shelling for several weeks. Russian forces fired 120 MLRS missiles at Nikopol early Tuesday, damaging several residential and commercial buildings.
Russian missiles also struck the southern city of Mykolaiv on Wednesday, injuring three people, including a child.
Meanwhile, explosions and casualties were also reported in the eastern Sumy region on Wednesday morning.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak and Max Uzol
Aug 10, 7:28 AM EDT
Woman killed in Russian strike on outskirts of Zaporizhzhia, mayor says
Russian forces shelled the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia overnight, killing at least one civilian, the city’s acting mayor, Anatoly Kurtev, said Wednesday.
The strike on the Kushugum community left three homes destroyed and almost 30 others damaged. The civilian who died was a woman, according to Kurtev.
That same night, Ukrainian troops defending the Zaporizhzhia region shot down two Russian missiles, Kurtev said, citing “preliminary information.”
“Take care of yourself and your loved ones,” the acting mayor said in a statement on Telegram. “Don’t ignore the air alarm!”
Aug 09, 5:17 PM EDT
Ukraine behind attack in Crimea, source says; 1 dead
A source familiar with the operation confirmed to ABC News that Ukraine was behind a Tuesday explosion in Russia-annexed Crimea. One person died from the blasts in Novofedorivka in Crimea, Russia’s semi-official Interfax reported, citing Crimean official Sergei Aksyonov.
This is the first major attack in Crimea since the war began in February.
–ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Dada Jovanovic
Aug 08, 2:20 PM EDT
US says 80,000 Russians may have died or been injured in Ukraine conflict
The U.S. estimates that 70,000 to 80,000 Russians have been killed or wounded since the start of the war in Ukraine, Colin Kahl, the undersecretary for defense for policy at the Department of Defense, told reporters Monday.
“There’s a lot of fog in war, but, you know, I think it’s safe to suggest that the Russians have probably taken 70 or 80,000 casualties in less than six months,” Kahl said. “I think that’s kind of in the ballpark.”
Kahl would not talk about specific Ukrainian casualties but noted that “Ukrainian morale and will to fight is unquestioned and much higher, I think, than the average morale and will to fight on the Russian side.” He added, “I think that gives the Ukrainians a significant advantage.”
Russia has gone through “a significant percentage of their precision guided munitions and their standoff munitions,” Khal said. Because they’re “running low,” they’re not using them as much and keeping what they have in reserve for other contingencies, he said. And because of sanctions against Russia, it will be tougher for the military to rebuild their stocks, he said.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Aug 08, 1:30 PM EDT
Pentagon announces new $1 billion military aid package
The Pentagon has announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine.
The package includes more missiles for the HIMARS advanced rocket systems; 1,000 more Javelin anti-tank weapons; 55,000 rounds of artillery for 155mm howitzers; and armored vehicles.
“This package provides a significant amount of additional ammunition, weapons, and equipment that Ukrainians are using so effectively to defend themselves and will bring total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $9.8 billion since the beginning of this Administration,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The Treasury Department also announced Monday another $4.5 billion in direct economic assistance to help support Ukraine’s government, including paying salaries and keeping hospitals and schools open.
Aug 08, 9:49 AM EDT
More ships leave Ukraine, raising hopes for peace
Two dry cargo ships loaded with export grain were scheduled to leave the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdenne on Monday after a busy weekend that saw four additional cargo vessels sail through Ukrainian waters.
The vessel Sakura, carrying 11,000 tonnes of soy, was the first to leave the Ukrainian port of Pivdenne on Monday as part of an initiative to export grain from Ukraine, local media reported.
The ship set course for Italy in the company of another dry cargo carrier — Arizona — which left Chornomorsk, another Ukrainian Black Sea port, with 50,000 tonnes of corn on Monday. The Arizona vessel is bound for Turkey.
Another four-ship convoy left Ukraine on Sunday morning, carrying 170,000 tons of agricultural produce, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said over the weekend.
Pope Francis welcomed the safe departure of the ships on Sunday while speaking at the noon-day Angelus prayer. “This event can be seen as a sign of hope,” the Pope said, adding that the export deal charts the path forward toward peace. “I sincerely hope that, following this path, we can put an end to the fighting and arrive at a just and lasting peace.”
So far, around 250,000 tonnes of corn, as well as 11,000 tonnes of soybeans, 6,000 tonnes of sunflower oil and 45,000 tonnes of sunflower meal have been exported from Ukraine on 10 ships since the first departure on Aug. 1, when the deal to establish safe corridors for ships to pass through was struck, according to a Reuters data tally.
Ukraine is planning to send up to five cargo ships a day from three Black Sea Ports in the following weeks, the local Sea Ports Authority said on Monday. Local authorities are also working to ensure that Ukrainian ports can receive at least three to five ships per day within two weeks, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Saturday.
The resumption of grain exports is being overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul, comprised of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel.
Meanwhile, the very first ship with Ukrainian grain that left the port of Odesa on Aug. 1 has been delayed in Tripoli, Lebanon, according to Ihor Ostash, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Lebanon.
“We are waiting for the conclusion of the negotiation process. Following this vessel, 20 others are already ready to leave Odesa,” the ambassador said on Sunday.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Fidel Pavlenko and Max Uzol
Aug 07, 1:35 PM EDT
Jessica Chastain meets with Zelenskyy
Actress Jessica Chastain was photographed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday in Kyiv following a meeting in which the Oscar winner expressed support for the country under siege by Russia.
“For us, such visits of famous people are extremely valuable,” Zelenskyy wrote on his verified Telegram account. “Thanks to this, the world will hear, know and understand the truth about what is happening in our country even more.”
In the post, Zelenskyy thanked Chastain for her support and published several photos of Chastain sitting at a table with Zelenskyy and two of his advisers.
Chastain has been vocal on social media regarding the plight Ukrainians are experiencing. In March, she tweeted photos published by Vogue Ukraine that highlighted the women being forced to give birth in bomb shelters are the start of the invasion.
-ABC News Christine Theodorou
Aug 05, 4:05 PM EDT
Russia shelled nuclear plant, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Friday.
Zelenskyy said forces twice struck the plant, which is in Russian-controlled territory in the southeast, and called the action “an act of terror,” in a statement released on Telegram.
“Russia should be responsible for the very fact of creating a threat to the nuclear power plant,” he said in the statement.
The facility is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
The Russian military, however, claimed it was a Ukrainian artillery strike that led to the reduction of activities of one power unit, and power falling at another.
They claimed 20 shells were fired at the city of Enerhodar and the power plant.
“Fortunately, the Ukrainian shells did not hit the oil and fuel facility and the oxygen plant nearby, thus avoiding a larger fire and a possible radiation accident,” Russia’s defense ministry said, according to Reuters.
Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency officials said the situation at Zaporizhzhia was “out of control” as routine safety checks had not been observed. IAEA officials have appealed for access to the Russian-controlled plant.
Aug 05, 6:33 AM EDT
3 more ships carrying Ukrainian grain leave Odesa-area ports
Another three commercial ships carrying Ukrainian grain have departed from Odesa-area ports under a wartime deal, the Turkish Ministry of National Defense said Friday.
The vessels are bound for Turkey, the United Kingdom and Ireland, with a combined total of 58,000 tons of Ukrainian corn onboard. All three ships will undergo inspection in Istanbul, as is required under the grain exports deal, according to the ministry.
The United Nations confirmed Thursday that three more grain ships — two from the port of Chornomorsk and one from Odesa — were cleared to depart through the designated “maritime humanitarian corridor.”
On Monday, the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain set sail from Odesa’s port under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative, bound for the Lebanese port of Tripoli. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Aug 04, 10:24 AM EDT
Ukrainian fighting tactics endanger civilians, Amnesty International says
Ukrainian forces attempting to repel the Russian invasion have put civilians in harm’s way by establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals, Amnesty International said Thursday.
The London-based international human rights group published a new report detailing such tactics, saying they turn civilian objects into military targets.
“We have documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnès Callamard said in a statement. “Being in a defensive position does not exempt the Ukrainian military from respecting international humanitarian law.”
Between April and July, Amnesty International researchers spent several weeks investigating Russian airstrikes in the Kharkiv, Donbas and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine. The organization inspected strike sites, interviewed survivors, witnesses and relatives of victims of attacks, as well as carried out remote-sensing and weapons analysis. Throughout the probe, researchers found evidence of Ukrainian forces launching strikes from within populated residential areas as well as basing themselves in civilian buildings in 19 towns and villages in the regions, according to Amnesty International.
The organization said most residential areas where Ukrainian soldiers located themselves were miles away from front lines, with viable alternatives that would not endanger civilians, such as nearby military bases or densely wooded areas, and other structures further away. In the cases documented, Amnesty International said it is not aware of the Ukrainian troops asking or assisting civilians to evacuate nearby buildings in the residential areas, which the organization called “a failure to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians.”
Amnesty International, however, noted that not every Russian attack it documented followed this pattern. In certain other locations in which the organization concluded that Russia had committed war crimes, including in some areas of the city of Kharkiv, the organization did not find evidence of Ukrainian forces located in the civilian areas unlawfully targeted by the Russian military.
Aug 03, 11:21 AM EDT
Inspectors in Turkey clear 1st grain ship from Ukraine, but no sign of more
The first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain under a wartime deal has safely departed the Black Sea, the United Nations said Wednesday.
The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on Monday, with more than 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn on board. The vessel docked off the coast of Istanbul late Tuesday, where it was required to be inspected before being allowed to proceed to its final destination, Lebanon.
A joint civilian inspection comprising officials from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the U.N. inspected the Razoni on Wednesday morning, checking on the cargo and crew. After three hours, the team cleared the ship to set sail for Lebanon, according to the U.N. said.
“This marks the conclusion of an initial ‘proof of concept’ operation to execute the agreement,” the U.N. said in a statement Wednesday.
It’s the first commercial vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to safely depart the Black Sea since the start of Russia’s ongoing offensive, and the first to do so under the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative. Last month, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the U.N. to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
In a statement Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Razoni’s journey a “significant step” but noted that “this is only a first step.”
No other grain shipments have departed Ukraine in the last two days and officials on all sides have offered no explanation for that delay.
The U.N. said Wednesday that three Ukrainian ports “are due to resume the export of millions of tons of wheat, corn and other crops,” but didn’t provide further details.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Aug 03, 9:58 AM EDT
Thousands flee ‘hell’ in Ukraine’s east
Two-thirds of residents have fled eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast since the start of Russia’s invasion in late February, according to the regional governor.
Speaking to Ukrainian media on Tuesday, Donetsk Oblast Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said some 350,000 residents remain in the war-torn region.
During his Tuesday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the hostilities in Ukraine’s east “hell.”
“It cannot be described with words,” Zelenskyy said.
Ukrainian forces cannot yet “completely break the Russian army’s advantage in artillery and manpower, and this is very noticeable in the fighting,” he added.
Last month, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said 200,000 civilians must be evacuated from the Donetsk Oblast before the weather gets colder, as there is no proper electricity or gas supply in the area for residents to heat their homes. Russian forces are also destroying heating equipment, according to Vereshchuk.
Zelenskyy has ordered the mandatory evacuation of Donetsk Oblast residents, urging them to leave as soon as possible. Those who comply will be compensated.
“The more people leave [the] Donetsk region now, the fewer people the Russian army will have time to kill,” he said.
Although many refuse to go, Zelenskyy stressed that “it still needs to be done.”
Mandatory evacuation from Donetsk Oblast began on Aug. 1. The first two trains evacuated 224 people to the central Ukrainian city of Kropyvnytskyi, according to local officials.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
(NEW YORK) — Inflation continues to be the top economic concern for most Americans.
In July, the consumer price index rose 8.5% compared with the same month a year prior. While still high, the inflation rate eased from the near-historic pace in June.
Eighty-two percent of Americans are worried about the negative effect of inflation on the purchasing power of their income over the next six months, according to a recent survey from Allianz Life. Further, 71% said their income is not keeping up with rising costs.
Here’s an explainer about why inflation is so high and what happened last time prices rose at such a fast pace:
Why is inflation so high?
Like so many economic problems, inflation comes down to an imbalance between supply and demand.
Hundreds of millions across the globe facing lockdowns replaced restaurant expenditures with couches and exercise bikes. The surge in demand followed a pandemic-induced flood of economic stimulus. Moreover, that stimulus brought about a speedy economic recovery from the March 2020 downturn, triggering a hiring blitz.
But the surge in demand for goods and labor far outpaced supply, as COVID-related bottlenecks slowed delivery times and infection fears kept workers on the sidelines.
In turn, prices and wages skyrocketed, prompting sky-high inflation. Such price increases have bedeviled countries across the globe, some of which have suffered much worse inflation than the U.S. In Argentina, inflation stands at 64%; in Turkey, it’s nearly 80%.
What is the government doing to bring down prices?
The Federal Reserve has embarked on an aggressive series of rate hikes which raise the cost of borrowing. In theory, the rate hikes should cut demand, slow down the economy and lower inflation.
At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994. After a data release last week showed that hiring in July vastly exceeded expectations, the Federal Reserve is widely expected to institute another rate hike at its next meeting in September.
Meanwhile, Congress has taken action that could reduce inflation over the long term.
On Sunday, the Senate passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which raises $739 billion in new revenue and puts at least $300 billion toward deficit reduction.
If it becomes law, the bill would very slightly raise inflation over the next two years but would reduce inflation by the late 2020s, according to a study by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania that looked at an early version of the bill.
When was the last time inflation reached this level and how did it get resolved?
The last time inflation was this high was 1981. Back then, high prices combined with a weak economy to bring financial misery for many Americans.
The dynamic put central bankers in a difficult position. If they raised interest rates and slowed down the economy, it might push the economy into a recession, causing more pain. But if they cut rates, then it would stimulate the economy and potentially drive inflation even higher.
Paul Volcker, who took over as Fed chair in 1979, vowed to raise rates until inflation got under control — no matter how much it slowed down the economy. The short-term economic pain far outweighed the long-term damage of inflation, Volcker argued.
In 1981, the Fed’s benchmark interest rate rose as high as 20%. By comparison, after multiple rate hikes this year to tackle inflation, the interest rate still stands at a range of 2.25% to 2.50%.
Back in 1981, those high interest rates helped push the U.S. into a recession and drove the unemployment rate above 10%. By comparison, the unemployment rate today matches a 50-year low reached right before the outset of the pandemic in 2020.
But Volcker’s aggressive approach did bring down inflation. When Volcker left the position in August 1987, inflation had fallen to 3.4% from its peak of 9.8% in 1981.
Powell, the current chair of the Fed, has vowed to bring down inflation. He said last month the central bank expects additional rate increases will prove necessary to dial back inflation to its target rate of 2%.
But, as in the early 1980s, an economic slowdown induced by the Fed could bring short-term pain before smoothing out inflation. Or, if the central bank achieves what economists call a “soft landing,” then the central bank could lower inflation while avoiding a recession.
