(LONDON) — As wildfires swept through the forests of Rhodes on Wednesday, Greek officials warned people in three nearby villages that they should begin to evacuate.
The blaze began Tuesday on the island, which is known for its beach resorts, and had by Wednesday “spread almost to the center of the island,” the Greek Fire Service said in a statement.
The flames were approaching Apollona and Laerma, but weren’t yet threatening residential areas, 112 Greece, the country’s emergency hotline, said on social media.
“There, 86 firefighters operate with 3 groups of pedestrian units and 28 vehicles, while 3 aircraft and 3 helicopters operate from the air,” the fire service said.
Those firefighters were just a few of the many from Greece and abroad who’ve been working this week to stamp out violent wildfires across Greece, blazes fueled by dry weather and a heat wave across southern Europe.
The villages that were asked to evacuate in Rhodes — Eleousa, Salakos and Dimylia — were among many threatened by fires across the country, including fast-moving blazes near Athens, the capital, Greek officials said.
Greece on Tuesday requested the activation of the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, a coordinated rescue and humanitarian assistance, to fight wildfires that were “ravaging Attica,” the populous peninsula where Athens sits, officials said.
Firefighting planes soon arrived from France and Italy to began dousing flames, the Civil Protection agency said in a statement.
Three firefighting teams from Poland, Romania and Slovakia also arrived, the agency said. Other teams from Romania, Bulgaria and Malta, which were already in Greece when the fires started, were also helping.
In total, about 220 international firefighters and 65 vehicles were working in Greece over the last few days, the agency said.
“We are experiencing a heatwave across Southern Europe already causing devastating consequences in Greece, with thousands of hectares burned in a short period of time,” Janez Lenarčič, the European Commission’s commissioner for Crisis Management, said in a statement issued Wednesday.
A European Union satellite was also tasked with mapping and providing damage assessment on several areas in the Attica region.
Officials in Greece said late Wednesday that they had largely halted at least three large blazes in Drama, Boeotia and Messinia.
But searing temperatures and dry weather were again forecast on Thursday and expected to continue into the weekend. Highs were expected to hover around 109 degrees on Thursday before approaching 115 degrees through the weekend.
(WASHINGTON) — At least one witness is expected to appear Thursday before the grand jury in Washington, D.C., investigating former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources tell ABC News.
Trump aide Will Russell previously appeared before the grand jury, so Thursday would be a return appearance.
Russell served in the Trump White House as a special assistant to the president and the deputy director of Advance before moving to Florida to work as an aide to Trump after he left the White House.
Special counsel Jack Smith informed Trump on Sunday that he is a target in the election probe, suggesting that another indictment of the former president could be imminent.
As ABC has previously reported, multiple witnesses have appeared before the grand jury in recent weeks, including Trump’s son-in-law and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner.
Recent witnesses have been asked specifically about Trump’s state of mind surrounding Jan. 6 and whether he was told and knew that he lost the election, sources have told ABC News.
Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, has denounced Smith’s probe as a political witch hunt.
(LONDON) — Kenya is bracing for days of anti-government protests led by the government’s political opposition over a contentious new finance bill and the rising cost of living
At least six people were shot and killed and at least a dozen others were injured on Wednesday, the first day of a planned three-day protest against higher taxes, Mathias Kinyoda, of Amnesty International Kenya, told ABC News. At least 87 demonstrators were arrested nationwide, he said.
The protests were called by opposition leader Raila Odinga. The unrest was set to take place despite Kenya’s President William Ruto vowing no protests would take place in the East African Nation.
“We are here, first and foremost, to confirm that the peaceful protests planned for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday this week are on as earlier declared by our leadership,” read a statement by Odinga’s party, Azimio La Umoja, sent to ABC News.
At least five protesters were injured on Wednesday as demonstrators clashed with police. Amnesty International Kenya said, said that “para-military police officers and armored water cannon trucks [are] already patrolling and engaging protestors across several towns and neighborhoods.”
In Kibera — a stronghold of the opposition — protests turned violent, with demonstrators setting fire to tires and furniture, stones being pelted, and tear gas being deployed by police. In the most recent round of anti-government protests at least 23 people are reported to have been killed according to the U.N., with over 300 arrested.
Protests have also been reported in Kenya’s Kisumu, Kisii and Migori counties.
Kenya’s Ministry of Education also announced that all primary and secondary schools in Nairobi and the coastal city Mombasa are to close on Wednesday as a “precautionary measure” following “credible security intelligence.” Several businesses also remain closed.
The protests come after Ruto last month signed into law a contentious finance bill at Nairobi’s State House that proposed doubling the tax levied on fuel from 8% to 16%.
The bill aimed to aid in offsetting Kenya’s external debt, officials said. However, the bill will have a ripple effect on the price of basic commodities, compounding on the economic strain of Kenyans already struggling with the rising cost of living.
Implementation of the Bill — which was due to come into effect on July 1 — was halted by Kenya’s High Court following a case brought by opposition Sen. Okiya Omatah, who argued it was unconstitutional.
In a joint statement with Heads of Missions from 13 countries in Kenya, the U.S. Embassy Nairobi said it was “saddened” by the loss of life from anti-government protests and “concerned by the levels of violence” exhibited during recent demonstrations.
“We recognise the daily hardship faced by many Kenyans and urge all parties to table their concerns through a meaningful dialogue and resolve their differences peacefully,” the statement said.
Speaking at a Geneva press briefing, U.N. Human Rights Office Spokesperson Jeremy Laurence appealed for calm, saying, “We call on the authorities to ensure the right to peaceful assembly as guaranteed by the Kenyan Constitution and international human rights law.”
(LONDON) — A suspected lion is loose in Berlin, prompting authorities in Germany to send emergency alerts to thousands of people in Berlin warning them to stay indoors.
The message has warned thousands of people across Germany’s capital city to “stay indoors” after a lion was last seen on the outskirts of the metropolitan area.
Police said they received a tip from someone who said they recorded a lion attacking a wild boar which caused authorities to quickly spring into action and warn people to be on the lookout for the large cat.
“The escaping wild animal has NOT been found yet! We still ask you not to leave the house,” Brandenburg Police said in a social media post warning the public. “If you see the animal, please call the emergency number 110!”
Helicopters and ground searches are currently taking place across the area where it was last seen as officials clamber to find the animal before it potentially attacks anything else.
It is unclear where the suspected lion escaped from, but lions are not native to the country and there have been no reports of any escaped animals from local zoos or wildlife refuges.
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday will — for the first time — vote to advance legislation that would require the U.S. Supreme Court to adopt a binding code of ethics, adhere to more stringent disclosure requirements and explain recusal decisions to the public.
The unusual step follows a wave of news reports that Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito failed to disclose ties to wealthy businessmen and political donors, including acceptance of luxury travel and accommodations, and that Justice Sonia Sotomayor used taxpayer-funded court staff to help sell her books.
Alito personally defended himself — arguing, in a rare op-ed published in The Wall Street Journal, that he acted appropriately. In Thomas’ case, he maintained that he thought he didn’t have to disclose those ties; while in Sotomayor’s case, the court said she and the others had been urged to follow proper protocols.
“They are the most powerful judges in the entire nation, and yet they are not required to follow even the most basic ethical standards. It’s time for that to change,” the Judiciary Committee chairman, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said Wednesday in a speech on the Senate floor.
The bill, which is sponsored by Democrats, would mandate greater oversight of the justices — binding them to the same disclosure rules for gifts, travel and income as apply to lower court judges — and create a system to investigate complaints about their behavior.
It would also boost transparency around the process by which justices determine potential conflicts of interest with parties before the court and require them to explain recusal decisions, which are now entirely at their discretion.
In a rare joint statement released in April, all nine current justices said they voluntarily adhere to a code of “ethics principles and practices” and oppose the push for independent oversight.
“I want to assure people that I am committed to making certain that we as a court adhere to the highest standards of conduct,” Chief Justice John Roberts said in May during his first public remarks since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roberts declined an invitation to testify before the Judiciary Committee to answer questions about the court’s ethics process and lawmakers’ proposal for an overhaul, citing separation of powers concerns.
The justices are already subject to a federal disclosure law — applying to all federal employees — that requires them to file annual public reports on outside income and gifts; but “personal hospitality” is generally exempt.
“If I or any member of the Senate failed to report an all-expense paid luxury getaway or if we used our government staff to help sell books we wrote, we’d be in big trouble. The same would be true for members of the House or Cabinet officials in any presidential administration,” Durbin said Wednesday. “But the same, sadly, is not true for the nine justices across the street.”
The justices argued in their joint statement in May that proposals to force members of the court to recuse themselves under specified circumstances, publicly elaborate on the recusal process and subject their decisions to review could create more harm than good.
“If the full Court or any subset of the Court were to review the recusal decisions of individual justices,” they wrote, “it would create an undesirable situation in which the Court could affect the outcome of a case by selecting who among its members may participate.”
Later, they added that public disclosure of the basis for recusal could “encourage strategic behavior by lawyers who may seek to prompt recusals in future cases” by framing them a certain way in an attempt to disqualify a particular member of the court.
Many conservative lawmakers and legal scholars point out that justices already face the prospect of discipline for misbehavior: impeachment. It remains the only constitutionally authorized mechanism for removing a life-appointed justice accused of wrongdoing.
And many veteran court watchers note that few of the recently surfaced ethics allegations likely rise to that level.
None of the committee’s nine Republican members are expected to support the bill overhauling the high court’s ethics procedures. Many have viewed the process as a partisan attempt to delegitimize the court.
If the legislation wins committee approval, it would potentially advance to a vote in the full Senate, where it would need some Republican support to pass, given Democrats only hold the chamber with 51 votes.
The Republican-led House has shown no interest in taking up the issue, rendering enactment of any Supreme Court ethics legislation unlikely in this Congress.
(WASHINGTON) — The scientist and military intelligence officer leading the Pentagon’s task force for unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) — which the public calls UFOs — says being caught off guard by “intelligent or extraterrestrial technical supremacy” remains a top concern as investigators analyze more than 800 cases of mysterious sightings reported by U.S. military personnel dating back decades.
“Data and science has to guide where you go, and we will follow the data,” Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick said last month, in an exclusive first interview after his appointment to the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office, or AARO.
Congress established the office last year to coordinate efforts across federal agencies to “detect, identify and attribute” mysterious objects of interest in the air, in outer space and underwater, with special focus on mitigating potential threats to military operations and national security.
“The most common misconception is that [the possible phenomena] are all the same thing and they’re all extraterrestrial, and neither of those are true,” Kirkpatrick said.
“We have to go through the rigor of taking each one, matching it against our known objects and catalogs and then reviewing that — peer reviewing that — and making sure that everybody’s in agreement,” he said of the process, which has included establishing a government-wide data collection initiative.
The AARO has looked into some high-profile UAP sightings, highlighted in congressional hearings, including a 2019 video recording taken by Navy sailors of glowing triangles floating above them.
The vast majority of cases reviewed since the office was established are “readily explainable,” Kirkpatrick said, noting that final, evidence-based determinations remain slow and ongoing.
Many reported phenomena are later attributed as likely balloons, drones, debris or animals, such as large birds, he said.
That 2019 video was later determined to be ordinary drones distorted by night-vision goggles.
“I have a full range of hypotheses: On one end of the spectrum, it’s advanced technology that’s coming from an adversary. Right in the middle, I have all my known objects — balloons and drones and birds and whatnot. And then on the far end of the spectrum, we have extraterrestrials,” said Kirkpatrick.
A small number of the reports — roughly 2-5% of cases — are unexplained anomalies, including the so called 2004 “Tic Tac” incident.
“It’s really hard to guess on this, and I don’t like to guess,” Kirkpatrick said of the case. “The more things that I see that resemble a Tic Tac, then I can get more and more information about what that is.”
Sixty-five percent of Americans believe intelligent life exists beyond earth, according to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey. A majority — 51% — also said then that UAPs under investigation by the government are likely proof of contact.
“I can’t rule it out, but I don’t have any evidence,” Kirkpatrick said.
The House Oversight Committee announced earlier this week that it will hold a hearing on the phenomena on Wednesday as Republican lawmakers pursue unproven whistleblower allegations that the government is secretly in possession of “intact and partially intact” alien spacecraft, which the Pentagon has said is unsubstantiated.
Two former government intelligence analysts came forward last month alleging that details of the alleged craft are being illegally withheld from Congress and the American people. Neither has publicly provided any evidence to substantiate their claims.
“We’ve interviewed almost 30 individuals who have come in to provide their testimony. And out of all of those, none of it has yet led to any verifiable information that substantiates the claim that the U.S. government has those ships or has a reverse engineering program either in the past or currently,” Kirkpatrick said when asked about the allegations.
He downplayed the possible existence of a secret program that he is not privy to, saying, “Nothing has been denied us.”
“A number of these [whistleblowers] believe and have stated — and we believe them now — that they have seen something. And we are investigating,” he said.
The proliferation of conspiracy theories spawned by the UAPs has inspired a sense of bipartisan urgency on Capitol Hill.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, backed by other top Democrats and Republicans, this month called for greater transparency by the government. Legislation he proposed would force the National Archives to collect and publicly release records related to UAP reports within 25 years of when they were created unless there is a compelling national security concern.
“There is something there — measurable light, multiple instruments — and yet it seems to move in directions inconsistent with what we know of physics or science more broadly. And that, to me, poses questions of tremendous interest, as well as potential national security significance,” Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on UAPs in 2022.
Multiple congressional committees have also explored concerns that the mysterious sightings could be evidence of surveillance by other countries.
“My priority is that we understand the full range of threats posed by our adversaries in all domains,” Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said during an Armed Services Committee hearing on UAPs in April.
For his part, Kirkpatrick is focused on the gathering of facts and evidence.
“A lot of these stories, a lot of these allegations, crop up again and again over history,” he said. “I’m not going to jump ahead to conclusions until we have more data.”
Asked whether he believes intelligent extraterrestrial life exists, Kirkpatrick said: “I think it’s statistically unrealistic to think it isn’t” and that finding it would be “probably the best outcome of this job.”
WATCH: Inside the Pentagon’s probe of unidentified anomalous phenomena — an ABC News Live PRIME exclusive. Stream Thursday night 7 p.m./9 p.m. ET on Hulu or anywhere you can find the ABC News app.
(LAS VEGAS) — At least one Delta passenger was taken to the hospital for heat-related illness after the plane sat on the tarmac for hours on Monday in Las Vegas, where temperatures reached triple digits.
Passengers on a Delta flight to Atlanta experienced extreme heat while the plane was taxiing at Harry Reid International Airport, resulting in multiple people being treated, according to an eyewitness statement.
Krista Garvin, a field producer for Fox News, was on the Delta flight on Monday, where she tweeted about the “insane experience.”
“@Delta what an INSANE experience. First, we were delayed because you did not have a flight attendant,” Garvin tweeted. “Then we finally board and sit for almost 3 hours on a hot plane in 111-degree weather. Now we are heading back to the gate cause people are passing out. We are now being told you Can get off but there isn’t another flight out to ATL for days. This is actually nuts.”
Delta Airlines told ABC News it’s investigating the circumstances of why it got so hot in the plane.
“We apologize for the experience our customers had on flight 555 from Las Vegas to Atlanta on July 17, which ultimately resulted in a flight cancelation,” the company said in a statement. “Delta teams are looking into the circumstances that led to uncomfortable temperatures inside the cabin and we appreciate the efforts of our people and first responders at Harry Reid International.”
Passengers have said they were on the plane for at least three hours, while the company said it taxied for over an hour before heading back to the gate.
Another passenger, April Love, told ABC News, that customers were on the tarmac for about three hours and described passengers needing multiple gurneys and oxygen, as well as a flight attendant passing out.
“I saw at least four people getting the oxygen and then I saw at least three gurneys coming,” Love said.
The airline was only aware of one passenger needing medical attention.
The flight was canceled following the incident and passengers received compensation.
“[Delta] finally decided to take everyone off because too many people were sick and they want to try and cool down the plane,” Garvin said. “Praying they let us back on or we will be stuck here.”
Delta reportedly found other flights for customers.
Temperatures at Harry Reid International Airport reached nearly 115 degrees on Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
Dangerous temperatures have been plaguing much of the U.S. for the past month.
The harsh heat that has been blanketing large portions of the South and West for weeks is expected to continue into the foreseeable future, according to forecasts.
Reno, Nevada, tied its all-time high temperature on Sunday at 108 degrees, reaching that number for the first time since 2007. Las Vegas also tied its daily record on Sunday when it reached 116 degrees.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday night hosted a screening of the film Sound of Freedom at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, one day after the revelation that special counsel Jack Smith has informed Trump he is a target of the federal investigation into his efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
Trump has regularly kept up his campaign schedule despite mounting legal problems, including two indictments to which he has pleaded not guilty. He has also denied wrongdoing related to the 2020 election.
Wednesday’s event has a specific purpose, according to his campaign: to burnish both his record on human trafficking and his credentials with evangelical Christians, who are a key bloc in states like Iowa that are early in the GOP primary race.
Sound of Freedom is a faith-based film, and evangelicals are one of its main audiences. An adviser to Trump told ABC News that the screening was going to include a large faith-based element.
The movie is loosely based on Tim Ballard, who founded the anti-trafficking organization Operation Underground Railroad. The fictional story, starring actor Jim Caviezel as Ballard, follows his mission through the Colombian jungle to save a girl from child traffickers.
Between late 2019 and 2020, Ballard served on an anti-trafficking White House advisory council while Trump was president.
His and Operation Underground Railroad’s work has been closely scrutinized in an investigation published by Vice News that reported Ballard and the organization had at times seemingly exaggerated some of elements of their work.
Operation Underground Railroad said in 2020, in response: “We are proud to help play a part in giving better lives to children around the world” and contended that Vice was engaged in “an effort to find any, even minor, discrepancy, and to twist anything found into a negative portrayal of an honorable organization.” (Ballard has since left the group.)
Sound of Freedom emerged as a surprising box office success this summer, driven by conservative and religious audiences, according to analysts. Distributed by an independent company, it has built a nearly $100 million following — and counting — and has been buoyed by positive reviews and word of mouth.
But the film has some critics, too, who argue the film inaccurately depicts the reality of child sex trafficking.
Caviezel, the film’s star, has stirred controversy of his own.
He has repeatedly referenced some baseless claims embraced by the QAnon conspiracy, which sees Trump as a savior figure.
While promoting Sound of Freedom on Steve Bannon’s podcast, Caviezel warned without evidence that children are trafficked for their blood — a claim he has made before — and, in the past, he has invoked “the storm,” which QAnon followers think will be a kind of climatic battle against evil. (Efforts to reach Caviezel for comment were unsuccessful.)
Of QAnon, Trump himself said in 2020, “I don’t know much about the movement, other than I understand they like me very much — which I appreciate.”
But on social media in the years since, he has shared posts that proudly link him to the conspiracy including one that warns “the storm is coming.”
QAnon believers have reportedly cheered Sound of Freedom, though those behind the film have flatly rejected any connection to conspiracies or politics.
“I can’t explain it and neither can they. … They just like to throw the word out, ‘QAnon,'” Ballard, the anti-trafficking advocate, said on Fox News. “They make zero connection to the actual story.”
The CEO of Angel Studios, which is distributing Sound of Freedom, has likewise pushed back on this claim, saying: “Everyone who’s seen this film knows that it has nothing to do with politics or conspiracy, and that it’s just a great, true story, well-told.”
Operation Underground Railroad’s website states that they don’t “condone conspiracy theories and [are] not affiliated with any conspiracy groups in any way, shape or form. Accurate information about child exploitation and human trafficking is imperative to effectively confront these issues.”
At the Wednesday screening, Trump was set to be joined by Ballard, Caviezel and the movie’s producer Eduardo Verástegui, who previously served on Trump’s Advisory Commission on Hispanic Prosperity.
Trump’s campaign used the movie screening announcement to tout his presidential record on combating human trafficking, saying he signed nine pieces of bipartisan legislation and doubled the amount of Department of Justice funding to combat human trafficking.
(NEW YORK) — A winning ticket for the $1 billion Powerball jackpot was sold in California.
The winning numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing were 7, 10, 11, 13 and 24, and the Powerball was 24. The jackpot ticket was sold at the Las Palmitas Mini Market in Los Angeles, the California Lottery said.
The jackpot has a cash value of $516.8 million, before taxes.
Three tickets sold in Florida, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island won $2 million, Powerball said. There were also several Match 5 winners in California (seven), Connecticut, Florida (four), Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts (three), Maryland (two), Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey (two), New York (five), Ohio, Texas (four), Wisconsin and West Virginia. Each ticket won $1 million.
The Powerball jackpot is now reset to $20 million.
The Powerball, which was last hit on April 19, had 38 consecutive drawings without a winner.
The winner has the choice between annual payments over 30 years, which increase by 5% each year, or a lump sum payment.
“This has turned into a historic jackpot run; this is only the third time in Powerball’s 31-year history that a jackpot has reached the billion-dollar threshold,” said Drew Svitko, Powerball product group chair and Pennsylvania Lottery executive director. “It only takes one ticket to win this massive jackpot or any of Powerball’s other cash prizes. If you win the jackpot, sign your ticket, put it somewhere very safe, and reach out to your local lottery.”
The biggest jackpot in Powerball history was a $2.04 billion prize claimed by a man in Altadena, California, in November 2022. The only other time the Powerball jackpot crossed a billion was when three tickets won a $1.586 billion prize in January 2016.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball.
(NEW YORK) — As Russia continues its nearly 16-month-long invasion of neighboring Ukraine, political turmoil has erupted in Moscow while Kyiv tries to take back territory.
A feud between Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner Group, and Russia’s top military brass escalated as Prigozhin’s forces left the front line in Ukraine and marched across the border to seize a key Russian city. They then marched north toward Russia’s capital, seemingly unopposed, before turning around just hours later. The short-lived rebellion was described by international observers as the most significant challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s authority in his more than 20 years of rule.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are in the early stages of a counteroffensive to reclaim the almost one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory that is under Russian control.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jul 19, 9:47 PM EDT
Russian strikes hit Mykolaiv and Odesa, multiple people injured
Russian forces hit a three-story building and a garage in the city center of Mykolaiv Thursday morning, local time, injuring nine people, including five children, the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration said on Telegram.
There were fatalities stemming from the strikes, but it’s unclear how many at this time, the Mykolaiv Regional State Administration added.
In another incident, Russian strikes hit Odesa early Thursday morning, the Odesa District Administration said on Telegram.
Two people were injured and hospitalized from the attack, according to the Odesa District Administration.
There is destruction “in the center” of Odesa and a fire broke out stemming from the strikes, the administration said.
