(NEW YORK) — The Northern Lights may be visible as far south as Pennsylvania and Iowa on Friday, Space Weather Prediction Center from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.
The remarkable sky lights may come down farther south due to a geomagnetic storm that began on Wednesday, experts said.
The storm is the result of a coronal mass ejection, or CME, which is a powerful burst of magnetized plasma from the sun’s corona, its outermost layer.
Scientists detected two CMEs erupting on the sun and aimed for Earth, which they expected to arrive on August 18.
The CMEs can combine to create a geomagnetic storm, scientists say, to reach strong levels that may create auroras closer to the equator than usual.
The auroras, which make up what we know as the Northern Lights, form when high-energy particles from the sun collide with Earth’s atmosphere. The particles glow because they excite the gasses in the sky.
Stronger energy brings the glowing particles farther from the poles, experts say.
Leading up to the stronger storm, scientists said a coronal hole high-speed stream arrived on Thursday night to create a more minor geomagnetic storm.
A coronal hole is a cooler area in the sun’s outermost layer that can generate high-speed solar wind that is full of charged particles that can get spread across the solar system.
These high-speed streams can create auroras on Earth, too.
Typically, auroras are most visible from December to February, but viewers have strong chances from September to November, too, experts say.
Stronger solar weather is needed for such a view in the summer months.
Alaska is known as a top U.S. destination for seeing the lights, but visitors can also expect a view in northern Maine during favorable conditions, scientists say.
Experts say that less densely populated areas, where the night sky remains darkest, are most favorable for northern viewing of the magical sky lights.
(WATSONVILLE, Calif.) — Three people are dead after two small planes collided mid-air at a California airport on Thursday, authorities said.
The crash occurred shortly before 3 p.m. local time at the Watsonville Municipal Airport in Watsonville, an agricultural area located about 50 miles south of San Jose, officials said.
The two planes were attempting to land when they collided, the city of Watsonville said on social media. “We have reports of multiple fatalities,” it said.
A single-engine Cessna 152 and a twin-engine Cessna 340 “collided while the pilots were on their final approaches,” the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.
One person was in the Cessna 152 and two were in the Cessna 340, the agency said. No injuries were reported to anyone on the ground.
The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office said Friday that all three onboard the planes were killed in the crash. The names of the victims will be released following family notification.
The city tweeted Thursday that it was “absolutely saddened to hear about the tragic incident that took the lives of several people.”
“The City of Watsonville sends its deepest condolences to the friends and family of those who passed,” it added.
“We are grieving tonight from this unexpected and sudden loss,” Watsonville Mayor Ari Parker said. “I want to express my deepest and most heartfelt condolences.”
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to an aircraft collision on Aviation Way near the airport and secured the scene with the Watsonville Police Department.
“This afternoon, two planes collided and came to rest at and near the Watsonville airport. There are multiple fatalities right now,” Lt. Patrick Dimick said. “There are multiple fatalities. We cannot confirm anything else at this time as we’ve just secured the airport for the NTSB and FAA to arrive and conduct their investigation.”
An investigation is underway by the National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA.
ABC News’ Michelle Mendez and Alex Stone contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Europe’s scorching drought has revealed the hulks of dozens of German warships that became submerged during World War Two near Serbia’s river port town of Prahovo.
The ships, sunken on Danube River, were part of Nazi Germany’s Black Sea fleet in 1944 as they retreated from advancing Soviet forces, officials said.
The vessels still impact the river today, often hampering river traffic during low water levels, authorities said.
Now, over 20 ships have come to the surface, many of which are still loaded with ammunition and explosives. Officials say the vessels pose a risk to shipping on the Danube.
The vessels have limited the navigable section of the stretch near Prahova to 100 meters, significantly slimmer than the prior 180 meters ships had access to.
Serbian officials have taken to dredging along the river to salvage the usable navigation lanes.
We have deployed almost [our] entire [dredging] capacity… We are struggling to keep out waterways navigable along their full length,” Veljko Kovacevic, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transportation, told Reuters.
The increasing difficulties for shipping boats will impact the country’s vital transportation of coal, which accounts for two thirds of Serbia’s electrical output, officials said.
Further implicating the energy crisis, water flow in Serbia’s hydropower system dropped by half in the past two months, officials told the Balkan Green Energy News.
The country is also already enduring the impacts of the war in Ukraine upon their energy supply.
Officials said the ships vary, with some now showing turrets, command bridges, broken masts and twisted hulls, while even more still remain buried under sand banks.
In March, the Serbian government invited a contracted a private company for the salvage of some of the hulls and removal of ammunition and explosives. The operation cost officials an estimated $30 million, according to the country’s infrastructure ministry.
“The German flotilla has left behind a big ecological disaster that threatens us, people of Prahovo,” Velimir Trajilovic, 74, a pensioner from Prahovo who wrote a book about the German ships, told Reuters.
The exposure of more of the sunken fleet comes after a summer of low water levels and sizzling drought.
The Danube levels near Prahovo are less than half their average for this time of the summer, experts say.
(BOSTON) — Online home goods retailer Wayfair is laying off nearly 900 workers worldwide, which amounts to 5% of the company’s workforce, the company said in a memo to employees on Friday. The cuts include about 400 jobs in Boston, where Wayfair is headquartered, the company said.
Wayfair saw business surge during the pandemic, as people stuck at home eschewed brick-and-mortar shopping and increased spending on furniture, home renovations, and other domestic improvements. But the economic environment has turned against the company, as inflation has strained household budgets and limited nonessential purchases.
“We were seeing the tailwinds of the pandemic accelerate the adoption of ecommerce shopping, and I personally pushed hard to hire a strong team to support that growth,” Niraj Shah, the founder and CEO of Wayfair, said in the memo. “This year, that growth has not materialized as we had anticipated.”
Laid-off employees will receive severance based on geography, tenure and level, Wayfair said. The company is offering U.S.-based employees a minimum of 10 weeks pay, as well as continued vesting of existing equity through October, the company added.
Wayfair instituted a hiring freeze in May, signaling that its near-term outlook had changed. In total, the company has 18,000 employees.
In early trading on Friday morning, the company’s stock fell more than 10%.
“We are actively navigating Wayfair towards a level of profitability that will allow us to control our own destiny, while still investing aggressively in the future,” Shah, the CEO of Wayfair, said.
“This macro environment doesn’t change our belief in the size of the opportunity ahead, and we are moving purposefully to seize that opportunity,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Since the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade in June, several states have enacted strict abortion bans.
At least 15 states have ceased nearly all abortion services and an additional four states have bans that have been blocked in court and are undergoing legal challenges.
Despite an ABC News/Washington Post poll finding 79% of Americans support making abortion legal in exceptions of rape, only four states with active bans allow for such exceptions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group focusing on sexual and reproductive health.
Proponents of anti-abortion bills have argued that a fetus should not be “punished” because of the crime and be allowed a chance to be born, but they are trying to help women find some recourse after suffering through a horrific act.
But abortion rights advocates and experts told ABC News it’s more complicated than that. They say that while such exceptions do help prevent a pregnant person from living through the trauma of giving birth to their rapist’s baby, they say the exceptions may work in theory but not in reality.
They explained some of the language in these laws make it unclear how a provider is supposed to validate a patient’s accusation of rape, or the providers may be scared to act due to fear they will be prosecuted if they act outside the law.
Additionally, they say women may be too scared to come forward when they’ve been raped, or if they do and are required to report the assault to the police, may experience additional trauma by having to relive the crime.
“It’s not whether there’s simply a law that happens to be on the books,” Michele Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California, Irvine, whose expertise includes health law and reproductive rights, told ABC News. “It’s whether the law is more real than illusory. For so many of the exceptions that are being drafted now, what you have is not entirely meaningless but so difficult to navigate that they essentially become kind of a fool’s gold.”
She added, “One can have rights on paper, but they become very useless and lack meaning until they’re placed in practice.”
Of the states with abortion exceptions for rape, three — Georgia, Idaho and Mississippi — require a police report to be filed before requesting an abortion.
Oklahoma also has an abortion ban, HB 4327, signed by Gov. Kevin Stitt in May with exceptions for rape that requires a police report as well. However, the state has passed multiple contradictory abortion bills in the past year including one a month earlier that Stitt signed, which does not have exemptions for rape or incest.
State Rep. Jim Olsen said the exceptions for rape were added because the bill allowed anyone who “aids or abets” an abortion to be sued for up to $10,000 in damages but lawmakers didn’t want the rapist to be allowed to sue.
However, he believes that generally abortion bans should not include exceptions for rape.
“It is not the baby’s fault the circumstances of their conception, if it was something as horrible as that,” he told ABC News. “The baby has the same right to life that you and I have. And again, it’s not the baby’s fault the circumstances of their conception.”
Olsen continued, “Now, rape is a horrible, horrible, horrible crime and somebody needs to be punished for that. But it shouldn’t be the baby. It should be the rapist who gets punished for it.”
Most sexual assaults are not reported
However, most rapes are not reported to the police. In fact, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, two out of every three sexual assaults go unreported.
Elizabeth Nash, interim associate director of state issues at the Guttmacher Institute, said there are several reasons why someone might not report their rape – especially if they’re pregnant – including fear of retribution from the rapist [or the person who raped them], fear people won’t believe them or fear of ostracization from their community.
“When you combine the need to report in order to access an abortion, you’re really putting a barrier in place for someone to get the abortion that they need,” she told ABC News.
Goodwin said having to report the assault can be like a second trauma for a victim of rape.
“There is tremendous trauma that can result from being pregnant when one does not wish to be that is only magnified after one has been raped, becomes pregnant, and due to that rape, and then has to go through the interrogation,” she said. “Because, when a person, when a woman, when a child files a report about being raped, it’s not as if someone presents them with a comfortable environment. Instead, questions are asked, and those questions without the proper training and sensitivity can be quite harsh.”
Experts say abortion providers may be unsure how to proceed in exceptions for rape. Although the laws require a police report to be filed, it’s unclear if anything specific needs to be in the report or if the victim needs to take any other steps.
“It’s not entirely clear what all is required or if providers will be able to meet the letter of the law in providing an abortion under the rape exception,” Nash said. “There’s this concern that if a provider tries to meet the requirements of the exception that, in some way, they will fall short and then the state will prosecute them in some way.”
She said these exceptions could potentially dissuade providers from performing abortions under the rape exception for fear of potential prosecution or lead to clinics moving their services across state lines where abortion access is freer.
For example, even though North Dakota’s abortion ban, which includes an exception for rape, is currently blocked in court, the state’s sole abortion clinic — the Red River Women’s Clinic located in Fargo — said it will be providing abortions in Minnesota.
“Abortion is still legal in North Dakota, for now,” the clinic wrote on its website. “However, Red River Women’s Clinic has made the commitment to continue to provide abortion care to our region, so we have moved our services across the river to Moorhead, MN.”
(NAPA VALLEY, CA) — Famed California restaurant Goose & Gander has apologized to South African musician Jonathan Kenneth Butler after an incident over the weekend in which a manager followed the singer-songwriter to his car to inquire about a tip.
Butler accepted the apology, according to the restaurant, citing wisdom from the late anti-apartheid activist and former South African President Nelson Mandela in his conversation with the owner.
Butler was in Napa Valley on Sunday to perform two shows at the Charles Krug Winery’s Blue Note jazz club. The singer-songwriter ate at Goose & Gander that same day and said that after the meal he was followed to his car by a manager who pressed him to see if Butler had “taken care” of the wait staff who served him.
In a nearly five minute video posted to TikTok and Instagram, Butler discussed the incident and why he believed he was racially profiled.
“I’m deeply offended. This stuff has to stop. We should all be treated with decency and humanity,” he said alongside the post in the caption.
Butler stated in the video that he had paid the bill and had tipped his server “very well.”
“[The manager] showed so much lack of respect for me and all of us who ate at the restaurant,” he added. “I don’t think he’ll do that to a white person, but he did it to me.”
Goose & Gander published an initial apology on Monday, stating that the incident “should never have happened” and that the manager in question had been placed on leave.
In a follow-up on Wednesday, the restaurant again apologized to Butler in a joint Instagram post with the musician, adding that the two parties had since spoken about the incident.
“Yesterday afternoon, Mr. Butler and [Goose & Gander owner Andy] Florsheim had a heartfelt, 30-minute discussion about the situation and a path forward,” a statement on the restaurant’s official Instagram page read. “Mr. Butler accepted Goose & Gander’s apology.”
“We agree that the incident never should have happened and that an important opportunity exists for the restaurant to learn and improve,” it continued. “Mr. Butler believes in reconciliation and not confrontation and cited Nelson Mandela, ‘Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.'”
“Mr. Butler will be back in the Napa Valley before the end of the year, we look forward to continuing our productive discussion in person,” the statement concluded.
According to the restaurant, the manager involved in Sunday’s incident, as well as the rest of Goose & Gander’s staff, will be working with “outside advisors with expertise in workplace sensitivity training” to prevent similar incidents in the future.
(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 18, 3:59 PM EDT
Russia reportedly tells Zaporizhzhia plant workers not to go to work Friday
Russia has reportedly told some workers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant not to go to work on Friday, according to Ukrainian officials.
In an official Telegram channel, the main director of Ukraine’s military intelligence said Thursday, “Occupiers announced an unexpected day off on August 19. At the nuclear plant there will only be operational staff. All other employees will be denied entry.”
The official added that representatives of the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom also have “temporarily left the territory of the plant.”
This comes as both Ukraine and Russia have warned of a provocation being planned at the plant Friday.
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett
Aug 18, 1:08 PM EDT
Zelenskyy calls on UN to ensure demilitarization of Zaporizhzhya plant
During a meeting in Lviv on Thursday with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the U.N. to ensure the demilitarization and “complete liberation” of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant from Russian forces, according to a statement from his office.
The two “agreed upon the parameters” of a possible visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, Zelenskyy’s office said.
Russia has claimed a demilitarized zone around the plant, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, would make it more vulnerable.
During their meeting in Lviv, Zelenskyy also called for a U.N. fact-finding mission to head to Olenivka, where dozens of Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in an explosion late last month.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Aug 18, 12:04 PM EDT
Russia rejects calls to create demilitarized zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
The international calls and proposals for Russia to create a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine are “unacceptable,” according to Ivan Nechayev, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Information and Press Department.
“Their implementation will make the plant even more vulnerable,” Nechayev said at a press briefing on Thursday.
Moscow is expecting experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the United Nations, to visit the Zaporizhzhia plant “in the near future,” according to Nechayev.
The secretary-generals of the U.N. and the IAEA have called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia plant, near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation. However, heavy fighting around the site has fueled fears of a catastrophe, like what happened at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in northern Ukraine over 36 years ago.
Aug 18, 9:34 AM EDT
Firefighter describes destruction after deadly strikes in Kharkiv
A Ukrainian firefighter who responded to the Russian missile attacks in Kharkiv overnight told ABC News that the scale of the blasts was “one of the biggest” he’s ever seen.
One of the rockets struck a large apartment block on Wednesday night, killing at least nine people and injuring another 16, according to Ukrainian authorities.
“It went through all four floors and hit the ground and almost blew up everything,” the firefighter, Roman Kachanov, told ABC News during an interview on Thursday. “All the buildings around were without windows.”
“There was a dormitory, and the building was almost completely ruined,” he added. “There was a playground that was smashed like a big titan blew it up.”
Kachanov is among the rescue workers searching for survivors amid the smoldering rubble.
“I’ve seen three bodies on the floor covered by objects,” he said. “We tried to extract them and while we tried, the other wall started to fall and we had to run away as fast as we can.”
Kachanov said another missile hit the city before dawn Thursday, not far from where he and his team were working. He said the blast “was very loud” and “sounded close.”
“Everyone had to lay down,” he recalled. “The team had to split — fire truck had to leave to go to that other fire.”
Aug 17, 5:40 PM EDT
Large apartment block struck in Kharkiv, at least 7 dead
At least seven people are dead and another 13 injured by strikes on a large apartment block in Kharkiv, officials said.
Based on recovered shrapnel, authorities determined an Iskander-M missile system was used in the strike, said Ivan Sokol, Ukraine’s director of the regional Department of Civil Defense.
Search and rescue efforts are ongoing at the three-story residential building, the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko
Aug 15, 1:49 PM EDT
Shelling resumes near power plant, both sides claim the other is firing
More shelling was underway Monday in city of Enerhodar, which is under Russian control and where the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant is located.
Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov urged residents to stay inside. He said Russian forces seized another government facility in Enerhodar, a lab where 30 of the employees are refusing to cooperate with the Russian-appointed administration.
Meanwhile, Russia’s semi-official Interfax reported that Ukrainian forces opened fire in Enerhodar.
Ukraine’s state nuclear regulator Energoatom said the plant remained occupied and controlled by Russian forces on Monday. The Ukrainian staff continues to work and make every effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, but Energoatom warned that periodic shelling by Russian troops with multiple rocket launchers since last week caused a serious risk to the safe operation of the plant.
Aug 15, 5:53 AM EDT
Griner to appeal Russian conviction, lawyer says
Brittney Griner’s defense team filed an appeal for the verdict by Khimky City Court, according to Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin Gortsunyan Dyakin and Partners law firm.
The WNBA star was found guilty on drug charges in a Moscow-area court this month.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova
Aug 14, 4:44 PM EDT
1st UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat set to depart for Africa
The first UN-chartered ship loaded with Ukrainian wheat is set to head for Africa from the near the port city Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Sunday.
The MV Brave Commander is loaded with 23,000 tons of wheat that will be shipped to Ethiopia as part of a mission to relieve a global food crisis caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine that has halted grain exports for months, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Alexander Kubrakov announced at a news conference.
Kubrakov said the UN-chartered ship is scheduled to leave the Pivdenny port near Odesa on Monday.
“When three months ago, during the meeting of the President of Ukraine (Volodymyr) Zelenskyy and the U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in Kyiv the first negotiations on unlocking Ukrainian maritime ports began, we have already seen how critical it is becoming a food situation in the world.” Kubrakov wrote in a Facebook post on Sunday. “This especially applies to the least socially protected countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, for whom Ukraine has always been a key importer of agro-production.”
He said Ethiopia is in desperate need of Ukrainian grain.
“This country has been suffering from record drought and armed confrontation for the second year in a row,” Kubrakov said. “Ukrainian grain for them without exaggeration — the matter of life and death.”
He said he hopes the MV Brave Commander will be the first many more grain shipments under the U.N. World Food Program.
Aug 12, 2:28 PM EDT
‘They treat us like captives’: Exiled Zaporizhzhia manager on conditions at plant
An exiled manager at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant told ABC News that the Ukrainian staff is treated “like captives.”
Oleg, who asked to be referred by a pseudonym, said he felt threatened by the Russian soldiers.
“They didn’t say, ‘I’m going to shoot you now,’ but they always carry guns and assault rifles with them,” said Oleg, who managed one of 80 units at the plant but was able to leave last month. “And when an assault rifle or a gun has a cocked trigger, I consider it as a threat.”
Amid reported shelling in the vicinity of the plant, Oleg said he was primarily concerned about its spent fuel containers, “which are in a precarious position, and they are not shielded well.”
Aug 11, 4:43 PM EDT
UN secretary-general calls for all military activities around nuclear power plant to ‘cease immediately’
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is “calling for all military activities” around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in southern Ukraine “to cease immediately,” and for armies not “to target its facilities or surroundings.”
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator Energoatom said Russian forces shelled the plant for a third time on Thursday, hitting close to the first power unit. Earlier on Thursday, Energoatom said five rockets struck the area around the commandant’s office, close to where the radioactive material is stored.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-installed interim governor of Zaporizhzhya Oblast, issued a statement claiming Ukrainian forces struck the plant, hitting close to an area with radioactive material.
Guterres said he’s appealed to all parties to “exercise common sense” and take any actions that could endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
“Instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster,” he said, adding that he’s “gravely concerned.”
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, pleaded with the U.N. Security Council Thursday to allow for an IAEA mission to visit the plant as soon as possible. He said the situation at the plant is deteriorating rapidly and is “becoming very alarming.”
(WINTER SPRINGS, Fla.) — A Florida woman was killed Thursday by lightning that also struck her child and a dog, authorities said.
The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon in Winter Springs, a small city in central Florida’s Seminole County, some 15 miles north of Orlando. The Winter Springs Police Department said it received multiple reports of people possibly being struck by lightning near Trotwood Park at about 2:20 p.m. local time and deployed officers to the scene. Lightning appeared to have “hit a nearby tree, energizing the area and striking the victims,” police said.
The Seminole County Fire Department also responded and provided immediate lifesaving aid to the victims on site. A woman and her child were subsequently transported to area hospitals for treatment, where the mother died, according to police.
“The child and K9 have been seen by medical professionals and are doing fine,” the Winter Springs Police Department said in a press release Thursday. “We are not releasing the names so the family may grieve from this unfortunate event.”
Seminole County Public Schools confirmed that the victims included a Keeth Elementary School student and their parent.
“SCPS and Keeth Elementary School remain committed to the safety and security of all students and will continue to take safety precautions in the event of inclement weather,” the school district said in a statement via social media on Thursday. “Additional counselors will be on campus to support students and/or staff impacted by this event.”
Seminole County Sheriff Dennis Lemma said it was “a tragic day in the City of Winter Springs and the entire Seminole County Community.”
“Please say a prayer for the family who has lost a mother, and all of those involved and affected by today’s storm,” Lemma said in a statement via social media on Thursday. “Our team responded to assist the City and family — and remains ready to support the school district and community with any needs.”
The death brings the total number of lightning-related fatalities in the United States so far this year to 14. Based on the past decade, an average of 18 lightning deaths occur in the country by mid-August, according to data compiled by John Jensenius, a meteorologist with the National Lightning Safety Council who retired from the National Weather Service in 2019 after more than 41 years with the agency.
Lightning is a major cause of storm-related deaths in the U.S. A lightning strike can result in cardiac arrest, though only about 10% of victims are killed, according to the National Weather Service.
Nevertheless, lightning strikes can leave a person with various degrees of disability and many long-term health problems, including muscle soreness, headaches, cognitive problems and nausea.
The odds of being struck by lightning in your lifetime are 1 in 15,300, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — /Nine-year-old Zarlasht says she cried when her mother first cut her hair.
She says she felt uncomfortable in the clothes her older brothers lent her, but pulling the sweatshirt hood over her head could make her look more like a boy and help ensure her survival when she’s on the streets of Kabul.
As dusk falls, Zarlasht walks near a bakery storefront, but it will be another hour of work before she can buy a loaf of bread. She walks with two-plastic wrapped packets of watermelon-flavored gum, trying to sell pieces to anyone who passes.
Most will ignore her.
In the two years since she’s been working on the street, Zarlasht says she usually makes between $1-2 a day. She says she spends it at the bakery to feed her four siblings and parents who wait each night for her return.
“I am always scared going out to do some work,” she tells ABC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Ian Pannell, who spoke with Zarlasht through a translator and followed her as she navigated part of a day in her life in Kabul. While she says she hasn’t faced anything as dangerous so far, she fears of one day being kidnapped. “I don’t know what will happen,” she says.
Her father sells vegetables in a market, but doesn’t make enough money to feed the family. Her mother, Shahpari, suffered a stroke she says was caused by the explosive sounds of war. She says it left a side of her body partially paralyzed and while some movement has returned, she claims she is unable to work. Shahpari explained that while her other children assist their mother throughout the day at home, Zarlasht, the youngest, is tasked with finding money for food on the street.
The young girl is not alone. UNICEF estimates that there are 60,000 street children in Kabul, alone. Thousands more were forced out of their homes in the days following the Taliban takeover. They walk the streets, desperate for money and food as the stranglehold on the national economy tightens.
Malnutrition can lead to frailty, but also an inability to sleep, focus, study, and stay motivated. UNICEF expects that international humanitarian food assistance could decrease from reaching 38% of the Afghan population to only 8% in the next few months, warning that 1.1 million children in the country could die this year due to lack of food if there is not serious intervention.
In Kabul, a local cafe offers a rare refuge for kids working on the streets.
Salam Cafe provides ice cold water and free, nutrient-rich meals three times a day to at least 45 Afghan street kids who are a part of the Hospitality for Humanity program.
For Zarlasht, it allows for a desperately needed reprieve during her day. Taking a break from selling watermelon-flavored gum on the street, she can eat thick slices of watermelon with other people her age.
The few rooms have become a clean and safe space where Afghan street working children can more comfortably be themselves. Kids draw and leaf through picture books. Instead of competing for spare change on the traffic-congested streets, the boys and girls sit together and play rock-paper-scissors.
In the cafe, teachers also lead classes to practice writing, reading, and other skills at a time where many girls in the country have been unable to attend formal school for close to a year.
“They have big dreams,” the co-director of Salam Cafe, Salma Aslami, says of the children she works with. “Many of them told me I wish I become I the future a good engineer, teacher, doctor.”
Instead, she says they “are being tortured.” She assesses the situation is only getting worse.
Funds for the cafe are being depleted. If its doors close, aid workers say the kids might only be able to receive up to one meal a day elsewhere. Aslami says they can already face severe abuse on the streets.
While just this month the Supreme Leader of the Taliban has ordered to take beggars off the streets and offer jobs or education, Aslami hasn’t seen a difference. “They will pay them a salary, but nothing has been done yet,” she claims.
“I don’t know how long more we will face this kind of difficulties,” Zarlasht admits. “I wish to have better life and get out this kind of life. We have bad life.”
While the cafe has been a safe space for her, the demanding work is still waiting for her once she steps outside its walls. The bakery she sells gum outside of is only a 10-minute walk away.
With the few dollars she makes a day, Zarlasht hopes to make enough money to someday also pay for her mother’s medicine. Despite recent attacks by the Taliban on girls’ access to education, she says she aspires to become a doctor.
“I want to get rid of these problems,” she says.
Until then, she says she may be forced to remain out on the streets, wandering through passersby, waiting for others to look down and notice.
ABC News’ Ian Pannell and Cindy Smith contributed to this report.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Uvalde residents, including families of Robb Elementary School shooting victims, have signed and sent a petition against assault weapons to Randy Klein, the owner of Oasis Outback, the local sporting goods store where the gunman retrieved the AR-15 he used to shoot at the school.
ABC News has reached out for comment.
“The members of this group feel strongly about our second amendment rights and support your establishment’s commitment to selling guns and ammunition,” the petition reads. “However, we come to you today with a request.”
It continued, “Out of RESPECT for and in support of those affected by this catastrophe, we strongly urge you to cease the sale of assault rifles and the ammunition paired with them.”
The petition also asks for Klein to end the handling of gun transfers of this style of firearm from gun retail stores and manufacturers.
“Doing so will ensure that children across Uvalde County will never have to worry about a new purchase of this type of weapon,” the petition reads.
In a Wednesday meeting of the “Uvalde Strong for Gun Safety” group, a local pediatrician and gun safety advocate Roy Guerrero said that Klein will have 30 days to respond to the petition. Guerrero urged others to sign and mail in the petition themselves.
If Klein refuses to respond or meet with victims’ families, the residents behind the petition have several plans of action – including protests, media campaigns, and calls to legislators.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone’s business, but I am here to do the right thing,” Guerrero said.
Several meeting attendees and petitioners – including parents of Robb Elementary School victims – have said they are gun owners themselves and are pleading with business owners and local leaders to make a change.
“You can’t meet us at a happy medium? Just raising the age on [gun purchases]?” said Nikki Cross, the aunt of 10-year-old victim Uziyah Garcia and who is a gun owner herself. “I think that would be tremendous to start.”
In Texas, there are few restrictions on purchasing firearms. People 18 and older can legally purchase long guns, and “law-abiding Texans” can carry handguns without a license or training.
The Uvalde city council and school board have passed resolutions calling on Gov. Greg Abbot to increase the age for purchasing assault rifles.
According to the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates for gun control and studies gun laws across the country, four of the deadliest mass shootings in the U.S., including the Uvalde tragedy, have happened in Texas.
Abbott has blamed the mass shooting in Uvalde on mental health issues. He has said that law enforcement believes increased gun violence is due to the growing prevalence of people with mental health issues, not lax gun laws.
Meeting attendees said they plan to keep pushing for gun safety policy, in hopes that no one forgets the May 24 tragedy.
“Nobody understands what a victim’s parent is going through, or a family member is going through,” said one attendee. “They want to sit there and they want to bash [us]. But yet, you have no idea. You’re already back to your normal life like it’s nothing.”
