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Twitter trial against Elon Musk set for October

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A Delaware court on Tuesday determined that the trial in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk should take place in October, granting an expedited timeline for the case.

Twitter sued Musk — the chief executive of Tesla and the richest person in the world, according to Forbes’ Billionaires List — in an attempt to force him to complete his purchase of the company, after he declared in early July he was walking away from the deal.

The scheduling decision made Tuesday — to hold the trial over five days in October — appeared to align more closely with a timeline requested by Twitter, which had sought a four-day trial in September. Musk asked the court to set a trial date no earlier than mid-February 2023.

“The reality is that delay risks irreparable harm” to Twitter, said Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick.

Attorneys for Musk and Twitter alleged on Tuesday that their opponents held ulterior motives for the timelines they sought.

William Savitt, an attorney from Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, who is representing Twitter, accused Musk of delaying the court proceeding in the hope of increasing his negotiating leverage or scuttling the deal with Twitter altogether.

“The company is faced with substantial increasing risk specifically by the overhanging of the merger agreement — and it’s by design,” Savitt said.

“Mr. Musk has been and remains contractually obligated to use his best efforts to close this deal,” Savitt added. “What he’s doing is the exact opposite of best efforts. It’s attempted sabotage.”

Andrew Rossman, an attorney for Musk and a managing partner at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, rebuked the claim. Instead, he argued that Twitter has sought to accelerate the case to prevent Musk and his representatives from assessing the company’s estimate in an SEC filing that less than 5% of accounts on the platform are bot or fake accounts.

“There’s no reason to try to do this in two months, except for one. The one reason is what Twitter wants to do is continue to shroud in secrecy the issue regarding their less than 5% spam and false account representation,” he said.

“As long as is necessary to get this deal railroaded through and force Mr. Musk to close,” he added.

“Twitter’s bid for extreme expedition rests on the false premise that the Termination Date in the merger agreement is October 24, glossing over that this date is automatically stayed if either party files litigation. By filing its complaint, Plaintiff has rendered its supposed need for a September trial moot,” Alex Spiro, an attorney for Musk, wrote in a court filing on Friday.

The Delaware Chancery Court will determine whether Musk remains obligated to purchase Twitter.

Musk has claimed Twitter failed to disclose the number of fake accounts on the platform. Twitter has said 5% of active users are bots but Musk has said he believes the figure is higher.

“Post-signing, Defendants promptly sought to understand Twitter’s process for identifying false or spam accounts. In a May 6 meeting with Twitter executives, Musk was flabbergasted to learn just how meager Twitter’s process was,” Musk’s filing said.

The legal battle marks the latest chapter in a monthslong saga that began in January when Musk started investing in Twitter.

Musk reached an acquisition deal with Twitter in April, but in the weeks since, he has raised concerns over spam accounts on the platform, claiming Twitter has not provided him with an accurate estimate of their number. Twitter has rebuked that claim, saying it has provided Musk with information in accordance with conditions set out in the acquisition deal.

Last Tuesday, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal.

“Musk refuses to honor his obligations to Twitter and its stockholders because the deal he signed no longer serves his personal interests,” Twitter said in the lawsuit. “Musk apparently believes that he — unlike every other party subject to Delaware contract law — is free to change his mind, trash the company, disrupt its operations, destroy stockholder value, and walk away.”

Secret Service will say no new Jan. 6 texts found after records were deleted; investigation requested

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Secret Service is preparing to notify the House Jan. 6 committee that it has found no new text messages related to the Capitol riot, a source says — the same day the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) sent a letter requesting the agency investigate the deletion of some its records from Jan. 6, 2021, which drew the scrutiny of an internal watchdog.

The Secret Service’s plans were confirmed to ABC News on Tuesday by a source familiar with the matter.

A Secret Service spokesman last week acknowledged that text messages from Jan. 5 and Jan. 6, 2021, were deleted after being sought by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General.

A letter sent Wednesday by the inspector general to the heads of the House and Senate Homeland Security Committees said the messages were deleted “as part of a device-replacement program” despite the inspector general requesting such communications.

The director of communications for the Secret Service, Anthony Guglielmi, subsequently dismissed any “insinuation” the agents had intentionally deleted the texts.

The Jan. 6 committee subpoenaed the Secret Service on Friday — its first such order to an executive agency.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a member of the Jan. 6 committee, said on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday that the panel expected more information about the Secret Service texts by Tuesday.

“We need all of the texts from the fifth and sixth of January. I was shocked to hear that they didn’t back up their data before they reset their iPhones. That’s crazy, and I don’t know why that would be,” Lofgren, D-Calif., said then. “But we need to get this information to get the full picture.”

In its letter on Tuesday, the NARA wrote that “if it is determined that any text messages have been improperly deleted” — “regardless of their relevance” to Jan. 6 investigations — “then the Secret Service must send NARA a report within 30 calendar days of the date of this letter with a report documenting the deletion.”

“This report must include a complete description of the records affected, a statement of the exact circumstances surrounding the deletion of messages, a statement of the safeguards established to prevent further loss of documentation, and details of all agency actions taken to salvage, retrieve, or reconstruct the records,” NARA wrote.

The Secret Service — which has faced fresh controversy over its conduct amid the insurrection and then-President Donald Trump’s behavior that day — has repeatedly said it is readily cooperating with both the inspector general and the Jan. 6 committee.

“Over the last 18 months, we have voluntarily provided dozens of hours of formal testimony from special agents and over 790,000 unredacted emails, radio transmissions, operational and planning records,” spokesman Guglielmi said Friday. “We plan to continue that cooperation by responding swiftly to the Committee’s subpoena.”

Will the BA.5 COVID strain force new mask mandates?

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The new COVID-19 variant, called BA.5, has been rapidly spreading across the country and is now estimated to make up more than 60% of new cases, according to the CDC. It is highly transmissible, compared to previous variants, and seemingly more resistant to prior vaccinations and immunities.

These factors are making people think differently about wearing masks, which experts say are still an effective way to curb the spread of the virus. Los Angeles County, for example, will likely reinstate an indoor mask mandate at the end of the month due to rising COVID-19 cases.

ABC News’ “Start Here” podcast spoke on Monday with John Brownstein, Chief Innovation Officer at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, professor at Harvard Medical School and ABC News Medical contributor, about best practices for protecting people against this latest variant.

START HERE: John, the mask debate has been with us as long as COVID. Los Angeles County is talking about reinstating mask rules. How effective are masks against this super contagious subvariant BA.5?

BROWNSTEIN: You know, Michelle, there is nothing as contentious as the mask debate of anything that we’ve dealt with with the pandemic. And it’s very surprising as a scientist, because a layer between you and others that protects you from transmission, it seems like very basic science.

But also at the community level, when you take on masks at the community level, you will see transmission go down. And that is why communities like L.A. are deciding to take on masking, because they’re looking at their particular context, seeing a surge and ultimately applying correct interventions to help reduce risk and ultimately not allowing for further transmission. That would ultimately create a surge in our hospitals and a capacity concern.

And so masking makes sense, but in a highly targeted way. That’s why we have to be very specific in the timing of masking. You’re pre-surge in the community. You’re seeing cases go up. That’s when you want to bring in masks to help reduce transmission, help reduce the risk to our health systems.

But these are not broad scale mask mandates across the country for undefined amounts of time. These are very targeted and this is why it’s done at the local public health level. They can look at the data and make these decisions and have people engage in a very important intervention to reduce the risk to the community.

START HERE: In terms of vaccination…we are in a much better place than last year. More Americans are vaccinated, boosted. There are treatments to help with symptoms. But how is this latest subvariant throwing a wrench into all the tools we have at our disposal?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first, it’s really important to note that the tools that we have still work. If you’re fully up to date with your vaccines, especially if you’re on that booster and that second booster, if eligible, it dramatically reduces your risk of severe illness and death. So that’s point No. 1. Testing still works. Masking still works. So all the tools still work.

The issue is that this new variant is highly transmissible. It’s immune evasive in the sense that if you are exposed to this variant, your previous immunity from vaccination and potentially other variants, likely non-human variants, doesn’t necessarily protect you in the same way as previous infections. And so we’re going to see increased amounts of breakthrough infections.

Many of those will not turn, of course, into severe illness, but they’re turning into infections that ultimately lead to more transmission. And then we’ll see the impact in our most vulnerable communities, those that are elderly, immunocompromised, and we’ll see history repeating itself. And that’s the real concern we have with this new immune evasive variant.

START HERE: And how does testing factor in — should Americans be testing regularly at home?

BROWNSTEIN: Yeah, testing is such an important first line of defense. It’s been the cornerstone of our response. We’ve seen testing dramatically reduce. People are not going to get PCRs and even home testing is declining.

And that’s a problem because if people don’t have awareness of their infection, they are not necessarily isolating and potentially creating risk into the community. And that leads, of course, to these surges that we’re seeing. And so I advocate, you know, the testing. It’s simple. You know, there’s so much availability. There’s free home tests that the Biden administration is offering. Please use those because that really will have such an impact on the course of this BA.5 surge.

START HERE: Health experts say they are focusing on a booster for adults this fall — a new one targeting the latest subvariants? But should the government be expanding access to the second booster we have now for all adults?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, it’s a very complicated answer because the data isn’t absolutely clear about this for young, healthy adults, for older Americans. Those compromised. The risk is significant and getting that second booster is clear. I think we’re still waiting for compelling data at the same time. There should be broad availability. You know, there is plenty of supply out there. So if someone feels, based on their own risk tolerance, that they want that second booster, there’s really no downside.

So it makes sense to expand that availability. But we have to be very careful here because the messaging on boosters has been complicated. We don’t want to create vaccine fatigue, and we especially want to make sure that we have compelling reasons to get people boosters in the fall when we have this new variant specific bivalent vaccine. So I think making sure that we can make it available to as many people [who] will want it without sort of undermining a potential fall vaccination strategy.

START HERE: All right. That is John Brownstein with Boston Children’s Hospital. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks, Michelle.

Twitter’s lawsuit against Elon Musk set for first hearing

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A Delaware court on Tuesday is set to hold the first hearing in a lawsuit brought by Twitter against Elon Musk that would force him to complete his $44 billion acquisition of the company.

Court Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick has set a 90-minute hearing to debate whether to set a trial date for September.

Musk, the chief executive of Tesla and the richest person in the world, according to Forbes‘ Billionaires List, asked a Delaware court on Friday to reject Twitter’s attempt to put the merger case on trial in September, arguing it’s an “unjustifiable” time frame.

Twitter sued Musk in an attempt to force him to complete his purchase of the company, after he declared in early July he was walking away from the deal.

Twitter sought a four-day trial in September, saying the deal must be closed by an October deadline.

“Twitter’s bid for extreme expedition rests on the false premise that the Termination Date in the merger agreement is October 24, glossing over that this date is automatically stayed if either party files litigation. By filing its complaint, Plaintiff has rendered its supposed need for a September trial moot,” Alex Spiro, Musk’s attorney, wrote in Friday’s court filing.

The Delaware Chancery Court will determine whether Musk remains obligated to purchase Twitter.

Musk has claimed Twitter failed to disclose the number of fake accounts on the platform. Twitter has said 5% of active users are bots but Musk has said he believes the figure is higher.

The legal battle marks the latest chapter in a monthslong saga that began in January when Musk started investing in Twitter.

Musk asked the court to set a trial date no earlier than mid-February 2023.

Last Tuesday, Twitter sued Musk to force him to complete the deal.

Jan. 6 committee chair Bennie Thompson tests positive for COVID-19

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Bennie Thompson, the chairman of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, announced Tuesday he has COVID-19 two days ahead of a prime-time hearing Thursday.

“I tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday, and I am experiencing mild symptoms,” Thompson said in a statement. “Gratefully, I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I am continuing to follow CDC guidelines and will be isolating for the next several days.”

Despite Thompson’s diagnosis, the committee’s next hearing later this week will go on as planned.

“While Chairman Thompson is disappointed with his COVID diagnosis, he has instructed the Select Committee to proceed with Thursday evening’s hearing,” a spokesperson for the committee said in a statement. “Committee members and staff wish the Chairman a speedy recovery.”

Thursday’s hearing will focus on former President Donald Trump’s response to the attack, zeroing in on the 187 minutes between his speech at the Ellipse and his statement later that day telling rioters to go home.

Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., told “GMA 3” last week that evidence shows Trump wasn’t emphatic in his call to the rioters to stop the violence.

Luria will be leading the hearing along with Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger.

“Mr. Kinzinger and I plan to go through that 187 minutes. What happened between the time that [Trump] left the stage, gave these inflammatory remarks and gave people the impression … that he was going to himself march with this crowd to the Capitol,” Luria said.

“[And] what happened between that moment and then around 4:17 in the afternoon, which is about 187 minutes later, when he finally made a statement to the nation, to the people at the Capitol to go home,” she added.

Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to former chief of staff Mark Meadows, previously testified that Trump was not empathetic to the violent language targeting his vice president during the riot — including calls to “hang Mike Pence.”

Two more aides in Trump’s White House are expected to testify before the panel, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

Former deputy White House press secretary Sarah Matthews and Matthew Pottinger, a member of the National Security Council during the Trump administration, are slated to speak Thursday. Both officials resigned from their posts on Jan. 6, 2021.

Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat, has opened each of the seven public hearings the committee has held since early June.

In his statement Tuesday, Thompson encouraged Americans to get vaccinated.

“The pandemic has impacted our lives, changed the way we work, and affected our daily activities,” he said. “Vaccinations are crucial to humanity. The message to unvaccinated Americans is to protect yourself from infectious diseases by getting vaccinated. We must continue to do our part.”

UK temperature tops 40 C for first time, as Heathrow passes 104 F

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The U.K. on Tuesday posted its highest temperature on record, breaking 40 degrees Celsius for the first time, after government officials declared a national emergency and issued unprecedented health warnings.

“London Heathrow reported a temperature of 40.2°C at 12:50 today,” the Met Office said.

The Met Office earlier on Tuesday had provisionally recorded a record-breaking temperature of 39.1 degrees Celsius (102.38 Fahrenheit) in the village of Charlwood, England. Temperatures are likely to rise throughout the day, they said.

Monday night saw the U.K. experience the hottest night on record, the Met Office said.

For the first time, the Met Office has issued a “Red warning” in response to the extraordinary heat.

The heat wave in Britain, which has been linked to climate change, follows a weekend of wildfires and soaring deadly temperatures in France, Portugal and Spain.

Thousands have been forced to flee wildfires in southern France and Spain, and more than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the heat wave in Portugal and Spain since earlier in July by the countries’ respective health ministries. France could experience its hottest day on record on Monday, according to local media.

The previous hottest day on record in the U.K. stands at 38.7 C (101.6 F.) But that is expected to be surpassed on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40°C (104 F) in parts of the U.K.

“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas,” the Met Office’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said in a statement. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”

Government scientists have warned that the frequency, intensity and duration of similar heat waves will increase in the coming century as the world continues to experience the effects of climate change.

“We hoped we wouldn’t get to this situation but for the first time ever we are forecasting greater than 40°C in the U.K.,” Dr. Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, said. “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the U.K. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”

Despite the heat, schools are expected to remain open. However, there are concerns that U.K. infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with such weather events. While offices are generally equipped with air-conditioning, only a small number of homes have air-conditioning units.

One Met Office meteorologist, Steven Keates, warned that the heat was not something to celebrate.

“This is not just another heatwave,” Keates told The Telegraph. “This is dangerous heat, because we’re not used to it. It’s simple –our infrastructure is not geared up for weather like this.”

“Do as little as possible,” he added. “Because heat is fatiguing and we are in slightly uncharted territory.”

Biden to sign executive order on Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will sign an executive order on Tuesday that codifies a 2020 law dealing with Americans held hostage or wrongfully detained abroad.

Drawing on the 2020 Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act, the new executive order will reinforce the U.S. government’s efforts to support families of Americans wrongfully detained or held hostage overseas, according to the White House.

The order will authorize the federal government to impose financial sanctions on those who are involved — directly or indirectly — in wrongful detaining Americans abroad, the White House said. Moreover, government agencies will be directed to improve engagement with those Americans’ families, including sharing intelligence information about their loved ones and the government’s efforts to free them. The order will also charge experts across agencies with developing “options and strategies to deter future hostage-takings,” the White House said.

A senior Biden administration official told reporters that new sanctions will not be announced on Tuesday.

In addition to the executive order, Biden will introduce a new “risk indicator” — “the ‘D’ indicator” — to the U.S. Department of State’s travel advisories for particular countries to alert Americans of the risk of wrongful detention by a foreign government, according to the White House.

Starting Tuesday, the first countries to receive this additional risk indicator will be China, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela, another senior administration official told reporters. The “D” indicator joins the existing “K” indicator that covers the risk of kidnapping and hostage-taking by non-state actors, as well as a range of other existing risk indicators.

China’s “D” risk designation may spark ire in Beijing, where Chinese officials have largely tried to avoid the subject of wrongful detentions and where Western sanctions are a constant trigger.

Experts estimate that roughly 200 Americans are arbitrarily jailed in China, and that even more are subject to unlawful “exit bans,” barring them from leaving the country. Some advocates have pushed for the Biden administration to take a more vocal approach to secure their freedom, rather than the standard behind-the-scenes diplomacy. But the State Department has recently tried a similar strategy — updating their official advisory to American and instructing them to reconsider travel plans to China due to “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.”

Syria, with which the United States does not currently have formal diplomatic relations, will be notably excluded from the “D” risk designation on Tuesday. U.S. officials believe that while the Syrian government may not be currently holding American journalist Austin Tice in its custody, it could have valuable information on his whereabouts and perhaps those of other missing Americans. Tice, 40, was abducted in Syria nearly 10 years ago.

The White House recently held a telephone call for the relatives of detained Americans to share information with them about these new announcements. Some of them are in Washington, D.C., this week for the unveiling of a mural depicting their loved ones, according to a spokesperson for many of the families, Jonathan Franks.

Franks, who represents a group called the Bring Our Families Home Campaign, accused U.S. officials of holding a “one-way conversation with families” and ignoring their requests to meet with Biden.

The public mural in Washington’s Georgetown neighborhood will depict the faces of 18 American hostages and wrongful detainees, according to Franks. Among those featured will be American basketball star Brittney Griner, 31, and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, 52, both of whom remain detained in Russia, as well as U.S. permanent resident Paul Rusesabagina, 68, who inspired the acclaimed 2004 film Hotel Rwanda and was sentenced last September to 25 years in Rwandan prison over terrorism charges.

Franks accused the White House of rolling out these new steps in order to “pre-manage the press attention from many hostage families being in D.C. this week to unveil their mural,” saying “the White House is taking executive action to direct itself to follow existing law.”

The White House declined to comment in response to Franks.

According to the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, there are actually 64 publicly known cases of Americans being held hostage or wrongfully detained around the world.

Heat-related deaths top 1,100 in Spain, Portugal amid heat wave and wildfires

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As Western Europe experiences a record-breaking heat wave, Spain and Portugal have reported at least 1,169 heat-related deaths, according to each country’s ministry of health.

At least 510 people died from heat-related issues in Spain between July 10 and July 18, the country’s health ministry said. Of those deaths, 273 were recorded on Friday, officials said. Another 659 heat-related deaths were recorded in Portugal between July 7 and July 17, local officials said.

Thousands of firefighters were having trouble containing forest fires in France, Spain and Portugal that have destroyed thousands of acres of land. The fires have forced thousands of people to evacuate to safety, as extreme heat grips the region.

In southern France, more than 14,000 people were forced to flee as fires spread to more than 27,180 acres of land. The country’s Interior Ministry also issued red alerts for heat waves for 15 French departments and orange alerts for 51 departments on Sunday.

France, reached a high of 40.8 degrees Celsius — 105.44 Fahrenheit — on Sunday. Temperatures remained high on Monday and Tuesday, but were expected to break by Wednesday.

The number of people who died of heat-related deaths is unknown, but France’s Ministry of Health told ABC News that information on the number of casualties will be released at the end of the month.

Firefighters in Spain were fighting 30 active fires, mostly in Castilla y Leon, Galicia and Andalusia, Interior Ministry and Catalan Authorities said.

Temperatures on Sunday were forecast to reach 42 C (107.6 F) in three provinces in the country, prompting the state meteorological agency to issue “extreme risk” alerts.

In Mijas, Spain, in the municipality of Malaga, 3,000 people have fled due to fires. More than 22,000 acres of land are at risk of being burned in the Mijas province as firefighters struggle to contain the flames.

Wildfires are happening earlier in the season, ending later and becoming more frequent because of climate change, the European Union said in a report last year.

“Climate change is aggravating the situation, making countries more prone to wildfires and increasing the intensity of such events,” the report said.

The sweltering heat is also expected to take hold of other parts of Europe in the coming days. Areas of England are expected to hit 40 C (104 F) on Tuesday.

“This year, for the first time, we’ve issued a severe weather emergency response in summer,” London Mayor Sadiq Khan said.

Ukrainians are being forcibly deported to Russian ‘filtration camps’

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Eduard Mkrtchian, injured during Russian shelling of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, said he was forced to evacuate and, at a Russian-controlled checkpoint, said he was given false information and forced to travel into Russia.

He told officials he wanted to go to western Ukraine, to a city called Zaporizhzhia, but was told “there’s no Zaporizhzhia anymore,” he said in an interview with ABC News’ Ines de La Cuetara.

Instead, he was brought to a so-called “filtration camp,” a checkpoint in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine where reports have emerged of people being interrogated for hours, their biometric data being recorded and their photos on their phones wiped.

He said he was repeatedly misled, and brought deeper and deeper into Russia.

“I was deceivingly taken to Russia,” he told ABC News.

The U.S. Department of State estimates that between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, have been “interrogated, detained, and forcibly deported” to Russia, adding that “the unlawful transfer and deportation of protected persons is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime.”

There are at least 18 “filtration camps” that have been set-up along the Russia-Ukraine border, according to Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

During his interrogation, Mkrtchian says, “they asked me to undress. They asked me the meaning of every tattoo on my body.”

“They deliberated a long time whether or not to let me go. I realized that they could kill me here,” he said.

“You have to fill out a form. There are different questions. For example – do you have relatives in the armed forces of Ukraine, do you know about the location of Ukrainian military bases, and so on,” said Mariupol resident Ruslan Bojko, who says he spent four days at a “filtration camp.”

ABC News spoke with Bojko on a reappropriated cruise ship in Tallinn, Estonia, that now houses more 1,800 Ukrainian refugees.

“These people don’t have a choice, they have to comply,” Tanya Lokshina, Europe and Central Asia associate director for Human Rights Watch, told ABC News. “The de facto choice, the only option that they have, is to remain in the streets and die under shelling.”

According to a statement released on Wednesday by the U.S. Department of State, “evidence is mounting that Russian authorities are also reportedly detaining or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians who do not pass ‘filtration.’”

“There are very strong grounds to believe that those individuals detained by them experience ill treatment and even torture,” said Lokshina.

“The woman who was sitting next to me in the filtration camp, her husband had been gone for two weeks. He was taken away for filtration and not returned. There were at least 10 women I spoke with who had similar stories,” said Mkrtchian.

Russia has acknowledged that it is resettling Ukrainian refugees, yet claims it is for “humanitarian” reasons.

After spending time in a refugee camp in Russia, Mkrtchian eventually traveled across Russia to Estonia where he now lives, awaiting the opportunity to return to Ukraine.

“How can I stay in a country that destroyed my life?” he said.

Second half of 2021 sees first increase of births since pandemic: CDC

July 19, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After months of declining births during the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of babies born may be rebounding in the United States, a new federal report finds.

The report, published early Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found there was a 4% increase in births for the second half of 2021 compared to the same period the year before.

Between July 2021 and December 2021, 1,905,953 babies were born compared to 1,830,523 babies born from July 2020 to December 2020, according to the CDC.

This marks the first increase in births seen since 2014, the researchers noted.

For the report, the authors looked at birth certificate data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, including final birth counts from 2019 and 2020, as well as provisional data for 2021.

Results showed that, when comparing 2020 counts to those of 2019, births declined in both the first and second halves of the year at 2% and 5%, respectively.

Additionally, compared to the first half of 2020, there was a 2% decrease in births in the first half of 2021.

January 2021 and February 2021 saw the biggest declines in births, at 9% and 2%, respectively.

Meanwhile, July 2021 to December 2021 recorded increases in births between 1% and 7% in comparison with July 2020 to December 2020. November 2021 and December 2021 saw the largest increases, at 6% and 7%, respectively, data showed.

Researchers also looked at changes in births based on the race and ethnicity of the mother.

During the first year of the pandemic, all races and ethnicities saw decreases in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The same trend continued in the first half of the year in 2021, with declines of between 2% and 8% for women in nearly all groups.

However, for the second half of 2021, increases were seen across multiple groups. Hispanic women saw the largest increase in births at 6%, followed by white women at 4% and Asian women at 3%, the report found.

Other groups — including Black women, American Indian/Alaskan Native women and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander women — did not see significant changes in the number of births during the second six months of 2021.

The report also looked at changes in the number of births by state. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia recorded a decline in births in the first half of 2021 compared to the first half of 2020, while only four states saw increases, the CDC report found.

Similarly, when comparing the first six months of 2019 to the same period in 2020, the number of births declined for 20 states.

However, in the second half of 2021, births increased for 39 states compared to the second half of 2020, with the largest increase seen in Connecticut at 10%.

Other significant increases were seen in New Hampshire at 9%, as well as Florida, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont at 8% each. Declines were seen in only two states: Arizona and New Mexico.

The authors note that despite the increase in births in 2021 compared to the year prior, the overall number — 3,659,289 — was still 2% lower than the 3,747,540 recorded in 2019.

“The difference in trends observed between the first two months of the year and the last seven months suggests that the downward trend seen in 2020 through the beginning of 2021 may have abated,” the authors wrote. “Ongoing evaluation of trends in births by month will monitor whether the changes observed for the second six months of 2021 will continue into the next year.”

The CDC did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

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