A TSA agent holds a card that is given to travelers not having a Real ID, stating that are not compliant and escorted by a TSA agent through security and allowed to fly at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Travelers going through airport security checkpoints without a REAL ID or passport will face a $45 fee starting Feb. 1, the Transportation Security Administration announced Monday.
This fee is part of the agency’s next phase of the REAL ID implementation process and will require individuals to verify their identity through a biometric or biographic system if they don’t have a compliant form of identification before they’re permitted to cross through the checkpoint.
The announcement follows a proposed rule published in the Federal Register last month, but the agency increased the fee from its previously proposed amount of $18.
“The fee was necessary because we needed to modernize the system. We needed to make sure that the system is safe,” Steve Lorincz, TSA’s deputy executive assistant administrator for security operations, told ABC News.
TSA says the fee will cover the administrative and IT costs associated with the ID verification program and ensure the expense is covered by the travelers and not the taxpayers.
Individuals traveling without a REAL ID can go online at TSA.gov and follow the instructions listed to verify their identity and pay the fees once it goes into effect next year.
After completing the steps, they will receive an email confirmation to show the TSA officer before they can pass through the checkpoint. The whole process should typically take between 10 to 15 minutes, but could also take as much as 30 minutes or even longer.
The agency warns that even then, there is no guarantee that individuals will be cleared to cross through the security checkpoint.
“We still need to go through the process to make sure that we verify who you are. And for whatever reason, if we can’t do that, then you can’t go through the process,” Lorincz said.
Travelers in line who get to the checkpoint without an acceptable form of ID will be sent out of the line to complete the online verification process before they can proceed. TSA says those with a lost or stolen REAL ID or passport will also have to pay fees.
Once verified, the fees will cover access through the TSA checkpoint for up to ten days. After that, if the individual travels without a REAL ID again, they will have to pay the fees.
The agency says around 94% of travelers are already using a REAL ID or another acceptable form of ID.
A view of the scene after two members of the US National Guard were shot and ‘critically wounded’ near the White House in Washington DC, United States on November 26, 2025. A suspect was in custody. (Photo by Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — As investigators continue to delve into what may have motivated the suspect in the deadly National Guardsmen shooting last week, a portrait of a life of increasing financial stress and a potential mental health crisis has emerged, sources familiar told ABC News.
Additionally, multiple sources said that investigators are looking into the impact of the recent death of an Afghan commander, who allegedly worked with the suspect, 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
The death of the commander — whom Lakanwal is said to have revered — had deeply saddened the suspect, sources said.
This may have compounded on Lakanwal’s financial burdens, including not being employed, having an expired work permit and allegedly struggling to pay rent and feed his children, sources said.
Officials said the suspect has a wife and five children. He drove from his residence in Washington state to the nation’s capital prior to the shooting and targeted the Guardsmen, officials said.
A senior law enforcement source told ABC News on Sunday that investigators are looking at everything and are closely examining the role of an apparently deteriorating situation at home.
The FBI, Homeland Security and intelligence officials are also investigating the possibility that the attack was directed by or inspired by international terrorists. But thus far, authorities have not publicly released any specific evidence tying Lakanwal to a terrorist organization and no terror charges have been filed.
The investigation into the deadly shooting is still in its early phases.
Two members of the National Guard were shot and seriously wounded just blocks from the White House in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26, with one guard dying as a result of her sustained injuries the next day.
President Donald Trump called the shooting “an act of evil, an act of hatred and an act of terror,” adding, “It was a crime against our entire nation.”
Trump, citing information from the Department of Homeland Security, said the suspect entered the U.S. from Afghanistan in September 2021, and criticized the prior administration of President Joe Biden.
The suspect previously worked with the U.S. government, including the CIA, as a member of a partner force in Kandahar, “which ended in 2021 following the withdrawal from Afghanistan,” according to CIA Director John Ratcliffe.
He applied for asylum in 2024 and was granted asylum in April, under the Trump administration, according to the sources.
In Afghanistan, the suspect was involved with the Zero Unit, working closely with the CIA and the Joint Special Operations Command, according to sources familiar with the investigation. The suspect was a trusted member of that team, which went after U.S. counterterrorism targets, according to sources.
The FBI over the weekend continued to interview family and associates of the suspect and tried to exploit documents and other material obtained through searches of mobile devices, his social media footprint and properties tied to him.
Lakanwal remains hospitalized under heavy guard, sources told ABC News on Sunday.
Luigi Mangione appears at a hearing for the murder of UHC CEO Brian Thompson at Manhattan Criminal Court, Feb. 21, 2025, in New York. (Curtis Means/Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — One year after prosecutors say Luigi Mangione brazenly assassinated UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in midtown Manhattan, the 27-year-old is due in court for a multi-day hearing that could determine the balance of evidence in his state murder trial.
Mangione’s attorneys are trying to limit prosecutors from using key evidence — including a 3D-printed gun and purported journal writings — police say they obtained when they arrested him in Pennsylvania last year.
Though no trial date has been set for either Mangione’s state or federal criminal cases, the outcome of this week’s hearing will determine the shape of the case Mangione and his lawyers will face at trial. If they succeed in limiting key evidence, prosecutors could lose the ability to use Mangione’s writings — which prosecutors say paint a clear motive for the crime — and the alleged murder weapon.
“I finally feel confident about what I will do,” Mangione allegedly wrote in a notebook seized from his backpack, later included in court filings. “The target is insurance. It checks every box.”
This week’s hearing in New York’s State Supreme Court — where Mangione is charged with second-degree murder — follows a legal victory for Mangione’s defense when the judge in September tossed two murder charges related to an act of terrorism. He is still charged with second-degree murder and other offenses, as well as a separate criminal case in federal court. If convicted in state court, Mangione faces a potential life sentence, and he could face the death penalty in his federal case.
Mangione is accused of gunning down Thompson — a father of two who spent two decades working for UnitedHealthcare before being named its CEO — last December outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel before allegedly fleeing the city. He was arrested five days later in a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after someone reported seeing a “suspicious male that looked like the shooter from New York City.”
Mangione’s arrest is expected to be at the center of this week’s hearing, with defense lawyers arguing that police extensively questioned him without reading him his rights and searched his backpack without a warrant.
Defense lawyers are trying to bar prosecutors from using any of the evidence recovered from the backpack — including electronic devices, a 3D-printed gun, silencer, and a journal — as well as referencing any statements Mangione made to police. Lawyers with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have defended the lawfulness of the arrest and search and are expected to argue that the evidence would have inevitably been recovered during the discovery process ahead of trial.
“Despite the gravest of consequences for Mr. Mangione, law enforcement has methodically and purposefully trampled his constitutional rights,” Mangione’s attorney argued in their motion.
Defense lawyers argue the constitutional issues began almost immediately after officers approached Mangione, who was seated in the McDonald’s to have breakfast. After Mangione allegedly provided officers with a fake driver’s license, they immediately began questioning Mangione about whether he was recently in New York and why he lied about his identity, defense lawyers say. As he was questioned, defense lawyers say officers filled the restaurant to form an “armed human wall trapping Mr. Mangione at the back of the restaurant.”
Citing time-stamped police body camera footage, Mangione’s attorneys allege police waited 20 minutes to read his Miranda Rights and extensively questioned him without informing him he was under investigation or that he had the right to remain silent. They have asked New York State Supreme Court Judge Gregory Carro to prohibit prosecutors from introducing any evidence or testimony related to what they say was an illegal interrogation at the McDonald’s.
Defense lawyers also contend that an officer illegally searched Mangione’s bag while he was being interrogated, eventually discovering a loaded magazine and handgun. Despite another officer commenting, “at this point we probably need a search warrant” for the bag, Mangione’s attorneys argue that the officer continued searching the bag and claimed she was trying to make sure there “wasn’t a bomb or anything” in the bag.
“[The officer] did not search the bag because she reasonably thought there might be a bomb, but rather this was an excuse designed to cover up an illegal warrantless search of the backpack,” they argue. “This made-up bomb claim further shows that even she believed at the time that there were constitutional issues with her search, forcing her to attempt to salvage this debacle by making this spurious claim.”
Mangione’s attorneys argue that any of the items recovered from the backpack, including his alleged writings and weapon, should be limited as “fruit” of an illegal search.
Ahead of the hearing, Mangione’s attorneys have previewed plans to call at least two witnesses from the Altoona Police Department. During an unrelated court hearing last week, one of Mangione’s attorneys claimed that the hearing could include more than two dozen witnesses and hours of body camera footage.
Judge Carro has set aside several days beginning Monday to hear arguments about whether the testimony and evidence can be suppressed.
(WASHINGTON) — As billions of people worldwide use the internet to illegally stream or download copyrighted material like music, movies and TV shows, the entertainment industry is trying to crack down on American internet service providers for complicity in the alleged crimes of their customers.
A major case before the Supreme Court on Monday could determine whether those providers can be held financially liable to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars for “contributing” to copyright infringement if they fail to cut off internet access to any account suspected of engaging in piracy.
Cox Communications, the third largest broadband provider in the U.S. and a party in the case, faces a $1 billion penalty awarded by a jury to Sony Music Entertainment and other media companies that sued over the distribution of pirated content online. It was upheld by a federal appeals court.
The company is asking the justices to toss out the verdict and put limits on contributory liability.
If the judgment is upheld, Cox says it could go bankrupt, potentially eliminating internet access entirely in some communities and leading to “mass evictions from the internet” in places where piracy has been suspected, such as “homes, barracks, hospitals, and hotels upon bare accusation.”
Cox says it opposes copyright infringement and takes steps to prevent it, but that it cannot be held responsible for the actions of individual users, who are impossible to pinpoint and trace.
“Your [internet service provider] does not purposefully participate in, or try to bring about, what you do online any more than your phone company or FedEx do in communications they transmit,” Cox attorneys wrote the high court in a legal brief.
Federal law makes it a crime to directly infringe on a copyright, but secondary liability by another party involved in copyright infringement — such as internet service providers — remains an evolving area of law.
As a general rule, anyone who “materially contributes to the infringing conduct of another may be held liable as a contributory infringer,” lawyers for the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), an entertainment industry trade group, told the court in a legal brief.
Copyright owners insist the risk of being sued creates an incentive for internet service providers to help root out online piracy and suspend the accounts of those suspected of dealing in protected material.
“Cox made a deliberate and egregious decision to elevate its own profits over compliance with the law,” attorneys for Sony Music Entertainment argue in a legal brief, “supplying the means for massive copyright infringement to specific users that it knew were habitual offenders because [it wanted to] to hold on to every subscriber [it] can.”
Nearly 19 billion downloads of pirated movies and TV shows were made using online peer-to-peer software in 2023, according to the MPAA. The copyright violations cost the U.S. economy more than $29 billion and “hundreds of thousands of jobs,” the group estimates.
Justices will hear oral arguments over the scope of potential “contributory liability” of internet service providers on Monday and issue a decision in the dispute by the end of June 2026.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his press conference after the Summit of Collective Security Treaty Organization, on November 27, 2025 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)
(KHARKIV, Ukraine and LONDON) — President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff is due to travel to Moscow on Monday to present a peace plan proposal to Russian President Vladimir Putin in what is expected to be a crucial test for the Trump administration’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
Witkoff is travelling to Putin a day after taking part in talks with a high-level Ukrainian delegation in Florida, aimed at trying to find a deal to end the war that Ukraine and Russia might accept. The Kremlin on Monday said a meeting between Witkoff and Putin was scheduled for Tuesday.
“The president will hold several closed-door meetings today in preparation for the Russian-American contacts,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.
There is little expectation Putin will agree to a deal. The Russian leader has already signalled he will not compromise, last week making hardline remarks where he repeated his demands that Ukraine withdraw from territory he claims and saying it is “pointless” to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He suggested the Kremlin believes it is making sufficient progress on the battlefield and is content to wait until Kyiv concedes to its conditions.
Zelenskyy is expected to be in Paris today to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron, with whom he’s expected to discuss the negotiations with the U.S. Zelenskyy and Europe appear to be signaling solidarity on a day when the U.S. and Putin are expected to dominate the airwaves.
“It will be a very substantive day,” Zelenskyy said on Monday morning. “Diplomacy, defense, energy — the priorities are clear.”
Zelenskyy on Sunday said his emissaries in Florida had reported back the “main parameters” of what had been discussed, along with “some preliminary results.” But the full details were still to be relayed, he said.
“I look forward to receiving a full report from our team during a personal meeting,” Zelenskyy said on social media.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Sunday after taking part in the talks with Ukraine the next steps in the negotiations were “delicate,” adding that “it’s complicated, there are a lot of moving parts.”
There was “another party involved here that’ll have to be a part of the equation — and that’ll continue later this week when Mr. Witkoff travels to Moscow, although we’ve also been in touch in varying degrees with the Russian side,” Rubio said.
“We have a pretty good understanding of their views as well,” Rubio said.
Officials from Ukraine and the United States both said the about 2-hour meeting at Shell Bay Golf Course in Hallandale Beach were productive, but neither side released details about what agreements were made and there is no indication a breakthrough was made on the most difficult issues that would allow an end to the war.
The meeting discussed a revised 19-point peace plan that was developed a week ago during another round of negotiations in Geneva between the U.S. and Ukraine. Those talks reworked an earlier 28-point plan that the Trump administration had presented and that had alarmed Kyiv and European allies as heavily favoring Russia.
Officials on Sunday did not release details about whether the proposal had again been updated.
A source familiar with the talks said they had discussed security guarantees for Ukraine, as well as including the fate of billions of dollars of Russian assets frozen by Western countries and possible elections in Ukraine. The issue of the frozen assets was a “key” one for the Russians, the source said.
On the crucial issue, though, of Russia’s demand that Ukraine surrender unoccupied territory in the Donbas region, there was no sign of progress. The source said Russia was still unwilling to discuss any form of ceasefire and Ukraine is not willing to cede territory.
Rubio said the talks had been “a very productive and useful session where additional progress was made.”
“I think there is a shared vision here that this is not just about ending the war, which is very important; it is about securing Ukraine’s future, a future that we hope will be more prosperous than it’s ever been,” he told reporters after emerging from the talks with Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, who had been the lead negotiator from Kyiv.
“We worked — we already had a successful meeting in Geneva, and today we continued this success,” Umerov said, adding that there would be “later stages” to the talks.
Zelenskyy on Monday said initial reports from his team appeared to show that the meeting on Sunday had been “very constructive.”
“There are some tough issues that still have to be worked through,” he added.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Four Texas firefighters were injured early Sunday when an 18-wheeler slammed into their fire engine as they were blocking traffic to a freeway entrance following a car crash, authorities said.
The incident unfolded around 2 a.m. in north Houston, according to the Houston Fire Department.
The injured firefighters were taken by ambulance to a hospital, officials said.
“We are asking for prayers for our four injured firefighters,” Patrick M. “Marty” Lancton, president of the Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association, said in a social media post.
The fire crew had responded to a traffic accident on the Eastex Freeway and was blocking the entrance to the freeway at Northpark Drive with a Houston Fire Department pumper engine when they were hit by the big rig, authorities said.
The firefighters suffered “injuries of varying severities,” according to a statement from the fire department. “All are expected to fully recover.”
Three of the injured firefighters remained hospitalized on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
It was not immediately clear what injuries the driver of the big rig sustained.
The crash remains under investigation.
“Blocking traffic on the freeway is one of the most dangerous tasks we do,” Houston Fire Chief Thomas Muñoz said in a statement on social media. “We’re extremely grateful that every member of Engine 104 is expected to recover, and we ask drivers to slow down and move over when they see emergency crews working.”
(LONDON) — Russia launched overnight a deadly aerial strike on the Ukrainian capital, killing at least one person, injuring 19 others and damaging residential buildings, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said early on Sunday.
“Emergency response efforts are currently underway in Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, following the Russian attack,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “Russia struck the city with drones, damaging numerous residential buildings.”
The attack came as Zelenskyy’s top advisers traveled to the United States for high-stakes talks with the Trump administration over its proposed plan for peace between Russian and Ukraine. White House special envoy Steve Witkoff is then expected to travel early next week to Moscow, where he’ll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Zelenskyy’s advisers are expected on Sunday in Florida, where Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are due to lead the talks. Ukraine is trying to hammer out its best starting position before Witkoff goes to Putin.
Doubts remain that Putin would actually agree to any plan that’s deemed acceptable to Kyiv. He has already signalled he won’t compromise — saying any talks with Zelenskyy are “pointless.”
Sunday’s talks are the first high-level negotiations between the U.S. and Ukraine since they met in Geneva, Switzerland. Those talks had begun with a 28-point plan proposed by the United States, which through negotiations became a 19-point plan. But even that revised plan had not settled what were perhaps the most difficult issues — including whether Ukraine would cede any territory to Russia and whether Ukraine could in the future apply for NATO membership.
The Ukrainian delegation is being led by Rustem Umerov, the head of the National Security Council. It follows Zelenskyy’s Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak being forced to resign amid a corruption scandal that has rocked the country and left Zelenskyy without his right-hand man at a difficult moment.
Umerov was questioned in connection with the scandal by investigators, according to Reuters and local media, but he has not been formally accused of wrongdoing.
Zelenskyy on Sunday morning said Russia launched a total in the last week of about 1,400 drones and 66 missiles, as well as over a thousand aerial bombs, against Ukraine, underlining the scale of Russia’s increased air campaign as peace talks go on.
“This is exactly why we must strengthen Ukraine’s resilience every single day,” Zelenskyy said. “Missiles and air-defense systems are essential, and just as crucial is active work with our partners for peace. We need real, reliable solutions that will help end this war. I thank everyone who is helping.”
(LONDON) — The death toll following a massive fire that ripped through several Hong Kong high-rises has climbed to 146 people, the Hong Kong police on Sunday.
Speaking at a news conference, the police said they are not ruling out the possibility that the number of dead from the fire would increase.
With an “optimistic” estimation, the police added that the time for the search and operations is three to four weeks.
The massive fire engulfed the Wang Fuk Court, a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district, on Wednesday afternoon, officials said. Within hours it was upgraded to a No. 5 alarm, city officials said.
Three men associated with the construction firm in charge of the renovation at the housing complex were arrested and were under investigation in connection with the fire, Hong Kong police said during a press conference on Thursday morning.
Officials in Hong Kong announced Friday there would be three days of mourning for the victims.
From Nov. 29 to Dec. 1, national flags will be flown at half-mast and there will be a three-minute moment of silence on Nov. 29 at 8 a.m. Citizens will also have the opportunity to sign condolence books for the victims.
“During this period, government officials will not attend non-essential public activities. All entertainment and celebration activities organized or funded by the government will be cancelled or postponed as appropriate,” officials said.
CHICAGO — A winter storm is hitting the Midwest with snow and wintry conditions, causing travel issues for many who were looking to get home following Thanksgiving.
At least 450 flights had been canceled around the United States as of 7 a.m. ET, with the biggest impacts at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, according to FlightAware, a flight-data tracker.
Some 179 cancelations, including 110 departing flights, were logged at O’Hare early on Sunday. The Illinois hub saw more than a thousand flights cancelled or delayed on Saturday, as snow fell in the area.
The airport logged about 8.4 inches of snow up to midnight, breaking the previous record for the snowiest November day in the area’s history of 8.0 inches back on Nov. 6, 1951.
The Chicago metro area has seen anywhere between 7 to 10 inches of snow as of Sunday morning.
The FAA’s operations plan on Sunday morning said, “Heavy show and ice in the Upper Great Lakes and moving east. As well as thunderstorms in the Southern Plains will be some major constraints along with heavy holiday volume.”
(NEW YORK) — Multiple people who were protesting possible Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Lower Manhattan were arrested Saturday, the New York Police Department said.
The protesters were seen near Centre Street in Chinatown blocking vehicles and shouting, “ICE out of New York,” according to video obtained by ABC News. At one point, the protesters were observed blocking a van from coming out of a garage.
While the NYPD declined to comment on any possible activity by federal agents, it said in a statement that officers “observed multiple people blocking the street and were told multiple times to disperse but they did not comply.”
The NYPD said that “multiple” persons were taken into custody but didn’t immediately provide more details on the numbers or the charges.
Saturday’s protest came a month after federal agents carried out an immigration enforcement action that targeted vendors on Canal Street in Chinatown. At least 9 people were arrested during that raid, according to federal officials.
Four U.S. citizens were arrested and held for “nearly 24 hours” without any federal charges following that incident, according to U.S. Rep. Dan Goldman, who represents the area.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
