Gas prices are displayed at a Pilot gas station on Sept. 17, 2026, in Newark, New Jersey. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The average price for a gallon of diesel was still hovering around a record-high of $6.43 as of Friday morning, according to the latest data published by GasBuddy.
The historic increase in the price of diesel comes amid continued disruption in the Strait of Hormuz — sparked by the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran in February — and Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, which in recent years has seen an intensification of long-range Ukrainian attacks on Russian oil facilities.
The sustained increases in oil and diesel prices have prompted concerns of rising costs across all sectors of the economy — from fuel and energy costs for drivers and homeowners to increased prices of food and travel as producers and companies grapple with narrowing margins.
The nationwide average price for a gallon of regular gas was at $4.47 as of Friday, according to GasBuddy — up $1.53 since the U.S. war with Iran started.
Rising prices are of particular concern for those households reliant on heating oil. They could face winter bills more than 31% higher than last year, according to a report published earlier this week by the non-profit National Energy Assistance Directors Association.
Even for those who do not heat their homes using oil, overall winter heating costs are expected to rise by more than 8.7% this year, the NEADA report said.
As of Friday, oil prices were edging lower but remained above $100 a barrel. Brent crude oil prices, a benchmark for global trading, were around $103 per barrel, down roughly 1.3%. WTI crude oil, used as the North American benchmark, was trading at around $102 per barrel down 0.4%.
Since diesel is the lifeblood of the supply chain, a rise in fuel costs may result in higher prices charged by wholesalers in response to elevated transport expenses. In turn, retailers could pass those costs along to shoppers, raising prices on shelves.
The price hike for any individual item would likely be modest, but the pileup of extra costs across an array of goods could weigh on wallets, analysts previously told ABC News.
As a result, the rise in diesel costs threatens to worsen a surge of inflation set off by the outbreak of the Iran war nearly seven months ago.
The annual inflation rate stood at 3.4% as of August, the most recent month on record, putting inflation more than a percentage point above the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since 2023 in an effort to contain price increases. Higher borrowing costs may constrain spending among businesses and consumers, staunching demand for products and slowing price hikes.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh acknowledged the rate increase would not directly address the surge in fuel prices. Rather, he said, elevated interest rates could help prevent price hikes from extending throughout the economy.
“We cannot affect any individual price, whether it be oil prices, whether it be food stuffs at the grocery store. But what we can do, and will do, is ensure that any change in relative prices don’t broaden out,” Warsh said.
Plymouth Superior Court during Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial on Aug. 26, 2026,in Plymouth, Massachusetts. (Mel Musto/Getty Image
(NEW YORK) — The man identified as the lone holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy trial is speaking out, saying he “didn’t have any doubts” during the jury’s seven days of deliberations.
“I didn’t have any doubts. As I tried to explain different possible theories during deliberation, I kept getting cut off as if I had doubts based on the evidence presented,” Michael Péguy Desronvil said in a statement shared to ABC News by his attorney on Friday. “Based on all the physical evidence, key witnesses, and what the prosecution presented, I thought it was enough proof that she (Clancy) knew exactly what she was doing and planned.”
Clancy pleaded not guilty to three murder charges for the deaths of her 5-year-old daughter Cora, 3-year-old son Dawson and infant son Callan, who were strangled at the family’s home in Duxbury, a Boston suburb, on Jan. 24, 2023.
Her five-week trial ended in a mistrial on Sept. 4, after jurors failed to reach a unanimous verdict.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
President Donald Trump previously nominated Lance Schroyer, a longtime law enforcement officer from Oklahoma, to be his nominee for ICE director. (Oklahoma Highway Patrol)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House has withdrawn the nomination of Lance Schroyer to be the next Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) director, according to a notice posted on the White House website Thursday.
The agency has not had a Senate-confirmed director since 2017. Former acting ICE Director Todd Lyons retired in May and David Venturella, a former private prisons executive, has been running the agency since then.
Schroyer, a former Oklahoma state trooper and close confidant of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, was nominated in June but faced pushback from the president’s base and Democrats over what they said was his lack of qualifications for the job. His nomination had stalled in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The White House did not give a reason for withdrawing Schroyer’s nomination. ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
ICE’s more than $75 billion budget is the largest of any law enforcement agency in the country.
The agency has become a focal point of the president’s second-term deportation push and the Republican-controlled Congress has given the agency the resources to carry out the administration’s agenda.
ICE has come under scrutiny during its push to deport those in the country illegally for what some Democrats say are heavy-handed tactics and a rush to hire candidates that weren’t qualified for the job.
In nominating Schroyer in June, Trump touted his 29 years of service as a law enforcement officer in Oklahoma and said Schroyer will enforce the administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
Schroyer, who served in the Marine Corps, is currently a senior adviser to Mullin, a former senator from Oklahoma. Schroyer was Mullin’s pick to lead ICE, a source with knowledge of the decision told ABC News.
Workers walk past a recently closed John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts on Sept. 16, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Thursday directed the Trump administration to provide 30 days’ notice of any changes in the Kennedy Center’s renovation plans, “including but not limited to any ‘demolition’ of the Center’s main building,” as the jockeying over the future of the performing arts center continued.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper made his ruling the afternoon after President Donald Trump was photographed looking over a placard that appeared to include the words “Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED” over what appeared to be an image of a demolition.
In a federal court filing Thursday morning, Kennedy Center executive director Matt Floca said the current closure of the main building is only “temporary,” set to last for seven days, and will be reevaluated on a weekly basis.
Judge Cooper, in his ruling, ordered the administration to update him on the status of the “‘temporary closure’ and emergency repairs” by next Wednesday.
The ruling came as Cooper turned down a request from Ohio Democratic Rep. Joyce Beatty for an emergency hearing in the case, citing the morning’s announcement.
The photos of Trump examining the placard were taken Wednesday night through a cabin window on Air Force One by Agence France-Presse photojournalist Brendan Smialowski, who was acting as the pool photographer for White House coverage, as Trump landed at Joint Base Andrews.
It was not immediately clear what the full contents of the placard were or how they were generated. The published images don’t show the entire placard and the word that appears to be “DEMOLISHED” was not entirely visible, cut off as “DEMOLIS.”
ABC News has reached out to the White House for comment.
The images were published on Wednesday evening, shortly after the president said the performing arts center could “close” or be “ripped down” if his administration doesn’t receive recognition on the performing arts site.
“I think that the Trump administration should certainly have recognition. Because frankly, if we don’t do that, it’s going to close. It’ll end up being ripped down,” the president told reporters on the tarmac in North Carolina.
Congress last year appropriated $257 million for needed renovations. But Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that those renovations will not take place unless his name is again added onto the building.
His name had been added to the center’s exterior after the Trump-controlled board voted in December to rename the building the “Trump-Kennedy Center.”
Judge Cooper ruled in May that Trump’s name had to come down. Cooper wrote in a decision that the center’s rebranding violated the law. He ordered that Trump’s name be removed from the building within two weeks.
In July, a panel of D.C. Circuit appeals court judges rejected a request by Trump and fellow members of the center’s board to stay the court’s order that Trump’s name be removed from the building.
Last month, the Kennedy Center board members — who Trump last year replaced with his allies — voted to close the famed cultural institution for a two-year renovation. They voted on Tuesday to close the building immediately.
Also on Tuesday, Cooper issued a written order blocking any attempt to add Trump’s name to the building, concluding it violated a previous court order and congressional statute.
“Simply put, Defendants cannot install memorials for President Trump or anyone or anything else at the Kennedy Center without Congress’s blessing,” Cooper wrote. “The board resolution bucks a federal court order and a statute Congress enacted.”
ABC News’ Karen Travers, Michelle Stoddart and Devin Garbitt contributed to this report.
A model of President Donald Trump’s proposed arch next to models of the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol Building on a table at a public meeting of the Commission of Fine Arts, April 16, 2026, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration acknowledges that the proposed construction of a 250-foot triumphal arch along the Potomac River at the foot of Arlington National Cemetery will cause “adverse effects” on the setting and views along the river — but it says those impacts “cannot be fully avoided” because the arch’s location is “central to the undertaking.”
The acknowledgment is contained in a document that has been sent by the National Park Service to four historic preservation and planning agencies in the Washington area, seeking their agreement with park service’s plans to mitigate the adverse effects.
Those efforts include monitoring construction vibration and controlling noise, an archeological study and various planned “improvements” to the parkland, including new walkways, curbs, lighting and plantings, according to the document.
Earlier this month, attorneys for a group of Vietnam War veterans who have sued to block construction of the arch, asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent the administration from moving forward with excavation work on the project. The veterans suing over the arch have argued it would obstruct views of Arlington National Cemetery and can’t be built without congressional authorization.
Federal rules call for agreements like this to be reached with a state’s historic preservation office or a tribal nation when there’s the potential for a project to “diminish the integrity” of a historic property. Memorial Circle, the planned site for the arch and a roundabout near the entrance Arlington National Cemetery, is a historic property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
While the law requires consultation and an effort to minimize potential harms — “to the maximum extent possible” — agreement with state officials does not appear to be a requirement for a federal project at a historic site to continue.
The document circulated by NPS to historic preservation officials in Virginia and D.C. says that Memorial Circle “is located within a highly sensitive historic and commemorative landscape,” and that the arch at that space would affect the “setting, design, feeling, association, spatial organization, circulation, and contributing views and vistas” of the location.
Renderings of the arch show a 250-foot structure — more than twice as tall as the nearby 99-foot Lincoln Memorial — with an inscription reading “One Nation Under God” and at its top, a gold statue of Lady Liberty with outstretched gold wings. Four golden lions sit at each corner of the arch’s base, renderings showed.
The administration said in the document that the location is “central to the undertaking” and the arch can’t be placed elsewhere because “relocation outside Memorial Circle would constitute a materially different undertaking.”
Word of the agreement was first reported by The Washington Post.
Trump has said called the arch a “wonderful addition to the Washington D.C. area,” saying in a social media post earlier this year that it will be the “GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL” of structures “anywhere in the world.”
The arch received initial approval in July from the National Capital Planning Commission, a federal agency led by Trump’s hand-picked appointees, despite hours of public testimony against the project.
The arch still needs final approval from the National Capital Planning Commission. Several Democratic lawmakers say that the arch violates the Commemorative Works Act, which requires congressional approval for memorials on federal land in or near D.C.
An Interior Department spokesperson said it will “follow all laws and regulations” around the arch construction.
“Throughout the consultation process, Interior has received over 100,000 public comments, has accepted dozens of organizations as consulting parties, and has extended comment periods to allow for more robust discussion,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.
In this July 23, 2025, file photo, Bryan Kohberger appears at the Ada County Courthouse for his sentencing hearing in Boise, Idaho. (Kyle Green, Pool via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — The family of Bryan Kohberger is supporting his efforts to challenge his 2025 conviction, saying in a statement exclusive to ABC News, “Our full support of Bryan’s decision to pursue post-conviction relief does not come from a place of disregard.”
Kohberger, who is currently serving four consecutive life sentences for killing four college students in Idaho, said in his petition that the circumstances of his plea deal are now suspect because, among other things, he was “convinced to falsely confess” to a crime he says he did not commit.
“My actual innocence is my truth, and the plea, hinged on by false promises and blatant disinformation, MUST be withdrawn,” he said in a statement to the New York Times last month.
Kohberger’s family told ABC News that they did not want their support of their son “to compound the unimaginable grief the families have borne so courageously.”
“Rather, it comes from our family’s need to see that the complete and unvarnished truth is told. Like everyone, we seek answers to all the questions that have been raised, which can only be addressed through a proper trial, as opposed to an improper plea,” the Kohberger family said.
“As a family, we continue to carry the victims, their families, and the entire Moscow community in our hearts and daily prayer,” they added. “We continue to love and support Bryan and we continue to respect the memory of those lost. We seek to find justice and a conclusive resolution through the legal process.”
This month, Bryan Kohberger also requested a new judge to oversee the process, saying comments made by Judge Steven Hippler during his sentencing showed bias. Hippler said he could identify nothing redeeming about Kohberger because his conduct had buried anything “good or intrinsically human,” and he called him “the worst of the worst.” Kohberger’s motion also asks for his case to be moved back to Latah County, where the killings took place.
A hearing regarding his request for a new judge and location is scheduled for Oct. 15. A hearing to address his motion for post-conviction relief is set for June 17, 2027.
Last year, Kohberger, a former doctoral student in criminal justice, admitted he killed four college students in an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13 2022. In addition to the life sentences, he received 10 years in prison for a burglary charge. The case received international media attention. Kohberger never explained or gave a motive for the killings.
By filing that brief handwritten petition, Kohberger is putting himself in the category of many criminal defendants before him, who have argued after the fact that their guilty pleas were coerced.
“It is not impossible but not common to have a plea deal returned after a conviction is final,” said Andrea Lewis Hartung, director of Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions.
“People accept guilty pleas for all kinds of reasons, not necessarily because they were guilty,” she said. Oftentimes, she said, it is because they “don’t want to take the chance of having such a harsh punishment or were offered lesser charges.”
“A lot of consideration is ‘what is the worst case scenario that will happen if you lose.’ Whereas if you take a plea, you’ll have a guaranteed result or at least guarantee that you won’t have as harsh of a punishment,” she said.
Under Idaho law, first-degree murder is a crime that can be punished by death or life imprisonment. Prosecutors made it clear early in pre-trial hearings that they intended to seek capital punishment.
Plea deals are often attractive for attorneys to avoid trial. In fact, in any given year, 98% of criminal cases in federal courts end with a plea bargain, according to the American Bar Association. Yet according to the National Registry of Exonerations, about 28% of all exonerated people across the United States since 2014 pled guilty to crimes they did not commit. Likewise, the Innocence Project shows that about 12 percent of known DNA exoneration cases involved an innocent person who pled guilty.
Kohberger’s court-appointed lawyers, led by Coeur d’Alene-based attorney Ann Taylor, spent more than two years challenging evidence during pre-trial hearings. Despite Kohberger’s insistence that he was not guilty throughout the process, his plea deal was announced shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin.
In his new petition, Kohberger claims his lawyers pressured him into the deal with false promises. He said his court-assigned defense team failed to disclose or review exculpatory evidence during discussions and, despite his insistence that he was innocent, he said his attorneys told him that it was legally okay to submit a false guilty plea.
Kohberger “took the plea because he was frightened out of his mind,” Dr. Brent Turvey, a forensic criminologist hired by Kohberger’s legal team to analyze the crime scene, told ABC News. “His lawyers told him it’s okay to lie to the court. His family was used to induce him to take the plea. He didn’t know the strength of his own case.”
Turvey said Kohberger and his family were not given enough knowledge of the case the defense team had built before he pleaded guilty. Turvey explained his report, provided to the defense lawyers, included more evidence that supports Kohberger’s innocence.
Had he had the chance to testify for Kohberger, Turvey said he would have told a jury he was troubled by how investigators documented evidence in the house where the victims were found. He said police did not properly handle the knife sheath after they found it – so much so it should have been ruled inadmissible at trial. Turvey also said, “the hair evidence points to someone else” because FBI analysis “excluded Kohberger.”
He also said video and cell tower data that was used to place Kohberger in the vicinity of the murder scene around the time the killings occurred “has no value or meaning.”
“College students drive around all the time. That’s normal behavior,” Turvey said. “What’s really interesting is turning off the cell phone; it is riddled throughout his cell phone behavior. He’ll turn it off and drive around. Why? He’s a college student who doesn’t want to be bothered. You ignore the behavior of real people.”
Ann Taylor did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Jason Goldman, one of Kohberger’s new defense attorneys, said plea deals can be thrown out “by bringing evidence to support the notion that you were coerced into accepting a plea through false promises, misrepresentations, or through undue duress.”
“Oftentimes, these very psychological methods could have been employed by an individual’s own counsel, justifying a court’s decision to allow a person to withdraw their plea,” he told ABC News.
“Many individuals take a plea deal even when they are otherwise innocent or believe the evidence against them is weak. Sadly, it becomes less about facts, guilt, or innocence and more about a business decision and being risk-averse,” he said.
Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador released a statement following Kohberger’s petition, saying only that he had sympathy for victim families “who have already endured unimaginable loss” and who now “must face today’s deeply painful news.”
“My office stands ready to do whatever is necessary to ensure justice is fully carried out,” he said.
Emily Normandin-Parker is seen in this photo. Her parents Carol Normandin and Ken Parker were awarded $40 million in arbitration after their daughter was struck and killed after her Uber driver left her along a Southern California freeway. (Courtesy Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP)
(NEW YORK) — The parents of a 23-year-old woman who was struck and killed after her Uber driver left her along a Southern California freeway are speaking out after being awarded $40 million in an arbitration against Uber and the driver.
Carol Normandin and Ken Parker, the parents of Emily Normandin-Parker, sat down exclusively with “Good Morning America” in an interview aired on Thursday to discuss their daughter’s death and the arbitration award.
Asked if they believe Uber put profits over their daughter’s safety, Normandin responded, “Absolutely.”
Normandin-Parker, a 2022 UCLA graduate, was taking an Uber home with her friend Luna Moore after a night out when Moore became sick during the ride, according to the arbitration award.
The driver, Vu Tran, pulled over on State Route 73 in Orange County at a gore point — the triangular area by the off-ramp on the freeway, according to the arbitration.
“He chose to pull over there and demand money and kick them out of the car. All I can think that Emily was doing — her friend, the driver arguing — was to get help. They argue, Emily gets hit while they’re arguing,” Normandin told ABC News’ Trevor Ault in an interview that aired Thursday on “GMA.”
In his arbitration award, retired Judge Richard A. Stone, who served as the arbitrator, described the gore point as an “unsafe and illegal” area and found that Tran could have instead taken the nearby MacArthur Boulevard exit and stopped in a safe location.
Stone also wrote in the award that Tran knew Normandin-Parker and Moore were intoxicated and had argued with Moore over a cleaning fee before leaving the women at the location.
Normandin-Parker later entered the freeway and was struck and killed by a vehicle.
According to the arbitration award, GPS data showed Tran drove near Normandin-Parker’s body before taking the next exit and calling Uber to seek a cleaning fee.
Stone described Tran’s testimony as “largely — in fact, almost entirely — incredible and unbelievable.”
The arbitrator also found Tran showed “far more worry for his new car than he did for his passengers” and that he had options to get the women to a safe location.
According to attorneys representing Normandin-Parker’s parents, evidence presented during the arbitration showed Uber had received previous complaints about Tran’s driving. One rider described a trip with Tran as “the least safe” ride they had experienced, while another said “he cannot drive.”
Parker described the complaints to “GMA” as “driving the wrong way on a one-way, erratic driving, almost hitting pedestrians, very erratic behavior.”
Following the five-day arbitration, Stone awarded $20 million each to Normandin and Parker, finding Uber and Tran jointly and severally liable. Moore was separately awarded $300,000. The arbitrator did not award punitive damages.
Stone also found Uber vicariously liable for Tran’s negligence as a common carrier. In his decision, Stone rejected Uber’s argument that it is “merely a technology company” connecting riders with drivers, finding that Uber provides transportation services to the public through its app, sets prices and controls key aspects of the rider experience.
The arbitrator also rejected Uber’s argument that Proposition 22 — a California ballot measure approved by voters in 2020 that allows companies to classify app-based drivers as independent contractors instead of employees — prevented the company from being held liable for Tran’s conduct.
In a statement to “GMA,” an Uber spokesperson said, “No family should have to suffer the loss of a child, and our thoughts continue to be with the Normandin-Parker family.”
“While we respect the arbitration process, we believe the arbitrator was wrong in holding Uber legally responsible for the tragic events of that night,” the statement continued.
“We have continued to strengthen our approach to safety over the years…including additional guidance to drivers about avoiding drop-offs in unsafe locations,” the statement said.
Normandin-Parker’s parents also spoke to “GMA” about Uber’s efforts to keep the arbitration award from being made public.
“We didn’t have much time to absorb the award before Uber almost immediately started contending that it could not be made public and then sent an agreement to us requiring non-disparagement, the $10 million penalty for saying anything bad about Uber,” Parker said.According to a press release from their attorneys, Normandin and Parker established the Emily Normandin-Parker Foundation following their daughter’s death to advocate for ride-hailing safety and corporate accountability. Proceeds from the arbitration award will be used to fund the foundation, the release said.
Ian Samson, an attorney for the family, told “GMA,” “he said, I’m troubled by all this, and changing the policies and practices is something Uber should do. And since the arbitration award was issued, what I’ve seen is great urgency by Uber to try to keep it secret.”
According to a press release from their attorneys, Normandin and Parker established the Emily Normandin-Parker Foundation following their daughter’s death to advocate for ride-hailing safety and corporate accountability. Proceeds from the arbitration award will be used to fund the foundation, the release said.
When asked what else they wanted people to know about their daughter, Normandin said, “Her laugh was contagious.”
“And she was funny. And she could sing. Oh my god, could she sing,” Normandin said.
Danone USA is voluntarily recalling So Delicious Dairy Free Salted Caramel Cluster Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert pints because of the potential presence of small stones and other hard objects. (FDA)
(NEW YORK) — It might be time to check your freezer. Danone USA is voluntarily recalling one of its popular frozen dessert offerings due to what the company said is the potential presence of foreign objects.
The food company announced this week that it is recalling pints of So Delicious Dairy Free® Salted Caramel Cluster Frozen Dessert “out of an abundance of caution” because they may be contaminated with “small stones and other hard objects, within the cashew inclusions.”
Danone USA said it had received complaints from customers and notified the Food and Drug Administration of the recall.
Recalled frozen desserts bear the UPC number of 744473476138 and have best-by expiry dates on and before April 3, 2028.
Customers are being advised not to eat any recalled frozen desserts and to throw them away. Those affected by the recall can request a refund or a coupon for a replacement product from the So Delicious Dairy Free® Consumer Care Line at 1-833-367-8975, available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, or through the So Delicious website.
Other So Delicious frozen desserts and products are not impacted by the recall, the company said on its website.
“We know this is not the quality you expect from us,” the brand shared on its website. “So Delicious Dairy Free® is working swiftly with retail partners to remove the impacted product from shelves. In the meantime, we have identified and corrected this issue and will soon be able to bring the product back to market safely.”
Danone USA said recalled frozen desserts were distributed to retailers nationwide and that it is working with stores to remove recalled products.
ABC News has reached out to Danone USA for additional comment.
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, attends the TIME100 Sports Gala on July 16, 2026, in New York City. (Manny Carabel/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Prince Harry is attending his first public engagement Thursday since moving back to the United Kingdom, the same day his father, King Charles III, and his brother, Prince William, also held engagements.
The busy day marks a new reality for Britain’s royal family as they continue on with their official royal engagements, while Harry builds his own calendar as a non-working member of the royal family.
Harry is scheduled to attend an event in London for the Invictus Games, the Paralympic-style competition for wounded veterans he founded over a decade ago.
The event is already making headlines because it will be Harry’s first public appearance since he and his wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, moved back to the U.K. with their two children, Archie and Lilibet. The family spent the past six years living in California after Harry and Meghan stepped away from their senior royal roles in 2020.
Earlier in the day Thursday, Harry’s father, King Charles III, delivered a speech on artificial intelligence at a conference in Scotland. The same day, also in Scotland, William stepped out with his wife Kate, the Princess of Wales, for a royal visit to the Isle of Bute.
Neither William nor Charles has commented publicly on Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K.
Harry’s relations with some of his royal family members, particularly William, have been strained in the years since his departure from the U.K.
The only statement the royal family has given on the Sussexes’ return is a letter released on Sept. 8 under the direction of King Charles, advising that Harry and Meghan will remain “private citizens” and will not be working royals while living in the U.K.
Harry and Meghan were “surprised” by the letter, their spokesperson told ABC News at the time. The couple has not commented further.
When Harry and Meghan stepped away from their senior royal roles in 2020, it was agreed that they would no longer use their royal highness titles, would no longer represent the monarchy and would no longer receive public funds for royal duties, freeing them to earn money on their own.
In the years following, Harry and Meghan continued to attend public engagements on their own, though not in a royal capacity.
In addition to Thursday night’s Invictus event, Harry is expected to attend and speak next week at the WellChild Awards, an event in London for seriously ill children that both he and Meghan have attended on multiple occasions previously.
From there, Harry is scheduled to participate in the Clinton Global Initiative annual meeting, set to be held Sept. 22-23 in New York.
It’s not publicly known where the Sussexes are living in the U.K. The family plans to stay for an “extended period of time” in the U.K., where Archie and Lilibet will attend school, according to a source familiar with the matter.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrives to speak at the Economic Club Of New York on May 28, 2026, in New York City. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
LONDON — Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday called for deeper transatlantic ties with the European Union amid an ongoing diplomatic and trade spat with President Donald Trump’s administration.
During an address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Carney told lawmakers, “Canada and Europe are each strong. Canada and Europe are stronger together.”
“Where our strengths differ, they complement. Where they overlap, they create scale. We should build on each other’s strengths — deliberately, systematically and rapidly,” Carney added.
Carney called for Canada and Europe to work together on securing “strategic autonomy” in areas including critical minerals, defense-industrial capacity, AI and computing, energy security and space.
The prime minister also called for a move towards “seamless, digital trade in non-agricultural goods and a wide range of services,” plus deeper “people-to-people ties” allowing young people to “work, study and live where they want on either side of the Atlantic.”
“I’m not proposing a third bloc in order to become a great power rival — only with better manners,” Carney said, to some laughter in the chamber. The prime minister did not explicitly mention the U.S. or Trump during his address.
“We do not seek power to dominate others,” he added. “On the contrary, we are pursuing resilience so no one — no one — can control our open markets, impair our sovereignty, threaten our territorial integrity, or undermine our freedoms, our democracies, our rule of law.”
Carney’s visit to Europe this week came as the European Union offered to make Canada the bloc’s first-ever “associate member.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in Strasbourg on Wednesday, “We want to bring the relationship with Canada to the highest level possible. We must urgently reimagine our partnerships. So, I would like to work with you on opening the door for Canada to be the first associate member of the EU.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
