(NEW YORK) — Several attorneys general announced a new $462 million settlement from e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs on Wednesday.
The settlement is the largest multistate settlement which includes the most “stringent restrictions on the company’s marketing and sales to protect and to prevent minors from vaping,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said during a press conference.
James added “JUUL’s lies lead to a nationwide public health crisis and put addictive products in the hands of minors who thought they were doing something harmless,” James said at the press conference alongside attorneys general for Washington, D.C., California, Illinois and Massachusetts. Two other states, Colorado and New Mexico, are also recipients of the funds from the settlement.
“There is no doubt that JUUL played a central role in the youth vaping epidemic. Today, Juul is paying for the widespread harm it caused and will undergo severe restrictions on its marketing and sales practice,” James continued.
JUUL’s decision to target underaged students was widespread, the attorneys general said on Wednesday. In New York, James alleged that the e-cigarette company targeted middle and high school students in New York using “colorful ads featuring young models and flashing parties in New York City and the Hamptons, all while downplaying the harmful effects of vaping.”
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claimed JUUL’s “online verification systems were riddled with flaws and loopholes that allow kids of any age to purchase the products it knew but did not care,” and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Cambell said JUUL’s “targeting of young people rolled back decades of progress in combating underage tobacco and nicotine use and has led to a nationwide public health crisis for young people all across this country.”
Juul said the settlement marks nearly “total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges.”
“With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company’s historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future. We have now settled with 47 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states, in addition to our global resolution of the U.S. private litigation. Since our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019, underage use of JUUL products has declined by 95% based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey,” a spokesperson for JUUL told ABC News.
“Now we are positioned to dedicate even greater focus on our path forward to maximize the value and impact of our product technology and scientific foundation,” the spokesperson continued, noting its priorities are “to secure authorization of our PMTAs based on the science and lead the category with innovation to accelerate our mission and advance tobacco harm reduction for over 31 million adult smokers in the U.S. and over 1 billion adult smokers worldwide.”
In D.C., JUUL’s $15.2 million settlement is the largest litigated settlement negotiated under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act, according to Schwalb. At least half of the settlement from Juul, which “marketed nicotine products to District youth and misled District consumers about the product’s highly-addictive qualities,” will be aimed at mitigating public health damages that JUUL caused, the attorney general says. Under the agreement, “JUUL must abide by strict advertising restrictions that prevent it from engaging in harmful marketing practices in the future.”
Many of the funds acquired in the settlement will be aimed at education to lessen the effect of JUUL’s vaping in the next generation. James told ABC News that her state’s $112 million will be used to “help government agencies and educational organizations to prevent young vaping to support community and school based anti vaping programs to help individuals quit vaping to help localities and counties enforce vaping laws and regulations and monitor and research efforts to read to reduce vaping.”
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops have liberated nearly 30,000 square miles of their territory from Russian forces since the invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022, but Putin appeared to be preparing for a long and bloody war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 12, 2:50 PM EDT
Efforts to pressure Russia to release WSJ reporter ‘senseless and futile,’ Russia says
Days after the U.S. designated Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, Russian officials referred to pressure from the U.S. to release him as futile.
“Any attempts to put pressure on the Russian authorities and the court, insisting on a ‘special treatment’ for U.S. citizens who have violated Russian law, are senseless and futile,” the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
After some missed calls, President Joe Biden finally connected with the parents of Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed Tuesday.
“He felt it was really important to connect with Evan’s family,” she told reporters on Air Force One as the president travels to Ireland.
Meanwhile, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Gershkovich’s detention is “pretty fresh” and officials are still trying to get consular access to Gershkovich, which they have not been able to do.
He would not get into any specific conversations the U.S. is having with Russians about releasing Gershkovich or if a prisoner swap is a possibility.
“I just want to make a couple of things clear that is, the determination of wrongful detention, it doesn’t start the clock necessarily on communicating with the Russians about getting him released,” Kirby said. “We’re very early in this process here and I certainly, I think you can understand why I wouldn’t talk about any discussions we might be having with the Russians about his release or Paul [Whelan]’s release. We certainly wouldn’t do that.”
Kirby said the administration is “certainly having discussions about what we can do to get him released.”
“I don’t want to go into details about these internal deliberations, having things out in the public sphere viscerally might actually make it harder to get Evan and Paul home, and that’s what we’re focused on,” Kirby said.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 10, 4:28 PM EDT
Gershkovich designated as wrongfully detained by Russia
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has determined that Wall Street Journalist reporter Evan Gershkovich is being wrongfully detained by Russia, according to a statement released Monday afternoon.
Two Americans are now considered to be wrongfully detained by Russia — Gershkovich and Paul Whelan.
Gershkovich’s case will now be transferred to the Office of the Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs, the U.S. government’s top hostage negotiator.
Gershkovich, a 31-year-old New Jersey native who has lived and worked in Moscow as an accredited journalist for the last six years, was in a restaurant in Yekaterinburg on March 29 when Russia’s Federal Security Service arrested him on espionage charges that the Wall Street Journal, his colleagues and the U.S. government have said are absurd.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Apr 06, 8:00 PM EDT
Pentagon reviewing reported leak of classified Ukraine war planning documents to social media
The Pentagon is investigating the reported leak of classified U.S. and NATO documents posted on Twitter and Telegram, a spokesperson said.
The New York Times first reported the investigation.
“We are aware of the reports of social media posts, and the Department is reviewing the matter,” Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement provided to ABC News.
The war plans provided statistics on Ukrainian troop and casualty numbers as well as information about weapons deliveries and Ukrainian troop schedules, the New York Times reported.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Apr 05, 12:16 PM EDT
Blinken says he views WSJ reporter as ‘wrongfully detained’ in Russia
At a press conference following a bilateral NATO meeting in Brussels, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters the U.S. is going through a formal process to determine whether it will designate Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich as wrongfully detained in Russia, but said he has no doubt that is the case.
“In Evan’s case, we are working through the determination on wrongful detention, and there’s a process to do that, and it is something that we are working through very deliberately but expeditiously as well,” Blinken answered a WSJ reporter who had asked about the determination.
“I’ll let that process play out. In my own mind, there’s no doubt that he’s being wrongfully detained by Russia, which is exactly what I said to Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov when I spoke to him over the weekend and insisted that Evan be released immediately,” Blinken added.
Blinken said he expected the formal process to be “completed soon.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Apr 04, 5:22 PM EDT
Zelenskyy invited to NATO summit in July
NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced that he invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to a NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11 and 12.
Zelenskyy will meet with alliance member states, according to Stoltenberg.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Apr 04, 3:35 PM EDT
US ‘working diligently’ to get WSJ reporter consular access: White House
The U.S. is continuing to push for consular access for Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter detained in Russia, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a briefing Tuesday, adding that “this is a priority” for President Joe Biden.
Asked how worrying it was the U.S. still didn’t have consular access, Jean-Pierre said, “We’re concerned.”
“We’re taking this very seriously,” Jean-Pierre said, pointing to Secretary Antony Blinken’s conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over the weekend. “We’re working diligently, very hard to get a counselor to Evan.”
Jean-Pierre declined to say whether the U.S. was close to determining that Gershkovich was being “wrongfully detained” or provide a timeline of when that determination may happen, saying the State Department’s process “is currently ongoing.” That classification would allow the federal government to use more resources to try to free him.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Apr 04, 12:05 PM EDT
US announces $2.6B in new security aid for Ukraine
The Pentagon announced $2.6 billion in new security assistance for Ukraine on Tuesday.
The aid will come in two forms: a $500 million presidential drawdown authority package pulling from existing U.S. stockpiles (the 35th such package for Ukraine); and $2.1 billion from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funds to procure new equipment.
Both the PDA and USAI packages are largely focused on providing munitions for Ukraine, including additional Patriot air-defense missiles and HIMARS ammunition. They also include anti-drone weapons, vehicles, communications equipment, spare parts and more.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Apr 03, 10:21 PM EDT
At least 501 children killed, almost 1,000 injured since February 2022: UNICEF chief
At least 501 children have been killed and almost 1,000 others injured since February 2022, Catherine Russell, executive director of UNICEF, tweeted Monday.
“Another tragic milestone for Ukraine’s children and families,” she wrote, adding: “This is just the UN verified number. The real figure is likely far higher, and the toll on families affected is unimaginable.”
Apr 03, 1:45 PM EDT
Russia to arrest anyone who supports ICC warrant for Putin
The Russian State Duma will arrest anyone who agrees with the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing him of committing war crimes, the State Duma said on its official Telegram channel Monday.
Russia will imprison those who “call for the implementation of the decision” of the International Criminal Court “on the arrest of Vladimir Putin accused of war crimes,” the State Duma of the Russian Federation said.
“The profile committees of the State Duma are preparing amendments to the Federal Law ‘On Security,’ which will prohibit the activities of the International Criminal Court and international bodies directed against the Russian Federation on our territory and its citizens,” Chairman of State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes in March, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Oleksiy Pshemyskiy
Apr 03, 5:11 AM EDT
Suspect arrested in St. Petersburg explosion, report says
A suspect in a St. Petersburg cafe blast that killed a Russian military blogger on Sunday has been arrested, Inferfax reported.
The Russian Investigative Committee said on Telegram that Darya Trepova was arrested on suspicion of involvement, the Russian wire service reported.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Apr 02, 5:21 PM EDT
Russia to move tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus’ western border
Russia plans to move tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus to the country’s western borders, Boris Gryzlov, the Russian ambassador to Belarus, said Sunday.
Gryzlov’s announcement comes just three days after Russia and the United States clashed in the United Nations over the Kremlin’s plans to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus. U.S. officials denounced the move as a desperate attempt by Russia to avoid military defeat and “threaten the world with nuclear apocalypse.”
Gryzlov said in an address aired on the Belarusian STV channel that tactical nuclear weapons “will be moved to the western borders of our Union State and will increase the possibilities for ensuring our security.”
The western border of Belarus is shared by Poland, a NATO country supporting Ukraine. Russian forces have used Belarus as a staging ground for the war in Ukraine.
“This will be done despite the noise in Europe and the United States,” Gryzlov said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the decision and slammed Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, saying he “no longer decides which weapons are on his territory.”
“And does (Vladimir) Putin threaten the world? Of course, if Ukraine does not resist, it will fall, Putin will move on, we have emphasized this many times,” Zelenskyy said. “With the help of our friends and partners, our army will stand firm and win what is rightfully ours. Victory and our independence.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned a Russian missile strike on Sunday in the eastern Ukraine city of Kostiantynivka that killed six people and injured at least 11.
In an address to his country Sunday night, Zelenskyy called Russia an “evil state” for targeting residential buildings in Kostiantynivka with long-range missiles.
“The evil state must be defeated,” Zelenskyy said.
Kostiantynivka, which is close to Bakhmut, is being used as a second-line staging area for Ukrainian troops holding the line on that part of the front.
Zelenskyy said the fighting in Bakhmut was “especially hot” on Sunday.
He predicted a day would come when Ukraine will “celebrate the last Russians being killed or driven out of currently Russian occupied territories, including Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson Oblasts, as well as Crimea.”
A top Russian pro-war blogger has been killed in a bomb attack on a cafe in Russia, according to police.
The explosion on Sunday tore through a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing Vladlen Tatarsky, one of the best-known of the Russian military bloggers who have become influential during the war in Ukraine.
At least 30 other people were injured in the blast, according to the Ministry of Health. Video circulating online appeared to capture the aftermath, showing bloodied people emerging from the heavily damaged cafe.
The Russian Interior Ministry said an explosion has occurred in a cafe on the city’s Universitetskaya Embankment.
“One person was killed in the incident, it was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky, the Russian Interior Ministry press center told reporters on Sunday.
Denis Pushilin, acting head of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic, issued a statement describing Tatarsky as “a great patriot” of the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine and Russia. Pushilin blamed the attack on the Kyiv regime, calling it a terrorist regime.
“A man with a difficult fate, Vladlen earned the respect of his comrades-in-arms because he lived and worked for the sake of truth and justice, for the sake of victory,” Pushilin said of Tatarsky. “He managed to fight, and in the status of a military correspondent to make his contribution.”
Pushilin said Tatarsky was to be awarded a medal “for the liberation of Mariupol” in eastern Ukraine.
It was the most serious bomb attack on a pro-war Russian figure inside Russia since the high-profile assassination of the Daria Dugina, the daughter of the ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing last year.
Tatarsky was a Russian ultra-nationalist and one of the best-known military bloggers, who strongly supported the war in Ukraine. He had also criticized the execution of the war by Russia’s military command.
Tatarsky had become a significant source of information for how the war was being fought on the Russian side.
His killing will likely set off speculation on whether Ukraine or Russia was behind his killing, similar to the Dugina episode.
In the Dugina case, U.S. intelligence sources eventually told The New York Times that Ukraine was behind the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned a Russian missile strike on Sunday in the eastern Ukraine city of Kostiantynivka that killed six people and injured at least 11.
In an address to his country Sunday night, Zelenskyy called Russia an “evil state” for targeting residential buildings in Kostiantynivka with long-range missiles.
“The evil state must be defeated,” Zelenskyy said.
Kostiantynivka, which is close to Bakhmut, is being used as a second-line staging area for Ukrainian troops holding the line on that part of the front.
Zelenskyy said the fighting in Bakhmut was “especially hot” on Sunday.
He predicted a day would come when Ukraine will “celebrate the last Russians being killed or driven out of currently Russian occupied territories, including Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson Oblasts, as well as Crimea.”
A top Russian pro-war blogger has been killed in a bomb attack on a cafe in Russia, according to police.
The explosion on Sunday tore through a cafe in St. Petersburg, killing Vadim Tatarsky, one of the best-known of the Russian military bloggers who have become influential during the war in Ukraine.
At least 16 other people were injured in the blast, according to Russian police. Video circulating online appeared to capture the aftermath, showing bloodied people emerging from the heavily damaged cafe.
The Russian Interior Ministry said an explosion has occurred in a cafe on the city’s Universitetskaya Embankment.
“One person was killed in the incident, it was military correspondent Vladlen Tatarsky. Sixteen people were injured and are being examined by medics,” the Russian Interior Ministry press center told reporters on Sunday.
It was the most serious bomb attack on a pro-war Russian figure inside Russia since the high-profile assassination of the Daria Dugina, the daughter of the ultra-nationalist Alexander Dugina, who was killed in a car bombing last year.
Tatarsky was a Russian ultra-nationalist and one of the best-known military bloggers, who strongly supported the war in Ukraine. He had also criticized the execution of the war by Russia’s military command.
Tatarsky had become a significant source of information for how the war was being fought on the Russian side.
His killing will likely set off speculation on whether Ukraine or Russia was behind his killing, similar to the Dugina episode.
In the Dugina case, U.S. intelligence sources eventually told The New York Times that Ukraine was behind the attack.
At least six civilians were killed and eight others were injured Sunday when Russian missiles slammed into houses and apartment buildings in an eastern Ukrainian city, Ukrainian officials said.
The attack occurred in downtown Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, the site of the war’s fiercest fighting.
Andriy Yermak, deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said at least six people were killed in the attack.
Three Russian S-300 long-range missiles and four other rockets hit homes and apartment buildings in Kostiantynivka, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor.
Kostiantynivka is about eight miles west of the embattled town of Bakhmut, currently the main hotspot of the war.
-ABC News’ Tatiana Rymarenko
Apr 02, 11:33 AM EDT
Blinken speaks to Russian counterpart about arrested US journalist
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged the Kremlin to release imprisoned Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich in a phone call Sunday with his Russian counterpart, according to a State Department spokesperson.
Blinken spoke with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, conveying the United States’ “grave concern” over the “unacceptable detention” of a U.S. citizen, according to Vedant Patel, a deputy spokesperson for the State Department.
“The secretary called for his immediate release. Secretary Blinken further urged the Kremlin to immediately release wrongfully detained U.S. citizen Paul Whelan,” said Patel, referring to the American held in Russia on espionage charges since 2018.
According to a read out of the phone call released by the Kremlin, Lavrov emphasized that Gershkovich “was taken red-handed while trying to obtain classified information, collecting data constituting a state secret under the guise of journalistic status.”
“In the light of the established facts of illegal activity of a U.S. citizen, of whose detention the U.S. Embassy in Moscow was notified in accordance with the established procedure, his further fate will be determined by the court,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Kremlin said that during the conversation, Lavrov emphasized officials in Washington and the Western media are “escalating the hype with the clear intention of giving this case a political coloring.”
Blinken and Lavrov also spoke of the “importance of creating an environment that permits diplomatic missions to carry out their work,” according to Patel.
Apr 02, 9:27 AM EDT
World media groups demand Kremlin release Wall Street Journal reporter
More than three dozen of the world’s top news media organizations are calling on Russia to release Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
The news groups joined the Wall Street Journal and the Committee to Protect Journalists, in penning a letter to Anatoly Antonov, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, writing Gershkovich’s “is a journalist, not a spy.” The media organizations — including the Associated Press, New York Times, the Washington Post and The Times of London — wrote that Kershkovich’s “unwarranted and unjust arrest” represents “a significant escalation” of anti-press actions by the Russian government.
“Russia is sending the message that journalism within your borders is criminalized and that foreign correspondents seeking to report from Russia do not enjoy the benefits of the rule of law,” the letter reads.
The media groups urged Russia to immediately give Gershkovich access to a lawyer hired by the Wall Street Journal and allow him to communicate with his family.
The Kremlin has yet to publicly respond to the letter.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 31, 1:09 PM EDT
Finland set to join NATO in ‘coming days,’ Stoltenberg says
Finland will formally join NATO in the “coming days,” after the country was able to clear its final hurdle, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
“Their membership will make Finland safer and NATO stronger. Finland has highly capable forces, advanced capabilities and strong democratic institutions. So Finland will bring a lot to our alliance,” Stoltenberg said in a statement Friday.
Turkey was the last of the 30 NATO allies to approve Finland’s bid to join the alliance.
Mar 30, 4:22 PM EDT
6 missiles fired at Kharkiv
Russia just struck Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine with multiple missiles, Ukrainian officials said Thursday night.
Local officials in Kharkiv said Russia fired six Soviet-era S-300 surface-to-air missiles.
ABC News reporters heard explosions outside the city center and saw Ukrainian air defense active just before and during the attacks.
There are currently no reports of casualties or damage to infrastructure as a result of the strikes in Ukraine’s second-largest city.
There are also reports of Russian strikes in the Dnipro region.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Mar 30, 1:37 PM EDT
Russia to enlist 147,000 soldiers in April
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Thursday ordering a spring conscription. Russia will call up 147,000 people to join the Russian Armed Forces from April 1 to April 15.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Mar 30, 11:10 AM EDT
Russia preparing to start another soldier recruitment, UK says
Russian media reporting suggests authorities are preparing to start a major military recruitment aiming to sign up an additional 400,000 troops, the United Kingdom’s Defense Ministry assessed.
Russia is presenting the campaign as a drive for volunteer, professional personnel, rather than a new, mandatory mobilization. There is a realistic possibility that in practice this distinction will be blurred, and that regional authorities will try to meet their allocated recruitment targets by coercing men to join up, UK officials said.
Russian authorities have likely selected a supposedly ‘volunteer model’ to meet their personnel shortfall in order to minimize domestic dissent. It is highly unlikely that the campaign will attract 400,000 genuine volunteers, according to UK officials.
However, rebuilding Russia’s combat power in Ukraine will require more than just personnel; Russia needs more munitions and military equipment supplies than it currently has available, UK officials said.
Mar 30, 6:22 AM EDT WSJ ‘vehemently denies’ spying allegation against reporter
The Wall Street Journal said on Thursday that it “vehemently denies” the spying allegations brought by Russia’s intelligence service against its reporter.
“The Wall Street Journal vehemently denies the allegations from the FSB and seeks the immediate release of our trusted and dedicated reporter, Evan Gershkovich,” a spokesperson for the WSJ said in a statement to ABC News. “We stand in solidarity with Evan and his family.”
Mar 30, 4:24 AM EDT WSJ reporter detained in Russia on spying charge
Russia’s FSB intelligence agency said on Thursday it had detained a journalist working for The Wall Street Journal on spying charges.
Russian state media cited an FSB statement saying Evan Gershkovich was detained in Ekaterinburg, a city in central Russia, and accusing him of collecting “state secrets” on an enterprise belonging to Russia’s military industrial complex on behalf of the United States.
A criminal case has been opened against him, the officials said.
“It is established that Evan Gershkovich, acting on the instruction of the American side, was collecting information consisting of state secrets, about the activity of one of the enterprises of the Russian military industrial complex. He was arrested in Ekaterinburg during an attempt to receive secret information,” Russian media said, quoting FSB officials.
Earlier reports from local media said that Gershkovich had been in Ekaterinburg reporting on the Wagner private military company.
Gershkovich is a reporter for the WSJ covering Russia, Ukraine and the former Soviet Union. He previously reported for Agence France-Presse and The Moscow Times, according to his WSJ profile. He also served as a news assistant at The New York Times.
Mar 28, 4:45 PM EDT
US will support special tribunal to try ‘crime of aggression’ against Russia
The U.S. will support the creation of a special tribunal to prosecute top Kremlin officials for Russia’s aggression toward Ukraine, State Department officials said Tuesday, marking a significant shift for the Biden administration and a notable step toward outlining what accountability on the international stage might look like after the conflict.
A department spokesperson said the administration envisioned the tribunal would take the form of an international court that is “rooted in Ukraine’s judicial system” but ideally located in another European country.
The spokesperson added that such a mechanism would work to “facilitate broader international support and demonstrate Ukraine’s leadership in ensuring accountability for the crime of aggression” as well as “maximize the chances of achieving meaningful accountability for the crime of aggression.”
Ukraine and other Western countries have long called for a special tribunal, but until now, the U.S. has not publicly declared if it would support the creation of a new structure.
Mar 27, 12:21 PM EDT
Two dead, 29 hurt in Russian missile strike on Sloviansk
At least two people were killed and 29 were injured Monday morning when a pair of long-range Russian missiles slammed into buildings in a city in eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said.
The two S-300 Russian missiles hit administrative and office buildings, and private homes in Sloviansk, according to Pavlo Kyrylenko, the regional governor.
Sloviansk is in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where heavy fighting has been waged since the start of the war.
The missiles struck the city around 10:30 a.m. local time, Kyrylenko said.
He said the town of Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region was also targeted in Monday’s missile attacks. Kyrylenko said a Russian missile “almost completely destroyed” an orphanage in Druzhkivka, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
“Another day that began with terrorism by the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a statement.
Zelenskyy said Ukraine “will not forgive the torturing of our people.”
“All Russian terrorists will be defeated,” Zelenskyy said. “Everyone involved in this aggression will be held to account.”
Mar 26, 1:47 PM EDT
Ukrainian drone injures 3 inside Russia
Three people were injured in an explosion in the Kireevsky district of the Tula region on Sunday, Yekaterina Makarova, press secretary of the region’s Ministry of Health, told Interfax.
Russian authorities and law enforcement agencies said a Ukrainian drone with ammunition caused the explosion in the town far from the two countries’ border.
Kireevsk is about 180 miles from the border with Ukraine and 110 miles south of Moscow.
The Russian state-run news agency Tass reported authorities identified the drone as a Ukrainian Tu-141. The Latvia-based Russian news outlet Meduza reported that the blast left a crater about 50 feet in diameter and 16 feet deep.
(NEW YORK) — Record heat is moving from the Southwest to the Midwest and Northeast, where temperatures could approach 90 degrees in some areas this week.
On Tuesday, at least one dozen cities from Phoenix to Billings, Montana, broke or tied record high temperatures. Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, hit 99 degrees, Las Vegas reached 93 degrees, Denver clocked in at 85 and Salt Lake City reached 83.
On Wednesday, the heat moves east. Record-high temperatures in the 80s are possible in cities including Minneapolis; Denver; Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Sioux City, Iowa.
The summer-like weather then moves into the Northeast later on Wednesday and will last through Thursday and Friday, bringing temperatures nearly 30 degrees above normal for the middle of April.
On Thursday and Friday, record-high temperatures in the upper 80s are possible for Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City.
New York City could reach a whopping 88 degrees on Thursday.
(NEW YORK) — A Texas baby has been discharged from the hospital and reunited with her twin sister and parents Amanda Arciniega and James Finley of Saginaw.
Baby AmieLynn was released from Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, on Friday, nearly one month after her twin sister JamieLynn returned home.
The 6-month-old and her twin were formerly conjoined at the chest and faced each other. They also shared a liver.
The girls were born via cesarean section last October at Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital Fort Worth and were transferred in November to the neonatal intensive care unit at Cook Children’s Medical Center.
In January, the girls were successfully separated after an 11-hour surgery at Cook Children’s that involved a team of 25 medical professionals. They made history as the first pair of conjoined twins to be separated at the medical center, according to the hospital.
JamieLynn was able to be released from Cook Children’s in March but AmieLynn was kept at the hospital for additional monitoring.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina on Wednesday launched his 2024 presidential exploratory committee.
“I bear witness to what America can do for anyone, what she’s done for me. But we must rise up to the challenges of our time. This is a fight we must win. And that will take faith, faith in God,” Scott said in a new video.
“I will never back down in defense of the conservative values that make America exceptional. And that’s why I’m announcing my exploratory committee for president of the United States,” he went on.
The Republican would face former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former President Donald Trump, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and three others for the 2024 GOP nomination.
Scott has been exploring his bid for months, with frequent trips to Iowa on a listening tour called “Faith in America.” The launch of this committee comes the same week he had stops scheduled in Iowa, New Hampshire and his home state of South Carolina. An exploratory committee will allow the senator to raise money for a presidential campaign while he tests the waters in early-voting states.
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking the past few months,” he wrote an email to supporters. “I’ve been thinking about my faith. I’ve been thinking about the future of our country. And I’ve been thinking about the Left’s plan to ruin America.”
Scott said the date of his exploratory committee rollout — April 12 — was significant in that it was the day which marked the beginning of the Civil War.
The launch video was filmed near Fort Sumter in South Carolina, he said, which was the place of the first clash between the North and South in the winter of 1860.
As the only Black Republican in the Senate, Scott said Democrats “weaponize race to divide us to hold on to their power.”
“Joe Biden and the radical left have chosen a culture of grievance over greatness. They’re promoting victimhood instead of personal responsibility, and they’re indoctrinating our children to believe we live in an evil country. And all too often when they get called out for their failures,” he said, adding, “And when I fought back against their liberal agenda, they called me a prop, a token, because I disrupt their narrative.”
During an interview with Fox & Friends, Scott side-stepped questions on how he plans on besting Trump in a hypothetical primary.
“If we focus on our uniqueness, we focus on our path to where we are, I believe we give the voters a choice so they can decide on how we move forward. As opposed to having a conversation on how to beat a Republican, I think we are better off having a conversation about beating Joe Biden,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — ABC News has reviewed 38 images that appear to depict classified U.S. intelligence documents that were among dozens apparently shared by one user of an online server on the chat website Discord on March 1 and March 2.
Discord is organized by servers; a Discord user can create their own server or can join another server. The server where the images were shared is dedicated to a YouTube creator with some 243,000 subscribers and which hosts comedic videos about philosophy, politics, and religion.
On April 7, shortly after the Discord server was publicly named in connection with the reported document leak, the area of the chat server where the images were being posted was deactivated. The server itself is still active; much of its activity now refers to the images shared there and the public interest in them.
Here is a timeline of significant developments:
February: The first of 107 images of possible documents are reportedly shared by one user of a YouTube creator’s Discord server, according to Bellingcat researcher Aric Toler.
· Feb. 24: A reference is made in the Discord server to leaked U.S. documents.
· March 1, 2: More images, including 38 reviewed by ABC News, appear in the YouTube creator’s Discord server.
· March 4: Ten of the images are re-shared in a separate Discord server devoted to the online game Minecraft
· April 5: Three images appear on 4chan; five appear in Telegram posts by a pro-Russian channel; one of those contains clear signs of manipulation to inflate Ukrainian and deflate Russian casualty figures.
· April 6: The New York Times reveals the existence of the alleged leaked documents.
· April 7: The Discord channel where possible documents were shared is publicly identified; later that day, the channel removes the images and begins to restrict access.
A review of publicly available content in the server where images of the alleged documents were posted points to pervasive racism, antisemitism and references to sexual violence. As in many niche online communities, this group appears to have a language of its own and it is difficult to discern sincere statements from ironic ones.
Each of the possible documents in the 38 images reviewed by ABC News shows creases suggesting they were folded twice. The images include detailed updates on the war in Ukraine as well as a Central Intelligence Agency briefing containing intelligence on U.S. allies, partners and adversaries.
Some images of the possible documents include visible background features such as a hunting magazine, a knife, a tube of Gorilla Glue, and a strap for the company Bushnell, which makes optics and other hunting accessories.
How the alleged documents spread
According to Toler, 107 images were shared by one user in the Discord server, some appearing in February; Toler said he has seen over 50 of them. ABC News has not independently verified the existence of more than 38 images.
After they were shared in the YouTube creator’s Discord server on March 1 and 2, 10 images of possible documents were re-shared by another user on March 4 to a separate Discord server, dedicated to the online game Minecraft.
On April 5, three images appeared in posts on 4chan; the 4chan posts were made in the context of a debate about the war in Ukraine. Five images also appeared on April 5 on a pro-Russia Telegram channel; one of those showed signs of crude manipulation to inflate Ukrainian and deflate Russian casualty figures.
Origin of the alleged documents
The original source of the possible documents or the earliest date they were shared is still unknown. An archived Twitter post from a now-deleted account, which appears to belong to the user who shared the images to the Discord server on March 1 and 2, claims that the user “found some info from a now banned server and passed it on” to the YouTuber’s Discord server.
According to another post by the same account this unidentified server had a racist, offensive name and has since been deleted.
ABC News has reviewed one post, dated Feb. 24, in the YouTuber’s Discord server, referencing the images. This suggests that at least the existence of these possible documents was known to members of this server before the large tranche of images were posted on March 1 and 2.
Toler told ABC News that “hundreds” of images were reportedly posted in a separate Discord server with a racist, offensive name before being re-shared to the YouTuber’s Discord server, something ABC News has not independently verified.
(LONDON) — Italy’s Cabinet on Tuesday approved a bill to fine vandals who damage monuments or other cultural sites up to 60,000 euros (about $65,000).
The legislation, championed by Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano, was proposed following a string of vandalism by environmental activists across the European nation. Earlier this month, activists protesting fossil fuels dyed the water black in Rome’s iconic Barracia fountain at the foot of the Spanish Steps.
“The attacks on monuments and artistic sites produce economic damage to all,” Sangiuliano said in a statement on Tuesday. “To clean it up, the intervention of highly specialized personnel and the use of very costly machines are needed.”
“Whoever carries out these acts must assume also the financial responsibility,” he added.
The fines would range from 10,000 to 60,000 euros (about $11,000 to $65,000) and would help with repairs and clean-up. Offenders could also face criminal charges.
Vandalism by environmental activists to the facade of Palazzo Madama, a 15th-century palace that houses the Italian Senate, recently cost the government 40,000 euros (nearly $44,000) to repair, according to Sangiuliano.
Last year, an American tourist caused 25,000 euros (about $27,000) worth of damage to Rome’s Spanish Steps after throwing an electric bicycle down the 18th century stairway. That incident came just weeks after a Saudi tourist drove a Maserati down the 138 steps, causing an estimated 50,000 euros ($54,649) worth of damage.
The bill swung into law following the Cabinet’s approval on Tuesday but will expire if it is not adopted by Parliament within 60 days. Premier Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government holds a majority and is expected to pass the legislation.
Italy joins a host of other European countries and cities that have imposed similar measures to deter badly behaving tourists. The Netherlands’ capital, Amsterdam, has introduced several new regulations this year as part of its “stay away” campaign, including the early closure of bars and restaurants as well as a ban on cannabis in its famous red light district.
(NEW YORK) — Consumer prices rose 5% last month compared to a year ago, extending a months-long slowdown of price increases as the Federal Reserve aims to bring inflation down to normal levels without pushing the U.S. into a recession, government data on Wednesday showed.
The fresh data showed the lowest year-over-year inflation rate since May 2021.
In February, year-over-year inflation was 6%. The data released on Wednesday marked the ninth consecutive month of smaller price hikes.
Prices showed a monthly gain of 0.1%, complicating a smooth downward path to normal price levels.
Despite an overall cooling of inflation, price hikes for some grocery store staples remain well above the average rate.
The price of flour jumped more than 17% over the past year, while the cost of eggs spiked 36% over that time, government data showed.
Since last year, the cost of margarine has leapt 33% and prices for cookies have surged more than 16%.
Some prices, however, have fallen over the past year, offering some relief for buyers.
Gas prices dropped 17% over the past year, government data showed, while television prices fell 14% over the period.
The data release arrives less than a month after the Federal Reserve imposed the latest in an aggressive string of borrowing cost increases, despite concern that previous rate increases helped trigger the nation’s banking crisis.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a summer peak, though it remains more than double the Fed’s target of 2%.
The rapid rise in interest rates, however, tanked the value of bonds held by Silicon Valley Bank, precipitating its failure and cascading damage for the financial sector.
With an aggressive string of rate hikes last seen in the 1980s, the Fed aims to slash price hikes by slowing the economy and choking off demand. The approach, however, risks tipping the U.S. economy into a recession.
Mounting evidence suggests rate hikes have slowed economic activity.
Nearly 190 banks are at risk of collapse amid high interest rates and declining asset values, according to a study released by a team of university researchers last month.
Meanwhile, the U.S. added 236,000 jobs in March, which marks robust job growth but a reduction from an average of 334,000 jobs added each month over the previous six months, according to government data released on Friday.
The International Monetary Fund said on Tuesday that it expects the U.S. economy to expand by 1.6% this year, which would prove a slowdown from 2.1% growth in gross domestic product last year.
Still, some key areas of the economy have proven resilient, despite the rate hikes.
Existing-home sales spiked 14.5% in February, ending a 12-month streak of declines and recording the largest monthly percentage increases in nearly two years, National Association of Realtors data showed.
Meanwhile, U.S. retail sales fell moderately in February but remained solid, suggesting that households still retain some pandemic-era savings.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump sought Wednesday to delay a writer’s defamation and battery case that is scheduled to go on trial this month, arguing the “deluge” of media coverage of his recent indictment on 34 criminal charges makes fairness impossible.
The writer, E. Jean Carroll, sued Trump in November alleging he defamed her by calling her a liar when he denied her claim that Trump raped her in a department store dressing room. She added a charge of battery under a recently adopted New York law that allows adult survivors of sexual abuse to sue their alleged attacker regardless of the statute of limitations.
Trump has repeatedly denied Carroll’s allegations.
The trial is scheduled to begin April 25 in Manhattan federal court but Trump’s attorney, Joe Tacopina, asked the judge for a “cooling off” period in an overnight filing.
“President Trump can only receive a fair trial in a calmer media environment than the one created by the New York County District Attorney,” Tacopina wrote in a letter to the judge asking for a four-week delay.
If the trial goes forward as scheduled, “prospective jurors will have the criminal allegations top of mind,” Tacopina said.
There has been no immediate response from Carroll’s side.
Trump is not required to attend the trial. The judge has given Trump’s attorneys until next week to inform the court whether he will attend.
(NEW YORK) — A number of medical experts and health care officials are concerned about a rise in medical misinformation following the announcement by Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist, that he is running for president in 2024.
Kennedy, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has become one of the most prominent faces of the anti-vaccine movement, according to experts. He is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization known mainly for its anti-vaccine efforts. The group was kicked off Instagram and Facebook last year for spreading misleading claims about vaccines and other public health measures.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization’s revenues doubled to $6.8 million, according to filings made with charity regulators.
Kennedy’s bid for the presidency “puts science squarely on the ballot,” said Brian Castrucci, president of De Beaumont Foundation, a group dedicated to advancing public health policy. “His campaigns make the benefits of vaccines a question up for debate rather than settled science.”
“His campaign would platform a set of dangerous beliefs with the possibility of not only harming the health of the public but the health of our communities and economy as well,” Castrucci told ABC News. “We would have a candidate who each day would be spreading scientific misinformation and, in the process, legitimizing vaccine hesitancy and resistance.”
Kennedy, whose vaccine skepticism stretches back to around the early 2000s, has yet to hold any public presidential campaign events or mention his anti-vaccine stance as a presidential candidate. But some experts ABC News spoke with expressed concerns about his previous efforts to push conspiracy theories and misleading claims about COVID-19 and vaccines.
“His name carries a lot of weight,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease doctor at the University of California San Francisco, told ABC News. “Anybody who is a leader of our country needs to be a voice of reason and somebody who stands up for science and does not discredit science.”
Hong said that one of his concerns about Kennedy is his attitude toward public health infrastructure and the necessary funding health care institutions need for future public health emergencies.
“If you don’t believe in vaccines, you’re probably not going to be sympathetic to funding many arms of public health,” said Hong. “Money talks in a pandemic, and if you’re not going to put funding resources and money behind what should be done, the whole country is going to fall flat.”
Dr. Nick Sawyer, an emergency medicine physician in Sacramento who founded No License for Disinformation, a group of doctors who came together during the pandemic to call on state medical boards to take disciplinary measures against doctors spreading misinformation, said that Kennedy represents “a huge threat.”
“He’s lying to people about critical things that have to do with our nation’s children’s health,” Sawyer told ABC News. “The health effects are incredibly dangerous and have already shown to be incredibly damaging.”
Last year, Kennedy’s nonprofit organization criticized Sawyer’s group for pushing a California bill that would strip licenses from doctors who spread COVID-19 misinformation. In a blog post on the Children’s Health Defense website, the group said the bill would remove doctors’ medical licenses “if they express medical views that the state does not agree with.”
“On the national level, we must also stay vigilant against similar legislative proposals, and push back against phony front groups that promote this kind of medical tyranny,” the blog post said. “This includes the No License for Disinformation group.”
Dr. Elizabeth Glowacki, a health communication researcher at Northeastern University, told ABC News she is worried about Kennedy targeting marginalized communities, after he produced an anti-vaccine film about the dangers of vaccines aimed at Black and Hispanic people during the pandemic.
“There are some serious health consequences if people don’t have accurate information about vaccines, in particular communities that are underserved and that are marginalized — communities that already have a structure that prevents them from accessing vaccines and resources,” Glowacki said.
Last month, Castrucci’s group, De Beaumont, published a poll that found that nearly three in four physicians said medical misinformation has hindered their ability to treat COVID-19 patients.
According to the poll, 44% of physicians estimate that more than half the COVID-19 information they see, read and hear from patients is misinformation.
“We see [misinformation] continuing, if not gaining momentum,” Castrucci told ABC News.
Representatives for Kennedy’s presidential campaign did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
