(UVALDE, Texas) — “Numerous” migrants were reported injured in a train car in Uvalde County, Texas, on Friday, police said.
Medical helicopters responded to the scene in an area on US Highway 90 near Knippa, Uvalde police said on Facebook.
Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin told ABC San Antonio affiliate KSAT that people inside the train car called 911.
The incident was not a derailment, a source told ABC News.
The portion of the highway, which runs parallel to train tracks in the area, was closed between Uvalde and Sabinal but reopened Friday evening, police said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety is investigating the scene.
Knippa is located about 70 miles west of San Antonio.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the world is “on thin ice” and called for “climate action on all fronts” earlier this week while revealing the latest U.N. climate report.
The report said that greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow as chances of slowing climate change shrink — unless those emissions are cut drastically by the 2050s.
Ford CEO Jim Farley unveiled the company plans to reduce those emissions, including its new green manufacturing plant and the plant’s first vehicle, an electric truck codenamed Project T3. Farley joined “GMA3” to discuss the plans and what they mean for the future of manufacturing.
DEMARCO MORGAN: The U.N. secretary general says it will take a quantum leap and climate action to mitigate global warming. Can you tell us about the BlueOval City plant behind you and how it’s a game changer in your eyes?
JIM FARLEY: It’s a game changer for us. And good afternoon to you. Game changer for us, because we’re really starting to scale EVs. We’re number two in the U.S., and with this plant, we’re adding not only 6,000 American jobs, but, you know, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of capacity and the plant will be completely green. All the electrons that power the plant will be green electricity. So it’s not just a story about an electric vehicle. It’s actually a much bigger story about modernizing and decarbonizing our American manufacturing industrial system.
EVA PILGRIM: And today, Ford’s announcing the first vehicle to be built at that plant you’re at today, an electric vehicle codenamed Project T3. It’s a truck. What are we going to see that we haven’t seen yet in other EVs? And when will it roll out?
FARLEY: Well, you know, our Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup in the U.S., but this will be its successor and it will be fully software updatable. So over the air we’ll be able to change and improve the truck every day for our customers. And we think it’ll be the first technology we’re going to land where on a sunny day in the highway, you’ll be able to go to sleep in your Ford truck. So we don’t have autonomous features for commuters where you know you’re going to get the most precious thing in your life back, which is time.
MORGAN: And Jim, it is no secret that Ford has clearly embraced the electrical vehicle market as have others, and yet EVs have faced their share of problems. About 18 Ford F-150 Lightnings had to be recalled for a battery fire issue earlier this year. There have been Tesla battery fires, GM, BMW, Volvo, all had recalls due to EV fire risks. How can you assure people that your EVs are safe?
FARLEY: Well, I mean, I’m so proud of the Lightning team. They stopped production. We stopped the battery production. We did everything we needed to do. We found that fire. It happened at Ford, not in customer’s hands. We did exactly the right thing. Unlike other brands, we stopped the production. None of them got out in customer’s hands. And that’s exactly what we have to do to build a trusted brand on EV. We’re also going to diverse battery chemistry that has less risk, like the LMP battery plant we’re building in Michigan.
PILGRIM: We have to talk about money. EVs are expensive, more expensive than traditional cars. So if this is supposed to be better for our planet, how do you make these vehicles affordable so everyone who wants one can actually have one?
FARLEY: Yeah, great question. And that’s a big part of Ford, obviously. You know, we democratized affordable vehicles, so that’s a big part of our DNA. I think the first part is we have to design the vehicle differently to be a lot simpler. We have to scale to hundreds of thousands from tens of thousands. Like today, we’re going to have a more efficient distribution without inventory like we have today with our dealers. And we’re going to have to build it with less labor content. So we have to change everything, basically.
MORGAN: Jim, before you go, the U.N. climate report says we have to cut global emissions in half by 2030 and net-zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees. Are you optimistic that the world can reach that goal? Is it possible?
FARLEY: It’s possible if companies like Ford do what we’ve got to do. It’s absolutely possible.
(SALT LAKE CITY, Utah) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed two bills into law on on Friday that seek to limit the harm caused by social media to children and teens by requiring parents and guardians to consent to their children having accounts and by prohibiting social media companies from designing addictive features.
“Our administration is very concerned about how social media is affecting our children. Youth rates of depression and other mental health issues are on the rise, and social media companies know their products are toxic,” Cox said in a recording posted online. “As leaders and as parents we have a responsibility to protect our young people.”
As of March 1, 2024, social media companies will be required to verify the adult age of Utah residents seeking to open or maintain social media accounts. Those under the age of 18 will need the consent of a parent or guardian.
Social media companies will also be required to allow parents full access to their child’s account, create curfew settings that blocks access overnight, prohibit direct messages from anyone the child hasn’t followed or friended and block underage accounts from search results.
Social media companies will also be prohibited from collecting a child’s data or target their accounts for advertising, according to the law.
Violations may be reported to the Consumer Protection Division, which can fine social media companies up to $2,500 per violation and can seek additional remedies through courts.
A second law, which will go into effect on Dec. 31, will implement penalties on social media companies that target users under the age of 18 with addictive algorithms. Social media companies will be prohibited from “using a design or feature that causes a minor to have an addiction to the company’s social media platform,” according to the law.
Violators could face a fine of $250,000 and a penalty of up to $2,500 per child who is exposed to an addictive feature. Companies that perform quarterly audits and address addictive feature violations within 30 days could avoid the fine, according to the law.
Parents will also be able to sue social media companies directly for the financial, physical or emotional harm to their children. For those under the age of 16, harm would be presumed under the law and social media companies would have to prove otherwise.
“Utah’s leading the way in holding social media companies accountable – and we’re not slowing down anytime soon,” Cox said in a tweet.
(LONDON) — The Rwandan government announced Friday that Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the acclaimed 2004 film Hotel Rwanda, will be released from prison nearly three years after he was captured and detained.
The 68-year-old Rwandan hotelier-turned-dissident, who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, was tried and convicted on a slew of terrorism-related charges in Rwanda’s High Court in Kigali in 2021. He was sentenced to 25 years behind bars.
Rusesabagina’s prison sentence was commuted by presidential order on Friday after consideration of requests for his clemency and approval by the Cabinet, according to Rwandan Minister for Justice and Attorney General Emmanuel Ugirashebuja.
“Under Rwandan law, commutation of sentence does not extinguish the underlying conviction,” Ugirashebuja said in a statement. “If any individual benefitting from early release repeats offences of a similar nature, the commutation can be revoked and the remainder of the prison sentence will be served, in accordance with the conditions specified in the Presidential Order. Other penalties imposed by the Court, such as compensation owed to victims, are not affected by this commutation and thus remain in force.”
Rwandan government spokesperson Stephanie Nyombayire confirmed to ABC News that Rusesabagina would be freed within 24 hours.
When asked for comment, Rusesabagina’s family told ABC News in a statement on Friday: “We are pleased to hear the news about Paul’s release. The family is hopeful to reunite with him soon.”
Last year, the U.S. Department of State determined that Rusesabagina, who has maintained his innocence, had been “wrongfully detained.” The U.S. House of Representatives subsequently passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the Biden administration to demand Rusesabagina’s release on humanitarian grounds. As U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to Rwanda in August 2022, members of Congress sent a letter urging him to push for Rusesabagina’s “immediate release” and “safe return to the United States.”
Rusesabagina was the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when divisions between Rwanda’s two main ethnic groups came to a head. The Rwandan government, controlled by extremist members of the Hutu ethnic majority, launched a systemic campaign with its allied Hutu militias to wipe out the Tutsi ethnic minority, slaughtering more than 800,000 people over the course of 100 days, mostly Tutsis and the moderate Hutus who tried to protect them, according to estimates from the United Nations.
More than 1,200 people took shelter in the Hotel des Mille Collines during what is often described as the darkest chapter of Rwanda’s history. Rusesabagina, who is of both Hutu and Tutsi descent, said he used his job and connections with the Hutu elite to protect the hotel’s guests from massacre. The events were later immortalized in Hotel Rwanda, with American actor Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Rusesabagina earning an Academy Award nomination for best actor in 2005.
Rusesabagina, who fled Rwanda with his family in 1996 and later settled in San Antonio, Texas, rose to fame and was lauded as a hero after the movie’s release. In 2005, he was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the American president. He also wrote a book, gave paid speeches and became an outspoken critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has been in office for the last two decades.
In August 2020, Rusesabagina traveled to Dubai to meet up with a Burundi-born pastor who Rusesabagina alleges had invited him to speak at churches in Burundi about his experience during the Rwandan genocide. The pair hopped on a private jet that Rusesabagina believed would take them to Burundi’s capital, according to Rusesabagina’s international legal team.
Rusesabagina did not know that the pastor was working as an informant for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau and had tricked him into boarding a chartered flight to Kigali. He was subsequently arrested and charged with several terrorism-related offenses, with Rwandan prosecutors alleging that Rusesabagina wanted to go to Burundi to coordinate with rebel groups based there and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Rusesabagina’s family and lawyers have repeatedly expressed concern over his condition and treatment while under detention in Rwanda’s capital. The married father of six is a cancer survivor and is prescribed medication for a heart disorder. He was held in solitary confinement for more than eight months after his capture and has been denied proper medical care, according to his international legal team. The U.N.’s Nelson Mandela Rules state that keeping someone in solitary confinement for more than 15 consecutive days is torture.
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. official told ABC News that there were two new attacks late Friday on two U.S. facilities in Deir ez-Zor Province in eastern Syria after another earlier in the day and a drone attack on Thursday that prompted retaliatory U.S. airstrikes that targeted Iranian-backed militias believed responsible.
Both attacks late Friday happened about the same time, the official said. One involved three drones targeting one facility and the other involved five rockets fired at a separate facility, according to the official, who said one American service member was wounded and was in stable condition.
The official said that two of the three drones that targeted one U.S. facility were shot down, but one drone made it through. There were no injuries in that attack.
The official said that five rockets were fired at another U.S. facility where the American service member was wounded. That individual is in stable condition, the official said, and that a damage assessment of the facility was still underway.
Earlier Friday, a Pentagon spokesman said the first of the three attacks on U.S. bases did not cause any damage and there were no injuries.
“On the morning of March 24th, at approximately 8:05 am local time, 10 rockets targeted coalition forces at the Green Village in northeast Syria,” said Lt. Col. Phil Ventura, a Pentagon spokesman.
“The attack resulted in no injuries to US or coalition personnel and no damage to equipment or facilities,” he added.
The new attacks, of which there have been about 80 since the start of 2021, come a day after the U.S. military conducted retaliatory airstrikes in eastern Syria on Thursday against the Iranian-backed groups after a one-way explosive drone attack targeting a U.S. base in the region killed a U.S. contractor and injured six others, including five U.S. service members, the Pentagon said.
“Earlier today, a U.S. contractor was killed and five U.S. service members and one additional U.S. contractor were wounded after a one-way unmanned aerial vehicle struck a maintenance facility on a Coalition base near Hasakah in northeast Syria at approximately 1:38 p.m. local time,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Two of the wounded service members were treated on site, while the other four Americans were medically evacuated to coalition medical facilities in Iraq, officials said. A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that both contractors were American.
U.S. intelligence assessed that the one-way attack drone that struck the base on Thursday was Iranian in origin, according to the statement. Iran has used such drones in the past in attacks on Saudi Arabia and in Yemen, but this drone technology has become more noticeable after it provided hundreds of Shahed drones to Russia that have been used in attacks against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure targets.
Earlier on Thursday, Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla, who as the commander of U.S. Central Command is the top U.S. military commander in the Middle East, told Congress that there have been 78 such attacks since the beginning of 2021.
“At the direction of President [Joe] Biden, I authorized U.S. Central Command forces to conduct precision airstrikes tonight in eastern Syria against facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC),” Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said in the statement, issued late Thursday.
“The airstrikes were conducted in response today’s attack, as well as a series of recent attacks against Coalition forces in Syria by groups affiliated with the IRGC,” he added.
A U.S. official told ABC News that the airstrikes were carried out by U.S. Air Force F-15 fighter aircraft as part of a response approved by President Joe Biden earlier on Thursday.
Biden was enroute to Ottawa, Canada, when he approved the airstrikes presented by the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community as response options to the drone attack, White House spokesman John Kirby said during an appearance on CNN.
“He made the decision very, very shortly in that discussion to authorize the strikes against these particular targets,” Kirby said. “We’re going to work to protect our people and our facilities as best we can. It’s a dangerous environment.”
“We are not seeking a conflict with Iran,” said Kirby. “We’ve been very clear with the Iranians and with our partners about how serious the mission that we’re doing in Syria is and how we’re going to protect that mission.”
“Iran should not be involved in supporting these attacks on our facilities or on our people, we’ve made that very very clear,” said Kirby.
At a news conference with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Friday afternoon, before the reports of even more attacks, Biden said, “make no mistake, the United States does not — does not, emphasize — seek conflict with Iran but be prepared for us to act forcefully protect our people. That’s exactly what happened last night.”
The U.S. has about 900 troops in eastern Syria providing assistance to Syrian Kurdish forces in preventing a resurgence of the Islamic State.
In recent months, some of the bases have been the target of drone attacks that had, in most instances, not led to injuries or physical damage. Iranian-backed groups in Syria are believed to have been responsible for these attacks.
“These precision strikes are intended to protect and defend U.S. personnel. The United States took proportionate and deliberate action intended to limit the risk of escalation and minimize casualties,” the Pentagon statement read.
“As President Biden has made clear, we will take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing,” Austin said. “No group will strike our troops with impunity.”
“Our thoughts are with the family and colleagues of the contractor who was killed and with those who were wounded in the attack earlier today,” the defense secretary added.
In a statement, U.S. Central Command leader Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla said, in part, that the U.S. “will always take all necessary measures to defend our people and will always respond at a time and place of our choosing. We are postured for scalable options in the face of any additional Iranian attacks.”
“Our troops remain in Syria to ensure the enduring defeat of ISIS, which benefits the security and stability of not only Syria, but the entire region,” he added.
During Thursday’s House Armed Services Committee hearing focused on the Middle East and Africa, Kurilla was asked by Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon about the frequency of Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. forces.
There have been 78 such attacks since the beginning of 2021, according to Kurilla.
“It is periodic. We see periods where they will do more,” he said
“So what Iran does to hide its hand is they use Iranian proxies — that’s under UAVs or rockets — to be able to attack our forces in Iraq or Syria,” Kurilla added.
ABC News analyst Mick Mulroy, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East and retired CIA officer, said the U.S. “must strike back at the Iranian forces in Syria responsible for these attacks to such an extent that they know the consequences of killing and injuring Americans will not be worth the costs.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday announced a new migration deal as part of Biden’s first visit to America’s northern neighbor.
The new agreement will allow Canada to send migrants who cross at unofficial ports of entry at America’s northern border back to the U.S., a change to the Safe Third Country Agreement long-sought by Canada.
The U.S. will also be able to turn back asylum seekers who travel across the border from Canada.
In return, Canada has agreed to allow 15,000 more people from the Western Hemisphere to migrate to Canada legally.
Biden officially announced the new policy agreement as he delivered remarks to the Canadian Parliament, saying he applauded Canada for “stepping up with similar programs opening new legal pathways” to migrants.
“At the same time, the United States and Canada will work together to discourage unlawful border crossing and fully implement the updated Safe Third Country Agreement,” Biden said.
During a joint news conference with Biden, the Canadian prime minister emphasized working with the U.S. to “keep our people safe.”
“Keeping people safe also includes keeping asylum seekers safe, keeping our borders secure and keeping our immigration strong,” Trudeau said. “Both of our countries believe in safe, fair and orderly migration, refugee protection and border security.”
Trudeau said authorities will enforce the agreement beginning at midnight Friday.
The Bidens arrived in Canada on Thursday, and were welcomed by Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau at their residence in Ottawa.
The U.S.-Canada relationship was strained during the previous administration as Trudeau and former President Donald Trump clashed on a number of issues, including trade and immigration. But the alliance has since mended under Biden.
Trudeau touched on the “challenging times” the two nations faced, noting the last time Biden appeared in the room for a joint press conference he was the outgoing vice president.
“I have to say through our conversations back then, through the work we have been able to do over these past two years, it has truly been an honor to be able to work with you for the benefit of Canadians and Americans, but also to continue to have a positive impact on the world in a very uncertain time,” Trudeau said.
Biden, too, praised the U.S.-Canada alliance, saying the two countries will “always will have each other’s backs.”
Biden began the day on Parliament Hill for an official welcome and meetings with Trudeau, Canada’s Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and others.
In the evening, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend a gala dinner hosted by the Trudeaus at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa before departing for Wilmington, Delaware.
ABC News’ Justin Fishel and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
(FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va.) — The Fairfax County Police Department released body camera footage of the fatal police shooting of Timothy Johnson, 37, who allegedly stole a pair of sunglasses in a Northern Virginia mall.
The surveillance and body camera videos from Feb. 22 were shown publicly for the first time during a Thursday press conference led by Police Chief Kevin Davis, who announced that the officer who fired the fatal shot has been dismissed from the department.
“The other discharging officer has been served a notice administratively separating him from the Fairfax County Police Department. This notice was served today. He will no longer be a Fairfax County police officer,” Davis said.
The other officer involved has been placed on modified restricted duty, he said.
Melissa Johnson, the mother of Timothy Johnson, told ABC News she “was pleased to hear about the administrative separation” of one of the officers; however, she “was not pleased to hear about the continuation of restricted duty” for the other.
“They both discharged their weapons. They both had their weapons out,” Johnson’s mother said, adding that for the first time since Wednesday, she felt like she could breathe.
She also told ABC News that she viewed the body camera video Wednesday before it was released.
“No parent should have to view something like that,” she said.
According to police, store surveillance video shows Johnson at a Nordstrom department store inside Tysons Corner Center allegedly stealing at least one pair of sunglasses.
Shortly after the alleged theft, an anti-theft alarm was activated as Johnson was leaving the store, police said, prompting officers to pursue Johnson in a foot chase.
Body camera footage shows police chasing Johnson as he exited the garage and ran toward a dark, wooded area. There, shots can be heard on the footage, one shot hitting Johnson’s chest, according to the police.
Police said they immediately rendered aid to Johnson until a local fire and rescue department arrived.
Johnson was then taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead, according to police.
According to Davis, “The officer’s actions do not meet the expectations of our police department.”
“They drew their guns and shot and killed him and the only thing they knew was that he was accused of allegedly taking a pair of sunglasses,” Melissa Johnson said at a previous press conference.
Police said no weapon was found at the scene.
Both officers are both still under investigation, according to the police department.
The officers did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — With a grand jury weighing possible charges against former President Donald Trump, the case is drawing comparisons to the indictment of a rising Democratic star over a decade ago that also involved hush money accusations.
In 2011, John Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina and two-time presidential candidate, was charged in an alleged plot to violate campaign finance laws during his 2008 bid for the White House.
Federal prosecutors accused Edwards of soliciting nearly $1 million from wealthy donors to hide his affair with videographer Rielle Hunter — and that he was the father of their baby — to prevent damage to his reputation as a family man during the campaign.
Edwards’ defense team argued the donations were personal gifts from friends, not campaign contributions, and were intended only to hide the affair from his cancer-stricken wife, not voters.
A North Carolina jury found Edwards not guilty of one count of receiving illegal campaign donations but deadlocked on five other charges, leading to a mistrial. The Justice Department ultimately dropped the charges.
It was the most recent major case of a hush money scheme in a presidential campaign, until now.
On Saturday, Trump claimed he expected to be arrested this past Tuesday in connection with a $130,000 payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in the final stretch of the 2016 campaign.
It remains unclear what action Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg will take, or when.
Prosecutors are said to be considering whether Trump falsified business records when reimbursing his attorney Michael Cohen for the payment to Daniels. That would be a misdemeanor under New York law, though it could become a felony if prosecutors contend he falsified records to conceal another crime.
Trump attorney Joe Tacopina made a comparison to Edwards during a recent appearance on MSNBC.
“This is very — look, John Edwards — remember that case, where a third party paid for John Edwards’s mistress who was pregnant with his baby and all that stuff? … He was acquitted. And the DOJ dropped all charges on the hung counts on that,” Tacopina said.
Tacopina has also echoed Edwards’ defense that the Daniels payment wasn’t related to the campaign and was intended to protect the Trump family.
“He made this with personal funds to prevent something coming out false but embarrassing to himself and his family’s young son,” Tacopina told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on “Good Morning America.”
Similarities, differences in Trump and Edwards cases
“There are a lot of similarities in how these two cases may run,” said Steven Friedland, a law professor at North Carolina’s Elon University and a former federal prosecutor.
Both cases involve salacious details of a presidential candidate paying a woman to keep quiet about an alleged affair.
After first denying the affair, Edwards admitted his relationship with Hunter, a videographer hired to document his campaign, in an interview with ABC News’ Bob Woodruff in 2008. He denied being the father of their child until he eventually acknowledged that in 2010.
Trump has long denied Daniels’ allegation of a 2006 affair, and his team has cast the funds given to her as an extortion payment.
Politics also hover over the two cases. Trump and Republicans have assailed Bragg as a Democrat abusing his authority to go after a political enemy. In the Edwards case, some Democrats questioned whether George Holding, a Bush-appointed U.S. attorney who later ran for Congress as a Republican, was acting out of his own political ambition.
And both cases involve star witnesses whose credibility has been questioned.
In Edwards’ case, it was his former aide Andrew Young who took the stand under a grant of immunity to testify against him. The defense cross-examination painted Young as an inconsistent witness.
In Trump’s case, it is Cohen. Cohen pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and other crimes, including lying to Congress, for his role in orchestrating the payment to Daniels.
He told ABC News he is ready to testify against Trump, should there be an indictment. But Trump and his allies, including attorney Robert Costello, have sought to undermine his credibility.
“Just like the cross-examination of Andrew Young was pivotal in the John Edwards case, it looks like no matter what charges are brought, the cross examinations of Michael Cohen and Stormy Daniels, if she testifies, will be pivotal,” Friedland said.
There are also differences between the two cases, observers noted, with one of the most notable being the timeline of the payments.
The payments to Edwards’ mistress began in 2007 and continued after he suspended his campaign, while Daniels received a one-time payment just before the 2016 election.
“It’s really hard to believe that the primary motivation wasn’t to prevent it from coming out and affecting the presidential election,” Brett Kappel, a campaign finance law specialist, said of the payment to Daniels.
Another key contrast is that the Edwards case played out at the federal level, while Trump is being investigating at the state level.
What the Edwards case could mean for Trump
While it remains to be seen what charges and evidence Bragg may bring forward, the Edwards case showed even trials dominated by sordid details involving a high-profile politician ultimately hinge on the legal intricacies involved.
It also left the remaining question of whether hush money can amount to a campaign contribution.
Friedland noted that alleging a campaign finance rules violation was a “novel” approach to bringing criminal charges in Edwards’ case, and that it remains so today.
“It isn’t a well-established violation of criminal law,” he said.
Despite no conviction in the Edwards case, the revelation of the affair and hush payments promptly ended his political career. What would the impact be on Trump, who has already weathered several scandals?
“Certainly, all the things that have happened to him up to this point, including impeachment twice, has not dampened the ardor of his supporters,” said Stanley Brand, an election law expert. “And I don’t know that a New York prosecution on something that is essentially to begin with a misdemeanor is going to do that, either.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday are expected to announce a new migration deal as part of Biden’s first visit to America’s northern neighbor.
The two leaders will hold a joint news conference after Biden addresses the Canadian Parliament.
The new agreement will allow Canada to send more migrants who cross at unofficial ports of entry of America’s northern border back to the U.S., according to a senior U.S. official and another person familiar with the deal.
In return, Canada has agreed to allow 15,000 more people from the Western Hemisphere to migrate to Canada legally.
Ahead of Biden’s visit, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the administration was “committed” to working with Canada to address the increase in migration going north but declined to confirm the deal.
The Bidens arrived in Canada on Thursday, and were welcomed by Trudeau and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau at their residence in Ottawa.
The U.S.-Canada relationship was strained during the previous administration as Trudeau and former President Donald Trump clashed on a number of issues, including trade and immigration. But the alliance has since mended under Biden.
“We have no greater friend and ally than the United States,” Trudeau said after he and Biden sat down for a bilateral meeting on Friday morning.
Biden began the day on Parliament Hill for an official welcome and meetings with Trudeau, Canada’s Opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and others.
Trudeau said they’ve been “working closely together over the past few years” on the economy, climate change, geopolitical security and standing up for values around the world.
Biden remarked that the U.S. is lucky to have Canada as a neighboring ally.
“All the values are the same, we disagree and agree on things occasionally but there’s no fundamental difference in the democratic values we share,” Biden said.
In addition to immigration, Trudeau and Biden are expected to discuss a range of economic and security issues.
In the evening, Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend a gala dinner hosted by the Trudeaus at the Canadian Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa before departing for Wilmington, Delaware.
(NEW YORK) — Public health departments across the United States have expressed concern about the spread of a potentially deadly fungus after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported cases have spiked.
Candida auris, or C. aurisis, is increasing at an “alarming” rate with cases doubling in 2021, the CDC said.
Now, with infections reported around the country, health officials are working to prevent the drug-resistant yeast from spreading further.
Two cases were recently reported to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The agency told local ABC affiliate Denver 7 that the patients had been receiving care in facilities out of state and were transferred to Colorado for additional care.
On its website, CPDPHE said it was concerned about C. auris because it is often multi-drug resistant, can be difficult to identify and can cause outbreaks in health care settings.
Additionally, the Indiana State Department of Health said it is monitoring 87 cases of C. auris, according to local affiliate WRTV.
The fungus “presents a serious global health threat,” the department said on its website. “Outbreaks of this organism have occurred in healthcare settings, so early identification and communication about cases are essential to awareness and prevention.”
What’s more, Austin Public Health recently told KXAN that the spread was “very concerning” and that it is a “top threat” to the agency.
While most healthy people are not at risk, vulnerable populations — including those with weakened immune systems — are prone to drug-resistant infections.
In addition, nursing home patients or hospital patients who have or have had lines and tubes in their body — such as a catheter or a breathing tube — are also at high risk.
Doctors previously told ABC News they are concerned because C. auris can spread either from person to person or by coming into contact with contaminated surfaces.
Although several strains of C. auris are multi-drug resistant, there is a class of antifungal drugs called echinocandins that can be used and are given intravenously.
According to the National Institutes of Health, echinocandins prevent a key enzyme needed to maintain the cell wall of the fungus.
In some cases, when the infection is resistant to all three main classes of drugs, multiple high doses may be required, the CDC said.
According to the CDC, studies on mortality related to C. auris are limited but anywhere between 30% and 60% of people with C. auris infections have died.
The federal health agency, however, noted many of these patients also had other serious illnesses that increased their risk of death.
