DEA / C.DANI / I.JESKE/De Agostini via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — More than a fifth of the world’s reptiles are at risk of extinction in the coming decades due to human activity, according to a new study.
Researchers applied criteria from the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species to more than 10,000 species around the world and found that over 21% are at risk — with nearly 58% of species of crocodiles and and 50% of species of turtles requiring urgent conservation efforts to prevent them from being wiped out from the planet, according to a study published Thursday in Nature.
Human activity, such as agriculture, logging, urban development and invasive species, are the main drivers of the threat to reptiles, according to the researchers. While climate change is assumed to be a factor, the exact risk it poses has not yet been determined due to the lack of long-term studies.
“Climate change is a looming threat to reptiles, for example, by reducing thermally viable windows for foraging, skewing offspring sex ratios in species that have temperature-dependent sex determination and contracting ranges,” the study states.
However, disease does not seem to be a prominent factor for loss of species, as only 11 species of reptiles were found to be at risk of widespread disease, the authors said.
Although previous findings have proposed reptiles to be most at risk in arid environments, such as deserts and scrubland, the researchers found that species inhabiting forests were more threatened, perhaps because of greater exposures to certain threats in forest environments. The study found that 30% of forest-dwelling reptiles are at risk of extinction, compared with 14% of reptiles in arid habitats.
Threatened reptiles were more concentrated in southeastern Asia, West Africa, northern Madagascar, the northern Andes and the Caribbean, according to the study.
Many of the risks that reptiles face are similar to those faced by other animal groups that have been assessed, such as birds, mammals and amphibians, and reptiles will also benefit from conservation efforts directed toward those other animals, according to the study. The paper, a joint venture by NatureServe, the IUCN and Conservation International, is the first risk-assessment study ever conducted for reptiles, the authors said.
“I was surprised by the degree to which mammals, birds and amphibians, collectively, can serve as surrogates to reptiles,” said Dr. Bruce Young, co-leader of the study and chief zoologist and senior conservation scientist at NatureServe. “This is good news because the extensive efforts to protect better-known animals have also likely contributed to protecting many reptiles. Habitat protection is essential to buffer reptiles, as well as other vertebrates, from threats such as agricultural activities and urban development.”
The study also highlighted the biodiversity that would be lost if such a large number of reptiles were to go extinct. If each of the 1,829 threatened reptiles were lost, the world would lose a combined 15.6 billion years of evolutionary history — including countless adaptations for living in diverse environments, the researchers said.
“Reptiles in the study include turtles, crocodiles, lizards, snakes, and tuatara, the only living member of a lineage that evolved in the Triassic period approximately 200-250 million years ago,” according to a press release by NatureServe, a wildlife conservation nonprofit.
Urgent and targeted conservation efforts, such as habitat restoration and controlling invasive species, are needed to restore the populations of many reptile species, the researchers said.
(LUBLIN, Poland) — The Majdanek death camp located in Lublin, Poland was the site of one of the largest mass executions recorded during the Holocaust.
Over 18,000 Jews were killed on one day, Nov. 3, 1943.
Today, the State Museum at Majdanek is located at the site of the former concentration camp, and provides visitors with the raw remnants of the horrors of the Holocaust.
ABC News’ Phil Lipof took a tour of the museum with Łukasz Myszala, one of its archivists who highlighted some of the location’s disturbing artifacts.
“Most of the 78,000 people who perished here at Majdanek rest right here at your side,” Myszala told Lipof, referencing a mausoleum covering a mound of ashes recovered from bodies buried there.
The site remains surrounded by barbed wires and fences, which were electrified during the Holocaust. Myszala said that the Nazis took great lengths to conceal their genocide.
“Although the gas chambers were so close to the prisoners, it was a very well concealed crime,” he said. “They didn’t want anybody to see what was happening…that was meant to remain a secret.”
Myszala said that the barracks were designed to keep 250 prisoners, but there were likely much more held inside those rooms. Shoes that belonged to the concentration camp prisoners are on display at the museum.
“They’re crammed together in cages,” he said. “Just like the people who wore them were when they worked here, and died here.”
And the gruesome task of getting the bodies of those killed in the gas chambers into crematoria fell to other prisoners, according to Myszala. This group, known as the “Geheimnisträgern,” or the carriers of the secret, would eventually be shot by Nazi soldiers and be replaced with a new prisoners, Myszala said.
“Usually, the lifespan of those prisoners [in those camps] was between four to six weeks,” he said.
Myszala said the Nazis also went to even greater lengths to hide the mass executions that took place on Nov. 3, 1943.
Prisoners were brought out of their barracks in groups to ditches and systemically shot. Roughly 18,400 Jews were killed on that day, according to Myszala.
The Nazis dubbed the executions “Operation Erntefest,” or “harvest festival,” because of the way they masked the killings, Myszala said.
The archivist said prisoners who were inside the barracks during the executions recalled hearing music being played, including waltzes, foxtrots and marches.
“The Germans played loud music to conceal this crime, first of all, to cover up the noises, drown out the machine guns. But secondly, it was meant to provide an appropriate aura for the harvest festival,” Myszala said.
The archivist said it was important that the world never forget the violence that took place at the site and, more importantly, make sure that atrocities never happen again.
“May our fate be a warning to you,” Myszala said as he translated the inscription engraved at the front of the mausoleum where prisoners’ ashes are kept.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military earlier this month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, as it attempts to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 28, 4:58 pm
House approves lend-lease measure to help expedite aid
The House voted 417-10 approving a measure that will make it easier for the U.S. to send military aid and equipment to Ukraine.
The Senate approved the measure by voice vote last month. It now heads to President Joe Biden’s desk for his signature.
The lend-lease program was created during WWII and was seen as a game-changer in the conflict, allowing the U.S. to quickly resupply Allies.
This enhanced lend-lease authority would be specific to helping remove obstacles to lending arms to Ukraine. It would not create a new program but would streamline the president’s current authority to lend the defense articles necessary to defend civilian populations.
The legislation would also require Biden to establish expedited delivery procedures for any military equipment loaned or leased to Ukraine to ensure timely delivery.
It would remain in effect for two years with the possibility of Congress extending the authority if needed.
-ABC News’ Mariam Khan
Apr 28, 4:02 pm
Kyiv targeted in shelling as UN chief visits
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Ukraine’s capital was hit by two missile strikes in the Shevchenkivsky district on Thursday.
At least one Russian missile struck a residential building. Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to the interior minister who was at the scene following the attack, told journalists at least six people were injured.
This came as United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited the city.
Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, tweeted that the attack came right after Guterres visited Russia.
“The day before he was sitting at a long table in the Kremlin, and today explosions are above his head. Postcard from Moscow? Recall why [Russia] still takes a seat on the UN Security Council?” he tweeted.
This was the first strike on central Kyiv in over a week.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Apr 28, 2:35 pm
UN chief: Discussions ongoing on ways to evacuate civilians from Mariupol plant
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “intensive discussions” are ongoing on proposals to evacuate Ukrainian civilians from the Azovstal steel plant in the besieged city of Mariupol.
“Mariupol is a crisis within a crisis,” Guterres said in a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Thursday. “Thousands of civilians need life-saving assistance. Many are elderly, in need of medical care or have limited mobility. They need an escape route out of the apocalypse.”
Guterres said that during his visit to Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to the involvement of the U.N. and the International Committee of the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the plant.
Guterres said he and Zelenskyy had the opportunity to address the issue Thursday.
“As we speak, there are in intense discussions to move forward on this proposal to make it a reality,” he said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 28, 1:25 pm
UN chief visits sites of suspected war crimes
United Secretary-General Antonio Guterres visited sites of suspected war crimes in the Kyiv suburbs of Bucha, Irpin and Borodianka.
In Irpin, Guterres visited the destroyed Irpinsky Lipki residential complex and said that the “horrific scenario demonstrates something that is unfortunately always true: Civilians always pay the highest price.”
Guterres urged Russia to cooperate with the investigation launched by the International Criminal Court.
Guterres, speaking from Bucha, said, “When we see this horrendous site, it makes me feel how important it is [to have] a thorough investigation and accountability.”
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 28, 12:46 pm
Slow Russian progress in Donbas, more training for Ukrainians on US weapons
There are now 92 operational Russian battalion tactical groups — each made up of about 700 to 1,000 troops — inside Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday.
Russia continues to suffer logistical problems, as it has since early in the invasion. This, on top of the Ukrainian defense, is slowing their progress.
“They’re only able to sustain several kilometers or so progress on any given day just because they don’t want to run out too far ahead of their logistics and sustainment lines,” the official said.
The official added, “We would assess that Russian forces are making slow and uneven, and frankly, we would describe it as incremental progress, in the Donbas.”
More than 54 of the 90 howitzers the U.S. is sending Ukraine have arrived in the country, the official said.
The first batch of 50 Ukrainians taken out of the country for training on U.S. artillery systems is back in Ukraine, where they can teach others what they’ve learned, the official said. A second group of 50 Ukrainians has begun its six days of training, the official said.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Apr 28, 11:20 am
Biden asking Congress for $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next 5 months
President Joe Biden is asking Congress for a total of $33 billion in supplemental aid for Ukraine over the next five months, administration officials previewed in a Thursday morning call ahead of the president’s remarks.
Over $20 billion of the $33 billion will be for military and other security systems.
“The cost of this fight is not cheap. But caving to aggression is going to be more costly,” Biden said in remarks later in the morning.
Biden stressed, “We’re not attacking Russia — we’re helping Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.”
The administration is also asking for an additional $8.5 billion in economic assistance to help provide basic services to the Ukrainian people.
Part of the package also includes targeted funding to address economic disruptions in the U.S. as a result of the war in Ukraine, like helping increase U.S. production of wheat and soybeans, “and funding to allow the use of the Defense Production Act to expand domestic production of critical reserves – of reserves of critical minerals and materials that have been disrupted by Putin’s war and are necessary to make everything from defense systems to cars,” a senior administration official said.
Biden insisted that, despite Russia’s claims, the U.S. is not fighting a proxy war.
“It shows the desperation that Russia is feeling about their abject failure in being able to do what they set out to do in the first instance,” Biden said.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez and Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García
Apr 28, 8:00 am
Russia retains ability to strike Ukrainian coastal targets, UK says
The Russian Navy still has the ability to strike coastal targets in Ukraine, even after the “embarrassing losses” of two warships, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.
In an intelligence update posted Thursday, the ministry said approximately 20 Russian naval vessels, including submarines, are currently in the “Black Sea operational zone.” But the ministry said Russia isn’t able to replace the missile cruiser Moskva because the Bosphorus strait remains closed to all non-Turkish warships.
The Moskva, the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sunk in the Black Sea earlier this month while being towed to port after a fire onboard, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Ukrainian officials, however, claimed that ship was struck by Ukrainian missiles, which the Russian defense ministry has denied.
Russia also lost the landing ship Saratov, which was destroyed by explosions and fire on March 24.
Apr 28, 6:48 am
Separatist forces arrest over 100 captured Ukrainian troops in Donetsk
Russia-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast claimed Thursday that they have arrested more than 100 captured Ukrainian troops suspected of being involved in crimes.
“Facts of involvement in crimes have been brought to light following investigators’ works. There are already more than 100 people who have been arrested by investigators,” Yury Sirovatko, justice minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, told Russian state-owned television channel Rossiya 24 on Thursday.
Sirovatko on Wednesday told Channel One, a Russian state-controlled TV channel, that there are about 2,600 captured Ukrainian servicemen in the region.
Apr 28, 5:01 am
Russia accuses Ukraine of war crimes
Russia on Thursday accused Ukraine of committing war crimes by indiscriminately attacking civilian areas in Ukrainian cities.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “launched a massive attack” using ballistic missiles and multiple rocket launchers on residential areas of Kherson in southern Ukraine late Wednesday.
“The indiscriminate missile attack launched by the nationalists targeted kindergartens, schools and various social facilities in residential areas near Ushakova avenue,” the ministry said in a statement Thursday. “Russian air defense units have repelled the attack of the Ukrainian troops launched at the residential districts of Kherson.”
The ministry also claimed that Ukrainian troops had launched indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum in eastern Ukraine.
“The Kyiv nationalist regime’s indiscriminate attacks on residential areas of Izyum and Kherson are a war crime and a gross violation of international humanitarian law,” the ministry added.
Ukraine did not immediately respond to the allegations.
Apr 28, 4:55 am
Putin ramps up nuclear threats, as US weapons head to Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted at the possibility of nuclear warfare during his Wednesday address to the council of legislators.
“If someone from outside moves to interfere in the current developments, they should know that they will indeed create strategic threats to Russia, which are unacceptable to us, and they should know that our response to encounter assaults will be instant, it will be quick,” Putin said, according to Russian state media.
Putin claimed Russia’s response to strategic threats from outside Ukraine would be “immediate.”
“We have all the tools to do it, tools that others can’t boast of at the moment, but as for us, we won’t be boasting,” Putin said.
Putin said that Russia is prepared to use those “tools” if “the need arises,” adding that he “would like everyone to be aware of it.” A nuclear attack has been on the table since the onset of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, Putin said. He had ordered his nuclear forces to be put on high alert on Feb 27.
Putin’s remarks came as Pentagon press secretary John Kirby announced that “more than half” of the 90 howitzers the U.S. agreed to send to Ukraine were now in the country, adding that around 50 Ukrainian troops have already been trained to operate the weapons.
“We finished up earlier this week, the first tranche of more than 50 trainers that are going to go in and train their teammates,” Kirby said during a press briefing on Wednesday, a moment later adding, “But there was another tranche of more than 50 that we’re going to go through training in the same location outside Ukraine.”
The U.S. Department of Defense on Wednesday tweeted pictures of more howitzers “bound for Ukraine” that were being loaded onto US Air Force aircraft. Additional training opportunities on Howitzers and other weapons systems were also being explored, Kirby said.
As U.S. weapons head to Ukraine, Russia is increasing the pace of its offensive in almost all directions, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said on Thursday.
The U.S. is considering the legal aspects of officially listing Russia as a state-sponsor of terrorism, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken told lawmakers on Wednesday. Officials said they haven’t yet determined whether Russia’s actions meet the legal standard required for the designation, Blinken said.
The designation, called for by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, would further cripple Russia’s trade potential, including bans on defense exports and limits on foreign aid.
(NEW YORK) — Police arrived at a home in Selkirk, New York, just before 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2020 to find a husband and wife dead. Bhupinder Saran, 58, killed his wife, Sarbjit Saran, 58, and then took his own life, police said.
It was not the first time police had been to the home. A year earlier, officers were called to a domestic violence incident, and there had been an order of protection against the husband.
On Thursday, New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang revealed that Sarbjit Saran had informed her employer, the state’s information technology office, of the trouble at home, but she received no help — a violation of state domestic violence policies.
“When she reached out for help, it fell on deaf ears,” Lang said during a news conference in Albany.
“This investigation found that despite ITS’ awareness that its employee had reported that she was a victim of domestic violence, ITS did not follow its Domestic Violence and the Workplace Policy in a manner that was responsive to her needs as a victim or that promoted workplace safety,” the inspector general’s report said.
Incidents of violence, sexual violence and stalking increased in New York during the pandemic, when calls to the state’s domestic and sexual violence hotline increased 45%.
Lang called Sarbjit Saran’s death “an utter tragedy” and said she should have been able to count on her employer.
“She gave 30 years of her life to the state,” Lang said. “So much of what happened here is that warning signs were disregarded, and that is a failure of education, a failure of training and a reason why domestic violence has for years existed outside the public sphere.”
Lang announced her office would audit every state agency to make sure they understand their obligations when an employee mentions being the victim of violence by an intimate partner.
(NEW YORK) — Federal agents improperly questioned alleged New York City subway shooter Frank James this week, directed him to sign certain documents and took multiple swabs of his DNA, defense attorneys said in a court filing Thursday.
James, 62, allegedly set off a smoke grenade on a Manhattan-bound N train approaching 36th Street in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, before opening fire and shooting 10 people in what police called the worst disruption to the commute in New York since the Sept. 11 attacks.
On Tuesday, without alerting his lawyers, FBI agents entered his cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn “questioned him, took multiple buccal swabs of his DNA, and directed him to sign certain documents,” according to a letter to the court from Mia Eisner-Grynberg and Deirdre von Dornum of the Federal Defenders of New York.
“Contrary to standard practice, the government committed this intrusion absent advance notice to counsel, depriving us of an opportunity to be heard or to be present. Neither did the government provide subsequent notice to counsel. The agents did not provide Mr. James with a copy of the warrant or a receipt, in violation of Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure,” the letter said.
The attorneys said the government failed to explain why it deviated from standard procedure and only provided a copy of a search warrant when the attorneys asked after the fact. They accused the government of violating James’ constitutional rights.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, which has charged James with one terror-related count, declined to comment.
Prosecutors were given until early next week to respond.
The defense attorneys said they would seek to suppress whatever statements James made to the agents this past Tuesday and asked the judge to order the government to turn over a copy of the affidavit that served as the basis for the search.
Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Jury selection in the death penalty case of confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz lapsed into disarray after potential jurors allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to the defendant in the courtroom and the presiding judge admitted committing a legal error that nearly derailed the process.
Just days after Judge Elizabeth Scherer granted a motion by prosecutors to scrap jury selection in the high profile case and start from scratch, she reversed her order on Wednesday upon hearing a counter argument from Cruz’s lawyers. The case began on April 4 in Broward County, Florida.
Scherer admitted that she made an error back on April 5, the second day of jury selection, when she asked would-be jurors if they could follow the law if picked to serve on the case and then dismissed 11 who said they could not.
David Weinstein, a former federal and state prosecutor in Florida, told ABC News on Thursday that Scherer made a mistake by asking the question. He said her inquiries in the initial phase of jury selection should have been limited to questions about whether the potential jurors had a hardship that prevented them from serving on the case, which is expected to last four to six months.
“That was all that they were supposed to be inquiring into,” said Weinstein, who is not involved in the case but is following it closely.
He said the more probing questions like the one the judge asked should have been reserved for the voir dire phase of jury selection, when prosecutors and defense attorneys are given the chance to grill jury candidates on their answers.
“Each side is given the opportunity to rehabilitate you, to ask, ‘When you said you couldn’t follow the law, did you really understand what the judge was asking you? What do you mean you can’t follow the law?'” Weinstein said.
Defense attorneys filed a motion accusing the court of committing double jeopardy and asked that the death penalty phase of the case be declared a mistrial and that Cruz be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
To remedy her mistake, Scherer reversed her earlier ruling and ordered that the 11 jurors she dismissed to be summoned back to court on Monday so lawyers can question them about their answers.
In her earlier ruling, Scherer also said she was dismissing the 243 would-be jurors who had already been qualified for a pool to seat the jury from. That decision has also been reversed.
Scherer said 20 jurors, including eight alternates, will eventually be chosen to recommend whether the 23-year-old Cruz, who has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of murder and 17 counts of attempted murder, will be sentenced to death or to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The judge’s mistake wasn’t the only controversy to erupt this week in the case.
On Tuesday, a potential juror disrupted the proceedings when he entered the courtroom and allegedly mouthed expletives and threats to Cruz, who was seated at the defense table. The outburst apparently inspired other would-be jurors in the courtroom to make similar threats to Cruz and prompted bailiffs to press Cruz against a wall to protect him.
Scherer described that particular group of jury candidates as “belligerent” and dismissed them all.
Cruz pleaded guilty in October to committing the 2018 Valentine’s Day massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. During the hearing attended by loved ones of the 17 he killed, Cruz said he wished it was up to the survivors of the shooting to determine whether he lived or died.
“I’m very sorry for what I did,” Cruz said at his plea hearing. “I can’t live with myself sometimes.”
(NEW YORK) — A new red flag warning has been issued from Nevada to Oklahoma where 60 mph winds and very dry conditions could create a dangerous fire situation.
The Southwest will continue to be hammered by gusty winds until the end of the week.
The critical fire weather in the Southwest continues with red flag warnings in effect across seven states from Nevada to Texas. Dry airmass remains in place across the region with relative humidity in the single digits and surface winds 20 mph or higher; isolated gusts could reach to 60 mph.
A cold blast brought wind chills in the teens and 20s from the Midwest to the Northeast Thursday morning.
Another cold morning is expected on Friday in the Northeast, with winter-like conditions expected.
The weather will be warmer in the Northeast over the weekend.
Gusty winds and a cold air mass across the Northeast region will make it feel like temps are in the 20s and 30s.
These dry gusty winds are elevating fire danger across parts of the Northeast Friday, with red flag warnings in effect from Delaware to Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia and much of New Jersey.
A new storm system is headed into the Heartland on Friday with severe weather possible, including tornadoes, from Northern Texas to Nebraska, with an enhanced risk in place just north of Oklahoma City, across eastern Kansas and into southeastern Nebraska.
Oklahoma City, Wichita and Tulsa are some of the cities in the bull’s-eye for possible tornadoes and huge hail.
This severe weather threat moves east into the Midwest by Saturday.
Paducah, St. Louis and just south of Chicago are the areas in the bull’s-eye for damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornados on Saturday.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump said his head of security “did nothing wrong” during a 2015 protest at Trump Tower at which five Hispanic men allege they were assaulted.
Trump called the protesters “troublemakers” during a deposition last October, according to a transcript made public Wednesday in Bronx Supreme Court, where Trump, his campaign, and his head of security, Keith Schiller, are being sued by Efrain Galicia and other demonstrators who say they were “violently attacked” during a protest over Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“I think they were troublemakers, yes I do. I think they were,” Trump said of the plaintiffs during the deposition.
“He did nothing wrong,” Trump said of Schiller. “He went out — I didn’t know about it — but he went out, he heard there was a disturbance and he went out.”
Video of the altercation showed Schiller smacking a protester in the face after he appeared to reach for a sign that said “Trump: Make America Racist Again.”
“And he went out, he took the sign down. He then walked away. And he was attacked from behind, and they tried to get his gun. I don’t even know if he was carrying a gun. But if he was, they were obviously trying to get it,” Trump said.
Trump denied having any knowledge of the protests in real time, despite attorneys for the demonstrators saying they have evidence to the contrary.
Toward the end of the deposition the questioning turned to a 2016 Trump campaign event in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, during which Trump told the crowd, “If you see someone getting ready to throw a tomato, just knock the crap out of them, would you?”
The plaintiffs’ attorney asked whether Trump meant to incentivize the crowd to engage in violence.
“No,” Trump replied. “I wanted to have people be ready because we were put on alert that they were going to do fruit. And some fruit is a lot worse than — tomatoes are bad, by the way.”
Trump said it would be OK with him for his security to use force to stop someone from throwing fruit.
“To stop somebody from throwing pineapples, tomatoes, bananas, stuff like that — yeah, it’s dangerous stuff,” Trump said, according to the transcript.
(GILBERT, Ariz.) — The winning ticket for the $473.1 million Powerball jackpot was sold in Arizona, officials said.
Just a single ticket claimed the grand prize — which has a cash value of $271.9 million — after matching all six numbers in Wednesday night’s drawing. The winning white ball numbers were 11, 36, 61, 62 and 68, and the Powerball number was 4.
Lottery officials said that due to strong ticket sales, the jackpot climbed past the estimate of $454 million that was announced after Monday night’s drawing had no winner.
“This is the biggest ever jackpot won on a single ticket in our state and it is a life-changing moment for this winner,” Arizona Lottery Executive Director Gregg Edgar said in a statement. “It also means millions of dollars to our state’s economy, to this winner’s community, and to the vital programs and services funded by Arizona Lottery ticket sales.”
The winning ticket was sold at a QuikTrip in Gilbert, according to the Arizona Lottery. No one has come forward yet to claim the prize, according to Arizona Lottery spokesperson John Turner Gilliland, who noted that people usually take a few days “to get their affairs in order first.” The winner, who can elect to remain anonymous, has 180 days to come forward.
The winner can either accept an estimated annuity of $473.1 million — which is paid in 30 graduated payments over 29 years — or a lump sum payment of $283.3 million. Both values are before federal and state taxes.
Beyond the jackpot, more than 1.4 million tickets won cash prizes in Wednesday night’s drawing, including a $1 million winner in Indiana who matched all five white balls, Powerball officials said.
This marks the third time this year the Powerball jackpot has been won. In January, two tickets sold in California and Wisconsin split a grand prize of $632.6 million — the seventh-largest jackpot ever. In February, a ticket sold in Connecticut won a $185.3 million jackpot.
The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million, according to Powerball officials. The overall odds of winning a prize in the game are 1 in 24.9.
(WASHINGTON) — The Food and Drug Administration announced on Thursday a proposed ban on menthol cigarettes and all flavors in cigars, a move that could further drive down smoking rates in the U.S.
The FDA will solicit comments from the public before finalizing the rule, a process that could take years. But advocates say it’s a step in the right direction, pointing to one research model that estimated banning these flavors could lead to a 15% decline in tobacco use by 2026.
Smoking is the main cause of lung cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In the U.S., menthol cigarettes represent over a third of cigarette sales, with almost 19 million users. Black Americans have disproportionately high rates of menthol smoking, a consequence of years of racially targeted advertising.
In fact, 85% of Black smokers use menthol cigarettes compared to 30% of white smokers, according to the FDA. Moreover, other groups have been successfully targeted with various marketing strategies including young people, women, low-income and LGBTQ communities, according to Dr. Andrea Villanti, associate professor in the Department of Health Behavior, Society and Policy at Rutgers School of Public Health and deputy director of the Center for Tobacco studies.
Menthol added to cigarettes and cigars results in a cooling effect when inhaling smoke, said Villanti.
“It actually dampens any sort of respiratory response to smoke being an irritant. So it kind of makes the smoke go down easier,” she explained. “Especially for a young person or someone who hasn’t used the product before.”
She added, “[Menthol] helps people start, it makes it harder to quit.”
Menthol cigarette smokers, especially Black American smokers, are less likely to successfully quit smoking compared to non-menthol cigarette smokers, according to an FDA report. Robin Koval, CEO and president of Truth Initiative, a nonprofit public health organization committed to tobacco cessation, said nearly half of Black smokers would try to quit if there was a rule banning menthol.
Multiple countries and governing bodies, including the European Union, Canada, Brazil, Ethiopia, and Turkey, as well as some U.S. states and municipalities, including Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., already have menthol bans in effect.
Canada, which banned menthol cigarettes in 2017, is already seeing effects. Research led by a team at the University of Toronto found high levels of quitting behavior in menthol smokers, with 24% of daily menthol smokers quitting by one year and 12% by two years.
“The Canadian experience shows that removing menthol and other additives from cigarettes is certainly feasible,” said Dr. Michael Chaiton, associate professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.
According to Chaiton, a U.S. ban is “likely to save hundreds of thousands of lives.”
But in the U.S., the menthol and other flavor ban won’t take effect overnight. The rule-making process and implementation of the ban could take up to several years, according to Kevin Schroth, an associate professor at the Rutgers University Center for Tobacco Studies.
During this time, education and good communication to the public will be important to “reduce misperceptions about the goal of the ban,” according to Vallanti, as well as provide the resources for patients to quit.
“Tobacco companies are the target … not communities,” said Vallanti.
Koval said a comprehensive ban that includes not only menthol cigarettes but flavored cigars as well would reduce “loophole” options in getting around the ban.
Because youth and Black Americans are the primary smokers of menthol and other flavors, a ban “has the potential to improve health equity,” said Vallanti.
“Taking flavors off the market, overall, will prevent the initiation of another generation into becoming addicted to nicotine and lifelong customers of the tobacco industry,” Koval said. “Eliminating menthol cigarettes will have significant effects on health, especially for populations … who are most vulnerable: young people, people of color.”
