(WASHINGTON) — Trevor Reed’s time inside a Russian prison may be over, but his parents said they are still concerned about his well-being and his long road to recovery.
Hours after Reed was released from a Russian prison as part of an international prisoner exchange, the former Marine’s parents spoke with ABC News’ Anchor David Muir and said they are relieved that his nearly three-year captivity has come to an end.
However, Joey and Paula Reed said they are very concerned about their son’s physical and mental recovery.
“Trevor left here, young, virile, in good shape, good condition. And he’s not, he’s not coming home that way. So that’s our concern about his health.” Joey Reed told Muir during an interview on “World News Tonight” Wednesday.
The parents lobbied for years for the U.S. to negotiate for their son’s release, going as far as to personally plead with President Joe Biden to act. On Wednesday, their requests were fulfilled.
Reed was exchanged for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, a convicted drug trafficker, Russian officials said.
“Today, we welcome home Trevor Reed and celebrate his return to the family that missed him dearly,” Biden said in a statement. “Trevor, a former U.S. Marine, is free from Russian detention. I heard in the voices of Trevor’s parents how much they’ve worried about his health and missed his presence. And I was delighted to be able to share with them the good news about Trevor’s freedom.”
Reed’s ordeal started in 2019 when he was visiting his girlfriend in Moscow. The 30-year-old was arrested after Russian authorities alleged Reed grabbed the wheel of a police car and assaulted a police officer while drunk.
Reed denied the allegations and maintained his innocence. The U.S. government also denied the allegations.
One year later, Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony. After several appeals, Reed was moved from a prison in Moscow to a remote prison colony.
In November 2021, Reed went on a hunger strike, according to his girlfriend. He was reportedly kept in solitary confinement for three months before the hunger strike, according to his family.
On March 30, the Reeds protested outside the White House asking for an audience with President Biden.
Biden did meet with the family after their demonstration and the couple told ABC News they felt the president was mindful of their requests.
On Wednesday video and photos of Reed being escorted out of prison and into a plane were released.
The Reeds said they cried when viewing that footage of their son, who they said looked weak and had trouble walking.
“He looked like he could hardly walk, he looked like he’d been walking shackled,” Joey Reed said.
The family said their priority is to ensure their son regains his health.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in New York on Wednesday rejected Elon Musk’s request to terminate a settlement agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that he claimed was being abused to silence his speech.
The 2018 deal required Musk’s tweets to be pre-approved by Tesla’s board after Musk mused on Twitter about taking Tesla private. The SEC is investigating whether Musk violated that term in November 2021 when he asked his sizeable Twitter following if he should sell 10% of his Tesla stock.
Musk argued the SEC lacked the authority to continue its investigation and was only out to harass him.
In rejecting the motion, Judge Lewis Liman cited the SEC’s “broad power” to make sure securities laws are followed.
“The mere fact that SEC brought an action against Musk and a related action against Tesla for Musk’s tweets in August 2018 does not waive the SEC’s sovereign immunity with respect to an investigation the SEC launched in late 2021 regarding conduct that occurred in late 2021, after the 2018 case was settled,” the decision said.
“The judgment against Musk expressly stated that it was to settle ‘only the claims asserted against [Musk] in th[e] civil proceeding.’ It did not give Musk any broader immunity from other SEC investigations or proceedings—including related ones. It thus preserved the SEC’s authority to investigate Musk for additional securities violations or to ask for documents and records from him in connection with an investigation of others should the SEC receive information that suggested he or others violated the securities laws again.”
Musk’s attorney Alex Spiro argued the SEC had misused the settlement as a pretext to launch an “endless, boundless investigation” of Musk’s speech, but the judge also rejected that argument.
“Musk, by entering into the consent decree in 2018, agreed to the provision requiring the pre-approval of any such written communications that contain, or reasonably could contain, information material to Tesla or its shareholders. He cannot now complain that this provision violates his First Amendment rights. Musk’s argument that the SEC has used the consent decree to harass him and to launch investigations of his speech is likewise meritless,” Liman said.
(BELLE GLADE, Fla.) — A Florida teen is celebrating and sharing her advice for other students after getting accepted to not just one or even 10 colleges, but 72 of them.
Ja’Leaha Thornton of Belle Glade, Florida, told “Good Morning America” that she began applying to 90 colleges and universities in early September 2021 and has since received acceptance letters from 72 schools and counting.
“I know the process of applying could be kind of overwhelming to many, and instead of stressing myself out, I decided to make it a competition … and see how many I can actually get into,” the 18-year-old told “GMA.” “I wanted to broaden my horizons and explore some different schools outside of my state.”
The teen used the Common Black College Application and the Common App to submit applications to multiple colleges simultaneously.
“At most, I spent $20 because I did the Black Common App and also the Common App, and I was able to use my fee waivers,” she said.
Thornton said she was eyeing several colleges and in the beginning, Howard University in Washington, D.C., was her dream school. But in the end, she chose to attend Xavier University of Louisiana, another historically Black university in New Orleans.
“I was nervous about opening the letter because like, this is one of the top schools, and I already made a mistake with sending the wrong college essay. And when I opened the letter and actually got accepted, I was like, ‘Wow, like this is options for me now. I’m not only considering Howard or UF, I have this school and I have options.’ So it was very exciting,” Thornton recalled.
For other students who are just beginning to embark on their application process, Thornton said they shouldn’t hold themselves back in any way.
“Shoot beyond the sky, because it’s a world out there, and it has so much for us to explore, so don’t limit ourselves,” she said.
“Go beyond what’s in front of you and don’t take advantage of time. Use your resources and your opportunity.”
The high school senior at Glades Central Community High School will be her class’s valedictorian when she graduates on May 24 and plans on majoring in pre-medical psychology and minoring in chemistry. She also hopes to study abroad in Asia and go to medical school after college.
Thornton said she’s interested in pursuing a career in forensic psychiatry. “At first, I was looking into becoming a child psychiatrist … but the more I looked into it, I became more interested in working with the people who have committed crimes and trying to get them back on the right track, studying their stories and seeing how we can apply that to life,” she said.
As her high school career winds down, Thornton said she’s grateful for all the support she’s received both in the last four years and throughout her life so far.
“I just wanted to make sure I give special shoutouts to my family, especially my mom, my great grandmother, my grandmother and my uncle. They have been the solid foundation for me. I believe in the saying ‘It takes a village to build a child,’ and that was my village.”
“Also my school family, my guidance counselor, my teachers and my friends. Pretty much everybody that helped me through the journey,” she added. “I’m just excited for the next steps of my life.”
(WASHINGTON) — The worst days of the COVID-19 pandemic may be over in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said this week. Some experts urged caution, however, and said the pandemic is still a threat in the long-term.
“We are certainly right now in this country out of the pandemic phase,” Fauci told PBS NewsHour Tuesday. “Namely, we don’t have 900,000 new infections a day and tens and tens and tens of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. We are at a low level right now.”
He continued, “So, if you’re saying, are we out of the pandemic phase in this country, we are.”
Some public health experts stressed Fauci is not saying the pandemic is over, which he also later clarified to CBS News, but rather that the virus is no longer having the same impact in the U.S. as it was a few months ago.
In fact, Fauci stressed at the end of the PBS interview, “So, if you look at the global situation, there’s no doubt this pandemic is still ongoing.”
This doesn’t just mean fewer cases, hospitalizations and deaths being reported but also fewer school closures and staffing shortages in hospitals as well as people resuming activities again, they say.
“We’re not having mass closures of hospital beds like we did in January 2022,” Dr. Cameron Wolfe, an associate professor of infectious diseases at Duke University School of Medicine, told ABC News. “We’re still seeing staffing shortages, but they’re not to the same extent that they were for the last couple of years. Activities are coming back online, so I’m at an in-person meeting for the first time in two years.”
Wolfe said the danger of overwhelming hospitals and high death rates is greatly reduced because of the number of Americans who’ve been vaccinated as well as previously infected.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 82.4% of the eligible U.S. population — those aged 5 and older — have had at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose and 70.3% are fully vaccinated.
What’s more, a new CDC analysis released Tuesday estimated three out of every five Americans have antibodies from a previous COVID-19 infection, up from one-third before the omicron wave.
“We’re in a phase right now that the number of vaccinations, and also frankly the number of people who have been infected, where our community level of immune protection is good enough that there’s not as many infections taking place as we saw in January.” Wolfe said. “So, the impact that has on the way our community ticks along becomes less.”
Wolfe said another reason the U.S. is doing well handling COVID-19 is because there are more treatments available for people who contract the virus.
During the first wave of the pandemic, there were few treatments approved or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
But, over time, several treatments were developed and they are now more widespread. Currently, COVID-19 patients can receive monoclonal antibodies, which is an infusion of antibodies in a lab that mimic antibodies generated by the body, or pills developed by Pfizer and Merck.
These treatments have been shown to not only reduce the number of days a person is experiencing symptoms but also dramatically lower the risk of hospitalization and death, preventing healthcare systems from becoming overwhelmed.
“We’re in a much better state in terms of having treatment availability,” Wolfe said. “Having access to good medicines that are liberally now available and do a good job in terms of preventing the severe outcomes from COVID I think is a real bonus that we just didn’t have six months ago.”
However, other experts are not sure the U.S. is out of the pandemic phase.
“We have the potential for spread of new variants across this country, and it tells us that we are not necessarily out of this pandemic phase,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor. “This virus has global impact and it means that we see spread in one part of the world.”
He continued, “We will likely see a surge here. And so as much as we want to head towards that normal life, I think we’re still months away from fully understanding whether we’re in a position where this virus is not disrupting our daily lives.”
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Unprecedented restrictions have been ordered for millions of residents in Southern California as the megadrought in the region persists and continues to intensify.
About 6 million customers in Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Ventura counties under the Metropolitan Water District will be required to dramatically cut down outdoor water use. However, they are still encouraged to hand water their trees, Metropolitan Executive Officer Deven Upadhyay said during a news conference Wednesday.
The water district is requiring its member agencies in the State Water Project-dependent areas to restrict outdoor watering to just one day a week, or the equivalent.
The goal is to reduce overall water consumption by 35% in the face of the water shortage, Upadhyay said. If the restrictions do not get consumption down by 35%, even stricter rules could follow next year, he added.
The water district will be monitoring the daily water use and how much is being used, as well as how residents and businesses are responding to these emergency restrictions, Upadhyay said.
After Sept. 1, the water company may need to put more limits on how much water people can use, including banning all outdoor water usage, said Metropolitan General Manager Adel Hagekhalil, adding that the company is aware it will “create a challenge for people.”
“Conservation should be a way of life for all of us,” he said, describing the new restrictions as unprecedented. “This is a wake-up call for everyone.”
The Metropolitan Water District uses water from the Colorado River as well as the State Water Project, which gets its water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The Colorado is now at the top of the country’s most endangered rivers list due to the megadrought.
Anyone who does not follow the water district’s new requirements will be fined $2,000 per acre foot and other penalties for water the facility will need to provide, Upadhyay said.
ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman and Flor Tolentino contributed to this report.
(OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla.) — Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed a bill Tuesday that bans the use of nonbinary gender markers on state birth certificates.
It’s the first ban of its kind in the U.S., according to LGBTQ legal advocacy group Lambda Legal. Several states have done the exact opposite in recent years, allowing citizens to use nonbinary gender markers on state documents.
States like Colorado, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Indiana and Hawaii have adopted the gender-inclusive policy. The federal government now also allows nonbinary gender markers on passports.
The bill follows a 2021 civil case against the Oklahoma State Department of Health. The agency was sued after it refused to allow a nonbinary option on a birth certificate. The department settled the lawsuit and allowed the use of the nonbinary option.
Despite the settlement, Stitt issued an executive order that would prohibit people from changing their gender on birth certificates. A federal lawsuit against the state from Lambda Legal is ongoing and seeks to allow transgender people to correct the gender marker on their Oklahoma birth certificates.
This ban on gender markers is the latest bill targeting the LGBTQ community that Stitt has signed into law.
Just a few weeks earlier, Stitt signed a bill banning transgender women and girls from competing on women’s and girls’ sports teams in state public K-12 schools and higher education institutions.
Across the country, similar Republican-led efforts have succeeded.
Tennessee signed a trans sports ban into law on Monday and the Kansas Senate voted on Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of a similar transgender athlete ban.
Other governors, including Republican governors in Utah and Indiana, have vetoed such bills to protect LGBTQ youth from the social and emotional harms they say these bans can have on individuals.
LGBTQ advocacy groups have slammed legislative efforts.
“We should be increasing access to the things that can help protect this group of young people that already face increased risk for suicide. But a small group of anti-LGBTQ politicians is instead fighting to decrease it,” said Sam Ames, the director of advocacy and government affairs at The Trevor Project.
(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) — Protesters shut down a Grand Rapids City Commission meeting on Tuesday, demanding justice for Patrick Lyoya, who was shot and killed by a Michigan police officer earlier this month.
During the commission’s public comment period, several people took to the stand to call for police accountability. As protesters began to shout, Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said the commission will be taking a recess, an online recording of the meeting shows.
Bliss adjourned the meeting as the commotion continued, a spokesperson for the city told ABC News. Commissioners and most city staff left the chambers about five to 10 minutes later, according to local outlet MLive.
Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom later took questions from protesters, who largely voiced their concerns, according to MLive. The meeting ended at 9 p.m. and Winstrom stayed to speak with residents until nearly 11 p.m., according to the spokesperson. Protesters left peacefully and no arrests were made, the spokesperson added.
Winstrom told FOX17 he was not surprised by what had happened at the meeting.
“I’ve been in this situation before, where, people want to scream and yell,” said Winstrom. “It looked to me like it was a group of people who wanted to vent.”
Winstrom added, “Sometimes people want to sit at the table, the seat at the table, they want their voice to be heard and they want to have a discussion and then other times they just want to vent. It sounded to me after the first couple of speakers people just wanted to scream and yell.”
Lyoya, 26, was shot by an officer following a struggle outside a house after he was pulled over for a faulty license plate, according to body cam footage and police.
Amid the struggle, the officer was able to force Lyoya to the ground, shouting, “Stop resisting,” “Let go” and “Drop the Taser” before he shot Lyoya in the back of the head, according to video footage.
Earlier this week, police named Christopher Schurr as the officer who shot Lyoya.
Protesters are demanding that Schurr be arrested and officers get their own liability insurance. They also want Kent County prosecutor Chris Becker to remove himself from deciding whether to charge Schurr, according to MLive.
Grand Rapids Police did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Mykhaylo Palinchak/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(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 27, 3:38 pm
Blinken says US could reopen Kyiv embassy in ‘next few weeks’
While U.S. diplomats began returning to Lviv for day trips on Tuesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that he hopes to move toward reopening the U.S Embassy in Kyiv in the “next few weeks.”
Blinken appeared on Capitol Hill Wednesday for his second of three days of testimony about the Biden administration’s budget request.
Blinken said the administration will put forward a request for supplemental funding in the “next couple days” after President Joe Biden exhausted the funding in his presidential drawdown authority to provide weapons and other military aid immediately to Ukraine.
That “robust” assistance request will include funding for aid to Ukraine and other U.S. partners and allies and for a functioning U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, he said.
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 27, 1:29 pm
Microsoft releases detailed report of Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine
Microsoft has released a detailed report of what it says are “destructive” Russian cyberattacks on Ukraine, which the company says seem “strongly correlated and sometimes directly timed with its kinetic military operations.”
“For example, a Russian actor launched cyberattacks against a major broadcasting company on March 1st, the same day the Russian military announced its intention to destroy Ukrainian ‘disinformation’ targets and directed a missile strike against a TV tower in Kyiv,” Microsoft said. “On March 13th, during the third week of the invasion, a separate Russian actor stole data from a nuclear safety organization weeks after Russian military units began capturing nuclear power plants sparking concerns about radiation exposure and catastrophic accidents. “
Microsoft said it has observed nearly 40 attacks “targeting hundreds of systems.”
The company said “32% of destructive attacks directly targeted Ukrainian government organizations” while “more than 40% of destructive attacks were aimed at organizations in critical infrastructure sectors that could have negative second-order effects on the Ukrainian government, military, economy and people.”
-ABC News’ Cindy Smith
Apr 27, 12:34 pm
Biden to visit facility that manufactures Javelin anti-tank missiles
President Joe Biden will visit a Lockheed Martin facility in Alabama on Tuesday where Javelin anti-tank missiles are being manufactured for Ukrainian troops, the White House said.
The U.S. has committed over 5,500 Javelin anti-armor systems for Ukrainians, according to the Pentagon.
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Apr 26, 6:58 pm
War in Ukraine dealt a ‘major shock’ to commodities markets: World Bank
The World Bank issued a report on Tuesday that said the war in Ukraine dealt a major shock to commodity markets and altered global patterns of trade, production and consumption in ways that will keep prices at historically high levels through the end of 2024.
“Overall, this amounts to the largest commodity shock we’ve experienced since the 1970s,” Indermit Gill, the World Bank’s vice president for equitable growth, finance and institutions, said in a statement.
The report said energy prices are expected to rise more than 50% in 2022 before easing in 2023 and 2024.
Wheat prices are forecast to increase more than 40%, putting pressure on developing economies that rely on wheat imports, especially from Russia and Ukraine, according to the World Bank.
Metal prices are projected to increase by 16% in 2022 before easing in 2023, according to the report.
Crude oil prices are expected to average $100 a barrel in 2022, its highest level since 2013 and an increase of more than 40% compared to 2021, the report said. Oil prices are expected to moderate to $92 in 2023, which is above the five-year average of $60 a barrel, the World Bank said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 26, 6:29 pm
Russia’s Gazprom suspends gas deliveries to Bulgaria, Poland
Polish natural gas company PGNiG announced Tuesday they received a notice from Gazprom that deliveries will be suspended starting Wednesday, April 27.
Poland has refused to pay for gas in rubles and PGNiG says they are prepared to procure gas supplies from alternate sources; storage is currently at 80%.
“Not a problem,” Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
Gazprom sent a similar notice to Bulgaria’s natural gas company Bulgargaz, according to a statement from the country’s energy minister Alexander Nikolov.
Morawiecki urged other EU countries, particularly Germany, to stop relying on Russian energy before Russia itself decides to cut them off, or sets economy-crippling prices.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou, Conor Finnegan and Tomek Rolski
Apr 26, 6:00 pm
Sen. Rand Paul confronts Secretary Blinken over war in Ukraine
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., had a heated back and forth with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Capitol Hill over the war in Ukraine.
Paul pushed Blinken on support for Ukraine’s possible membership in NATO and what he called “the reasons” for the Russian invasion.
“I’m saying that the countries that have been attacked, Georgia and Ukraine, were part of the Soviet Union since 1920s,” he said.
“That does not give Russia the right to attack them,” Blinken said, explaining that the Kremlin’s security concerns about Ukraine joining NATO were adequately weighed and attempts at diplomacy were made.
“It is abundantly clear, in President Putin’s own words, that this was never about Ukraine, being potentially part of NATO, and it was always about his belief that Ukraine does not deserve to be a sovereign independent country that it must be reassumed into Russia in one form or another,” Blinken said.
Paul interjected during Blinken’s answer, denying he was making the argument that Russia’s actions were justified. The senator then asked Blinken about talks between Russia and Ukraine and the potential outcomes.
“Would the U.S. would President Biden be open to accepting Ukraine as an unaligned neutral nation?” Paul asked.
“We’re not going to be more Ukrainian than the Ukrainians. These are decisions for them to make,” Blinken said.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Connor Finnegan
Apr 26, 5:06 pm
US diplomats briefly return to Ukraine, but embassy remains closed
The United States returned diplomats to Ukraine for the first time since the beginning of the Russian invasion with a team making a day trip across the border from Poland to meet Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the State Department confirmed on Tuesday.
“The deputy chief of mission and members of the embassy team traveled to Lviv, Ukraine, today, where they were able to continue our close collaboration with key Ukrainian partners,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
Price called the move a “first step” toward eventually reopening the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.
“Today’s travel was a first step ahead of more regular travel in the immediate future. And as we’ve said, we’re accelerating preparations to resume Embassy Kyiv operations just as soon as possible,” Price said. “We are constantly assessing and evaluating and reassessing the security situation with a view toward resuming those embassy operations as soon as possible.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 4:46 pm
Germany to send anti-aircraft tanks to Ukraine
Germany plans to supply Ukraine with “Gepard” anti-aircraft tanks, the German Minister of Defense announced Tuesday on Twitter.
“We made our decisions in coordination with our allies,” German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said earlier Tuesday during a news conference at a meeting of NATO countries hosted by the United States at Ramstein Air Base. “That is, once it was clear others will deliver certain systems, we support them in that. We deliver as well. That is our way — Germany is not doing it alone. And if Ukraine now urgently needs such air defense systems, then we are also prepared to support them.”
Lambrecht said Tuesday’s gathering of NATO countries to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms was a “starting point.”
“The best security strategy for Ukraine is well-trained and equipped armed forces,” Lambrecht said, “Germany has been providing a very high level of support in a variety of ways since the war began.”
The move from Germany comes just days after Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk told ABC News that she was disappointed in Germany for seemingly dragging its feet on sending heavy artillery, including tanks, to Ukraine and said it appeared German leaders are attempting to placate Putin.
“They don’t understand. There is no way to pacify Putin,” Vereshchuk said. “It would be a huge problem for NATO if Russia has dominance over the Black Sea.”
Apr 26, 3:51 pm
Blinken says Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv
Speaking publicly about his visit to Ukraine for the first time since returning home, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken declared to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that “the Ukrainians have won the battle for Kyiv.”
Blinken, who visited Ukraine over the weekend with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, emphasized the need for additional aid to help Ukrainians weather the ongoing war as it enters its next phase.
“As we took the train across the border and rode westward into Ukraine, we saw mile after mile of Ukrainian countryside, territory that just a couple of months ago, the Russian government thought that it could seize in a matter of weeks. Today — firmly Ukraine’s,” Blinken told the committee.
Blinken said that while in Kyiv, he saw the signs of “a vibrant city coming back to life” with people eating outside, sitting on benches and strolling the streets.
“For all the suffering that they’ve endured, for all the carnage that Russia’s brutal invasion continues to inflict, Ukraine was and will continue to be a free and independent country,” he said.
Blinken said the United States has played a vital part in helping Ukrainian forces mount an effective resistance against Russia.
“I have to tell you, I felt some pride in what the United States has done to support the Ukrainian government and its people and an even firmer conviction that we must not let up,” Blinken said. “Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine has underscored the power and purpose of American diplomacy.”
He added, “We have to continue to drive that diplomacy forward to seize what I believe are strategic opportunities, as well as address risks presented by Russia’s overreach as countries are reconsidering their policies, their priorities, their relationships.”
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford and Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 2:28 pm
UN chief presses Putin on urgent need for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine
Prior to meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a statement calling for humanitarian corridors in Ukraine that are “truly safe.”
Guterres later raised the issue with Putin during a face-to-face meeting, stressing the urgent need for the creation of safe and effective humanitarian corridors in the war-ravaged Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, where he said thousands of civilians remain trapped, according to the Russian state-run TASS news service. Guterres also proposed the creation of a humanitarian contact group.
“We urgently need humanitarian corridors that are truly safe and effective, and that are respected by all to evacuate civilians and deliver much needed assistance,” Guterres said prior to meeting with Putin. “To that end, I have proposed the establishment of a humanitarian contact group, bringing together the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the U.N. to look for opportunities for the opening of safe corridors, with local cessation of hostilities and to guarantee they are actually effective.”
Guterres made his statement following a meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
While meeting with Guterres, Putin said the U.N. chief has been misled and insisted that humanitarian corridors in Mariupol are functioning, according to TASS.
“You say that Russia’s humanitarian corridors are not operating. Mr. Secretary-General, you have been misled: these corridors are operating,” Putin said, according to TASS.
Putin told Guterres that up to 140,000 people had fled Mariupol with the assistance of Russia.
“And they can go anywhere. Some want to go to Russia; some want to go to Ukraine. Anywhere! We do not keep them, we provide all kinds of help and support,” Putin said, according to TASS.
However, Putin “agreed, in principle, to the involvement of the United Nations and the International Committee for the Red Cross in the evacuation of civilians from the Azovstal plant in Mariupol,” according to a readout of the meeting provided by the U.N.
Apr 26, 1:29 pm
UN General Assembly unanimously adopts new rule on veto powers
The U.N. General Assembly — where all 193 countries have a vote — has unanimously adopted a resolution that creates a new accountability mechanism.
Now, whenever a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council uses its veto power to block a resolution, it will automatically trigger a debate in the General Assembly within 10 days.
The move was made primarily in response to Russia’s veto power, which the country has used repeatedly to sink resolutions about its own aggression. It has paralyzed the ability of the Security Council, the United Nation’s most powerful body, to check Russia.
The United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom are the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, while the ten other seats rotate and are won by election.
The United States and Liechtenstein co-sponsored the resolution, with the tiny European country tweeting, “Together we have made sure today that a veto is no longer the last word on issues of peace and security.”
-ABC News’ Conor Finnegan
Apr 26, 12:19 pm
US to meet with NATO allies monthly as Defense Secretary Austin conveys urgency in Ukraine
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said meetings like the one on Tuesday with more than 40 NATO allies and other partner nations will now occur monthly.
“To ensure that we continue to build on our progress, we’re going to extend this forum beyond today,” Austin said during a news conference at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.
“I’m proud to announce that today’s gathering will become a monthly contact group on Ukraine’s self-defense,” he said.
The meetings will focus on strengthening Ukraine’s military both in the short and long terms, Austin said.
“The contact group will be a vehicle for nations of good will to intensify our efforts and coordinate our assistance and focus on winning today’s fight and the struggles to come,” Austin said. “The monthly meetings may be in person, virtual, or mixed.”
Austin, who visited Ukraine on Sunday with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, praised Tuesday’s meeting with NATO allies, saying, “We’re all coming away with a transparent and shared understanding of a challenge that Ukrainians face.”
Austin conveyed a sense of urgency for the international community to help the Ukrainians.
“I applaud all of the countries that have risen, and are rising, to this moment,” he said. “But we don’t have any time to waste. The briefings today laid out clearly why the coming weeks will be so crucial for Ukraine. So, we’ve got to move at the speed of war.”
Austin thanked Germany for hosting Tuesday’s meeting and for offering to send Ukraine 50 Cheetah anti-aircraft systems. He also thanked the United Kingdom for its announcement Monday that it would provide Ukraine additional anti-aircraft capabilities.
“We held an important session today with long-term support for Ukraine’s defenses, including what that will take from our defense industrial bases,” Austin said. “That means dealing with the tremendous demand that we’re facing for munitions and weapons platforms, and giving our staunch support to Ukraine while also meeting our own requirements, and those of our allies and partners.”
-ABC News’ Matt Syler
Apr 26, 10:53 am
‘People’s Friendship’ statue taken down in Kyiv
A Soviet-era statue that has stood in the capital of Ukraine since 1982 and once symbolized the friendship between Russia and Ukraine was taken down on Tuesday in response to the war between the two countries.
An ABC News crew was on-hand in Kyiv as a large crane removed the bronze “People’s Friendship” statue from its pedestal.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the statue, a gift from the former Soviet Union, is being dismantled because of the “brutal killing and a desire to destroy our state.”
The statue depicts two workers, a Russian and a Ukrainian, holding up a Soviet Order of Friendship of Peoples. The monument was dedicated in November 1982 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the USSR and the 1,500th anniversary of Kyiv.
Klitschko said a 164-foot-tall titanium rainbow-shaped arch the statue rested under will remain and be illuminated with the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Apr 26, 7:07 am
US gathers NATO allies in Germany for Ukraine aid talks
The U.S. will “keep moving heaven and earth” to supply aid to Ukraine, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Tuesday at a meeting of the Ukraine Security Consultive Group, which includes military representatives from about 40 countries.
“Ukraine clearly believes it can win. And so does everyone here,” Austin said in his opening remarks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. “I know that we’re all determined to do everything we can to support Ukraine’s needs as the fight evolves.”
Austin said the group would seek to leave with a common understanding of “Ukraine’s near term security requirements, because we’re going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them.”
He called Russia’s war with Ukraine “indefensible,” adding that Putin didn’t “imagine the world [would] rally behind Ukraine’s so swiftly and so surely.”
Apr 26, 6:08 am
Russia attempts to encircle Ukrainian positions in east, UK says
Russian forces appeared to be moving to encircle “heavily fortified” Ukrainian positions in the east, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
“The city of Kreminna has reportedly fallen and heavy fighting is reported south of Izium, as Russian forces attempt to advance towards the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk from the north and east,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian forces in Zaporizhzhia were preparing for an attack from the south, the ministry said.
Yalonda M. James/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The World Health Organization and UNICEF are warning of a “perfect storm” of circumstances fueling the potential for large-scale measles outbreaks, underscoring worrying signs of increased risk as infections around the globe this year are far above what they were this time last year.
In the first two months of 2022, reported measles cases worldwide increased by nearly 80%, compared to the same timeframe in 2021, the organizations said in a joint news release, adding that conditions are “ripe” for serious outbreaks of the vaccine-preventable illness.
“Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines and the diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases,” the organizations said, adding that the risk for large outbreaks “has increased as communities relax social distancing practices and other preventive measures for COVID-19 implemented during the height of the pandemic.”
Almost 17,338 cases of the highly contagious disease were reported worldwide in January and February 2022, compared to 9,665 during the first two months of 2021.
Brewing humanitarian crises have inflamed the issue.
“With millions of people being displaced due to conflicts and crises, including in Ukraine, Ethiopia, Somalia and Afghanistan, disruptions in routine immunization and COVID-19 vaccination services, lack of clean water and sanitation, and overcrowding increase the risk of vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks,” the organizations said.
“The agencies are concerned that outbreaks of measles could also forewarn outbreaks of other diseases that do not spread as rapidly,” WHO and UNICEF said, noting that besides its direct effect on the body, which can be lethal, the measles virus also weakens the immune system and makes a child more vulnerable to other infectious diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea for months after the measles infection — among those who survive.
This is not the first time global health agencies have warned of lagging pediatric immunizations being an issue of urgent address.
In an April meeting, the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts noted that disruptions to routine immunization programs puts “millions of children at risk of disease outbreaks,” and “large and disruptive outbreaks of measles have occurred in at least 19 countries during the past 12 months.”
And in the U.S., as ABC has reported, vaccination coverage for kindergarteners fell below the nationwide target during the 2020-2021 school year, according to CDC data, raising concerns about vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, mumps and whooping cough.
Experts worry pandemic disruptions could inadvertently lead to a growing number of vaccine-preventable illnesses among children.
In 2020, 23 million children missed out on basic childhood vaccines through routine health services, the highest number since 2009 and 3.7 million more than in 2019, the WHO and UNICEF said Wednesday.
As of April 1, 57 vaccine-preventable disease campaigns in 43 countries that were scheduled to take place since the start of the pandemic are still postponed, impacting 203 million people, most of whom are children, the agencies said. Nineteen of those postponed are measles campaigns, putting 73 million children at risk of measles due to missed vaccinations.
In Ukraine, the measles catch-up campaign of 2019 “was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic and thereafter due to the war,” the WHO and UNICEF said. “Routine and catch-up campaigns are needed wherever access is possible to help make sure there are not repeated outbreaks as in 2017-2019, when there were over 115,000 cases of measles and 41 deaths in the country — this was the highest incidence in Europe.”
As of this April, the agencies said there have been 21 large and disruptive measles outbreaks around the world in the last 12 months. Most of the measles cases were reported in Africa and the East Mediterranean region.
Countries with the largest measles outbreaks since the past year include Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, Afghanistan and Ethiopia.
The figures are likely higher, as the pandemic has disrupted surveillance systems globally, with potential underreporting, the agencies said.
The agencies cited insufficient measles vaccine coverage as the primary reason for the outbreaks “wherever they occur.”
“Measles is more than a dangerous and potentially deadly disease. It is also an early indication that there are gaps in our global immunization coverage, gaps vulnerable children cannot afford,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement. “It is encouraging that people in many communities are beginning to feel protected enough from COVID-19 to return to more social activities. But doing so in places where children are not receiving routine vaccination creates the perfect storm for the spread of a disease like measles.”
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — House Republicans on Wednesday rallied behind Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy as he defended himself over audio recordings surfaced of him blaming former President Donald Trump for the Jan. 6 riot and suggesting that some GOP lawmakers were inciting violence and should be kicked off social media platforms.
In the first closed-door GOP meeting since the New York Times released recordings of a Jan. 10, 2021, leadership call in which McCarthy was sharply critical of Trump and some hard-right members of Congress, the California Republican argued that he was speaking hypothetically and walking through various “scenarios” following the attack on the Capitol as Congress met to certify the 2020 election results.
“He said that, you know, they were speculating on different scenarios,” Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Ala., told ABC News. “He said they were laying out different things of what could be, and he said he never accused anyone of anything.”
“I think the majority of the conference understood,” one GOP member told ABC News, adding that McCarthy claimed the tapes were “taken out of context by the New York Times.“
McCarthy received a standing ovation and a round of applause after his remarks, multiple lawmakers told ABC News.
“We’re coming together as a team,” Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, told ABC News, adding that Republicans wouldn’t “let leaked audio tapes sent to the press pose a part we’ve got bigger things to do. We’re all on the same page.”
Still, his explanation did little to satisfy some of McCarthy’s persistent critics, including Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.
Asked if he had confidence in McCarthy after the meeting, Gaetz replied, “No more or less than usual.”
Gaetz criticized Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., in the meeting over comments made on the recording obtained by the New York Times. The Louisiana Republican suggested Gaetz’s comments attacking Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., in television appearances after the Capitol riot were “potentially illegal.”
The discussion quickly turned “heated” between Gaetz and Scalise after Gaetz confronted him about the comments, sources told ABC News. Gaetz directly asked Scalise to explain his rationale for calling Gaetz’ comments “potentially illegal,” the sources said.
At one point, GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., even chimed in and demanded Scalise apologize to Gaetz. An apology was not offered, according to a source familiar with the exchange.
McCarthy was also critical of Gaetz on the recording, and discussed Greene as well as GOP Reps. Louie Gohmert of Texas and Mo Brooks of Alabama.
Of Trump, McCarthy said, “I’ve had it with this guy,” and told other GOP leaders on the recorded call that “what he did is unacceptable.”
He also suggested he would tell Trump “it would be my recommendation you should resign,” and that some Republicans who made inflammatory comments on and around the Capitol riot should be taken off Twitter.
“Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” he said, according to the audio.
McCarthy initially denied the New York Times reporting, calling it “false.” After the reporters published the audio recordings of the comments, McCarthy told GOP lawmakers that he had spoken with former President Trump and that he still supported McCarthy.
McCarthy later told Fox News he never told Trump to resign.
“He basically said we need to keep on track and keep pushing forward with what we’re doing,” Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Georgia, said after the meeting. “This is a distraction by the left trying to drive a wedge in a very unified Republican Party.”
“Kevin McCarthy is a great leader and he will be a great speaker,” said Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga.
While few Republicans publicly criticized McCarthy after the meeting, others suggested they still needed to digest the episode and McCarthy’s actions.
“I think I’m going to talk to him in private,” said Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz. “I’m glad he talked about what was said.”
