Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi is pictured with the late Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani. (Dept. of Justice)
(NEW YORK) — An Iraqi national carried out at least 18 reported terrorist attacks in Europe against U.S. and Israeli interests, including the stabbing of a Jewish-American citizen, in retaliation for the war in Iran and in an effort to halt the conflict, a federal criminal complaint alleges.
Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, tried to detonate improvised explosives at the Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated an attack against Jewish institutions in the United States and stabbed two people in London, the complaint alleges.
The defendant is expected to make an initial appearance later Friday in Manhattan federal court on charges he conspired to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and other offenses.
Al-Saadi is a high-level member of the Kata’ib Hizballah paramilitary group and has ties to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, according to federal prosecutors.
Since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, Al-Saadi “has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the Iranian Military Conflict and to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC,” the criminal complaint alleges.
The complaint adds, “Al-Saadi and his associates have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe as well as two additional attacks in Canada, in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah.”
The defendant allegedly pledged thousands of dollars to someone he thought would carry out an attack against a synagogue in New York, according to prosecutors. The individual turned out to be an undercover law enforcement officer.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld speaks with ABC News, May 15, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — The American doctor who was on the MV Hondius cruise ship and initially tested positive for hantavirus has since tested negative and says “there’s no evidence that I’ve had hantavirus.”
A doctor from the biocontainment unit in Nebraska said the initial test was most likely a falsely positive, based on further testing.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld — the only American to test positive for hantavirus — came down with flu-like symptoms on the cruise ship, and on Monday he was admitted to the University of Nebraska Medical Center’s biocontainment unit following a positive test, officials said.
The Bend, Oregon, resident has since tested negative and was cleared to relocate to Nebraska’s quarantine unit, where 15 other passengers from the cruise ship who do not have symptoms are being monitored.
“I physically feel great — I have felt great for many, many days,” Kornfeld told ABC News. “Emotionally I feel wonderful. It’s nice to be negative for hantavirus.”
The medical director of Nebraska’s biocontainment unit, Dr. Angela Hewlett, told ABC News’ Victor Oquendo, “I suspect that the initial test was a false positive.”
“If we had seen evidence of previous exposure or previous infection to hantavirus with our serology test, then that would have been a little more indicative of maybe he had had an illness and he was fortunately getting better,” Hewlett explained. “We didn’t see any evidence of that and so it looks like he has not had this illness at all thus far.”
Kornfeld said the initial test was taken after he came down with a flu-like illness on the ship.
“I got sick just a few days after the gentleman who had hantavirus got sick — he ultimately passed away from it. And my illness certainly wasn’t as severe, but it was a typical viral illness with sweats and fatigue and cough, sore throat, and a lot of upper respiratory symptoms,” he said. “I just attributed it to the ship flu, and I think in retrospect, it was.”
“I’m fairly confident he never had hantavirus, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t necessarily have an exposure,” Hewlett said.
“In fact, I had a lot of exposure when I was the ship’s doctor,” Kornfeld said. “I’m still in the incubation period. The virus may still be in me and I may develop symptoms of the virus.”
He said he is following protocol by isolating himself in Nebraska’s quarantine unit.
“I will keep track of my symptoms,” he said. “And if I get any symptoms, then I’ll be tested. Because getting new symptoms does not mean it’s hantavirus — I could come down with another virus, like a cold or something similar.”
Kornfeld said he is weighing whether to complete the entire 42-day quarantine in Nebraska or to finish from his home in Oregon. If he does go home, he said it would not be on a commercial aircraft.
“I think everybody in this unit is sort of having that discussion with their own health system and with their family. Some will probably stay here the entire time, some may ultimately go home,” he said.
“I’m thinking that I may eventually want to go home … it would be very safe to send us home and then we could complete the quarantine in a much more familiar situation,” he said, adding, “everybody here is committed to completing their quarantine.”
U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell attends a press conference in Washington, D.C., the United States, April 29, 2026. (Photo by Li Rui/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A global pandemic that put millions of Americans out of work within days. The highest inflation in four decades. An unprecedented federal criminal investigation.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell faced a succession of crises over his 8-year tenure atop the central bank, which ends on Friday. Powell’s decisions along the way held stakes as concrete as the budgets of everyday Americans and as heady as the political independence of a pillar institution.
President Donald Trump’s Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh is set to take the helm, inheriting a resilient economy by some measures, though one suffering from a renewed bout of inflation.
Powell said last month that he would take the unusual step of staying on at the central bank’s 12-person board of governors after his term expires. The move grants Powell a role in interest-rate policy that could last until 2028, though he says he will step down once a Fed inspector general’s investigation into a renovation of the central bank headquarters is closed.
The transition offers an opportunity to look back at Powell’s tenure, which spanned two presidents, three Treasury secretaries and 66 interest-rate decisions.
“You don’t choose your challenges, but you do choose how you respond,” Claudia Sahm, chief economist at New Century Advisors and a former Fed official, told ABC News. “In the end, Powell’s legacy will be judged by those outcomes.”
When Trump nominated Powell to become Fed chair, Trump described him as a “consensus builder” who “understands what it takes for our economy to grow.”
Powell, a former investment banker and Treasury official under President George H.W. Bush, assumed the role in 2018. At the time, the economy was humming, the unemployment rate clocked in at a historically low level and inflation stood just a tick above the Fed’s target rate of 2%.
Powell hiked interest rates four times in his first year, putting strain on the stock market but leaving the Fed in position to stimulate the economy with rate cuts in the event of a slowdown. Policymakers wouldn’t have to wait long.
In the early months of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic put tens of millions of Americans into lockdown, halting business across industries like restaurants and hospitality, while putting a large swathe of the labor force out of work.
At an emergency meeting in March 2020, Powell slashed interest rates to near-zero levels in an effort to stimulate a battered economy.
“Families, businesses, schools, organizations, and governments at all levels are taking steps to protect people’s health. These measures, which are essential for containing the outbreak, will nonetheless understandably take a toll on economic activity in the near term,” Powell told reporters at the time.
The unemployment rate soared from 4.4% in March to 14.7% in April, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed.
To supercharge the recovery, Trump and President Joe Biden enacted economic stimulus meant to support people who’d lost their jobs or faced other hardship. Alongside low interest rates, that spending helped bring about a speedy economic recovery from the downturn.
The COVID-19 recession lasted only two months, making it the shortest in U.S. history, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The speedy recovery vindicated the Fed’s decision to slash interest rates, though it hadn’t been a particularly difficult choice, Alan Blinder, a professor of economics at Princeton University and former vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, told ABC News.
“The dropping of rates to the floor was both necessary and appropriate, and in a real sense, obvious,” Blinder said.
A bout of acute inflation soon took hold, however, emerging as a result of a supply shortage imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine war. Powell initially downplayed the price increases, describing them as “transitory.” It proved a consequential mistake — and Powell would later admit his error.
Annual inflation peaked at a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2022. By then, Powell had begun to ratchet up interest rates and it would continue over the following year. The aggressive series of rate hikes put the central bank’s benchmark rate at its highest level since 2001. The move sent mortgage and credit card rates soaring.
By June 2023, annual inflation had plummeted to 3%, but Americans remained widely dissatisfied with price increases long afterward. Many economists forecast a recession and the type of job losses it typically entails. Fortunately, the downturn never came to pass.
“Inflation stayed high for too long but once it came down, it came down really fast. It came down without creating unnecessary pain in the labor market,” Wendy Edelberg, director of the Hamilton Project and senior fellow in economic studies at the Brookings Institution, told ABC News.
In September 2024, less than two months before the presidential election, the Fed cut interest rates by 0.5%. The decision drew criticism from allies of Trump, who considered the move a potential boost for the economy that would benefit incumbent Democrats. Trump went on to win the election.
Within weeks of his return to the White House, in early 2025, Trump voiced public criticism of Powell, urging him to cut interest rates. The attacks intensified criticism of Powell that had begun in Trump’s first term.
Over the ensuing months, Trump began to slam Powell for cost overruns in a renovation project at the Fed’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. Last July, Trump made the first official trip to the Fed by a sitting president in almost 20 years, donning a hard hat as he toured the renovation with Powell.
The Fed attributed spending overruns to unforeseen cost increases, saying that its building renovation would ultimately “reduce costs over time by allowing the Board to consolidate most of its operations,” according to the central bank’s website.
By January, the Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation into Powell, ratcheting up an extraordinary clash between the White House and the Fed. It was the first criminal probe of a Fed chair in the 113-year history of the central bank.
The probe centered on Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about the cost overruns. Powell issued a rare video message rebuking the investigation as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.
“No one — certainly not the chair of the Federal Reserve — is above the law,” Powell said. “But this unprecedented action should be seen in the broader context of the administration’s threats and ongoing pressure.”
Trump previously denied any involvement in the criminal investigation. The DOJ moved to drop its criminal probe into Powell last month. Washington U.S. Attorney Jeaninne Pirro said the investigation into the office renovation would be taken up by the Fed’s inspector general.
“The attack on the Fed chair was appalling,” Rebel Cole, a professor of finance at Florida Atlantic University who formerly worked at the Federal Reserve, told ABC News. “Powell stood up to it.”
Warsh, a former Fed official, will serve a 4-year term as chair. He is set to lead the Fed in a challenging period for central bank policymakers.
Inflation rose for a second consecutive month as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran continued to send gasoline prices surging in April, government data on Tuesday showed. Annual inflation jumped to its highest level in three years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Despite the disruption, some measures of economic health have proven resilient.
The unemployment rate held steady at a historically low level of 4.3% in April, leaving it little changed from when Powell began his tenure in 2018.
“The economy is pretty good but far from perfect,” Blinder said, faulting Powell in part for elevated inflation, while attributing much of the blame to the Iran war. At the same time, Blinder praised Powell for his commitment to the independence of the Fed.
“That’s the legacy that Warsh is inheriting,” Blinder said.
Healthcare workers walk outside the Ebola treatment centre in Beni, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. (2019). (Photo by Sally Hayden/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) – An Ebola outbreak has been confirmed in the Ituri province in Democratic Republic of the Congo, according to Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of the latest update, about 246 suspected cases and 65 deaths have been reported, mainly in Mongwalu and Rwampara health zones, officials said.
Africa CDC said that preliminary lab results from the Institut National de Recherche Biomédicale (INRB) have detected Ebola virus in 13 of 20 samples tested. Four deaths have been reported among laboratory-confirmed cases.
The latest outbreak comes around five months after Congo’s last Ebola outbreak was declared over after more than 40 deaths.
“Africa CDC is closely monitoring the situation and convening an urgent high-level coordination meeting today with the DRC, Uganda, South Sudan and global partners to reinforce cross-border surveillance, preparedness and outbreak response efforts,” officials said in a statement Friday.
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou contributed to this report
China’s President Xi Jinping (R) and US President Donald Trump visit the Temple of Heaven on May 14, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski – Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping feel “very similar on Iran” in wanting the war to end and prohibiting Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon as the two started their second day of meetings in their high-stakes summit.
“We did discuss Iran. We feel very similar in Iran. We want that to end. We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. We want the [Strait of Hormuz] opened. We’re closing it now. They closed it, and we closed it on top of them, but we want the straits open, and we want them to get it ended, because it’s a crazy thing,” Trump said at a photo opportunity before the two leaders had tea and a working lunch.
Trump said they had discussed a number of issues, “and I think we’re very much in agreement.” Representatives from China did not offer further comment on what was discussed in the meetings.
He also said the two leaders “made some fantastic trade deals.”
Before Friday’s meeting Trump met Xi to tour the gardens at Zhongnanhai, the Chinese Communist Party leadership compound.
Xi said he picked the location “especially to reciprocate the hospitality extended to me in 2017 at Mar-a-Lago.” Xi said Trump was interested to learn about the plants in the garden including the Chinese roses. Xi said he “agreed” to gift Trump seeds for those roses.
The meetings come amid some tension on the issue of Taiwan — an issue about which Xi issued a stark warning to the U.S. during the leaders’ first sit-down — and questions about the role of China in ending the war with Iran.
Trump was seeking to bolster international support amid a push to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S. war with Iran stretches on. China is Iran’s principal oil consumer.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, responding to inquiries to confirm whether Trump and Xi discussed Iran, sidestepped the question but reiterated China’s position that the ceasefire and negotiations should continue and that the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened.
“There is no need to continue this war that should not have happened,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry said. “Finding a solution earlier is beneficial to the United States and Iran, as well as to the countries in the region and even the whole world.”
“Since the door of dialogue is open, it should not be closed again,” the spokesperson said.
Trump and Xi also attended a state banquet earlier during the visit.
On the first day of the summit, the U.S. president was greeted with pomp and pageantry upon his arrival in Beijing and again before his bilateral meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People that lasted for more than two hours.
Regarding the issue of Taiwan, Xi said that if the issue of Taiwan is handled “improperly,” the two nations could “come into conflict,” according to China’s official state broadcaster Xinhua. However, Xi did say that if the issue is handled “properly,” “bilateral relations can remain generally stable.”
Tech and trade have also been key themes during the talks.
Trump said before the trip that he planned to ask Xi to “open up” the Chinese economy. CEOs Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX, Tim Cook of Apple and Jensen Huang of NVIDIA, among others, traveled with the president to Beijing.
Trump said the business leaders joined him to “pay respects” to Xi.
“We asked the top 30 in the world. Every single one of them said ‘yes,’ and I didn’t want the second or the third in the company. I wanted only the top. And they’re here today to pay respects to you and to China, and they look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf,” Trump said.
The White House said one of Trump’s goals going into the summit with Xi is to secure purchasing agreements with China in the aerospace, agriculture and energy sectors and the CEOs traveled with the president to help push for that.
U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on Friday that the U.S. expects China to buy tens of billions of dollars worth of American agricultural products in the next few years.
“We expect to also see an agreement for double-digit billion purchases … over the next three years, per year, coming out of this visit, and that’s more general, that’s aggregate, that’s not just soybeans, that’s everything else,” Greer told Bloomberg.
Greer didn’t provide any more specifics about the terms of the agreement he said the administration expects.
Before their meeting at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday, Trump called Xi a “great leader” and touted their relationship.
“Such respect for China, the job you’ve done. You’re a great leader. I say it to everybody. You’re a great leader,” Trump said. “Sometimes people don’t like me saying it, but I say it anyway, because it’s true. I always say the truth.”
“We’ve had a fantastic relationship. We’ve gotten along,” Trump said. “When there were difficulties, we worked it out. I would call you, and you would call me, and whenever we had a problem — people don’t know — whenever we had a problem, we worked it out very quickly, and we’re going to have a fantastic future together.”
Xi told Trump that China and the U.S. “both stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation.”
“We should be partners, not rivals,” he continued.” We should help each other succeed and prosper together and find the right way for major countries to get along well with each other in the new era.”
ABC News’ Karson Yiu, Mariam Khan, Michelle Stoddart and Kevin Shalvey contributed to this report.
: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) speaks at a press conference with other members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on April 29, 2026. (Photo by Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Almost a third of the membership of the Congressional Black Caucus — 19 of its 62 members — are at risk of losing their seats through the 2028 election cycle as Republicans in southern states where they control the legislature move swiftly to redraw congressional maps less than two weeks after the Supreme Court dealt a blow to Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
The mid-decade redistricting push is a continuation of an effort that began in 2025 and that President Donald Trump has encouraged in hopes of increasing the likelihood that the GOP will retain control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.
Republicans have argued that they are redrawing congressional maps to comply with the Supreme Court and that the districts that could be changed may still elect Black representatives to Congress.
A spokesperson for the Congressional Black Caucus told ABC News that the group is coordinating with groups such as Elias Law Group and the Legal Defense Fund to challenge the GOP’s redistricting efforts.
The Supreme Court on Monday evening opened the door for Alabama to eliminate at least one of its majority-Black congressional districts before this year’s midterm elections, potentially handing Republicans an additional House seat in the fight for control of the closely divided chamber.
Following Republicans’ redistricting efforts in the South in states like Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed a strong response, listing specific states without sharing specific actions.
“Over the next year or so, what you’re going to see in state after state are Democrats making clear that we are not going to unilaterally disarm,” Jeffries said.
“And as a result of that, in places like New York, New Jersey, Oregon, as well as Washington, in Colorado and, of course, in Illinois and Maryland, we’re going to take the steps necessary to ensure that in advance of the 2028 election, we have a decisive and overwhelming response.”
Alabama Rep. Shomari Figures, whose seat is now in jeopardy as a result of the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling, said in a statement to ABC News that the decision “sets the stage for Alabama to go back to the 1950s and 60s in terms of Black political representation in the state.”
Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver of Missouri, whose seat was one of the first targeted by redistricting, said that the ongoing redistricting efforts are “trying to send us back to Reconstruction.”
Cleaver told ABC News that he is supportive of Jeffries’ stance of “maximum warfare” against GOP-led redistricting efforts, but he worries that “if we fight fire with fire, nothing would be left in the station but ash.”
Cleaver has held his seat for more than two decades and is running for reelection, but now says he has “no idea” what district he’s running in and that Democrats may need to redistrict in states like Illinois, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Colorado to fight back.
Rep. Jim Clyburn, who is also at risk of losing his seat if redistricting succeeds in South Carolina, took aim at a series of U.S. Supreme Court decisions that he said had enabled this sort of targeting of Black legislators, as well as actions by Trump that he said threaten American democracy.
“You know, this is whether or not you’re going to have a democracy. And that’s not a one-party thing, that’s not a one-person thing; that is, this country has come to grips with the fact that we are on the verge of a kleptocracy,” Clyburn said.
While CBC members have continued to push for the passage of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, Cleaver said that in the current Congress, the legislation “could not get a hearing in the United States of America right now.”
Last Thursday, Tennessee became the first state after the Supreme Court’s Louisiana ruling to officially redraw and pass a new map at the urging of the president, who called the state’s governor about the topic just one day after the ruling. And in one week, a new congressional map was created, presented and passed. The new map will give Republicans a chance to flip the state’s lone current Democratic-held, majority-Black district, which is primarily made up of Memphis.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Monday evening that opened the door for Alabama to eliminate at least one of its majority-Black districts before this year’s midterms, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has set new special primary elections for the affected districts in the state: the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th.
Louisiana and South Carolina are also working through their own redistricting process in hopes of delivering more House seats to the GOP ahead of November’s elections. In South Carolina, Republicans on Friday formally unveiled a new proposed congressional map that would redraw the district held by Clyburn.
But as Republicans look to add House seats, Black representation in Congress is at risk of dropping substantially over the next couple of years.
NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement to ABC News, “We are witnessing a return to Jim Crow. And anybody who is alarmed by these developments — as everybody should be — better be making a plan to vote in November to put an end to this madness while we still can.”
“This Supreme Court did not dismiss the case, so the litigation will certainly continue. My hope is that this is a temporary setback and that three-Republican appointed judges will again find what they found the first time: that the State of Alabama intentionally discriminated against Black voters in drawing its congressional district lines,” Figures added.
ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim and Jeff Ballou contributed to this report
Spinner shark on the bottom of the ocean close to Male / Maldives (Cavan Images / Henn Photography/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Warming waters are attracting more swimmers and sharks alike to the Eastern seaboard — creating the perfect recipe for an increase of shark sightings along the coasts in the coming months, some shark experts told ABC News.
Scientists at the New England Aquarium in Boston urged the public to be vigilant and report shark sightings after the first white shark of the season was confirmed off Massachusetts on Sunday.
A dead grey seal with a visible wound found on Lucy Vincent Beach in Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, was consistent with the bite of a white shark, John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist in the Aquarium’s Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life, said in a statement.
“This is just the beginning of white shark season in New England, and it serves as a good reminder to be mindful of the presence of these sharks in inshore waters,” Chisholm said. “Their numbers will continue to increase throughout the summer with peak activity occurring in the fall.”
A juvenile white shark was also seen off the coasts of New York and New Jersey last week. The female shark, named Nori, pinged a shark-tracking system. Scientists with the Global Shark Tracker program have been monitoring her movements as she makes her way up the East Coast.
Nori is the first tagged white shark to begin this season’s northward migration, according to the nonprofit OCEARCH.
“It’s very normal for us to see more sharks off the East Coast, especially as you move north in the summer compared to the winter, partially because they’re more likely to be there and partially because someone’s more likely to be watching,” Catherine Macdonald, director of the University of Miami’s Shark Research and Conservation Program, told ABC News.
Why there are more shark sightings in the summer months
The moment a swimmer sets foot in the ocean, they are in close proximity to a shark — even if they’re not necessarily in sight, according to marine biologists who spoke with ABC News.
At least 30 species of sharks are starting to make their northward seasonal migration up the Eastern seaboard after overwintering in southern waters, Joel Fodrie, director of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told ABC News.
As the waters begin to warm, they’re on the move to new areas to set up their strategies for hunting, Fodrie said.
Those recreating on the coastlines can expect to see different species of sharks, depending on where they are.
Of the sharks considered aggressive or a potential threat to humans, white sharks are commonly seen in the Northeast during the summer months — especially around Cape Cod — because their preferred prey, the grey seal, tends to congregate there, Bradley Wetherbee, a professor of marine biology and ecology at the University of Rhode Island, told ABC News.
Tiger sharks bask in the warm Florida waters year-round, Mahmood Shivji, a shark biologist at the Save the Seas Foundation Shark Research Center at Nova Southeastern University, told ABC News.
Bull sharks are common in the Gulf and feed on large fish — often confusing humans for prey in those interactions, Wetherbee said.
A large presence of fish, mackerel or seals — all prey for sharks — could indicate that one is nearby, looking to feed. The presence of dolphins could also mean a shark is around, because the larger marine animals tend to feed on the same prey, Frodrie said.
There are also simply more opportunities to see sharks, the experts said.
Protections in the Atlantic have allowed shark populations to rebound in the waters off the U.S., while globally they are still being killed at high rates due to overfishing, Shivji said.
The existence of drones and advanced cameras — as well as social media — are making the presence of sharks more known than ever before, Frodrie added.
Swimmers should be vigilant, but don’t necessarily need to worry, experts say
An increase in shark presence in the north and mid-Atlantic is normal and isn’t anything to worry about, Macdonald said.
With the exceptions of the bolder species, sharks are scared of people and fairly easy to spook, Frodrie said.
“There’s more than 540 species of shark on the planet, and the vast majority of them rarely come into contact with people but wouldn’t be a threat to them even if they did,” Macdonald said.
Over the last 400 million years, sharks have evolved to detect things and sense their environment using their jaws, Wetherbee said. When they bite people, they are likely testing whether they are prey.
“No one wants to have a negative encounter, but it’s kind of a primordial fear,” Wetherbee said.
Sharks are a keystone species, and their presence can be a marker of a healing ecosystem, Macdonald said. They play a “huge role” in shaping the structure and function of ecosystems by moving nutrients around landscapes and helping control prey populations, she added.
“Marine ecosystems look really different in the absence of sharks, often in ways that we don’t want, so we don’t always appreciate them when we see them,” Macdonald said.
The public can report shark sightings through the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy’s Sharktivity app, which provides information and push notifications on shark movements in the aim to help people and sharks coexist.
Sharks are not the biggest danger humans face at the beach
Shark bites on humans — especially fatal attacks — are rare, the data shows.
In 2025, there were 65 confirmed unprovoked shark bites on humans and 29 provoked bites — meaning the human initiated the interaction in some way, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.
On average, fewer than 10 people worldwide are killed by unprovoked shark attacks each year, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History. In 2025, there were 12 confirmed shark-related fatalities, nine of which were labeled as unprovoked.
Getting bitten by a shark is rare in itself, but victims of shark attacks have a 1 in 3.7 million chance of being killed by a shark.
All four shark experts ABC News spoke with pointed to rip currents as being the real danger swimmers face at the beach.
In the U.S. alone, there are more than 100 deaths annually that are attributed to rip currents, according to a scientific review of data provided to the United States Lifesaving Association.
“Supervision of kids in the ocean, awareness of rip currents and risks of drowning — all of that is a much greater risk to swim or safety than sharks will ever be,” Macdonald said.
Compared to the number of drownings at beaches, the odds of getting bitten by a shark are extremely low, the experts said.
“The numbers are so small, but it doesn’t do any good to tell people that, because if you’re out there, if you’re one of the ones that gets bitten … I’m sure it’s quite an ordeal,” Wetherbee said.
Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, has been charged with harassing and attempting to harass an endangered Hawaiian monk seal by throwing a large rock at the seal’s head. (U.S. Attorneys Office/District of Hawaii)
(MAUI, Hawaii) — A tourist on vacation in Maui has been arrested and charged for allegedly throwing a large rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Igor Mykhaylovych Lytvynchuk, 38, has been charged with harassing and attempting to harass an endangered Hawaiian monk seal by throwing a large rock at the seal’s head, in violation of the Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Hawaii.
Lytvynchuk was filmed walking along the shoreline in the Lahaina area of Maui on May 5, tracking the movements of a Hawaiian monk seal, known as Lani, as she pushed a floating log close to the shoreline, according to prosecutors.
Lytvynchuk then picked up a large rock and threw it directly at Lani’s head, prosecutors said. The rock narrowly missed Lani’s nose, causing her to rear up out of the water, according to prosecutors.
Witnesses told investigators the rock was “the size of a coconut,” according to court documents.
Another witness told investigators the seal “clearly seemed hurt,” but Lytvynchuk did not check on the welfare of the animal before walking away, according to court documents.
Witnesses confronted Lytvynchuk, informing him they had contacted law enforcement. Lytvynchuk allegedly responded that he was “rich enough to pay the fines,” before walking away, prosecutors said.
Witnesses reported that Lani remained “largely immobile for an extended period of time after the incident,” causing concern over her welfare, according to prosecutors.
“The unique and precious wildlife of the Hawaiian Islands are renowned symbols of Hawaii’s special place in the world and its incredible biodiversity. We are committed to protecting our vulnerable wild species, in particular endangered Hawaiian monk seals, like Lani,” U.S. Attorney Ken Sorenson said in a statement.
If sentenced, Lytvynchuk could face up to one year in prison for each charge and supervised release, prosecutors said.
Lytvynchuk was arrested on Wednesday and is currently in custody. He is scheduled to appear for an initial hearing on Thursday.
Court records do not list an attorney for Lytvynchuk.
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an event on advancing health care affordability in the Oval Office of the White House, April 23, 2026 in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — One of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s top public affairs spokespeople resigned from his post over the FDA’s fruit-flavored e-cigarettes authorization and its potential impact on minors, according to a resignation letter to President Donald Trump reviewed by ABC News.
In the letter, Richard Danker, the former assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, accuses senior agency officials in Kennedy’s immediate office of approving e-cigarette flavors that would allegedly expose children to “nicotine addiction, lung damage, and a higher risk of cancer.”
Danker also said the vape authorization “undermines” the department’s recent guidance document related to youth risks of flavored nicotine, according to the letter.
He thanked Trump for the “honor of a lifetime” to serve in both presidential administrations. Danker’s work portfolio includes economic regulatory roles, including a senior advisor position at the Department of Treasury during the first Trump administration. Danker hadn’t worked in healthcare prior to his time at HHS.
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again movement has touted its focus on combatting chronic disease and improving children’s health. In a statement to ABC News, an HHS spokesperson said Kennedy is advancing the MAHA agenda to confront the chronic disease epidemic head-on.
“Political appointees are here to execute that mission with urgency, discipline, and focus,” according to the spokesperson.
“Individuals who lose sight of the mission and the responsibility they were entrusted with are free to move on from the agency. HHS remains fully committed to delivering results for the American people,” the spokesperson said.
Danker provided ABC News with a copy of the resignation letter, but did not provide further comment.
The White House did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
The news comes as former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Marty Makary left office after clashing with the White House over pressure from Trump to authorize the flavored vapes, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The issue has raised concerns with Makary, pediatrician groups and advocacy organizations about the potential impact on minors, ABC News reported.
The FDA approved four new devices made by Glas, including classic menthol, fresh menthol, gold, and sapphire pods. “Gold” is mango-flavored and “sapphire” is blueberry-flavored.
While the FDA said on its website last week that it continues to prioritize the removal of illicit vapes — including those that target minors — the approval of a flavored vape represents a significant shift for the agency.
Makary told ABC News’ Linsey Davis in July, “There is not an approved vaping product in the United States that has one of these cutie-fruity flavors.”
A view of the dome of the Pennsylvania State Capitol. (Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(LEBANON, Pa.) — A Pennsylvania man who allegedly had a “hit list” and threatened to shoot Democratic state legislators in online posts has been charged with making terroristic threats, court records show.
Adam Berryhill, 42, of Lebanon, allegedly made “politically violent posts” on his X account that included a “hit list,” according to Pennsylvania State Police.
“The posts also included a picture of a firearm and made mention of a ‘Memorial Day Operation,'” state police said in an incident report.
Between April 7 and April 22, Berryhill allegedly posted “hit lists” and claimed to “‘start shooting’ multiple elected officials” in posts on X, according to the criminal complaint.
The 20 victims in the case identified by police in the report are all Democratic members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, including House Speaker Joanna McClinton.
The investigation began on April 28, when a state trooper tasked with conducting regular safety and security checks on McClinton “was alerted to several concerning social media posts” involving her and other state legislators made by an X account named “Pennsylvania Militia,” according to the complaint.
One post on April 7 stated, “I’ll approach every legal avenue and when they all fail I start shootings,” and then listed the names of 18 elected officials, according to the complaint.
Five days later, the account posted, “Can’t wait for the Memorial Day operation,” according to the complaint.
“Oh you like posting hit lists? Here’s mine b——,” the account posted on April 22, listing four officials referred to as “gun grabbing communists,” according to the complaint.
“Conservatives need to stop b——- and whining on this platform. The solution I have is war,” the account posted on April 24, according to the complaint. “Learn the law and know when it’s your God given right to kill your authorities.”
That post also referenced Cody Balmer, who committed an arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s main residence in Harrisburg last year, according to the complaint.
An earlier post, on March 23, included what is believed to be an original photograph of a gun, “showing [Berryhill’s] possible access to a firearm as a means to carry out the threats,” the complaint stated.
Investigators linked the X account to Berryhill through email records and IP address data, according to the complaint. He was arrested on May 6 and charged with terroristic threats, authorities said.
“The statements made by Berryhill were not isolated or vague, but specific, targeted, and directed toward identifiable public officials, including Joanna McClinton and numerous members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly,” the complaint stated. “These communications included references to ‘hit lists,’ explicit threats of future shootings, and mention of a planned ‘Memorial Day operation,’ indicating premeditation and a potential timeline.”
Berryhill is being held on $250,000 bail. He waived his preliminary hearing, scheduled for Thursday, and his arraignment has been scheduled for June 11.
The Lebanon County Public Defender’s Office said his attorney is not making any statements at this time.
Gov. Shapiro said he has spoken with McClinton and Senate Leader Jay Costa about the threats against members of the state legislature.
“I told them that while these threats of political violence seek to intimidate and silence, my Administration will continue to do everything in our power to keep them safe and ensure their members can continue to make their voices heard as the people’s elected representatives,” Shapiro said in a statement Wednesday.
The leaders of the state legislature condemned the threats.
“These threats are extremely disturbing, not just to the members identified, but to all public figures who are contending with an increasingly hostile environment,” the leaders — McClinton, Costa, Majority Leader Matt Bradford and Republican Leader Jesse Topper — said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“We condemn any threat against any of our colleagues who are faithfully serving their communities and pledge to support mental health care, intervention, and law enforcement funding that make our state safer,” the statement said.
The governor said that Pennsylvania State Police have implemented a new process to notify state legislators “immediately and directly of any and all threats of violence against them.”
