(PABRADĖ, Lithuania) — Search and recovery efforts are underway for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during a scheduled training exercise near Pabradė, Lithuania, according to the Army and the U.S. Embassy in Vilnius.
The soldiers, who the Army said are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, were reported missing on Tuesday, the Lithuanian Armed Forces said.
The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the soldiers were operating at the time has been found submerged in water in a training area, the Army said on Wednesday.
“The 3rd Inf. Div. is continuing to keep families of the Soldiers informed on the status of search efforts,” the Army said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(ACWORTH, Ga.) — A Georgia mother recounted the moment she was “tug-of-warring” with a man she said tried to snatch her 2-year-old son from her while in a Walmart.
Caroline Miller was shopping at a Walmart in Acworth with her two young children last week when the incident occurred. They were in a motorized wheelchair at the time because her 4-year-old daughter wanted to ride it, she told Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB.
The suspect first approached the family and asked for help finding Tylenol, she told the station.
“When I pointed my arm out this way to point to the direction of where it was, that is when he reached down, put both of his hands on Jude, and grabbed him out of my lap,” Miller told WSB this week.
“I’m like, ‘No, no, no, what are you doing? What are you doing?'” she told the station. “He pulled him. I pulled him back. We’re tug-of-warring.”
The mother was able to break away with her son and the suspect fled the store, according to police.
“I’m just glad that he’s still home with us,” Miller told WSB.
Officers responded to the Walmart on March 18 “after receiving a call of a male who attempted to snatch a juvenile away from their mother,” the Acworth Police Department said in a press release.
The child was not injured in the incident, police said.
Detectives spoke to witnesses and reviewed surveillance cameras and Flock safety surveillance cameras installed in the area, Acworth police said. They subsequently identified a suspect and secured a warrant, police said.
“We were able to see the car he got into, and followed the cameras, and used our Flock cameras in the city and was able to get a tag number and track him down,” Sgt. Eric Mistretta with the Acworth Police Department told WSB.
Mahendra Patel, 56, of Kennesaw, was arrested on Friday and has been charged with kidnapping, simple battery and simple assault, police said.
He remains in custody at the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office with no bond, online jail records show. Online records do not list any attorney information.
Miller said her children now know how to respond in dangerous situations.
“As much as we would think it would never happen, it will and does, and to be prepared for when it does,” she told WSB.
(WASHINGTON) — The Congressional Budget Office warned on Wednesday that the government could run out of money to pay its bills as early as August or September if lawmakers fail to address the debt limit.
“The government’s ability to borrow using extraordinary measures will probably be exhausted in August or September 2025,” the nonpartisan CBO report predicted.
The CBO added that a precise projected X date is unclear because “the timing and amount of revenue collections and outlays over the intervening months could differ from the CBO’s projections.” The estimated projection provides Congress with a rough timeline to deal with the debt limit to avoid a default.
“If the government’s borrowing needs are significantly greater than CBO projects, the Treasury’s resources could be exhausted in late May or sometime in June, before tax payments due in mid-June are received or before additional extraordinary measures become available on June 30,” it said in the report.
If lawmakers do not raise or suspend the debt limit before all extraordinary measures are exhausted, the government could default on its debt — something that’s only happened a handful of times in U.S. history, though never in regard to the statutory debt limit.
“The Treasury has already reached the current debt limit of $36.1 trillion, so it has no room to borrow under its standard operating procedures,” according to the CBO report.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told congressional leaders that his department would provide an estimate of how long extraordinary measures will last during the first half of May — following tax season.
“I respectfully urge Congress to act promptly to protect the full faith and credit of the United States,” Bessent wrote in a March 14 letter to Congress.
The issue has been on Congress’ to-do list since last winter, when then-Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned the debt limit would be met around President Donald Trump’s inauguration, which was on Jan. 20.
While Trump has called on House and Senate Republicans to abolish the debt limit, members of Congress are expected to include a provision in their budget reconciliation package to suspend the debt limit through the end of the Trump administration, though a plan is not finalized, including whether to offset any increase with spending cuts and reform.
(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — The family of former United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Jessica Aber, who was found dead on Saturday at a home in Virginia, said the 43-year-old suffered from epilepsy, calling her sudden death a “tremendous sorrow” in a statement Wednesday.
Aber, 43, died in her sleep, her family said.
Police in Alexandria, Virginia, said in an update amid the investigation on Tuesday that “detectives have found no evidence suggesting that her death was caused by anything other than natural causes.”
Her family reiterated that it is believed Aber died from natural causes and said she “suffered from epilepsy and epileptic seizures for many years.”
The case will remain open until the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner rules on the manner and cause of death, police said.
“We expect more information from the medical examiner in the coming weeks,” her family said. “Our family is in shock and grieving deeply and we respectfully request privacy as we attempt to navigate through our unspeakable loss.”
Police in Alexandria, Virginia, said they were called to a home in Alexandria, a suburb of Washington, D.C., on Saturday morning for the report of an unresponsive woman and found Aber dead inside.
A friend of the family told ABC News on Sunday that police believe the death was the result of a longstanding medical issue.
Aber, who served as U.S. attorney in Virginia for most of the Biden administration, took office in October 2021 after being unanimously confirmed by the Senate and stepped down in January, shortly after President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
As U.S. attorney, Aber oversaw a staff of some 300 prosecutors and other staff and handled federal prosecutions in the state.
(LONDON) — Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of northern Gaza on Tuesday in a rare protest against Hamas, with marchers calling for the terror group to reach a ceasefire deal with Israel and give up control of the strip to end the war.
Videos from the northern city of Beit Lahiya — which has been devastated by a heavy Israeli bombardment and intense fighting by between Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces over the past 17 months — showed hundreds gathered on the streets, some chanting anti-Hamas slogans. Shouts of “Hamas out” could be heard in videos posted to social media.
The gathering followed an appeal for a demonstration spread on social media channels. ABC News is unable to verify its origin or the identity of the original poster.
Some marchers held signs displaying demands, including “Enough displacement and homelessness,” “Stop the war” and “We refuse to die,” as seen in videos circulating on social media.
Videos filmed by a local journalist and verified by ABC News showed Gazans chanting, “We want to live, we want to live,” in Arabic as a man addressed the assembled crowd.
“We are here today to deliver a message to the entire nation,” he said. “We are a peaceful people, a peaceful people, a peaceful people. We want to live. This is the least of life’s demands.”
“We want to live,” he continued. “Deliver it to the entire nation and the leadership. We want to live. People don’t have money to move — meaning to move their things when evacuating — there is no empty space in Gaza. Where will we go?”
The Associated Press reported that some videos appeared to show Hamas members dispersing the crowd.
A call across the Gaza Strip for more protests circulated on social media on Wednesday. In a video statement on Wednesday, speaking in Hebrew, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz addressed the protests.
“The IDF will soon operate forcefully in additional areas in Gaza and you will be required to evacuate and lose more and more territory,” Katz said in the statement directed at residents of Gaza. “The plans are already prepared and approved. Learn from the residents of Beit Lahia: Demand the removal of Hamas from Gaza and the immediate release of all Israeli hostages — this is the only way to stop the war.”
Tuesday’s protests came amid Israel’s renewed offensive on the devastated strip, which began last week and ended a two-month ceasefire that began in January.
Israel is demanding the immediate release of all remaining hostages — consisting of 59 people, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive — taken in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack into Israel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign would resume with “full force,” adding that further “negotiations will only be done under fire.” Israel intends to fully dismantle Hamas and remove it from power in Gaza, Netanyahu has said.
As of Tuesday, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 792 people had been killed and 1,663 others injured since the resumption of Israeli military action last week.
The latest casualties bring the total death toll in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, to 50,144, with another 113,704 wounded, the ministry said.
Around 1,200 people were killed in southern Israel during the Hamas attack, with 251 people taken back into Gaza as captives, according to the Israeli government.
Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
(SAN DIEGO) — Sea lions on the California coast are reportedly displaying strange behavior, likely due to a harmful algae bloom impacting the region, according to marine researchers.
There have been reports of the marine mammals acting aggressively in some cases, and in others, they appear lethargic, Jeni Smith, rescue supervisor at SeaWorld San Diego, told ABC San Diego affiliate KGTV. Smith described one sea lion who appeared to be “star-gazing.”
“Some animals seem very, very sleepy, maybe right after having a seizure, Smith said. “They may be abnormally aggressive.”
The sea lions are likely being poisoned by domoic acid, a neurotoxin within the algae blooms, which they ingest through the fish they eat, according to marine experts. Ingesting domoic acid can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans and marine mammals, according to the Marine Mammal Care Center.
Harmful algal blooms occur when colonies of algae grow out of control and produce toxic or harmful affects on people, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Some blooms produce toxins that can kill fish, mammals and birds. In some cases, the algal blooms can cause illness or death in humans, according to NOAA.
The toxic algae blooms typically only form every four to seven years, but warming temperatures and an increase of pollution can increase the growth and occurrences, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Recently, marine researchers in Southern California have witnessed consecutive years of harmful algal blooms, Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, told KGTV.
The Marine Mammal Care Center has taken in nearly 150 sea lions since February, Bader said. There have been reports of dolphins and seabirds falling ill as well, and this event could be worse than the bloom that occurred in 2023, which killed 1,000 sea lions, according to the marine conservation group.
RJ LaMendola said he was surfing when he was attacked at Oxnard State Beach in Ventura County, California, by a “demonic” sea lion that bit him and dragged him off his board, he wrote on Facebook on Friday.
LaMendola described the sea lion as “feral” and “almost demonic.” The decades-long surfer was struck that the mammal was “devoid of the curiosity or playfulness” he usually associates with sea lions, he wrote.
“This isn’t normal sea lion behavior — it’s something darker, something dangerous,” he wrote, saying he won’t be surfing again “anytime soon.”
Smith urged the public to do their part to create a better environment for marine life and prevent pollution.
“Throwing away their trash, not allowing anything toxic to go down the storm drain, because everything goes back to the ocean,” Smith said.
(NEW YORK) — Luigi Mangione violated the “special treatment” he was afforded for his last court appearance when handwritten notes were concealed inside a pair of argyle socks he was allowed to wear, New York City prosecutors said Wednesday in a new court filing.
Mangione, who is accused of gunning down United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December, was given special accommodations for his “fashion needs” when he was allowed to change out of his jail-issued clothing before his Feb. 21 court appearance, according to the filing.
The defense team gave a court officer a bag of clothes, which included a new pair of argyle socks wrapped around cardboard, the filing said.
“Secreted in the cardboard were two personal heart-shaped notes, one addressed to an unknown person named ‘Joan’ and the other to Luigi stating in part ‘know there are thousands of people wishing you luck,'” the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.
“In spite of this, the defendant was permitted to wear the argyle socks, which he first changed into and later changed out of because he felt that ‘they did not look good,'” prosecutors said.
Mangione ended up appearing sock-less at the court appearance, with shackles around his ankles.
“Fortunately, the items smuggled were handwritten notes and not contraband capable of harming the transporting officers,” prosecutors noted.
The sartorial detail was included in a filing that responded to defense accusations that prosecutors withheld grand jury witness testimony and copies of electronic devices seized upon Mangione’s arrest, in violation of discovery obligations.
Prosecutors conceded they have not provided the testimony of civilian witnesses before the grand jury because they “constituted a fraction of the testimony before the Grand Jury,” comprising four of the 23 witnesses called. Otherwise, the DA’s office said there have been ample discovery disclosures to the defense.
Prosecutors also said in Wednesday’s court filing that Mangione does not need his own “specially formulated laptop” in jail because he “fails to show a necessity” to receive one.
Mangione’s attorneys asked that he be provided with a laptop “modified to the detention center’s regulations” so he can view videos, photos and other evidence.
“Without the laptop, which allows Mr. Mangione to review discovery outside the presence of counsel, there are not enough visiting hours that would allow the defense to view all discovery with the defendant (including thousands of hours of video) and also meet the Court’s current motion schedule,” the defense said.
Few inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are given laptops.
Prosecutors said Mangione “has ample access to desktop computers” that he can use to review evidence, conduct legal research, send emails and draft motions.
“Ironically, the defense repeats at every opportunity that defendant is being treated differently than other defendants similarly situated. Yet, that’s precisely what the defense seeks — special treatment for defendant, without circumstances that warrant it,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann said.
On Dec. 4, Mangione allegedly shot and killed Thompson in a premeditated attack outside a Hilton hotel in Midtown Manhattan as the CEO headed to an investors conference.
According to a newly disclosed court document, the backpack Mangione was carrying when he was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the murder was full of items that could suggest he intended to remain on the run and, possibly, kill again.
The backpack had a gun, a Glock magazine, 9 mm cartridges and a silencer, along with a knife, phone charger, duct tape, passport, zip ties, clothes, a computer and handwritten notes, the automatic discovery form said.
Authorities also found receipts for items purchased at a CVS and for registration at a New York City hostel under the name Mark Rosario, which matches the name on a fake New Jersey driver’s license Mangione allegedly carried.
Prosecutors extracted data from devices linked to Mangione, including a Motorola cellphone he allegedly dropped while fleeing, the document said.
Mangione has pleaded not guilty to state charges.
He has not yet entered a plea to federal charges. One of the federal charges, murder through use of a firearm, makes Mangione eligible for the death penalty if convicted.
(BOSTON) — A Tufts University PhD student on a visa was arrested by immigration authorities outside of Boston on Tuesday night, according to the school and the student’s lawyer.
The student, Rumeysa Ozturk, is a Turkish national, according to her lawyer, Mahsa Khanbabai.
“Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national who was maintaining valid F-1 status as a PhD student at Tufts University,” Khanbabai said in a statement. “Rumeysa was heading to meet with friends to break her Ramadan fast on the evening of March 25th when she was detained near her home in Somerville, MA by DHS agents. We are unaware of her whereabouts and have not been able to contact her.”
“No charges have been filed against Rumeysa to date that we are aware of. I filed a habeas petition requesting that she not be moved out of the District of MA which was granted by Judge [Indira] Talwani last night,” according to her lawyer.
ABC News has reached out to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Ozturk is listed in the ICE database as “in custody.”
In an email to students on Tuesday, the school said it was informed that her visa status was “terminated,” and is seeking to find out more information.
“The university had no pre-knowledge of this incident and did not share any information with federal authorities prior to the event, and the location where this took place is not affiliated with Tufts University,” the school wrote.
“From what we have been told subsequently, the student’s visa status has been terminated, and we seek to confirm whether that information is true. The university has no additional information at this time about the cause or circumstances of the student’s apprehension and is attempting to learn more about the incident,” it continued, in part.
“Following university protocol, the Office of University Counsel will assist in connecting the student to external legal resources should the individual request our assistance,” it added.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher, PBS President & CEO Paula Kerger; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Republicans accused public media outlets NPR and PBS of bias at a House subcommittee hearing on Wednesday, while Democrats defended the organizations and criticized the event as a distraction from the ongoing controversy regarding the Trump administration’s use the Signal messaging app for the communication of sensitive information.
PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger and NPR President and CEO Katherine Maher rebutted allegations of bias, saying the outlets abide by journalistic standards and serve a diverse audience that includes rural viewers.
The hearing, titled “Anti-American Airwaves: Holding the Heads of NPR and PBS Accountable,” was held by the Delivering on Government Efficiency (DOGE) subcommittee, the name of which echoes the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump administration’s cost-cutting initiative overseen by Elon Musk.
House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., criticized NPR and PBS during the hearing for alleged liberal bias, pointing to federal funding for the outlets as the target of potential cuts.
“NPR and PBS have increasingly become radical, left-wing echo chambers for a narrow audience of mostly wealthy, white, urban liberals and progressives,” Greene said.
Minutes later, House Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Ma., defended the public media outlets and criticized the hearing as a distraction for more important issues often taken up by the House Oversight Committee, the larger body to which the DOGE subcommittee belongs.
“I’m sad to see this once proud committee — the principle investigative committee in the House of Representatives — has now stooped to the lowest levels of partisanship and political theater to hold a hearing to go after the likes of Elmo and Cookie Monster and Arthur the aardvark,” Lynch said.
Later in the hearing, Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Ca., said sarcastically: “Is Elmo now, or has he ever been, a member of the Communist Party?”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(PHOENIX) — Sweltering weather across the West is expected to continue on Wednesday.
Phoenix hit 99 degrees on Tuesday, setting a new daily record. The Arizona city is expected to get up to 93 on Wednesday.
Temperatures across the West are expected to be 10 to 20 degrees above normal on Wednesday, even up in the Pacific Northwest, where Seattle and Portland, Oregon, could set new daily records.
Seattle is forecast to hit 70 degrees on Wednesday, while Portland is expected to get up to 78. Elsewhere, Salt Lake City is forecast to get into the upper 70s, which would near a daily temperature record of 79; and Grand Junction, Colorado, is expecting 80-degree weather, which is nearing the 81-degree record.
Texas is forecast to see 80-degree temperatures from El Paso to Dallas.
But a slow-moving warm front forecast for southern Texas later Wednesday is expected to bring heavy rain and possible flash flooding through Friday morning.
Parts of the Texas Gulf Coast could see 5 to 10 inches of rainfall between Wednesday afternoon and Friday morning with places such as Rockport and Corpus Christi expected to get the biggest soaking, possibly up to 15 inches in some isolated spots.
The wet weather could turn dangerous due to hard soils amid drought conditions. In the last 30 days, the region, including Corpus Christi, has gotten less than 5% of normal rainfall. Houston has seen less than 50% of normal rainfall over the last month.
The weather is also expected to take a dramatic turn in the Pacific Northwest as a storm pushing ashore later Wednesday could produce large hail, damaging wind gusts and possibly spawn tornadoes west of the Cascade Mountains.
The same system is forecast to track into the Rockies on Thursday, bringing strong winds and rain, but no severe storms.
