(NEW YORK) — Filmmaker Cynthia Lowen began the process of making the new documentary film “Battleground” with a genuine curiosity about the anti-abortion movement.
Lowen wanted to understand how, despite being in the minority, anti-abortion movement organizers “were being so successful in advancing their agenda,” she told ABC News Correspondent Phil Lipof.
The new documentary “Battleground,” which was released this year in theaters and is now available on streaming platforms, began in the summer of 2019, a full three years before Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Lowen said she started filming in Alabama, where the team was focused at first on documenting the abortion-rights movement.
She quickly realized, she told ABC News, how crucial it would be to frame the film from a minority perspective by including multiple important voices from the anti-abortion movement.
A recent survey by Pew Research Center found that 62% of Americans think abortion should be legal in all or most cases. A 2017 study by the Guttmacher Institute found that nearly 1 in 4 women will have an abortion in their lifetime.
“Battleground” features three women in influential positions within the anti-abortion movement: the president of an influential anti-abortion lobbying organization, the founder of the largest anti-abortion youth organization in the country, and the founder of Pro-Life San Francisco.
Part of the goal of the film is to challenge assumptions and notions about the anti-abortion movement by showing organizers that are neither religious nor conservative about other beliefs.
“What I discovered that really surprised me is that there are a lot of women who are leading the anti-abortion movement,” said Lowen.
One example is Terrisa Bukovinac, the founder of Pro-Life San Francisco, who identifies as an atheist, a feminist and a Democrat with progressive values. “[She] is a very different face of the anti-abortion movement than many people expect,” Lowen said.
“She represents,” Lowen added, “what the movement is trying to do in terms of appealing to young people as single-issue voters.”
“If they don’t grow their base and appeal to non-religious people, to young people and cultivate those single-issue voters,” she added, “they may not continue to have the kind of success and inroads that they’ve had legislatively.”
Despite representing a minority opinion, the anti-abortion movement has been very successful. Roe v. Wade was overturned in June 2022, opening up the opportunity for dozens of states across the country to restrict access to legal abortions.
One of the scenes in the documentary includes audiotape of Lowen’s team obtained from a conversation between evangelical leaders and former President Donald Trump, who was a presidential candidate at the time.
“You really hear this deal being made,” Lowen said, “which is that if Donald Trump will advance the agenda and the priorities of Christian right, the Christian white right will rally their base to get out and vote for him.”
Trump’s success in appointing three conservative Supreme Court justices was instrumental in the anti-abortion movement’s success in overturning Roe v. Wade.
The documentary also includes interviews with leaders from the abortion-rights movement, including President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Alexis McGill Johnson.
Lowen told ABC News she personally disagrees with the anti-abortion movement, saying it “deprives other people of their rights and other people of the opportunity to make health care decisions for themselves that are in their own best interests.”
(NEW YORK) — A COVID-19 outbreak has hit a U.S. station in Antarctica, despite being in one of the most remote areas of the world.
According to the National Science Foundation, which manages McMurdo Station — the largest base on the continent — at least 98 people have tested positive since the beginning of October out of 993 workers.
Of the cases, 64 are active. The NSF said most of the employees have mild symptoms and are isolating in their rooms. It’s unclear how the outbreak began.
To contain the outbreak, the NSF is pausing all inward travel to Antarctica for the next two weeks except for essential travel required for health and safety reasons.
In a statement, the foundation said this is “to lower the density of the population to reduce the possibility of transmission” during which time it will “reassess the situation.”
It’s unclear if the travel pause will affect any research projects. It comes as many scientists head down to the continent for their summer field season, where they work for two to three months.
It is also unknown if the pause will be extended past two weeks.
Those who test positive are required to isolate for five days and then wear a mask for an additional five days.
They are allowed to return to work after receiving two negative tests.
What’s more, the foundation said that its “expert epidemiologist” highly recommends all workers on the base wear KN-95 masks at all times and NSF “will ensure these are available to all residents at McMurdo.”
This is not the first instance of a COVID-19 outbreak occurring in Antarctica.
In December 2020, at least 11 of 33 workers at Belgium’s Princess Elisabeth Polar Station tested positive for the virus.
Additionally, during the same month, 36 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed among staff members at Chile’s Bernardo O’Higgins research station on the Antarctic Peninsula.
McMurdo Station was established in 1955 and is one of three year-round science facilities in Antarctica run by the United States.
According to the NSF, the station is made up of 85 buildings including laboratories, dormitories, repair facilities, a power plant, a firehouse and a water distillation. It also contains a harbor, two landing areas and a helicopter paid.
Scientists focus on research at McMurdo in many fields including biology, geospace sciences, glaciology and climate systems.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Nicole is forecast to strengthen into a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday as it approaches Florida’s east coast.
The storm is expected to make landfall overnight Wednesday into Thursday between Fort Pierce and Melbourne.
Parts of Palm Beach County and Volusia County are under evacuation orders and Orlando International Airport announced it will stop operations at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
At least five Florida school districts, including Palm Beach County, are closing schools on Wednesday and Thursday due to the storm.
Nicole could also impact election week in the Sunshine State, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is running against Democratic rival Charlie Crist and Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., is trying to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 34 of Florida’s 67 counties.
Meanwhile, Florida Power & Light has urged customers to prepare for power outages and activated its emergency response plan ahead of Nicole’s potential impact on the state this week.
“[Hurricane] Ian saturated soil and weakened trees in many parts of the state, so Nicole could cause trees to topple over and other vegetation and debris to blow into overhead power lines and equipment, which may cause outages,” Florida Power & Light chairman and CEO Eric Silagy said in a statement Monday.
Nicole formed in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean on Monday, becoming the 14th named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends this month. The storm’s center is expected to move near or over the Bahamas before heading to Florida, according to the National Weather Service.
When Nicole touches down in eastern Florida, cities may see flash flooding, with more than 6 inches of rainfall possible from West Palm Beach to Cape Canaveral.
NASA said it does not plan to move the Artemis 1 rocket off the launch pad in Cape Canaveral as a precaution. The unmanned rocket, which will travel to orbit the moon, is scheduled for launch Nov. 14. The launch has already been delayed several times, including by Hurricane Ian.
The highest storm surge is expected from West Palm Beach to southern Georgia, where water could rise up to 6 feet.
A storm surge is also possible on Florida’s west coast, where Tampa could see water rise up to 3 feet.
Nicole will weaken as it moves north through Florida on Thursday, but heavy rain will continue to be a threat.
Nicole will then drop heavy rain in the Carolinas, mid-Atlantic and New England regions. Rainfall of 3 to 4 inches is possible from Raleigh, North Carolina, to New York to Boston on Friday into Saturday morning.
ABC News’ Max Golembo, Kenton Gewecke, Melissa Griffin, Samantha Wnek and Ginger Zee contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 08, 11:56 AM EST
Moscow says it’s ‘following’ the US midterm elections
Moscow is closely “following” the midterm elections in the United States and knows that some Republican candidates have proposed to cut the country’s military aid to Ukraine, according to Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko.
“Naturally, we are following the developments in the United States,” Grushko said in an interview with Russian state-owned television network Zvezda on Tuesday. “We are aware that a number of prominent Republicans favor reducing the military assistance to Ukraine, because they proceed from the position that what Democrats are currently doing is irrational.”
If Republicans are triumphant, Grushko said, the U.S. Congress could ramp up pressure on European nations regarding their defense budgets.
“We remember that one of [former U.S. President Donald] Trump’s key slogans when he came to power was that the Europeans should pay for their defense themselves,” he added. “Largely thanks to his efforts, European countries took enhanced commitments to increase their defense budgets to 2%. And there have been talks that defense spending should now reach at least 3%. The United States will continue to pursue the policy it has been running since 1949.”
Nov 08, 11:46 AM EST
Zelenskyy broaches ‘genuine peace talks’ in speech
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy raised the notion of holding “genuine peace talks” in his daily address to his nation on Tuesday.
Zelenskyy set out conditions for peace talks with the Russians, requiring the restoration of territorial integrity, compensation for all damages caused to his country, punishment of every war criminal and guarantees that another Russian invasion will not happen again.
“These are completely understandable conditions,” Zelenskyy said.
He said that earlier Tuesday he gave a virtual speech to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Egypt, telling dozens of world leaders of the ongoing Russian aggression.
“Anyone who is serious about the climate agenda should also be serious about the need to immediately stop Russian aggression, restore our territorial integrity and force Russia into genuine peace negotiations,” Zelenskyy said.
He added that previous proposals from Ukraine for peace talks have prompted “insane Russian responses with new terrorist attacks, shelling or blackmail.”
Nov 08, 11:37 AM EST
US ambassador to UN meets with Zelenskyy
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and members of his leadership team in Kyiv on Tuesday “to discuss the unwavering U.S. commitment to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine,” according to a statement from U.S. Mission to the U.N. spokesperson Nate Evans.
“She reiterated that the United States is steadfast in its support for Ukraine and is prepared to stand with Ukraine as long as it takes,” Evans said.
“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield and President Zelenskyy discussed international efforts to minimize the impact of Russia’s aggression on global food security, including through sustaining and expanding the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative, and to ensure accountability for war crimes and atrocities perpetrated on the Ukrainian people,” he added. “She committed to continuing to work at the United Nations to strengthen international support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and to urge Member States to defend international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
Nov 08, 8:09 AM EST
Ukraine asks US for new capabilities in fighting Iranian drones
ABC News has obtained a letter sent by a top Ukrainian official to senior members of Congress, asking them to assist Ukraine’s calls for additional air defense systems to counter the attack drones built and supplied by Iran to bolster Russia’s war effort.
Russia has launched waves of deadly attacks in recent weeks, using Iranian-made drones that explode on impact to strike power plants, killing civilians and causing rolling blackouts, plunging millions of Ukrainian homes into darkness.
In the letter, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, calls on the U.S. to provide Ukraine with highly mobile air defense systems known as C-RAMs, saying they would help protect “important objects, especially crucial power plants.”
Nov 08, 6:37 AM EST
US ambassador to UN travels to Ukraine
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield is traveling to Ukraine on Tuesday “to reiterate the United States’ unwavering support as Ukraine defends its freedom and territorial integrity amidst Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion,” according to a statement from the U.S. Mission to the U.N.
While in the country’s capital, Kyiv, Thomas-Greenfield “will meet with Ukrainian government leaders to discuss the ironclad American commitment to the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” and she “will observe efforts to document and preserve evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces and will hear first-hand accounts of survivors,” according to the U.S. mission.
“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will also discuss the global food insecurity crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion and will underscore the critical need for an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative into the coming year,” the U.S. mission said. “She will also meet with humanitarian organizations working to meet winterization needs for vulnerable people impacted by Russia’s attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure.”
Nov 06, 1:57 PM EST
Biden, German chancellor call Russian nuclear threats ‘irresponsible’
President Joe Biden spoke to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and both agreed Russia’s nuclear threats stemming the war in Ukraine are “irresponsible,” according to the White House.
Both leaders said they would continue to “provide Ukraine with the economic, humanitarian, and security support it needs to defend against Russia,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden and Scholz also spoke of the chancellor’s recent trip to the People’s Republic of China and, according to White House officials “affirmed their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Nov 03, 12:02 PM EDT
Western officials believe Russia is planning ‘orderly, well-planned and deliberate’ military withdrawal from Kherson
Western officials are “confident” Russia’s military is “setting the conditions” for withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional capital that has been occupied by Russian forces since the February.
The Russian military is preparing to make a “strategic” withdrawal and move its forces east across the Dnipro river, officials said.
“It looks like an orderly, well-planned and deliberate military process is taking place,” a Western official told ABC News.
The officials would not put a timeframe on when the withdrawal would happen and added that it is not guaranteed to take place. They downplayed, however, any speculation that the Russians are using the withdrawal to mask a more “nefarious” action in that area.
The officials said their assessment was that the Russians believe Kherson “is not worth fighting for.”
The advance of Ukrainian forces in Kherson has slowed over the past three weeks.
In mid-October, the newly appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Surovikin, said “difficult decisions” may be necessary in Kherson.
Senior Ukrainian officials have suggested more recently that Russian forces are preparing to fight for Kherson and a source on the ground told ABC News that the Russian military is still moving in and out of the city.
-ABC News’ Tom Burridge
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secreting sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it refarrims its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia and Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secretly sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it reaffirms its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
Nov 02, 8:40 AM EDT
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia has agreed to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to keep grain and other commodities shipping out of Ukraine’s ports amid the ongoing war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, that the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday, according to Erdogan.
The renewed agreement, first reached over the summer, will prioritize shipments to African countries, including drought-ravaged Somalia, after Russia expressed concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations.
Moscow agreed to return to the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea for military actions against Russian forces, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia had suspended its role in the deal over the weekend, after accusing Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday.
Turkey and the U.N. brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Ukraine does not have effective defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles, air force official claims
Iranian ballistic missiles, which Russia plans to purchase from Iran, will probably be placed on the northern border of Ukraine, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Yuri Ignat said Tuesday.
Ignat claimed the ballistic missiles’ range was 300 km for one and 700 km for another.
“We have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but in fact it is very difficult to do it with the means we have at our disposal. We have air defense, not missile defense,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine
As Ukrainian forces advance to capture the city of Kherson, Russian forces are ordering civilians out of parts of the now-occupied city. Some 70,000 people along a 15 kilometer (10 mile) stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River will be evacuated deeper into the Kherson region or to Russia, according to the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.
Russia had previously ordered civilians out of an area it controls on the west bank of the river.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(NEW YORK) — An estimated $2.04 billion is up for grabs in Powerball’s latest jackpot as a delayed drawing occurred Tuesday morning.
The winning numbers are 10, 33, 41, 47, 56 and Powerball of 10.
The drawing was delayed about 10 hours as Powerball announced Monday night that the scheduled drawing “has been delayed due to a participating lottery needing extra time to complete the required security protocols.”
“Powerball has strict security requirements that must be met by all 48 lotteries before a drawing can occur,” Powerball said in a statement. “When the required security protocols are complete, the drawing will be performed under the supervision of lottery security officials and independent auditors.”
The winning numbers were drawn at about 9 a.m. Eastern Time Tuesday on the Powerball YouTube channel and posted to its website.
The drawing commenced after Powerball managed to resolve issued with one of its 48 lotteries.
Lottery officials had asked players for patience and to hold onto their tickets “as the required security procedures are completed by the one outstanding lottery.”
Monday’s $1.9 billion jackpot jumped to $2.04 billion Tuesday morning and is the world’s largest lottery prize ever offered, according to a press release from Powerball. The cash value is $929.1 million.
The jackpot grows based on game sales and interest. But the odds of winning the big prize stays the same — 1 in 292.2 million, Powerball said.
Monday’s Powerball drawing marked the 41st since the jackpot was last won on Aug. 3, tying the game record for the number of consecutive drawings without a grand prize winner, according to Powerball.
Despite there being no jackpot winner, more than 10.9 million tickets won cash prizes totaling $102.2 million in the latest drawing on Saturday night. The overall odds of winning a prize are 1 in 24.9, Powerball said.
Jackpot winners can either take the money as an immediate cash lump sum or in 30 annual payments over 29 years. Both advertised prize options do not include federal and jurisdictional taxes, according to Powerball.
Tickets cost $2 and are sold in 45 U.S. states as well as Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More than half of all proceeds remain in the jurisdiction where the ticket was purchased, Powerball said.
Powerball drawings are broadcast live every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday at 10:59 p.m. ET from the Florida Lottery draw studio in Tallahassee. The drawings are also livestreamed online at Powerball.com.
(NEW YORK) — More than six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 08, 8:09 AM EST
Ukraine asks US for new capabilities in fighting Iranian drones
ABC News has obtained a letter sent by a top Ukrainian official to senior members of Congress, asking them to assist Ukraine’s calls for additional air defense systems to counter the attack drones built and supplied by Iran to bolster Russia’s war effort.
Russia has launched waves of deadly attacks in recent weeks, using Iranian-made drones that explode on impact to strike power plants, killing civilians and causing rolling blackouts, plunging millions of Ukrainian homes into darkness.
In the letter, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, calls on the U.S. to provide Ukraine with highly mobile air defense systems known as C-RAMs, saying they would help protect “important objects, especially crucial power plants.”
Nov 08, 6:37 AM EST
US ambassador to UN travels to Ukraine
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield is traveling to Ukraine on Tuesday “to reiterate the United States’ unwavering support as Ukraine defends its freedom and territorial integrity amidst Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion,” according to a statement from the U.S. Mission to the U.N.
While in the country’s capital, Kyiv, Thomas-Greenfield “will meet with Ukrainian government leaders to discuss the ironclad American commitment to the sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” and she “will observe efforts to document and preserve evidence of atrocities committed by Russian forces and will hear first-hand accounts of survivors,” according to the U.S. mission.
“Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield will also discuss the global food insecurity crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion and will underscore the critical need for an extension of the Black Sea Grain Initiative into the coming year,” the U.S. mission said. “She will also meet with humanitarian organizations working to meet winterization needs for vulnerable people impacted by Russia’s attacks on energy and other civilian infrastructure.”
Nov 06, 1:57 PM EST
Biden, German chancellor call Russian nuclear threats ‘irresponsible’
President Joe Biden spoke to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday and both agreed Russia’s nuclear threats stemming the war in Ukraine are “irresponsible,” according to the White House.
Both leaders said they would continue to “provide Ukraine with the economic, humanitarian, and security support it needs to defend against Russia,” the White House said in a statement.
Biden and Scholz also spoke of the chancellor’s recent trip to the People’s Republic of China and, according to White House officials “affirmed their shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order, human rights, and fair trade practices.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Nov 03, 12:02 PM EDT
Western officials believe Russia is planning ‘orderly, well-planned and deliberate’ military withdrawal from Kherson
Western officials are “confident” Russia’s military is “setting the conditions” for withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional capital that has been occupied by Russian forces since the February.
The Russian military is preparing to make a “strategic” withdrawal and move its forces east across the Dnipro river, officials said.
“It looks like an orderly, well-planned and deliberate military process is taking place,” a Western official told ABC News.
The officials would not put a timeframe on when the withdrawal would happen and added that it is not guaranteed to take place. They downplayed, however, any speculation that the Russians are using the withdrawal to mask a more “nefarious” action in that area.
The officials said their assessment was that the Russians believe Kherson “is not worth fighting for.”
The advance of Ukrainian forces in Kherson has slowed over the past three weeks.
In mid-October, the newly appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Surovikin, said “difficult decisions” may be necessary in Kherson.
Senior Ukrainian officials have suggested more recently that Russian forces are preparing to fight for Kherson and a source on the ground told ABC News that the Russian military is still moving in and out of the city.
-ABC News’ Tom Burridge
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secreting sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it refarrims its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia and Ben Gittleson
Nov 02, 12:14 PM EDT
North Korea covertly shipping ammunition to Russia for war in Ukraine, US says
North Korea was secretly sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.
“Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they’re being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa,” White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Kirby said North Korea was sending “a significant number of artillery shells.” He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than “dozens.”
“But we don’t believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south” of Ukraine, he said.
Kirby added, “We’re gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received.”
In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.
Nov 02, 12:01 PM EDT
Russia waives veiled threat on use of nuclear weapons
The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other’s vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.
Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it reaffirms its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.
“A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened,” the ministry said in a statement.
The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.
But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.
The White House on Wednesday said it still sees “no indications that Russia is making preparations” to use nuclear weapons.
Nov 02, 8:40 AM EDT
Russia rejoins wartime deal on Ukrainian grain exports
Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Wednesday that Russia has agreed to resume its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to keep grain and other commodities shipping out of Ukraine’s ports amid the ongoing war.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu informed his Turkish counterpart, Hulusi Akar, that the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative would “continue in the same way as before” as of noon Wednesday, according to Erdogan.
The renewed agreement, first reached over the summer, will prioritize shipments to African countries, including drought-ravaged Somalia, after Russia expressed concerns that most of the grain was ending up in richer nations.
Moscow agreed to return to the deal after receiving written guarantees from Kyiv that Ukraine would not use the safe shipping corridors through the Black Sea for military actions against Russian forces, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
Russia had suspended its role in the deal over the weekend, after accusing Ukrainian forces of carrying out a “massive” drone attack on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday.
Turkey and the U.N. brokered separate deals with Russia and Ukraine in July to allow Ukraine to resume its shipment of grain from the Black Sea to world markets and for Russia to export grain and fertilizers.
Since Russian forces invaded neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, the cost of grain, fertilizer and fuel has skyrocketed worldwide. Russia and Ukraine — often referred to collectively as Europe’s breadbasket — produce a third of the global supply of wheat and barley, but a Russian blockade in the Black Sea combined with Ukrainian naval mines have made exporting siloed grain and other foodstuffs virtually impossible. As a result, millions of people around the world — particularly in Africa and the Middle East — are now on the brink of famine.
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Ukraine does not have effective defenses against Iranian ballistic missiles, air force official claims
Iranian ballistic missiles, which Russia plans to purchase from Iran, will probably be placed on the northern border of Ukraine, the spokesman of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces Yuri Ignat said Tuesday.
Ignat claimed the ballistic missiles’ range was 300 km for one and 700 km for another.
“We have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but in fact it is very difficult to do it with the means we have at our disposal. We have air defense, not missile defense,” he said.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Nov 01, 3:01 PM EDT
Russia announces wider evacuation of occupied southern Ukraine
As Ukrainian forces advance to capture the city of Kherson, Russian forces are ordering civilians out of parts of the now-occupied city. Some 70,000 people along a 15 kilometer (10 mile) stretch of the left bank of the Dnipro River will be evacuated deeper into the Kherson region or to Russia, according to the Russian-installed leader of the occupied Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.
Russia had previously ordered civilians out of an area it controls on the west bank of the river.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Oct 31, 7:07 PM EDT
Russia’s withdrawal from grain deal ‘collective punishment’ for world: State Department
State Department spokesperson Ned Price on Monday lambasted Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the U.N.-brokered deal that allowed for grain to be exported through the Black Sea — likely to be a chief focus of this week’s G-7 ministerial meeting and potentially the G-20 Leaders’ Summit next month.
“We deeply regret Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which is having immediate, harmful impacts on global food security,” Price said during a press briefing. “Russia should return to full participation in the initiative, and we urge all parties to swiftly agree to sustain this crucial program through the months to come.”
“Any disruption to the initiative risks spiking food prices, lowering the confidence of insurers and commercial shippers who have returned to Black Sea routes, and further imposing hardships on low-income countries already reeling from dire humanitarian crises and global food insecurity,” he added.
Price said Russia’s reneging had already caused future contracts for foodstuff to rise, even though some ships appear to have been allowed to pass through the water routes with their cargo following Moscow’s announcement.
“We’ve seen Russia engage in what appears to be collective punishment for the people of Ukraine,” he said. “But Moscow’s suspension of the initiative would be tantamount to collective punishment for the rest of the world — but especially lower- and middle-income countries that so desperately needed this grain.”
ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Oct 31, 3:32 PM EDT
Ukraine energy company warns about attacks on energy infrastructure
Following a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine this Monday morning, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK says it’s running out of equipment and spare parts needed for repairs of the damaged infrastructure facilities.
“Unfortunately, we have already used up the stock of equipment that we had in our warehouses after the first two waves of attacks that have been taking place since Oct. 10,” said DTEK Executive Director Dmytro Sakharuk. “We were able to purchase some equipment. But unfortunately, the cost of the equipment is now measured in hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Most parts have been already used for repairs following previous Russian strikes, he added.
Oct 31, 4:54 AM EDT
Russia launches waves of missiles at energy targets
Russia on Monday morning again launched a series of coordinated strikes across Ukraine, targeting energy infrastructure, including in the Kyiv region.
Ukraine’s military said it shot down 44 cruise missiles as the Russians launched “several waves of missile attacks on critical infrastructure facilities” across the country.
About five distant booms could be heard in central Kyiv at about 8 a.m. local time.
Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, confirmed that a power plant has been hit, meaning mid-morning around 350,000 homes in the capital were left without power. Kyiv’s water supply has also been compromised, according to a water company.
A local official said “critical infrastructure” had also been hit in the Chernivtsi region in southwestern Ukraine.
Critical infrastructure has also been hit and damaged in Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to another local official.
Other regions of Ukraine appear to have been targeted, including Kharkiv, Odesa, Dnipro, Poltava and Lviv.
There are currently no reports of significant casualties.
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Oct 30, 10:02 AM EDT
Blinken accuses Russia of ‘weaponizing food’
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s decision to pull out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative as a statement from the Kremlin that “people and families around the world should pay more for food or go hungry.”
Russia announced it is withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal in response to a drone attack Saturday in the waters of the Sevastopol Bay, in the Black Sea near Crimea.
Russia’s decision, Blinken said, is jeopardizing grain shipments he described as “life-saving.”
“In suspending this arrangement, Russia is again weaponizing food in the war it started, directly impacting low- and middle-income countries and global food prices, and exacerbating already dire humanitarian crises and food insecurity,” Blinken said in a statement released Saturday night.
He said 9 million metric tons of food has been shipped under the agreement, which was signed and launched in July. He said the shipments have reduced food prices around the world.
“We urge the Government of Russia to resume its participation in the Initiative, fully comply with the arrangement, and work to ensure that people around the world continue to be able to receive the benefits facilitated by the Initiative,” Blinken said.
Blinken’s statement echoed what President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, calling Russia’s withdrawal from the initiative, “purely outrageous.”
“It’s going to increase starvation. There’s no reason for them to do that, but they’re always looking for some rationale to be able to say the reason they’re doing something outrageous is because the West made them do it. And it’s just not,” Biden said. “There’s no merit to what they’re doing. The UN negotiated that deal and that should be the end of it.”
(NEW YORK) — ABC News has obtained a letter sent by a top Ukrainian official to senior members of Congress, asking them to assist Ukraine’s calls for additional air defense systems to counter the attack drones built and supplied by Iran to bolster Russia’s war effort.
Russia has launched waves of deadly attacks in recent weeks, using Iranian-made drones that explode on impact to strike power plants, killing civilians and causing rolling blackouts, plunging millions of Ukrainian homes into darkness.
In the letter, the chairman of the Ukrainian parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, calls on the U.S. to provide Ukraine with highly mobile air defense systems known as C-RAMs, saying they would help protect “important objects, especially crucial power plants.”
C-RAMs have a built-in radar to track incoming threats and a giant rapid-fire gun to shoot them down, with NATO saying the “most effective” systems are able to fire 4,500 rounds per minute.
A senior Ukrainian politician told ABC News that the Ukrainian government has also made an official request to the Biden administration for the C-RAMs systems.
ABC contacted the Ukranian Ministry of Defense for comment. The Pentagon does not comment on specific Ukrainian requests for weaponry.
However, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Garron Garn told ABC News this week that U.S. support “focuses on equipment that is relevant for the current fight.”
“We are working around the clock to fulfill Ukraine’s priority security assistance requests, delivering weapons from U.S. stocks when they are available,” he added.
As things stand, Ukrainian officials say they are using an array of methods to shoot down the drones.
Ukrainian fighter jets are being used to track them and, in some instances, shoot them down, according to the Ukrainian politician who has been briefed on the matter.
“We are using all kinds of different stuff [to destroy the Iranian drones],” the source told ABC News, adding that the Ukrainian military even sometimes resorts to shoulder-launched anti-tank weapons to counter the threat.
The White House last month indicated that Russia is launching Iranian-supplied drones from Crimea, a peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014.
The White House National Security Council spokesperson, John Kirby, also said at the time that a “relatively small number” of Iranian personnel had been on the ground in Crimea to assist the Russians in how to operate the drones.
The drones fly slowly, giving the Ukrainian military a matter of hours from the moment they are launched from Crimea, through to when they reach their targets, Ukrainian officials said.
However, Ukrainian officials said the drones are able to change trajectory mid-flight, making it harder for the military to position assets that could shoot them down.
In his letter, Stefanchuk also asks senior U.S. lawmakers to assist him in asking the Biden administration to provide longer-range missiles so that the Ukrainian military could destroy targets such as “stocks of Iranian drones, deep behind the enemy lines on the occupied territory of Ukraine.”
On Monday, Ukraine’s defense minister announced that advanced air defense systems for countering Russian missiles and rockets, called NASAMS, had arrived in Ukraine. A senior U.S. official confirmed that two systems were delivered to Ukraine.
The U.S. announced in August that it promised another six NASAMS launchers to Ukraine, but it could be some time until they arrive in the country.
A Ukrainian government source said the Ukrainian government was talking to all of its partners, including the U.S., about creating a “comprehensive and wide” air defense system “all across Ukraine.”
“We’re not talking about a few systems near the front lines,” the official added. “If we have this [comprehensive air defense] system, this war can end sooner and that’s in all of our interests.”
Last month, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley called the project a priority.
At a NATO meeting, he stressed that air defense systems would have to be provided to Ukraine by a number of countries.
“The task is then to bring those together, get them deployed, get them [the Ukrainians] trained, because each of these systems is different,” Milley said.
Last weekend, after weeks of denials, Iran finally acknowledged that it has supplied Russia with drones.
However, Iran’s foreign minister claimed Tehran only sold a relatively small number of drones to Russia and did so before President Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.
He also claimed that Iran had no knowledge that the drones were being used to attack Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Iran of “lying.”
(NEW YORK) — A number of severe weather alerts are now in effect along Florida’s east coast as Subtropical Storm Nicole makes its way toward the Sunshine State.
The National Weather Service has warned that Nicole could be as strong as a hurricane when it arrives in eastern Florida late Wednesday.
The storm could impact election week in the southeastern U.S. state, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is running against Democratic rival Charlie Crist and Rep. Val Demings, D-Fla., is trying to unseat Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
DeSantis has declared a state of emergency for 34 of Florida’s 67 counties.
“While this storm does not, at this time, appear that it will become much stronger, I urge all Floridians to be prepared,” the governor said in a statement Monday. “We will continue to monitor the trajectory and strength of this storm as it moves towards Florida.”
Meanwhile, Florida Power & Light has urged customers to prepare for power outages and activated its emergency response plan ahead of Nicole’s potential impact on the state this week.
“[Hurricane] Ian saturated soil and weakened trees in many parts of the state, so Nicole could cause trees to topple over and other vegetation and debris to blow into overhead power lines and equipment, which may cause outages,” Florida Power & Light chairman and CEO Eric Silagy said in a statement Monday.
Nicole formed in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean on Monday, becoming the 14th named storm of the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends this month. Nicole’s center is expected to approach the northwestern Bahamas on Tuesday, move near or over those islands on Wednesday, then approach the east coast of Florida and make landfall there late Wednesday night. It will move across central and northern Florida into southern Georgia on Thursday, according to the latest forecast from the National Weather Service.
Currently, Nicole wields maximum sustained winds of about 50 miles per hour, with higher gusts. Winds of 40 mph extend outward up to 380 miles from the storm’s center.
“Nicole is expected to make a transition to a tropical storm later today and begin strengthening, and it is forecast to be near or at hurricane strength by Wednesday and Wednesday night while it is moving near the northwestern Bahamas and approaching the east coast of Florida,” the National Weather Service said in a public advisory on Tuesday morning.
The National Weather Service has issued hurricane and tropical storm warnings for parts of the northwestern Bahamas. Tropical storm and storm surge warnings, tropical storm and storm surge watches as well as hurricane watches were issued for portions of southern and central Florida as well as coastal southeastern Georgia.
“Interests in the central Bahamas, the remainder of Florida, and along the southeastern coast of the United States should monitor the progress of Nicole,” the National Weather Service said in a public advisory on Tuesday morning. “Additional watches or warnings may be required later today.”
Hurricane conditions are expected in the northwestern Bahamas, within the hurricane warning area, on Wednesday, with tropical storm conditions beginning across the entire area by Tuesday night. A storm surge could raise water levels by as much as 4 to 6 feet above normal tide levels along the coast in areas of onshore winds, according to the National Weather Service.
Hurricane conditions are possible along Florida’s east coast, within the hurricane watch area, by Wednesday night, with tropical storm conditions expected to begin Tuesday night or early Wednesday. Tropical storm conditions are also possible along Florida’s west coast, within the watch area, by Wednesday night.
Through Friday, Nicole is expected to produce between 3 and 5 inches of rainfall across the northwestern Bahamas into the eastern, central and northern part of the Florida Peninsula, with a maximum of 7 inches for localized rain. Southeastern Georgia into portions of South Carolina could see 1 to 4 inches of rain. The storm’s “heavy rainfall” will spread north farther up the Eastern Seaboard late Thursday into Friday, the National Weather Service said.
Large swell waves generated by Nicole will affect the northwestern Bahamas, the east coast of Florida and much of the southeastern U.S. coast over the next several days.
“These swells are likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions,” the National Weather Service warned.
Tropical weather systems have the potential to quickly grow into hurricanes, while subtropical ones do not. A subtropical storm typically generates more rain and heavy thunderstorms. If a subtropical storm intensifies enough to have hurricane-force winds, then it has become fully tropical. There is no such thing as a subtropical hurricane, according to the National Weather Service.
(WASHINGTON) — With FiveThirtyEight forecasting a slight edge for a GOP takeover in the Senate — and with momentum solidly behind Republicans — just what would that mean?
In short, big changes and a Biden presidency instantly having to play defense.
No ‘contract’
Senate Republicans, unlike their House counterparts, have not put out a “contract” or plan for what they would do if they take over, but in speeches and interviews and looking at who is poised to take the gavels at powerful Senate committees, some priorities seem clear.
For starters, inflation.
Laying the blame for historically high inflation at the feet of President Joe Biden and his unified Democratic government, Republicans have repeatedly called for an end to the “spending spree” in Washington.
It’s worth noting that some of that increased spending was related to trying to bring the U.S. economy back from a historic pandemic, action that began under former President Donald Trump. Still, Republicans have charged that Democrats went entirely too far with the American Rescue Plan that pumped nearly $2 trillion into the economy, fueling inflation already aggravated by the roiling supply chain crisis.
The situation was made worse with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Republicans have pointed to a handful of solutions, such as making some of the business tax cuts from their 2017 package — set to expire in the next few years — permanent, as well as, mounting an effort to roll back the new corporate minimum tax against larger corporations enacted in the recently-passed climate, health and tax bill by Democrats.
The boogeyman in many GOP ads the latter part of this midterm cycle has been the Democrats’ plan to beef up the IRS to go after tax cheats. It was a key way they planned to raise revenue to pay for their climate and health bill, but Republicans seized on it to falsely warn Americans that an “army of IRS agents” were coming for them.
The IRS commissioner, Charles Rettig, a Trump appointee, has tried to reassure lawmakers that the new resources would not be focused on middle income Americans, but the claims continued and oversight hearings are a sure bet. Republicans might even try to find a way to roll back that effort.
Whether or not any of this could have any effect on inflation remains to be seen. Usually tax cuts — in other words, less revenue for the federal government — are not seen as inflation-reducing. And while spending cuts are, the level of draconian cuts needed to make a dent are not likely to be approved by a majority of the new majority.
‘Drill, baby drill’
With gas prices soaring, Republicans laid into Democrats for clamping down on domestic energy production, and with Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso expected to resume the chairmanship of the Energy Committee, the focus almost surely will be squarely placed on that issue.
In that same vein, and with GOP anger at Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va. for that deal he made with Democrats passing the Inflation Reduction Act having subsided, it is entirely possible that energy permitting reform will be back on the table but in a bipartisan way this time. That is actually something that might get done in the lame duck session.
Investigations ramp up
While Senate Republicans might not ramp up the number of investigations expected by their GOP counterparts in the House, the upper chamber’s new majority is expected to spin up quite a few of their own.
For starters, Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who can be is expected to retake the gavel at the Judiciary Committee for a year, has already been looking into the affairs of the president’s first son and conservative lightning rod, Hunter Biden. His partner in the years-long effort, Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson — who has been locked in a fierce contest to keep his seat — is expected to helm the powerful investigative subcommittee of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee known as the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI). It has a large budget for investigative staff, as well as subpoena power.
It’s unclear if the GOP duo can outrun the Justice Department on this one, though. Federal investigators have made clear they feel they have enough to charge Hunter Biden with financial crimes, sources told ABC News in early October, and a federal probe has been underway for quite some time.
Crime
Top of Grassley’s to-do list is also how to tackle the nation’s rising violent crime, a centerpiece of GOP campaigns this midterm season, and what to do about what conservatives see as a politicized Justice Department.
“All of the things that Republicans have been talking about that aren’t really getting a huge amount of attention in the Judiciary Committee will be a focus, particularly violent crime,” a GOP committee aide told ABC News.
Paul, Fauci and the origins of COVID
While it might seem as if the COVID-19 pandemic has lost its grip on the nation, conservative Sen. Rand Paul has some old scores to settle.
Paul, on track to win a third term this year, has promised to investigate the origins of the pandemic, a pet issue for the irascible conservative.
Running contrary to two previous scientific reports this summer on the origins of the virus pointing to a zoological connection from the Huanan Seafood Market, a recent report by GOP staff on the Senate panel Paul is set to chair, came to a different conclusion. The 35-page interim report concluded that the origin “was most likely the result of a research-related incident,” though the document specifically states, “This conclusion is not intended to be dispositive.”
The report does not mention anything about motive, as some conservatives have sought to espouse, claiming China may have weaponized a virus, nor does it mention any involvement of the frequent target of Paul’s ire, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
From practically the outset of the pandemic, Paul questioned the power of the virus and government mandates to try to contain it, repeatedly clashing in hearings with Fauci. All of it fed a “fire Fauci” movement in conservative circles. Fauci, who said he plans to retire at the end of Biden’s first term, has said he and his family have been the victim of threats.
Paul and his conservative counterparts in the House have all indicated Fauci’s retirement will not stop their push to have him testify and deliver documents related to their probes.
Social media platforms a target
Firebrand Sen. Ted Cruz is champing at the bit to take over at the Senate Commerce Committee. The Texas conservative, known to have 2024 presidential ambitions, is sure to capture the spotlight as he takes on social media platforms, a frequent target of his displeasure claiming widespread anti-conservative bias.
On his podcast, “The Verdict,” earlier this year, during the frenzied confusion amid billionaire Elon Musk’s attempted takeover of Twitter, Cruz said, “I think it is one of the most important moments for free speech in decades. This is a testing moment where Big Tech keeps getting more and more brazen, saying we can control everything you say; we can control everything you hear; we can control everything in your feed; we can control everything you listen to … suddenly Elon Musk came in and is threatening to tip over the apple cart.”
Of course, there is wide-ranging jurisdiction at this panel covering Commerce, Science, and Transportation issues. There are some GOP aides speculating that Cruz will cast a wide net.
“‘Science’ could cover practically anything,” one GOP leadership aide said cryptically.
Ukraine
Whereas House Republicans appear poised to make it more difficult to pass future foreign aid for Ukraine, their Senate counterparts are not expected to follow suit — at least not the vast majority.
In a recent statement, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell — a full-throated supporter of Ukraine — said, “The Biden Administration and our allies need to do more to supply the tools Ukraine needs to thwart Russian aggression,” even urging that the aid be “expedited.”
Taking over at the Armed Services Committee, barring something unforeseen, will be Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, a McConnell ally.
Wicker, who has worn a Ukrainian flag pin on his lapel since Russia invaded, has fought for military equipment and ammunition to be sent, including MiG fighters and HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems).
In an interview with Gray Television earlier this month, the senator sounded a tone of bipartisanship on Ukraine funding.
“It’s a clear distinction between good and evil, between a war criminal who has no respect for the rights of people to people that are fighting for their own homeland,” said Wicker.
The southern border
Republicans have been hammering the administration and Democrats for what they say has been a dereliction of duty at the southern border. Many want a return to the hard-line policies under President Donald Trump.
At the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which has jurisdiction over border issues, the expected chairman, Sen. James Lankford, has pushed repeatedly for hearings.
In an April letter, Lankford and his fellow GOP committee members, wrote to the then-chairman Gary Peters, D-Mich., “The Biden Administration’s policies are directly contributing to the historic levels of illegal immigration. Administration officials must explain to the American people the rationale for their decisions, and what their plans are to deal with the consequences of their actions.”
The group demanded to have Attorney General Merrick Garland, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Chris Magnus, and Rochelle Walensky, CDC Director, among others.
That could prove a template for early hearings.
Judges
President Biden has seen a record 84 federal judges confirmed to the bench, according to the American Constitution Society, including one historic nominee to the Supreme Court. But once Republicans take over the Judiciary Committee, that pace is sure to slow, the scrutiny to mount.
Depending on how many nominees the panel’s current chairman, Dick Durbin of Illinois, can get cleared and on to full floor confirmation in the lame duck session, scores will still be pending.
There are expected to be 57 nominees pending, according to the ACS, a number that has vexed some progressive groups like Demand Justice.
But the issue that already has Democrats and their outside allies up in arms is the prospect of a Supreme Court vacancy in the next year of Biden’s presidency, a full year before presidential election season kicks off.
McConnell, who is expected to keep his position in the new Congress, has suddenly gone mum on whether or not he would stick with the normal practice in the Senate of considering Supreme Court nominees for the president of any party.
Vilified by Democrats for refusing to even consider President Barack Obama’s replacement for the late Justice Antonin Scalia, claiming it occurred in a presidential election year with Republicans in charge and voters should decide, McConnell has left everyone wondering if he might enact yet another new policy.
Asked by Fox News recently if he would allow consideration of a Supreme Court nomination if a vacancy occurred on his watch as majority leader next year, McConnell demurred.
“I’m not gonna announce what our agenda might be on appointments before we even become the majority. I hope we’re in a position to make a decision,” said McConnell.
It would have been easy to say yes. It is quite notable that he did not.
Making history
Speaking of McConnell, retaining his position as GOP leader would put him at the 15-year mark for his service as a Senate leader, both in the majority and minority. Next year, he will match the record set by the late Sen. Mike Mansfield, D-Mont. It’s widely believed the Kentucky Republican is focused on beating that record, making history, after which he might consider stepping aside, though he has made clear he intends to complete his full term as a senator which ends in 2027.
But it won’t all be smooth sledding for McConnell. Former President Donald Trump, who could announce a run for re-election soon after the midterms, has chosen to continue his attacks on the Republican leader, recently calling for his impeachment in a radio interview.
There is no mechanism for impeaching a senator and McConnell enjoys wide support in his conference, but it was a clear sign that the anger at the senator — unleashed in force after the GOP leader lambasted the former president for “practically and morally” sparking the Jan. 6 insurrection — is sure to continue, particularly with Trump more in the spotlight.
McConnell has largely chosen to ignore the attacks, though, as is his style, making light of one Trump nickname — “Old Crow” — telling reporters with a grin, “It’s my favorite bourbon.”
