(WASHINGTON) — A federal grand jury investigating the activities leading up the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the push by former President Donald Trump and his allies to overturn the result of the 2020 election has expanded its probe to include seeking information about Trump’s leadership PAC, Save America, sources with direct knowledge tell ABC News.
The interest in the fundraising arm came to light as part of grand jury subpoenas seeking documents, records and testimony from potential witnesses, the sources said.
The subpoenas, sent to several individuals in recent weeks, are specifically seeking to understand the timeline of Save America’s formation, the organization’s fundraising activities, and how money is both received and spent by the Trump-aligned PAC.
Neither a spokesperson for Trump nor an official with the Justice Department immediately responded to ABC News’ request for comment.
Trump and his allies have consistently pushed supporters to donate to the PAC, often using false claims about the 2020 election and soliciting donations to rebuke the multiple investigations into the former president, his business dealings, and his actions on Jan. 6.
After the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate last month, Save America PAC sent out a fundraising email in which Trump urged supporters to “rush in a donation IMMEDIATELY to publicly stand with me against this NEVERENDING WITCH HUNT.”
According to Save America’s statement of organization filed to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), the committee was established just days after the 2020 election. At the time, the filing said the new committee is affiliated with the Trump campaign and the Trump Make America Great Committee, a small-dollar focused, joint-fundraising committee between the president’s campaign and the Republican National Committee, which has been sending out donor solicitation emails for Save America.
Similar to regular political action committees, leadership PACs can only accept up to $5,000 per donor, far less than the upwards of $800,000 donations that the Trump campaign and the Republican Party’s high-dollar joint fundraising committee, Trump Victory, had previously raised.
Since its inception, Save America PAC has brought in more than $135 million, including transfers from affiliated committees, according to disclosure records. As of the end of July, the PAC reported having just under $100 million in cash on hand.
(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A young man who went on an hourslong shooting rampage around Memphis, Tennessee, gunning down at least four people, was arrested on Wednesday night, police said.
Ezekiel Dejuan Kelly, 19, was taken into custody without incident in the Memphis neighborhood of Whitehaven at around 9 p.m. local time after a high-speed chase, according to Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis.
The deadly rampage began early Wednesday at 12:56 a.m. and continued to about 8:30 p.m. In total, at least four people were killed and three others were wounded in seven shootings across the city, Davis said.
After the shootings, the suspect carjacked a driver at gunpoint Southaven, Mississippi, just south of Memphis, speeding off in the victim’s Dodge Challenger and leaving behind an SUV stolen from a woman he had shot to death earlier that night, according to the police chief. The carjacking victim was uninjured, Davis said.
“The homicide division and other investigative units are actively working these crime scenes now, and numerous felony charges are pending,” Davis told reporters at a press conference early Thursday.
“It’s at least eight [crime scenes],” he added. ” We are still in the throes of the investigation. There could potentially be other locations. There could potentially be other damage in other places.”
Court records obtained by Memphis ABC affiliate WATN-TV indicate that an arrest warrant on the charge of first-degree murder was issued for Kelly on Wednesday, before the shooting spree happened.
The police chief said Kelly recorded at least some of his actions on Facebook Live, including when he opened fire inside a store on Jackson Avenue just before 6 p.m. A spokesperson for Facebook’s parent company, Meta, told ABC News that the content was identified and removed prior to the Memphis Police Department’s initial public alert about the incident. Meta was also “in direct touch with the Memphis Police Department shortly after they issued their initial public alert,” the spokesperson said.
Police had launched a citywide search for the suspect and advised members of the public to shelter in place, according to Davis.
“We extend our sincere condolences to all the victims who have been affected in this sequence of violent acts today,” the police chief said. “We want to express our sincere appreciation to our citizens who provided numerous tips throughout this ordeal.”
As the gunman terrorized the city, the Memphis Area Transit Authority temporarily suspended trolley and bus services out of “an abundance of caution and care for the safety of its drivers and riders.”
Police did not discuss a possible motive or release the identities of the victims. It was also unclear how the suspect obtained the guns.
The rampage was the latest in a string of violence to hit Memphis in recent days and weeks, including the killing of a woman who was abducted last Friday while she was on a pre-dawn jog.
“This has been a horrific week for the city of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department,” Davis told reporters.
Shelby County Sheriff Floyd Bonner added: “I want to assure the public that we’re all going to be working together to try to curb this senseless violence here in Memphis and Shelby County.”
In February 2020, Kelly, who was 17 at the time, was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated assault, using a firearm to commit a dangerous felony and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to court records. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and was sentenced in April 2021 to three years behind bars. He was released from prison 11 months later, in March, according to Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland.
“I want to I want to first express my deepest sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families who are suffering from this senseless murder rampage,” Strickland told reporters. “I am angry for them. And I’m angry for our citizens who had to shelter in place for their own safety until this suspect was caught. This is no way for us to live and it is not acceptable.”
(LONDON) — Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II is “under medical supervision,” Buckingham Palace announced Thursday.
“Following further evaluation this morning, The Queen’s doctors are concerned for Her Majesty’s health and have recommended she remain under medical supervision,” the palace said. “The Queen remains comfortable and at Balmoral.”
(NEW YORK) — Social media companies have deliberately manipulated the desires and fears of its users to drive their engagement metrics which has created an addiction, according to an author.
In his new book, The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World, New York Times reporter Max Fisher explores how the major social media and technology companies have managed to gain so much power at the expense of their users.
He spoke with “ABC News Prime” about the dilemmas he explores in his book, conversations with industry insiders about the products they’ve helped to create, and whether or not he’d let his child use social media.
PRIME:Congratulations, Max, and thanks so much for joining us.
FISHER: Thank you for having me.
PRIME: So you talk about how social media platforms have really spent a lot of time focusing on making sure that we stay wired and connected in an effort to make sure they keep making a lot of money. Explain the algorithm basically behind that.
FISHER: So when you open up a social media platform, what you think you’re seeing are posts, thoughts and sentiment from people in your community, from your friends, and you think when you interact with them, when you post something and get a response, what you’re seeing is the feedback from your community and what they like and don’t like. And that is not the case.
What you are actually seeing, what you actually are experiencing are emotions and sentiments and interactions that have been predetermined and pre-selected, often personalized just for you, by these incredibly sophisticated artificial intelligence systems that govern the platforms that have determined the precise sorts of emotions, interactions and sequence of sentiments that will get you not just to spend more time browsing and scrolling on social platforms, what will get you engaged yourself and will solicit specific reactions from you. Because we’re talking about billions of people, the overwhelming majority of Americans, for instance, that has profound consequences for the way our society works and for our politics.
PRIME: You use the word consequences a few times there. I’m really curious what you see as social media’s real-world consequences.
FISHER: There’s this one experiment that I write about in the book where these researchers took two really big groups of people over four weeks, and half of them they said “just live your life as normal,” and half of them they said, “deactivate your Facebook account, take it off your phone.” And the consequences were staggering. One thing they found is that people who deactivated Facebook reported higher levels of happiness and life satisfaction, equivalent to about a third the effect of going to therapy…it’s certainly a lot cheaper than going to therapy.
It’s also a suggestion that people weren’t using social media because it makes them happy, in fact, they were using it because they are addicted to it and had a hard time turning it off and needed this experiment to force them to turn it off. And another change they found was that people who deactivated it became significantly less polarized [in] the way that they saw the news, [in] the way that they saw other people in their community.
PRIME: Do you have a social media account?
FISHER:You know this is the thing that is tough about social media. It is so dominant in our world, in the way that we consume information, in the way that we interact with people in our lives and our family and friends, that you kind of have to be on it. You probably have to have a smartphone, you probably have to be on social media to some extent. But the number one thing I think you can do is to understand what it’s doing to you, understand its effects, understand the way that it distorts what it shows you and the way that people in your community seem to be acting.
It’s designed to be engaging but the types of interactions that are engaging, that really activate certain chemicals in your brain and make you want to spend more time on it, are: fear, moral outrage is by far the most engaging sentiment, and also any sense of hostility towards people that are not in your social in-group.
PRIME:I just want to take a look at the subtitle because you say “The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World.” Is that accurate? Has social media really rewired our brains?
FISHER:They have indeed found that your actual brain chemistry is changed as a result of social media use. There are a lot of things in our lives that change our brain chemistry, and they’re called drugs. And that can be caffeine, that might be alcohol, it may be recreational drugs, it might be cigarettes. Social media functions in very much the same way. The reason that it’s designed like that and it’s explicitly designed like that, the people who designed the platforms knowingly used slot machines, dopamine delivery, these addictive, physically addictive features, to get people to spend more time on there, is that it also changes your behavior and changes the way that you think in all sorts of ways that were not intentional on the part of the platforms but are certainly consequential.
PRIME: You also talk about the 2020 election, Jan. 6 insurrection, that there was so much misinformation out there and that social media companies did very little to try to tamp that down. Do you feel like the genie is out of the bottle at this point, or are they able to control misinformation?
FISHER:So, it’s funny. There a lot of people who work at the big social media companies whose job is to reduce misinformation, reduce extremism on platforms, reduce recruitment for extremist far right terrorist groups, but they are fighting a losing and in many senses, unwinnable battle. Not because there’s something about social media that means that misinformation and hate are going to always be on there but because these platforms are deliberately designed to ramp up engagement in the most ruthless possible ways these companies can come up with.
So it’s out of the bottle in the sense that you can’t clean it up as long as the companies are doing that but it’s also, at least in theory, relatively easy to fix because all the companies have to do is turn off these engagement-maximizing features, and a lot of this problem goes away. But they’re not going to do that.
PRIME: Based on the people that you interviewed who are both still inside the system and who’ve left, is there a sense that you can kind of turn this around and use social media as a force for good?
FISHER:So yeah, a lot of these people who I’ve talked, some some of them are dissidents in Silicon Valley or people who were whistleblowers, some of the researchers who were outside of Silicon Valley, a lot of them are still true believers in the theoretical potential of a more neutral social media that does not have these engagement-maximizing features is something that can be and sometimes really is a really dramatic and major force for good in the world. But the problem is just these engagement-maximizing features are just overpowering that good and creating a lot of harm in the world.
PRIME:Last quick, quick question. Would you let a child of yours have social media?
FISHER: Oh, my God. No, I wouldn’t let myself have social media if I could get myself off of it. The thing is that it’s not just that there’s a lot of harmful things in social media, but young kids and adolescents especially have a very exaggerated social need and that means they spend a lot more time on social media. They are some of the best customers of these platforms, in fact. And it means that the effects, the things that affect you and me, affect them much more drastically.
PRIME: Max Fisher, we thank you so much. And to our viewers, you can purchase “The Chaos Machine: The Inside Story of How Social Media Rewired Our Minds and Our World” anywhere books are sold.
Vyacheslav Madiyevskyi/ Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 08, 6:59 AM EDT
Blinken makes unannounced visit to Ukraine, unveils $2 billion in new US military aid
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on Thursday for an unannounced visit to war-torn Ukraine.
His visit came on the heels of U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s announcement of a $675-million package of heavy weaponry, ammunition and armored vehicles for Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. In addition, Blinken announced Thursday that the Biden administration would provide a further $2 billion in long-term foreign military financing to Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors, including NATO members and regional security partners “most potentially at risk for future Russian aggression.”
Sep 08, 5:25 AM EDT
US announces $675 million more in assistance to Ukraine
The United States will send another $675 million in assistance to Ukraine amid Russia’s war, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced Thursday.
“Yesterday, President Biden approved the latest tranche of U.S. assistance to Ukraine, valued at up to $675 million, and this is the Biden administration’s 20th drawdown of equipment from U.S. stocks for Ukraine since last August,” Austin told reporters at the U.S. military’s Ramstein Air Base in Germany, where he attended a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group.
“The latest package includes more GMLRS, 105 millimeter howitzers, artillery ammunition and HARMs, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, small arms and more,” he added.
The Ukraine Defence Contact Group is a U.S.-led effort to bring together defense leaders from dozens of countries around the world in order to facilitate military support for Ukraine in its ongoing efforts to fight the Russian invasion. Austin said Thursday that the group was meeting to “renew our commitment and intensify our momentum to support the brave defenders of Ukraine for the long term.”
“Today, four months after our initial Contact Group meeting, the war is at another key moment. Russian forces continue to cruelly bombard Ukrainian cities and civilians with missiles and artillery fire,” he said. “But Ukrainian forces have begun their counteroffensive in the south of their country.”
“This Contact Group needs to position itself to sustain Ukraine’s brave defenders for the long haul,” he added. “And that means a continued and determined flow of capability now.”
Sep 07, 7:27 PM EDT
Shelling damages Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s backup power line
Shelling on Tuesday damaged a backup power line at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the United Nation’s nuclear watchdog said Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said there was no immediate impact from the damage because the Russian-held plant was already disconnected from the grid.
The plant previously lost all four of its regular power lines during the conflict, according to the IAEA.
The damaged power line is one of three backup lines between the plant and a nearby thermal power station. The other two are disconnected, the IAEA said.
In recent days, the plant has relied on its sole operating reactor for power, according to the IAEA, which stressed that a “secure off-site power supply from the grid and backup power supply systems are essential for ensuring nuclear safety and preventing a nuclear accident.”
-ABC News’ Jason Volack
Sep 07, 6:18 PM EDT
Zelenskyy claims settlements recaptured in Kharkiv region
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed during his nightly address Wednesday that several settlements have been recaptured from Russia in the Kharkiv region, though did not provide further details.
“There is good news from the Kharkiv region. However, now is not the time to name the liberated settlements,” he said.
-ABC News’ Jason Volack and Max Uzol
Sep 06, 4:17 PM EDT
Zelenskyy holds 1st call with new UK prime minister
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Tuesday he was the first foreign leader to have a conversation with new United Kingdom Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Zelenskyy said in a statement on social media that he invited her to Ukraine and the two discussed security guarantees and “coordinated further pressure” on Russia.
I became the 1st foreign leader to have a conversation with the newly elected 🇬🇧 PM @trussliz. Invited her to 🇺🇦. Thanked 🇬🇧 people for the major defense & economic aid for 🇺🇦. It’s important that 🇬🇧 is ready to further strengthen it. Attention was paid to security guarantees 1/2
“The goal is to stop the aggression & bring the perpetrators to justice,” he said.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said in a statement that Truss reiterated the U.K.’s “steadfast support” for Ukraine in her first call with a foreign leader since taking office.
“The leaders discussed the need to strengthen global security and the measures necessary to cut off the funds fueling Putin’s war machine,” the statement said.
“She praised the Ukrainians’ fight for sovereignty and self-determination and said it was essential Ukraine succeeds and Russia fails,” the statement continued, adding that Truss was “delighted to accept an invitation to visit President Zelenskyy in Ukraine soon.”
-ABC News’ Rashid Haddou
Sep 06, 3:36 PM EDT
Over 1,000 children confirmed killed or injured in Ukraine
More than 1,000 children have been confirmed killed or injured in Ukraine since Russia invaded six months ago, the humanitarian organization Save the Children said Tuesday.
At least 372 children have been killed and 635 children injured since Feb. 24 — for an average of five children killed or injured each day, according to a Save the Children analysis of verified United Nations data.
“This grim milestone marks another dark day in this senseless war. Innocent children are being injured and killed nearly every day in Ukraine,” Sonia Khush, Save the Children’s country director in Ukraine, said in a statement. “Ruthless violence, including the use of explosive weapons in urban areas, has taken a big toll on children over the past six months.”
“Our teams inside Ukraine continue to witness the devastating impact this war is having on children and families who have endured more than eight years of conflict. The world must act now,” the statement continued.
The number of civilian casualties in the war is likely “considerably” higher, the U.N. said.
Sep 06, 11:50 AM EDT
IAEA calls for immediate establishment of ‘nuclear safety and security protection zone’ around Zaporizhzhia plant
The nuclear watchdog of the United Nations is calling for the immediate establishment of a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine.
The recommendation, among several others, was made in a second report released Tuesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which deployed an expert mission to the besieged plant last week.
“The IAEA recommends that shelling on site and in its vicinity should be stopped immediately to avoid any further damages to the plant and associated facilities, for the safety of the operating staff and to maintain the physical integrity to support safe and secure operation,” the agency wrote in the report. “This requires agreement by all relevant parties to the establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP.”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Ukraine and all of Europe. Invading Russian forces overran the site and the surrounding town of Enerhodar in early March. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn country, but the site is now on the front line between Russian-occupied and Ukrainian-controlled territory. Moscow and Kyiv have traded blame for shelling at or near the plant in recent days and weeks, fueling fears that the conflict could spark a radiation disaster.
The IAEA said it aims to maintain a “continued presence” at the plant to “help further improve and deepen the understanding of the situation.”
“While the ongoing shelling has not yet triggered a nuclear emergency, it continues to represent a constant threat to nuclear safety and security with potential impact on critical safety functions that may lead to radiological consequences with great safety significance,” the agency wrote in the latest report.
Sep 06, 11:45 AM EDT
Russia purchasing weapons from North Korea: US intelligence report
Crippling global sanctions are forcing Russia to turn to North Korea to secure ammunition and other vital supplies for its military, according to a newly declassified American intelligence report.
“The Russian Ministry of Defense is in the process of purchasing millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield in Ukraine,” a U.S. official said in the report. “This purchase indicates that the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions.”
Given that Moscow has few viable trade partners, the official added that this could be a continuing trend.
This development, first reported by The New York Times, comes on the heels of Russia securing initial shipments of Iranian drones for use on the battlefield.
U.S. sources have released little information about the quality of the weapons from North Korea or when Russia expects to receive them, but sources within the administration said it’s a sign of the Kremlin’s desperation.
Sources also told ABC News that there’s no indication so far that China played an indirect hand in the deal, but that they’re continuing to monitor the situation closely.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Crawford
Sep 06, 11:28 AM EDT
US senator responds to new Russian sanctions against 25 Americans
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday imposed new sanctions on 25 Americans, including one of U.S. President Joe Biden’s cabinet secretaries, several U.S. senators and two Hollywood actors, all of whom have been outspoken against Russia’s war in neighboring Ukraine.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, Arizona Sens. Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema, Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, Sen. Kevin Kramer of North Dakota, as well as actors Ben Stiller and Sean Penn, are banned from entering Russia.
“Through the Armed Services Committee I’ve worked with Republicans, Democrats, and our military leaders to get Ukraine the supplies and weapons needed to beat back this invasion,” Kelly, who is up for re-election, said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday. “If that earns me a sanction by the Kremlin, then that means we’re doing something right.”
-ABC News’ Libby Cathey
Sep 05, 9:11 AM EDT
Zelenskyy vows to ‘regain territory’ in exclusive David Muir interview
In an exclusive interview with ABC’s “World News Tonight” anchor David Muir, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hinted of more counteroffensives as his country tries to turn the tide of war against Russia.
“It’s a very difficult war,” Zelenskyy told Muir from the presidential office in Kyiv. “We will regain our territory.”
Sep 01, 1:16 PM EDT
Part of IAEA mission leaves Zaporizhzhia power plant: Report
Several experts with the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog have left the Zaporizhzhia power plant, according to Russian news agency Interfax.
Four out of the nine vehicles that arrived earlier Thursday as part of the International Atomic Energy Agency convoy left at 2:15 p.m. local time after about four hours at the plant, according to an Interfax reporter on the ground at the Ukrainian facility.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who is leading the mission, was among those to leave, while some experts remained behind and will stay at the plant, according to Interfax.
Ukraine’s nuclear regulator, Energoatom, also confirmed Thursday that the majority of the IAEA mission has left the power plant, including Grossi, and that five experts stayed behind to unload equipment brought to the plant.
The IAEA team is expected to remain at the plant through Sept. 3, Energoatom said in an update posted to Telegram.
In a video statement posted to Twitter, Grossi said he completed a first tour of “key areas” at the plant on Thursday.
“Of course there’s a lot more to do,” he said. “My team is staying on, and more importantly and most importantly, we are establishing a continued presence … from the IAEA here.”
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia and Fidel Pavlenko
Sep 01, 12:44 PM EDT
NYC apartment of Russian oligarch searched by federal agents: Sources
Federal agents searched the New York City apartment of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg on Thursday, law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The oligarch’s Park Avenue apartment was searched by federal agents with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the sources said.
An address in East Hampton associated with Vekselberg is also being searched as part of court-authorized activity involving the Justice Department’s KleptoCapture task force, according to sources.
The task force has been seizing assets of Russian businessmen associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin over suspected violations of U.S. sanctions following the invasion of Ukraine.
The task force is trying to find yachts, airplanes and other moveable property before the oligarchs can transport them to jurisdictions where it might be more difficult for U.S. authorities to investigate.
In April, Spanish authorities seized Vekselberg’s $90 million yacht in the port of Palma de Mallorca at the request of the Justice Department.
Vekselberg was among the oligarchs previously sanctioned by the U.S. after Russia invaded Crimea in 2018.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Sep 01, 9:46 AM EDT
New school year begins in Ukraine
Thursday marked the start of a new school year in Ukraine amid Russia’s ongoing war.
For many of Ukraine’s four million schoolchildren, their last day of school was the day before Russian forces invaded their country on Feb. 24. Since then, thousands of schools across Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed, with less than 60% of schools deemed safe and eligible to reopen by the Ukrainian government, according to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.
At least 379 children have been killed in Ukraine since the war with Russia began, while the whereabouts of 223 others are unknown and another 7,013 were among Ukrainians forcibly transferred to Russia from Russian-occupied areas, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office. And as of July 31, an estimated 650,000 Ukrainian children living as refugees in 12 host countries were still not enrolled in national education systems, according to UNICEF.
UNICEF is working with the Ukrainian government to help get the country’s schoolchildren back to learning, in classrooms when it is deemed safe, and through online or community-based alternatives if in-person is not possible. Some 760,000 children have received formal or non-formal education since the start of the war. More than 1.7 million children and caregivers have benefited from UNICEF-supported mental health and psychosocial support interventions, the agency said in a press release Thursday.
On the first day of Ukraine’s academic year, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell visited a rehabilitated primary school damaged during the early weeks of war. Only 300 students can attend at any one time due to the capacity of the school’s bomb shelter, a mere 14% of the school’s pre-war capacity, according to UNICEF.
“The new school year should be a time of excitement and promise, as children re-enter the classroom and share stories of their summer with friends and teachers,” Russell said in a statement Thursday. “Yet, for four million children in Ukraine, the mood is one of trepidation. Children are returning to schools — many of which have been damaged during the war — with stories of destruction, uncertain if their teachers and friends will be there to welcome them. Many parents are hesitating to send their children to school, not knowing if they will be safe.”
Sep 01, 8:40 AM EDT
IAEA mission arrives at Zaporzhzhia nuclear power plant
A high-stakes mission from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog reached a Russian-controlled power plant in Ukraine on Thursday afternoon amid reports of heavy fighting there.
The International Atomic Energy Agency has long sought access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, since invading Russian troops overran the site and the surrounding town of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine in early March. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn country, but the site is now on the frontline between Russian-occupied and Ukrainian-controlled territory. Moscow and Kyiv have traded accusations of shelling at or near the plant in recent days and weeks, fueling fears that the conflict could spark a radiation disaster.
IAEA’s Rafael Grossi, who is leading a team of over a dozen experts sent to inspect the besieged plant, said earlier Thursday that they were “aware” of the high risk posed by the “increased military activity in the area” between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
“There has been increased military activity, including this morning, until very recently, a few minutes ago. I have been briefed by the Ukrainian regional military commander here about that and the inherent risks,” Grossi told reporters as he and his team left their hotel in the city of Zaporizhzhia, north of Enerhodar, across the Dnipro River.
“But, weighing the pros and cons, and having come so far, we are not stopping,” he added. “We are moving now.”
A few hours later, the IAEA announced via Twitter that its “Support and Assistance Mission … has just arrived at Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant to conduct indispensable nuclear safety and security and safeguards activities.”
Aug 31, 10:45 AM EDT
IAEA mission arrives in Zaporizhzhia
A long-awaited expert mission from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog arrived in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency’s team will travel to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar on Thursday for the first time.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi, who is leading the mission, told reporters during a press briefing in Zaporizhzhia on Wednesday that the aim is for his team to establish a permanent presence at the Russian-occupied plant and that the initial phase would take “days.”
When asked if it was possible to demilitarize the site, Grossi said it was “a matter of political will” and that his mission is to preserve Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant. He admitted it was “not a risk-free mission” and underlined that his team would be operating in Ukrainian sovereign territory but in cooperation with Russian forces.
Asked if he thought Russian troops would really give his team full access, Grossi told reporters the IAEA was on a “technical mission” and that he was confident his team could work “on both sides.”
Aug 30, 4:31 PM EDT
Blinken heralds arrival of first shipload of Ukrainian grain to drought-stricken Horn of Africa
Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday celebrated the first shipment of Ukrainian grain to arrive in the Horn of Africa — a region facing dire hunger — since Russia’s invasion began.
“The United States welcomes the arrival in Djibouti of 23,300 metric tons of Ukrainian grain aboard the ship Brave Commander. This grain will be distributed within Ethiopia and Somalia, countries that are dangerously food insecure after four years of drought,” Blinken said in a statement.
This is the first shipload to reach the region since a United Nations-brokered deal that allowed ships to leave Ukraine’s ports again.
According to Ukrainian officials, dozens of ships have been able to safely navigate the Black Sea in recent weeks. But State Department officials have claimed Russian allies, like Syria, have unfairly benefitted from recent exports, proving detrimental to countries the World Food Programme has determined are facing a greater level of need.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
Aug 30, 4:25 PM EDT
EU preemptively donates 5.5 million potassium iodide tablets to protect Ukrainians from potential radiation exposure
The European Commission said it received a request from the Ukrainian government on Friday for potassium iodide tablets as a preventative safety measure to increase the level of protection around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The European Response Coordination Centre quickly mobilized 5.5 million potassium iodide tablets through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism for Ukraine, including 5 million from the rescEU emergency reserves and 500,000 from Austria.
“No nuclear power plant should ever be used as a war theatre,” EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said. “It is unacceptable that civilian lives are put in danger. All military action around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant must stop immediately.”
-ABC News’ Max Uzol
Aug 30, 2:15 PM EDT
Sens. Klobuchar, Portman meet with Zelenskyy in Ukraine
Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on a visit to the war-torn country.
“The support that the U.S. has given has been strongly bipartisan and we want that to continue,” Klobuchar told ABC News.
Portman noted the psychological advantage of Ukraine now making advances in Kherson, which was the first oblast taken by the Russians six months ago.
It shows that “even when the Russians are dug in, as they are in that region, that Ukrainians can make progress in an offensive,” he said. “And my hope is that we will continue to see that to the point that the Russians will finally come to the bargaining table and stop this illegal, totally unprovoked war on Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud
Aug 30, 11:07 AM EDT
Russian forces shelling corridors leading to nuclear plant, Ukraine says
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said Russian forces are shelling corridors the International Atomic Energy Agency mission would take to reach the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southeastern Ukraine.
Podolyak said Russian forces are probably shelling the path to ensure the IAEA mission pass through Russian-controlled territory to reach the plant.
Aug 29, 4:38 PM EDT
Zelenskyy vows to reclaim all territory lost to Russian forces
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday vowed to reclaim all territory lost to Russian forces.
“Ukraine is returning its own. And it will return the Kharkiv region, Luhansk region, Donetsk region, Zaporizhzhia region, Kherson region, Crimea. Definitely our entire water area of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, from Zmiinyi Island to the Kerch Strait,” he said in his daily address. “This will happen. This is ours. And just as our society understands it, I want the occupiers to understand it, too. There will be no place for them on Ukrainian land.”
Zelenskyy said his message to Russian fighters is that if they want to survive, it’s time for them to flee or surrender.
“The occupiers should know, we will oust them to the border — to our border, the line of which has not changed. The invaders know it well,” he said. “If they want to survive, it is time for the Russian military to flee. Go home. If you are afraid to return to your home in Russia, well, let such occupiers surrender, and we will guarantee them compliance with all norms of the Geneva Conventions.”
Aug 29, 3:00 PM EDT
White House calls for controlled shutdown of Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactors, DMZ around plant
White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday that Russia should agree to a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and that a controlled shutdown of the reactors “would be the safest and least risky option in the near-term.”
Kirby also expressed support for the IAEA mission to the power plant.
“We fully support the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Grossi’s expert mission to the power plant, and we are glad that the team is on its way to ascertain the safety, security and safeguards of the systems there, as well as to evaluate the staff’s working conditions,” he said. “Russia should ensure safe, unfettered access for these independent inspectors.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Aug 29, 1:33 PM EDT
Ukrainian forces launch major counteroffensive
Ukrainian forces have launched a major counteroffensive in multiple directions in the southern part of Ukraine, Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command, said Monday.
Humeniuk said the situation in the south remains “tense,” but controlled.
Ukrainians have been targeting strategic Russian command posts and slowly advancing toward Kherson for weeks. Kherson was first major city in the south to be captured by Russian forces following the invasion.
Russian military issued a statement confirming the offensive and claiming Ukraine sustained heavy losses.
Meanwhile, at least 12 missiles have struck Mykolaiv, which remains under Ukraine’s control in the south. Two people were killed and 24 were wounded, according to the governor of Mykolaiv Oblast.
-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Natalia Shumskaia
Aug 29, 12:47 PM EDT
Ukrainian official accused of treason is shot and killed
Oleksiy Kovalyov, a Ukrainian official who was accused of treason for openly collaborating with Russia, was shot and killed in his home on Sunday in Hola Prystan, Kherson Oblast, according to preliminary information from the Investigative Committee of Russia (SKR). An unidentified woman was also killed, SKR said.
Kovalyov was a Ukrainian lawmaker from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s party who was accused of treason; criminal proceedings were initiated by Ukraine’s State Bureau of Investigations in June. He is one of the highest-ranking Ukrainian defectors who fled to Kherson after the invasion and openly collaborated with Russia. He was appointed by the Russians as the deputy head of the Kherson Military-Civil Administration.
Aug 29, 12:19 PM EDT
IAEA says mission to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ‘on its way’
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced Monday that the agency’s long-awaited expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southeastern Ukraine “is now on its way.”
“The day has come,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a post on Twitter.
Grossi, who is leading the IAEA’s “Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia,” has long sought access to the nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of shelling at or near the site in recent weeks, fueling fears that the fighting could cause a nuclear disaster.
“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi tweeted, alongside a photo of himself with 13 other experts. “Proud to lead this mission which will be in #ZNPP later this week.”
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the IAEA team will travel to the plant via Ukrainian-controlled territory, state-run TASS reported.
The area around the nuclear plant is controlled by Russian forces. Peskov said once the IAEA team enters Russian-controlled territory, all necessary security will be provided.
Aug 29, 2:21 AM EDT
IAEA says mission to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ‘on its way’
The head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced Monday that the agency’s long-awaited expert mission to the Zaporizhzhia power plant in southeastern Ukraine “is now on its way.”
“The day has come,” Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said in a post on Twitter.
Grossi, who is leading the IAEA’s “Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia,” has long sought access to the nuclear power plant, which is the largest in Europe. Russia and Ukraine have traded accusations of shelling at or near the site in recent weeks, fueling fears that the fighting could cause a nuclear disaster.
“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi tweeted, alongside a photo of himself with 13 other experts. “Proud to lead this mission which will be in #ZNPP later this week.”
Shortly after invading neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, Russian troops stormed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near the town of Enerhodar, on the banks of the Dnipro River in the country’s southeast. The Ukrainian workers have been left in place to keep the plant operating, as it supplies electricity across the war-torn nation.
(SASKATCHEWAN, Canada) — The second suspect accused of several stabbings in Saskatchewan has died after being arrested Wednesday following a three-day manhunt, officials said.
Canadian authorities located and took Myles Sanderson into custody, the Saskatchewan RCMP said. Shortly after his arrest, he went into medical distress and was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead, the RCMP said Wednesday night.
Brothers Myles Sanderson, 30, and Damien Sanderson, 31, are suspected of carrying out the stabbing spree that killed 10 people and injured 19 in the Indigenous communities of James Smith Cree Nation and the town of Weldon, in Saskatchewan, on Sunday, authorities said.
Damien Sanderson was found dead on Monday in a field near the stabbing sites with “visible injuries.”
Police in Saskatoon confirmed to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that they had been searching for Myles Sanderson since May, when he violated parole by failing to meet with his parole officer. He was classified as “unlawfully at large,” Saskatoon police told CBC.
Myles Sanderson was placed on parole after serving a nearly five-year federal sentence for assault, robbery, mischief and uttering threats, according to CBC.
Authorities launched a multi-day manhunt for the Sandersons on Sunday.
The Melfort RCMP canceled its Dangerous Persons Alert upon Myles Sanderson’s arrest, saying the public is no longer at risk.
Investigators believe some of the victims were “targeted” while others were “attacked randomly,” RCMP Commanding Officer Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said earlier this week.
Authorities are investigating the motive for the attacks.
The Saskatchewan RCMP got its first 911 call about a stabbing on the James Smith Cree Nation, about 20 miles from Weldon, around 5:40 a.m. local time on Sunday. Within minutes, police received several more calls from multiple locations. In total, victims were found at 13 different locations across the sparsely populated reserve and in the town, according to Blackmore.
Officials released the identities of the victims killed in the string of stabbings on Wednesday.
(NEW YORK) — The newest model of the Apple Watch will offer women features to track their menstrual cycles and when they may be the most fertile, Apple announced Wednesday at a launch event at the company’s California headquarters.
Among the Apple Watch Series 8’s advanced features is a temperature sensor that offers an estimate for the last time a woman wearing the watch has ovulated.
According to the company, temperature data collected by the watch’s sleep tracking and sleep focus features is used to help determine ovulation, the process in which an egg is released from the ovary and becomes available to be fertilized.
Most women’s basal body temperature — the temperature when the body is fully at rest — increases slightly during ovulation and remains elevated until the end of the menstrual cycle, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
The Series 8 will come with two sensors — one on the back of the watch, close to the skin, and one under the watch display — to allow for more accurate temperature tracking, according to Apple.
Apple says that after using the watch’s sleep features for five nights, the device will begin to recognize temperature changes. After around two menstrual cycles, watch users will be able to start receiving estimates on when they ovulated during their last cycle.
Users will receive a notification of when they have likely ovulated about three to five days after ovulating, according to the company.
“Knowing when ovulation has occurred can be helpful for family planning, and Apple Watch Series 8 makes it easy and convenient by providing these estimates in the Health app,” Apple says on its website. “Temperature sensing also enables improved period predictions.”
The Series 8, available starting Sept. 16, will retail starting at $399.
Apple is offering the new features at a time when apps and wearables that collect women’s health information have been in the spotlight due to potential privacy concerns.
Pregnancy and period-tracking apps have millions of users every month who utilize the technology to better understand and help control their reproductive health. The apps can tell you when to expect your next period, if you might be pregnant and how far along you are, when you are the most fertile for conceiving and what sorts of symptoms you usually experience.
In the wake of this summer’s Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, reproductive health apps’ ability to share data with law enforcement is of particular concern for women who live in states where abortion has been limited or banned, experts say.
Apple went to great lengths Wednesday to detail its privacy protections, noting that all health and fitness data is encrypted.
The company also said that no health data is shared without users’ permission, explaining that users have to manually make the selection to share data.
Leah Fowler, a research assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, told ABC News in August that consumers should not expect the health data they enter on apps to be protected in the same way it would be at a hospital or doctors’ office.
“When we think about data in a consumer context, it doesn’t have any of those special protections we tend to expect in other health contexts, like going to the doctor,” said Fowler, whose research focuses on health law and policy. “The information you might give an app when you’re playing Candy Crush or Angry Birds in many ways isn’t different than the type of data you’re giving an app in a health context, even if it feels particularly intimate and can become quite intimate when you’re talking about period and fertility trackers.”
(NEW YORK) — The number of suicides committed with firearms increased 11% over the past decade and was driven primarily by deaths in cities with more relaxed gun policies, according to new research first obtained by ABC News.
Researchers from New York University and Everytown for Gun Safety, a leading gun control advocacy organization, released a report Thursday tracking the growing rate of suicides by firearm, which already make up the bulk of gun deaths in the United States.
Everytown said the statistics support its argument for gun control. (Opponents of such restrictions say they’re unconstitutional and ineffective.)
“We know that stronger gun laws save lives,” Everytown’s deputy research director, Megan O’Toole, told ABC News. “And this data demonstrates the importance of local legislation in preventing gun violence in cities specifically through addressing them suicides.”
In addition to areas with less strict gun laws, cities with fewer walkable areas where residents are more isolated are more prone to higher rates of gun suicide, according to the report.
While much public attention has focused on gun homicides, the rate of suicides has also grown throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Data inaccessibility in the past was really what was preventing us from recognizing the scope of this problem,” O’Toole said.
The report relies on data at the city level collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which provides accredited researchers like those at NYU with special access to analyze trends. The correlation between gun policy and higher gun suicide rates was made based on Everytown’s ranking of states with varying degrees of gun laws.
Everytown’s ranking focuses on how states enacted a list of 50 laws encompassing a swath of gun measures — including storage requirements; regulations for permits and background checks; variations on “red flag” laws, which make it easier for authorities to temporarily restrict firearm purchases for those deemed to be a potential threat to themselves or others; and more.
Gun shop owners can also have a role in curbing the number of firearm suicides, O’Toole told ABC, by engaging in educational campaigns and learning to identify certain signs of mental distress.
“Another thing that we point to is the role of other community leaders like barbers and beauticians, who can be credible messengers in recognizing and preventing gun suicides as well,” O’Toole said.
Free support to those facing a suicidal crisis is available by calling the newly recreated three-digit National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
(LAS VEGAS) — A county official has been arrested in connection with the murder of a Las Vegas investigative journalist, ABC News has confirmed.
Robert Telles was arrested Wednesday night during a SWAT operation at his home, ABC News confirmed.
Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German was found dead outside his home stabbed to death. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has said it was the result of an altercation he had a day earlier with somebody. German was well-known in Las Vegas as an investigative journalist.
Telles has non-life-threatening self-inflicted stab wounds, and his arrest came after a standoff with police. He was booked into Clark County Jail on a murder charge, according to inmate records.
Police swarmed in earlier Wednesday, searching his home with a warrant and taking his vehicle.
LVMPD Sheriff Joseph Lombardo and LVMPD Homicide and Sex Crimes Bureau Capt. Dori Koren are expected to hold a press conference on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET.
“We take this case very seriously and our investigators have been working non-stop to identify and apprehend the suspect,” Koren had said. “We enacted our Major Case Protocol immediately following our initial response and are using all LVMPD resources to maximize the progress of this investigation.”
(WASHINGTON) — The FBI sought to interview a current top adviser to former President Donald Trump who has also been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury, both in relation to investigations into the events leading up to and on Jan. 6, 2021, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
William Russell wasn’t home when the two FBI agents came to his house Wednesday morning, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Russell served in the Trump White House as a special assistant to the president and the deputy director of advance before moving down to Florida to work as an aide to Trump after he left the White House.
Russell has also been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury investigating Jan. 6, sources familiar with the matter said. The subpoena requests documents and communications related to the so-called fake slates of electors pushed in various states in support of Trump, the sources said.
The outreach to Russell shows that federal investigators are seeking to question Trump’s inner circle, sources said; and the subpoena indicates the grand jury’s work is widening as law enforcement continues to probe the events surrounding the attack on the Capitol and Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The attempted interview was first reported by The New York Times.
Russell and the FBI have not commented.
Investigators with the House Jan. 6 committee have also requested information and communications from Russell in recent weeks, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
