(BLOOMINGTON, Minn.) — Americans returning from trips overseas are often greeted by border officers with a “welcome home.” But Abdirahman Aden Kariye, a Muslim American imam living in Bloomington, Minnesota, says there have been no such greetings for him.
Kariye, a son of refugees who came to the U.S. from Somalia, told ABC News that his airport experiences are defined by a deep sense of anxiety. He claims he is often “singled out” and taken into private rooms for hours-long interrogations by U.S. border officers.
“I’ve been stopped many times, almost 90 percent of the time,” Kariye said, recounting his experience traveling domestically and internationally.
But over the past few years, he alleges these additional screenings upon his return from international trips were coupled with a barrage of questions scrutinizing his religious beliefs and practices.
“Those experiences made me feel that I had to make myself less visible as a Muslim,” Kariye said, claiming that the questioning brought on so much anxiety that while traveling he stopped praying at the airport, stopped carrying religious texts written in Arabic and even stopped wearing his kufi, a brimless cap that some Muslim men wear around the world.
“I feel like I don’t have the freedom to be a Muslim in America,” he added.
Some of the questions asked by U.S. border officers, according to Kariye, included what type of Muslim he is, whether he’s Sunni or Shia, how many times a day he prays, what mosque he attends, his views on a particular Muslim scholar, whether he listens to music, whether he studies Islam and where he studied Islam.
“When you ask these types of questions about my personal beliefs … you’re telling me that you have a suspicion about Muslims, that they are, you know, inherently a threat to national security,” Kariye said.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit on Thursday on behalf of Kariye and two other Muslim Americans who allegedly experienced similar religious questioning at the border.
The lawsuit was filed against the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. border officials in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on behalf of Kariye, Mohamad Mouslli and Hameem Shah, who allege that they were subjected on multiple occasions to detailed questions about their religion by border officers.
Shah is a U.S. citizen who lives in Plano, Texas and works in financial services, while Mouslli works in commercial real estate and lives in Gilbert, Arizona, with his wife and three children, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends that the questions violated the plaintiff’s constitutional rights by violating their First Amendment right to freedom of religion, as well as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), a law passed by Congress in 1993.
“Because this questioning imposes substantial pressure on the plaintiffs to hide their religious expression when they’re traveling – to alter it at the airport, and because it serves no legitimate law enforcement purpose, it violates the [RFRA], and it also violates the Constitution,” Ashley Gorski, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, told ABC News.
ABC News reached out to DHS and CBP but requests for comment were not returned.
Kariye said that he was questioned about his religious beliefs and practices during at least five separate incidents at various airports upon returning to the U.S. from trips and vacations overseas between Sept. 12, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2022.
“By asking intrusive questions about Islamic religious beliefs, practices, and associations, the U.S. government is conveying disapproval of Islam,” Gorski said. “It is conveying a stigmatizing message; it’s saying that it views adherence to these religious beliefs and practices as inherently suspicious.”
According to the lawsuit, Kariye has been experiencing “travel issues consistent with placement on a U.S. government watchlist” since 2013.
When traveling for vacation or to visit family overseas, Kariye said that he frequently can’t print his boarding pass at the self-service kiosk until an airline employee makes a call to obtain clearance from a supervisor or government agency – a process that has taken up to two hours, the lawsuit alleges. And upon receiving his boarding pass, the travel document is marked “SSSS,” which stands for “Secondary Security Screening Selection.”
Kariye said that he doesn’t know why he might have been placed on this list.
Gorski said that Mouslli, one of the two other plaintiffs in the lawsuit, has also had similar travel issues and while “the government doesn’t confirm or deny someone’s placement on a watch list,” both men had “a series of repeated experiences that are consistent with placement on the watch list.”
Kariye said that some of those experiences in a post-9/11 America have made him feel that, as a Muslim, he is seen as “less American.” He said that he hopes by speaking out he can empower others who have had similar experiences.
“The important thing is that we want to change the condition of our Muslim community here in America. We are American, we are here to live here and be part of this American experience,” Kariye said.
“For me, I see this as part of my service as an imam – to be a voice for those who don’t have one and advocate for justice.”
ABC News’ Luke Barr and Quinn Owen contributed to this report.
(SAFFORD, Ariz.) — As the search for a missing 12-year-old Arizona girl entered its second week, the child’s mother spoke out, saying, “I’m scared to death.”
Betty Taylor was reported missing by her family eight days ago after she told her father was going for a walk and never returned to her home in Safford, Arizona, according to the Graham County Sheriff’s Office.
Over the weekend, community volunteers fanned out across the Graham County town, passing out missing person flyers to raise awareness about the child’s disappearance.
Police have also used helicopters, search dogs and drones to look for the girl, and officers on horseback and all-terrain vehicles have combed the desert area around the small town at the foot of the Pinaleno Mountains in southeast Arizona, about 130 miles from Tucson.
“I’m scared to death about what she’s going through. I don’t know if she’s out there on her own. I don’t know if she has a safe place to be. I don’t know if she’s eating,” the girl’s anguished mother, Bonnie Jones, told ABC affiliate station KNXV in Phoenix.
Betty was last seen on March 20 when she left her home at about 11 a.m., telling her father, Justin Taylor, she was going for a walk, according to a statement from the Graham County Sheriff’s Office. When she failed to return home by 6 p.m. that day, the family went searching for her before reporting her missing at 8 p.m. that night, according to the statement.
The girl is described as 5 feet, 5 inches tall and 135 pounds with hazel eyes and shoulder-length brown hair with red highlights. She left her home wearing a black sweatshirt with white letters on the front, a neon-colored baseball cap, blue jeans and turquoise and pink Vans tennis shoes.
She was also carrying a purple JanSport backpack, according to the sheriff’s office.
Sheriff’s officials asked that anyone with information about the girl’s whereabouts immediately call 911 or contact investigators at (929) 428-3141.
(WASHINGTON) — Jared Kushner, former President Trump’s son-in-law who served as a senior West Wing aide during the Trump administration, is expected to appear voluntarily before the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack as early as Thursday, according to multiple sources familiar with the plans.
A spokesman for the committee did not respond to a request from ABC News seeking comment on plans to question Kushner, which could be postponed or delayed.
Plans are for Kushner to appear virtually before the panel, according to sources.
Kushner was traveling back to Washington, D.C., from Saudi Arabia on Jan. 6 when the attack on the Capitol began, and did not return to the White House when he landed.
According to ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl in his book “Betrayal,” Kushner avoided the White House because he thought he would get in a “fight” with the president, Kushner told a GOP lawmaker one day after the riot.
Kushner’s wife Ivanka was with Trump at the White House that day, and repeatedly tried to get him to help stop the riot at the Capitol, according to Karl. The committee has been negotiating with Ivanka Trump over whether she will cooperate with the panel’s inquiry in recent weeks.
Kushner held a broad portfolio in the White House — covering the federal coronavirus response and Middle Eastern peace efforts — but kept his distance from efforts to challenge and overturn the election results.
But he was still seen as a key figure in the West Wing; in text messages obtained by the committee, Ginni Thomas — the conservative activist and wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — suggested to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows that she was in contact with Kushner regarding Trump attorney Sidney Powell, who repeated and promoted unfounded conspiracy theories about widespread voting fraud.
The panel could ask Thomas to voluntarily cooperate with its investigation in the coming days, sources tell ABC News.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed the Parental Rights in Education bill, dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by critics.
The bill bans classroom instruction on sexual orientation or gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and states that any instruction on those topics cannot occur “in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the legislation, HB 1557.
“We will make sure that parents can send their kids to school to get an education, not an indoctrination,” DeSantis said before signing the bill Monday.
The legislation states that the Florida Department of Education would have to update its standards in accordance with the requirements.
Under this bill, parents can also decline any mental, emotional and physical health services available to their children at school, and schools will be required to notify parents of their child’s use of school health services unless there is reason to believe “that disclosure would subject the student to abuse, abandonment or neglect.”
Parents could sue their school district if they believe there is a violation of any of these requirements or restrictions.
The bill is expected to go into effect July 1.
“I think the last couple years have really revealed to parents that they are being ignored increasingly across our country when it comes to their kids education. We have seen curriculum embedded for very, very young children, classroom materials about sexuality and woke gender ideology. We’ve seen libraries that have clearly inappropriate pornographic materials for very young kids,” DeSantis claimed at the signing.
The bill has stirred debate and controversy nationwide.
Critics say that this ban is aimed at ridding classrooms of LGBTQ content and discussion.
They say it will harm LGBTQ youth by shunning representation and inclusion in classrooms, putting the mental health and safety of this group at risk.
“Let us be clear: Should its vague language be interpreted in any way that causes harm to a single child, teacher or family, we will lead legal action against the State of Florida to challenge this bigoted legislation,” local LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Florida said in a statement.
They also said erasing the presence of the LGBTQ community from lessons implies students should be ashamed or should suppress their gender identity or sexual orientation.
Legislators against the bill argued that students are aware of gender identity and sexual orientation at a young age and said schools should be allowed to offer spaces to discuss these topics.
The Biden administration has denounced the legislation and met with LGBTQ youth and their families in the state.
“Laws around the country, including in Florida, have targeted and sought to bully some of our most vulnerable students and families and create division in our schools,” Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said in a statement.
He added: “My message to you is that this administration won’t stand for bullying or discrimination of any kind, and we will use our authorities to protect, support and provide opportunities for LGBTQI+ students and all students.”
Supporters of the bill say that these discussions and decisions should be left to the parents.
“What we’re preventing is a school district deciding they’re going to create a curriculum to insert themselves,” Rep. Joe Harding, the sponsor of the bill, told ABC News on the podcast “Start Here.”
He added, “Families are families. Let the families be families. The school district doesn’t need to insert themselves at that point when children are still learning how to read and do basic math.”
“This bill is not intended to hurt students,” added Florida state Sen. Kelli Stargel in debate on the legislation. “This bill is not intended to out gay children. This bill is intended to strengthen the family.”
More than six in 10 Americans oppose legislation that would prohibit classroom lessons about sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school, a recent ABC News/Ipsos poll found.
(AUSTIN, Texas) — As wildfires continue to blaze through central Texas, one particular fire named Das Goat Fire has prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to declare a state of disaster, saying these wildfires pose an imminent threat of widespread or severe damage.
The Das Goat Fire resulted from a vehicle fire on Friday in Medina County and has now spread across the county and burned over 1,000 acres so far.
In a recent press conference, the governor said 19 state agencies and over 200 firefighters were currently responding to the disaster.
“The State of Texas continues to collaborate with local officials on the ground and respond to fire activity to keep Texans safe,” Abbott said.
Three homes have been lost and 37 others have been threatened, according to the governor.
Due to the high winds, dry heat and drought conditions, many areas throughout Texas will remain under a high to extreme elevated fire risk.
For those who may have been displaced or evacuated due to the fire, there is shelter currently at Loma Alta Middle School and more shelters will soon be announced.
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, have advanced closer to the city center in recent days despite the resistance. Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol. Russia also bombed western cities for the first time last week, targeting Lviv and a military base near the Poland border.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 28, 12:50 pm
Russians prioritizing Donbas, Ukrainians ‘slugging it out’ in Mariupol: US official
The Russians appear to be prioritizing the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine, a senior U.S. defense official told reporters on Monday.
“We’re not exactly sure what’s behind this reprioritization,” the official said.
This could be Russia refocusing its strategic goals or trying to gain leverage for talks, the official said.
Meanwhile, in the hard-hit city of Mariupol in southern Ukraine, “the Ukrainians are slugging it out” and “keeping the Russians at bay,” the official said.
In Kyiv, the situation is static, the official said. Russian troops have stopped making advances toward the capital city, though they continue using their long-range missile fires, the official said.
“We continue to see Ukrainians defend the city and try to push Russians back,” the official said.
Mar 28, 11:41 am
Russia says radiation levels remain stable despite fires in Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
Radiation levels remain stable in Russia despite fires in the occupied Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Russian public health watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said Monday.
Rospotrebnadzor said it was continuing to monitor the situation.
The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone is a 1,000-square-mile restricted area of deserted, contaminated land around the shuttered Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986. Russian forces seized the defunct plant and surrounding exclusion zone just hours after launching an invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
The State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management has warned that the radiation hazard is growing due to the blazes in the area, which it said have the potential to spread. The fires observed at more than 30 spots in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone over the past two weeks have exceeded 8,700 hectares in total, according to the agency.
However, Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, said on Monday that the situation was currently “more or less stable.”
Mar 28, 11:32 am
Kremlin expresses concern over Biden’s remark in Poland
Russia is concerned by U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remark seemingly regarding the need for a change of administration in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Monday.
In an address on Saturday from Poland’s capital, Warsaw, Biden made a comment that appeared to be directed at Russian President Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
“For god’s sake, this man cannot remain in power,” Biden said.
After the speech, the White House released a statement clarifying that Biden wasn’t calling for a regime change.
“The President’s point was that Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change,” a White House official said.
When asked by reporters on Monday about Biden’s remark, Peskov replied: “Indeed, this statement makes us worry.”
“We will continue to closely monitor statements made by the U.S. president,” he added. “We are thoroughly recording them and will be continuing to do so.”
Mar 28, 11:20 am
Cost of damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure estimated at $63 billion
The cost of direct damage to Ukraine’s infrastructure amid Russia’s ongoing invasion has already reached almost an estimated $63 billion, according to an analysis by the Kyiv School of Economics.
As of March 24, at least 4,431 residential buildings, 92 factories and warehouses, 378 institutions of secondary and higher education, 138 health care institutions, 12 airports, seven thermal power plants and hydroelectric power plants have been damaged, destroyed or seized in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to the Kyiv School of Economics.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s overall economic losses due to the war range from $543 billion to $600 billion, the Kyiv School of Economics said.
Mar 28, 11:15 am
Russia dubs German broadcaster DW a ‘foreign agent’
The Russian Ministry of Justice on Monday added German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) to a list of media organizations it has labeled as “foreign agents.”
The justice ministry said in a statement that it made the decision “based on the documents received from the authorized state authorities,” without providing further details. The designation requires media outlets to publish a disclaimer on all its publications.
“This latest, arbitrary decision by the Russian authorities was unfortunately to be expected,” DW director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “It is a further attack on press freedom and a fresh attempt to cut the Russian population off from free, independent media.”
“It started with the forced closure of our studio in Moscow at the beginning of February, then our website in all languages was blocked in Russia. There then followed the gradual restriction of social media services and now DW has been labeled a ‘foreign agent,'” he added. “This will not stop us from continuing to provide comprehensive and independent coverage of Russia and the region from our new studio in Latvia and from Germany. We will have to put a lot more effort into censorship circumvention tools in the future. This includes VPN clients like Psiphon or the Tor browser, which we already use.”
Mar 28, 11:00 am
Russia’s Nobel-winning Novaya Gazeta newspaper suspends publication
Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, whose editor was a co-winner of last year’s Nobel Peace Prize, announced Monday that it is suspending publication until the war ends in neighboring Ukraine.
Novaya Gazeta was the last remaining established independent media outlet still operating in Russia and trying to cover the invasion of Ukraine, despite strict censorship. Its decision to halt operations is another watershed moment in the silencing of free media across Russia.
The Moscow-based paper, famous for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime, said it made the decision after receiving a second warning from Russia’s state communications and media watchdog, Roskomnadzor, for allegedly violating the country’s repressive “foreign agent” law. Another alleged violation could allow a court to shut Novaya Gazeta down completely.
Novaya Gazeta is best-known by Western countries for the fact that six of its journalists have been murdered since 2000, including most famously Anna Politkovskaya. Last October, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, was jointly awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize with Maria Rosa, one of the Philippines’ most prominent journalists, for “their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”
Before Russian forces attacked Ukraine on Feb. 24, there was still a very small number of popular, influential media outlets able to operate in Russia — albeit under permanent pressure from the government. But since the war began, austerities have moved to crush all of them, and dozens — likely hundreds — of independent journalists have fled abroad. Most are now publishing articles from outside the country. Novaya Gazeta is arguably the most symbolic closure. The paper was co-founded in 1993 by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, who still sits on its board.
Novaya Gazeta said in a statement Monday that it is suspending publication until the end of Russia’s so-called “special military operation in Ukraine,” the term the Russian government is using instead of war or invasion. Russia has banned media from using those words to describe the situation. But Novaya Gazeta had been getting around that ban with some symbolic gestures, including blank pages, and replacing the word “war” in its articles with phrases like “word forbidden by Russian government.”
Mar 28, 9:28 am
Ukrainian-American pastor abducted in Ukraine has been freed
Dmitry Bodyu, a Ukrainian-American pastor who was allegedly abducted in Ukraine earlier this month, has been freed, local church officials told ABC News on Monday.
It was unclear where he was released or in what condition.
Bodyu, 50, was taken by a group of about eight to 10 Russian soldiers from his home in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Melitopol on March 19, his family told NBC News. He is a pastor of Word of Life Church in Melitopol.
-ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic
Mar 28, 8:05 am
At least 1,119 civilians killed, 1,790 injured in Ukraine: OHCHR
At least 1,119 civilians have been killed and 1,790 others have been injured in Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
At least 99 children were among the dead, according to the OHCHR, which noted that the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine had reported at least 139 children were killed as of Sunday.
“Most of the civilian casualties recorded were caused by the use of explosive weapons with a wide impact area, including shelling from heavy artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems, and missile and air strikes,” the agency said in a statement Sunday.
The agency noted that the actual number of casualties are believed to be “considerably higher” because the receipt of information from some areas with intense hostilities, like the southeastern port city of Mariupol, have been delayed and many reports are still pending corroboration.
Other areas where the number of casualties are still being corroborated include Volnovakha in the Donetsk Oblast, Izium in the Kharkiv Oblast, Popasna and Rubizhne in the Luhansk Oblast, and Trostianets in the Sumy Oblast, where there are allegations of numerous civilian casualties, according to the OHCHR. Casualty numbers from these regions are not included.
From 24 Feb—26 March, we recorded 2,909 civilian casualties in context of Russia’s armed attack against #Ukraine: 1,119 killed, incl 99 children; 1,790 injured, incl 126 children, mostly caused by shelling & airstrikes. Actual toll is much higher. Update https://t.co/LlMm7iUqsrpic.twitter.com/OcyhxSUrj3
— UNHumanRightsUkraine (@UNHumanRightsUA) March 27, 2022
Mar 28, 7:33 am
Nightly curfew in Kyiv shifts back, shortens an hour
The nightly citywide curfew in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, has been shifted back and shortened by an hour.
Starting Monday night, the curfew will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time.
There has been a curfew in Kyiv every day since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24. The previous time frame was from 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. local time.
-ABC News’ Julia Drozd and Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 7:00 am
Russian forces attempt to seize key highways, settlements
Russian forces on Monday morning were attempting to breach defenses from the northwest and east of Ukraine to seize key highways and settlements, which are held by Ukrainian troops, according to Ukrainian officials.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said that hypersonic missiles for the Russian military’s Iskander-M short-range ballistic missile system were being delivered to the Belarusian town of Kalinkovichi. Two of the latest strikes to hit Lutsk, a city in northwestern Ukraine, were launched from neighboring Belarus, according to Ukrainian officials.
Mar 28, 6:20 am
New round of talks could start Monday in Turkey
Ukraine and Russia have both said that a new round of peace negotiations with be held in person in Turkey at the start of this week, but it remains unclear whether the talks begin Monday or Tuesday.
One of the Ukrainian negotiators, David Arakhamia, has said the talks would be held Monday through Wednesday.
Russia’s lead negotiator, Vladimir Medinsky, has said the talks would start Tuesday.
Arakhamia said the decision to hold the negotiations in person was reached during the latest round of talks via video link, which are taking place everyday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russian journalists that his country is ready to compromise on Moscow’s demand for neutral status, but wants meaningful security guarantees from Western countries. He said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws all of its troops to areas occupied before the war began.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 6:16 am
Ukraine intel chief says Russia plans a ‘Korean scenario’
Russian President Vladimir Putin may be seeking to split Ukraine in two after failing to seize the capital, Kyiv, according to the head of Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency.
Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said in a statement Sunday that Putin may now be pursuing a “Korean scenario” that would see Russian forces try to occupy the east and south of Ukraine since they no longer have the strength to “swallow the whole state.”
“After the failures near Kyiv and the impossibility to overthrow the central government in Ukraine, Putin is already changing his main direction of operations — to the south and east,” Budanov said. “There are grounds to suggest that he is considering the Korean scenario for Ukraine. That is to attempt to lay down a new line of contact between the non-occupied and occupied regions of our country. In fact, it’s an attempt to create in Ukraine a North and South Korea. Indeed, he definitely doesn’t have the strength to swallow the whole state.”
Budanov said he believes Putin still wants to open a land corridor between the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula and the other Russian-controlled regions in eastern Ukraine, which would mean the occupation of besieged Mariupol, a strategic port city in the southeast that has been under heavy Russian bombardment. But he said Ukraine’s continued counterattacks as well as resistance by local people in the occupied areas were disrupting Putin’s plans.
Budanov also predicted the start of guerrilla warfare that would make it impossible for Russia to hold territory.
“Soon the season of the total Ukrainian partisan safari will start,” he said. “Then for the Russians will remain only one relevant scenario — how to survive.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 28, 5:07 am
Ukraine says no humanitarian corridors for Monday
Ukraine’s government announced for the first time in nearly three weeks that no humanitarian corridors for evacuating civilians will be open on Monday due to concerns about possible “provocations” from Russian forces.
“Our intelligence has informed us of possible provocations from the side of the occupiers on the routes of the humanitarian corridors,” Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on her official Telegram channel. “And so in interest of citizens’ safety today we are not opening humanitarian corridors.”
The Ukrainian government has been evacuating hundreds of thousands of civilians from cities and towns in the north, east and south of the country through established corridors. Officials have previously accused Russian forces of shelling some of the evacuation routes, despite agreeing to cease-fires.
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
Mar 27, 5:17 pm
Zelenskyy outlines goals for peace agreement to Russian journalists
In his first interview with Russian journalists since his country was invaded, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described some of Ukraine’s positions for ending the war.
During an interview with popular Russian independent news sites TV Rain and Meduza, Zelenskyy said any peace deal is only possible if Russia withdraws its troops to the territory occupied before the start of the invasion, meaning Crimea and the separatist-held areas of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said his main goals are “to maximally reduce the number of casualties (and) to shorten the length of this war.”
“The withdrawal of Russia to compromise territories — but that is everything (that) was before 24 February, before the assault. Let them return there,” Zelenskyy said. “I understand that to force Russia to completely liberate territory is impossible. That will lead to a third world war. I totally understand all that. And I say it: compromise. Return to where all this started and there we will try to resolve the question of Donbas, the difficult question of Donbas.”
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine is ready to discuss taking a position of “neutrality” and “non-nuclear status” with Russia, but wants security guarantees for his country in return.
He again said he would put the issue to a referendum in Ukraine and that any treaty would need to be ratified by “guarantor countries” — which other officials have suggested must include the United States.
Zelenskyy reiterated that no guarantor countries, such as the United Kingdom and Turkey, will sign any agreement while Russian troops remain on Ukrainian soil.
(NEW YORK) — The confrontation between Will Smith and Chris Rock that rocked the 2022 Oscars Sunday night is also putting a spotlight on alopecia, the autoimmune condition that affects Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, and millions of other people.
Pinkett Smith, 50, first announced her experience with alopecia, or hair loss, in 2018, and has been public about her condition ever since.
Rock, while presenting the award for best documentary, joked about Pinkett Smith starring in a sequel to G.I. Jane, a 1997 movie starring Demi Moore, who shaved her head for the role, as the first woman to enter Navy SEAL training. Rock presumably made the joke because of Pinkett Smith’s shaved head.
After the comment, Smith walked onto the stage and slapped Rock, before yelling at him twice, “Keep my wife’s name out your f—— mouth.”
The confrontation shocked the Oscars audience, and in its aftermath, led to conversations on the ramifications of joking at the expense of someone’s appearance and a medical condition.
On Twitter, people with alopecia themselves or who have loved ones with the condition described watching the Oscars controversy unfold.
“I’ve had Alopecia since 2013. It can hit suddenly. One day, I was showering, & when I looked at my hands, most of my hair had come off,” one commenter wrote. “I’m lucky that bald men (I shave my head due to there being odd patches here and there) are accepted. Women don’t get that luxury.”
“As a mom of a 9yo with alopecia, those cackles after Rock’s barb brings up all kinds of rage,” wrote another commenter.
“He shouldn’t have hit him. He shouldn’t have made the joke. #Alopecia is horrendous, believe me, we lived it,” wrote another commenter, adding, “Laughing at hair loss is wrong and unkind.”
Pinkett Smith has said that her hair loss left her “shaking with fear,” describing the topic as “not easy to talk about.”
“It was terrifying when it first started. I was in the shower one day and then just handfuls of hair in my hands and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, am I going bald?'” she said in a 2018 episode of her “Red Table Talk” series. “It was one of those times in my life where I was literally shaking with fear. That’s a really scary experience. That’s why I cut my hair, and why I continue to cut it.”
She continued, “And my hair has been a part of me. Taking care of my hair has been a beautiful ritual. Having the choice to have hair or not, and then one day being like, ‘Oh my God. I might not have that choice.'”
More recently, in December, Pinkett Smith shared a clip on Instagram revealing a bare strip of hair loss on her closely shaved head.
“Now at this point, I can only laugh,” Pinkett Smith said as she displayed the top of her head. “Y’all know I’ve been struggling with alopecia, and just all of a sudden one day, look at this line right here.”
She continued, “But you know mama’s going to put some rhinestones in there. And I’m just going to make me a little crown. That’s what mama’s going to do.”
What to know about alopecia
Although experts don’t fully understand alopecia, they believe it occurs when a person’s immune system inappropriately targets their own hair follicles, which stifles hair growth, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Experts believe an undefined combination of environmental and genetic factors can trigger the disease.
Alopecia universalis, a complete loss of all body, face and scalp hair, is considered to be the most extreme and rarest form of the condition, according to the NIH.
Alopecia totalis, which is characterized by the loss of only hair on the scalp, is a less advanced form of the condition.
The most common form is alopecia areata, which causes small circular and patchy bald spots to develop, usually on the scalp and face, according to the NIH.
Alopecia areata affects nearly 2% of the general population at some point in their lifetime, or as many as nearly seven million people in the United States, according to the National Alopecia Areata Foundation, a California-based nonprofit organization.
The condition affects men and women equally and affects all racial and ethnic groups, according to the NIH.
Most people who get alopecia areata see it occur during their teens, 20s or 30s, but it can occur at any age, according to the NIH.
There is no cure for alopecia, but there are treatments, including steroid injections and, in more advanced forms of the disease, oral steroids or various immunotherapies.
More than a cosmetic issue, alopecia can take an emotional and psychological toll on patients, and the unpredictability of the hair loss can also be frustrating.
“Even though reactions to the disease are different for everyone, there are some common emotions that many people who have alopecia areata and the people around them say that they experience,” the National Alopecia Areata Foundation writes on its website. “These include feelings of grief, anxiety, loss, fear, embarrassment, loneliness and anger.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has found that former President Donald Trump “more likely than not” committed felony obstruction in the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
The judge said Trump’s former lawyer John Eastman must turn over documents to the Jan. 6 House committee investigating the attack on the U.S Capitol.
(SALEM, Ore.) — A 24-year-old man was under arrest after police alleged he killed four people when his car left a roadway and slammed into a homeless encampment in Salem, Oregon.
Enrique Rodriguez was being held without bail on Monday in Salem on multiple counts of felony manslaughter, according to online jail records.
The episode unfolded at about 2 a.m. Sunday when Rodriguez’s sports car careened off a road, jumped a sidewalk and crashed into several tents, according to the Salem Police Department.
Two people were pronounced dead at the scene in northeast Salem and two others died after being taken to Salem Health Hospital, police said. Three other people, all believed to have been living in the homeless camp, were hospitalized with injuries.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation. Police said in a statement that investigators “believe alcohol may have been a contributing factor.”
A preliminary investigation by the Salem Police Traffic Team indicates Rodriguez was driving a two-door sports coupe northbound when the vehicle left the roadway and crashed into the encampment, pinning two people under the car.
The names of those killed and injured were not immediately released.
Rodriguez was the sole occupant of the car and was also taken to a hospital with injuries, police said.
He was later booked into the Marion County Jail on four counts of first-degree manslaughter and charges of second-degree assault, third-degree assault and six counts of reckless endangerment.
Police said the exact number of people at the encampment at the time of the incident was unclear and referred questions to the Marion County District Attorney’s Office.
The homeless camp was on the property of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) and just feet from a railroad track, according to ABC affiliate station KATU-TV in Portland.
A KATU news crew reported on the same homeless camp about a week ago after neighboring business owners expressed frustrations over the city’s handling of the homeless problem.
(WASHINGTON) — A bipartisan coalition of senators introduced legislation on Monday meant to improve transparency in the highly competitive and notoriously murky federal contracting process, taking aim at companies that accept lucrative work from government agencies without having to disclose potential conflicts of interest.
The bill, called the Preventing Organizational Conflicts of Interest in Federal Acquisition Act, would seek to mitigate conflict-of-interest concerns by forcing contractors to “disclose other parts of their business that conflict with the work they are bidding to perform for the government,” according to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
“If we don’t know whether [federal contractors] are serving other, potentially conflicting interests, we can’t be confident that Americans are getting exactly what they pay for,” said Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a cosponsor of the bill.
For many American companies, federal contracts represent a crucial source of revenue, as well as visibility and credibility. Firms from every major business sector compete for this work, and winners often execute their end of the agreement while pursuing outside business opportunities — which sometime overlap with their federal contracts.
While existing rules stipulate that government agencies assess potential conflicts of interest before determining contract winners, watchdogs say the process remains opaque.
“Based on current federal contract regulations, agencies cannot always discern whether government contractors have business relationships with foreign governments and private entities that could create a conflict of interest,” said Noah Bookbinder, president of the nonprofit government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Scott Amey, general counsel for the government ethics watchdog Project on Government Oversight, warned that “without more guidance, organizational conflicts of interest can result in unfair competitive advantages and biased contract awards — both of which compromise the impartiality of the federal government and the integrity of the contracting process.”
In a press release announcing the new legislation, lawmakers cited reporting in ProPublica that raised conflict-of-interest questions about consulting giant McKinsey & Company’s recent work for the Food and Drug Administration. ProPublica reported that in at least one FDA contract, McKinsey allegedly failed to disclose its conflicts of interest with corporate pharmaceutical clients despite its contract with the agency obligating the firm to do so.
According to documents obtained by ProPublica, McKinsey allegedly advised the FDA’s drug-regulation division for more than a decade while simultaneously accepting work from major pharmaceutical companies. In some cases, according to ProPublica, McKinsey helped those clients navigate FDA regulations while advising the FDA on how to strengthen regulations for the pharmaceutical industry.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., said McKinsey’s handling of its work with the FDA demonstrates “the danger that conflicts of interest can pose in government contracting.”
“Our bipartisan bill would help ensure that companies that enter into a contract with the government are acting in the best interest of the American people,” Hassan said.
A McKinsey spokesperson told ProPublica that the firm “had been fully transparent that we serve pharmaceutical and medical device companies.”
Republican Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa joined Peters, Grassley, and Hassan in sponsoring the federal legislation.
