(BERLIN) — A car plowed into a crowd of people at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, on Friday, injuring multiple victims and sending people fleeing in panic, according to police.
Extensive police operations are underway at the Magdeburg Christmas market, which is now closed, police said.
Magdeburg is about a two-hour drive west of Berlin.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(BELLVILLE, Texas) — A family in Austin County, Texas, is anxiously waiting for the return of their 3-year-old kangaroo after the marsupial pushed a gate open and hopped a fence.
The 5-foot-tall kangaroo, named Rowdy, was last seen early Wednesday morning on Pyka Road near Interstate 10 in Austin County, according to the kangaroo’s owner.
Local radio DJ Dana Tyson said she saw the kangaroo while heading to work, she told Houston ABC News affiliate KTRK.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think a kangaroo would jump in front of my car,” Tyson told KTRK.
Tyson recorded the kangaroo on camera and said she later found out a nearby resident, Marsha Matus, was missing one.
Matus said she is anxious for Rowdy’s safe return because she knows he is scared.
“He is our baby. He is not your stereotypical kangaroo. He is our pet,” Matus told KTRK.
Rowdy is one of three kangaroos owned by Matus, she said. After Rowdy got out of the pen, she said he jumped the perimeter fence and ran off. Daphne, another pet kangaroo, only got as far as the yard. And Rocky, the youngest kangaroo, who is still a baby, remained inside the house.
Matus said she loves her kangaroos and she even has kangaroo signs, yard art and a personalized license plate that reads “Roo Mom.”
“They’re unique,” she said. “I’m worried to death.”
On Thursday night, Matus told KTRK a stranger even drove down to help Matus search for Rowdy using his drone that is equipped with thermal imaging. Matus and her husband also used their drone to try and find Rowdy.
In a post on Facebook, Matus says Rowdy spends his days laying down and resting because kangaroos are nocturnal. She urges that if anyone sees him that they call the Austin County Sheriff’s Office.
“Please if you spot him anywhere you can contact myself, Austin Co Sheriff’s office or DPS,” Matus posted on Facebook. “He will not go to anyone, he will not harm anyone or anyone’s pets. He knows my voice and will come to me.”
Matus hopes Rowdy is safe and that he can make it back home.
“I just hope he’s safe because I know he’s scared. I just want him home.”
ABC News reached out to the Austin County Sheriff’s Office for comment and did not receive a response.
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(NEW YORK) — A captain in Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps faces federal murder and terrorism charges in New York, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Friday that charges Mohammad Reza Nouri with orchestrating the murder of an American citizen to avenge the drone strike killing of a top Iranian general.
Stephen Troell, a 45-year-old American living in Baghdad, was killed in front of his wife in November 2022 after federal prosecutors said Nouri gathered intelligence on Troell’s daily routine, procured weapons and housed the operatives who carried out the murder.
“We allege that Mohammad Reza Nouri, an officer in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, orchestrated the murder of Stephen Troell, an American citizen living in Iraq, carrying out the Iranian Regime’s efforts to take vengeance for the death of Qasim Soleimani,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement announcing the charges. “Stephen should still be alive today, and the Justice Department will work relentlessly to ensure accountability for his murder.”
The U.S. has said Iran sought revenge for the January 2020 death of Soleimani in an American drone strike in Baghdad.
In November 2022, the Iranian regime struck in Iraq. A group of operatives working on behalf of the IRGC brutally murdered Troell in Baghdad, where he worked at an English language institute, as Troell was driving home with his wife after work.
Nouri, 36, allegedly “played a key role in the IRGC’s targeting and ultimate murder of Troell,” whom Nouri appears to have believed was working as an American or Israeli intelligence officer.
According to the complaint, Nouri accumulated data including Troell’s date of birth, coordinates of his residence, occupation, work schedule, telephone number, wife’s name, and children’s names, among other information. In the weeks leading up to the murder, he allegedly coordinated with one of his co-conspirators to procure firearms and a vehicle for use in the attack.
Troell was driving home from work with his wife when heavily armed gunmen in two cars forced the couple to stop shortly before they reached their residence, blocked any possible escape route, approached Troell on the driver’s side, and, using an assault weapon, shot and killed Troell as his wife witnessed the attack in the passenger seat.
Less than a half hour after the attack, Nouri sent an encrypted messages inquiring about the wellbeing of the operatives tasked with carrying out the hit, allegedly asking, “The guys are fine?” and “They are doing well?”
In March 2023, Iraqi authorities arrested Nouri and he was subsequently convicted by an Iraqi court for his role in Troell’s murder. He remains in custody in Iraq.
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(Delphi, Ind.) — Convicted Delphi, Indiana, killer Richard Allen was sentenced on Friday to 130 years in prison for the 2017 murders of two teenage girls.
He was given 65 years for each murder, to run consecutively.
Last month, a jury found Allen guilty on all charges in the double homicide: felony murder for the killing of 13-year-old Abigail “Abby” Williams while attempting to commit kidnapping; felony murder for the killing of 14-year-old Liberty “Libby” German while attempting to commit kidnapping; murder for knowingly killing Abby; and murder for knowingly killing Libby.
A gag order has prevented the families of Abby and Libby from commenting during or after Allen’s trial.
The families, law enforcement and prosecutors are expected to address the public at a post-sentencing news conference on Friday.
When Allen was arrested in 2022 — five years after the 2017 murders — Libby’s grandparents and guardians, Becky and Mike Patty, told ABC News they were grappling with the news that the suspect was living among them in their small town.
“How can somebody do that and then just go on living life like nothing happened?” Mike Patty said.
Abby and Libby were walking along a Delphi hiking trail when they were attacked on Feb. 13, 2017. Their throats were slit and their bodies were dumped in the nearby woods.
Moments before the murders, Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat showing her on the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, the girls saw a man behind them — who became known as “bridge guy” — and Libby started a recording on her phone, according to prosecutors.
As police looked for the suspect, they released footage from Libby’s phone to the public: a grainy image of “bridge guy” and an audio clip of him telling the girls to go “down the hill.”
Allen, a husband and father who worked at the local CVS, was arrested in 2022. He admitted to police he was on the trail that day, but he denied being involved in the crime.
The prosecution’s key physical evidence was a .40-caliber unspent round discovered by the girls’ bodies. Police analysis determined that unspent round was cycled through Allen’s Sig Sauer Model P226, prosecutors said.
Another major focus of the trial was Allen’s multiple confessions in jail and his mental health at the time. The defense argued Allen was in a psychotic state when he confessed numerous times to his psychologist, corrections officers and his wife.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(NEW YORK) — The price of bitcoin has tumbled about 12% from a record high reached earlier this week.
After topping $108,000 for the first time on Tuesday, the world’s largest cryptocurrency dropped to a price below $93,000 in early trading on Friday. Bitcoin soon recovered some of those losses, settling around $95,000 at 9:30 a.m. ET.
The selloff rippled through the wider cryptocurrency market. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, ticked down about 1%. Lesser-known dogecoin fell 4% and crypto-trading exchange Coinbase fell nearly 2%.
The slide for bitcoin has largely come after the Federal Reserve announced late Wednesday that it expects fewer interest rate cuts next year.
Lower interest rates typically stimulate economic activity, drive up corporate profits and lift the value of forward-looking assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies. In theory, a longer-than-expected period of high interest rates could diminish those returns.
The Fed’s forecast sent stocks falling within minutes and helped push bitcoin to its lowest level in weeks.
The recent slide for bitcoin erases some of the gains enjoyed since the election of former President Donald Trump, who is widely viewed as friendly toward cryptocurrency. Still, the price has climbed about 36% since Election Day.
Bitcoin had climbed to a new high earlier this week after Trump reaffirmed support for a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve.
A U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve would amount to a substantial government holding of bitcoin similar to the country’s stockpile of oil or gold. Bitcoin bulls expect such a potentially large acquisition of bitcoin to drive up demand and hike the price.
Supporters of a bitcoin strategic reserve also say the asset would help diversify the nation’s financial holdings, protecting it from the possible decline in value of other assets, such as the U.S. dollar.
Since the price of bitcoin is highly volatile, a large purchase of the asset could end up threatening the nation’s financial stability rather than safeguarding it, some critics say.
The major stock indexes rebounded on Thursday, recovering some of the losses they took after the Fed’s unwelcome forecast.
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(CHICAGO) — Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport issued a ground stop on Friday, pausing departures amid snowy and icy conditions.
The stop came as the clipper system that brought heavy snow and airport delays to the Upper Midwest on Thursday is moving on Friday morning through the Illinois city.
Up to 10 inches of snow fell in the Upper Midwest on Thursday. Ten states are now on snow alert, stretching from Wisconsin down through the mountains of North Carolina.
A band of moderate snow with low visibility is moving into Chicago just in time for their morning commute.
A dusting to 1 inch is possible, just enough to make the roads very slick and dangerous in the city.
Also this morning, snow is moving through Michigan and Ohio and on its way to the Northeast.
This afternoon and evening the rain and snow will move into the I-95 corridor making roads slick.
Rain and snow will continue for the I-95 corridor into early Saturday morning.
Most areas will see only a dusting, the same as Chicago, but this could be enough to make roads dangerously slick, as temps fall to near freezing.
Locally about 3 to 6 inches of snow are possible in the mountains of West Virginia and into western NY, and northern New England.
Locally more than a foot possible in the highest elevations.
Christmas Eve rain or snow in the Northeast?
Another storm system is expected for Christmas Eve in the Northeast, with rain and snow possible.
Rain and snow could fall along the I-95 corridor on Tuesday, Christmas Eve.
With this storm, the highest chance for accumulating snow will be in upstate NY and in New England. It is too early to say how much snow is possible.
An arctic plunge will move into the Northeast this weekend, as temperatures fall into the teens and single digits Saturday night into Sunday.
Wind chills could be below zero for inland areas and in the single digits even for coastal major cities.
Looking ahead, warmer weather is forecast after Christmas for the Northeast and most of eastern U.S.
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(NEW YORK) — Nearly 12 years ago, Jessie Owen’s life changed forever.
“My family was going over a mountain pass and a tree fell on our car. In that moment, my parents passed away, my siblings were severely injured, and I became quadriplegic,” Owen said. “I lost my independence. I lost my job. I lost my apartment. I lost my autonomy and the life that I dreamed for myself.”
Like Owen, more than 300,000 people live with spinal cord injuries in the United States, with an estimated 18,000 new cases each year, data shows.
Motor vehicle accidents account for the majority of spinal cord injuries and are closely followed by falls, acts of violence and sports activities, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.
For years, options for recovery have been limited, but a newly FDA-cleared external spinal stimulator, ARC-EX Therapy, which received clearance on Dec. 19, may offer hope for people like Owen.
“ARC-EX is simply electrodes attached to skin on the back of the neck,” explained Chet Moritz, M.D., a professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington. “It allows us to pass current through the skin to activate the sensory nerves as they enter the spinal cord. Now, those sensory nerves make direct connections to the motor nerves which help people to move.”
Owen, who participated in the Up-LIFT study, a clinical trial focusing on the health benefits of ARC-EX Therapy, saw a life-changing impact.
“I was wildly surprised and pleased to see that it was making meaningful change in my life. I can now paint with my hands. I can open a jar of peanut butter. I can tie my shoes. It [used to] take me 30 minutes to get dressed. Now it takes 12. [I used to require] 20 caregiving hours a week and I was able to move down to about eight.”
The Up-LIFT study produced promising results.
Of the 60 patients with cervical spinal cord injuries studied, 72% saw improvements in hand strength and function. Participants also reported fewer muscle spasms, better sleep, less pain, and improved independence during daily activities.
“The success of [this] study of people with spinal cord injuries is phenomenal,” noted Moritz. “There are essentially no current therapies for chronic spinal cord injury, and so having the majority of patients respond in both strength and function measures [is] just an outstanding result.”
With FDA approval, ARC-EX Therapy is expected to become more accessible.
“Patients can work with their local rehabilitation clinics to see a therapist and work with them in the clinic at first to tune the device,” Moritz said. Results may appear quickly — some participants noticed changes within just a few sessions, he added.
While the device is currently cleared for improving hand strength, function and sensation, Moritz noted other benefits: “Some people will have modest improvements in their bladder function, heart rate, or blood pressure control.”
Leah Croll, M.D., vascular neurologist at Maimonides Health and assistant professor of neurology at SUNY Downstate, shared the excitement over the device.
“The idea that ARC-EX Therapy may accelerate or augment neurologic recovery is really exciting. Any improvement in neurologic function is meaningful and has far-reaching impact in the daily lives of these patients and their families,” she said.
The road to recovery after a spinal cord injury is grueling, Croll said.
“After emergency and ICU care is completed, the mainstay of treatment is working closely with physical therapists, occupational therapists and other rehabilitation professionals to support neurologic recovery,” said Croll. “Patients may also need medications and certain procedures, depending on their unique symptoms.”
For Owen and others, ARC-EX Therapy represents a renewed sense of hope and an exciting change in the way these patients can be treated.
“[With ARC-EX Therapy], I continued to gain function back, and I found I was able to pour more into other people,” Owen said. “The first indicator of success that I noticed was my own happiness. It works, and it gives us hope and passion.”
Natalie S. Rosen, M.D., is a physician in the Hematology & Oncology Department at New York-Presbyterian Columbia and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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(NEW YORK) — Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country Thursday morning — in what the union calls the largest strike in history against the online shopping giant less than a week before Christmas.
In a news release Thursday evening, the union said “thousands of Teamsters” were taking part in the strikes at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers. Later, the union said Teamsters President Sean O’Brien would join striking members at a facility in the City of Industry, California, on Friday as the strike was set to enter its second day.
In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers.
“What you see here are almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners—and the suggestion otherwise is just another lie from the Teamsters,” an Amazon spokesperson said in a emailed statement a few hours after the strikes began Thursday morning. “The truth is that they were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous. We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the union said. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
The Teamsters, announcing the move earlier this week, billed it as the “largest strike against Amazon in U.S. history” and said it came after Amazon refused to bargain with workers organized with the Teamsters.
The union said workers are picketing for higher wages, improved benefits and safer work conditions.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement Thursday. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.”
The spokesperson said the company has increased the starting minimum wage for workers in fulfillment centers and transportation employees by 20% and in September increased average base wage to $22 per hour.
The announced strike by the Teamsters comes after workers at several Amazon facilities authorized the walkout.
The facility in New York City’s Staten Island was Amazon’s first-ever unionized warehouse. Workers there have said the company has refused to recognize the union and negotiate a contract after workers there voted to unionize in 2022.
The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers at the facility, but Amazon has appealed that ruling.
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(NEW YORK) — As the Teamsters’ cross-country Christmastime strike against Amazon entered its second day on Friday, the union said that “momentum continues to mount” as workers seek “fair treatment” from the online retailer.
“The Amazon Teamsters movement grows bigger and stronger every day and will not be stopped,” the International Brotherhood of Teamsters said in a statement posted on social media late Thursday.
Workers affiliated with the Teamsters began striking at Amazon facilities across the country early Thursday. The union said thousands of workers were walking off their jobs at facilities in New York City, Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois, but did not provide specific numbers.
Teamsters President Sean M. O’Brien is expected to join a picket line in California’s City of Industry on Friday, the union said.
Amazon said the strike was not expected to impact operations and claimed the strikes were being attended by outside organizers. Kelly Nantel, director of Global Corporate Issues and Media Relations at Amazon, said the company had not seen an impact on deliveries.
“Thankfully, the vast majority of our employees and the drivers who deliver on our behalf came to work today to do what they do every day,” Nantel said on Thursday. “They’re doing a great job of working for their customers and their communities and as a result of their hard work.”
The strike, which the Teamsters referred to as the largest strike in history, arrived during the busiest shopping season of the year, less than a week before Christmas.
In addition, the Teamsters said local unions were also picketing “hundreds” of Amazon Fulfillment Centers nationwide.
Overall, nearly 9,000 Amazon workers, across 20 bargaining units, have affiliated with the powerful Teamsters union, according to the union. The striking workers represent less than 1% of the company’s 1.5 million employees worldwide, including 800,000 in the United States.
The National Labor Relations Board officially certified the union representing workers, but Amazon has appealed that ruling. The union said Amazon ignored a Sunday deadline for contract negotiations to begin.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” O’Brien said in a statement Thursday announcing the strike. “We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it.”
In a statement to ABC News, an Amazon spokesperson said the Teamsters illegally coerced workers to join the union. The company in a statement described the people walking the picket lines as “almost entirely outsiders—not Amazon employees or partners.”
“The truth is that [the Teamsters] were unable to get enough support from our employees and partners and have brought in outsiders to come and harass and intimidate our team, which is inappropriate and dangerous,” Amazon said. “We appreciate all our team’s great work to serve their customers and communities, and are continuing to focus on getting customers their holiday orders.”
Amazon’s market cap is $2.35 trillion. Shares of the retailer ticked up $2.77 on Thursday, climbing about 1.26%. The stock was down about 2 in premarket trading on Friday.
ABC News’ Taylor Dunn and Soo Youn contributed to this report.
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(LONDON) — A Russian missile strike killed one person and wounded nine others early on Friday morning, Ukrainian officials said, an attack that U.S. Ambassador Bridget A. Brink described as “brutal.”
“Early this morning Russia launched a ballistic missile attack against the capital, killing a civilian and resulting in debris and fires around the city,” Brink said in a statement on social media.
Brink added that the United States and its partners were “surging security assistance and energy support” to the country “in response to these brutal attacks.”
First responders were battling fires in the streets, and several high-rise buildings were damaged. Debris had fallen in at least four districts in the city, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on the Telegram messaging app.
More than 600 buildings, including more than a dozen medical sites, were without heat after the strike damaged a heating main in the city’s southwestern Holosiivskyi District, he said. Seventeen schools and 13 kindergartens also were without heat early Friday.
Russia last month launched several aerial assaults that targeted energy infrastructure throughout Ukraine.
“Ukraine needs more air defense systems,” Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Friday. “Russian terror must be stopped.”
Nine people were injured, including four who were hospitalized, in the strike on Kyiv, the mayor said, revising the number of injured from the previous seven.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
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