Town cars and taxis are viewed in the Financial District in the early hours of the morning on June 4, 2015 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A 56-year-old Westchester County woman plunged to her death after stepping out of her car into an open manhole in Midtown Manhattan on Monday, sources told ABC News.
The woman, from Briarcliff Manor, New York, parked her car at West 52 Street and Fifth Avenue just before 11:20 p.m. Monday, the sources said.
She stepped out of her Mercedes-Benz SUV and into an uncovered manhole, falling about 10 feet, sources said.
The woman was rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital, where she was pronounced dead, sources said.
No construction was ongoing, and the manhole cover was discovered about 15 feet away from the opening, according to sources.
Con Edison said it is “actively investigating” the incident.
“We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the public has died after falling into an open manhole. We are actively investigating how this occurred. Our thoughts are with the individual’s family, and safety remains our top priority,” Con Edison said in a statement Tuesday.
cting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche testifies during a Senate Committee on Appropriations, Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies hearing in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 19, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is facing questions Tuesday on the $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
Blanche, testifying on the Justice Department’s 2027 budget request, is making his first appearance before lawmakers since he was tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as acting attorney general in early April after Pam Bondi was removed from the position.
The fund, which was first reported last week by ABC News, has already drawn condemnation from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle amid growing questions over how the funds will be distributed and whether they could be awarded to political backers of the president and even potentially the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Blanche, in defense of the fund, sought to compare it to an Obama-era initiative that set up ways to settle claims brought by Native Americans who had alleged they had been subject to widespread mistreatment by the government.
He also argued that the fund won’t solely be used to compensate supporters of the administration.
“It’s not limited to — to Republicans, … it’s not limited to Biden weaponization, it’s not limited to in any way, scope or form to Jan. 6 or to Jack Smith,” Blanche said. “There’s no limitation on the — on the claims.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen lambasted Blanche for seeking to compare the $1.776 billion fund to the Obama-era initiative for Native Americans.
Van Hollen noted that specific fund received sign off from a federal judge, whereas Monday’s announcement had no judicial involvement or approval.
Blanche won’t rule out payouts for individuals who assaulted law enforcement
Pressed whether individuals who assaulted Capitol Police officers would be eligible for payments, Blanche said, “Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they’re a victim of weaponization.”
Blanche wouldn’t commit to setting a policy that bans funds being distributed to anyone who assaulted police, saying the commissioners overseeing the fund will be tasked with deciding who is eligible.
Blanche claims there will be ‘full transparency’ on fund, but with caveats
In an exchange with Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, was questioned over whether disbursements from the $1.776 billion will be subject to public disclosure.
Blanche said he wanted to be “careful” in his answer given privacy laws that might restrict the Justice Department from disclosing certain information, but otherwise said there would be “full transparency” via regularly quarterly reports that will be released by the department regarding the commission’s actions.
“The reason why I want to be careful of my answer is because there’s obviously laws that exist around privacy that would — may prevent some of the information that commission takes in from being fully public,” Blanche said. “Beyond that, there will be full transparency, and I commit to you that beyond the … laws that exist around privacy and privileges and whatnot.”
his photo taken on May 17, 2026 shows an exterior view of a hospital that has been designated as an Ebola treatment center in Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC. TO GO WITH “Update: DR Congo Ebola outbreak spreads to rebel-held city, Rwanda closing down border” (Photo by Str/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least 513 suspected cases and 131 suspected deaths have been recorded in the ongoing Ebola outbreak in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, officials said Tuesday.
Congolese Minister of Public Health Samuel Roger Kamba said during a press briefing in French that authorities will determine which of these deaths “are actually linked to the disease.”
World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, during the United Nation agency’s annual World Health Assembly in Geneva on Tuesday, recalled how he declared Congo’s current Ebola outbreak a public health emergency of international concern on Sunday, saying it was the first time a WHO chief had done so before convening an emergency committee.
“I did not do this lightly,” Tedros said. “I did it in accordance with Article 12 of the International Health Regulations, after consulting the ministers of health of both countries, and because I am deeply concerned about the scale and speed of the epidemic. We will convene the Emergency Committee today to advise us on temporary recommendations.”
At least 30 cases of Ebola virus disease have been confirmed in the ongoing outbreak in Congo, from the northeastern province of Ituri. In addition, there are more than 500 suspected cases and over 130 suspected deaths, according to Tedros.
Cases have been reported in urban areas, including one of Congo’s largest cities, Goma, the rebel-held capital of the eastern province of North Kivu, Tedros said.
Uganda has also confirmed two cases in its capital Kampala, including one death, among two individuals who traveled from neighboring Congo, according to Tedros.
This outbreak is caused by the Bundibugyo virus, a rare variant of Ebola for which there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics, Tedros said.
On Tuesday, Dr. Anne Ancia, WHO’s representative in the DRC, said more than 40 experts were deployed to the field on Sunday and the WHO has sent 12 tons of supplies, with six more tons coming.
Supplies include personal protective equipment for front line healthcare workers, laboratory samples, tents, drugs and other treatments.
“What I see here in the field is extremely vulnerable people, a [fragile] population,” Ancia said. “But I see also people working together while facing great uncertainty as to the [scale] or the extent of this outbreak.”
She said the surveillance capacity is limited in the affected region, which could be why the outbreak is spreading rapidly.
“We really need to go fast to really try to stop the spread of the disease further,” she said. “We don’t understand yet the extent of the spread of the disease.”
According to The Associated Press, more than 20 Ebola outbreaks have occurred in Congo and Uganda, but this is only the third time that the Bundibugyo virus has been detected.
An American doctor working in the DRC is among those who has tested positive for Ebola amid the outbreak, according to an international Christian missions organization.
Dr. Peter Stafford, a medical missionary with the missions organization Serge, was exposed while treating patients at Nyankunde Hospital, the group said Monday.
He sought testing “after presenting symptoms consistent with the virus,” Serge said in a statement.
Dr. Satish K. Pillai, incident manager for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Ebola response, said the agency had activated its Emergency Operations Center through its country offices in the DRC and in Uganda, and is deploying technical experts that have been requested from Atlanta headquarters.
Pillai added that the risk to the U.S. general public remains low.
The CDC said earlier Monday that it is preparing to restrict entry for travelers arriving from parts of central Africa where an Ebola outbreak has been declared, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security.
On Sunday, the CDC said in a statement that a “small number of Americans” were directly affected by the Ebola outbreak.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is “working on” the Ebola outbreak.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud, Eric M. Strauss and Mary Kekatos contributed to this report.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), during a healthcare affordability event in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, May 18, 2026. (Photographer: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told ABC News on Monday that his agency is working to address the recent hantavirus and Ebola outbreaks, marking the first time he’s commented publicly on the Ebola outbreak since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed than an American had been infected with the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
“Yeah, we’re working on it,” Kennedy told ABC News when asked if he was worried about the outbreaks. The secretary’s comments come after the CDC said a “small number of Americans” are directly affected by the current Ebola outbreak in the DRC.
Kennedy did not respond when asked what his message might be to Americans who are concerned about the diseases potentially spreading in America. He told reporters in the Oval Office last week that the U.S. had the hantavirus outbreak “under control.”
“We have this under control and we’re not worried about it,” he said at the White House’s maternal healthcare event on May 11th. Kennedy also noted that the CDC has been working on the outbreak since day one.
The CDC said there have been no confirmed hantavirus cases in the U.S. linked to the MV Hondius cruise ship and 18 passengers remain under observation at the University of Nebraska.
Meanwhile, Kennedy’s brief comments about the outbreaks came following a roundtable event announcing nearly $1 billion in new funding to states to address PFAS in drinking water at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday.
The secretary has been on a midterm blitz recently, touting the administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement during stops including Ohio and California.
At a subsequent event featuring Kennedy and other health leaders at the White House, Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Heidi Overton stressed that “there are no cases of Ebola in America.”
Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Heidi Overton stressed during the event that “there are no cases of Ebola in America.”
“We want to keep it that way and we are doing everything we can to support Americans in the region,” Overton added.
Brian Kemp, governor of Georgia, left, and Marty Kemp, Georgia’s first lady, second left, watch as Derek Dooley, Republican U.S. Senate candidate for Georgia, second right, speaks during a campaign event at Whitetail Coffee Shop in Milton, Georgia, on Friday, May 15, 2026. (Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump might not have been in attendance at the Atlanta Press Club Republican primary debate for U.S. Senate last month, but his presence filled the room.
“I am running for the United States Senate so that I can go to the Senate and be a warrior for Donald Trump and his ‘America First’ policies,” said U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter in his opening statement.
When Carter’s House colleague and opponent in the Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, was asked about the direction in which the Republican Party should go once President Trump is no longer in office, Collins told the moderator “we need to continue Donald Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda,” adding, “it’s one of the reasons that I ran.”
In a midterm cycle where Trump’s endorsement power has taken down incumbents, plucked winners out of crowded special elections, and fueled intra-party spending wars, the president has not yet backed a candidate in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate in Georgia.
The absence of a Trump endorsement in the race has led both Carter and Collins to focus their campaigns around winning over Trump’s base – and maybe even Trump himself – as they both vie for the president’s backing in what is expected to be one of the most competitive states on the map this year, one that could decide the balance of power in Congress.
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff is one of the most vulnerable Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2026, and Tuesday’s primary could decide who goes head-to-head with the rising star in the Democratic Party in November.
Brian Kemp, the two-term Republican governor of Georgia who turned down calls to run for the Senate seat himself this year, is supporting neither congressman. Kemp has instead thrown his political weight behind former college football coach Derek Dooley, the son of legendary University of Georgia football coach Vince Dooley.
Kemp has made calls to donors to rally support for Dooley, a Kemp advisor told ABC News. Kemp’s PAC, Hardworking Americans Inc., has also poured millions in the race to help support Dooley, who calls himself a “political outsider.”
Kemp has had a rocky relationship with the president himself, after contesting Trump’s claims of election fraud in the 2020 election. However, Kemp remains popular among Georgians, winning reelection against a Trump-endorsed primary challenger in 2022.
Tuesday’s primary races in Georgia will be a test of Kemp’s own political power in the state; the outgoing Georgia governor has not ruled out a potential 2028 presidential run.
The real test of Trump’s influence in Georgia will come in the Republican primary to replace term-limited Kemp as governor, where the president’s early endorsement of current Lt. Governor Burt Jones failed to clear the field and instead set the stage for a competitive primary battle against billionaire businessman Rick Jackson, who is neck and neck with Jones in the polls.
But unlike Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr – who are also running in the Republican primary for governor but are making appeals to more traditional GOP voters – Jackson is not shying away from running in the “Make America Great Again” lane, even without Trump’s backing.
“I’m a conservative outsider and a businessman that wants to bring business solutions to Georgia, just like President Trump did,” Jackson said at the primary debate for governor.
Trump hosted a tele-rally for Jones earlier this month, where he reiterated his endorsement for the longtime Trump loyalist.
“There’s a lot of confusion. Everyone’s saying I endorsed them. I didn’t. I endorsed a man named Burt Jones,” Trump told supporters on the call.
On the other side of the aisle, the Democratic candidates for governor are also talking about Trump – in how best to fight his policies.
“Unlike some people, I’m not running for governor to be Donald Trump; I’m running to stand up to him,” said former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms in the latest ad from her campaign, which calls out Jackson and Jones over their courting of Trump’s favor.
Bottoms is endorsed by former President Joe Biden and is widely considered the frontrunner in the Democratic primary race, but it is unclear whether she will meet the vote threshold to avoid a runoff. Democratic opponents that Bottoms could face in a potential runoff include former DeKalb County CEO Michael Thurmond, former Republican Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, and former Georgia state Sen. Jason Esteves.
In Georgia, if one candidate does not receive 50% of the vote, the top two finishers will advance to a runoff election on June 16. And with so many well-known contenders for office this year, runoffs may be more likely on both sides of the aisle, up and down the ballot.
The Islamic Center of San Diego is seen after a shooting on May 18, 2026 in San Diego, CA. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
(SAN DIEGO) — Amin Abdullah, the security guard who was killed along with two others in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, is being hailed as a hero as police say “his actions were heroic and undoubtedly saved lives.”
The shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, was reported shortly before noon local time, police said.
While officers were responding to the mosque, the police department “began to receive calls from just a couple blocks away that we had more active gunfire,” officials said at a news conference Monday.
The security guard appeared to play a “pivotal role” in keeping the shooting from “being much worse,” police said, noting that the victims were all found in front of the Islamic Center.
“His actions were heroic and undoubtedly saved lives today,” San Diego Police Chief Scott Wahl said of Abdullah.
“We do believe the security guard was able to help at least minimize the situation to the front area of the mosque,” Wahl continued.
Sam Hamideh, whose son attends the school next to the Islamic Center, told ABC News’ San Diego affiliate KGTV that Abdullah would have done anything to help the people inside.
“Even when the day was going wrong you could just smile … he just had that kind of heart and he always really cared,” Hamideh said.
Both suspects, ages 17 and 18, are dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.
Authorities are investigating a potential motive but said the shooting is currently being considered a hate crime.
“There was definitely hate rhetoric that was involved,” Wahl said.
Anti-Islamic writings were found in the vehicle with the two teens, sources told ABC News.
“We have never experienced a tragedy like this before,” Taha Hassan, director of the Islamic Center of San Diego, said at a news conference.
Hassan said he’s sending “prayers and standing in solidarity with all the families in our community here, and also the other mosques, and all the places of worship in our beautiful city.”
Tazheen Nizam, the executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement, “We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence. Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”
-ABC News’ Emily Shapiro and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
Burrowing sea anemone from the San Julian Peninsula in Argentina. (The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census/Agustín Garese)
(NEW YORK) — Marine scientists have discovered a record number of new species living in the depths of the world’s oceans over the past year.
A total of 1,121 new marine species were discovered in a single year, marking a “significant step” in the research needed to understand and protect the oceans, according to the scientists behind The Nippon Foundation-Nekton Ocean Census, the world’s largest mission to accelerate ocean species discovery.
The whopping number of discoveries marks a 54% jump in identifications in a single year, the researchers said.
Among the new species discovered include corals, crabs, shrimps, sea urchins and anemones — some found living at depths of more than four miles beneath the ocean surface.
The “Ghost Shark” Chimaera, a distant relative of sharks and rays, was discovered in the Coral Sea Marine Park off the coast of Queensland, Australia. Chimaeras are among the most mysterious inhabitants of the deep ocean, the researchers said. They predate dinosaurs and diverged from rays and sharks into their own distinct evolutionary lineage nearly 400 million years ago.
Symbiotic bristle worms were found living within a “glass castle” on volcanic seamounts in Japan. The “castle” is actually intricate chambers of a glass sponge, whose skeleton is made of crystalline silica.
The ribbon worm, a predator marked by striking pigmentation, was discovered close to the surface, between depths of 3 and 16 feet.
A striking new species of shrimp — the Mediterranean shrimp — was also found in a sea cave off Marseille, France, the researchers said. It is marked by a vivid orange banding and intricate appendages.
The species were identified amid 13 expeditions across some of the world’s most remote and least-explored ocean regions, as well as nine discovery workshops, the researchers said.
“This year, Ocean Census has shown what is possible when scientific ambition is matched by global collaboration at scale,” Mitsuyuku Unno, executive director of the Nippon Foundation, said in a statement. “Through expeditions reaching polar depths to tropical seas, and the science to turn samples into discoveries, this team is revealing the extraordinary richness of ocean life.”
Up to 90% of ocean species remain undiscovered, previous research has suggested.
Documenting the breadth of species living in the oceans is necessary for policymakers and marine managers to properly protect the ocean, the researchers said.
The average time between a species’ initial discovery and its formal “description” in scientific literature is historically about 13.5 years, which puts species at risk of extinction before they are even catalogued, the researchers said.
“With many species at risk of disappearing before they are even documented, we are in a race against time to understand and protect ocean life,” Michelle Taylor, head of science at Ocean Census, said in a statement. “For too long, thousands of species have remained in a scientific “limbo” because the pace of discovery couldn’t keep up.”
To address this, marine scientists are now recognizing “discovered” as a formal scientific status that can immediately be recorded.
Josh Shapiro, governor of Pennsylvania, campaigns during Fiesta on Hamilton ahead of a primary election in Allentown, Pennsylvania, US, on Sunday, May 17, 2026. Pennsylvania will hold a primary election on May 19. Photographer: Joe Lamberti/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania are headed to the polls on Tuesday in primaries that will set up matchups critical for both control of the state and the House in the 2026 midterm elections.
Both parties know how key the state is to their efforts.
“The road to the majority in the House of Representatives runs through Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Republican Party Executive Director James Markley told ABC News.
And Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk, a Democrat, told “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz in a recent interview, “The path to a Democratic majority in Congress is places like Allentown, places like Scranton.”
A marquee race for governor
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat first elected as governor in 2022 after almost two decades in state politics, is set to vie for a second term. He faces speculation that he’ll run for president in 2028 but has said he currently remains focused on 2026.
Republican State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is set to be the GOP’s standard bearer for governor. She has said she hopes to unseat Shapiro by pointing to challenges Pennsylvanians still face with affordability and other issues.
Neither candidate faces any opponents on their primary ballots.
The battle for the 7th District
Across the state, Democrats are targeting four House districts held by Republicans in Pennsylvania — among the highest number of seats the party is targeting in any state.
One of those four seats is Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, which includes the Lehigh Valley. Incumbent Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a Republican, is set to try to win a second term in Congress, and is unopposed in the Republican primary.
In 2024, he flipped the seat once held by then-Rep. Susan Wild, a Democrat, by just 1 percentage point, but he says he’s confident he’ll be able to hold the seat.
“What we’ve seen is that all four of the [Democratic] candidates have raced to the left, and they’ve all mirrored each other on the radical-left policies,” he told ABC News, saying later that he feels voters trust him on delivering for the region.
The four-way Democratic primary in the district has both candidates with distinct backgrounds as well as some party infighting.
Gov. Josh Shapiro himself has thrown his support behind Bob Brooks, a union leader and former firefighter. Brooks has excited supporters with his blue-collar bona fides and the chance for him to galvanize working-class Pennsylvanians to support him.
However, Brooks has faced scrutiny from both Democrats and Republicans over how he appeared to get so much institutional support — including from Shapiro and from progressive stalwart independent Sen. Bernie Sanders — before the primary.
“I’m a 20-year firefighter, union leader, and baseball coach, and I’ve had nearly every job in the book — dishwasher, snowplow driver, bartender, and Teamster…. A lot of politicians want to talk about the affordability crisis. I’ve lived it,” Brooks said in a statement to ABC News.
Ryan Crosswell, a former federal prosecutor, is also on the ballot and has decried the institutional support going to Brooks. Crosswell is a former Republican who resigned from the Justice Department in February 2025 because he disagreed with how the DOJ wanted to drop corruption charges against then-New York City mayor Eric Adams.
“I’m the only candidate in this race who hasn’t either been a career politician or been hobnobbing around them, and that includes Bob Brooks. So I think I had a lot more in common with everyday Americans,” Crosswell told ABC News in an interview.
Brooks’ campaign has emphasized local support for him from state lawmakers, local Democratic groups, and local labor groups.
The other Democrats on the ballot in Pennsylvania’s 7th District are Lamont McClure, a former Northampton County executive, and Carol Obando-Derstine, who served as an aide to former Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.
Other key districts
The other three districts that are likely to be battlegrounds are Pennsylvania’s 1st, 8th and 10th districts. Similar to Mackenzie, none of the Republican incumbents in those districts have any primary opponents.
In the 1st District in the Philadelphia suburbs, incumbent Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is set to try to win a sixth term in Congress. Bob Harvie, a Shapiro-backed Bucks County commissioner, and Luca Simonelli, a mathematician and political newcomer, are vying in the Democratic primary for the chance to flip the seat.
And in the 8th District, Rep. Rob Bresnahan is set to try to win a second term in Congress after flipping the seat previously held by then-Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright in 2024 by a slim margin. Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, will be set to be Democrats’ standard-bearer to flip the seat. She faces no primary challengers.
In the 10th District, incumbent Rep. Scott Perry, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, is set to try to win an eighth term in Congress. The Democrats vying to unseat him in their own primary are Janelle Stelson, a Shapiro-endorsed former local television anchor who was the district’s Democratic nominee in 2024, and Justin Douglas, a Dauphin County commissioner.
Another key race to watch in Pennsylvania, although not one is considered a battleground, is the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania’s 3rd District. The deeply-blue district, which covers a swath of Philadelphia, is opening up as incumbent Rep. Dwight Evans is retiring.
State Sen. Sharif Street, progressive state Rep. Chris Rabb, and pediatric surgeon Ala Stanford are the frontrunner candidates. Whoever wins is on a glide path to Congress as no Republicans are running for the seat.
ABC News’ Julia Cherner contributed to this report.
Police cordon off an area close to the Islamic Center of San Diego after reports of an active shooter on Monday, May 18, 2026. (K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)
(SAN DIEGO) — Three adult men, one of whom was a security guard, were killed in a shooting at the Islamic Center of San Diego on Monday, authorities said.
The security guard appeared to play a “pivotal role” in keeping the shooting from being worse, police said at a news conference.
Both suspects, who are teenagers, are dead from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds, police said.
All children are safe, police said.
Photos show children being evacuated from the area.
Police said the shooting is currently being considered a hate crime since it took place at a mosque.
The Islamic Center of San Diego says it is the largest mosque in San Diego County.
“We strongly condemn this horrifying act of violence,” Tazheen Nizam, the executive director of the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by this attack. No one should ever fear for their safety while attending prayers or studying at an elementary school.”
In New York City, the NYPD said there’s “no known nexus to NYC or specific threats to NYC houses of worship,” but the department said it is increasing officer deployments to mosques “out of an abundance of caution.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Contributor/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to visit Beijing this week for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Putin is scheduled to be welcomed at the airport upon landing in Beijing on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin, which said he will be greeted by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Then on Wednesday, talks between Putin and Xi are set to occur at the Grand Hall of the People, followed by a formal reception, according to the Kremlin.
The two leaders “will discuss China-Russia relations, cooperation in various fields and international and regional issues of mutual interest,” the spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The state visit marks Putin’s 25th trip to China, according to the spokesperson.
The two discussed the U.S. war in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz, fentanyl and increasing Chinese purchases of American farm products, according to a White House official.
Xi also warned that if the issue of Taiwan is handled “improperly,” the two nations could “come into conflict,” according to China’s official state broadcaster Xinhua.
