News – Page 4 – 105.7 WDNY

Middle East live updates: Israel to act against Houthis in Yemen, Netanyahu says

December 23, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON)– Rebel forces in Syria are building a transitional government after toppling the regime of President Bashar Assad in a lightning-quick advance across the country.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza.

Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.

Hamas reports Israeli attack on Gaza’s Nuseirat refugee camp

Hamas on Monday said the Israel Defense Forces killed or wounded at least 50 people in an air and ground assault on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

An IDF airstrike was followed by an incursion into the camp supported by 17 heavy vehicles, among them tanks and bulldozers, Hamas said.

Israeli forces also attacked Nuseirat camp two weeks ago, killing at least 33 people according to the Gaza Government Media Office.

The IDF is yet to comment on Monday’s operation.

-ABC News’ Diaa Ostaz and Tomek Rolski

Netanyahu says Israel will act against Houthis after missile strike

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that his nation would “act forcefully” against the Houthis in Yemen after a weekend missile attack on Tel Aviv injured 16 people, according to Israeli emergency authorities.

“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s evil axis, so we will act against the Houthis — the result will be the same,” Netanyahu said in a statement posted to X.

Since October 2023, the Houthis have been launching attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea, as well as long-range drone and missile attacks towards Israel.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it intercepted a Houthi missile but that debris destroyed a school building in Tel Aviv.

The Houthis — which have close ties with Iran and are part of the Tehran-led “Axis of Resistance” — are demanding an end to Israel’s war in Gaza, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, infiltration attack into southern Israel.

The U.S. and U.K. — supported by other allies — have launched a series of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen since January. Israel has also launched significant strikes in Yemen in recent months, most recently on Thursday.

At least 7 dead after IDF strikes humanitarian area in Gaza

At least seven people were killed after an Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, which is located in the southern Gaza Strip.

The strike hit a collection of tents within what had been designated a humanitarian area, where displaced people were sheltering.

The Israel Defense Forces acknowledged the strike on Sunday, saying in a statement it was “an intelligence-based strike on a Hamas terrorist.”

“Prior to the strike, numerous steps were taken to mitigate the risk of harming civilians, including the use of precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and additional intelligence,” the IDF said.

– ABC News’ William Gretsky

21 killed in Gaza, IDF northern offensive continues

The Gaza Ministry of Health said Saturday that 21 people were killed and 61 injured in three separate Israeli attacks over the last 24 hours in the Hamas-run territory.

A total of 45,227 people have been killed since the start of the war, health officials said.

Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces continued intense operations in northern Gaza, particularly around the Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia.

The director of the hospital said there is shooting “around the clock” nearby, adding that on Friday the third floor and the hospital entrance were shelled.

The director said the IDF is blocking the entry of all requested medical supplies. Nine people need urgent evacuation for surgery in Gaza City and the hospital is currently treating over 70 people, he said.

-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Victoria Beaule

Ukraine special forces claim over 100 North Koreans killed or wounded

December 23, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Ukrainian special forces claimed on Monday to have inflicted more than 100 casualties among North Korean forces over three days of operations.

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces branch claimed in a post to its official Telegram channel that 77 North Koreans were killed and 40 wounded in recent fighting.

On Sunday, the SSO posted photos of what it said were North Korean troops killed in Russia’s western Kursk region. The SSO also uploaded photos of purportedly fabricated Russian military identity cards. ABC News was not immediately able to independently verify the images.

“Russia is trying to hide the presence of military personnel from North Korea by issuing them with fake documents,” the SSO wrote.

It added that the documents “do not have all the seals, photographs, the patronymics are given in the Russian manner and the place of birth is signed as the Republic of Tuva,” the home region of Sergei Shoigu — formerly Russia’s defense minister and now the secretary of the Security Council.

The SSO said the signatures of the document owners were written in Korean, which it said “indicates the real origin of these soldiers.”

U.S., South Korean and Ukrainian officials have said there are currently up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers inside Russia, deployed there primarily to help push Kyiv’s forces out of positions taken in Russia’s western Kursk region since August 2024.

Ukrainian military sources told ABC News in November that North Koreans were expected to be among the 50,000 troops arrayed for a major counter-offensive in Kursk.

The deployment of troops marks a new milestone in North Korean support for Russia’s war, Pyongyang already having supplied Moscow with ammunition and weapons — including ballistic missiles — since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier this month that Kyiv has “preliminary data that the Russians have begun to use North Korean soldiers in their assaults — a significant number of them.”

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s Main Directorate of Intelligence, meanwhile, has reported “significant casualties” among North Korean troops deployed on the front lines alongside Russian units.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Monday that Seoul expects Pyongyang to send more troops and equipment to Russia.

“North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops [in Russia], while currently supplying 240mm rocket launchers and 170mm self-propelled artillery,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, as quoted by Yonhap.

“There are also some signs of [the North] moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones,” the JCS said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a drone production and test facility in November. Then, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said Kim “underscored the need to build a serial production system as early as possible and go into full-scale mass production.”

Biden commutes sentences of nearly all federal death row inmates

December 23, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is commuting the sentences of 37 inmates on federal death row, the White House said Monday.

The move reduces the sentence for all but three of the 40 inmates on federal death row. Biden said that the commutations are “consistent with the moratorium my Administration has imposed on federal executions,” with the exception of terrorism and hate-motivated mass killings.

The three people on the federal execution list who were not on Biden’s commutation list are Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the perpetrators of the Boston Marathon bombing; Robert Bowers, who was convicted of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue antisemitic attack; and Dylann Roof, who killed nine Black churchgoers in a racially motivated shooting in South Carolina.

According to the White House fact sheet about the move, the recipients of the commutations will have their sentences “reclassified from execution to life without the possibility of parole.”

“Make no mistake: I condemn these murderers, grieve for the victims of their despicable acts, and ache for all the families who have suffered unimaginable and irreparable loss,” Biden wrote in a statement about the commutations.

“But guided by my conscience and my experience as a public defender, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Vice President, and now President, I am more convinced than ever that we must stop the use of the death penalty at the federal level,” Biden added.

The White House fact sheet said that the move was an effort to prevent President-elect Donald Trump from “carrying out the execution sentences that would not be handed down under current policy and practice.”

This decision comes after some notable figures and many activists called for Biden to take action. Pope Francis has called for the sentences of Americans on death row to be commuted during his Angelus address in October, the Vatican News Source reported.

“Today, I feel compelled to ask all of you to pray for the inmates on death row in the United States,” the Pope said at the time, according to the report. “Let us pray that their sentences may be commuted or changed. Let us think of these brothers and sisters of ours and ask the Lord for the grace to save them from death.”

Biden is a devout Catholic and is set next month to visit the Holy See during a trip to Italy, where he will also have an audience with the pope.

Activists have called for Biden to commute the sentence of many or all federal death row inmates for some time. More than 130 civil and human rights groups penned a letter to the president in early December calling on him to commute the sentences of “all individuals on federal death row.”

“The only irreversible action you can take to prevent President-elect Trump from renewing his execution spree, as he has vowed to do, is commuting the death sentences of those on federal death row now. Your ability to change the course of the death penalty in the United States will be a defining, legacy-building moment in American history,” the letter said.

It is also an issue of racial justice. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 38% of federal death row inmates are Black — compared to the 14% of total American population according to the Pew Research Center. About 56% of the 40 men on federal death row were men of color, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

On CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, a close confidant of Biden, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said that he had urged the president to take action, citing the unfairness in the justice system.

“There are some real questions about the fairness in the process of the death penalty in the United States,” Coons said.

He added, “And I don’t know what President Biden will ultimately do, but I think there are reasons, both in terms of racial justice, due process, and what it says domestically and to the world about our values if we were to go ahead and execute all of these individuals, rather than have them spend the rest of life in prison.”

Pig kidney transplants, new schizophrenia drug: Here are 5 of the biggest medical breakthroughs in 2024

December 23, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — From a pig kidney transplant to restoring genetic deafness, 2024 was a year full of medical breakthroughs.

The breakthroughs include the discovery of a cause of an autoimmune disease, the development of a “game-changing” drug and potential hope for those experiencing end-stage organ failure.

Here are five of the biggest highlights in medical achievements this year:

Gene therapy restores hearing in children

Children with hereditary deafness regained their hearing thanks to a type of gene therapy, according to the results of a clinical trial published in the medical journal The Lancet in January.

Investigators from Mass Eye and Ear, a specialty hospital in Boston, examined six children who had a form of genetic deafness called DFNB9, which is caused by a gene mutation that interferes with the transmission of sound signals from the ear to the brain.

Gene therapy involved the use of an inactive virus carrying a functioning version of the gene, which was introduced into the inner ears of the six children.

After 26 weeks, five of the six children recovered their hearing and could even conduct “normal conversation.”

“Children with this genetic hearing loss…the only treatment option for them until now is [a] cochlear implant,” Dr. Zheng-Yi Chen, an associate scientist in the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Mass Eye and Ear and study co-investigator, told ABC News. “And of course, [a] cochlear implant can help them tremendously, but it’s with its own limitations.”

“But with this gene therapy, the children regain hearing, and they were able to speak. So, in a way, the life is totally transformed,” he continued. “This study really opened up the whole field that, in the future, we’ll be able to develop a treatment for other [types] of genetic hearing loss, for which there is no treatment at all at the moment.”

Groundbreaking animal organ transplant

Surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) conducted the world’s first genetically-edited pig kidney transplant into a living human in March 2024.

During a four-hour procedure, a surgical team connected the pig kidney’s blood vessels and ureter – the duct that carries urine from the kidney to the bladder – with those of 62-year-old Richard Slayman, a man living with end-stage kidney disease.

“For patients with kidney failure, we know that transplantation is the best treatment option, but unfortunately, we face an immense organ shortage,” Dr. Leonardo Riella, medical director of kidney transplantation at MGH, told ABC News. “So, we have over 100,000 patients waiting for a kidney transplant in the U.S., and more than 17 patients die every day on the waiting list.”

“So, the idea here is, how can we overcome this organ shortage barrier? And having kidneys from another species that could be delivered in a timely manner for these patients once they develop kidney failure could be game-changing for the entire field,” he added.

Slayman passed away in May of this year, but there is no evidence it was the result of the transplant, according to MGH.

Riella said over the course of Slayman’s care, much was learned about how to best deliver care when using animal organs for transplants in the hopes of making the treatment more widely available to patients waiting for a new organ.

A cause of lupus discovered

A team at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Northwestern Medicine said they have discovered a cause of the autoimmune disease lupus and a possible way to reverse it.

Lupus sees the body’s immune system mistakenly attack its own healthy cells and tissues, which can cause inflammation and damage in organs or systems, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In a study, published in the journal Nature in July, researchers compared blood samples from 19 lupus patients to 19 patients without the condition and found imbalances in the types of T-cells lupus patients produce.

T-cells are a certain type of white blood cell that plays a crucial role in the body’s immune response to the disease.

“We’ve identified a fundamental imbalance in the immune responses that patients with lupus make, and we’ve defined specific mediators that can correct this imbalance to dampen the pathologic autoimmune response,” co-corresponding author Dr. Deepak Rao, a rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and co-director of its Center for Cellular Profiling, said in a press release at the time.

1st new class of schizophrenia drug in more than 3 decades

In September, the FDA approved the first new class of drug to treat people with schizophrenia in more than 30 years.

The pill, called Cobenfy – manufactured by Bristol Myers Squibb – combines two drugs, xanomeline and trospium chloride, and is taken twice a day.

Clinical trials showed the combination helped manage schizophrenia symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions and disorganized thinking.

Dr. René Kahn, chair of psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, said it took many years to develop the first medications for schizophrenia, which are effective in preventing psychosis and work by blocking dopamine receptors.

“Blocking the dopamine receptor directly or indirectly is very unpleasant. Sometimes for patients, they can have unpleasant side effects. It can decrease their energy, it can make them feel depressed, and it can give them Parkinsonian side effects,” Kahn told ABC News.

He described Cobenfy as “game-changing in the sense that this is the first drug that doesn’t directly – with the emphasis on directly – influence the dopamine system and certainly doesn’t block dopamine receptors. So that’s very important, because it may show that we don’t have to directly block or affect the dopamine system but can do that through a different mechanism.”

Kahn said the next step will be monitoring the drug as it is prescribed to thousands of schizophrenia patients to ensure it works and that side effects are minimal.

1st over-the-counter combo flu and COVID test outside of emergency use

The FDA authorized the first over-the-counter combination COVID-19 and flu test outside of emergency use in October.

The Healgen Rapid Check COVID-19/Flu A&B Antigen Test can be purchased at a pharmacy or other stores without a prescription.

While there are other over-the-counter combination tests currently available, this is the first to be marketed to consumers using the traditional approval pathway outside of a public health emergency, according to the FDA.

Democratic Sen. Fetterman: ‘I’m not rooting against’ Trump

December 22, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. John Fetterman said he hopes President-elect Donald Trump is successful in his second term and that he’s not “rooting against him.”

“If you’re rooting against the president, you are rooting against the nation,” Fetterman told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “So country first. I know that’s become maybe like a cliche, but it happens to be true.”

Fetterman, who has made headlines as one of the few in his party who have met with several of Trump’s cabinet picks, said his Democratic colleagues need to “chill out” over everything Trump does.

“I’ve been warning people, like, ‘You got to chill out,’ you know? Like the constant, you know, freakout, it’s not helpful,” Fetterman said. “Pack a lunch, pace yourself, because he hasn’t even taken office yet.”

Asked by Karl what the single biggest factor was behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ loss in November, Fetterman pointed to the “undeniable” and “singular political talent” of Trump.

“He had the energy and almost a sense of fearlessness to just say all those kinds of things,” Fetterman said. “You literally were shot in your head and had the presence of mind to respond, you know, ‘Fight, fight, fight!’ I mean, that’s a political talent.”

Fetterman also said that the election was “never about fascism” to him. Harris said in an October town hall that she believed Trump was a fascist after Trump’s former chief of staff John Kelly said that his old boss fit the definition of one. Fetterman said that was not a word he would use.

“Fascism, that’s not a word that regular people, you know, use, you know?” Fetterman said. “I think people are going to decide who is the candidate that’s going to protect and project, you know, my version of the American way of life, and that’s what happened.”

Fetterman also pointed to Elon Musk’s endorsement of Trump as another key factor in the election.

“It’s rare to have a surrogate that has a lot of fanboys and is very compelling to a lot of the demographic that we are losing in my party and in Pennsylvania,” Fetterman said about the billionaire businessman.

Fetterman said Musk’s endorsement “really mattered” and he believed it did “move the needle.”

Fetterman was the first Democrat in the Senate to meet with Pete Hegseth, the controversial former Fox News anchor who Trump selected for defense secretary. Fetterman has not ruled out supporting him — or any of Trump’s other picks.

“My commitment, and I think I’m doing the job, is I’m going to sit down and have a conversation,” Fetterman said. “To me, it would be distressing if, if he is confirmed, if the Democrats are going to turn our back collectively to the leader of the defense. I mean, that’s astonishing and that’s dangerous.”

Along with Hegseth, Fetterman has met with Tulsi Gabbard, Trump’s pick for director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, Trump’s selection for FBI director.

Patel’s vow to take on Trump’s political enemies has drawn scrutiny. Asked by Karl whether he thinks Patel will use the FBI to do so, Fetterman said while he wasn’t able to go into detail due to the off-the-record nature of the meeting, “That’s never going to happen.”

“So you see yourself inclined to be open to supporting these controversial nominees?” Karl asked.

“Potentially,” Fetterman replied. “But nobody can accuse me of just saying I had a closed mind, or I just said no because Trump picked this person, or whatever.”

Fetterman has said he will vote to confirm Rep. Elise Stefanik as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He said he will also back Sen. Marco Rubio for secretary of state.

“Rubio, for me, it’s like, he’s in the other party, obviously, but you know, there’s a lot of, the Venn [diagram] is closer, there’s a lot of overlap,” Fetterman said. “If I was, as a Democrat, looking to assemble a bipartisan cabinet, he’d be a solid choice.”

Asked what his message to Trump would be if the president-elect called him, Fetterman said he’d like to talk about opportunities where “we could work together.”

“I’d like to avoid the, you know, the cheap heat and some of the other stuff, but it’s going to be a kooky ride, I’m sure,” he said. “And you know, I try to be a committed, steady voice for Pennsylvania and to remember that we have to find as many wins in the middle of incredibly divisive times.”

5 hurt, driver dead after fleeing suspect drives truck into Texas mall: Authorities

December 22, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(KILLEEN, Texas) — Five people were hurt after a man fleeing troopers drove a truck “several hundred yards” through the entrance of a mall on Saturday in Killeen, Texas, the Texas Department of Public Safety said.

Four people were injured as the driver was “actively running people over” and a fifth later went to the hospital on their own, Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Bryan Washko said during a news conference Saturday evening.

The man driving the truck was fatally shot after multiple law enforcement officers fired their weapons, including three who were off-duty, Washko said.

The victims’ ages ranged from 6 to 75, Washko said.

The suspect has not yet been identified.

The incident began unfolding about 5 p.m. local time when state troopers attempted to stop the suspect, who was driving a black pickup truck, on suspicion of possible DUI, Washko. The driver kept going, eventually entering the parking lot of the Killeen Mall, and then drove through glass doors of a JCPenney, striking multiple people, according to Washko.

Authorities are investigating whether it was an intentional act or whether the man drove into the mall entrance “out of desperation because he was being pursued,” Washko said.

“Thankfully he was stopped when he was, because it could have been so much worse,” Washko said. “This mall is pretty busy at this time of year.”

Initial calls for the incident reported an active shooter, but that did not turn out to be the case, he said.

Killeen, a city of nearly 160,000 residents, is located about 70 miles north of Austin.

5 killed, 200 injured in German Christmas market attack

December 22, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — At least five people, including a 9-year-old, are now known to have been killed in the vehicle-ramming attack on a Christmas market in the German city of Magdeburg on Friday, German officials said Saturday. The four other victims killed in the attack were adults, according to police.

At least 200 more people were injured when a car plowed into festive market-goers in the eastern German city, around 75 miles west of the capital Berlin, according to Minister President of Saxony-Anhalt Reiner Haseloff.

The Magdeburg Christmas market will be closed for the remainder of the season, police told reporters Saturday.

At least 41 of those injured in the attack are in serious condition, according to police. Their lives are still thought to be in danger, according to Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

A suspect — a doctor from Saudi Arabia aged around 50 — was arrested, Haselhoff said. The man has lived in Germany since 2006. A rental car was used in the attack, the minister said.

He will be charged with 5 counts of murder and grievous bodily harm, according to police.

The first emergency call came in at 7:02 p.m. local time and the driver was stopped within three minutes of the attack, according to a police official. Police believe the suspect entered via the space left open for emergency vehicles to access the area.

Police believe the suspect acted alone.

The prosecutor said they are still clarifying the motive behind the attack, but said that it’s possibly linked to “dissatisfaction with the treatment of refugees from Saudi Arabia and how they’ve been treated in Germany,” but they will “need more time” to determine this.

Police said the suspect has undergone physical and psychological exams but police do not yet have the results.

At Magdeburg Cathedral, a huge crowd gathered on Saturday inside and outside for a memorial service to the victims. Attendees included the mayor, Sholz and first responders.

Elsewhere in the city, a smaller crowd held an anti-immigrant protest with a sign that said “Remigration” and waved German flags, as well as flags of Imperial Germany and ones reading “Homeland.”

U.S. law enforcement sources told ABC News that German authorities are treating the attack as a terrorist incident.

“We send our deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of those killed and injured and to all those affected by this terrible incident,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

“We stand in solidarity with the people of Germany in grieving the loss of life. The United States is ready to provide assistance as recovery efforts continue and authorities investigate this horrible incident,” Miller’s statement continued.

Scholz offered his condolences to those affected. “My thoughts are with the victims and their families,” Scholz said in a statement. “We stand by their side and by the side of the people of Magdeburg. My thanks go to the dedicated rescue workers in these anxious hours.”

Friday’s ramming incident came almost exactly eight years after a similar terror attack at a Christmas market in the German capital. On Dec. 19, 2016, a man drove a truck into a crowd at a market in Berlin, killing 13 and injuring dozens.

U.S. law enforcement officials have warned of similar vehicle-ramming attacks on American soil, particularly over the festive season.

A joint threat assessment about New Year’s Eve in New York City’s Times Square, for example, noted the use of vehicle-ramming alone or in conjunction with other tactics “has become a recurring tactic employed by threat actors in the West.”

The NYPD, out of an abundance of caution, will surge resources to similar areas around the city, including Christmas markets, according to NYPD deputy commissioner for counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner.

“We know this is a very festive time, it is a busy time in the city, and we are going to make sure that all of our holiday markets, all of our holiday activities are protected by our counter weapons teams, by officers on patrol, all our counter-terrorism officers, our critical response command,” Weiner told ABC New York station WABC.

2 Navy pilots shot down over Red Sea in ‘friendly fire’ incident: Military

December 22, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. Navy pilots ejected safely over the Red Sea after their F/A-18 fighter aircraft was mistakenly shot down early Sunday in what military officials are calling “an apparent case of friendly fire.”

One of the pilots has minor injuries, according to a news release from U.S. Central Command.

The guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg, which is part of the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group, mistakenly fired on and hit the aircraft, that was flying off the USS Harry S. Truman, according to the news release.

The military said a full investigation is underway.

The U.S. Navy has been patrolling the region for over a year to combat ongoing attacks on commercial ships from the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war.

Several hours earlier, the military said U.S forces conducted precision airstrikes against a missile storage facility and a command-and-control facility used by the Houthis and shot down multiple uncrewed aerial vehicles and an anti-ship cruise missile.

That operation involved the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy and included F/A-18 aircraft.

Russian airports disrupted after ‘massive’ overnight drone exchange with Ukraine

December 21, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Two Russian airports were put under flight restrictions early Saturday after authorities alleged an attack by Ukrainian drones, according to state-run news agencies.

The state-owned RIA Novosti agency reported that Russia’s Federal Air Transport Agency announced a temporary block on landing and takeoff at Kazan International Airport and restrictions at Gagarin Airport in the city of Saratov — both in the southwest of the country.

Kazan is more than 600 miles from the closest Ukrainian-controlled territory. Saratov is more than 350 miles from Ukrainian-held territory.

The press service of the head of the Tatarstan region — of which Kazan is the largest city — said authorities recorded eight drones attacking the city, with no reported casualties, according to the state-run Tass news agency.

“One was at an industrial enterprise, one was over a river and six were at a residential area,” the press service said, as quoted by Tass.

Kazan Mayor Ilsur Metshin said that fires were reported in houses in three districts of the city and announced selective evacuation of schools where it was deemed necessary, Tass reported.

Tatarstan head Rustam Minnikhanov wrote on Telegram that the region was subjected to “a massive UAV attack.”

“All forces have been deployed,” Minnikhanov added. “The most important thing is not to panic. We have instructed the government to inform the population about evacuation sites in a timely manner.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed six Ukrainian drones over the city, which it said were “flying in three waves from different directions.” Three were shot down and three defeated using electronic warfare measures, the ministry said.

In total, the ministry said it shot down 19 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory.

Ukraine’s air force, meanwhile, said Russia launched 113 drones into Ukraine overnight, of which air defense teams shot down 57.

Another 56 went missing due to “active countermeasures” by Ukrainian defenders, the air force added.

Air raid sirens sounded across Ukraine on Saturday morning with the air force warning of a “threat of the use of ballistic weapons throughout the territory of Ukraine.”

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Saturday that the latest destroyed an oncology center in the southern city of Kherson and damaged apartment buildings in Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia. Kyiv was targeted by ballistic missiles, while Sumy, Kryvyi Rih, the Dnipropetrovsk region and the Donetsk regions all reported shelling.

Seven people were reported injured in Zaporizhzhia and six in Kharkiv, officials said.

“This is the Russian terror we are countering,” Zelenskyy wrote on X. “I am grateful to our partners who continue to stand with Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia. Together, through our collective strength, we will secure a lasting peace.”

Saturday’s attacks followed a combined missile and drone strike on Kyiv early on Friday, which the Kyiv City Military Administration said caused significant damage to buildings in the city center and killed at least one person.

The strike also damaged several foreign embassies, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tkhiyi told journalists on Friday. Tkhiyi described the attack as “barbaric.”

ABC News’ Natalya Kushnir, Anastasia Bagaeva and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.

Mega Millions jackpot surges to $862 million

December 21, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Mega Millions jackpot surges to 2 million

Mega Millions jackpot surges to $862 million — youngvet/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot surged to $944 million on Saturday after no ticket matched the numbers drawn on Friday, the lottery said.

The winning numbers on Friday were 2, 20, 51, 56, 57 and gold Mega Ball 19.

The next drawing will be on Tuesday, Dec. 24.

The jackpot prize has a cash value of $429 million, which can be offered as a one-time lump sum payment, or an immediate payment followed by annual payments.

The jackpot has been rolling since it was last won at $810 million in Texas on Sept. 10.

The total of $862 million is the seventh-largest prize in Mega Millions history. The largest Mega Millions prize ever won was $1.6 billion on August 2023.

The odds of winning the jackpot are 1 in 302,575,350, according to Mega Millions.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Tickets are $2 for one play.

+ More