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25 countries sign statement calling for end of war in Gaza

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Twenty-five countries have released a joint statement calling for the immediate end of the war in Gaza and accusing Israel of not allowing sufficient aid in, demanding it must do so to comply with international humanitarian law.

“We, the signatories listed below, come together with a simple, urgent message: the war in Gaza must end now,” the statement began. “The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths. The Israeli government’s aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity.”

“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law,” the statement further said.

Throughout the conflict, Israel has maintained they are sending enough aid into Gaza but international aid organizations have repeatedly said there is not enough aid, and the United Nations has reported conditions of malnutrition inside of Gaza.

The statement is signed by the foreign ministers of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.K.

The call to action was released Monday following an incident Sunday in which at least 81 Palestinians were killed and another 150 were injured while trying to gain access to food, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health, which said the majority of those killed were gathered near the Zikim border between Gaza and Israel.

The Israel Defense Forces said Sunday that its troops fired near crowds “in order to remove an immediate threat posed to them,” though it wasn’t specific. A review is ongoing, but “preliminary review indicates that the reported number of casualties does not align with existing information,” according to the IDF.

Oren Marmorstein, a spokesperson for the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a statement on X Monday that the country “rejects” the 25-nation joint statement “as it is disconnected from reality and sends the wrong message to Hamas.”

“All statements and all claims should be directed at the only party responsible for the lack of a deal for the release of hostages and a ceasefire: Hamas, which started this war and is prolonging it,” Marmorstein’s statement said.

The statement further said that while there is a “concrete proposal for a ceasefire deal,” Hamas “stubbornly refuses to accept it.”

“The statement fails to focus the pressure on Hamas and fails to recognize Hamas’s role and responsibility for the situation.” Marmorstein said. “Hamas is the sole party responsible for the continuation of the war and the suffering on both sides.”

“At these sensitive moments in the ongoing negotiations, it is better to avoid statements of this kind,” the Marmorstein statement concluded.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee called the joint statement “disgusting” in a post on X. “25 nations put pressure on @Israel instead of savages of Hamas! Gaza suffers for 1 reason: Hamas rejects EVERY proposal. Blaming Israel is irrational,” the post said.

At least 875 people have been killed in Gaza while trying to get food aid in recent weeks, according to the United Nations.

“It is horrifying that over 800 Palestinians have been killed while seeking aid,” the joint statement said. It also condemned Hamas for refusing to release the remaining Israeli hostages.

“The hostages cruelly held captive by Hamas since 7 October 2023 continue to suffer terribly. We condemn their continued detention and call for their immediate and unconditional release,” the statement said. “A negotiated ceasefire offers the best hope of bringing them home and ending the agony of their families.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement Monday that he is “appalled by the accelerating breakdown of humanitarian conditions in Gaza.”

The “last lifelines keeping people alive are collapsing,” Guterres said in part, adding that he “condemns the ongoing violence, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families.”

“Civilians must be protected and respected, and they must never be targeted. The population in Gaza remains gravely undersupplied with the basic necessities of life,” Guterres’ statement said.

The 25 signatory countries further called on the Israeli government to “immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid and to urgently enable the UN and humanitarian NGOs to do their life saving work safely and effectively,” and for “all parties to protect civilians and uphold the obligations of international humanitarian law.”

“We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end, through an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire,” the statement continued. “Further bloodshed serves no purpose.  We reaffirm our complete support to the efforts of the US, Qatar and Egypt to achieve this.”

“We are prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire and a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region,” the statement concluded.

On Sunday, Pope Leo XIV also renewed calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“I once again call for an immediate end to the barbarity of this war and for a peaceful resolution to the conflict,” the pope said during Sunday Angelus prayer from his summer retreat in Castel Gandolfo, according to the Associated Press.

Trump administration releases FBI records on MLK Jr.’s assassination

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Monday announced the release of 230,000 files related to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

“Today, after nearly 60 years of questions surrounding the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., we are releasing 230,000 MLK assassination files, available now at http://archives.gov/mlk,” Gabbard wrote in a post on X. “The documents include details about the FBI’s investigation into the assassination of MLK, discussion of potential leads, internal FBI memos detailing the progress of the case, information about James Earl Ray’s former cellmate who stated he discussed with Ray an alleged assassination plot, and more.”

King, a Baptist minister from Atlanta and the country’s most famous civil rights activist, was assassinated in Memphis on April 4, 1968 at the age of 39.

James Earl Ray, a convicted robber and prison escapee, was identified as King’s killer after his fingerprint was found on the rifle used in the assassination and discarded near the murder scene. Police believe Ray shot King from a boarding house across from the Lorraine Motel after stalking the civil rights leader for more than two weeks.

In March 1969, Ray pleaded guilty to King’s murder to avoid the death penalty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison, where he died in 1998.

Following Monday’s announcement, King’s family called for the documents’ release to be “viewed within their full historical context.”

“During our father’s lifetime, he was relentlessly targeted by an invasive, predatory, and deeply disturbing disinformation and surveillance campaign orchestrated by J. Edgar Hoover through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),” his family said in a statement. “The intent of the government’s COINTELPRO campaign was not only to monitor, but to discredit, dismantle, and destroy Dr. King’s reputation and the broader American Civil Rights Movement.”

The family said that as it reviews the released files, “we will assess whether they offer additional insights beyond the findings our family has already accepted.” They also said they “strongly condemn any attempts to misuse these documents in ways intended to undermine our father’s legacy and the significant achievements of the movement.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Jacksonville sheriff investigating viral video of man punched, beaten during traffic stop

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — An investigation has been opened after a cellphone video that appears to show sheriff’s deputies punching and beating a Black man during a traffic stop went viral on social media, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.

“We are aware of a video circulating on social media showing a traffic stop represented to be from February 19, 2025,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement on Sunday. “We have launched an internal investigation into it and the circumstances surrounding this incident. We hold our officers to the highest standards and are committed to thoroughly determining exactly what occurred.”

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Harvard asks judge to block Trump administration from withholding federal funds

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for Harvard University and the American Association of University Professors asked a federal judge Monday to prevent the Trump administration from withholding federal funds from the school.

Lawyers for university are seeking a motion for summary judgment to prevent the administration from withholding federal funding if the school does not comply with its list of demands.

At a hearing Monday, the government argued that its grant contracts with Harvard include language saying the government can terminate its contracts if the school does not align with the government’s priorities.

“Harvard should have read the fine print,” Michael Velchik, an attorney for government argued.

Government attorneys say the government’s priorities include combatting antisemitism, and that the administration will not fund institutions that fail to address antisemitism to its satisfaction.

The same money could be sent to HBCUs or any other university that does not discriminate on the basis of race, Velchik said.

Saying that the government can terminate its contract regardless of the reason, Velchik argued that Harvard should bring a termination of contract claim in the Court of Federal Claims.

When the judge pushed back that claims of constitutional violations cannot be brought in that court, Velchik maintained that this is a termination of contract issue.

“This case is only about money. Harvard is the richest university in history,” Velchik said. “Harvard wants billions of dollars that’s the only reason why we are here.”

Velchik said that recent pro-Palestinian protests have prompted students on campus to wear baseball caps to hide their identity and have prompted professors to avoiding walking through Harvard Yard. Federal taxpayers should not support this, he argued.

President Donald Trump issued an order to combat antisemitism, and the government’s policy is that that taxpayer dollars do not go to institutions that fail to address antisemitism, Velchik said.

Attorneys for Harvard pushed back, saying they brought the case against the government to protect the school’s constitutional and statutory rights.

“Until today I’m not sure we heard any explanation about what the agency priorities are,” Steven Paul Lehotsky, an attorney for Harvard, said.

The provision of funding contracts that allows the government to terminate contracts in pursuit of its priorities refers to research priorities, not institutions that the government prefers, Lehotsky said. For example, shifting from funding Covid vaccines to something else, not shifting from funding one institution to another, he said.

“This is an astounding theory that only the executive branch could possibly love,” Lehotsky said.

Lehotsky argued that the government simply did not want to follow the procedures mandated by Title VI. They can’t choose to follow it whenever they decide it is convenient for them, he argued.

If they have a provision that they can terminate funding for any reason, “that doesn’t mean that they get to set aside the Constitution,” he said.

U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs said at the end of the hearing that she would try to get out an opinion as quickly as she can.

Trump, posting on his social media platform Monday, criticized Burroughs and called her “a TOTAL DISASTER.”

“She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic ‘loss’ for the People of our Country!” Trump wrote, saying that the government would “IMMEDIATELY appeal” if the judge rules in Harvard’s favor.

ABC News’ Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.

Abrego Garcia’s attorneys request 30-day stay if he is ordered released pending trial

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s attorneys on Monday asked a federal judge for a 30-day stay if he is ordered released from custody while awaiting trial.

The lawyers said their request comes after they were advised by the government that if released, the Department of Homeland Security would begin removal proceedings for the accused MS-13 gang member.

“Given the uncertainty of the outcome of any removal proceedings, Mr. Abrego respectfully requests that, should the Court deny the government’s motion for revocation, the issuance of an order releasing Mr. Abrego be delayed for 30 days to allow Mr. Abrego to evaluate his options and determine whether additional relief is necessary,” his lawyers wrote.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13, which he denies.

He was brought back to the U.S. last month to face charges in Tennessee of allegedly transporting undocumented migrants within the U.S. while he was living in Maryland. He has pleaded not guilty.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Waverly Crenshaw Jr. said he anticipates making a decision Monday on whether Abrego Garcia should be released pending trial.

The attorneys said in Monday’s filing that the government does not oppose their request for a stay.

Florida man arrested for threatening to kill ‘EVERY ONE’ on Epstein ‘client list’

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A Florida man was arrested last week for allegedly threatening on X to kill “EVERY ONE” on what he believed was the Jeffrey Epstein client list, charging documents unsealed Monday show.

Terrell Bailey-Corsey allegedly posted the threats on X last Tuesday, seemingly reacting to a response from X’s AI agent Grok that disputed any such client list exists, as the FBI and Justice Department recently confirmed.

“Well @grok you’re wrong. Everyone involved if I see them in real life I will KILL. On sight,” Bailey-Corsey allegedly said. “I will KILL EVERYONE ON THE LIST. ON SIGHT. AND THEY ABSOLUTELY DESERVE IT.”

Roughly an hour after that post, Bailey-Corsey posted another message singling out three government officials — unnamed in the charging documents — saying he would “KILL YOU ON SIGHT.”

“IT’S TIME TO START KILLING POLITICIANS ON SIGHT,” he added minutes later.

Prosecutors detailed multiple other concerning messages they say were posted by Bailey-Corsey over the next several days, including a video posted where he threatened another unnamed government official.

News of Bailey-Corsey’s arrest was first reported by CourtWatch.

A public defender listed as representing Bailey-Corsey did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

As of Monday afternoon, Bailey-Corsey had not yet made his initial court appearance according to court records, and had not yet entered a plea.

Epstein, a wealthy financier and convicted sex offender, died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of minors.

Harvard argues against Trump administration’s withholding of federal funds

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for Harvard University and the American Association of University Professors are in federal court Monday to argue against the Trump administration’s withholding of federal funds from the school.

Lawyers for university are seeking a motion for summary judgment to prevent the administration from withholding federal funding if the school does not comply with its list of demands.

At Monday’s hearing, the government is arguing that its grant contracts with Harvard include language saying the government can terminate its contracts if the school does not align with the government’s priorities.

“Harvard should have read the fine print,” Michael Velchik, an attorney for government argued.

Government attorneys say the government’s priorities include combatting antisemitism, and that the administration will not fund institutions that fail to address antisemitism to its satisfaction.

The same money could be sent to HBCUs or any other university that does not discriminate on the basis of race, Velchik said.

Saying that the government can terminate its contract regardless of the reason, Velchik argued that Harvard should bring a termination of contract claim in the Court of Federal Claims.

When the judge pushed back that claims of constitutional violations cannot be brought in that court, Velchik maintained that this is a termination of contract issue.

“This case is only about money. Harvard is the richest university in history,” Velchik said. “Harvard wants billions of dollars that’s the only reason why we are here.”

Judge orders new trial for Pedro Hernandez, man convicted of killing Etan Patz in 1979

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Pedro Hernandez, the man convicted of kidnapping and murdering Etan Patz in 1979, should be retried or released, a federal appeals court ruled Monday.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals based its decision on a flawed jury instruction given by a New York state judge about Hernandez’s purported confessions.

Hernandez, 64, is currently in state prison serving a sentence of 25 years to life after he was convicted in 2017 of kidnapping and murdering Patz, the 6-year-old boy whose face was the first placed on a milk carton to seek public help finding missing children.

A spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said, “We are reviewing the decision.”

Because of the lack of physical evidence, the trial — Hernandez’s second, after the first jury hung — hinged entirely on Hernandez’s purported confessions to luring Etan into a basement as he walked to his school bus stop alone in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood.

Hernandez, who has a documented history of mental illnesses and a low IQ, initially confessed after seven hours of questioning by three police officers. Immediately after Hernandez confessed, the police administered Miranda warnings, began a video recording and had Hernandez repeat his confession on tape. He did so again, several hours later, to an assistant district attorney.

When deliberating, the jury sent the judge three different notes about Hernandez’s confessions. One of them asked the judge to explain whether, if the jury found that Hernandez’s confession before he was read his rights “was not voluntary,” it “must disregard” the later confessions. The judge responded, without further explanation, “the answer is, no.”

The federal appeals court concluded “the state trial court’s instruction was clearly wrong” and “that the error was manifestly prejudicial.” The court said Hernandez must be released or retried within a reasonable amount of time.

Hernandez, a stock boy at a local convenience store, was accused of luring Patz to the basement with a bottle of soda. Patz vanished on the first day he was allowed to walk to the school bus stop alone on May 25, 1979.

His body has never been found.

Jeep maker Stellantis says it will lose $2.7 billion due partly to tariffs

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Jeep maker Stellantis says it will lose .7 billion due partly to tariffs

Jeep maker Stellantis says it will lose $2.7 billion due partly to tariffs — Kevin Carter/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s tariffs are costing Jeep maker Stellantis hundreds of millions of dollars, the company said Monday.

The giant carmaker expects to have suffered nearly $350 million in losses over the first half of 2025 due to direct tariff payments as well as a loss of planned production on account of the company’s response to the policy, preliminary data showed.

In all, the company expects to have lost as much as $2.7 billion over the first half of 2025 as a result of costly efforts to improve profitability and tariff-related expenses. The losses also include compliance charges with Trump’s suspension of financial penalties tied to fuel emissions standards.

Sales in North America plummeted by one-quarter over a three month period ending in June, when compared to the same period a year earlier. The steep decline owed in part to the “reduced manufacture and shipments of imported vehicles, most impacted by tariffs,” Stellantis said.

Tariffs of 25% on vehicles imported into the United States went into effect on April 2. The auto tariffs, which apply to cars and auto parts, threaten to raise costs for carmakers that often oversee an intricate supply chain snaked between the U.S., Mexico, Canada and beyond.

In a memo in March, the White House touted auto tariffs as a means of bolstering domestic car manufacturers and protecting an industry viewed as important to U.S. national security.

The policy, the White House said, will “protect and strengthen the U.S. automotive sector.”

A day after the tariffs took effect, Stellantis announced it would temporarily pause production at two plants: one in Windsor, Canada, and another in Toluca, Mexico. As a result, the company laid off 900 employees across several U.S. facilities in Michigan and Indiana.

Weeks later, Trump eased the auto tariffs, saying the levies would not stack on top of other sector-specific tariffs, such as those on steel and aluminum.

Still, tariffs appear to have weighed on Stellantis over the first half of this year. A press announcement of preliminary earnings data on Monday mentioned the tariff policy six times.

The preliminary figures arrived without company guidance, which Stellantis paused on April 30. The company released the preliminary data in an effort to address the gap between the consensus forecast among analysts and the company’s performance, Stellantis said.

The company had already anticipated challenges this year as it adjusted offerings, slashed U.S. inventory and sought to mend relationships with car dealers.

CEO Antonio Filosa took the helm of the company last month. In a statement on LinkedIn, he issued a company motto attributed to a previous CEO Sergio Marchionne, saying, “Mediocrity is not worth the trip.”

Trump ‘won’t make a deal’ with Washington Commanders if team refuses to change name

July 21, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump has threatened the Washington Commanders football team, stating he will not facilitate a deal for the team’s new stadium to be built in Washington, D.C., if it does not revert to its former name.

“My statement on the Washington Reskins has totally blown up, but only in a very positive way. I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’ I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington,” Trump wrote on his social media platform on Sunday.

In another post on Sunday, Trump called on the Commanders to “immediately” change their name.

“Their heritage and prestige is systematically being taken away from them. Times are different now than they were three or four years ago,” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

ABC News has reached out to the Commanders for comment on Trump’s demands.

Trump also said that the Cleveland Guardians baseball team should switch back to its old name, too, and called out Ohio Senate candidate Matt Dolan, who owns the team, claiming that he lost several elections because of the name change.

“The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election. Indians are being treated very unfairly. MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!,” Trump wrote on Sunday.

The Cleveland Guardians’ president of baseball operations, Chris Antonetti, said in a statement on Sunday that there have not been any plans to change the team’s name, according to The Associated Press.

“We understand there are different perspectives on the decision we made a few years ago, but obviously it’s a decision we made. We’ve got the opportunity to build a brand as the Guardians over the last four years and are excited about the future that’s in front of us,” Antonetti said.

The Guardians didn’t have any additional comment when asked by ABC News.

With the Commanders, Josh Harris, the managing partner for the team, said earlier this year that the team would not be changing its name, according to The Associated Press.

The Association on American Indian Affairs said in a statement to ABC News that Trump’s remarks on Sunday are a “distraction from the real harm this administration continues to inflict on Native Peoples” and that there is “no genuine respect for Native Nations here — only empty gestures and political theater.”

“The idea that Native Nations broadly support the use of these names and mascots is false. Hundreds, if not thousands of Native Nations, Native organizations, scholars and youth leaders have repeatedly and clearly expressed that Native ‘themed’ names and mascots are offensive and dehumanizing,” the association said in a statement on Monday.

The association went on to say that these mascots and names — like the former name for the Commanders — “reduce us to caricatures.”

The Washington Commanders dropped its former name in July 2020 after years of complaints over its racist connotations toward Native Americans. The team adopted the generic “Washington Football Team” two weeks later, though it was only supposed to be in place for the 2020-21 season. Then in 2022, the team revealed it’s new name would be the Washington Commanders.

A 2020 study from the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley found that at least half of more than 1,000 Native Americans surveyed were offended by Commanders’ previous team name.

In 2024, the Senate passed a bipartisan bill with unanimous consent that would allow the federal government to lease more than 170 acres of land at the site where the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium is currently located, which would allow for the possibility of a new stadium to be built. The team currently plays at the Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland.

The bill transfers the jurisdiction of the stadium site from the federal government to local D.C. authorities.

“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C. the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK stadium site. This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans,” Harris said in a statement on Dec. 21, 2024.

ABC News’ Lauren Peller, Mark Osborne and Deena Zaru contributed to this report.

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