(LONDON) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced a temporary ceasefire to come into effect during the 80th anniversary commemoration of V Day, which celebrates the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany in 1945.
The ceasefire will come into effect on May 8 and end on May 10, the Kremlin announced in a statement posted to its official Telegram channel Monday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(ROME and LONDON) — The conclave to replace Pope Francis will begin Wednesday, May 7, the Vatican said on Monday.
Cardinals will convene at the Vatican to begin a process of finding a new pope, who will become the Catholic Church’s 267th leader.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(VANCOUVER) — At least 11 people were killed and “dozens” of others were injured Saturday as a vehicle plowed into a large crowd at a street festival in Vancouver, officials said, describing it as a “mass casualty incident.”
“A 30-year-old suspect, a Vancouver man, was arrested at the scene,” the Vancouver Police Department said in a social media post, later adding, “At this time, we are confident that this incident was not an act of terrorism.”
Vancouver police identified the suspect as Kai-Ji Adam Lo. The BC Prosecution Service charged him with eight counts of second degree murder.
Lo, a Vancouver resident, appeared in court on Sunday and remains in custody. The charge assessment is ongoing and further charges are anticipated.
The suspect is believed to have acted alone and there is currently no active threat to Canadians, Prime Minister Mark Carney said while delivering short remarks in Hamilton, Ontario, on Sunday.
The suspect had a history of interactions with police and health professionals for mental health reasons, Vancouver Police Interim Chief Constable Steve Rai told reporters Sunday.
“This is the darkest day in our city’s history,” Rai said. “Last night, as thousands of members of Vancouver’s Filipino community gathered for an important cultural celebration, the actions of a single person shattered our collective sense of safety.”
Crowds had gathered in the Canadian city to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day, Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. A vehicle “drove into a large crowd of people” at the festival in the South Vancouver neighborhood at about 8:14 p.m., police said.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected and with Vancouver’s Filipino community during this incredibly difficult time,” Sim said, describing the incident as “horrific.”
The ages of the 11 victims ranged from 5 to 65, according to Rai on Sunday. He also said the number of dead could rise in the coming days or weeks.
The block party celebrating Filipino culture and Lapu-Lapu, a national hero of the Philippines, had been scheduled to run through 8 p.m. on Saturday, according to the organizers. Rai said there was a risk assessment conducted before the festival, and there were “no known threats to the event or to the Filipino community.”
“It is hard to make sense of something so senseless,” Rai said.
Videos from the scene, which were verified by ABC News, appear to show the aftermath of the incident, which happened on a stretch of East 43rd Avenue that had been lined on both sides with food trucks.
The videos appear to show first responders rushing to help the injured between the rows of food trucks. A black SUV can be seen in one video with what appears to be heavy damage to its hood. Police have not yet publicly identified the suspect’s vehicle.
Carney said he was “devastated by the horrific events” at the festival, adding that at least 20 people were injured in addition to the 11 killed.
“I extend my deepest condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured, to the Filipino Canadian community, and to everyone in Vancouver,” he said in a statement. “We are all mourning with you. We are closely monitoring the situation and are grateful to our first responders for their swift action.”
The investigation is ongoing, Carney added.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s New Democratic Party, who spoke at the festival, said he was “horrified to learn of an incident at Vancouver’s Lapu Lapu Day celebrations that injured and killed innocent people.”
“As we wait to learn more, our thoughts are with the victims and their families — and Vancouver’s Filipino community, who were coming together today to celebrate resilience,” he said in a statement.
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(MILWAUKEE, WI) — A reserve judge will be appointed to take over the cases of Judge Hannah Dugan, who was arrested by the FBI over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant, according to a Milwaukee County official.
The county’s chief judge, Carl Ashley, said late Sunday that a reserve judge would take over Dugan’s calendar on Monday morning. The reserve judge was not named in the statement released to media.
Dugan, a judge on the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, was arrested on Friday over allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant “evade arrest” the week prior, FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Patel said on social media that the FBI believes “Judge Dugan intentionally misdirected federal agents away from the subject to be arrested in her courthouse.”
U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement that two FBI agents arrested Dugan “for allegedly helping an illegal alien avoid arrest” by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“No one is above the law,” Bondi said on Friday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(LONDON) — North Korean authorities confirmed for the first time that the country’s forces fought against Ukrainian troops in Russia’s Kursk region, with state media claiming “victory” there and describing the North Korean soldiers involved as “heroic.”
The official acknowledgment came as Russian President Vladimir Putin also praised North Korean troops for their contribution in the theater, saying in a statement posted to the Kremlin website that Moscow’s “Korean friends” fought “with honor and valor, covering themselves with unfading glory.”
“The Russian people will never forget the feat of the Korean special forces,” Putin added. “We will always honor the Korean heroes who gave their lives for Russia, for our common freedom, on an equal basis with their Russian brothers in arms.”
In a statement carried by the state-run Korean Central News Agency, North Korea’s Central Military Commission confirmed Monday its troops took part in the Russian operation to eject Ukrainian units from Kursk.
Fighting erupted there after Kyiv’s forces entered the border region in a surprise offensive in August 2024. It was the largest Ukrainian operation on Russian territory since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The military commission lauded North Korean units fighting in Kursk for “performing heroic feats in the operations to repulse and frustrate the grave sovereignty infringement by the Ukrainian authorities.”
This weekend, top Russian commander Valery Gerasimov said Russia had fully liberated Kursk after months of intensifying assaults on remaining Ukrainian positions there. Gerasimov praised North Korea units for “significant assistance.”
The North Korean committee said the involvement of its soldiers — which according to various U.S., Ukrainian and South Korean assistance involved at least 10,000 troops — “fully demonstrated their high fighting spirit and military temperament,” with “mass heroism, matchless bravery and self-sacrificing spirit.”
In a statement carried by KCNA, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said fighters in Kursk were “heroes” who “fought for justice.” A monument to the Kursk contingent would be erected in Pyongyang, Kim added.
“The motherland should hand down forever the soul of the soldiers who fought to defend its great honour and take important state measures to specially and preferentially treat and take care of the families of the brave soldiers who participated in the war,” Kim continued.
North Korean units entering the fighting in Kursk quickly sustained casualties, according to estimates by Ukraine-aligned governments.
British intelligence assessed that by March roughly 5,000 North Korean troops deployed to fight Ukraine had been killed or wounded, with a third likely killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kyrylo Budanov — the head of Ukraine’s military intelligence — both said in February that North Korean troops had suffered about 4,000 casualties.
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in March that North Korean forces had suffered around 5,000 casualties, according to the Yonhap news agency, South Korea’s state media.
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
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(LONDON) — An American overnight airstrike in Yemen killed at least 68 people at a migrant detention center in the Saada Governorate, according to the country’s Civil Defense organization.
Another 47 people were injured in the strike in the city of Saada, in the northwest of the country, the Yemen Civil Defense said in a statement posted to Telegram on Monday morning.
The struck center housed around 100 African migrants, the Yemen Civil Defense said. There was no immediate U.S. comment on the strike.
A statement issued by the U.S. military’s Central Command before the alleged attack on the migrants’ center was reported said its “intense and sustained campaign” since March 15 has so far struck more than 800 targets and “killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials.”
President Donald Trump’s administration intensified the U.S. airstrike campaign against Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen from March 15, expanding a campaign that began under former President Joe Biden in response to Houthi attacks on commercial and military shipping and strikes on Israel.
The Houthis began their attacks in October 2023, in response to the Israeli military campaign in Gaza launched after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack into southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and 253 abducted.
Central Command said its strikes “have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks. Ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69%. Additionally, attacks from one way attack drones have decreased by 55%.”
“U.S. strikes destroyed the ability of Ras Isa Port to accept fuel which will begin to impact Houthi ability to not only conduct operations, but also to generate millions of dollars in revenue for their terror activities,” the statement read.
“Iran undoubtedly continues to provide support to the Houthis,” Central command continued. “The Houthis can only continue to attack our forces with the backing of the Iranian regime.”
“We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” the command said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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(WASHINGTON) — A marketing email distributed this month by Trump Coins, a commemorative coin venture launched last year by President Donald Trump, attributes the soaring value of gold and other metals in recent weeks to the president’s “return to the spotlight.”
“President Trump’s bold stance on tariffs, American industry, and economic protection is pushing investors out of risky fiat and back into safe-haven metals,” the marketing email reads. “Confidence in strong U.S. leadership is driving real demand.”
But some experts assert that the sudden surge in gold reflects not “strong U.S. leadership” or “Trump’s ongoing momentum,” as Trump Coins frames it — but instead a consequence of financial uncertainty inspired by Trump’s erratic economic policies, including his commitment to impose widespread tariffs on nearly all U.S. trading partners.
The premise that rising gold prices evince a thriving U.S. economy runs “completely contrary to reality,” said Paolo Pasquariello, a finance professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Experts who ABC News spoke with said that the value of gold often rises in times of economic turmoil, particularly during trade wars or anticipated inflation.
“The fact that gold prices are going up right now sends as strong a message of displeasure with President Trump’s economic policies as I can think of,” Pasquariello said.
In the weeks since Trump’s self-styled “Liberation Day” — when he announced a sweeping set of tariffs — gold has notched several record highs. This week, the price of gold surpassed $3,500 per ounce for the first time.
Meanwhile, markets have tumbled in recent weeks, and the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday that “escalating trade tensions” have dimmed “both short-term and long-term growth prospects.”
On April 16, when Trump Coins sent the marketing email lauding “another new record” for gold, it said the reason “isn’t just economic — it’s political.”
“Trump’s return to the spotlight is reigniting belief in real value and asset-based security,” the email said. “Central banks are stockpiling, buyers are doubling down, and Trump’s ongoing momentum keeps pushing metals forward.”
But experts said that skyrocketing gold prices have often been linked to periods of instability — offering the 2008 financial crisis and, more recently, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as examples.
Despite its volatility, gold is “the quintessential safe-haven asset” in times of economic uncertainty, said Campbell Harvey, a professor of finance at Duke University’s Fuqua School.
Another explanation cited by experts for the precipitous rise in gold is that Trump’s policies have shaken confidence in some of the top alternative safe-haven assets: the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury bonds. Depreciation in the value of the U.S. dollar and volatility in Treasury yields have made gold more attractive as investors look for a safe haven, experts said.
Trump Coins frames itself as “the only medallions authorized and endorsed/designed by President Trump himself.” The commemorative coins, which include gold and silver busts of Trump, emerged during the 2024 presidential campaign as one of several merchandising ventures Trump profited from — a list that also included watches, sneakers, bibles and guitars.
After his 2024 triumph, Trump unveiled a one-ounce “Victory Gold Medallion” — with the president’s face and signature pressed in solid gold — for $3,645.47, a thousand-dollar upcharge compared to the price of an ounce of gold at the time. The “Victory Gold Medallion” now retails for more than $4,628, an increase of nearly $1,000 since late November and more than $1,300 higher than the current market price of an ounce of gold.
Details about the terms of Trump’s agreements with the merchandise company that sells his coins, JBCZ Group LLC, are not public. But experts said Trump has likely profited handsomely from this venture in light of gold’s precipitous rise.
As an investment strategy, experts say that other forms of gold may perform better in the long-run than Trump-branded coins.
“If you want to invest in gold, it’s best to actually use an ETF,” said Harvey, referring to a security that allows investors to invest in an underlying asset without purchasing that asset. In contrast, solid gold bars — or Trump Coins — are more difficult to sell, Harvey explained, and “that means when you sell, you sell it at a discount.”
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(OTTAWA) — Just five months ago, a Conservative Party victory in Canada seemed all but certain.
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister and leader of the Liberal Party, was widely unpopular, and polls showed the Conservatives with what seemed like an insurmountable 25-point lead.
Then U.S. voters went to the polls. Donald Trump’s victory started to reverberate in Canada.
He imposed tariffs, including a 25% levy on Canadian goods; claimed fentanyl from China was pouring into the U.S. from the northern border; and threatened Canadian sovereignty, saying Canada should be made the 51st state as well as referring to Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
Many Canadians became angry. Visits to the U.S. began falling and some boycotted American products. Then, Trudeau resigned in March, and the Liberals elected Mark Carney as their new leader.
The 25-point lead the Conservatives once had has been eviscerated, and support for the Liberals has grown.
Now, with an election set for Monday, April 28, pollsters are saying the Conservatives have lost too much ground to make up. Polls are predicting a loss for the Conservatives and leader Pierre Poilievre.
Canada has a parliamentary system. Hence, if Liberals win a majority of seats in the election, or are able to form a minority government with members of another party, Carney becomes Prime Minister.
Political experts and Canadians said that Trump undoubtedly changed the course of the election.
“There is no rebound for the Liberal Party if Donald Trump doesn’t intervene in the way that he does,” Tari Ajadi, an assistant professor in the department of political science at McGill University in Montreal, told ABC News.
“If Donald Trump hadn’t won a second term, I don’t think there would be any hope for the Liberals, regardless of whether or not they changed leader at this point,” he said. “But once Trump did win that second term, and once Trump did try to infringe upon Canadian sovereignty, it changed the entire race.”
Trump fractures U.S.-Canada alliance
At the beginning of 2025, the Liberal Party was facing a crisis. Trudeau, who had been prime minister since November 2015, had initially been “extremely popular,” according to Adam Chapnick, a professor of defense studies at Canadian Forces College in Toronto.
However, he was plagued by unpopularity in later years due to an escalated cost-of-living crisis in Canada, and minor scandals. Several of his cabinet ministers resigned in 2024 amid lack of confidence in his leadership.
Trudeau was required by Canadian law to call an election by October 2025, and his party seemed sure to lose.
Frank Graves, a Canadian pollster and founder of Ekos Research Associates, told ABC News that in January 2025, things did not look good for the Liberal Party.
“The Liberals reached a modern low of 19-point support. That’s very little for the Liberal Party,” he said. “In fact, [that] was a record for the 20th century. At the same time, the Conservative Party was running at 44 points, with a massive 25-point lead, which would have been a sure majority.”
He went on, “It looks like the Conservatives are in a position to just sip beer and cruise to the finish line and get their majority.”
As early as December, just weeks after Trump won his second term, Trump made comments that Canada should become the 51st state and referred to Trudeau as “Governor Trudeau.”
Although initially brushed off by Canadian officials, Trump continued to float 51st state rhetoric and began threats of imposing tariffs on Canada in January.
Trump also began arguing that the border drawn between the U.S. and Canada is just arbitrary.
Ajadi said that although Trudeau decided to resign as prime minister and Liberal Party leader, it still looked like the Liberals would lose no matter who emerged as the next leader — but that’s when Trump’s comments kicked into high gear.
“It still looked like the Liberals were dead in the water, regardless of who would come in as prime minister,” he said. “But when Donald Trump really started amping up this 51st state rhetoric, when he threatened the tariffs and eventually implemented the tariffs … it completely shifted the way that the polls were going.”
Carney gains support
In early March, Canada’s Liberal Party announced Mark Carney was chosen to succeed Trudeau after party members voted in a nominating contest between four candidates.
Carney, who was governor of the Bank of Canada, is credited with helping to guide the country through the worst of the 2008 financial crisis and, as former governor of the Bank of England, helping guide the U.K. through Brexit.
Ajadi said that Carney has come across to voters as “incredibly capable and well-educated” and as someone who can navigate challenges posed by Trump’s rhetoric.
“He can say, ‘Look at my resume. I’ve been able to help countries navigate and I’ve been able to negotiate things for two different G7 countries,'” Ajadi said. “Like, ‘I have this wealth of experience and, no, I’m not a politician, but I am someone who has been able to navigate really contentious political conversations.'”
This had led to a net-22 positive rating for Carney in the polls, according to Graves.
Poilievre loses support
While Carney and the Liberals have seen increasing support, Poilievre and the Conservatives have seen decreasing support.
Although opposition leaders have tried to paint Poilievre as being equivalent to Trump, political experts told ABC News he has many policies that differ from Trump.
However, some of Poilievre’s rhetoric has been viewed by Canadians as Trump-esque, such as his embrace of populist sentiments and calling opponents by nicknames, experts have said.
Additionally, Graves said Poilievre struggled to pivot his campaign from a series of mantras about how “Canada is broken” to addressing threats from the Trump administration.
“It’s hard to abandon a strategy which had propelled you to such a comfortable position in the polls overnight, which is almost what was required,” Graves said.
Throughout February, the Conservatives’ lead in the polls began to evaporate, according to Graves. He said by the end of February, Liberals achieved a solid lead, which has since extended since Carney became prime minister.
Graves added that taking on the U.S. is the biggest issue now to Canadians, more than the cost of living. When poll participants were asked who they have the most confidence in, Carney had a significant advantage.
“Because the [Conservatives were] still focused on the government, there was an opportunity for the Liberal leadership to take control of the narrative on how to respond to the president, and Mr. Carney did so,” Chapnick said. “And as Mr. Carney became associated with the leader who was going to stop Canada from becoming the 51st state, Liberal support skyrocketed.”
Canadians are put off by Trump’s actions
Political experts said they’ve noticed the anger Canadians have toward the U.S. in the wake of Trump’s rhetoric.
“Canadians are trying not to travel to the United States,” Chapnick said. “They’re trying not to buy American products. This idea that we can no longer rely on the United States has led to some pretty significant changes.”
Airlines and state tourism boards said they’ve seen travel from Canada to the U.S. drop in February and March.
Canadian citizen Garry Liboiron told ABC News he views Poilievre as a “mini Trump,” which will “definitely play against him.”
Garry Liboiron and his wife, Liz Liboiron, said that “the name-calling and all the childish rhetoric” has led them to sell their summer home in San Tan Valley, Arizona, a place they typically retreat to when their hometown of Coburg — which is an hour east of Toronto — is pummeled with snow in the winter months.
“It’s pretty sad because we’re not forced to leave, but we almost feel like we’re being pushed with the rhetoric that’s coming out of Washington these days toward Canadians and Canada,” Liz Liboiron told ABC News.
The two are on their “farewell tour” of the U.S., traveling to their favorite places for the last time, with no real indication they will ever return due to the “present circumstances” of the Trump administration.
“Liz and I don’t understand how this is allowed to go on and the things that are happening just seem to get more and more scary as each day goes on. So, we said, ‘Let’s sell now,'” Garry Liboiron said.
Garry Liboiron said he thinks the Canadian election will result in a Liberal majority win. He has noticed Carney’s popularity “[shoot] up like a rocket.”
Canadian Cam Hayden, who has traveled to 45 of the 50 states and is a frequent visitor of the U.S., also decided to boycott the nation shortly after the presidential election.
When Trump made claims of annexing Canada, it was a moment Hayden calls “the breaking point.”
“I said, ‘Forget it, I’m never going back until there’s a change in the administration and a change in attitude,'” Hayden told ABC News.
Hayden, the owner of the Edmonton Music Festival, used to travel to the U.S. to see different performers. He made many friends in America over the years, but said he cannot support the country with the current administration in place.
“I keep in touch with my friends [in the U.S.], and we’re still good friends. It’s just that I cannot see myself supporting an administration that has made the comment that they would like to annex the country I live in,” Hayden said.
ABC News’ Victoria Beaule, Bill Hutchinson, Ivan Pereira and Sam Sweeney contributed to this report.
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(CLEARWATER, FL) — One person was killed and multiple people were injured when a boat struck the Clearwater Ferry in Clearwater, Florida, on Sunday evening.
All of the injured individuals were people on the ferry, according to the Clearwater Police Department.
There were 45 people aboard the ferry, including two crew members, when it was hit by a passing boat, police said.
“It’s been declared a mass casualty incident by the fire department due to the number of injuries. All local hospitals have been notified,” Clearwater PD wrote in a post on X on Sunday night.
“Multiple trauma alerts have been called with helicopters transporting two of the more seriously injured,” the post continued.
The incident took place near the Memorial Causeway Bridge in Clearwater. Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg was notified at approximately 8:40 p.m., the Seventh Coast Guard District wrote on X.
The boat that struck the ferry fled the scene, Clearwater PD said in a social media post on Sunday night.
After the crash, the ferry came to rest on a sand bar just south of the bridge. First responders and emergency personnel were then able to remove “all patients and passengers” from the ferry, police said.
“We were just enjoying the ride, and then all of a sudden we hear the first mate yelling, ‘Hey, hey, hey,'” one passenger told ABC affiliate WFTS in Tampa.
“And then we looked back behind us and this big yacht just came through the boat,” said the passenger, who was riding the ferry with his two kids and his wife, who is 31 weeks pregnant with the couple’s third child.
The Coast Guard says there were six people on board the recreational boat, which left the scene. Authorities said it was later found by a responding agency.
“The boat that fled the scene has been identified by another law enforcement agency,” Clearwater PD said. However, further details about the second vessel involved in the incident have not yet been made available.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will be taking the lead on the crash investigation, police said.
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(ELIZABETH CITY, NC) — One person is dead and at least five others are injured after a shooting at Elizabeth City State University in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.
According to the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, the shooting took place at 12:30 a.m. Sunday on the ECSU campus.
The incident occurred during Viking Fest — a week of events on the ESCU campus geared toward students, alumni and prospective students.
A press release from ECSU said four individuals sustained gunshot wounds and two students were injured during the chaos.
“Six individuals were injured during the incident. Four sustained gunshot wounds, including three ECSU students. Additionally, two other ECSU students were injured during the subsequent commotion,” the statement said. “Fortunately, none of the injuries are considered life-threatening, and all the injured were transported to a local hospital for treatment.”
A 24-year-old man not affiliated with the university was killed.
The SBI and ESCU Police continue to investigate. There is no confirmed suspect at this time.
ABC affiliate WVEC spoke with ESCU junior Paola Gonzalez, who was at the scene of the shooting.
Gonzalez said she turned around while running from the scene to see her volleyball teammate go down after being shot in the leg.
“One moment, we were having a really good time,” Gonzalez said. Shortly after, she was watching police surround her friend and tape being brought out to cordon off the scene.
As a precaution, ECSU has increased patrols across campus, and access to the center of campus will remain restricted throughout Sunday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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