(ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar) — The ramifications of human activity on the island of Madagascar will affect the island far longer than previously realized, scientists say.
It could take millions of years for the biodiversity on the island to recover from extinctions spurred by human activity, according to a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications.
The island is home to a plethora of unique animal species, including the Madagascar sucker-footed bat, an ancient family of bats that is found only on Madagascar; the lowland streaked tenrec, from a diverse group of mammals found only on Madagascar; the world’s smallest chameleon; the fossa; and the ring-tailed lemur.
At least 17 species of lemurs have already gone extinct on the island, and several other species are threatened with extinction due to human influences such as deforestation, hunting and climate change, according to the study.
Researchers from the U.S., Europe and Madagascar sought to quantify the extent to which humans have disrupted the fauna of Madagascar and forecast future outcomes, assembling a comprehensive dataset of 249 living and recently extinct mammals, including species that disappeared shortly after humans first arrived on the island, such as giant lemurs and dwarf hippos.
The scientists then combined that data with evolutionary history of species and statistical models of their geographical distribution over time.
The impacts were much greater than scientists expected, Luis Valente, author and researcher at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, told ABC News.
The researchers found that it could take 3 million years for Madagascar to recover the species that have been lost since human arrival if current threats are not mitigated, the study states.
In addition, it could take more than 20 million years to recover if currently threatened species are lost as well, the researchers said.
“We knew that there’s a lot of species that are threatened in Madagascar, but we didn’t expect it to be such a long timescale that it would take to recover them,” Valente said.
Even bat species, which can colonize islands more easily than non-flying mammals, may need about 3 million years to recover, according to the paper. The number of Madagascar’s mammal species threatened with extinction has increased dramatically in the past decade, from 56 in 2010 to 128 in 2021.
The timescale, termed “evolutionary return time,” will take longer than other island nations because the human impact has been limited in comparison to a place like New Zealand, Valente said. Although humans first arrived on Madagascar about 2,500 years ago, the bulk of the damage from human expansion has been done in the past 100 years, leaving much of the island’s forests in pristine condition, he added.
Essentially, because Madagascar is “catching up” to other island nations in terms of detrimental human activity, it stands to lose a lot more in the future, Valente said.
“The amount of history we stand to lose on Madagascar is larger than in any other system that we’ve looked at,” Valente said.
Deforestation for the purpose of planting crops has been the main culprit of human expansion over the last century, but communities are also beginning to encroach farther into forests to hunt bushmeat, such as lemurs, Valente said. Combined with climate change, the longevity of many species on the island is at risk.
The findings suggest that immediate conservation efforts are needed to avoid long-lasting biodiversity losses, including programs that include socio-economic improvements for local human populations, reducing forest loss in the remaining natural habitats and limiting artisanal and commercial resource exploitation, such as of hardwoods and animals for the bushmeat trade, the scientists said.
The expansion and enforcement of protected areas will be necessary as well, Valente said.
Without timely conservation actions, the biodiversity of Madagascar could be impacted for millions of years, the scientists said.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — By now she’s gained a few nicknames; from “punisher of Russians,” to the “Ukrainian Joan of Arc.”
Eugenia Emerald has become somewhat of an icon in Ukraine, fighting on the front lines as a sniper — the only woman in her unit.
She’s one of more than 50,000 women now enlisted in the Ukrainian army.
“All Russians are scared of us,” said Emerald. “Afraid of me, afraid of us. Ukrainian women.”
Women on the front is still a relatively recent phenomenon in Ukraine. As of 2014, when Russia invaded Crimea, women were still barred from combat roles. It wasn’t until 2018 that female soldiers were finally given the same status as men — and, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, women now account for close to a one-fifth of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Emerald’s said her father taught her how to use a weapon. She later enrolled in a military program in college, and when war broke out in February, the army called her up to see if she’d be willing to fight. As a single mom, Emerald said she made the difficult decision to leave her 11-year-old daughter behind. She’s been everywhere now — from Kharkiv and Zhytomyr, to Bucha and the battle for Kyiv.
But she says being a woman on the front has its fair share of challenges: battling both the common enemy and internal discrimination. Emerald recounted how one man she came into contact with told her a woman’s place was not on the battlefield, but in the kitchen.
“I was angry, really angry,” she said, adding she had to work twice as hard to be taken seriously. “But they respect me later.”
It’s something Anastasia Kolesnyk, who enlisted on the first day of the war, said she has also had to deal with.
“You always have to prove yourself,” she said. “When you meet the new division, they need a couple days to get used to you, and the fact that you are the same as them.”
Anastasia says she’s not surprised so many Ukrainian women have enlisted.
“The only option I had was to enlist,” said Anastasia. Because when a murderer and a thief come to your house, you don’t just run away– you try to protect it. And everything was at stake.”
The surge of female soldiers is so new that Ukraine’s military still doesn’t have standard uniforms for women — meaning they’re often handed ill-fitting men’s clothes.
“In the beginning, it was very cold — I had to wear my sneakers, because there were no military boots available in my size,” Kolesnyk said. “And the uniforms were two sizes too big,” she added.
So she asked her brother Andrii and his girlfriend Kseniia Drahanyuk to send her the items she needed — and after the two realized just how much gear Kolesnyk was lacking, they created the Zemlyachki nonprofit to help other female soldiers. They’ve now helped over 3,000 women, sending them over $1 million worth of care packages that include things like lighter body armor, tampons, smaller shoes, and fitted uniforms, Kolesnyk said.
As Emerald showed us her gear — and the uniform that was in fact once too big for her — she also stumbled upon her wedding dress.
Because in the middle of the fighting, Emerald also found love — another soldier, in another unit, who read an article about her and reached out on Instagram. The two married on the battlefield, near Kharkiv.
Amid all the death and destruction, Emerald is now carrying new life — she is pregnant with a baby girl.
“You know, my first daughter — she is like a princess,” she said. “But I think my second daughter, yes, she will be like me. And if she wants, I will teach her [how to] shoot.”
She says as hard as it would be to leave her two daughters now, she would eventually like to head back to the front.
“Ukrainian women are very strong, and all of us love our land,” she said, adding it’s precisely because of her daughters — and their future– that she risks it all.
(TORONTO) — A homeless man was identified Tuesday as the victim of a fatal “swarming” attack police allege was committed by eight teenage girls in downtown Toronto last month.
Toronto police said Ken Lee, 59, was beaten and stabbed by the group of girls, three who are just 13 years old, in the slaying that sent shockwaves through the city of nearly 3 million people.
In addition to the three 13-year-olds, police said three 14-year-old girls and two 16-year-old suspects were arrested in the grisly crime.
A woman who witnessed the attack told the Canadian Broadcasting Company that Lee was killed while defending her when the girls allegedly attempted to take a bottle of liquor.
“He protected me,” the witness, who was not identified, told the media outlet.
The witness alleged the teen girls turned on Lee when he tried to intervene, punching and stabbing him before fleeing the scene.
“Bleeding, bleeding, bleeding,” she described Lee’s condition following the attack. “I didn’t know if they had a knife or what. I was just scared. I think they stabbed his belly.”
Detective Sgt. Terry Browne of the Toronto Police Department confirmed that investigators suspect an attempted theft — “likely of a liquor bottle” — preceded the deadly attack.
The teenage suspects were arrested shortly after the victim was found on the street suffering from multiple stab wounds and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, Browne said at a news conference last month.
“I wouldn’t describe them as a gang at this point, but what they are alleged to have occurred that evening would be consistent with what we traditionally call a swarming, or a swarming-type behavior,” Browne said.
A motive for the killing has yet to be disclosed, but Browne said investigators suspect the teens were involved in another violent altercation just prior to allegedly committing the murder.
The homicide unfolded just after midnight on Dec. 18 and the suspects were located and arrested soon after in the same area, Brown said. He said a number of weapons were recovered from the suspects.
The names of the suspects, who are all charged with murder, were not released due to their ages.
Browne said the young suspects are from various parts of Toronto and that they met through social media. He said the group made arrangements to join up in downtown Toronto.
He said Lee was from Toronto and had been living in a downtown homeless shelter after recently falling on “some hard luck.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 10 months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin’s forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 10, 2:15 PM EST
Ukrainians set to begin Patriot air defense training in Oklahoma
As many as 100 Ukrainians troops will soon begin training on the Patriot air defense system at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, two U.S. officials told ABC News Tuesday.
Fort Sill is the main artillery school for the U.S. Army and where months-long training on Patriot systems already takes place.
Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesperson, said the Ukrainians could begin training on the Patriot system as soon as next week.
“The training will prepare approximately 90 to 100 Ukrainian soldiers to operate, maintain and sustain the defensive system over a training course expected to last several months,” Ryder said.
Once deployed, the Patriot batteries will fortify Ukraine’s air defense capabilities and provide an additional way for the “Ukrainian people to defend themselves against Russia’s ongoing aerial assaults,” Ryder said.
Ryder would not give a precise time frame, but said that once the training is completed, the system will be sent to Ukraine to be put to use.
President Joe Biden announced last month that the United States will provide Ukraine with a Patriot missile defense system. The German government also agreed this month to supply Ukraine with a second Patriot missile battery.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Jan 10, 1:30 PM EST
Russians on verge of overtaking eastern Ukrainian city
Russian troops were on the verge Tuesday of capturing a salt mining town in eastern Ukraine in an apparent attempt to cut off the enemy’s supply routes, according to British intelligence officials.
The Russian forces, along with mercenaries from the Wagner private military company, were likely in control of the city of Soledar, which is about six miles north of Bakhmut in the Donbas region, where heavy fighting has been reported in recent days, the British officials said.
The attack on Soledar is an apparent attempt to bypass Bakhmut from the north and disrupt Ukrainian supply routes, the British intelligence officials said. Part of the fighting is being waged near the entrances to the 124 miles of abandoned salt mine tunnels that run under the area.
Despite the increased pressure on Bakhmut, Russia is unlikely to be able to encircle the city in the near future because Ukrainian forces have created a stable line of defense and control supply routes in the area, the British officials said.
The Ukrainian Army said Russian troops carried out 86 artillery strikes on Soledar in a 24-hour period, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the fighting there as “very difficult.”
Jan 06, 7:27 AM EST
Orthodox Christmas ceasefire now on for 36 hours
Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a Christmas “truce” for the next 36 hours with a temporary ceasefire set to end at midnight on Jan. 7.
Air raid sirens sounded across several southern and eastern regions of Ukraine a few hours before ceasefire started.
However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy last night called the truce a “cover” to stop Ukraine from advancing in the east.
The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates Christmas Day on Jan. 7 but the brief unilateral Russian ceasefire called by Putin is not expected to last beyond the announced period.
The temporary ceasefire could put Ukraine in a difficult position. If it seeks to stop Russia regrouping its forces during the ceasefire, it could be accused of violating a truce it never agreed to in the first place and be portrayed as aggressive. However, if Ukraine stops fighting for the 36 hour period, it will likely face a more dangerous position when the ceasefire ends.
Jan 05, 4:01 PM EST
Germany to send Ukraine Patriot missile defense system
Germany plans to provide Ukraine with a Patriot air defense battery, the White House confirmed Thursday.
The United States agreed last month to send the first Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine to protect the country against Russia’s ongoing missile and drone attacks targeting its critical infrastructure.
The development came as President Joe Biden spoke by phone Thursday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz about the ongoing war.
The White House also said it would send Bradley infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine. Germany agreed to send Marder infantry fighting vehicles, according to the White House.
“They (Germany) reiterated their support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence,” the White House said in a statement. “They reaffirmed their unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s aggression.”
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Ben Gittleson
Jan 05, 2:22 PM EST
Biden expresses skepticism of Putin Orthodox Chirstmas cease-fire proposal
President Joe Biden said Thursday that he is skeptical of Russian President Valdimir Putin’s proposal for a cease-fire during the Orthodox Christmas holiday, suggesting it was a ploy to find some breathing room in the war with Ukraine.
“I’m reluctant to respond to anything Putin says,” Biden said.
Biden made the comments in response to a reporter’s question following unrelated remarks at the White House about the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I found it interesting. He was ready to bomb hospitals and nurseries and churches,” said Biden, referring to Russian missile strikes on Ukraine on Dec. 25 and over the New Year’s Day holiday. “I think he’s trying to find some oxygen.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Jan 05, 10:57 AM EST
Putin calls for Orthodox Christmas truce
Russian President Valdimir Putin has called for a temporary cease-fire in the war with Ukraine to observe Orthodox Christmas, according to the Kremlin.
Putin proposed a cease-fire beginning at noon on Friday and ending at midnight Saturday, according to the Kremlin. Orthodox Christmas Day is on Saturday.
Putin instructed his minister of defense, Sergei Shoigu, to introduce the ceasefire along the entire line of contact between the warring countries in Ukraine during the holiday.
The Kremlin said the truce is being called for with “Christian love, true faith and crystal truthfulness.”
There was no immediate response from Ukraine on whether its forces would abide by the truce.
Jan 05, 4:31 AM EST
Moscow religious leader calls for Christmas truce
On the eve of the Orthodox Christmas, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia called for the establishment of a Christmas truce in the zone of military activities.
“I, Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, appeal to all parties involved in the internecine conflict to cease fire and establish a Christmas truce from 12.00 on January 6 to 24.00 on January 7, so that Orthodox people can attend services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day,” the patriarch said in a statement, published on Thursday on the website of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Jan 04, 5:29 PM EST
Biden confirms that US considering sending Bradley Fighting Vehicles to Ukraine
President Joe Biden told reporters Wednesday the U.S. is considering giving Ukrainian troops Bradley Fighting Vehicles, confirming earlier reports that such a deal was in the works.
A Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicle is the U.S. Army’s main armored fighting vehicle for transporting troops into combat.
It is a light armored vehicle equipped with a 25mm gun that can push through enemy lines and can take on tanks.
Ukrainian officials have been asking for the vehicle to bolster their forces.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Jan 04, 1:21 PM EST
Putin sends new hypersonic cruise missiles into combat service
A Russian frigate armed with new hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles has been sent to active duty.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made the announcement during a video meeting on Wednesday with Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Igor Krokhmal, commander of the Admiral Gorshkov frigate.
“I’m sure that such a powerful weapon will let Russia defend against potential external threats and will contribute to protect national interests of our country,” Putin said.
Shoigu added: “The focus of this deployment will be to counteract threats facing Russia and to maintain regional peace and stability together with friendly countries.”
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jan 04, 8:57 AM EST
Ukraine locates Russian outpost via data on soldiers’ cellphones
Russian soldiers using their mobile phones just after midnight on New Year’s provided Ukraine with the data to locate a Russian outpost in the city of Makiivka ahead of Ukraine’s deadly attack, according to Russia.
Six rockets were fired from U.S.-made HIMAR rocket launchers.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said 89 soldiers were killed in the attack but Ukrainian officials claim the death toll is much higher. Russian authorities have not yet compiled lists of the wounded and dead.
Jan 02, 3:36 PM EST
Zelenskyy says Russia is preparing ‘prolonged’ attack
During an evening address Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is preparing a long-term attack by drones to exhaust Ukrainian air defense.
Just two days into the new year, he said the country’s defense forces shot down more than 80 Shahed drones, which are made by Iran.
“This number may increase in the near future. We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack,” Zelenskyy said.
“Its bet may be on exhaustion. To the exhaustion of our people, our air defense, our energy. But we must do — and we will do everything — so that this goal of the terrorists fails, like all the others.”
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 31, 8:14 AM EST
1 dead, 7 injured after Russia launches missile strike against Kyiv
At least one person has been killed and seven people have been injured after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv on New Year’s Eve.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported destruction across several districts with a luxury hotel, a bridge and police stations among the locations impacted.
It’s currently unclear how many locations have been destroyed as a result of direct hits and how many were from falling debris from intercepted rockets.
New Year’s Eve is one of Ukraine’s biggest holidays.
Dec 30, 10:28 AM EST
Putin expects China’s Xi to make state visit in spring
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he’s expecting Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a state visit to Russia in the spring of 2023.
Putin said he’s looking to deepen military cooperation between the two nations.
Putin said the visit would “demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations.”
Dec 29, 5:08 PM EST
Zelenskyy praises Air Force for ‘repelling’ Russian missile barrage
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is praising his country’s air defense, saying it “successfully repelled” a barrage of Russian missiles fired at Kyiv and other targets early Thursday.
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 54 missiles and 11 attack drones.
“Our warriors all over Ukraine distinguished themselves and I thank all our Air Commands: Center, South, East and West,” Zelenskyy said.
He specifically cited the efforts of the 96th Kyiv, 160th Odesa and the 208th Kherson anti-aircraft missile brigades, saying their “results are the best today.”
Zelenskyy said several Russian missiles evaded Ukraine’s air defense and hit several infrastructure targets.
“Our power engineers and repair crews are doing everything to make Ukrainians feel the consequences of the terrorists’ strike as little as possible,” Zelenskyy said.
As of Thursday evening, he said there were power outages in most regions of Ukraine, including the capital city Kyiv as well as the Lviv, Odesa, Kherson, Vinnytsia and Zakarpattia regions.
“But this is nothing compared to what could have happened, if it was not for our heroic anti-aircraft troops and air defense,” Zelenskyy said.
Dec 29, 11:40 AM EST
Ukrainian missile shot down in Belarus: Defense ministry
Belarus’ defense ministry said its air defenses had downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile in a field on Thursday morning during one of Russia’s largest missile attacks against Ukraine since the start of the war.
The military commissar of the Brest region, Oleg Konovalov, played down the incident in a video message posted on social media by the state-run BelTA news agency, saying local residents had “absolutely nothing to worry about.”
“Unfortunately, these things happen,” Konovalov said.
He compared the incident to one in November when an S-300 believed to have strayed after being fired by Ukrainian air defenses landed in NATO member country Poland, and initial fears of an escalation in the war were rapidly defused.
Konovalov said the Ukrainian missile was shot down by the air defense forces around 10 a.m. local time Thursday. Fragments of the downed missile were found near the village of Gorbakha in the Brest region.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 29, 10:32 AM EST
Russia continues ‘escalating’ missile campaign, US Embassy says
Moscow has been “cruelly” targeting Ukrainian civilians by launching attacks against utilities during the winter, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Thursday.
The rebuke came as Russia fired missiles at cities throughout the country on Thursday. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said 69 missiles were launched, fewer than the 100 missiles that officials had estimated earlier in the morning. Officials said 54 missiles were intercepted.
Two civilians were killed as a result of shelling in the Kharkiv area, according to the region’s governor.
“The Kremlin continues its escalating campaign of missile attacks, cruelly wielding cold & dark against” Ukrainians, U.S. Embassy officials said on Twitter. “Families are again hunkering down as critical infrastructure & other targets across the country are attacked.”
Air raid sirens started wailing before 6 a.m. local time across Ukraine, sending residents scrambling into underground shelters in several cities. Missiles landed in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhtomyr.
Ukraine’s defense systems intercepted some missiles, including 16 that were shot down near Kyiv, the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two homes in Kyiv were damaged by falling debris and three people were injured, he said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Russia had been “saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year.”
“They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold,” officials said. “But they cannot defeat the Ukrainian people.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Joe Simonetti
Dec 29, 2:29 AM EST
More than 100 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine
Russian forces early on Thursday launched a missile strike on Ukraine.
More than 100 rockets were fired in several waves, Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Twitter. Some rockets were reportedly fired from carriers in the sea, while others were reportedly fired by at least a dozen fighter aircraft.
Another presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that more than 120 missiles had been launched “by the ‘evil Russian world’ to destroy critical infrastructure & kill civilians en masse.”
At least one loud explosion was heard in Kyiv, where air raid sirens were ringing for several hours on Thursday morning.
Dec 28, 1:58 PM EST
Kremlin rejects Ukraine’s Feburary ‘peace summit’
Russia has rejected a proposal from Ukraine to hold a “peace summit” in February, according to a Kremlin official.
“There is no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine for now, that’s for starters,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wenderday. “Besides, there can be no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine, which disregards today’s realities on Russian territory, the entry of new regions, four of them, into Russia.”
Peskov was apparently referring to recent Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia, including one this week at the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia that killed three Russian soldiers.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 27, 1:13 PM EST
Putin bans sending Russian oil to countries imposing a price cap
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday that not only rejects a price cap on the country’s oil but bans sending crude and other petroleum products to any country that has endorsed the price cap.
The Group of Seven countries, including the United States, agreed on Dec. 3 to impose a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Australia and the European Union also agreed to impose the price cap.
The decree Putin signed goes into effect on Feb. 1 and is valid until July 1, 2023.
The decree bans the supply of oil and oil products from Russia to those countries that place a price ceiling on contracts. The decree also forbids the supply of oil to other foreign buyers whose contracts use a price cap mechanism.
The decree includes a clause allowing Putin to overrule the ban in special cases to be determined by the Russian leader.
The price cap on Russian oil implemented by G-7 nations disallows the world’s second-largest oil exporter from selling crude at a price above $60 per barrel.
Since the outset of its war with Ukraine, Russia has sold its oil at discounted prices. As of Tuesday, Russian Urals crude was trading at $57 per barrel — an amount slightly less than the cap. But the price cap aims to ensure that Russian oil sales remain well below global oil prices, which stand at about $80 per barrel.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 26, 7:40 AM EST
Ukraine strikes bomber base in Russia, killing three
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia killed three, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
A spokesman for Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the attack, saying, “If the Russians thought the war would not touch them they were wrong.”
Russian air defence reportedly shot down a Ukrainian drone flying at low altitude, but falling debris caused the casualties in the overnight attack.
The Engels base lies just over 300 miles northeast of Ukraine’s border with Russia. The facility has been repeatedly used by Russia to carry out missile strikes on targets in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces had attacked another Russian air base on Dec. 5, killing three and damaging two strategic bombers.
(NEW YORK) — If there is any indication that temperatures around the world are rising, look to the last several years and the intense warmth experienced in almost every region, experts said.
Last year was the fifth-warmest year on record, according to a report released by the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday.
On July 19, in the midst of a deadly heat wave in Europe, the temperature in Coningsby, U.K., soared to 104.5 degrees Fahrenheit, marking the hottest temperature ever recorded in the country. It bested its previous record by 2.8 degrees Fahrenheit — a glaring indicator of climate change amid a summer that went down as Europe’s warmest ever recorded, the report said.
In the new report issued by Copernicus, the data from 2022 indicates that Earth’s warming continued at a similar rate to recent years. In addition to last year’s temperatures marking the fifth-warmest on record, the last eight years are now also the eighth-warmest on record, according to Copernicus.
The same day the Copernicus global report was released, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued its annual summary of 2022 climate statistics and natural disasters for the United States. The results tell a similar story: the warming and extreme consequences due to human-induced climate change are continuing at a concerning rate.
A year of global highs and lows
Vostok Station in Antarctica recorded a temperature of .14 degrees Fahrenheit in March 2022, marking the first time in 65 years of records that the thermometer did not have a negative reading. Antarctic sea ice reported six months of the year with a record or near-record low sea ice extent.
In addition to Europe’s record-setting summer scorcher, there were also major heat waves in Pakistan, India and China. While rain brought relief from the heat in Pakistan, extreme rainfall led to devastating flooding throughout the country that continues to be cleaned up months later.
“2022 was yet another year of climate extremes across Europe and globally,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement. “These events highlight that we are already experiencing the devastating consequences of our warming world. The latest 2022 Climate Highlights from C3S provides clear evidence that avoiding the worst consequences will require society to both urgently reduce carbon emissions and swiftly adapt to the changing climate.”
Last year was also a tough 12 months for glaciers. According to the World Meteorological Organization, 2022 “took an exceptionally heavy toll on glaciers in the European Alps, with initial indications of record-shattering melt.”
Greenland’s ice sheet also saw significant melting, with September setting records for high temperatures, melt extent and ice loss.
“The total amount of meltwater produced during the month was 57 billion tons, a record for September, compared to the 1981 to 2010 average September total of 9 billion tons,” according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.
A weather station at Greenland’s summit — more than 10,000 feet in elevation — reported rain for the first time in its 72-year history. The temperature stayed above freezing for nine hours as observers noted heavy rain falling on the normally frozen landscape.
Greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise
Carbon dioxide levels continued their yearly rise by 2.1 parts per million in 2022, according to the Copernicus report. That brings the annual average CO2 level to 417ppm, the highest in over 2 million years.
Methane, another key gas that contributes to global warming, rose by 12 parts per billion to a total of 1,894 ppb.
Both carbon dioxide and methane levels in 2022 set new records for emissions, which makes it challenging for countries to meet goals established by the Paris Climate Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
“Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, are the main drivers of climate change and we can see from our monitoring activities that atmospheric concentrations are continuing to rise with no signs of slowing,” Vincent-Henri Peuch, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement.
Billion-dollar disasters
NOAA’s report highlights 18 disasters in 2022 that cost more than $1 billion, the third most since 1980. Only 2021 and 2020 had more billion-dollar disasters in a single year.
“I think it’s important for everybody to realize we’re already paying the price for climate change,” Dr. Rick Spinrad, NOAA administrator and under secretary of commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere, told ABC News. “It’s manifesting $165 billion worth of damage, which roughly translates to about a thousand dollars per American household.”
When adjusted for inflation, 2022 was also the third costliest year on record for natural disasters. The only other years that cost the country more were 2005, when Hurricane Katrina struck the New Orleans area, and 2017, which saw Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston metro area.
Looking ahead to 2023, NOAA expects to see similar trends for natural disasters, especially when it comes to severity, magnitude and frequency of events, but people and communities can be better prepared to mitigate the threats.
“Know your risks,” Spinrad said, “Know what you might be facing…and know where to get information.” Having reliable forecasts, warnings, and safety information is key to preparing for an effective plan in the event of extreme weather.
Spinrad continued, “That plan may be under the seat. Or the plan could be to shelter in place, in which case you want to make sure you’ve got emergency supplies to take care of yourself.”
ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.
(MEXICO CITY) — The White House announced new agreements between the United States, Mexico and Canada on Tuesday, just hours before the countries’ leaders — the so-called “Three Amigos” — meet for trilateral talks in Mexico City.
But perhaps most notable was what’s missing so far — there was no fresh commitment on fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that is smuggled across the border from Mexico, even after the White House said President Joe Biden would make specific asks of his Mexican counterpart, President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador.
Instead, the White House said the three countries have committed to “increased information sharing on chemicals used in the illicit manufacture of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs” — a far cry from any new law enforcement operations, sanctions or other activity to disrupt fentanyl production and trafficking by drug cartels.
The North American Leaders’ Summit brings together Biden, Lopez Obrador and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for two days of talks, with border security and migration — both legal and illegal — as key topics.
On migration, the White House said the three countries have agreed to take small steps to try to encourage migrants to apply for legal status, rather than put their lives in the hands of smugglers and make the journey north. But those steps — including a new joint platform online to give migrants “streamlined access to legal pathways,” a new legal center in southern Mexico backed by private sector funding and “sharing best practices” — are similarly meager given the scale of the issue.
More notable were the fresh commitments to increase economic cooperation — working together on key sectors, such as semiconductors and critical minerals, as well as on supply chains and advanced workforce training. While no financial commitments have been announced yet, those agreements include a cabinet-level summit on semiconductors, mapping mineral resources across the North American continent and promoting educational investment.
Both Biden and Lopez Obrador boasted that kind of cooperation during a one-on-one meeting on Monday, with the Mexican president describing his American counterpart as a “humanistic” and “visionary” leader and calling for new U.S. investment in the region.
“There would be no other leader that could implement this enterprise — beginning with you,” Lopez Obrador said to Biden in front of reporters. “You hold the key in your hand to open and to substantially improve the relationship among all the countries of the American continent.”
Biden, who has repeatedly talked about the importance of rebuilding U.S. manufacturing and moving supply chains closer to home, agreed up to a point — telling Lopez Obrador: “We’re at one of those inflection points where what we do in the next several years is going to determine what the world looks like in the next two, three, four decades.”
But Biden noted that the U.S. already provides more foreign aid than any other country and, “unfortunately, our responsibility just doesn’t end in the Western Hemisphere.”
There’s also a major, ongoing dispute over energy. Lopez Obrador has taken steps to box out foreign companies, especially in the renewable space, and instead prop up Mexico’s state-owned oil firm, Pemex. That triggered the U.S. and Canada to file a formal complaint in July under USMCA, a Trump-era free trade deal between the three countries that replaced the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement.
Not only did the White House make no mention of this dispute on Tuesday ahead of the trilateral talks, it said the three countries have recognized “the urgency for rapid, coordinated, and ambitious measures to build clean energy economies and respond to the climate crisis,” alongside another list of commitments, from reducing methane emissions and food waste to electrifying public buses and expanding conservation and electric vehicle chargers.
(LONDON) — Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to a hospital in Orlando, Florida, for abdominal pain, according to the presidential office. News of Bolsonaro’s hospitalization comes hours after President Joe Biden condemned the “outrageous” storming of three major Brazilian government buildings by supporters of Bolsonaro on Sunday.
A heavy police presence remained in Brazil on Monday after chaotic scenes reminiscent of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Bolsonaro has had strong episodes of abdominal pain, including occlusion, since he was stabbed during a campaign event in 2018. He is undergoing medical exams at AdventHealth Orlando and might be spending the night. Bolsonaro traveled to the U.S. days before the end of 2022 and missed his successor’s inauguration.
Brazil’s new president, the left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known widely as “Lula,” confirmed that three buildings had been damaged in the attack. He was in Sao Paulo at the time, but traveled to Brazil on Sunday evening to survey the damage.
“The coup plotters who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished,” he tweeted. “Tomorrow we resume work at the Planalto Palace. Democracy always. Goodnight.”
Lula previously served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2011. He was jailed on corruption charges in 2019, but his convictions were later nullified and he successfully defeated Bolsonaro in elections in 2022. Lula is holding a virtual crisis meeting on Monday with all governors of the country to discuss the reinforcement of security nationwide, especially at official buildings.
Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, has often been compared to former President Donald Trump, and has falsely claimed Lula won in a “stolen election” — even going as far as to advocate for a military coup.
The chaos began when at least 100 buses full of supporters of Bolsonaro arrived for a planned protest in Brazil’s capital. An estimated 4,000 protesters gathered, before several hundred broke through police barriers to enter the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Then, they were able to storm the Planalto Palace — one of the official palaces of the presidency. None of the buildings were in use at the time.
Brazilian security forces used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Armed officers were also seen confronting supporters of the ex-president on the roof of the Senate building.
At least 400 were arrested for their involvement in the attack on Sunday, according to military police, and they will face charges of rebellion. A further 1,200 protesters, camped out in Brazil, were arrested near the army headquarters. It is not clear how many have been released so far.
The Ministry of Justice has set up an email address to receive information about the “terrorist” attack, in addition to the ongoing investigation.
Bolsonaro was in Orlando, Florida, at the time of the attack, and said that he condemned the violence but denied Lula’s accusation that he was responsible.
Biden condemned the attack on Sunday, describing it as “outrageous.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted his own condemnation: “The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil. President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”
(LONDON) — President Joe Biden condemned the “outrageous” storming of three major government buildings by supporters of the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro on Sunday, as a heavy police presence remained in Brazil after chaotic scenes reminiscent of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
Brazil’s new president, the left-wing Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known widely as “Lula,” confirmed that three buildings had been damaged in the attack. He was in Sao Paulo at the time, but traveled to Brazil on Sunday evening to survey the damage.
“The coup plotters who promoted the destruction of public property in Brasilia are being identified and will be punished,” he tweeted. “Tomorrow we resume work at the Planalto Palace. Democracy always. Goodnight.”
Lula previously served as president of Brazil from 2003 to 2011. He was jailed on corruption charges in 2019, but his convictions were later nullified and he successfully defeated Bolsonaro in elections in 2022. Lula is holding a virtual crisis meeting on Monday with all governors of the country to discuss the reinforcement of security nationwide, especially at official buildings.
Bolsonaro, a far-right politician, has often been compared to former President Donald Trump, and has falsely claimed Lula won in a “stolen election” — even going as far as to advocate for a military coup.
The chaos began when at least 100 buses full of supporters of Bolsonaro arrived for a planned protest in Brazil’s capital. An estimated 4,000 protesters gathered, before several hundred broke through police barriers to enter the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Then, they were able to storm the Planalto Palace — one of the official palaces of the presidency. None of the buildings were in use at the time.
Brazilian security forces used tear gas in an attempt to disperse the crowd. Armed officers were also seen confronting supporters of the ex-president on the roof of the Senate building.
At least 400 were arrested for their involvement in the attack on Sunday, according to military police, and they will face charges of rebellion. A further 1,200 protesters, camped out in Brazil, were arrested near the army headquarters. It is not clear how many have been released so far.
The Ministry of Justice has set up an email address to receive information about the “terrorist” attack, in addition to the ongoing investigation.
Bolsonaro was in Orlando, Florida, at the time of the attack, and said that he condemned the violence but denied Lula’s accusation that he was responsible.
Biden condemned the attack on Sunday, describing it as “outrageous.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted his own condemnation: “The United States condemns any effort to undermine democracy in Brazil. President Biden is following the situation closely and our support for Brazil’s democratic institutions is unwavering. Brazil’s democracy will not be shaken by violence.”
(LONDON) — Prince Harry is sharing new details about his fractured relationships with his father King Charles III and brother Prince William, and how his hope for a “reconciliation” has led him to speak out.
“If we can get to the point of reconciliation, that will have a ripple effect across the world,” Harry told ABC News’ Good Morning America co-anchor Michael Strahan in a new interview about his memoir Spare. “I genuinely believe that, and that’s kind of what is pushing me. And if that doesn’t happen, then that’s very sad.”
Spare — a nod to Harry’s birth order as the younger brother of William, heir to the throne — will be released on Jan. 10, nearly three years to the day that Harry and his wife Meghan, the duchess of Sussex, shocked the world announcing their plans to “step back” as senior members of Britain’s royal family.
Since then, the couple has moved to California, where they now live with their two children, and separated themselves almost completely from royal life, becoming financially independent and pursuing their own careers.
In the wake of their departure, Harry told Strahan he does not believe the details he shares in Spare can make things any worse with his family.
“I have thought about it long and hard,” Harry said. “And as far as I see it, the divide couldn’t be greater before this book.”
William, ‘beloved brother and arch nemesis’
To the outside world Harry, 38, and William, 40, always appeared close, seemingly bonded by the death of their mother Princess Diana when Harry was just 12 and William was 15.
Harry told Strahan that privately, there was more to the brothers’ story. In his memoir, Harry refers to William as his “beloved brother and arch nemesis” and recalls verbal and even physical disputes between them.
“There has always been this competition between us weirdly,” Harry said. “Again, I think it really plays into, or is played, by the heir/spare.”
When asked whether he thought William was jealous of his position as the spare, Harry said yes.
“But I have more freedom than he does, right?” Harry said. “So his life is planned out for him. I have more flexibility to be able to choose the life that I wanted.”
Harry said that while the typical path for the spare is to sit “in the monarch’s shadow,” he wanted to carve a different path.
As Harry moved further down that path and eventually married Meghan, he claims William broke a longstanding “pact” between the brothers to not let their offices fight or brief the press against each other.
In Spare, Harry claims members of the royal institution fed stories to the press and refused to set the record straight on false reports, especially about Meghan, thereby shifting the negative spotlight on her in order to protect other royals.
“The people that he employed broke that,” Harry said of his self-described pact with William. “But again, within the family, it’s hard because you are led to believe that if you don’t play the game, that you will be destroyed. And again, I’m the one who’s proving that that is true, right? Chose not to play the game, but they’re trying to destroy me.”
In one example, Harry claims palace officials failed to correct tabloid stories alleging Meghan made William’s wife Kate, the princess of Wales, cry in the run-up to the Sussexes’ 2018 wedding. Harry writes in Spare, and Meghan has said in a previous interview, that it was Kate who upset Meghan and later apologized.
“[The press] pitched the Waleses, which Kate and William are now, against the Sussexes, me and my wife. They always pitched us against each other,” Harry said. “They pitched Kate and Meghan against each other.”
When asked whether press reports of Kate and Meghan fighting disrupted the women’s relationship, Harry replied, “Without question.”
“If you read [the press coverage], it very much feeds into how you function, operate, and behave. Without question,” Harry said. “But the moment you don’t read it, you can live a truly authentic life.”
Harry said he believes the British press continues to try to “drive a wedge” between him and William, but hopes that he can reconcile with his brother.
“I hope that we will be joined at the hip again,” he said. “Because, you know, if there’s something that will terrify the British press more than anything, it’s William and I being aligned.”
Harry said he “without question” shoulders some of the responsibility for the breakdown of his relationship with William. But he added, “What people don’t know is the efforts that I’ve gone to [in order] to resolve this privately, both with my brother and with my father.”
Neither Kensington Palace — William and Kate’s office — nor Buckingham Palace, the office of Charles and Camilla, the queen consort, have commented on the claims Harry makes in Spare.
ABC News reached out to Kensington Palace and Buckingham palace for response to Harry’s remarks in our interview. Kensington Palace declined to comment.
ABC News received a response from the law firm representing Buckingham Palace Monday saying that the palace needed to “consider exactly what is said in the interview and the context in which it appears,” and asked that we supply them immediately with a copy of the entire interview. We do not do that as a news organization as a matter of policy.
Harry describes how his and Meghan’s hope for a different royal life collapsed
According to Harry, intense press coverage and security concerns played a large part in his and Meghan’s quest to carve out different royal roles for themselves that would allow them to split their time between Canada and the U.K. while still serving the monarchy.
When the proposal was brought to the royal family, Harry said there was “zero compromise.” He added that an agreed-upon 12-month transition period completely fell apart when his own family’s security was pulled.
“I was stunned that my family would allow security to be taken away, especially at the most vulnerable point for us,” said Harry, who was living with Meghan and their son Archie in Vancouver Island, Canada, at the time. “And maybe they didn’t understand the concerns that I had. I mean, I listed them. I laid them out.”
When asked whether he thought his family didn’t understand his security concerns, or didn’t care, Harry replied, “I think probably a little bit of both.”
Harry expressed that neither he nor Meghan wanted to leave their senior royal roles, saying, “We were based in Windsor. That was where we genuinely thought we were going to spend the rest of our lives.”
Describing his and Meghan’s ideal life, he said they wanted to continue to represent the monarchy but to do so mainly outside of the U.K. so that their work wouldn’t go through what he called “the filter of the tabloids.”
“We were trying to find a different way to work, but for one reason or another, despite the fact that it already exists within the family, we weren’t allowed to do things slightly differently,” Harry said. “To still perform and work and support and represent the monarchy, but to be financially independent, to remove the supposed public interest, which the tabloids had used repeatedly to invade every single element of our life.”
A return to the U.K. and a working royal role?
Though Harry’s memoir Spare rips open his view of the royal institution and his family, he said he thinks telling his story is what is needed to make peace.
“I don’t think that we can ever have peace with my family unless the truth is out there,” he told Strahan. “There’s a lot that I can forgive, but there needs to be conversations in order for reconciliation, and part of that has to be accountability.”
Harry said he also hopes to have a candid, private conversation with family members.
“I just hope that there’s a way that we can have a conversation that is trusted within that conversation that isn’t then spilled to the British press,” he said. “That’s where I am.”
When describing how he chose the personal, behind-the-scenes details he shares in Spare, Harry said he thought more about the family he has created with Meghan.
“As [with] everybody who has a large family, a family that you’ve been born into, there becomes a point when the family that you’ve created … becomes the priority over the family that you were born into,” said Harry, who wed Meghan in 2018. “So, not to say it wasn’t hard. It was very hard. But that was my thinking and the process in which I went through.”
Harry has only returned to the U.K. a handful of times since his exit in 2020, including for the funerals of his grandfather Prince Philip and, more recently, his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.
According to Harry, the queen never told him she was angry with him for wanting to change his royal role, but he believes she was “sad” his situation had reached that point.
“I had many, many conversations with her both in the U.K. over the years and in the run-up to the point of this change, so it was never a surprise to anybody, least of all her,” Harry said. “She knew what was going on. She knew how hard it was. I don’t know whether she was in a position to be able to change it.”
When asked whether he saw himself, Meghan and their children ever returning to the U.K. and becoming working royals again, Harry said he doesn’t think so.
“Even if there was an agreement or an arrangement between me and my family, there is that third party that is going to do everything they can to make sure that that isn’t possible,” Harry said, referring to the British press. “Not stopping us from necessarily going back, but making it unsurvivable, and that’s really sad because that is essentially breaking the relationship between us.”
He added, “If there was something in the future where we can continue to support the Commonwealth, then that’s of course on the table, but there’s so much that needs to happen between now and then, and so much that can happen.”
Harry says he’s speaking out to help protect other generations of royals
The dduke of Sussex said he “genuinely” believes the British monarchy should continue, and that there is a place for it in the 21st century as long as it modernizes.
“I think the same process that I went through regarding my own unconscious bias would be hugely beneficial to them,” he said. “It’s not racism, but unconscious bias if not confronted, if not acknowledged, if not learned and grown from, that can then move into racism. And the way that I understand it is that we all want to be part of the solution rather than part of the problem.”
Harry said the royals missed a “huge missed opportunity” in modernizing the monarchy through what Meghan represented as a biracial woman.
“It’s what she said to me from right from the beginning, representation,” Harry said of his wife. “And I, as a privileged white man, didn’t really understand what she was talking about.”
With his memoir, Harry said a large part of his drive to speak out stems from a hope to “change the media landscape” in the U.K., giving less status to tabloid newspapers.
“In this instance, the most popular, most read and therefore most influential newspapers in our country are tabloids,” he said. “That affects the country. That affects the construct of the country.”
Harry described also wanting to more specifically change what he described as a “codependency” between U.K. tabloids and the royal family.
“There are some people, especially in the U.K., who have been led to believe that because you are a member of the royal family, somehow everyone owns you or has a stake in you,” he said. “And that’s a message that has been purely pushed out by the British tabloids, and it creates real problems within that family and that relationship.”
Harry added, “Of course, there has to be some sort of relationship, but where it’s got to now is incredibly unhealthy.”
Believing that the monarchy should continue, Harry said he hopes his efforts can help his own two children as well as current and future generations of royals.
“I also worry about other young kids within that family if this continues,” he said, referring to the royal family. “Because who’s to say that someone else doesn’t fill my shoes and that their partner, whether it’s a husband or a wife or boyfriend or a girlfriend, doesn’t get treated exactly the same as Meghan did?”
(NEW YORK) — Colorado will stop sending migrants to New York and Chicago, according to a press release from Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.
The decision followed days of public discussion between the leaders of the two cities — New York Mayor Eric Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot — and Polis about which city should be responsible for supporting the influx of migrants.
“Also, the Governor had a very productive conversation with Mayor Adams and Mayor Lightfoot today where he shared that there are no more buses scheduled for migrants from Denver to Chicago at this time, and the final chartered transportation to New York City will be successfully completed tomorrow,” said the press release, which was dated Saturday.
Polis announced on Jan. 3 that Colorado would facilitate in transporting of migrants who arrived in Denver to their “final destinations,” noting that about 70% of the migrants did not consider Denver as their destination. The release added that weather and workforce shortages at the time attributed to travel cancellations for many migrants.
New York Mayor Eric Adams had responded before Polis issued that announcement. Joining 77WABC’s “Sid and Friends in the Morning,” Adams informed listeners that Polis notified him on Monday about busing migrants from Colorado.
“This is just unfair for local governments to have to take on this national obligation,” Adams said. “We’ve done our job. There’s no more room at the end, but we are compelled by local laws here that we must provide shelter.”
The City and County of Denver had received 21 migrants overnight on Jan. 4, brining its total to 3,673 migrants since Dec. 9. Over the next three nights, the city received 75, 48 and 78 migrants overnight.
In a joint letter to Polis on Saturday, Adams and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot demanded that Colorado “cease and desist sending migrants to New York City and Chicago.” Lightfoot and Adams asked Polis to ensure “values are lived in good times and especially in challenging times,” saying Polis was sending migrants to cities where they lack family ties and community networks. They said New York and Chicago’s resources were at “maximum capacity.”
New York City received 36,400 asylum seekers in the nine months leading up to Jan. 4 and plans to spend $1 billion in 2023 to “address the asylum crisis,” according to the letter. Chicago has received 3,854 migrants since Aug. 31, the letter said.
With Polis promising to no longer send buses, the cities and Polis also appear to agree on another pressing topic: the necessity for action from the federal government.
“Instead, let us work together to advocate to the federal government for a national solution that responds to this need,” Adams and Lightfoot noted in their letter.
Colorado’s press release said, “Governor Polis has been clear that Congress and the Biden-Harris administration must assist states who are facing these challenges through no fault of their own and looks forward to partnering with the federal government to provide work permits for migrants who want to contribute to Colorado’s thriving economy, and enact better border security and finally pass real immigration reform.”
Denver Mayor Michael Hancock added to the calls for action on Jan. 5, commending President Joe Biden’s efforts to improve border enforcement but calling on more action from Congress.
“I also echo the President’s call for Congress to take meaningful action on comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “That is the most long term solution to a pressing humanitarian crisis.”
ABC News’ Jeff Cook and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
