(EAST LONDON, South Africa) — Tear gas or pepper spray was used on patrons at a popular nightclub in South Africa when more than a dozen teenagers mysteriously died there, an eyewitness told ABC News.
Sibongile Mtsewu, 22, said he was ordering drinks at the crowded Enyobeni Tavern near the South African city of East London over the weekend, when suddenly the doors were closed and some type of chemical agent was released into the air.
“There was no way out,” Mtsewu, who lives nearby, told ABC News in a telephone interview Thursday. “There was no chance to breathe.”
Mtsewu said he passed out after inhaling the substance. He recalled being surrounded by bodies when his brother woke him up some time later.
“The tear gas suffocated many people,” he told ABC News. “That’s why people died.”
Mtsewu said one of his legs was injured and he has pains in his body from the incident.
The South African Police Service has declined to comment on possible causes of deaths, citing the ongoing probe.
Officers were called to the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park, a suburb on the edge of East London in Eastern Cape province, on Sunday morning at around 4 a.m. local time, according to police. Upon arrival, they discovered 17 teens dead inside the club. Four more died when they were hospitalized or being transported to hospitals. The youngest victim was 13, police said.
The incident remains under investigation. The circumstances surrounding the tragedy were unclear, and the causes of deaths have yet to be established. No arrests have been made, according to police.
“We do not want to make any speculation at this stage as our investigations are continuing,” Brig. Tembinkosi Kinana, a spokesperson for the South African Police Service, told ABC News on Sunday.
As of Thursday, all 21 victims had been identified and the autopsies were completed, but toxicology reports were still pending, according to Siyanda Manana, a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Health. A mass funeral will be held next week.
The South African Police Service’s commissioner for Eastern Cape province, Lt. Gen. Nomthetheleli Mene, released a statement on Wednesday expressing concern “about circulating rumours and media reports speculating on the cause of death.”
“As indicated earlier, at an appropriate time and when an official report has been made available by the experts, the family and members of the public will be informed by the relevant authority,” Mene said. “We urge people to refrain from making risky assumptions which do not assist our investigations.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 30, 10:09 am
Biden announces $800M more in aid, ‘going to support Ukraine as long as it takes’
President Joe Biden at his press conference in Madrid Thursday announced $800 million more in aid for Ukraine, including air defense systems and offensive weapons.
A reporter asked how to explain to the American people a joint statement from Biden and other G-7 leaders Monday that read: “We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian, military and diplomatic support and stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
Asked if that meant indefinite support from the U.S., or whether there would be a time support from the U.S. would stop, Biden replied: “We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes.”
“I don’t know what — how it’s going to end,” Biden added, “But it will not end with a Russian defeat of Ukraine in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said recently that the war needs to end by the winter. But Biden said that, “no,” that assessment hadn’t changed his calculation in terms of the pace and kind of assistance the U.S. is sending Ukraine.
Biden was also pressed on record high gas prices that he has attributed to the war in Ukraine. “How long is it fair to expect American drivers and drivers around the world to pay that premium for this war?” he was asked by a reporter.
“As long as it takes,” he replied. “Russia cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine. This is a critical, critical position for the world.”
Biden highlighted his domestic efforts to bring down the price at the pump, like releasing oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and asking Congress and states to approve a gas tax holiday to help save consumers money at the pump.
“So I think there’s a lot of things we can do, and we will do, but the bottom line is ultimately the reason why gas prices are up is because of Russia,” he said. “Russia, Russia, Russia. The reason why the food crisis exists is because of Russia. Russia not allowing grain to get out of Ukraine.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Molly Nagle
Jun 30, 8:10 am
Nearly all released Azov defenders return wounded
Almost all soldiers of the Ukrainian Azov Regiment who were released from Russian captivity return home wounded, a representative of the Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders told local media on Wednesday.
“Almost everyone – 99% – were left without arms, without legs. Some do not hear, some do not see, but their eyes are happy,” Tetiana Kharko said.
According to Kharko, the sister of a captured Marine commander, some troops “talk with tears in their eyes, some can’t [speak].” The representative added that the soldiers from the latest exchange of prisoners need urgent medical care and an examination.
In his Wednesday evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said 95 Azovstal defenders returned home from Ukrainian captivity, along with dozens of other troops.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Natalya Kushnir and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 30, 7:07 am
Mariupol theater airstrike was ‘a clear war crime’ by Russian military: Amnesty International
The Russian military committed “a clear war crime” when its forces bombed a packed drama theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March, Amnesty International said Thursday.
The London-based international human rights group published a new report documenting how the deadly blitz on the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater unfolded, citing interviews with numerous survivors and witnesses as well as “extensive digital evidence,” which included photographs, videos, radio intercepts, satellite imagery and radar data. The report concluded that the evidence indicates the attack “was almost certainly an airstrike carried out by the Russian military,” with the theater as “the intended target.”
“After months of rigorous investigation, analysis of satellite imagery and interviews with dozens of witnesses, we concluded that the strike was a clear war crime committed by Russian forces,” Amnesty International Secretary-General Agnes Callamard said in a statement Thursday.
Jun 30, 7:01 am
War outlook remains ‘grim,’ top US intelligence officer says
Russian President Vladimir Putin still wants to seize most of Ukraine, and the outlook for the war remains grim, Avril Haines, the top U.S. intelligence officer, said Wednesday as reported by Reuters.
“In short, the picture remains pretty grim and Russia’s attitude toward the West is hardening,” Haines said at a Commerce Department conference.
The intelligence officer added that U.S. spy agencies expect the war to grind on “for an extended period of time.” But the Russian forces are so degraded by combat, Haines said, that they likely can only achieve incremental gains in the near term.
Haines also said it will take years for Russia to rebuild its forces. Still, U.S. intelligence agencies foresee three possible scenarios in the war, according to Haines, the most likely being a grinding conflict in which Russian forces “make incremental gains, with no breakthrough.”
The other scenarios include a major Russian breakthrough and Ukraine succeeding in stabilizing the frontlines while achieving small gains, perhaps near the Russian-held city of Kherson and other areas of southern Ukraine.
Ukraine is likely to rely on more NATO support as the conflict drags on, with Ihor Zhovkva, the Deputy Head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, stating Wednesday that Ukraine believes it already meets NATO standards and maintains a course to continue integration.
“No one removes Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration from the agenda,” Zhovkva said at the NATO summit in Madrid.
Zhovka, who headed the Ukrainian delegation in Madrid, said he was satisfied with the results of the summit. The official also stressed that Ukraine maintains its course to join NATO.
Russia warned Tuesday that Ukraine joining NATO could lead to World War III should Kyiv then attempt to encroach on the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Natalya Kushnir and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 29, 3:20 pm
Zelenskyy addresses NATO summit
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the NATO summit Wednesday, commending the decision to invite Finland and Sweden to join NATO.
Zelenskyy told the NATO leaders, “The goals of Ukraine are exactly the same as yours: We are interested in security and stability on the European continent and in the world.”
“This is not a war of Russia only against Ukraine, this is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe,” he said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jun 29, 1:37 pm
Biden, Erdogan meet after Turkey drops opposition to Finland, Sweden joining NATO
President Joe Biden met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the NATO summit in Madrid Wednesday, where he thanked Erdoğan for dropping his objections to Finland and Sweden becoming NATO members.
“I want to particularly thank you for what you did putting together the situation with regard to Finland and Sweden and all the incredible work you’re doing to try to get the grain out of Ukraine and Russia,” Biden said.
“We think your pioneering in this regard is going to be crucial in terms of strengthening NATO for the future,” Erdoğan said. “And it’s going to have a very positive contribution to the process between Ukraine and Russia.”
Senior administration officials told reporters Wednesday that the U.S. made no formal offer in exchange for Erdoğan dropping Turkey’s resistance to Finland and Sweden becoming NATO members.
The U.S. Department of Defense earlier came out in support of Turkey’s plans to modernize its aircraft fleet with American-made F-16s.
(HONG KONG) — When Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped off a high speed train into Hong Kong on Thursday to throngs of flag waving residents and a traditional lion dance performance, it marked his first trip outside the borders of Mainland China in nearly 900 days, since the very beginning of the pandemic and also the first time the Chinese leader has set foot in the Chinese territory since the 2019 anti-government protests paralyzed the city.
“Hong Kong has withstood severe tests time and time again,” Xi said in brief remarks upon his arrival. “After ups and downs, Hong Kong has risen from the ashes and showed vigorous vitality.”
Amidst an incoming typhoon warning, a tight security blanket and a COVID-19 bubble, Xi returned to the city for a two-day visit to inaugurate the new Beijing-approved administration and celebrate the 25th anniversary of the former British colony’s return to China, marking the halfway point of the 50 year ‘One Country, Two Systems’ promise to Hong Kong that it could maintain its autonomy and capitalist system.
Everyone attending and interacting with Xi and his delegation over the next two days has had to isolate beforehand because COVID-19 infections in Hong Kong are much higher than on the zero-COVID-adhering mainland. Local media reports say Xi is not expected to overnight in Hong Kong, instead choosing to head back over the border before returning Friday morning. His total time in the city will only add a few hours over the two day span.
Nevertheless, Xi was bullish in his praise.
“One country, two systems has strong vitality,” Xi declared. “It can ensure Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.”
For many, the foundation of that “One Country, Two Systems” promise has crumbled since Xi was last in Hong Kong in 2017 for what was then the 20th anniversary of the handover.
In a speech five years ago, Xi issued a terse warning that “any attempt to endanger China’s sovereignty and security, challenge the power of the central government” or to “use Hong Kong to carry out infiltration and sabotage against the mainland is an act that crosses the red line and is absolutely impermissible.”
Hours after that speech, tens of thousands of Hong Kong residents were still able to take to the streets that year for an annual pro-democracy protest march that coursed its way through the vibrant Asian financial center. Newsstands still sold pro-democracy papers and magazines and a boisterous contingent of opposition politicians locked heads with pro-Beijing counterparts.
Five years later Xi arrived in a very different city, one that has been silenced of outward dissent.
The at-times violent street protests that captured the world’s attention in 2019 had — in Xi’s view — crossed the “red line” he warned about.
Amid the pandemic, Beijing imposed a security crackdown that has not only quietened the streets but remade the fabric of the city. The National Security Law that was seeded into Hong Kong two years ago has either locked up, chased out or silenced nearly the entire once-vocal opposition.
Though its supporters deny it, speech has also been curtailed in the name of national security. Protest marches disappeared and all remembrances of the Tiananmen Square crackdown erased. Media outlets were either brought in line or forced to shutter like pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai’s Apple Daily did last year. Lai, himself, now sits behind bars on multiple counts including national security charges that may keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
The electoral system for all officials and lawmakers was rewritten last year to ensure “only patriots governed Hong Kong,” tipping the scale in Beijing’s favor for the foreseeable future and closing the door on further democratic reforms. Hong Kong’s mini-constitution “The Basic Law” had aimed to work towards eventual universal suffrage but that is now on hold indefinitely.
School curriculums have been overhauled to ensure Beijing approved “patriotism” is instilled at a young age including new textbooks waiting in the wings that deny Hong Kong was ever a British Colony — apparently because, they argue, China never recognized British rule over their sovereign territory.
On top of it all, Hong Kong’s strict COVID measures and sealed borders have cut off the city not only from mainland China but from the rest of the world, which has seen Hong Kong’s status as an aviation hub and international financial center squeezed away by local government policies as its economy contracted by 4% in the first quarter of this year — one of the worst performances in 30 years.
A combination of some or all these factors have contributed to Hong Kong residents voting with their feet. Since the beginning of the year there has been 154,000 net departures from the city, the highest rate since Hong Kong returned to China.
Chinese state media has played the developments differently with the People’s Daily declaring on Thursday, “the Hong Kong National Security Law has become the “patron saint” for safeguarding Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.”
Hong Kong’s future is at a trepidatious crossroad and Beijing knows it. Earlier this month, the Hong Kong & Macau Affairs Office in Beijing which oversees the city took the unprecedented steps — despite the city’s supposed autonomy — to publish targets for the incoming administration led by John Lee, the former security official who implemented Beijing’s crackdown against the pro-democracy movement and press.
On the top of the list is affordable housing concerns, which Beijing blames for discontent in the city and “to improve Hong Kong’s international competitiveness.”
At the anniversary ceremony on Friday morning, Xi is expected again to give a speech outlining his vision for Hong Kong over the next five years. Unlike the speech he gave in 2017, he will no longer have to worry about issuing red lines because the government claims they’ve already dealt with those who he viewed to have violated them.
Xi, who is solidifying his case to be given an unprecedented third term as president later this year, will likely take a victory lap as the leader who finally brought this once rebellious city firmly back in the fold.
(PARIS) — Wednesday marked the epilogue of a nearly 10-month-long and emotional trial for the Paris terror attacks of Nov. 13, 2015, with Salah Abdeslam — the only person directly involved in the planning who’s still alive — receiving the heaviest sentence under French law.
Families of victims and journalists were amassed either in the cafés or under the shades afforded by the trees circling Place Dauphine, in front of the 1st Arrondissement Tribunal, on Wednesday afternoon, waiting for the verdict in the “trial of the century.”
They waited all afternoon for the court, which had retired to deliberate Monday, to finally learn the fate of the 20 defendants, among whom is 32-year-old Abdelsam, the only survivor of the death commando and key suspect in the landmark trial for the 2015 terror attacks that claimed 130 lives, and more than 400 others were wounded.
Nine suicide bombers committed simultaneous attacks outside the Stade de France in Saint-Denis during a soccer match, on a number of Parisian cafés and restaurants and inside the Bataclan concert hall during a packed performance, where the American rock band Eagles of Death Metal was playing. The attacks were later claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, or ISIL. At the Bataclan alone, 90 people were killed by terrorists with machine guns after being taken hostage.
The trial for the deadliest attacks ever committed in France opened on Sept. 8, 2021. There were 1,800 plaintiffs and 330 lawyers, and the trial took place in front of a specially composed panel of professional judges, instead of a jury of peers.
The 149 days of the trial that followed, often interrupted by cases of COVID-19 among the accused, were punctuated by the emotional and graphic testimonies of 415 people — out of the thousands of victims — along with testimony from first responders, former President François Hollande, the defendants and Belgian investigators.
Stéphane Sarrade, a member of the victims’ association 13Onze15 — a name that refers to the date of the attack, lost his then-23-year-old son Hugo at the Bataclan.
“It’s going to start. It smells of beer,” was the last text he received from Hugo at 8:00 p.m. that night, the father of two told ABC News.
Stéphane Sarrade, who “had almost no expectations at the start of this trial,” was happy to end the trial with “some details on the chronology of events,” which allowed him to imagine his son’s last moments.
On May 17, some of Hugo’s heroes — Eagles of Death Metal’s singer Jesse Hughes and former guitarist Eden Gavino — joined the victims’ families on l’Île de la Cité to testify before the court.
“I felt like broken,” Gavino said, while Hughes said he “forgive[s] them [the terrorists]” and “hope[s] that they find the peace of God themselves.”
Alexis Lebrun, 33, a Bataclan survivor and a member of the victims’ association Life for Paris, hesitated “a lot,” like many, but ultimately did not testify, he told ABC News near the tribunal on Wednesday.
Awaiting the verdict, Lebrun, who vehemently refuses to be seen as only “a victim of November 13 and nothing else,” told ABC News he now “aspire[s] to a form of banality.”
When Périès announced the verdict — ranging from two years to life in prison, with Abdeslam receiving life without the possibility of parole — before a very packed court, 39-year-old Thibault Morgant, who escaped the Bataclan attack with his wife, felt “nothing,” he said
However, as one of the administrators of 13Onze15, he told ABC News he felt pride “seeing that my country has been able to carry out such a procedure to its conclusion without renouncing its values.”
“The ordeal is over,” Stéphane Sarrade told ABC News.
Talking with French media France Info after the verdict, Arthur Dénouveaux, who was at the Bataclan and presides over Life For Paris, had words for the other silent victims of terrorism, the 200 children of French jihadists who still live in detention camps in Syria with their mothers.
This landmark trial will give way to another in September, as France isn’t done reckoning with terror on its soil. This time, the special Paris court will house the trial for the 2016 Nice terror attack that left 86 dead on the Promenade des Anglais.
In October, five of the 20 defendants from the Nov. 13 trial — including Abdeslam and his childhood friend Mohammed Abrini, who was filmed by CCTV cameras during the attacks in Brussels pushing a cart with two other suicide bombers — will be among the 10 defendants on trial before the Brussels Court of Appeal for the March 2016 attacks in Belgium.
In 2027, the Terrorism Memorial Museum, which aims to pay tribute to the victims of terrorism across France and around the world, is expected to open its doors.
ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In response to the invasion of Ukraine, the West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, nearly crippling its economy and isolating it from all but a few allies.
President Joe Biden and other government officials have said sanctions from the U.S. and its allies will make Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, pariahs on the world stage.
However, one expert who spoke with ABC News says that casting Russia out of the international community, making it a pariah state, may not be so easy.
“Russia is a member of the UN security council, it has veto power there. It is just a major actor on the world stage in so many ways. So isolating Russia, shaming it, making it a pariah is a huge challenge,” said Daniel Hamilton, a nonresident senior fellow at the Brookings Institute.
Yet, “Russia has not done too well with allies,” Hamilton also said.
“Today, it’s real allies are … sort of also pariah states. It’s Assad’s Syria, it’s Venezuela, it’s Cuba and that’s about it. Others tolerate Russia. They figure out ways to deal with it, in the former Soviet space. But they’re not really allies,” Hamilton said.
China has also kept a relationship with Russia, which Hamilton called “pro-Russian neutrality,” with China falling short of giving Russia its full support, he said
An analysis of American policymakers found that the U.S. punishes pariah states committing one of five acts: the development of weapons of mass destruction, involvement in terrorism, posing a military threat, challenging international norms and, most recently, cyberthreats.
The U.S. currently designates Cuba, North Korea, Iran and Syria as state sponsors of terrorism, according to the Department of State.
Russia’s gross domestic product, a metric used to gauge the size of an economy by quantifying all the goods and services it produced, will be hard hit, according to Andrew Lohsen, a fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“Russian GDP, by their own estimates, is expected to to fall by between eight and 12%. This is the sharpest contraction since 1994,” said Lohsen.
“Other former finance officials in Russia put that number close to 30%,” Lohsen said.
Lohsen also told ABC News the way Russia has conducted its war warrants a strong response from the international community.
“I think the images of civilians with their hands tied behind their back or shot execution style is an indication that Russia simply cannot be treated the way it has before, that this is a war crime,” Lohsen said.
“The way that Russia has fought this war in a way that is so obviously meant to terrorize and inflict pain and suffering on civilian noncombatants,” Lohsen added.
Putin considers Ukraine not as a sovereign country, but rather, a lost tribe of Russia, Hamilton said.
“He really is determined to either cripple it or to absorb it, if possible. He’s having some trouble doing that,” Hamilton said.
As it moves to isolate Russia, the U.S. is softening relations with Iran and Saudi Arabia, despite Biden’s campaign promise to make Saudi Arabia a pariah for its killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
While the U.S. has been able to cut out Russian oil, the European Union still relies on Russia for 25% of it’s oil and 40% of its natural gas.
(LONDON and PRETORIA) — The mysterious deaths of 21 teenagers at a popular nightclub in South Africa has swirled speculation and left many unanswered questions.
The incident remains under investigation by South African authorities. Here’s what we know so far.
A grim scene
The South African Police Service said its officers were called to the Enyobeni Tavern in Scenery Park, a suburb on the edge of East London in Eastern Cape province, on Sunday morning at around 4 a.m. local time. Upon arrival, they discovered 17 teens dead inside the club. Four more died when they were hospitalized or being transported to hospitals.
Initial reports stated the death toll was 22.
The youngest victim was 13, according to police.
The local government, the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, has offered burial assistance to the victims’ families. A mass funeral will be held next Wednesday.
Unclear circumstances
The circumstances surrounding the incident were unclear but are being investigated.
“We do not want to make any speculation at this stage as our investigations are continuing,” Brig. Tembinkosi Kinana, a spokesperson for the South African Police Service, told ABC News on Sunday.
The Daily Dispatch, a South African newspaper published in East London, reported that the teens were attending a party at the Enyobeni Tavern to celebrate the end of June school exams. Their bodies were reportedly found strewn across tables, chairs and the dance floor with no visible signs of injuries.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa released a statement on Sunday expressing concern “about the reported circumstances under which such young people were gathered at a venue which, on the face of it, should be off limits to persons under the age of 18.”
Unknown causes
The causes of deaths have yet to be established.
Siyanda Manana, a spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Department of Health, told ABC News on Tuesday that the autopsies were completed and toxicology reports were pending. Of the 21 bodies, 19 have been identified while the other two — both boys — were still unidentified in the local mortuary, according to Manana.
The Daily Dispatch reported that there were rumors the teens died in a stampede after security guards at the Enyobeni Tavern discharged tear gas or pepper spray in an attempt to disperse patrons. But that theory has reportedly been ruled out.
News24, a South African online news publication, reported that carbon monoxide poisoning has emerged as a possible cause of death, citing “sources close to the probe.” Kinana, the police spokesperson, would not confirm the claim, telling ABC News on Wednesday: “The investigation into the incident is still ongoing. No report has been given out in this regard.”
Meanwhile, the South African Police Service’s commissioner for Eastern Cape province, Lt. Gen. Nomthetheleli Mene, released a statement on Wednesday expressing concern “about circulating rumours and media reports speculating on the cause of death.”
“As indicated earlier, at an appropriate time and when an official report has been made available by the experts, the family and members of the public will be informed by the relevant authority,” Mene said. “We urge people to refrain from making risky assumptions which do not assist our investigations.”
No suspects or arrests
No suspects have been named in connection with the investigation.
Kinana told ABC News on Tuesday that no arrests have been made.
(WASHINGTON) — As Americans head to crowded airports for a revival of European summer vacations, it looks like next year will be more expensive for those headed to the European Union.
A 7 euro fee, translating to $7.42, is expected to go into effect in May 2023 for foreign visitors aged 18 to 70 years old as part of a new European Travel Information and Authorization System (ETIAS), according to the European Commission.
As part of the system, travelers will have to apply for authorization through the official website or app before their trip abroad.
ETIAS is intended to increase revenue for the EU and to create a central data repository on non-Europeans who visit the area.
“EU Member States’ border management authorities currently have little information about travellers exempt from visa requirements entering the EU,” Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency who will have a key role in the new system, said in a statement.
“ETIAS will therefore be an important means of addressing this information gap by supporting security screening and risk assessment of travellers, reinforcing the internal security of the Schengen Area,” the agency added.
The European Commission said that ETIAS will be a largely automated system used to identify security, irregular migration or high epidemic risks posed by visa-exempt visitors traveling to the Schengen States, which refers to 26 European countries including France, Italy, Germany and Greece.
ETIAS will also facilitate the crossing of borders for the vast majority of travelers who do not pose the aforementioned risks.
The European Commission said that most travelers who apply for the ETIAS authorization will be approved within minutes. The estimated 5% of travelers who aren’t, the commission said, could receive the travel authorization in up to 30 days.
Once granted, the authorization will be valid for three years or until the expiration date of an individual’s travel document, such as a passport.
The authorization will be checked by border guards along with other travel documents.
ETIAS was first proposed by the European Commission in 2016, and has since faced negotiations within the commission’s legislation. Now, the system will become enacted by mid-2023, the commission said.
“Our police officers and border guards need to have the right tools to do their jobs – keeping our citizens safe and our borders secure. ETIAS will pre-screen visa-free visitors for potential security problems, while the reinforced eu-LISA will allow us to continue to modernise EU-wide information systems for law enforcement and border management,” Commissioner for the Security Union Julian King said following the 2018 agreement by the commission to establish ETIAS.
ETIAS adds to the preexisting Schengen visa system, which did not require such authorization from visitors from at least fifty countries around the world, including the U.S., Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
The European Commission began discussing the new system after it was found that an estimated 30 million visitors came to the EU without being required to have a Schengen visa.
ETIAS has similar characteristics to the United States’ Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), which is available to travelers from countries granted a Visa Waiver Program.
In May, the fee for ESTA increased from $14 to $21, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 29, 9:15 am
Finland, Sweden invited to join NATO
The leaders of NATO countries have invited Sweden and Finland to join NATO, they announced at the Madrid summit.
NATO leaders in their declaration called Russia “the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security and to peace and stability in the Euro-Atlantic area.”
Jun 29, 8:28 am
NATO to identify Russia as its ‘main threat,’ Spanish PM says
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is hosting a NATO summit in Madrid, said Russia will be identified as the alliance’s “main threat” in its new strategic concept unveiled during the summit.
“The strategic concept of Madrid will be naming Russia as the main threat of the allies,” Sánchez told Spanish media on Wednesday. NATO previously considered Russia a strategic partner.
Sánchez stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the only person “responsible for this substantive change.”
During a speech at the NATO summit on Wednesday, the Spanish Prime Minister said the summit carried a clear signal for Putin.
“We are sending a strong message to Putin: ‘You will not win,’” Sánchez said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Facebook on Tuesday that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers had mastered the use of weapons supplied by Western countries, while other troops are in ongoing training.
Reznikov said Ukrainian specialists were training on aviation and other types of high-tech weaponry, including artillery systems and means of reconnaissance.
“We are learning at a fast pace,” the defense minister added. “Any weapon in the hands of the [Ukrainian] Armed Forces becomes even more effective.”
In his speech at the NATO summit on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his plea for more weapons supplies, highlighting Ukraine’s need for more modern artillery systems.
To break Russia’s artillery advantage, Ukraine needs “much more modern systems, modern artillery,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 29, 7:39 am
Missile strike on mall may have been mistake
Russia’s recent missile strike on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, which killed at least 20 people, may have been “intended to hit a nearby infrastructure target,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Wednesday in an intelligence update.
The ministry called it “a realistic possibility” and noted that “Russia’s inaccuracy in conducting long range strikes has previously resulted in mass civilian casualty incidents, including at Kramatorsk railway station” on April 9.
“Russian planners highly likely remain willing to accept a high level of collateral damage when they perceive military necessity in striking a target,” the ministry said. “It is almost certain that Russia will continue to conduct strikes in an effort to interdict the resupplying of Ukrainian frontline forces.”
“Russia’s shortage of more modern precision strike weapons and the professional shortcomings of their targeting planners will highly likely result in further civilian casualties,” the ministry warned.
Jun 28, 4:51 pm
20 dead, 40 still missing from mall strike
Twenty people are dead and 59 are wounded from Russia’s missile strike on Monday at a mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, according to Kyrilo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Forty people remain missing, Tymoshenko said.
“Several fragments of bodies have been found ripped off limbs and feet of the people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations Security Council.
He said if Russia denies the devastation was wrought by one of its missiles, he asked the U.N. send an independent representative to the site of the attack to verify for itself.
First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the U.N., Dmitry Polyanskiy, flatly denied carrying out strikes against any civilian target.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford, Oleksii Pshemysko and Fidel Pavlenko
Jun 28, 12:58 pm
Sean Penn meets with Zelenskyy
Sean Penn met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Tuesday after the actor arrived in Ukraine to shoot a documentary, according to Zelenskyy’s office.
Penn, who first came to Ukraine on the day Russia invaded in February, wants to “visit settlements in Ukraine affected by Russian aggression,” according to Zelenskyy’s office.
Jun 28, 4:13 pm
Biden: Ukraine ‘standing up’ to Putin ‘in ways that I don’t think anyone anticipated’
President Joe Biden and Spanish President Pedro Sanchez delivered remarks Tuesday on new areas of cooperation between the two countries and efforts to keep supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Biden did not mention Monday’s strike on the Ukraine mall that killed 18, but said the invasion has “shattered peace in Europe and every norm since WWII.”
Biden said he and Sanchez discussed the need to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine.
The Ukrainians “are standing up in ways that I don’t think anyone anticipated, showing enormous bravery, enormous resolve,” Biden said.
He said he believes Putin’s objective is to “wipe out the culture of Ukraine.”
Biden said NATO allies will be “standing as one” to support Ukraine and teased more military posture commitments in Europe. Biden said the U.S. and Spain are working on an agreement to increase the number of Navy destroyers stationed at Rota Naval Base in Spain.
(SEOUL, South Korea) — A North Korean defector group in Seoul claimed on Tuesday to have launched air balloons carrying medical supplies near the inter-Korean border.
The Fighters for Free North Korea, an activist group of North Korean defectors who send anti-propaganda leaflets across the border, said they flew 20 air balloons carrying 50,000 pain relief pills, 30,000 vitamin C and 20,000 N-95 masks. Dispatching unauthorized materials at the border is against the law in South Korea.
“In order to help the miserable mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters in North Korea who are dying without any medicine, the Fighters for Free North Korea is temporarily halting the anti-Pyongyang leaflet sending, and will send medical supplies to help with COVID situation in the North,” Park Sang Hak, a North Korean defector who leads the activist group, told ABC News.
The South Korean government since 2020 has banned sending leaflets across the border. Sending them carries a maximum prison term of three years or fines up to $27,400.
The non-government organization has been gathering help from human rights support groups based in Seoul and the U.S. to send medical supplies to the North since the Kim Jong Un regime acknowledged the outbreak on May 13.
North Korea remains one of the only two nations without COVID vaccines. Ever since admitting that it had its first COVID patient, the isolated regime has been announcing the number of ‘fever patients’ and COVID-related deaths through its state media daily. Lacking medical supplies to treat the pandemic, Pyongyang’s main newspaper, Roding Sinmun, advised people to use traditional remedies such as drinking willow or honeysuckle leaf tea.
“In South Korea, even animals are given medicine to treat diseases, the North Korean regime is uncivilized at the worst level,” Park told ABC News. “All we want for the families and friends in North Korea is for them to be treated with real medicine to fight COVID-19.”
An official from the Unification Ministry told ABC News that police and other authorities were working to confirm Tuesday’s balloon launch.
“The ministry understands the intent of the distribution, but believe in the need [for the group] to restrain its activities considering the sensitive inter-Korean relationship and the government’s effort for cooperation in the inter-Korean disinfection, and whether [the activities] could actually help the North Korean people,” the official said.
The group claims that it’s the second time this month they have sent air balloons with medical supplies to the North, and will continue to do so.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 29, 8:28 am
NATO to identify Russia as its ‘main threat,’ Spanish PM says
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, who is hosting a NATO summit in Madrid, said Russia will be identified as the alliance’s “main threat” in its new strategic concept unveiled during the summit.
“The strategic concept of Madrid will be naming Russia as the main threat of the allies,” Sánchez told Spanish media on Wednesday. NATO previously considered Russia a strategic partner.
Sánchez stressed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was the only person “responsible for this substantive change.”
During a speech at the NATO summit on Wednesday, the Spanish Prime Minister said the summit carried a clear signal for Putin.
“We are sending a strong message to Putin: ‘You will not win,’” Sánchez said.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said on Facebook on Tuesday that thousands of Ukrainian soldiers had mastered the use of weapons supplied by Western countries, while other troops are in ongoing training.
Reznikov said Ukrainian specialists were training on aviation and other types of high-tech weaponry, including artillery systems and means of reconnaissance.
“We are learning at a fast pace,” the defense minister added. “Any weapon in the hands of the [Ukrainian] Armed Forces becomes even more effective.”
In his speech at the NATO summit on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated his plea for more weapons supplies, highlighting Ukraine’s need for more modern artillery systems.
To break Russia’s artillery advantage, Ukraine needs “much more modern systems, modern artillery,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 29, 7:39 am
Missile strike on mall may have been mistake
Russia’s recent missile strike on a shopping mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, which killed at least 20 people, may have been “intended to hit a nearby infrastructure target,” the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Wednesday in an intelligence update.
The ministry called it “a realistic possibility” and noted that “Russia’s inaccuracy in conducting long range strikes has previously resulted in mass civilian casualty incidents, including at Kramatorsk railway station” on April 9.
“Russian planners highly likely remain willing to accept a high level of collateral damage when they perceive military necessity in striking a target,” the ministry said. “It is almost certain that Russia will continue to conduct strikes in an effort to interdict the resupplying of Ukrainian frontline forces.”
“Russia’s shortage of more modern precision strike weapons and the professional shortcomings of their targeting planners will highly likely result in further civilian casualties,” the ministry warned.
Jun 28, 4:51 pm
20 dead, 40 still missing from mall strike
Twenty people are dead and 59 are wounded from Russia’s missile strike on Monday at a mall in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, according to Kyrilo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Office of the President of Ukraine.
Forty people remain missing, Tymoshenko said.
“Several fragments of bodies have been found ripped off limbs and feet of the people,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the United Nations Security Council.
He said if Russia denies the devastation was wrought by one of its missiles, he asked the U.N. send an independent representative to the site of the attack to verify for itself.
First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the U.N., Dmitry Polyanskiy, flatly denied carrying out strikes against any civilian target.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford, Oleksii Pshemysko and Fidel Pavlenko
Jun 28, 12:58 pm
Sean Penn meets with Zelenskyy
Sean Penn met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Tuesday after the actor arrived in Ukraine to shoot a documentary, according to Zelenskyy’s office.
Penn, who first came to Ukraine on the day Russia invaded in February, wants to “visit settlements in Ukraine affected by Russian aggression,” according to Zelenskyy’s office.
Jun 28, 4:13 pm
Biden: Ukraine ‘standing up’ to Putin ‘in ways that I don’t think anyone anticipated’
President Joe Biden and Spanish President Pedro Sanchez delivered remarks Tuesday on new areas of cooperation between the two countries and efforts to keep supporting Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
Biden did not mention Monday’s strike on the Ukraine mall that killed 18, but said the invasion has “shattered peace in Europe and every norm since WWII.”
Biden said he and Sanchez discussed the need to continue to provide weapons to Ukraine.
The Ukrainians “are standing up in ways that I don’t think anyone anticipated, showing enormous bravery, enormous resolve,” Biden said.
He said he believes Putin’s objective is to “wipe out the culture of Ukraine.”
Biden said NATO allies will be “standing as one” to support Ukraine and teased more military posture commitments in Europe. Biden said the U.S. and Spain are working on an agreement to increase the number of Navy destroyers stationed at Rota Naval Base in Spain.
