The Kid LAROI has been digitized for an all new augmented reality initiative that will see him performing virtually on Snapchat.
The Australian singer wore a motion capture suit to choreograph the dance moves for his song “Thousand Miles,” which will be performed by his avatar for its new music video. The musical performance, which will only be on Snapchat, will be put on by Coca-Cola for their season-long “Coke Summer Music” campaign.
Fans can tune in on the video sharing app, the Coke Studio website, Snapchat’s Lens Carousel and by scanning billboards in Chicago or New York with a Snapcode. You can also test your LAROI chops by spotting Easter eggs hidden throughout the performance.
Planet One Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — A Norwegian cruise ship has canceled its nine-night Alaskan trip after the ship crashed into an iceberg off of the Alaskan coast on Saturday.
While there were no injuries and patrons and staff made it to Alaskan docks safely, the cruise line has canceled the rest of the scheduled trip and will return to Seattle Thursday morning.
The Norwegian Sun was transitioning to Hubbard Glacier in Alaska when the ship made contact with a growler, the cruise line told ABC News.
A growler is a small iceberg that has less than 3.3 feet of ice showing above the water, and is under 6.6 feet in width, the National Snow & Ice Data Center reports.
After impact, the ship changed course to dock in Juneau, Alaska, for further assessment. There, the company decided the cruise would be shortened and future trips canceled.
“The ship was given clearance by the United States Coast Guard and other local maritime authorities to return to Seattle at reduced speed,” a spokesperson for Norwegian Cruise Line said. “All guests currently onboard will disembark in Seattle as originally planned.”
A Norwegian Cruise Line spokesperson told Cruise Hive the ship was “engulfed by dense fog, limiting visibility and resulting in the ship making contact with a growler.”
Stewart Chiron, a cruise industry expert known as The Cruise Guy, told ABC News that growlers are very common when passing through areas with glaciers.
Chiron said ships do not usually get within 1,000 feet of the glaciers themselves, and commonly have impact with small pieces of ice that have broken off and floated away from the glaciers.
While impact with these pieces is common in the area, it is uncommon for a cruise to change its scheduled trip due to such an impact, Chiron said.
Chiron believes that Norwegian acted with “an abundance of caution” when it decided to start its voyage back to Seattle after assessing damages.
He said the ship was “obviously safe enough” since passengers were allowed to stay on the ship to return to Seattle.
Chiron does not think the patrons should worry because ship captains are used to these waters and will continue to sail there without issue.
Norwegian Cruise Line said guests on the canceled cruise would receive a full refund, plus an additional future cruise credit valued at 100% of the original voyage fare paid. Travelers on the canceled cruise scheduled for June 30 will also receive a full refund, a future cruise credit valued at 50% of the original voyage fare, plus up to $300 per person for any airline cancelation/change fees.
John Wreford/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(CAIRO, Egypt) — Ekhlas Helmy, 88, has spent decades waking up every morning to the scenery of the Nile flowing seamlessly beneath her houseboat, a stationary house moored to the banks of the famous river in Cairo.
But the aging woman, who inherited her house ages ago, now faces eviction after the Egyptian government gave her what she and other houseboat owners described as a short-notice order to evacuate, citing failure to pay license fees and several other reasons.
The Nile houseboats are entrenched in Cairo’s history. Some date back to the early 20th century and hold significant historic value.
“How can we simply wipe out our history?” Helmy told ABC News, her voice cracking. “I was born in the Nile and I lived my entire life here.”
Government officials say the houseboats are dilapidated and cause pollution, reasons which the owners believe are a mere pretext to take them down and make room for other commercial buildings, such as restaurants and cafes, which already straddle big chunks of the river.
More than two dozen houseboats stationed on the banks of the Nile in the working-class neighborhood of Imbaba, a Greater Cairo district, face the imminent threat of being demolished. Five of the 29 houseboats, which are situated opposite the upscale island of Zamalek, were towed away on Monday.
The rest are expected to face the same fate on July 5, as the government presses ahead with a “restructuring plan,” the details of which it has not specified.
Ayman Nour, the head of the General Administration for Nile Protection in Greater Cairo — a government body responsible for removing any encroachments on the river — told MBC, a Saudi-owned television channel, that a government decision was made in 2020 to ban the registration of any residential houseboats.
If owners would like to stay put, they will have to turn their licenses into commercial ones, according to Nour, and thus pay far higher fees.
Owners said obstacles had been thrown their way in recent years, including a decision to increase the fees they pay 20-fold and the “inexplicable” refusal of authorities to accept money from them. While the houseboats are private properties, owners have to pay rental fees for the land and the docks to which they are tied up.
“When I married, I moved with my husband to an apartment in Zamalek. But when he died, I sold it and returned to my houseboat 30 years ago,” Helmy said. “I couldn’t live on my own in Zamalek. In the houseboat, there are people around you. There is warmth.”
Historic value
The wooden structures are featured in many classic black-and-white movies. In one famous novel, “Adrift on the Nile,” written by Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz in 1966, a group of people gather every night in a houseboat to smoke hash — symbolizing the deterioration of society during the era of President Gamal Abdel-Nasser. It was adapted into a 1971 film Chitchat on the Nile.
A houseboat owned by late Egyptian actress and dancer Hekmat Fahmy housed two German Nazi spies in the early 1940s and another hosted government meetings during the reign of King Farouk I, from 1936 to 1952.
The houseboats used to number in the hundreds, but had sharply dwindled to a few dozens when they were moved from the Zamalek island to Imbaba in the mid-1960s. It was not until then that the residential houseboats were legalized.
“They never let us know that a decision had already been made [to evacuate us] two years ago,” award-winning novelist Ahdaf Soueif, who is one of the owners, told ABC News. “They didn’t give us a proper chance to argue and get any result. Even if we hadn’t got one, we would have at least been given a decent amount of notice to change our lives.”
“The presence of those houseboats is something beautiful for people passing by. We can have an open day where people can be let into the decks to experience life on a houseboat for one day,” she added, vowing to fight on.
Activists accuse the government of disregarding any historic and architectural heritage when it embarks on urban development. The government says it’s keen on preserving the material fabric of Egypt’s past and that such projects are necessary to accommodate the ever-growing population.
“Where would I go at this age?” Helmy, the 88-year-old woman, said. “This houseboat is my entire life. I’m an old woman who walks on crutches, where would I go?”
Ukrainian State Emergency Service / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(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 28, 8:17 am
Russian forces in Ukraine ‘are increasingly hollowed out,’ UK says
Ukrainian forces are still consolidating their positions on higher ground in the eastern city of Lyschansak after falling back from nearby Sieverodonetsk, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.
“Ukrainian forces continue to disrupt Russian command and control with successful strikes deep behind Russian lines,” the ministry added.
According to the ministry, Russian forces over the weekend “launched unusually intense waves of strikes across Ukraine using long-range missiles.”
“These weapons highly likely included the Soviet-era AS-4 KITCHEN and more modern AS-23a KODIAK missiles, fired from both Belarusian and Russian airspace,” the ministry said. “These weapons were designed to take on targets of strategic importance, but Russia continues to expend them in large numbers for tactical advantage. Similarly, it fielded the core elements of six different armies yet achieved only tactical success at Sieverodonetsk.”
“The Russian armed forces are increasingly hollowed out,” the ministry added. “They currently accept a level of degraded combat effectiveness, which is probably unsustainable in the long term.
Jun 28, 6:22 am
Death toll from mall strike rises to 18
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian shopping mall continued to rise Tuesday as rescuers sifted through the charred rubble.
Monday’s attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people and wounded 59 others, including 25 who remain hospitalized Tuesday, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. A day of mourning for the victims was declared Tuesday in the wider Poltava Oblast.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday in his nightly address that more than 1,000 shoppers and workers were inside the mall during the afternoon attack and that it will take time to “establish the number of victims.” He condemned the incident as “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”
Jun 28, 5:49 am
Ukraine joining NATO could lead to WWIII, Russia warns
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.
“Crimea is a part of Russia for us. And that means forever,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview Tuesday with Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. “Any attempt to encroach on Crimea is a declaration of war against our country. If a NATO member country does so, this would mean a conflict with the North Atlantic Alliance. The World War III. A complete catastrophe.”
“Ukraine within NATO is far more dangerous for our country [than Sweden and Finland],” he added. “And this is linked to what [Russian] President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken about: the presence of unresolved territorial disputes, as well as the difference in understanding of the regions’ status.”
Although Moscow is not opposed to Sweden and Finland joining the military alliance, Russia will still have to reinforce its borders in this case, according to Medvedev.
“Accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO will not pose any new threats to us,” he told Argumenty i Fakty. “If they feel better and calmer by joining the alliance, then so be it. Even without them, without Sweden and Finland, NATO is close to our country.”
“Should this enlargement of NATO happen, the length of its land borders with Russia will more than double. And we will have to strengthen these borders,” he added. “The Baltic region’s non-nuclear status will become a thing of the past, the group of land and naval forces in the northern sector will be seriously increased. No one is happy with it. Nor are the citizens of these two NATO candidate countries.”
Jun 27, 6:42 pm
Zelenskyy calls mall attack one of ‘the most defiant terrorist attack in European history’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out against Russian forces in a recorded speech Monday hours after a missile struck a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, calling the attack “one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history.”
“Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on earth, can strike missiles at such an object. And this is not an off-target missile strike, this is a calculated Russian strike — exactly at this shopping mall,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said the rescue and salvage efforts were still ongoing.
Ukraine’s Emergency Service reported that 15 people were killed and 59 were injured in the attack as of Monday evening.
“We must be aware that the losses may be significant,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jun 27, 5:36 pm
G-7 leaders ‘condemn’ Russian military strike on mall
G-7 leaders released a statement condemning Russia’s missile strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, saying it constitutes a war crime and that President Vladimir Putin “and those responsible will be held to account.”
“We stand united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack,” they said.
The summit began in Germany on Sunday with a heavy focus on the invasion of Ukraine, and the group announced more steps to try and stop Putin from funding his war.
“Today, we underlined our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian aggression, an unjustified war of choice that has been raging for 124 days. We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian as well as military support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes. We will not rest until Russia ends its cruel and senseless war on Ukraine,” G-7 leaders said.
(NEW YORK) — China said it will cut its mandatory inbound quarantine by half on Tuesday in the nation’s first move to ease COVID-19 borders restrictions since March 2020. Overseas arrivals into China will now only need to quarantine for seven days at a government facility and then an additional three days in home isolation.
The new measures are down from what was previously 14 days in quarantine and then an additional seven days of home isolation.
The concession from China’s National Health Commission comes days after Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang declared victory over COVID-19 over the weekend saying that they “won the war to defend Shanghai” after emerging from months of a bruising lockdown.
The omicron wave that hit China, especially Shanghai and Beijing, during the spring has ebbed and the entire country recorded just one local symptomatic transmission on Monday while zero cases were detected in Shanghai and Beijing for the first time in months.
Chinese health authorities warned, however, the announcement did not mean China was changing course on their zero-COVID goal, but that it was merely responding to the shorter incubation time of the omicron variants in circulation.
“It’s absolutely not loosening up, but a more scientific and targeted approach,” said Lei Zhenglong, an NHC official told the pressing in a briefing Tuesday afternoon.
China remains the largest outlier in the world in terms of COVID restrictions as neighboring countries have either dropped testing requirements or completely reopened.
The country still maintains one of the strictest border measures against COVID-19 in the world as China is still adamant in striving for zero-COVID.
Nevertheless, the easing of measures was greeted with enthusiasm by the Shanghai and Hong Kong stock markets, both of which rallied nearly a percentage point after the news.
Tuesday’s announcement also relaxed isolation measures for close contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases to seven days of home quarantine instead of having to isolate at a government facility.
China’s other domestic zero-COVID measures have not changed which requires people who test positive need to be sent to government quarantine and to test negative every 48 to 72 hours to access most public places and public transportation.
Ukrainian State Emergency Service / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(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 28, 8:17 am
Russian forces in Ukraine ‘are increasingly hollowed out,’ UK says
Ukrainian forces are still consolidating their positions on higher ground in the eastern city of Lyschansak after falling back from nearby Sieverodonetsk, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said Tuesday in an intelligence update.
“Ukrainian forces continue to disrupt Russian command and control with successful strikes deep behind Russian lines,” the ministry added.
According to the ministry, Russian forces over the weekend “launched unusually intense waves of strikes across Ukraine using long-range missiles.”
“These weapons highly likely included the Soviet-era AS-4 KITCHEN and more modern AS-23a KODIAK missiles, fired from both Belarusian and Russian airspace,” the ministry said. “These weapons were designed to take on targets of strategic importance, but Russia continues to expend them in large numbers for tactical advantage. Similarly, it fielded the core elements of six different armies yet achieved only tactical success at Sieverodonetsk.”
“The Russian armed forces are increasingly hollowed out,” the ministry added. “They currently accept a level of degraded combat effectiveness, which is probably unsustainable in the long term.
Jun 28, 6:22 am
Death toll from mall strike rises to 18
The death toll from a Russian missile strike on a Ukrainian shopping mall continued to rise Tuesday as rescuers sifted through the charred rubble.
Monday’s attack in the central Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk killed at least 18 people and wounded 59 others, including 25 who remain hospitalized Tuesday, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. A day of mourning for the victims was declared Tuesday in the wider Poltava Oblast.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday in his nightly address that more than 1,000 shoppers and workers were inside the mall during the afternoon attack and that it will take time to “establish the number of victims.” He condemned the incident as “one of the most daring terrorist attacks in European history.”
Jun 28, 5:49 am
Ukraine joining NATO could lead to WWIII, Russia warns
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.
“Crimea is a part of Russia for us. And that means forever,” Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said in an interview Tuesday with Russian newspaper Argumenty i Fakty. “Any attempt to encroach on Crimea is a declaration of war against our country. If a NATO member country does so, this would mean a conflict with the North Atlantic Alliance. The World War III. A complete catastrophe.”
“Ukraine within NATO is far more dangerous for our country [than Sweden and Finland],” he added. “And this is linked to what [Russian] President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly spoken about: the presence of unresolved territorial disputes, as well as the difference in understanding of the regions’ status.”
Although Moscow is not opposed to Sweden and Finland joining the military alliance, Russia will still have to reinforce its borders in this case, according to Medvedev.
“Accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO will not pose any new threats to us,” he told Argumenty i Fakty. “If they feel better and calmer by joining the alliance, then so be it. Even without them, without Sweden and Finland, NATO is close to our country.”
“Should this enlargement of NATO happen, the length of its land borders with Russia will more than double. And we will have to strengthen these borders,” he added. “The Baltic region’s non-nuclear status will become a thing of the past, the group of land and naval forces in the northern sector will be seriously increased. No one is happy with it. Nor are the citizens of these two NATO candidate countries.”
Jun 27, 6:42 pm
Zelenskyy calls mall attack one of ‘the most defiant terrorist attack in European history’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out against Russian forces in a recorded speech Monday hours after a missile struck a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, calling the attack “one of the most defiant terrorist attacks in European history.”
“Only totally insane terrorists, who should have no place on earth, can strike missiles at such an object. And this is not an off-target missile strike, this is a calculated Russian strike — exactly at this shopping mall,” Zelenskyy said.
The Ukrainian president said the rescue and salvage efforts were still ongoing.
Ukraine’s Emergency Service reported that 15 people were killed and 59 were injured in the attack as of Monday evening.
“We must be aware that the losses may be significant,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Jun 27, 5:36 pm
G-7 leaders ‘condemn’ Russian military strike on mall
G-7 leaders released a statement condemning Russia’s missile strike on a shopping mall in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, saying it constitutes a war crime and that President Vladimir Putin “and those responsible will be held to account.”
“We stand united with Ukraine in mourning the innocent victims of this brutal attack,” they said.
The summit began in Germany on Sunday with a heavy focus on the invasion of Ukraine, and the group announced more steps to try and stop Putin from funding his war.
“Today, we underlined our unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of the Russian aggression, an unjustified war of choice that has been raging for 124 days. We will continue to provide financial, humanitarian as well as military support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes. We will not rest until Russia ends its cruel and senseless war on Ukraine,” G-7 leaders said.
(ZEELAND, Netherlands) — A tornado tore through the Netherlands’ western province of Zeeland, killing one and wounding nine on Monday, according to regional emergency services.
A 73-year-old woman died, one person was taken to the hospital and eight others treated for injuries on site by ambulance personnel following the storm, which started in the center of the city of Zierikzee, authorities reported.
“This afternoon Zierikzee was unexpectedly hit by a very strong gust of wind. Unfortunately, someone died and several people were slightly injured. There is also extensive damage to homes and trees. Also, on behalf of the municipal council, my condolences go out in the first place to everyone affected by this,” Mayor Jack van der Hoek said in a statement.
Officials are in the process of inspecting the affected homes in the area, including a safety assessment for returning residents, regional authorities reported.
As of 4:46 p.m. on Monday, there were still a number of streets that had not been secured by officials, and authorities said the affected area is only available to residents due to safety concerns.
According to Telegraaf Netherlands, 10 to 20 rental homes in the area have been severely damaged and are temporarily uninhabitable.
Officials are working to provide housing accommodations for those who cannot yet return to their homes due to damage, officials said.
Douwe Ouwerkerk was at home for lunch when the storm ramped up.
“It felt like the room was being vacuumed, which was quite a strong sensation,” he told Telegraaf Netherlands.
Ouwerkerk added that he could see roof tiles, a garden pool and “something that looked like a tent” flying around outside of his home.
Zierikzee is home to about 10,000 people and is located about 87 miles southwest of Amsterdam.
According to the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), tornadoes are a rare occurrence for the country.
The last time someone died from a tornado in the Netherlands was in 1992.
(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 27, 4:58 pm
13 dead in mall strike
At least 13 people were killed and more than 40 were hurt when a shopping mall was hit by missile strikes in the city of Kremenchuk in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, according to the governor of the Poltava Oblast, Dmytro Lunin.
Over 1,000 civilians were there at the time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
Authorities have deployed forensic experts from Kyiv and war crimes investigators, National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko said.
Jun 27, 3:46 pm
Lysychansk hit by rocket artillery, 8 dead
Russians fired multiple rocket launchers on the city of Lysychansk in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, striking civilians who were collecting drinking water, according to Luhansk region governor Serhiy Haidai.
Eight have been killed and more than 20 are injured, Haidai said.
Jun 27, 2:41 pm
11 dead in mall strike
At least 11 people were killed and over 40 were hurt when a shopping mall was hit by missile strikes in the city of Kremenchuk in Ukraine’s central Poltava region, according to Ukraine Emergency Services.
Jun 27, 11:55 am
3 killed in Kharkiv shelling
Three people were killed and at least 15 were wounded in shelling in Kharkiv, according to Natalia Popova, adviser to the head of the Kharkiv Regional Council.
A Russian controlled oil drilling platform in the Black Sea was targeted by Ukrainian shelling on Sunday, the second attack in a week, Russia’s state-run media outlet TASS reported.
A spokesperson for Crimea’s emergency services reported that no one was injured in the attack on the platform operated by the Chernomorneftegaz oil and gas company.
Russia-backed officials seized Chernomorneftegaz’s oil-drilling platforms from Ukraine’s national gas operator Naftogaz as part of Moscow’s annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014, according to Reuters.
This is the second attack in a week on the same Chernomorneftegaz oil-drilling platform.
On June 20, Ukrainian forces shelled the platform in the Black Sea, injuring three of the 109 people on the drilling rig at the time, according to Crimea officials. Seven people remain missing, the officials said.
More than 90 people were evacuated from the platform after the previous attack and 15 people had stayed behind to guard operations, Sergey Aksyonov, the governor of Russian-controlled Crimea.
Jun 26, 2:43 pm
250 civilians evacuated from Severodonetsk chemical plant
About 250 Ukrainian civilians have been evacuated from a chemical plant where they sought shelter in the besieged city of Severodonetsk in Eastern Ukraine, an official said.
Rodion Miroshnik, the Luhansk People’s Republic ambassador to Russia, said the civilians were evacuated safely from the Azot chemical plant in Severodonetsk.
“Servicemen of the LPR People’s Militia evacuated another about 250 people, including little children, from the premises of the Severodonetsk Azot plant,” Miroshnik said on social media Sunday.
He added that the evacuation came a day after about 200 civilians were evacuated from the chemical plant.
Following months of heavy fighting, Russian troops took complete control of the Severodonetski over the weekend, according to Oleksandr Striuk, chief of the city’s military administration.
Jun 26, 2:35 pm
1 killed, 6 injured in missile strike on Kyiv
One person was killed and six were injured, including a child, following a Russian missile strike Sunday in Ukraine’s capital city, officials said.
The Russian shelling of Kyiv struck a residential building in the city, according to Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Klitschko said at least six people were injured in the attack, including a 7-year-old girl. He said the girl was undergoing surgery Sunday for non-life-threatening injuries.
Klitschko said the girl’s mother was also injured in the attack.
A missile strike occurred in the Shevchenkivskyi neighborhood, near central Kyiv, officials said.
Jun 26, 7:11 am
More of Russia’s ‘barbarism,’ Biden says of Kyiv strike
President Joe Biden on Sunday said Russia’s early morning missile strikes on Kyiv were an act of “barbarism.”
As Biden stood alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the official G7 welcome ceremony, ABC News’ Karen Travers asked if he had any reaction to the strikes on a residential neighborhood.
“Yes, it’s more of their barbarism,” Biden said.
A missile struck an apartment block in Shevchenkivskyi, near central Kyiv, on Sunday morning, killing at least one and trapping others in the rubble, local officials said.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Jun 26, 5:03 am
US to ban Russian gold imports
The Biden administration and other G7 leaders will announce on Sunday an import ban on Russian gold.
“This is a key export, a key source of revenue alternative for Russia, in terms of their ability to transact in the global financial system,” a senior administration official told reporters on a briefing call about the G7 summit in Germany. “Taking this step cuts off that capacity and again, is an ongoing illustration of the types of steps that the G7 can take collectively to continue to isolate Russia and cut it off from the global economy.”
The Treasury Department is expected to issue an official notice on Tuesday.
Gold is Russia’s second largest export after oil and a source of significant revenue, but much of Russia’s gold exportation has already been cut off in practice by banks, refiners and shippers. The move on Sunday marks an official severance of Russia from the world’s gold market.
The U.S. and U.K. are participating in Sunday’s announcement, but it is unclear whether all G7 countries will participate in the initiative. A Biden administration official tried to downplay concerns about potential disunity among G7 member states, pivoting instead to a talking point about efforts to cut off all financial pathways for Russia.
Pressed on whether Russia could continue to export gold by going through a country that does not participate in the ban, officials insisted the ban will be effective.
“We will continue to identify places where evasion as a risk continue to take steps to block off those pads,” an official said. “And the measuring gold in some ways is in fact, another step forward to block off ways that that Russia might seek to engage with the financial system, by virtue of all the other ways that have now been cut off to them.”
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Jun 26, 3:30 am
Russian strike traps Kyiv woman in rubble
Emergency responders in Kyiv are working to free a woman from the top floor of a residential building that was hit by a Russian strike on Sunday morning.
An advisor to the minister of the interior told ABC News that the woman, who is in her 30s, is alive and trapped in the rubble.
At least one civilian was killed in Sunday’s strike, local officials said. At least one other, a young girl, was rescued from the building in Shevchenkivskyi, a central district a few moments from the historic center of the city.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Jun 26, 2:55 am
Missiles strike central Kyiv residential neighborhood
A series of Russian missiles struck a residential area of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday morning, local officials said.
“Friends! Search and rescue operations are underway in a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district where a missile hit,” Mayo Vitaliy Klychko said on Telegram. “There are people under the rubble. Some residents were evacuated, two victims were hospitalized. Rescuers continue to work, medics are on site.”
At least one residential building appeared to have had sections of its facade sheared off, photos from the scene showed. Emergency responders could be seen working on the upper floors of the building as smoke rose into the morning sky.
“Several explosions in the Shevchenkivskyi district,” Klychko said. “Ambulance crews and rescuers on the spot. Residents are being rescued and evacuated in two houses.”
At least one missile was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional administration, said on Telegram.
“The remains of the missile fell on the outskirts of one of the villages in the area,” Kuleba said.
-ABC News’ Natalia Kushnir
Jun 24, 9:01 am
Ukrainian forces to retreat from Severodonetsk
Ukrainian forces plan to retreat from the city of Severodonetsk, following weeks of fighting.
The local governor said Friday morning “it doesn’t make sense” to hold onto the city and “the number of people killed will increase every day,” in a statement on Telegram.
The city has faced a heavy bombardment of rockets and street-to-street fighting between Ukrainian and Russia troops for weeks.
Ukrainian officials said nearly 90% of buildings in Severodonetsk have been destroyed.
It’s believed 8,000 civilians remain. At one point, hundreds of civilians sheltered in a chemical plant.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Jun 23, 2:58 pm
Ukraine granted candidate status for EU membership
The European Council has granted Ukraine and Moldova candidate status for EU membership, European Council President Charles Michel tweeted.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the announcement on Twitter, calling it a “unique and historical moment,” adding, “Ukraine’s future is within the EU.”
It could take years for Ukraine to become an EU member. Five other countries that have been granted candidate status are currently negotiating their EU membership: Albania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.
(EL ESPINAL, Colombia) — At least four people have died and dozens were injured after an accident occurred at the venue of a bullfight in Colombia.
The spectators were watching the bullfight in El Espinal, Colombia — about 100 miles southwest of Bogota — on Sunday when several stands collapsed, the Tolima Civil Defense told ABC News.
In addition to the four people who died, about 60 people were treated on-site for minor injuries, while another 10 were transferred to local hospitals.
It is unclear what caused the stands to collapse.
Additional information was not immediately available.
The ethics surrounding bullfighting, which involves killing the bull at the end of the contest, has come into question in recent years. While the practice is customary in many Spanish-speaking countries, a judge in Mexico City extended a ban on bullfighting indefinitely earlier this month over complaints that bullfights violated resident’s rights to a healthy environment free from violence, The Associated Press reported.
While four states in Mexico have already banned bullfighting, a ban in Mexico City could mark the end of nearly 500 years of bullfighting in Mexico and could threaten the practice internationally, The AP reported.
ABC New’s Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
(EAST LONDON, South Africa) — At least 22 people were found dead in a South African tavern early on Sunday morning, officials said.
The South African Police Service said they were found dead inside a local tavern in Scenery Park in the area of East London, according to Police Spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana said.
“We received this report in the early hours of this morning. The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation,” Kinana said. “We do not want to make any speculation at this stage as our investigations are continuing.”
Police responded to the Enyobeni Tavern at about 4 a.m. local time, Kinana said, and were combing the scene for evidence midday. Scenery Park is in East London, a city in South Africa’s Eastern Cape Province.
Kinana said the dead were between up to 20 years old.
The youngest victim was 13, South African Police Service Spokesperson Col. Athlenda Mathe told reporters.
ABC News’ Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.
