(NEW YORK) — Missing American college student Kenny DeLand Jr. has been found in Spain three weeks after he walked away from the University of Grenoble Alpes and apparently stopped communicating with friends and family, according to a French prosecutor’s office.
DeLand called his father on Friday after last being heard from Nov. 27, according to the Grenoble prosecutor. The prosecutor’s office said DeLand sounded OK.
A website DeLand’s family had launched for information posted Friday that he “has been found.”
“We will update with more information as we get it! THANK YOU to everyone for helping us bring Kenny home!” the message on the website stated.
His family had previously said they last heard from their son on the popular WhatsApp messaging app after he left the home of his host and was headed on a train to Valence, France.
According to his dad, the last time his son’s phone had pinged was on Nov. 30. A surveillance camera captured him walking inside a sporting goods store on Dec. 3.
DeLand Jr. was learning French abroad at the University of Grenoble Alpes through the study abroad program American Institute for Foreign Study (AIFS). In the U.S., he was a senior at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, New York, his parents said.
Grenoble prosecutor Eric Vaillant said earlier this week that Ken DeLand Jr. was having a hard time while living in France and expressed a desire to leave early.
DeLand Jr. reportedly told several people that he arrived in France “insufficiently prepared” and had a hard time making friends, Vaillant said earlier this week. “He was not feeling well. He himself had mentioned that he wanted to leave earlier by going to Marseille.”
He was scheduled to leave France on Dec. 15, according to Vaillant.
(NEW YORK) — More than six 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.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, whose forces began an offensive in August, has vowed to take back all Russian-occupied territory. But Putin in September announced a mobilization of reservists, which is expected to call up as many as 300,000 additional troops.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 16, 3:38 AM EST
Russia launches new wave of missile strikes on Ukraine
Russia has launched another wave of missile strikes on energy infrastructure sites across Ukraine, resulting in severe power outages in large parts of the country.
There have been least three explosions in Kyiv by early Friday morning while other cities, including Kryvi Rih, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Zaporizhe, have also been targeted this morning, ABC News has learned.
According to officials in Kryvi Rih, a residential building has been hit. Details on possible casualties are still emerging.
Officials in Kharkiv say there have been at least three explosions there and reports suggest Ukraine’s second city is completely without power.
There are shortages of running water in Kyiv right now and a large part of the city is without power.
Initial information suggests Russia has fired dozens of missiles and Ukraine’s air defenses have been operating. It’s likely many missiles have been shot down but some have clearly found their targets.
It’s currently unclear if Russia used drones in the waves of strikes this morning.
Dec 15, 1:40 PM EST
Russia responds to possible US Patriot missile supply to Ukraine
Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson offered an angry response to reports that the United States is preparing to send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine.
During a news conference Thursday, Maria Zakharova said that if media leaks are true, the move by the White House “would be another provocative step.”
“Given the increasing amounts of direct U.S. military assistance, including the presence of U.S. servicemen on the ground, the delivery of equipment of such complexity, the operation of which requires months of training, will signify a broader involvement of U.S. career servicemen in the hostilities with all the ensuing consequences,” Zakharova said.
Two U.S. officials have confirmed to ABC News that the United States has prepared plans to send Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine that could be approved by President Joe Biden by the end of this week.
If approved by Biden, the transfer of the advanced air defense systems would meet a long-standing request from Ukraine.
“We strongly recommend that the decision-makers in Washington finally listen […] and draw the right conclusions from our repeated warnings that any weapon systems delivered to Ukraine, including Patriot, and the respective personnel, have been and remain legitimate priority targets of the Russian Armed Forces,” Zakharova said.
Dec 15, 12:48 PM EST
Putin purportedly planning major new year offensive: Report
Ukraine’s defense minister is claiming in a news interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin is planning a major new offensive to launch in the new year.
Oleksii Reznikov told the British newspaper The Guardian that emerging evidence indicates the Kremlin is preparing a broad new offensive possibly in February.
Reznikov said the new offensive is part of a second wave of a mobilization of 300,000 reservists Putin announced in September.
“The second part of the mobilization, 150,000 approximately, started their training courses in different camps,” Reznikov said. “The [draftees] do a minimum of three months to prepare. It means they are trying to start the next wave of the offensive probably in February, like last year. That’s their plan.”
News of the possible offensive comes after a series of setbacks the Russians have had on the battlefield, including a botched attempt in March to the take Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital.
Dec 14, 10:20 AM EST
US Air Force vet released from Russian captivity
A U.S. Air Force veteran from Minnesota was freed Wednesday from Russian-controlled territory and told ABC News he survived being beaten and electrocuted by his captors.
Suedi Murekezi, 35, was freed in a war gray zone just outside Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine. A prearranged two-hour cease-fire was called to allow an exchange of prisoners of war.
Murekezi and other prisoners of war were brought out of Russian-controlled territory as part of the exchange. Following his release, Murekezi was seen clutching a Ukrainian flag given to him by a Ukrainian military intelligence officer.
Murekezi was arrested in June when he was falsely accused by the Russians of being a member of the CIA, he said. He said he was later released; however, he was stuck in Donetsk, a city in Russian-controlled territory, because he was without his U.S. passport.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News, Murekezi said he felt “trapped” in Donetsk and lived under intense uncertainty about his future.
He said he was relieved and happy to be back in Ukrainian-controlled territory, a free man in the country where he has lived for years, working in cryptocurrency.
What he is looking forward to most when he gets back to Minnesota? “A peanut butter sandwich,” Murekezi said.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Dada Jovanovic, Natalia Kushniir and Kuba Kaminski
Dec 14, 10:28 AM EST
Drone attacks launched on Kyiv
Two waves of drone attacks were launched before dawn on Wednesday in Kyiv. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that every drone was shot down and urged residents of Ukraine’s capital city not to ignore air raid warning sirens.
“This morning has started with 13 Shahed drones attacking. All 13 were downed by our air defense. Good job. Thank the air defense and please don’t ignore the air raid sirens,” Zelenskyy said in a statement following the drone attacks.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitchko also confirmed the attack and urged residents to take shelter underground.
The latest attack comes as the U.S. is preparing to approve sending Patriot missile defense systems to Ukraine and that these plans could be approved by President Joe Biden as early as this week.
United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also has to sign off on the transfer before it goes to the White House but, if approved by Biden, the transfer of the advanced air defense systems would meet a long-standing request from Ukraine.
A senior Ukrainian Defense official told ABC News on Tuesday that the Patriots “will be a game changer.”
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Dec 13, 3:36 PM EST
US preparing to send Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine
Two U.S. officials confirm that the U.S. has prepared plans to send Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine that could be approved by President Joe Biden as early as this week.
If approved by Biden, the transfer of the advanced air defense systems would meet a long-standing request from Ukraine.
The U.S. has stressed the importance of Ukraine getting additional air defense systems in the coming months but has worked with other countries on alternative systems other than the Patriot.
The Patriot missile systems to be given to Ukraine will come from
U.S. inventories under the presidential drawdown authority, according to officials.
Another one of those announcements is expected to be announced on Thursday, though it is unclear if the Patriots will be included as part of that package.
If Biden approves the Patriot systems, then the training of Ukrainian troops will begin in Germany a few weeks later, officials said.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin must sign off on the transfer before it goes to the White House.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Dec 13, 3:17 PM EST
Ukraine to get 30 upgraded Soviet-era tanks from Czech Republic next year
Soviet-era tanks are getting new optics, armor, and more at a Czech facility in Šternberk, thanks partly to the efforts of Ukrainian refugees working there.
Around 150 people have been hired by Excalibur Army in an effort to modernize old military equipment from around the world, which will then be shipped to Ukraine after months of work on upgrades.
According to the company’s commercial director, Richard Kuběna, it is concentrating on a large order to modernize up to 120 T-72 tanks, which the U.S. and the Netherlands governments ordered and paid 2.2 billion crowns for.
The tanks were ordered initially from Šternberk by an African country. However, after negotiating with the U.S., E.U., and Czech Ministry of Defense, they decided to give the tanks to Ukraine, Kuběna said.
“Next week, the first five units of tanks for Ukraine will be received, we would like to deliver 18 units by the end of the year,” noted Kuběna.
Kuběna said he would like to
Dec 13, 6:47 AM EST
Russian withdrawal ‘out of the question’
A Kremlin official said on Tuesday that Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine was “out of the question.”
A reporter asked Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov for comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposal that Russia start to pull out forces from Ukraine before Christmas. Peskov was also asked whether Moscow was ready to do so before the end of this year.
“This is out of the question,” Peskov said.
Dec 11, 7:56 PM EST
Biden speaks with Zelenskyy about recent security assistance packages: White House
President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sunday to discuss continued support for Ukraine’s defense amid Russian attacks on critical infrastructure, according to a White House readout of their call.
“President Biden highlighted how the U.S. is prioritizing efforts to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense through our security assistance, including the December 9 announcement of $275 million in additional ammunition and equipment that included systems to counter the Russian use of unmanned aerial vehicles,” the White House said.
“President Biden also highlighted the November 29 announcement of $53 million to support energy infrastructure to strengthen the stability of Ukraine’s energy grid in the wake of Russia’s targeted attacks,” it added.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Dec 09, 12:05 PM EST
Treasury sanctions 4 Russians for carrying out human rights abuses
The U.S. Department of Treasury issued sanctions against four Russians accused of forcibly seizing personal data and conducting interrogations and searches against Ukrainian citizens to determine if they have any connections to the Ukrainian government or military.
There are also allegations that deportations, disappearances and torture have also been carried out.
Two of those sanctioned “oversaw the filtration of city government officials and other civilians from Mariupol, Ukraine, including through the filtration center in Manhush, Ukraine. Witnesses have reported insufficient food supplies, overcrowded cells, and beatings at the Manhush filtration center. One witness overheard Russia’s soldiers discussing shooting people who underwent filtration at Manhush,” according to a press release from the Treasury.
The Treasury is also sanctioning members of Russia’s Central Election Commission for overseeing the sham referenda held in Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine in September, during which Ukrainians were forced to vote for annexation.
Dec 07, 6:01 PM EST
10 civilians killed in Russian air strike, Zelenskyy says
A Russian airstrike that struck Kurakhov, a city in Donetsk Oblast in southeastern Ukraine, has killed 10 people, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Wednesday.
Civilian areas such as a market, gas station, bus station and a residential building were among the targets that were struck, Zelenskyy said.
Dec 07, 1:19 PM EST
Putin says Russia will not be the first to use nuclear weapons in war with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday the threat of nuclear war is increasing but Russia will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Putin, speaking at Russia’s Human Rights Council, said nuclear weapons should act as a deterrent in conflicts, not provoke them.
“We consider weapons of mass destruction, nuclear weapons, it is all built around the so-called retaliatory strike. When we are struck, we strike back,” Putin said.
“I have already said: we don’t have our own nuclear weapons, including tactical ones, on the territory of other countries, but the Americans do. Both in Turkey and in a number of other European states … we haven’t done anything yet,” Putin said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 07, 8:56 AM EST
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy named Time’s 2022 ‘Person of the Year’
Time named Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Spirit of Ukraine as the 2022 “Person of the Year.”
More than a dozen Ukrainians who embodied the spirit of Ukraine were also named: Dr. Iryna Kondratova, who helped mothers give birth during shelling in the hospital basement; Oleg Kutkov, an engineer who laid the groundwork for the essential connectivity; Olga Rudenko, editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Independent; and Levgen Klopotenko, a Kyiv chef who converted his restaurant into a relief canteen.
“This year’s choice was the most clear-cut in memory. Whether the battle for Ukraine fills one with hope or with fear, the world marched to Volodymyr Zelensky’s beat in 2022,” Time editor-in-chief Edward Felsenthal said in a statement.
Dec 06, 4:22 PM EST
Ukrainian special forces were deep in Russia to guide drone, senior Ukrainian official says
Ukrainian special forces were deep inside Russian territory and helped guide drones to at least one of the bases hit in Monday’s attacks, a senior official from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s inner-circle confirmed to ABC News.
-ABC News’ Marcus Moore
Dec 06, 2:28 PM EST
White House does not have assessment on drone attacks inside Russia
The U.S. does not have an assessment on recent drone attacks deep inside Russia, which a person close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News Ukraine is responsible for, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Tuesday.
“I don’t want to speculate about whether Ukraine is responsible for these attacks,” Jean-Pierre said.
Jean-Pierre also told reporters Russia is to blame for this conflict.
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
Dec 06, 11:30 AM EST
Russia now out of Iranian-made drones, Western officials say
According to Western officials, Russia has run out of Iranian-made drones. Russia had been using the lethal drones, along with missiles, in a wave of aerial bombardments on Ukrainian infrastructure over a period of several weeks.
But, the drones have been absent in recent Russian attacks. A western official said the Russians “anticipate a resupply.”
In light of Ukraine’s apparent drone attacks on military airbases deep inside Russia, Western officials said Russia will now be undergoing “a significant amount of soul-searching” over their ability to defend significant military assets deep inside Russia’s borders.
The official, who characterized the attacks as “an egregious failure of security” said the Russian military’s potential had been consistently overestimated by the west.
“I no longer think the Russians are ten-feet tall,” the official said.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Dec 06, 10:17 AM EST
Ukrainian drone crashes into military airfield in Russia
A Ukrainian drone crashed into a military airfield in Russia, setting an oil tanker on fire, according to the governor of Russia’s Kursk region.
There were no casualties at the Kursk base. This comes a day after drone attacks on two Russian airbases where jets used to bomb Ukraine are housed. No one immediately claimed responsibility.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Dec 05, 10:36 AM EST
Missiles rain on Ukraine after purported drone strikes in Russia
A new barrage of missiles strikes was launched against Ukraine on Monday, hitting targets across the country, including the capital city of Kyiv, officials said.
Casualties and damage from the attacks were being assessed, Ukrainian officials said.
The majority of the missiles were shot down by air defense forces, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukrainian air force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat said the Russians launched missiles from the Volgodonsk, Caspian and Black seas.
The strikes damaged two infrastructure objects in the Odesa region, leaving the area without electricity and running water, officials said. One person was hospitalized, according to Ukrainian officials.
Odesa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov said a missile hit a substation that supplies the city of Belvaevska’s pumping station with electricity.
According to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, missile strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region killed two people and injured three others, including a toddler, in the village of Novosofiyivka.
Explosion were also heard in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi, Kherson and Cherkasy, officials said.
The missile strikes followed reports from Russian media outlets that drones were used to bomb two military air bases in Russia, hundreds of miles from the Ukrainian border.
Ukrainian officials have not claimed responsibility for the drone attacks, but Mykhailo Podolyak, a top adviser to Ukraine’s president, posted a cryptic tweet, saying “if you launch something very often into the airspace of other countries, sooner or later the unknown flying objects will return to the place of departure.”
Dec 02, 2:18 PM EST
No peace talks till Russian soldiers leave, Ukraine says
Ukraine said it would not consider peace talks before the last Russian soldier leaves Ukrainian territory. This comes after President Joe Biden indicating he would be willing to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin if he has legitimate interest in peace negotiations.
Ukraine also said that there must not be any peace negotiations without Ukraine, reiterating that Biden has been clear that there won’t be any talks happening without the participation of U.S. allies and Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 02, 2:17 PM EST
IAEA expresses optimism over creation of protection zone around Zaporizhzhia
The International Atomic Energy Agency expressed optimism over possibly creating a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant before the end of the year.
“I know that President Putin is following the process, and I do not rule out another meeting with him soon, as well as with Ukrainian President Zelensky,” IAEA Director General Rafael Rossi said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
“There is a concrete proposal on securing Zaporizhzhia and important progress has been made. …The two sides now agree on some basic principles. The first is that of protection: it means accepting that you don’t shoot ‘on’ the plant and ‘from’ the plant. The second is the recognition that the IAEA is the only possible way forward: that was the heart of my meeting with President Putin in St. Petersburg on October 11,” Rossi added.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 02, 12:27 PM EST
Bloody packages with animal eyes sent to Ukrainian embassies
Packages believed to be blood-soaked and containing the eyes of animals, were sent to Ukrainian embassies worldwide, including in Hungary, Netherlands, Poland, Croatia and Italy, the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs said Friday.
The entrance to the ambassador’s residence in the Vatican was also vandalized, according to the Ukrainian ministry of foreign affairs.
The Ukrainian embassy in the U.S. received a letter with a photocopy of a critical article about Ukraine. Like most other envelopes, the letter arrived along with others from the territory of an unnamed European country.
“We have reason to believe that a well-planned campaign of terror and intimidation of Ukrainian embassies and consulates is taking place. Not being able to stop Ukraine on the diplomatic front, they are trying to intimidate us. However, I can immediately say that these attempts are useless. We will continue to work effectively for the victory of Ukraine,” the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement.
The Ukrainian embassy in Spain received a letter-bomb on Wednesday which was opened and ignited, resulting in one slight injury.
A similar envelope was sent to the U.S. embassy in Madrid, but it was detected before going off, according to Spanish officials.
All Ukrainian embassies and consulates have been placed under heightened security. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called on foreign governments to guarantee maximum protection of Ukraine’s diplomatic institutions.
Dec 01, 3:28 PM EST
Biden ‘prepared to speak with Putin’ if he wants to end war
Speaking at a joint press conference with France’s Emmanuel Macron, President Joe Biden said he would be open to speaking with Vladimir Putin if the Russian leader has legitimate interest in peace negotiations. Biden, however, said he has “no immediate plans to contact Mr. Putin.”
Biden also noted that Putin has “miscalculated every single thing” when it comes to this war.
“So the question is what is his — how does he get himself out of the circumstance he’s in? I’m prepared if he’s willing to talk to find out what he’s willing to do, but I’ll only do it in consultation with my NATO. I’m not going to do it on my own,” Biden said.
Meanwhile, President Macron, who has continued speaking with Putin, said it’s up to Ukraine to come to the negotiating table.
“So it’s only legitimate that President Zelenskyy sets some conditions to talk. We need to work on what could lead to a peace agreement. But it’s for him to tell us when the time comes and what the choices of the Ukrainians are,” Macron said.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Dec 01, 1:46 PM EST
Shelling in Kherson damages power lines as energy company works to finish repairs
Electricity was back for 60% of customers in the Ukrainian city of Kherson, but shelling overnight damaged power lines, according to the head of Ukraine’s regional energy company.
Workers are hoping to finish the repairs by the end of Thursday.
In Kyiv, 652,000 residents were subject to power outages throughout Thursday, according to the director of YASNO energy company, Serhiy Kovalenko. Kyiv’s main power grid is operating at less than 70% capacity and 20% of residents are still without power or heat.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Dec 01, 12:20 PM EST
Russia accuses US, NATO of direct involvement in war
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the West of being directly involved in the war in Ukraine by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.
“You are training their military on your territory, on the territories of Britain, Germany, Italy and other countries,” Lavrov said at a press conference Thursday.
Lavrov also claimed that Russian missile strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities and other key infrastructure were intended to weaken Ukraine’s military potential and derail the shipments of weapons from the West.
Lavrov also said Moscow is open to peace talks to end the conflict.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Nov 29, 11:47 AM EST
US to send $53M in energy aid to help Ukraine through winter
The U.S. will provide Ukraine with more than $53 million to acquire critical electric grid equipment to help its citizens get through the winter, the State Department announced Tuesday.
The announcement comes amid Russia’s continued attacks against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
“This new assistance is in addition to $55 million in emergency energy sector support for generators and other equipment to help restore emergency power and heat to local municipalities impacted by Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s power system,” the State Department said in a release.
-ABC News’ Matt Seyler
Nov 28, 4:36 PM EST
UN lays out ‘dire’ situation in southern Ukraine
Denise Brown, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Ukraine, traveled to the Ukrainian cities of Kherson and Mykolaiv over the weekend to get an update on the humanitarian issues affecting the southern part of the country, according to the U.N.
Although repairs to the area’s water system are finally able to commence, there is still a lot of work to be done to help the people in those cities, the U.N said.
“We continue to be concerned about the plight of civilians in Ukraine especially as winter sets in,” a U.N. spokesperson said in a statement.
Some heating points have already been established in Mykolaiv to help people who cannot heat their homes, according to the U.N.
“Aid workers are providing supplies and generators to make these places functional,” the U.N. said in a statement.
The agency added that donations and funding for humanitarian efforts are critical as the cold weather sets in.
Nov 25, 1:13 PM EST
Power restored in all regions, Ukraine grid operator says
All of Ukraine’s regions are now connected to the European Union’s energy system and all three nuclear power plants located in the Kyiv-controlled area are working, CEO of Ukrenergo grid operator Volodymyr Kudrytskyi announced.
“In one to two days, they will reach their normal planned capacity, and we expect to introduce planned rolling blackouts instead of emergency outages,” Kudrytskyi said.
Power is slowly returning to all Ukrainian cities, but blackouts and emergency shutdowns continue. Power issues are the worst in Kyiv, Kirivigrad, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Poltava and Lviv, according to Kudrytskyi.
Kyiv’s critical infrastructure receives electricity, the water supply is fully restored and heating is being restored, but 50% of residential houses remain without power. Only one-third of houses currently have heating, according to the mayor.
(NEW YORK) — Two species that were previously extinct on the Galapagos Islands have reappeared a decade after an invasive predator population was eradicated, showing how impactful restoring and re-wilding ecosystems can be for addressing some of the world’s environmental and biodiversity crises, according to scientists.
Locally extinct cactus finches and geckos are now “thriving” in their restored habitats, according to biologists who recently traveled to the Rabida and Pinzon islands in the Galapagos to monitor the wildlife recovery 10 years after the removal of an invasive rodent species, according to Island Conservation, a nonprofit organization that focuses on preventing extinctions by removing invasive species from islands.
There have been frequent sightings of the cactus finches on Pinzon Island, a species considered extinct from the region for more than four decades.
A healthy population of geckos, known only from subfossil records dating back more than 5,000 years, have recolonized Rabida Island. Scientists believe that they were likely present but in such small numbers that they weren’t able to track the populations, Paula Castano, native species manager at Island Conservation, told ABC News.
Scientists have also documented the presence of Galapagos rails, known locally as pachays, an endemic bird never before reported on this island, on the upper part of Pinzon Island. The researchers believe the rails could have migrated from Santiago Island, another island in the Galapagos, and has now found Pinzon Island to be the ideal habitat to establish itself now that the invasive predatory species is gone.
For decades, perhaps even centuries, invasive rodents such as the black rat and the Norwegian rat, devoured native species and destroyed the natural ecosystems on Pinzon and Rabida Islands, located in the center of the Galapagos archipelago.
The first known black and Norwegian rats likely arrived in the Galapagos beginning in the 1500s, when pirates and buccaneers would travel and move between the islands, Castano said. Additional rodents likely traveled with Charles Darwin when he arrived on the islands in 1835, Castano added.
“And at that time, nobody was paying attention to if these animals were establishing and causing any problems to these native and endemic species,” she said. “But, it has caused a lot of damage.”
Therefore, many of the native species did not have the mechanisms to cope with the threat, Castano said.
The rodents were removed with the use of anticoagulant rodenticides, a process that took years to implement in order to protect native species, Castano said.
On Nov. 21, a technical team led by park rangers from the Galapagos National Park Directorate and Island Conservation, with support from the Jocotoco Foundation and the University of Idaho, carried out an ecological evaluation to record plant and animal recovery on the Galapagos Islands.
The team will use the data they collected to determine the degree of ecological restoration that the two islands currently maintain by comparing it to data collected prior to removal of the invasive rodents.
The stability of the islands’ natural ecosystems has experienced “much positive change” following the removal of the invasive rodents, including a return of ecosystem processes that provide a safe habitat for native plants and animals — much of them either existing in low populations or considered locally extinct, the nonprofit announced in a press release on Wednesday.
Every time an ecosystem loses a species it becomes imbalanced, highlighting the importance of conservation and maintenance of invasive species, Castano said.
“The management measures implemented on these islands in recent decades have been effective and today we can see the results,” said Danny Rueda Cordova, director of the Galapagos National Park, in a statement. “The islands have once again become the habitat of endemic species of great importance to the ecosystem.”
Local communities are also rooting for the sustainability of the islands, because their livelihoods rely heavily on the tourism industry and conservation efforts, Castano said.
In recent years, the giant tortoise, thought to be extinct for more than 150 years, has returned to nest on Pinzon Island, Cordova said.
“Because of our work to remove invasive rodents, the population now reproduces naturally without human intervention,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and other massive digital platforms, announced Thursday that since 2017 they disrupted more than 200 global networks engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB).
Two-thirds of the 200-plus networks that Meta stopped focused on U.S. audiences, according to the company’s newest threat report, released on Thursday.
Meta has defined some CIB attempts as “efforts to manipulate public debate for a strategic goal where fake accounts are central to the operation.”
Russia was a major driver of the coordinated digital activity, Meta found. Nathaniel Gleicher, the head of security policy, said that “Ukraine was the most frequent target of Russian operations, followed by Russian operations targeting Africa broadly. The U.S. [as a target] was third.”
Meta’s report states that more than 100 countries have been targeted by at least one CIB network since 2017. The most frequent target was the U.S. — by 34 networks — followed by Ukraine, which was targeted by 20 networks.
Most of the CIB networks originated in three countries, according to the Meta report: Russia, home to 34 of them, which included Meta’s first and 200th takedown; Iran, which had 29; and 13 in Mexico.
Guy Rosen, chief information security officer for Meta, said that in 2023, “you should expect us to double down to address the threat in a few areas.” The company — which has long drawn attention and scrutiny for its security efforts because of its enormous user base — expects “a rise in off-platform targeting attempts that then compromise social media accounts,” Rosen said.
One of the ways the social media giant is looking to combat such attacks will be through a live chat support option. The company said it has tested the new chat support with more than a million people in eight countries, with plans to expand testing into 30 other countries.
Among the threats Meta found on its platforms were surveillance-for-hire or commercial spyware vendors — threat actors who provide powerful surveillance capabilities to a client.
These vendors have been based in Russia, Israel, India, China and the U.S. and targeted people in 200 countries, including journalists, political opposition figures and human rights activists.
Gleicher said, “This industry effectively democratizes surveillance, making it available to many more government and non-government groups that could build them on their own. So they’re exponentially increasing the supply of threat actors in the world.”
Meta’s view is that solutions to this should flow from governments like the U.S., Rosen told reporters on Wednesday: “We really believe that we need a concerted regulatory response by democratic governments.”
As one example of its threat disruption work, during the 2020 midterm elections, Meta discovered a Chinese operation targeting public debate in the U.S. which Gleicher described as an “evolution of techniques and tactics” even though it was “quite small” and “pretty unsuccessful.”
Meta said they are heavily invested in countering influence operations. Gleicher told ABC News that in response to such efforts “bad actors are looking to move away from the major platforms to smaller websites, to smaller platforms.”
“We’ve seen some increase in targeting of petition websites or sort of fundraising websites where people gather to make their voice known and advocate for a particular issue,” he said.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Suedi Murekezi, an American who was freed from Russian-controlled territory on Wednesday, said he has since been in contact with U.S. officials.
Murekezi told ABC News on Thursday that he’s in Kyiv and “going through the protocol” of being debriefed and is in contact with U.S. and Ukrainian officials.
He said he has spoken to his family and they’re really happy he’s out of Russian-controlled territory.
He is not sure how long it will be until he can travel home to Minnesota.
Suedi had been arrested by the Russian-controlled authorities and spent weeks in a basement. He also spent three months in a prison in Donetsk city. He was later released by the Russians, but he was without his U.S. passport and was effectively trapped in Russian-controlled territory, living in the main city of Donetsk.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News on Wednesday, just minutes after he was rescued from Russian-occupied territory in a swap, Murekezi said the emotion was “overwhelming.”
“I can’t wait to see my family,” he said, adding that he wanted a “a hot shower” and a “peanut butter sandwich.”
Over the last few weeks he “felt trapped” in Russian-controlled territory, he said. Living in a safe house in the city of Donetsk without any documents, he said he tried to avoid thinking about his family potentially spending Christmas without him.
“I was trying to ignore emotions that were making me sad,” he said, adding, “Now I’m in Ukrainian [controlled] land, so it’s quite overwhelming.”
(NEW YORK) — The final three episodes of Prince Harry and Meghan’s closely followed docuseries aired Thursday on Netflix.
The latest episodes of the six-part series, titled Harry & Meghan, focus on Harry and Meghan’s decision to step down from their senior royal roles in 2020, with Harry alleging “institutional gaslighting,” and Meghan saying she was “being fed to the wolves.”
Following their exit, Harry and Meghan settled with their two children in California, where they now run a foundation and a production company, which helped produce the Netflix series.
The series’ first three episodes, which aired on Dec. 8, were Netflix’s biggest documentary debut ever, according to the streaming company.
Here is everything we know so far about the final three episodes of Harry & Meghan:
Harry shares his side of ‘terrifying’ family meeting at Sandringham
Harry, fifth in line to the British throne, shares for the first time details of the family meeting at Sandringham convened by Queen Elizabeth II after Harry and Meghan announced their decision in January 2020 to step back from their senior royal roles.
The so-called family summit included the queen as well as Harry’s father, who is now King Charles III, and his brother Prince William, now the heir to the throne. Meghan said she was not included in the summit.
“Imagine a conversation, a roundtable discussion, about the future of your life when the stakes are this high, and you as the mom and the wife, and the target in many regards, aren’t invited to have a seat at the table,” Meghan said, with Harry adding, “It was clear to me that they planned it so you weren’t in the room.”
Harry said he had “happy memories” of Sandringham, where the royal family traditionally celebrates Christmas, noting the contrast with returning there “under very different circumstances” for the family summit.
He said he was given five options at the meeting and chose the third option, which he described as a “half in, half out” model that would allow him and Meghan to have their “own jobs,” but still work “in support of the queen.” But he said he saw that goal was “not up for discussion or debate.”
“It was terrifying to have my brother scream and shout at me and my father say things that just simply weren’t true, and my grandmother, you know, quietly sit there and and sort of take it all in,” Harry said. “But you have to understand, from the family’s perspective, especially from hers, there are ways of doing things and her ultimate sort of mission, goal, slash responsibility is the institution.”
He continued, “People around her are telling her, ‘By the way, that proposal, or these two doing X, Y, Z, is going to be seen as an attack on the institution,’ then she’s going to go on the advice that she’s given.”
The royal family has not commented on the docuseries.
According to Netflix, interviews for the series were completed by August, one month before the Sept. 8 death of the queen at age 96.
“It was really hard,” Harry said of the meeting. “That meeting finished without any like solidified action plan.”
He said of his family members, “I think from their perspective they had to believe that it was more about us, and maybe the issues that we had, as opposed to their partner, the media, and themselves and that relationship that was causing so much pain for us. They saw what they wanted to see.”
Harry says statement denying bullying gave him and Meghan ‘no other option’
Harry said in the docuseries that after the meeting at Sandringham, some news headlines said William had “bullied” him and Meghan out of the royal family.
According to Harry, soon after, a joint statement was released from both him and William denying the bullying claims, but Harry says he never agreed to the statement.
“I couldn’t believe it,” Harry said. “No one had asked me. No one had asked me to put my name to a statement like that.”
Harry said he called Meghan, whom he described as equally upset.
“She burst into floods of tears because within four hours, they were happy to lie to protect my brother, and yet for three years, they were never willing to tell the truth to protect us,” Harry said, presumably referring to the palace.
Meghan said she had a revelation at that moment that, “It’s never going to stop.”
“Every rumor, every negative thing, every lie, everything that I knew wasn’t true and that the palace knew wasn’t true and internally they knew wasn’t true, that was just being allowed to fester,” she said.
Harry said he realized, “There was no other option at this point,” adding, “I said we need to get out of here.”
In the series, Harry fights back against media coverage and public speculation that it was Meghan who pushed the couple out of their royal roles.
“It was my decision. She never asked to leave,” he said. “I was the one that had to see it for myself.”
In a January 2020, it was announced that Harry and Meghan would still be known as the duke and duchess of Sussex and would remain members of the royal family, but they would no longer travel on behalf of the queen and would not receive any public money. In addition, Harry, a military veteran, lost his military titles and patronages.
Meghan says tabloid lawsuit led to ‘unraveling’ with royals
A London-based attorney who represented the Sussexes says in the series there was a “war against Meghan.”
“There was a real kind of war against Meghan, and I’ve certainly seen evidence that there was negative briefing from the palace against Harry and Meghan to suit other people’s agendas,” says Jenny Afia, identified onscreen as a partner at Schillings, a London-based law firm. “This barrage of negative articles about the breakdown of the relationship with her father was the final straw in a campaign of negative, nasty coverage about her.”
Schillings represented Harry and Meghan in the couple’s lawsuit against a U.K. tabloid publisher over the publication of Meghan’s handwritten letter to her estranged father Thomas Markle.
A U.K. judge ruled in Meghan’s favor in the case last year.
Meghan says it was the queen and Charles who suggested that she write her dad a letter amid their estrangement following her wedding to Harry, which he did not attend. She said that the signature that accepted the letter did not match that of her father’s, and then the entire letter was made public.
According to Meghan, when the royal institution did not follow up on her request to take legal action against the tabloid that published the letter, she and Harry filed their own lawsuit.
“Everything changed after that,” said Meghan. “That litigation was the catalyst probably for all of the unraveling.”
Shortly after, Harry and Meghan chose to spend the final months of 2019 in Vancouver Island, Canada, forgoing the tradition of spending Christmas with Harry’s family at Sandringham.
Meghan described as ‘scapegoat for the palace’
Lucy Fraser, identified in the docuseries as a friend of Meghan, alleges that stories about Meghan were fed to the press on purpose.
“Meg became this scapegoat for the palace,” Fraser says. “So they would feed stories on her, whether they were true or not, to avoid other less favorable stories being printed.”
The docuseries does not give additional context on Fraser’s allegation, nor does it make clear to whom she was referring: Buckingham Palace; the household of Charles and Camilla, the queen consort; or Kensington Palace, the household of William and Kate, the princess of Wales.
Royal family has remained silent on the docuseries so far
Members of the royal family have not commented on Harry and Meghan’s docuseries.
In the opening seconds of the first episode of Harry & Meghan, Netflix states that members of Britain’s royal family “declined to comment on the content within this series.”
Royal sources told ABC News last week “that neither Buckingham Palace nor Kensington Palace nor any members of the royal family were approached for comment on the content of the series.”
According to royal sources, Kensington Palace, the household of Harry’s brother Prince William and his wife Kate, the princess of Wales, received an email purporting to be from a third-party production company, via a different, unknown organization’s email address.
The palace contacted Harry and Meghan’s production company, Archewell Productions, and Netflix to attempt to verify the authenticity of the email, but received no response, sources said.
According to the sources, without being able to verify the email’s authenticity, the palace was “unable” to provide any response.
A source at Netflix, meanwhile, told ABC News that communications offices for Charles and William were contacted in advance and given the right to reply to claims within the series.
(WASHINGTON) — If the United States approves the transfer of Patriot air defense missiles to Ukraine will they really be the game changer that Ukrainian officials expect them to be? And how quickly could they actually get to the battlefield?
Those are some of the questions being raised after U.S. officials have confirmed that the Pentagon has prepared plans to transfer Patriot batteries to Ukraine if approved by President Joe Biden, a possibility that could happen as early as this week.
The air defense system can target ballistic and cruise missiles as well as manned and unmanned aircraft with a maximum range of 100 miles, depending on the system possibly given to Ukraine.
A typical Patriot battery includes a radar system, a power generation supply, and a command and control station connected to several launch stations. With its sophisticated radar system it will be able to engage eight targets at a time.
The transfer of the advanced air defense system is something Ukrainian officials have been demanding since shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in late February.
But U.S. officials have not been open to that possibility until recently out of concern over how Russia might react to their presence in Ukraine as well as over what might be learned about the missile’s technology if a missile or its components were to fall into Russian hands.
The U.S. and its partners have resupplied Ukraine’s Soviet-era S-300 air defense missiles and provided Western air defense systems such as shoulder-fired Stinger missiles and other larger air defense systems like the NASAM, jointly produced by the U.S. and Norway.
But it is the Patriot missile that Ukrainians have remained focused on specifically after Russia began using missile and one-way drone barrages targeting Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, causing electricity blackouts throughout much of the country.
Reacting to the news that the U.S. is likely to supply Patriot air defense missile systems to Ukraine, a senior Ukrainian Defense official told ABC News that they will be “a game changer,” describing them as “one of the best systems in the world.” The official added that Ukraine’s access to the missiles will “drastically increase our capacity to defend our skies from Russian strikes.”
“The decision to provide Ukraine with Patriot surface-to-air missile systems was the right one,” said Mick Mulroy, a former assistant and an ABC News contributor.
U.S. officials believe that once the Patriot transfer is approved, a training program for Ukrainian troops could begin in Germany in a matter of weeks. But any training program will have to be much shorter than the training given to American soldiers that requires a minimum of five months of training followed by more advanced training.
“The Ukrainian soldiers have proven they are more than capable of learning complex US systems and will also learn this one,” said Mulroy.
Even with an accelerated training program it could be sometime in early 2023 before a system is operational in Ukraine.
Patriot missiles first became wide-known during the 1991 Gulf War when they successfully intercepted most Iraqi missile attacks on U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia and parallel attacks on Israel.
But there have been many technological upgrades to Patriots since then and it remains to be seen which version of the missile Ukraine would receive.
“Whether this becomes a game changing technology or not will depend on how many of these missile systems the U.S. provides and how many missiles,” said Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor.
“But it will certainly go a long way to help plug those gaps in the air defense system that have allowed Russia to attack critical infrastructure like the electrical grids and the cities of Ukraine,” he added.
(NEW YORK) — Rising temperatures are continuing to set alarming trends around the world, according to new data released Wednesday by climate scientists.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found that temperatures in September, October and November reached new highs, as global land and ocean temps were 1.51 degrees Fahrenheit greater than the 20th century average of 57.1 degrees.
Last month was the ninth-warmest November in NOAA’s 143-year history, with global temperatures 1.37 degrees above the 20th century average of 55.2 degrees, according to the agency’s monthly report.
NOAA said this year’s global surface temperature is now the sixth warmest on record and this warming trend shows no signs of slowing down.
“There is a greater than 99% chance that 2022 will rank among the 10-warmest years on record,” the agency said in a statement.
The report highlighted some new records in different parts of the globe.
Europe tied for its third-warmest September-November on record, with temperatures 3.33 degrees above the autumn average, according to NOAA. The U.K. recorded its third warmest November on record, the report said.
While North America recorded its fifth warmest autumn on record, the continental U.S. experienced a cooling trend in November, according to NOAA.
Specifically, parts of the Pacific Northwest recorded temperatures that were between 2 to 5 degrees lower than the average, the report said.
“Parts of western North America had their coldest November in nearly 40 years,” NOAA said.
As the year draws to a close, the report said several parts of the globe could see new record-high temperatures.
“Europe and Asia each had their second-warmest January–November period on record after 2020. The Gulf of Mexico had its sixth-warmest year-to-date and the Caribbean Islands had their seventh-warmest year-to-date,” NOAA said.
(NEW YORK) — American Suedi Murekezi has just been freed from Russian-controlled territory by a team from Ukraine’s military intelligence and is now being driven to Kyiv.
ABC News followed a military convoy into the war’s grey zone just outside Zaphorizhia in southern Ukraine. A two-hour ceasefire was agreed to in the area, starting at midday local time, so that a swap involving dozens of prisoners of war could go ahead. Murekezi was brought out of Russian-controlled territory as part of that exchange.
Suedi had been arrested by the Russian-controlled authorities and spent weeks in a basement, where he said he was tortured. He also spent three months in a prison in Donetsk city. He was later released by the Russians, but he was without his U.S. passport and was effectively trapped in Russian-controlled territory, living in the main city of Donetsk.
In an exclusive interview with ABC News in the grey zone, just after he was brought out of Russian-controlled territory, Murekezi said he felt “trapped” in Donetsk and lived under intense uncertainty about his future and what would happen to him.
He said he was relieved and happy to be back in Ukrainian-controlled territory, a free man in the country where he has lived for years.
Clutching a Ukrainian flag, which he was gifted by military intelligence officers, Suedi said he had been subject to electric shocks and beaten by his captors earlier in the war, when he was held in a basement, which he described as a “torture chamber.”
He said the Russians accused him of being a member of the CIA. He said he and the other Americans with whom he was held were given only minimal food and water.
When asked what he was looking forward to most when he gets back to his home in Minnesota, Murekezi said “a peanut butter sandwich.”
(NEW YORK) — French authorities are gearing up for the country’s World Cup semifinal match on Wednesday against Morocco.
French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin unveiled the enforced security measures on Tuesday, calling for the mobilization of 10,000 police officers nationwide, with 5,000 officers in Paris alone.
Wednesday’s game in Qatar is sure to be action-filled as the French reigning champions meet Morocco, the first African nation to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. The victor of the game will play Argentina in the final on Dec. 18. Argentina secured their spot in the final with a decisive 3-0 win on Tuesday against Croatia.
French police said they’re concerned about violence and damage in the wake of the game, calling for the closing of several metro stations, along with the removal of garbage cans, construction barriers, or “any other material that can be used as a weapon.”
The rigorous security precautions have precedent in past French World Cup championships in 1998 and 2018. In 1998, France’s victory at home over Brazil prompted 600,000 supporters to march down the Champs-Élysées. Over 300,000 turned out in Paris after the team defeated Croatia in 2018.
Morocco’s 1-0 quarterfinal victory over Portugal on Saturday resulted in nearly 20,000 supporters rallying to celebrate the nation’s qualification on the historic Paris avenue, leading to the arrest of 108 individuals, according to French authorities.
Despite calls from Jeanne d’Hauteserre, the mayor of the eighth arrondissement in Paris, to close the Champs-Élysées, the interior minister has decided to keep the avenue open to traffic but close the roads feeding into it Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. local time.
