Colleen Hoover hosts a ‘Regretting You’ fan screening at AMC NorthPark 15 on Sept. 26, 2025, in Dallas, Texas. (Sam Hodde/Getty Images)
Bestselling author Colleen Hoover is sharing a health update with her many readers and fans.
The It Ends with Us author revealed she was diagnosed with cancer and underwent treatment in an Instagram Story on Monday, writing, “Second to last day of radiation! I wish I could blame my hair and facial expressions on @texas.oncology but they’ve been great. Hope you never need them, but highly recommend them.”
In a Facebook post on Friday, Hoover wrote that she had received test results back from a geneticist that explained her cancer did not stem from “family genes” and was not tied to HPV or hormonal factors.
She added that she was “happy and grateful to be alive.”
Hoover has not revealed the type of cancer with which she was diagnosed.
The author was noticeably absent from the October 2025 premiere for the movie Regretting You, which was adapted from her 2019 book of the same name.
“I’m super bummed, but am having an unavoidable surgery and can’t travel for a while,” Hoover wrote in an Instagram post at the time.
Barry Manilow performs during ‘Manilow: The Last Detroit Concert’ at Little Caesars Arena, June, 2025 in Detroit, Michigan. (Scott Legato/Getty Images)
Barry Manilow will continue to make the whole world sing — well, the whole U.S., anyway.
The legendary entertainer, who recently underwent surgery following a stage-one lung cancer diagnosis he disclosed in December, has announced six new arena shows scheduled for March. He’ll visit Charlotte, North Carolina; Norfolk, Virginia; Baltimore, Maryland; Nashville, Tennessee; Cincinnati, Ohio; and Lexington, Kentucky. These performances will mark Manilow’s final concerts in those cities.
An artist presale for the newly announced shows begins Jan. 14 at 10 a.m. local time. More presales start Jan. 15 at 10 a.m. local time, with the remainder of the tickets going on sale Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. local time.
As previously reported, the January dates that were postponed following Manilow’s announcement have been rescheduled to March and April. You can find tickets and information at BarryManilow.com.
During each concert, Manilow will honor a local music teacher selected through online voting, presenting them with $5,000 cash and $5,000 to be used for classroom instruments.
Meanwhile, Manilow, who released the song “Once Before I Go” last year, has new music on the way in 2026.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks at a press conference during moving day at Gracie Mansion on January 12, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A New York City Council employee was detained during a “routine” immigration appointment on Long Island on Monday, according to city officials, who called the incident an “egregious government overreach.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he is “outraged” by the worker’s arrest.
“This is an assault on our democracy, on our city, and our values,” he said in a statement on X. “I am calling for his immediate release and will continue to monitor the situation.”
The Department of Homeland Security defended the arrest late Monday, saying the employee is in the U.S. illegally and has an alleged criminal history that includes an arrest for assault. The agency did not provide additional details on the assault arrest.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin identified the employee in a statement Monday night as Rafael Andres Rubio Bohorquez, whom she alleged is a “criminal illegal alien from Venezuela.”
McLaughlin said Rubio Bohorquez entered the U.S. on a B2 tourist visa in 2017 that required him to leave the country by Oct. 22, 2017.
“He had no legal right to be in the United States,” McLaughlin said in a statement. “Under Secretary Noem, criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States. If you come to our country illegally and break our law, we will find you and we will arrest you.”
The employee was detained by federal immigration officials during an appointment in Bethpage in Nassau County earlier Monday, according to NYCCouncil Speaker Julie Menin.
The speaker said the employee has legal authorization to remain in the country until this coming October.
Menin said the employee is a “central staff member working as a data analyst for approximately a year.”
The city council learned of his detainment Monday afternoon, when the employee used his one phone call to contact the council’s human resources department for help and said he had been detained, according to Menin.
“DHS confirmed that this employee had gone in for a routine court appointment and was nevertheless detained. They provided no other basis for his detainment,” Menin said during a press briefing on Monday. “On the contrary, he was a city council employee who is doing everything right. He went to the court when he was asked.”
Menin said the city council is demanding the return of the employee, whom she did not identify, citing privacy concerns.
Democratic New York Congressman Dan Goldman said the employee is of Venezuelan descent and is a “law-abiding immigrant with work authorization.”
“I want to be very clear: There is no indication that there’s anything about this individual other than his immigration status that caused him to be arrested,” he said during Monday’s press briefing.
DHS said the staffer was not authorized to work in the U.S.
The employee has been transferred to a detention center in Manhattan, according to Menin. She said the city council has been unable to reach his family members.
Goldman said his office has reached out to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“We will continue to fight this,” he said. “We will continue to push for not only this person’s release, which is so obviously necessary, but for this immigration dragnet to stop.”
New York Attorney General Letitia James also called for the staffer’s immediate release, saying in a statement on X, “We will not stand for attacks on our city, its public servants, and its residents.”
In response to the incident, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said, “This is exactly what happens when immigration enforcement is weaponized.”
“Detaining people during routine court appearances doesn’t make us safer,” she said in a statement on X. “It erodes trust, spreads fear, and violates basic principles of fairness.”
Five Finger Death Punch performs on November 1, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Five Finger Death Punch has announced a U.S. tour for the summer and fall.
The headlining outing stretches from July 20 in Camden, New Jersey, to Oct. 23 in Bristow, Virginia. The bill will also include Eva Under Fire and country artist Cody Jinks.
Presales begin Wednesday, and tickets go on sale to the general public on Friday at 10 a.m. local time. For every ticket sold, $1 will be donated to the U.S. judo and BMX racing and freestyle teams ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics in Los Angeles.
“It’s a little-known fact that the United States is one of the only major countries in the world where the government does not fund Olympic and Paralympic athletes or their training programs,” says guitarist Zoltan Bathory. “Our athletes are competing against nations with fully funded teams, while U.S. teams rely almost exclusively on private donations and sponsorships. We believe supporting Team USA is both patriotic and necessary, especially with the Olympic and Paralympic Games coming home in 2028.”
Five Finger Death Punch’s most recent album is 2022’s AfterLife. In 2025, they put out a two-part best-of compilation, featuring rerecorded versions of the band’s biggest hits.
A new Death Punch album is expected to arrive in the fall.
Iranian protesters participate in a pro-Government rally in Tehran, Iran, on January 12, 2026. The rally takes place in Tehran against the recent anti-government unrest, opposition to the U.S. and Israel in Iran, and in support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The death toll from major anti-government protests in Iran reached at least 2,000 as of Tuesday, according to data published by the the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), over 16 days of unrest.
U.S. President Donald Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday, “Iranian Patriots, KEEP PROTESTING – TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!! Save the names of the killers and abusers. They will pay a big price.”
“I have cancelled all meetings with Iranian Officials until the senseless killing of protesters STOPS. HELP IS ON ITS WAY,” Trump added.
At least 10,721 people have been arrested, HRANA said in an earlier update on Tuesday, in protests that have been recorded in 606 locations in 187 cities across all 31 Iranian provinces. Among the dead are at least nine children, the group reported.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The group earlier on Tuesday said 646 people had been killed. The Iranian government has not provided any death tolls during the ongoing protests.
Iranian state-aligned media, meanwhile, has reported that more than 100 members of the security forces have been killed in the unrest. HRANA said that 133 military and security personnel were among those killed in the protest wave to date, along with one prosecutor.
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran, after repeatedly warning Tehran against the use of force to suppress the ongoing protests.
“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post on Monday. “This Order is final and conclusive.”
In response to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the position of Beijing — which is a key trading partner for Tehran — “is very clear — there are no winners in a tariff war. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
China “supports Iran in maintaining national stability,” she added. “We have always opposed interference in other countries’ internal affairs and the use or threat of force in international relations.”
Trump’s national security team are expected to meet at the White House on Tuesday to discuss his options for intervention in the Islamic Republic.
One U.S. official told ABC News that among the options under consideration are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested reporters on Monday that military options remain open to Trump.
The president, she said, “is always keeping all of his options on the table and air strikes would be one of the many, many options on the table for the commander in chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president.”
Citing “escalating” protests and increased security measures, the State Department also urged Americans to leave Iran.
“U.S. citizens should expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye,” a new security alert posted on the U.S. “virtual” Embassy Tehran website on Monday stated.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial.
As the protests spread, some have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
The theocratic government in Tehran — headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — moved to tame the protests, with security forces reportedly using tear gas and live ammunition to disperse gatherings.
A sustained national internet outage has been in place across the country for several days. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said on Tuesday that the “nationwide internet shutdown” had been ongoing for 108 hours.
The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday that hundreds of people had been killed and thousands arrested.
Turk said he was “horrified by the mounting violence against protesters” and urged Iranian authorities to immediately halt all forms of violence and repression, and restore full access to internet and telecommunications.
Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the wave of protests as a “terrorist war” while speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran.
Also on Monday, state television broadcast footage of pro-government rallies organized in other major cities.
The footage showed crowds waving Iranian flags in Tehran’s Revolution Square. State television described the Tehran demonstration as an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism.”
Dissident figures abroad, meanwhile, have urged Iranians to take to the street and overthrow the government.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — who from his base in the U.S. has become a prominent critic of the Iranian government — on Monday appealed to Trump to act in support of the protesters.
“I have called the people to the streets to fight for their freedom and to overwhelm the security forces with sheer numbers,” Pahlavi wrote on X. “Last night they did that. Your threat to this criminal regime has also kept the regime’s thugs at bay. But time is of the essence.”
“Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran,” Pahlavi added.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Morgan Winsor, Meredith Deliso, Anne Flaherty, Mariam Khan, Othon Leyva, Britt Clennett, Joseph Simonetti and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24, 2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 06, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Photo by Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Editor’s note: Some of the testimony described below is extremely graphic.
(UVALDE, Texas) — As the sound of gunshots got closer to Room 111 in Robb Elementary School, former fourth-grade teacher Arnulfo Reyes testified that all he could do was tell his students to get under their desks, stay quiet and close their eyes.
“I had told them to close their eyes, because I didn’t want them to see if something bad was going to happen,” Reyes testified Monday at the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales.
Prosecutors allege Gonzales, who is charged with child endangerment, did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students. Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers argue he is being unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the May 2022 rampage.
In excruciating detail, Reyes recounted the tragic moments when gunman Salvador Ramos shot and wounded him and shot and killed all 11 children in his classroom.
Reyes said he fell to the ground after he was struck by gunfire. Then, the shooter “came around and he shot the kids,” Reyes testified, maintaining his composure.
After the first series of gunshots, Reyes testified that a student in a nearby classroom mistook Ramos for police.
“A student from that classroom said, ‘Officer, come in here. We’re in here,'” Reyes testified. “And I heard he walked over there, and I heard more shooting.”
As Reyes lay on the ground bleeding from wounds to his arm and back, he said the shooter returned to his classroom and noticed he was still alive.
“He came and he tried to taunt me. He got some of my blood and splashed it on my face,” he said.
Reyes acknowledged that his sense of time from the shooting was unclear.
“I’m not sure how long, I just know it felt like forever,” he said, adding that all he could do in those moments was pray.
“I just closed my eyes real tight and just waited for everything to be over,” he said.
During cross-examination, defense lawyer Nico LaHood tried to deflect some blame from Gonzales, suggesting Reyes was at least partially at fault for leaving his classroom door unlocked the morning of the shooting.
Reyes will be back on the stand on Tuesday.
Though Reyes did not mention Gonzales by name during Monday’s testimony, the former teacher offered the jury one of the most graphic accounts of the shooting.
Former acting Dallas District Attorney Messina Madson told ABC News that prosecutors are likely attempting to use emotional testimony to emphasize the scope of the tragedy and to argue that someone other than the shooter should bear responsibility for the tragedy.
“This is an unusual way to apply this law, and so from an overall point of view of what the district attorney’s office is trying to do is say this is a tragedy,” Madson said. “This is a terrible, horrible thing that happened, and it is so horrible that not only do we have to mourn it, but somebody is criminally responsible, besides the person who pulled the trigger.”
Iranian protesters participate in a pro-Government rally in Tehran, Iran, on January 12, 2026. The rally takes place in Tehran against the recent anti-government unrest, opposition to the U.S. and Israel in Iran, and in support of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Photo by Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — The death toll from major anti-government protests in Iran reached at least 2,000 as of Tuesday, according to data published by the the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), over 16 days of unrest.
At least 10,721 people have been arrested, HRANA said, in protests that have been recorded in 606 locations in 187 cities across all 31 Iranian provinces. Among the dead are nine children, the group reported.
The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The group earlier on Tuesday said 646 people had been killed. The Iranian government has not provided any death tolls during the ongoing protests.
Iranian state-aligned media, meanwhile, has reported that more than 100 members of the security forces have been killed in the unrest. HRANA said that 133 military and security personnel were among those killed in the protest wave to date, along with one prosecutor.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran, after repeatedly warning Tehran against the use of force to suppress the ongoing protests.
“Effective immediately, any Country doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran will pay a Tariff of 25% on any and all business being done with the United States of America,” Trump said in a social media post on Monday. “This Order is final and conclusive.”
In response to the announcement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the position of Beijing — which is a key trading partner for Tehran — “is very clear — there are no winners in a tariff war. China will firmly safeguard its legitimate rights and interests.”
China “supports Iran in maintaining national stability,” she added. “We have always opposed interference in other countries’ internal affairs and the use or threat of force in international relations.”
Trump’s national security team are expected to meet at the White House on Tuesday to discuss his options for intervention in the Islamic Republic.
One U.S. official told ABC News that among the options under consideration are new sanctions against key regime figures or against Iran’s energy or banking sectors.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt suggested reporters on Monday that military options remain open to Trump.
The president, she said, “is always keeping all of his options on the table and air strikes would be one of the many, many options on the table for the commander in chief. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president.”
Citing “escalating” protests and increased security measures, the State Department also urged Americans to leave Iran.
“U.S. citizens should expect continued internet outages, plan alternative means of communication, and, if safe to do so, consider departing Iran by land to Armenia or Türkiye,” a new security alert posted on the U.S. “virtual” Embassy Tehran website on Monday stated.
Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial.
As the protests spread, some have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone.
The theocratic government in Tehran — headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — moved to tame the protests, with security forces reportedly using tear gas and live ammunition to disperse gatherings.
A sustained national internet outage has been in place across the country for several days. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said on Tuesday that the “nationwide internet shutdown” had been ongoing for 108 hours.
The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a statement on Tuesday that hundreds of people had been killed and thousands arrested.
Turk said he was “horrified by the mounting violence against protesters” and urged Iranian authorities to immediately halt all forms of violence and repression, and restore full access to internet and telecommunications.
Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and “terrorists” sponsored by foreign nations — prime among them the U.S. and Israel — and supported by foreign infiltrators.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi described the wave of protests as a “terrorist war” while speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran.
Also on Monday, state television broadcast footage of pro-government rallies organized in other major cities.
The footage showed crowds waving Iranian flags in Tehran’s Revolution Square. State television described the Tehran demonstration as an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism.”
Dissident figures abroad, meanwhile, have urged Iranians to take to the street and overthrow the government.
Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi — who from his base in the U.S. has become a prominent critic of the Iranian government — on Monday appealed to Trump to act in support of the protesters.
“I have called the people to the streets to fight for their freedom and to overwhelm the security forces with sheer numbers,” Pahlavi wrote on X. “Last night they did that. Your threat to this criminal regime has also kept the regime’s thugs at bay. But time is of the essence.”
“Please be prepared to intervene to help the people of Iran,” Pahlavi added.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian, Morgan Winsor, Meredith Deliso, Anne Flaherty, Mariam Khan, Othon Leyva, Britt Clennett and Joseph Simonetti contributed to this report.
David Barnes appears in court in Russia on Feb. 13, 2024 (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Paul Carter and his friend David Barnes have been speaking with each other since their days in first grade in Huntsville, Alabama, more than 60 years ago.
Yet since Jan. 13, 2022, their conversations over the phone haven’t been the same.
“It’s hard to sit there and hear him just plea, ‘Somebody get me home,'” Carter told ABC News in an interview.
Barnes, a 68-year-old father of two boys, is serving the longest prison sentence of any American who is currently being held in Russia. He was recently relocated to a penal colony hundreds of miles from Moscow.
Tuesday marks four years since Barnes was taken into custody.
His family says Barnes’ arrest came after he traveled from his apartment in The Woodlands, Texas, to Russia at the end of 2021 to try to gain visitation or custody rights to his sons through Moscow’s family court system.
Barnes’ ex-wife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, had taken their children to her native Russia following bitter divorce and child custody proceedings in Montgomery County, Texas. Upon learning of Barnes’ arrival in Russia, his family says she contacted law enforcement in Moscow and accused him of having abused the two boys.
“[She] did not want him to have access to his children, so she made the worst possible accusation that she could come up with,” Margaret Aaron, Barnes’ sister, told ABC News.
Moscow prosecutors’ case against Barnes was unlike any other involving an American jailed in Russia in recent memory, since Barnes was not accused of committing a crime on Russian soil.
Instead, Moscow prosecutors alleged that he abused his sons in suburban Houston, even though Texas law enforcement says they had no involvement in the Russian trial and previously found those allegations to not be credible after conducting their own investigation in response to Koptyaeva’s claims.
“I stand firmly by the allegations against Mr. Barnes,” Koptyaeva wrote to ABC News in an email Monday. “They are supported by my sons’ testimonies and evidence presented in both U.S. and Russian courts.”
Barnes was convicted by a judge in Moscow in 2024 and sentenced to more than 21 years in prison.
“Was it a fair trial? By no means,” Carter said.
After spending years in a detention center in the Russian capital, Barnes was recently transferred to the IK-17 penal colony, according to a spokesperson for his family. The facility previously housed other high-profile detainees like American Paul Whelan, who was freed from Russia in 2024 as part of a prisoner swap.
“We can’t speak for the other people that are in jail in Russia but we absolutely know without a doubt that David is an innocent guy that’s being held on some horrendous charges,” Carter said.
‘Nothing to justify what happened’
While Barnes already stood trial in Moscow, prosecutors more than 6,000 miles away in Texas are hoping that his ex-wife will face a different set of accusations in a courtroom 40 miles north of Houston.
The criminal case against Koptyaeva dates back nearly seven years.
From 2014 to 2019, Texas court records show that Barnes and Koptyaeva were going through an acrimonious divorce and child custody dispute.
“It gradually deteriorated,” Carter said. “He married a woman that he loved and brought two children into the world and, through forces that he didn’t understand or see, it went downhill.”
Koptyaeva raised serious accusations against Barnes during this time, accusing him of abusing their children, which he vehemently denied.
“I can say that the allegations against Mr. Barnes were investigated and evaluated by law enforcement here in Montgomery County and charges were not brought against him,” Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney Kelly Blackburn told ABC News on Monday.
The custody battle between Barnes and Koptyaeva ultimately resulted in a family law trial.
“A jury also heard evidence regarding the allegations during his custody dispute in the family law trial and even after hearing about the allegations, still awarded Mr. Barnes custody of his two children,” Blackburn said. “And that is when his ex-wife fled with them to Russia.”
The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office alleged that despite a judgment giving Barnes partial custody of their children, Koptyaeva “failed to comply with any condition for travel outside of the United States with the children,” and left the country with the boys on a Turkish Airlines flight from Houston to Istanbul on March 26, 2019.
Interpol published yellow global police notices containing pictures of the children and Koptyaeva was subsequently charged with interference with child custody, a felony crime in Texas.
A warrant for Koptyaeva’s arrest in connection with this charge is still active, according to Blackburn.
“I am not planning to return to the United States,” Koptyaeva told ABC News. “However, if I were to do so, I would plead not guilty, as I did nothing wrong. My actions were solely to protect my children from severe abuse, something any parent would do in my situation.”
A Texas court subsequently designated Barnes as the primary guardian of the children, but since the boys were believed to have ultimately ended up in Russia with Koptyaeva, he was unable to have a relationship with them.
Barnes’ friends and family maintain that Barnes’ desire to legally reunite with his children is what prompted him to travel to Moscow after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Instead, he ended up in a series of Russian detention centers.
“There’s nothing to justify what happened,” Carter said.
New Year, new hope?
As Barnes begins his fifth year of detention in Russia, for the first time he is being held in a penal colony a long distance away from Moscow
“From what we understand, the climate is quite a bit different,” Carter said, explaining that while Barnes was often housed in a cell with 14 to 17 other people in Moscow, he has more room to walk around in his new facility.
Carter said that the penal colony is a labor camp of sorts, but Barnes’ labor has largely been restricted to shoveling show. He is worried about his friend’s medical condition though, noting that Barnes has lost around 10 teeth since he has been in custody.
Koptyaeva has maintained that Barnes was justifiably charged and convicted, while Barnes’ relatives and acquaintances have been advocating for the U.S. government to declare that Russia is wrongfully detaining Barnes.
“We commend all efforts to secure Mr. Barnes’ release,” Rep. Dan Crenshaw, Rep. Dale Strong and Sen. John Cornyn wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in November. “As the Administration continues negotiations with Russia, we urge you to utilize every tool available to facilitate his return to the United States.”
Blackburn, the Montgomery County First Assistant District Attorney, said he is not in a position at this time to say whether Barnes’ detention in Russia is wrongful, noting, “I don’t know what evidence was presented during the trial or anything else about how the proceeding[s] [were] conducted.”
The State Department has not answered ABC News’ questions over whether it considers Barnes’ detention to be wrongful.
“The Department of State has no higher priority than the safety and welfare of American citizens,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News. “U.S. Embassy officials continue to provide consular assistance to Mr. Barnes.”
Carter said that there has been increased advocacy against Barnes’ detention recently and that he is hopeful that the Trump administration will be able to bring his friend home — but fears Barnes being devastated if he is left out of another prisoner exchange.
“He’s been in some insufferable conditions and it doesn’t need to continue,” his friend said.
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
A Utah man was found dead after being caught in an avalanche Sunday afternoon in Lincoln County, Wyoming, authorities said. (Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office)
(LINCOLN COUNTY, Wyo) — A Utah man was found dead after being caught in an avalanche Sunday afternoon in Lincoln County, Wyoming, authorities said.
Nicholas Bringhurst, 31, was snowmobiling in the LaBarge Creek area when he was caught in an avalanche that buried him in snow, according to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office received a notification from a satellite device reporting an injured person, and Air Idaho was contacted and responded to the area.
“Bringhurst’s friend located and unburied him and initiated CPR,” authorities said. “However, Bringhurst died as a result of being caught in the avalanche.”
Lincoln County Coroner Dain Schwab said the coroner’s office will investigate and determine the cause of death.
“The Sheriff’s Office expresses our deepest sympathies to the Bringhurst family,” officials said.
ABC News’ Tristan Maglunog contributed to this report.
The teaser trailer for Lee Cronin‘s The Mummy has arrived. Warner Bros. Pictures released the official teaser trailer for the upcoming film, which arrives in theaters on April 17. Cronin, who helmed Evil Dead Rise, now takes on one of the most iconic horror stories with his own twisted retelling. The movie stars Jack Reynor, LaiaCosta and May Calamawy, and follows what happens when the daughter of a journalist disappears into the desert without a trace before she returns eight years later …
Andrew Scott and Olivia Colman‘s upcoming film Elsinore just added a bunch of new actors to its cast. Deadline reports that Billie Piper, Johnny Flynn, Luke Thompson and Joe Locke have joined the cast of the upcoming film about the life of Ian Charleson. Simon Stone directs the movie, which is currently filming in the U.K. …
Survivor host Jeff Probst has announced that the live reunion show will return for the upcoming 50th season of the reality competition series. This landmark season of the show has the theme In the Hands of the Fans. The upcoming live reunion will go in tandem with the Survivor 50 Challenge, which is a nationwide scavenger hunt for fans to find hidden immunity idols in all 50 states of the U.S. Winners of the scavenger hunt will then be invited to attend the live finale in Los Angeles on May 20 …
