Jimmy Kimmel is hosting the Oscars for the third time on Sunday, and he’s sharing how he’ll address Will Smith‘s infamous slap of Chris Rock from last year’s show.
“I have given it much thought,” Kimmel told GMA co-anchor Lara Spencer. “I know that a million jokes have been made about it, a million think pieces have been written on it… There has been a lot said about it, so whatever I say has to be I think — you know, it has to be good.”
“And I do have some good things to say about it. I think that it’s gonna be on everybody’s mind,” he added. “Everybody’s gonna be waiting for that moment. And that will be part of the show, but certainly not the focus of the show.”
Kimmel first hosted the awards show in 2017, which had its own memorable mishap during the broadcast. That year, Warren Beatty incorrectly announced La La Land as the Best Picture winner instead of the actual winner, Moonlight.
“We had a little envelope problem the first time,” Kimmel said. “That was that. And then — but I’ll tell you what, nobody got hit when I hosted the show,” he joked. “Everybody was very well-behaved at my Oscars.”
As for “the slap heard ’round the world,” as it has come to be known by some, Jimmy snarked, “…[T]here’s kind of an idea now that this is an epidemic of some kind. Like the — this year, maybe two people will come up stage — and hit. Maybe in the future, it’ll be three, four, and it’ll just be — eventually it’ll be everyone rushing the stage and slapping whoever’s on it.”
Variety reports Julianne Moore and Euphoria‘s Sydney Sweeney have been tapped to star in Echo Valley, the dramatic feature from Apple Original Films. Written by Mare of Easttown creator Brad Inglesby, Echo Valley follows Moore as a Pennsylvania woman whose wayward daughter — played by Sweeney — shows up at her doorstep “frightened, trembling and covered with someone else’s blood,” per Apple. “From there, Echo Valley becomes a heart-pounding thriller about just how far a mother will go to save her child.” Production is expected to begin this summer…
Morgan Freeman and Bridgerton breakout star Regé-Jean Page are both on board to executive-produce an eight-part series for Peacock on boxing legend Muhammad Ali, titled Excellence: 8 Fights, according to Deadline. The series, based on Jonathan Eig‘s biography Ali: A Life, will chronicle eight definitive moments from Ali’s life, each framed by one of his fights, though the essence of the episode will be his struggles outside the ring. There’s no deal as yet for either Freeman or Page to star in the series…
Mary Tyler Moore will be the subject of an upcoming HBO Original documentary from Soul of a Nation filmmaker James Adolphus and Master of None writer Lena Waithe. Being Mary Tyler Moore chronicles the late movie and TV icon’s 60-year-long career. The film gives us a glimpse of Moore’s comedic roles as Laura Petrie in the 1960s sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, a single career woman Mary Richards on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in the ‘70s, and her Oscar-nominated turn as a grieving mother in the 1970 film Ordinary People, as well as a peek into her personal life, in which she dealt privately with tragedy. Lending their voices to the film will be Waithe, Rob Reiner, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Phylicia Rashad and Norman Lear, among others. Being Mary Tyler Moore debuts in May…
Jennifer Aniston, Judd Apatow, Drew Barrymore, Steve Buscemi, Dana Carvey, Luis Guzmán, Tim Herlihy, Idina Menzel, Conan O’Brien, Chris Rock, Rob Schneider, David Spade and Ben Stiller are among the performers who will salute Adam Sandler at the 24th annual Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday, March 19. The event will be taped for worldwide broadcast on CNN, airing March 26, 2023 at 8 p.m. ET. Previous winners of the prize include Richard Pryor, Whoopi Goldberg, Bob Newhart, Jay Leno and, most recently, Dave Chappelle and Jon Stewart…
Meghan Trainor has done a lot of things, but there is still one thing that remains on her bucket list — performing on Saturday Night Live.
During Wednesday’s episode of the Workin’ On Itpodcast, which Meghan hosts with her brother Ryan Trainor, the singer shared that she would love to appear on the comedy sketch show.
“My goal in life, the only thing I haven’t done…I’ve literally done everything. I have not done SNL, and that’s a big bucket list for me, even though it terrifies the f*** out of me because it is live,” said Meghan who is currently pregnant with her second child.
“That’s a goal,” she added. “If I went there and did ‘Made You Look’ and ‘Mother.’ I’m gonna be like eight months pregnant by the time this song is poppin’, hopefully…So that’s the only other place I could perform.”
(NEW YORK) — When Pat Clynes pushed down the gas pedal on his Ford Explorer during a drive in Houston, Texas, in July 2022, an otherwise routine day became the start of what he later described as a nightmare.
The car failed to accelerate like it usually did, triggering immediate concern that something was wrong, Clynes said.
Since he thought the car was under warranty, Clynes brought it to a Ford dealership, where an employee later told Clynes it would cost nearly $1,400 just to identify the problem.
Weeks later, the dealership identified the problem as engine failure and said it would cost another $10,000 to fix, due partly to pandemic-induced supply chain snags that made car parts more expensive, he said.
Making matters worse, the company ultimately voided his warranty, determining the cause was maintenance-related, he said.
After balking at the repair prices, Clynes instead sold the car back to Ford last October for $8,000, less than a quarter of what he paid when he bought it used three years earlier.
“It was crazy,” Clynes said. “It just wore me down.”
Clynes is hardly the only car owner encountering high auto repair prices. Motor vehicle repair prices have jumped a staggering 23% over the last year, an inflation rate nearly four times higher than overall price increases, government data showed.
The price hikes stem from a shortage of workers and car parts that has sent costs soaring for auto shops, industry experts said. On top of that, the rise of high-tech cars, equipped with features like rearview cameras and traffic sensors, has added cost to even some routine repairs, they added.
“It’s a perfect storm because everything is coming together at once,” Tara Topel, the owner of Topel’s Service Center, a car repair shop in Lake Mills, Wisconsin, told ABC News. “The pandemic exacerbated what was already an issue.”
The high prices that weigh on the economy trace back to pandemic-induced supply bottlenecks that made it harder to access a slew of goods, including essentials like gas and food.
The pandemic also caused a shortage of workers, as mass layoffs at the outset of the pandemic diminished the workforce and coronavirus fears slowed the return of some workers. In turn, companies raised wages to attract workers, passing along some of those costs to customers and pushing prices higher.
These supply shocks pummeled the auto repair industry immediately, but the worst effects took time to emerge as repair shops slowly exhausted inventory on hand, said Brian Moody, executive editor at Autotrader.
“Manufacturing stopped or slowed down because of COVID restrictions or people didn’t come to work or they couldn’t find the right people,” Moody told ABC News. “In 2022, we [saw] the delayed reaction where there isn’t the same supply of stuff that there was.”
Meanwhile, a shortage of car repair technicians has deepened. The industry will stand 642,000 workers short of capacity by 2024, a TechForce report showed.
“There’s a scarcity of technicians,” David Whiston, an auto industry analyst at Morningstar, told ABC News. “This was a problem before the pandemic and it just gets worse.”
In turn, the U.S. hosts fewer car repair shops. In 2016, there were 225 cars and trucks on the road for every active service bay; five years later, there were 246 cars and trucks per service bay, according to a study from industry outlet Aftermarket Matters.
The lack of supply has coincided with another trend driving up repair prices: high-tech cars.
Cars contain more sophisticated materials and features, such as cameras and sensors, said Moody, of Autotrader.
“Let’s say someone has a 2020 model car and they back into a pole – something pretty simple,” Moody said. “You have to replace the bumper.”
“In that bumper can be sensors that house blind-spot monitoring or rear-park alert,” he added. “All of those live in the bumper.”
Topel, the repair shop owner, said the company’s prices have gone up as much as 20% over the last year.
To attract workers amid the shortage, the company has raised hourly pay by $5 per hour over the past two years, which amounts to a 20% increase in the base pay for entry-level technicians, she said.
Meanwhile, the repair shop faces added costs as it purchases big-ticket items that allow it to fix high-tech cars, she said. The company recently spent $38,000 for a machine that allows for the calibration of advanced driver-assistance systems, a set of technologies that help drivers navigate.
“More and more new technology comes into our shop,” she said. “It becomes a bigger deal by the month.”
As repair prices rise, Topel notices customers opting for basic repairs rather than more comprehensive ones, she said, noting that customers and shops alike are trying to weather elevated costs.
“All of these I call opportunities, but they really are challenges for the industry in how we solve for them and how people will make it through,” she said.
(WASHINGTON) — Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw will face a Senate panel on Thursday as Washington lawmakers hold their first hearing on railroad safety about a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.
“I am deeply sorry for the impact this derailment has had on the people of East Palestine and surrounding communities and I am determined to make it right,” Shaw will tell a Senate panel while promising, “I pledge that we won’t be finished until we make it right.”
Senators leading the hearing say they’re on a fact-finding mission and committed to working on a bipartisan basis to ensure that Norfolk Southern is held financially responsible for damages in East Palestine and surrounding communities.
“To me, our bipartisan hearing tomorrow should abide by what we call the golden rule: and that’s the idea we ought to treat other people the way we want to be treated. Love thy neighbor as thyself,” Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Tom Carper, D-Del., said Wednesday. “If this was our community, East Palestine involved our family members of our family or businesses that we were involved with, how would we want to be treated? And we would want to know that everything that is being done in response to this incident can be done.”
“The people of East Palestine need to know that we care that somebody cares about what has happened and what the response going forward is and also what the response was past,” said Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., the committee’s ranking member. “So we are going to be investigating the environmental and policy impacts in the committee we are going to look at local state and federal response and ongoing efforts in the area to protect.”
Capito added: “Norfolk Southern will be held completely liable and no expense should be spared.”
Carper and Capito both said they expect to learn more about what safety measures failed that caused the incident, what actions were taken in the immediate aftermath and weeks since the derailment, and what more can be done.
They’ll aim to put on a bipartisan front — but partisan disagreements about the effectiveness of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation in handling the fallout will likely emerge as the hearing progresses.
On a call with reporters on Wednesday previewing the hearing, Carper and Capito seemed fundamentally at odds over the EPA’s response.
As Carper thanked the agency for what he called a swift and consistent response, Capito raised what she saw as critical “communication errors” she hopes will get their time in the spotlight.
“Personally, I think the EPA failed on the risk communication,” Capito said. “We are going to ask why did it take the EPA administrator three weeks before he actually drank the water. He was telling everybody that it was safe. Why did it take a month to establish a response center?”
Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown and J.D. Vance, who introduced bipartisan railroad safety legislation last week, are also scheduled to appear as witnesses on Thursday along with representatives from the EPA, Ohio EPA, Beaver County Department of Emergency Services and Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission.
The hearing comes on the heels of a second derailment on Saturday and after the National Transportation Safety Board announced Tuesday that it would launch a special investigation of Norfolk Southern’s safety and culture. The last time the NTSB made such a move was in 2014, when it investigated Metro North for several significant accidents.
“Given the number and significance of recent Norfolk Southern accidents, the NTSB also urges the company to take immediate action today to review and assess its safety practices, with the input of employees and others, and implement necessary changes to improve safety,” the NTSB said.
Responding to the investigation, Shaw told ABC News in a statement on Monday that “moving forward, we are going to rebuild our safety culture from the ground up.”
“We are going to invest more in safety. This is not who we are, it is not acceptable, and it will not continue,” Shaw said.
Earlier this week, Norfolk Southern also reported a fatal injury of one of their conductors — in addition to several precious fatal accidents of their employees in recent years.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer laid out questions on Wednesday he said Shaw will need to answer at the hearing, like “how the railroad addresses rail safety inspections in the future, whether they’ll commit to having their conductors and rail employees undergo additional safety and response training, and how they will help communities if God forbid, another accident occurs,” Schumer said.
(NEW YORK) — Federal regulators are looking into a previously unreported incident involving Norfolk Southern potentially mishandling a conductor’s concern on a train carrying hazardous material just weeks after a similar defect precipitated the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.
According to a complaint obtained by ABC News, on the morning of Feb. 27, a Norfolk Southern train was lurching through Stoneville, North Carolina, when a safety official manning a hot-box detector desk in Atlanta radioed the crew to alert them that car number 32 was “trending hot,” but not hot enough to trigger an alarm, and that the nearly two-mile train should proceed.
The conductor of the train checked his manifest and made a startling discovery: Car 32 was carrying ethanol, and five cars away, another was carrying propane. Both were labeled as “dangerous” on the train’s manifest, according to the complaint, which was filed with the Federal Railroad Administration.
The complaint alleges that the conductor, now concerned that the “trending hot” warning could lead to an overheated wheel, radioed the desk back and suggested that they stop the train and inspect it. But the dispatcher overruled the crew and urged them onward.
Meanwhile, a maintenance worker in the train’s vicinity allegedly overheard the radio chatter and offered to observe the train as it passed by. The complaint states that when the worker reported that he hadn’t witnessed any smoke, the crew was told to keep going some 40 miles south to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Crew members were “shocked,” according to the complaint. To continue into a heavily populated area after being notified that a car carrying hazardous materials was “trending hot” could potentially pose a profound threat not only to the crew, but to adjacent communities, crew members feared.
Ultimately, the train was able to complete its trip without further incident. But the Federal Railroad Administration is now looking into the previously unreported Feb. 27 incident as part of a broader “safety assessment” of Norfolk Southern, a spokesperson confirmed. The agency said in a press release this week that its assessment would scrutinize “operational control center procedures and dispatcher training,” among other things.
A spokesperson for Norfolk Southern did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the record.
The reported incident on Feb. 27 raises fresh safety and accountability concerns regarding Norfolk Southern and the rail industry at large, three weeks after a wheel bearing overheated on a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials through East Palestine, derailing the train and causing an environmental crisis for nearby residents.
Over the past two decades, major rail carriers and trade groups have spent more than $650 million lobbying in Washington, often advocating against stricter government oversight of its safety procedures, according to the federal watchdog OpenSecrets.
In the wake of the East Palestine derailment, a bipartisan group of lawmakers led by Ohio Sens. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, and J.D. Vance, a Republican, introduced legislation that would tighten government-backed safety requirements for trains carrying hazardous materials.
But some Senate Republicans have balked at the bill, leaving its fate in question. Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., has said that “an immediate quick response heavy on regulation needs to be thoughtful and targeted.”
Norfolk Southern, for its part, has already taken steps to self-regulate. Earlier this week, CEO Alan Shaw laid out a six-point plan to “immediately enhance the safety of its operations,” the company said. The initiative will improve its defect detector network, pilot next-generation hot bearing detectors, and generally support a more stringent safety culture, according to officials.
On Wednesday, the Association of American Railroads, a trade group representing major freight railroad companies, announced its own list of new measures, including a commitment “to stopping trains and inspecting bearings whenever the temperature reading from a [hot bearing detector] exceeds 170° above ambient temperature” — a lower threshold than previously required.
But federal regulators aren’t waiting around. In addition to the Federal Railroad Administration safety assessment, the National Transportation and Security Board has taken the extraordinary step of opening a special investigation into Norfolk Southern.
The agency said Tuesday it would scrutinize the company’s “organization and safety culture” after a series of incidents, including the derailment in East Palestine and another derailment in Springfield, Ohio, earlier this month. A press release did not list the reported Feb. 27 incident in North Carolina.
“The NTSB will conduct an in-depth investigation into the safety practices and culture of the company,” the agency said in a statement. “At the same time, the company should not wait to improve safety and the NTSB urges it to do so immediately.”
Rail unions are also pressing for more government oversight. After the death of a Norfolk Southern conductor earlier this week near Cleveland, Eddie Hall, president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen, called for “significant improvements in rail safety for both workers and the public.”
“All railroad accidents are avoidable,” Hall said.
Shaw, the Norfolk Southern CEO, said in a statement Tuesday that Norfolk Southern would “cooperate fully” with the NTSB and continue to find new solutions to improve the company’s safety practices.
“We are going to invest more in safety,” Shaw said. “This is not who we are, it is not acceptable, and it will not continue.”
Shaw is scheduled to testify Thursday on Capitol Hill before the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
Philipp Hülsmann/picture alliance via Getty Images
(TACOMA, Wash.) — Former Seattle Supersonics star and NBA great Shawn Kemp has been arrested for his alleged involvement in a drive-by shooting at a mall, police say.
The incident occurred at approximately 1:58 p.m. Wednesday when officers from the Tacoma Police Department in Washington responded to reports of shots being fired in the parking lot of the Tacoma Mall, the largest shopping center in the city.
“Responding officers determined an altercation had occurred between two parties in vehicles,” said the Tacoma Police Department in a statement following the incident. “One of the drivers fired off several rounds at the occupants of the other vehicle.”
A short time later, officers say they were able to locate the suspect who had fired shots at the driver of the other car and arrest the 53-year-old suspect without incident. Authorities also confirmed that a firearm was recovered from the scene.
Online arrest records for Pierce County Corrections show that Kemp, 53, was booked on a felony drive-by-shooting charge at 5:58 p.m. — four hours after the incident took place at the Tacoma Mall.
Kemp, a six-time NBA all-star who led the Seattle Supersonics to the 1996 NBA Finals, was denied bail and is set to be arraigned on Thursday, according to ABC News’ Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV.
The motives behind the alleged shooting are currently unclear.
Kemp — nicknamed “Reign Man” — played 14 seasons in the NBA, including eight with the Seattle SuperSonics who selected him 17th overall in the 1989 draft, as well as stints with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Portland Trailblazers and the Orlando Magic before dropping out of the league following the conclusion on the 2003 NBA season.
In 2020, Kemp opened a cannabis shop in the Seattle’s Belltown neighborhood and just last month he opened a second location in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood, according to KOMO.
The investigation into the shooting is currently ongoing and anyone with information regarding this incident is asked to contact Crime Stoppers.
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian troops have liberated nearly 30,000 square miles of their territory from Russian forces since the invasion began on Feb. 24, 2022, but Putin appeared to be preparing for a long and bloody war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 09, 3:59 AM EST
Zelenskyy decries Russia’s ‘miserable tactics’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday said Russian officials had returned “to their miserable tactics” as they launched at least 81 missiles at Ukrainian sites overnight.
“The occupiers can only terrorize civilians. That’s all they can do. But it won’t help them,” he said on Telegram. “They won’t avoid responsibility for everything they have done.”
He added, “We thank the guardians of our skies and everyone who helps to overcome the consequences of the occupiers’ sneaking attacks!”
Mar 09, 3:34 AM EST
81 missiles launched in ‘massive’ Russian attack, Ukraine says
Waves of missiles and a handful of drones were launched overnight by Russia, targeting energy infrastructure and cities across Ukraine, officials said.
The attack on “critical infrastructure” and civilian targets lasted throughout the night, Verkovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, said on Twitter. Energy was being gradually restored on Thursday morning, the body said.
Ukraine’s parliament and military said at least 81 missiles were fired from several bases. Eight Iranian-made drones were also launched, the military said.
Ukraine destroyed 34 cruise missiles and four drones, military officials said on Facebook.
“Russia’s threats only encourage partners to provide long-term assistance to Ukraine,” said Yehor Chernev, deputy chairman of the Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence.
Russia “will be sentenced as a terrorist state” for its attacks, Ruslan Stefanchuk, Rada’s chairperson, said on Twitter.
Mar 09, 12:35 AM EST
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant now running on diesel generators, energy minister says
The last line that fed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been damaged following missile strikes, and the plant is now working on diesel generators, according to the Ukrainian energy minister, Herman Galushchenko.
Mar 09, 12:16 AM EST
Emergency power outages nationwide due to missile attacks, provider says
DTEK, the largest private grid operator in Ukraine, said emergency power outages are in effect due to the missile attacks in the Kyiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv and Dnipro regions.
Mar 09, 12:27 AM EST
Multiple missile strikes reported across Ukraine
Multiple explosions have been reported in city centers all over the country, including Dnipro, Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Khmelnytskyi and Kharkiv.
Residents in multiple areas are being asked to shelter in place, and communication and electricity has been impacted.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said multiple explosions were reported in the Holosiiv district.
The governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Syniehubov, said Russia struck the city at least 15 times overnight.
The head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration said there had been no casualties and that the power supply is being restricted.
Mar 08, 2:05 PM EST
Ukraine says it was not involved in Nord Stream Pipeline bombings
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov denied Ukraine was involved in the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline, which carries natural gas from Russia to Germany. While the pipeline was not active at the time of the bombing last September, it was filled with fuel.
The denial comes after The New York Times reported that intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials suggests a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the Nord Stream bombings last year.
After the story broke, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius warned against “jumping to conclusions” about who carried out the explosion, suggesting it could have been a “false flag” operation to blame Ukraine.
German authorities were reportedly able to identify the boat used for the sabotage operation, saying a group of five men and one woman using forged passports rented a yacht from a Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens. The nationalities of the perpetrators are unclear, according to a separate report by Germany’s ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper.
“We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, whether it may have happened at Ukrainian orders, or a pro-Ukrainian group [acting] without knowledge of the government. But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” Pistorius said on the sidelines of a summit in Stockholm.
A Russian diplomat said Russia has no faith in the U.S.‘s “impartiality” in the conclusions made from intelligence.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 07, 4:23 PM EST
Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners of war
Russia and Ukraine exchanged over 200 prisoners of war on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Interfax, a Russian news agency.
During his daily evening address, Zelenskyy said 130 Ukrainians were “brought home from Russian captivity,” including privates and sergeants from the army, navy and national guard.
“Just as we remember every corner of our country that is under occupation, we remember every single person in Russian captivity,” he said.
Ninety Russians were released from the Ukrainian side back to Russia, though Russia said Ukraine originally agreed to release 160 Russians, Interfax reported.
“During the exchange of prisoners of war on Tuesday, the Ukrainian side agreed to return only 90 Russians, despite an earlier agreement on the exchange of ‘160 for 160,'” Tatyana Moskalkova, human rights ombudsman for the Russian Federation said, according to Interfax.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 07, 12:09 PM EST
Up to 30,000 Russian casualties in Bakhmut: Western officials
Up to 30,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured in Bakhmut over the last several months amid intense fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city, Western officials said in a briefing Tuesday.
The ratio of dead to injured was “unclear,” said the officials, who described Ukraine’s refusal to withdraw from the city — even though its forces are surrounded on three sides — as “a sound tactic” given that “lots of Russians are being killed.”
“What we’re seeing is a horrific level of Russian casualties for minimal gains,” they said, noting that an estimated 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded overall since the war began.
In the past 24 hours, 244 Russian troops were killed and 315 wounded in Bakhmut, Serhiy Chevrevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern group of forces, said during a national telethon on Tuesday.
The officials refused to say how many Ukrainians have been killed or injured in and around Bakhmut but claimed it was “significantly lower.”
They also were unable to put a clear time frame on when a Ukrainian withdrawal might come, though noted the possibility of a Ukrainian counteroffensive should not be ruled out.
-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge
Mar 05, 5:20 PM EST
13 found dead after strike hits Zhaporizhzhia
Thirteen people have been found dead since a rocket struck an apartment building in Zhaporizhzhia, Ukraine, authorities said.
The governor there has called for a national day of mourning on Monday.
The State Emergency Situation of Ukraine in Zaporizhzhia initially posted on their Telegram account Friday that seven people were dead.
So far, 11 people have been saved, and 20 people were able to evacuate the building.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman
Mar 03, 2:21 PM EST
Merrick Garland makes unannounced visit to Ukraine
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland made an unannounced visit to Ukraine on Friday at the invitation of the Ukrainian prosecutor general to join Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other international partners at the United for Justice Conference.
Garland attended several meetings while he was there.
-ABC News’ Alexander Mallin
Mar 03, 2:09 PM EST
US announces $400 million more in military aid for Ukraine
The U.S. Department of Defense announced $400 million in new military aid for Ukraine, including eight folding armored bridges for the first time.
This is the Biden administration’s 33rd drawdown of equipment from Department of Defense inventories for Ukraine.
-ABC News’ Luis Martinez
Mar 03, 2:08 PM EST
5,000 remain in Bakhmut as Russian shelling intensifies
Around 5,000 people still remain in the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, including 37 children, according to Donetsk Oblast Regional Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.
The losses in Bakhmut stand at the rate of one Ukrainian solider to seven Russian soldiers, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksii Danilo said on TV.
Russian forces fighting for control of Bakhmut intensified shelling at access roads to the west, making it harder for Ukrainian forces to move in and out, Reuters reported Friday.
-ABC News’ Yulia Drozd
Mar 03, 12:20 PM EST
Blinken, Ukrainian foreign minister discuss Lavrov meeting
The State Department said Friday that Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about the brief conversation that took place at the G-20 summit between Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
“The Secretary underscored to Foreign Minister Kuleba the United States’ enduring support for Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia’s brutal attacks, including the ongoing targeting of civilian infrastructure and resulting civilian casualties,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Mar 02, 3:48 PM EST
US to announce more weapons for Ukraine on Friday
The U.S. will announce another assistance package for Ukraine on Friday, White House spokesperson John Kirby announced Thursday afternoon, but did not detail the exact size of this next round of support.
“You’ll see us tomorrow, just unilaterally, the U.S. will have another round of assistance for Ukraine coming tomorrow. And it will include mostly ammunitions and munitions that the Ukrainians will need for the systems that they already have, like the HIMARS and the artillery.”
The new aid comes as President Joe Biden meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House Friday to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine as Russia’s invasion continues.
Kirby said the leaders would discuss the “kinds of capabilities that Ukraine continues to need in the weeks and months ahead.”
He also said this will be a “true working visit” between Biden and Scholz and they are expected to discuss “recent engagements with Ukrainian officials, including the President’s trip to Kyiv and meeting with President Zelenskyy, as well as Chancellor Schultz’s meeting with President Zelensky in Paris last month.”
-ABC News’ Justin Gomez
Mar 02, 3:12 PM EST
Lavrov ‘diverted’ Blinken’s calls to reconsider Russia leaving START treaty
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “diverted” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s calls to reconsider the decision to suspend Russia’s participation in the New START treaty, Russia’s foreign ministry told Interfax, Russian news agency.
“If they want to return to diplomacy, let them return. If they are engaged in self-promotion and such inexpensive PR, well, this is possible. True, the result will be appropriate,” Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for the ministry, told Russian TV channel Rossiya-1.
-ABC News’ Natalia Shumskaia
Mar 02, 12:36 PM EST
Blinken, Lavrov hold ‘on the go’ talk at G-20 meeting
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had an “on the go” talk during the G-20 Meeting of Foreign Ministers in India, but there were no negotiations, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told TASS, a Russian news agency, Thursday.
“Blinken asked for a contact with Lavrov. Sergey Viktorovich [Lavrov] had communication on the go during the second session. But there were no negotiations, no meeting or so on,” the diplomat said.
Blinken had said earlier in the day during a press conference he had “spoke briefly” with Lavrov and discussed ending the war, as well as Russia rejoining the New START Treaty on nuclear arms.
“I told the foreign minister what I and so many others said last week at the United Nations and what so many G-20 foreign ministers said today: End this war of aggression, engage in meaningful diplomacy that could produce a just and durable peace,” he said. “The United States stands ready to support Ukraine through diplomacy to end the war on this basis.”
A senior State Department official downplayed any hopes that the conversation moved the needle on any of the topics.
-ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Shannon Crawford
Mar 01, 5:12 PM EST
Ukraine says it’s shot down 80% of Russian missiles
Ukraine has shot down 80% of Russian missiles, according to Commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Air Force Serhiy Nayev.
Nayev made the assessment in a Facebook post on Wednesday about the effectiveness of the air defense system.
(LOS ANGELES) — Three Los Angeles Police Department officers were shot Wednesday night in a “violent encounter,” police said.
The three men, all senior officers in the Metropolitan Division K-9 unit, are now in stable condition after being shot by a parolee at large, LAPD Assistant Chief Al Labrada said during an evening press conference.
The LAPD responded to calls earlier Wednesday of a parolee at large, Labrada said. When officers located him, he refused to obey commands, according to police. Officers utilized gas, but the suspect still did not comply, Labrada said, eventually exiting the residence where he was holed up and firing on the K-9 unit officers.
The suspect is dead at the scene, Labrada said. It’s unknown if the suspect was shot by officers or if it was self-inflicted.
All three officers were said to be alert while they were transported to the trauma center at LA County/USC Medical Center.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was able to have a conversation with two of the officers.
Having spent so many years in a band with Chester Bennington, Linkin Park‘s Mike Shinoda is used to working with acclaimed and unique vocalists. That continues with “Still Alive,” his collaboration with Demi Lovato.
Speaking with ABC Audio, Shinoda calls Lovato an “insane, world-class talent” and likens working with the pop star to his time in the studio with the late Bennington.
“You could throw any vocal idea at [Bennington] and he could nail it,” Shinoda says.
“It is a lot of fun working with a superhero,” he laughs. “Whenever I get to work with somebody who’s just that damn good, it’s a treat, it’s a total blessing. I had a great time doing it.”
Shinoda co-wrote and produced “Still Alive” for the upcoming movie Scream VI, which hits theaters Friday. The movie will also feature a new Shinoda solo song, “In My Head.” Meanwhile, Shinoda and Linkin Park are releasing a 20th anniversary reissue of the group’s 2003 album, Meteora, on April 7.
“Both [‘Still Alive’ and ‘In My Head’] ended up … happening all at once over top of doing this Linkin Park stuff,” Shinoda shares. “So it was just a really fun way of looking backwards and looking forwards at the same time.”
