Gabrielle Union is opening up about her first marriage to NFL player Chris Howard.
The actress, who is currently married to NBA star Dwyane Wade, appeared on Monday’s episode of the Armchair Expert podcast and admitted that neither she nor Howard were faithful during their relationship.
“In our first marriage, neither one of us felt like the marriage should get in the way of our dating,” Union candidly told host Dax Shepard before implying that Howard was the one who initiated the idea. “A part of it was keeping up with his activities and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s what you’re doing? Oh, you’re gonna feel this one.'”
Union went on to explain how, at the time, she felt justified in her actions, stating, “I just felt entitled to it, as well. I was paying all the bills. I was working my a** off and I felt like that’s what comes, the spoils of riches.”
“Like my dad before me, whoever has the most gets to do whatever the hell they want, is what I thought,” she said. “It was just dysfunctional from day one.”
“It was such a stupid relationship that should have never gotten out of the dating phase,” Union expressed. “We were gifted therapy and the first session, the therapist was like, ‘I don’t know how you guys made it out of the dating phase.’ And we should probably look for a way to amicably [divorce] because we have not one thing in common.”
Union and Howard separated in 2005 after four years of marriage. Their divorce was final in 2006. Union went on to marry Wade in 2014 after meeting in 2008.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Oklahoma City 150, Boston 117
Milwaukee 123, Washington 113
Sacramento 117, Utah 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Ottawa 4, Columbus 0
NY Rangers 5, Carolina 3
Florida 5, Arizona 3
St. Louis 6, Toronto 5 (SO)
Buffalo 5, Washington 4 (OT)
Winnipeg 3, Calgary 2
Nashville 6, Montreal 3
Tampa Bay 4, Chicago 1
Seattle 5, Edmonton 2
Los Angeles 3, Dallas 2
NY Islanders 6, Vancouver 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Kansas 75, Texas Tech 72
Tennessee 87, Mississippi St. 53
Wisconsin 63, Minnesota 60
Kansas St. 116, Texas 103
Alabama 84, Mississippi 62
Pittsburgh 68, Virginia 65
Fresno St. 71, New Mexico 67
(WASHINGTON) — The start of the 118th Congress may be remembered for the already historic, and ongoing, vote to elect a new House speaker — which, for the first time in a century, is taking multiple rounds and multiple days.
But there were other “firsts” as the members-elect of the House and Senate gathered in Washington, D.C.
Below, a look at some of the most notable — though there are more.
Hakeem Jeffries
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the incoming House minority leader, was nominated on Tuesday to repeated, enthusiastic applause as the Democrats’ choice to be House speaker — the first Black lawmaker to be so-chosen and the first Black lawmaker to head a major party.
Jeffries, of New York, was first elected in 2012 and previously served in other posts in Democratic leadership.
He took the top spot after Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in November that she would step down from her role.
“Hakeem Jeffries’ elevation as House Democratic leader is a turning point in the history of the United States Congress,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in November.
Most women lawmakers ever
According to the Pew Research Center, 28% of the incoming lawmakers in Congress are women, which is the most ever. Those 153 members, which include some non-voting roles, compare to 96 in the Congress that ended in 2013.
There are 128 women in the House and 25 in the Senate, both of which set or tie records.
Among those lawmakers is Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who is now the longest-serving woman in Congress’ history. She was first elected in 1983 — 40 years ago.
A first-ever female Senate president pro tempore
In the Senate on Tuesday, another woman broke a barrier when Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., was sworn in as president pro tempore, the second highest-ranking official in the chamber. Murray has served since 1993 and succeeds Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy, who retired.
“It’s not lost on me the significance of what it means to be the first woman to serve in this role. This is another sign that slowly but surely, Congress is looking more like America,” Murray wrote on Twitter after being sworn in by Vice President Kamala Harris, who is the first woman, first Black person and first person of Asian descent in her role.
A first-in-a-century failed vote
Before Tuesday, the last time a vote for House speaker took multiple rounds and multiple days was 1923, when Frederick Huntington Gillett was elected in late December of that year.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who unsuccessfully sought the speakership in 2015, has been stymied so far by a minority of his conference but insists he will ultimately win a majority to lead the chamber.
Most GOP members support him, but some hardliners have alternatively backed Reps. Andy Biggs and Jim Jordan instead, leaving the speaker’s chair unfilled.
The House adjourned late Tuesday and will resume business on Wednesday at noon.
First Gen Z member
Among the newly elected representatives is Maxwell Frost, a 25-year-old Florida Democrat, who is poised to be sworn in as the first Gen Z member of Congress.
“I think we’re in this politics now where people are scared to talk about their North Star,” Frost told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl recently. “And I think it’s important that we not lose sight of that — health care for everybody, ending gun violence, combating the climate crisis. These things are really important. And even though we’re not going to get it next year, you can’t take a first step in a journey if you don’t know where you’re going.”
Other firsts: LGBTQ, Latino, women lawmakers
In Vermont, former state Sen. Becca Balint is about to become the first woman and first openly LGBTQ person sworn in to represent the House from her state.
Meanwhile California and Oregon saw or will soon see the swearing-in of their first Latino and Latina lawmakers elected in Congress: Democratic Sen. Alex Padillo and Reps. Andrea Salinas, a Democrat, and Republican Lori Chavez-DeRemer, respectively.
And in New York, George Santos, who won the first congressional race between two openly gay people, has said he plans to soon take his seat representing his state’s 3rd Congressional District despite a cloud of controversy and legal troubles.
While newly elected senators were sworn in on Tuesday, the House cannot swear in its members until after a speaker is chosen.
(KEY WEST, Fla.) — Two cruise lines rescued two dozen people on small boats on Monday, cruise officials told ABC News.
Staff on the Fort Lauderdale-bound Celebrity Beyond ship rescued 19 people from a boat Monday and provided them food, shelter and medical services, the ship’s Capt. Kate McCue said in a video posted on Instagram on Tuesday.
“We are grateful for our crew’s quick action and the lives saved as a result,” Celebrity Cruises told ABC News in a statement.
Additionally, crew members from the Carnival Celebration noticed five people about 29 miles northwest of Cuba and stopped to help them, company spokesperson Matt Lupoli told ABC News in a statement.
The crew reached out to the U.S. Coast Guard and met up with them near Key West, Florida.
After that, “The ship resumed on its voyage with its scheduled itinerary unaffected and Carnival Celebration returned to Miami on Tuesday morning after a week-long Caribbean cruise,” Lupoli said.
The Coast Guard did not respond to request for comment.
The rescues came the same day as Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys announced Monday it would close to the public after an influx of migrant landings over the past few days shut down operations at the park there.
“Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast is aware of multiple migrant landings this weekend on Dry Tortugas National Park and the Marquesas. The U.S. Coast Guard and partner federal, state and local components in HSTF-SE are coordinating efforts to recover the individuals currently stranded on the remote, uninhabited islands,” Rear Adm. Brendan C. McPherson, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District and director of Homeland Security Task Force, said in a statement.
Dry Tortugas is a 100-square-mile park located 70 miles west of Key West, Florida. It comprises seven small islands and is accessible only by boat or seaplane.
ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Amber McLaughlin is set to be the first openly transgender person executed in the U.S and the first person executed in 2023, according to non-profit execution tracker Death Penalty Information Center.
McLaughlin, 49, is scheduled to die by injection in Missouri on Tuesday.
Her execution has been highlighted by activists, politicians and legal experts, including former judges for what they call failures in the sentencing phase of the trial.
McLaughlin was sentenced to death in the killing of a former girlfriend Beverly Guenther in 2003. McLaughlin was found guilty of first degree murder, armed criminal action and forcible rape.
According to McLaughlin’s counsel, expert testimony and evidence of her mental health experiences were never presented in the sentencing phase of the trial. Still, the jury did not recommend the death penalty, according to the application for executive clemency from McLaughlin’s counsel.
Rather, the death penalty was imposed on McLaughlin by a trial judge when the jury deadlocked on a punishment decision.
Though most death-penalty states require a unanimous jury vote for death, Missouri law states that a nonunanimous jury vote is a hung jury, which can trigger the “statutory provision that allowed McLaughlin’s trial judge to independently impose sentence,” according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
A federal district court judge vacated McLaughlin’s death sentence in 2016 based on the lack of mental health evidence, but the decision was reversed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Republican Missouri Gov. Mike Parson declined to commute McLaughlin’s sentence.
“McLaughlin’s conviction and sentence remains after multiple, thorough examinations of Missouri law. McLaughlin stalked, raped, and murdered Ms. Guenther. McLaughlin is a violent criminal,” Parson said in a statement Tuesday. “Ms. Guenther’s family and loved ones deserve peace. The State of Missouri will carry out McLaughlin’s sentence according to the Court’s order and deliver justice.”
In statements to police before her death, Guenther said the defendant threatened her and her friends and stalked her, according to court documents. Guenther had a protective order against McLaughlin, who had also been charged with burglarizing Guenther’s trailer, court documents said.
McLaughlin’s counsel said she “never had a chance,” according to the application for executive clemency. Her counsel described the abuse and neglect that McLaughlin allegedly faced from her family and in the foster care system and the brain damage and trauma she has experienced due to this.
“She was failed by the institutions, individuals and interventions that should have protected her, and her abusers obstructed the care she so desperately needed,” the application for executive clemency read. “McLaughlin has been consistently diagnosed with borderline intellectual disability. She has also been universally diagnosed with brain damage as well as fetal alcohol syndrome.”
Missouri Democratic Reps. Cori Bush and Emanuel Cleaver sent a letter on Dec. 27 to Parson urging him to commute McLaughlin’s sentence due to “injustices” in McLaughlin’s sentencing.
“Ms. McLaughlin’s cruel execution would mark the state’s first use of the death penalty on a woman since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated capital punishment in 1976, and even worse it would not solve any of the systemic problems facing Missourians and people all across America, including anti-LGBTQ+ hate and violence, and cycles of violence that target and harm women,” the letter said.
(NEW YORK) — The sudden collapse of Buffalo Bills player Damar Hamlin during Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals left millions of Americans in shock and anxiously waiting for news of his condition.
“Damar Hamlin suffered a cardiac arrest following a hit in our game versus the Bengals,” the Bills tweeted early Tuesday. “His heartbeat was restored on the field and he was transferred to the UC Medical Center for further testing and treatment. He is currently sedated and listed in critical condition.”
The 24-year-old remains in the intensive care unit, according to the Bills. Family spokesperson Jordon Rooney told “Good Morning America” that the family is “in good spirits” and “taking it minute by minute.”
Despite confirmation about the medical episode Hamlin suffered, the term “cardiac arrest” is often used interchangeably with the term “heart attack,” even though the two are not the same.
“This differentiation between cardiac arrest and heart attack is really important because they are two things that can both occur in the same person or be completely separate,” Dr. Deepak Bhatt, an expert in cardiovascular medicine and director of Mount Sinai Heart in New York City, told ABC News.
Heart attack vs. cardiac arrest
Heart attacks occur when a coronary artery leading to the heart is blocked, which prevents blood from reaching the organ.
Meanwhile, “a cardiac arrest essentially is the cessation of heart activity or a stopping of the heart pumping, which is generally due to what’s called an arrhythmia or an electrical disturbance of the heart,” Dr. Matthew Saybolt, a cardiologist with Jersey Shore University Medical Center, told ABC News.
One good way to differentiate between the two is to think of a heart attack as a “circulation” problem and cardiac arrest as an “electrical” problem, according to the American Heart Association.
While cardiac arrest can occur immediately following a heart attack or during recovery — and heart attacks increase the risk of cardiac arrest — one does not have to be preceded by the other.
“Heart attacks can cause a cardiac arrest but not all cardiac arrests are due to a heart attack and not all heart attacks result in a cardiac arrest,” Bhatt said.
Heart attacks are primarily caused by coronary heart disease, which is when heart arteries can’t deliver enough oxygen-rich blood to the heart.
This happens because of atherosclerosis, which is the narrowing of blood vessels from plaque build-up made of fat, cholesterol, and other substances. Risk factors for atherosclerosis and having a heart attack include older age, male sex, smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, among others.
Cardiac arrest meanwhile can be caused by several conditions, including ventricular fibrillation, a type of arrhythmia where the lower chambers of the heart don’t beat normally; coronary artery disease; heart failure; congenital heart disease; and commotio cordis, experts said.
The latter condition occurs when the heart’s rhythm is disrupted due to a blow to the chest that lands at a very specific moment in the heartbeat. It’s most typically seen with athletes who play sports with projectiles, including baseballs and hockey pucks.
“Classically, where I’ve seen it before is a baseball player line drive to the chest of the pitcher and then the pitcher collapses,” Bhatt said. “And even though that’s a young, healthy pitcher, that sudden line drive to the chest has hit their heart at just the wrong time in the heart’s electrical cycle such that it triggers an abnormal heart rhythm.”
Symptoms between a heart attack and cardiac arrest also vary. The most common symptoms of a heart attack are chest pain or discomfort; pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach; shortness of breath; and lightheadedness or dizziness, according to the AHA.
Patients can have immediate symptoms, symptoms that start mildly and then progress and, in some cases, no symptoms at all.
Comparatively, the symptoms of a cardiac arrest patient are immediate and often without warning. They include loss of consciousness or collapse with faint or loss of pulse, often with labored breathing or no breathing at all.
How to help save patients
In both instances, experts say to check for responsiveness then shout for nearby help and to call 911 or your local emergency number so the patient can immediately receive medical attention.
When it comes to someone experiencing cardiac arrest, call for or find an automated external defibrillator, or an AED, and use it as soon as possible.
AEDs, which are located in most public buildings — including restaurants, sporting events and workplaces — are medical devices that analyze the heart’s rhythm and will deliver an electrical shock if needed. Experts add that you don’t need to worry about hurting the patient when using it.
“If the AED thinks that the patient is in an arrhythmia that needs to be shocked that AED will figure that out and deliver that shock,” Dr. Michael Emery, a cardiologist and co-director of the Sports Cardiology Center at Cleveland Clinic, told ABC News. “You as a bystander do not have to figure out whether you need to shock this patient at all. Whether they’re having a heart attack or not or they’re having a cardiac arrest, the AED is smart enough to figure that out all on its own. All you have to do is call 911, get the AED and apply it.”
The other important thing to do is begin cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR as soon as possible. If it’s performed on a patient immediately, it can double or triple the odds of survival, according to the AHA.
Hamlin quickly received CPR after he collapsed on the field, which helped resuscitate him long enough to be transported to a hospital.
“Bystander CPR is life-saving,” Emery said. “What we know is that for every minute that you delay resuscitation in the setting of an arrest, the outcomes drastically worsen. So, the sooner you can start CPR and apply an AED, the more likely that patient is going to survive just from a pure timing standpoint.”
“There are instances where people’s heart can stop for a long period of time, but with good CPR, that bystander CPR can keep the patient alive for a long time until next-level medical attention can either shock the heart or treat the condition that caused all this,” Saybolt added.
The experts said they hope the situation helps people learn to recognize the symptoms of heart attacks and cardiac arrest and encourages them to learn CPR.
“Even if you’re thinking, ‘Oh, I’m never going to need to do that,’ by getting that sort of training, you’re more likely to help someone, you know, a friend or a coworker or a family member,” Bhatt said. “So, I think it’s really a good idea for everyone to do that, to get that sort of basic training just so that you can potentially save someone’s life.”
ABC News’ Nicole Wetsman contributed to this report.
Jeremy Renner was injured when he was run over by his own snowplow, officials revealed Tuesday night.
Washoe County, Nevada Sheriff Darin Balaam said in a press conference that the New Year’s Day morning accident that leftthe Avengers star in critical condition was caused when the actor jumped into his PistenBully snowcat and “successfully towed” Renner’s own personal vehicle, which was being driven by a family member and became stranded on a private road in heavy snows.
Renner then jumped out of the snowcat to talk with a family member when the tracked vehicle, which weighs 14,330 pounds, began to move forward, Balaam explained. The actor then jumped into the vehicle in an attempt to stop it.
“Based on our investigation, it’s at this point Mr. Renner was run over by the PistenBully,” Balaam noted.
Balaam said Renner wasn’t impaired at the time of the accident and no foul play was suspected, declaring, “We believe this is a tragic accident.” He also noted that Renner was conscious and speaking to first responders after the incident.
As for why he owned the snowcat, Balaam explained, “As Mr. Renner always does, he was being a great neighbor, and was plowing roads for his neighbors.” Some of those neighbors helped first responders render aid, said Balaam. He added that the accident remains under investigation.
Renner underwent surgery Monday after sustaining what were decribed then as “blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries,” and remains in critical but stable condition.
Renner himself posted an update on his condition Tuesday evening, sharing a selfie on Instagram from his hospital bed, looking worse for wear but offering a tired smile.
“Thank you all for your kind words,” Renner wrote in the caption. “I’m too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”
The post received likes and comments from celebs including fellow MCU stars Chris Pratt and Chris Hemsworth, as well as Ryan Reynolds, Orlando Bloom, Heidi Klum and others.
(NEW YORK) — More than 10 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.
Putin’s forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 03, 7:24 PM EST
Russia says 89 killed in missile strike by Ukraine
Russia’s Defense Ministry has said 89 people were killed by a Ukrainian missile strike in the Russian-controlled Donetsk region.
According to the ministry, Ukraine launched launched six HIMARS missiles, provided by the U.S., at a building in the town of Makiivka, four of which hit the target.
“Families and friends of these servicemen will be fully assisted and supported,” the ministry said in a statement.
Ukraine claimed hundreds of Russians were killed in the attack.
Neither side’s claims could be independently verified.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
Jan 02, 3:36 PM EST
Zelenskyy says Russia is preparing ‘prolonged’ attack
During an evening address Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is preparing a long-term attack by drones to exhaust Ukrainian air defense.
Just two days into the new year, he said the country’s defense forces shot down more than 80 Shahed drones, which are made by Iran.
“This number may increase in the near future. We have information that Russia is planning a prolonged attack,” Zelenskyy said.
“Its bet may be on exhaustion. To the exhaustion of our people, our air defense, our energy. But we must do — and we will do everything — so that this goal of the terrorists fails, like all the others.”
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 31, 8:14 AM EST
1 dead, 7 injured after Russia launches missile strike against Kyiv
At least one person has been killed and seven people have been injured after Russia launched a barrage of missiles on Kyiv on New Year’s Eve.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported destruction across several districts with a luxury hotel, a bridge and police stations among the locations impacted.
It’s currently unclear how many locations have been destroyed as a result of direct hits and how many were from falling debris from intercepted rockets.
New Year’s Eve is one of Ukraine’s biggest holidays.
Dec 30, 10:28 AM EST
Putin expects China’s Xi to make state visit in spring
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that he’s expecting Chinese President Xi Jinping to make a state visit to Russia in the spring of 2023.
Putin said he’s looking to deepen military cooperation between the two nations.
Putin said the visit would “demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations.”
Dec 29, 5:08 PM EST
Zelenskyy praises Air Force for ‘repelling’ Russian missile barrage
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is praising his country’s air defense, saying it “successfully repelled” a barrage of Russian missiles fired at Kyiv and other targets early Thursday.
Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian Air Force shot down 54 missiles and 11 attack drones.
“Our warriors all over Ukraine distinguished themselves and I thank all our Air Commands: Center, South, East and West,” Zelenskyy said.
He specifically cited the efforts of the 96th Kyiv, 160th Odesa and the 208th Kherson anti-aircraft missile brigades, saying their “results are the best today.”
Zelenskyy said several Russian missiles evaded Ukraine’s air defense and hit several infrastructure targets.
“Our power engineers and repair crews are doing everything to make Ukrainians feel the consequences of the terrorists’ strike as little as possible,” Zelenskyy said.
As of Thursday evening, he said there were power outages in most regions of Ukraine, including the capital city Kyiv as well as the Lviv, Odesa, Kherson, Vinnytsia and Zakarpattia regions.
“But this is nothing compared to what could have happened, if it was not for our heroic anti-aircraft troops and air defense,” Zelenskyy said.
Dec 29, 11:40 AM EST
Ukrainian missile shot down in Belarus: Defense ministry
Belarus’ defense ministry said its air defenses had downed a Ukrainian S-300 missile in a field on Thursday morning during one of Russia’s largest missile attacks against Ukraine since the start of the war.
The military commissar of the Brest region, Oleg Konovalov, played down the incident in a video message posted on social media by the state-run BelTA news agency, saying local residents had “absolutely nothing to worry about.”
“Unfortunately, these things happen,” Konovalov said.
He compared the incident to one in November when an S-300 believed to have strayed after being fired by Ukrainian air defenses landed in NATO member country Poland, and initial fears of an escalation in the war were rapidly defused.
Konovalov said the Ukrainian missile was shot down by the air defense forces around 10 a.m. local time Thursday. Fragments of the downed missile were found near the village of Gorbakha in the Brest region.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 29, 10:32 AM EST
Russia continues ‘escalating’ missile campaign, US Embassy says
Moscow has been “cruelly” targeting Ukrainian civilians by launching attacks against utilities during the winter, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Thursday.
The rebuke came as Russia fired missiles at cities throughout the country on Thursday. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said 69 missiles were launched, fewer than the 100 missiles that officials had estimated earlier in the morning. Officials said 54 missiles were intercepted.
Two civilians were killed as a result of shelling in the Kharkiv area, according to the region’s governor.
“The Kremlin continues its escalating campaign of missile attacks, cruelly wielding cold & dark against” Ukrainians, U.S. Embassy officials said on Twitter. “Families are again hunkering down as critical infrastructure & other targets across the country are attacked.”
Air raid sirens started wailing before 6 a.m. local time across Ukraine, sending residents scrambling into underground shelters in several cities. Missiles landed in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhtomyr.
Ukraine’s defense systems intercepted some missiles, including 16 that were shot down near Kyiv, the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two homes in Kyiv were damaged by falling debris and three people were injured, he said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Russia had been “saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year.”
“They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold,” officials said. “But they cannot defeat the Ukrainian people.”
-ABC News’ Britt Clennett and Joe Simonetti
Dec 29, 2:29 AM EST
More than 100 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine
Russian forces early on Thursday launched a missile strike on Ukraine.
More than 100 rockets were fired in several waves, Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Twitter. Some rockets were reportedly fired from carriers in the sea, while others were reportedly fired by at least a dozen fighter aircraft.
Another presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that more than 120 missiles had been launched “by the ‘evil Russian world’ to destroy critical infrastructure & kill civilians en masse.”
At least one loud explosion was heard in Kyiv, where air raid sirens were ringing for several hours on Thursday morning.
Dec 28, 1:58 PM EST
Kremlin rejects Ukraine’s Feburary ‘peace summit’
Russia has rejected a proposal from Ukraine to hold a “peace summit” in February, according to a Kremlin official.
“There is no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine for now, that’s for starters,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wenderday. “Besides, there can be no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine, which disregards today’s realities on Russian territory, the entry of new regions, four of them, into Russia.”
Peskov was apparently referring to recent Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia, including one this week at the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia that killed three Russian soldiers.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 27, 1:13 PM EST
Putin bans sending Russian oil to countries imposing a price cap
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday that not only rejects a price cap on the country’s oil but bans sending crude and other petroleum products to any country that has endorsed the price cap.
The Group of Seven countries, including the United States, agreed on Dec. 3 to impose a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Australia and the European Union also agreed to impose the price cap.
The decree Putin signed goes into effect on Feb. 1 and is valid until July 1, 2023.
The decree bans the supply of oil and oil products from Russia to those countries that place a price ceiling on contracts. The decree also forbids the supply of oil to other foreign buyers whose contracts use a price cap mechanism.
The decree includes a clause allowing Putin to overrule the ban in special cases to be determined by the Russian leader.
The price cap on Russian oil implemented by G-7 nations disallows the world’s second-largest oil exporter from selling crude at a price above $60 per barrel.
Since the outset of its war with Ukraine, Russia has sold its oil at discounted prices. As of Tuesday, Russian Urals crude was trading at $57 per barrel — an amount slightly less than the cap. But the price cap aims to ensure that Russian oil sales remain well below global oil prices, which stand at about $80 per barrel.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 26, 7:40 AM EST
Ukraine strikes bomber base in Russia, killing three
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia killed three, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
A spokesman for Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the attack, saying, “If the Russians thought the war would not touch them they were wrong.”
Russian air defence reportedly shot down a Ukrainian drone flying at low altitude, but falling debris caused the casualties in the overnight attack.
The Engels base lies just over 300 miles northeast of Ukraine’s border with Russia. The facility has been repeatedly used by Russia to carry out missile strikes on targets in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces had attacked another Russian air base on Dec. 5, killing three and damaging two strategic bombers.
(WASHINGTON) — The abortion drug mifepristone is safe enough that retail pharmacies can provide the drug so long as a certified health care provider prescribes it and if that pharmacy meets certain requirements, according to new rules published Tuesday by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
If pharmacies jump on board, the decision by the FDA could expand access to the drug in states where it’s already legal. Doctors, for example, might be more willing to get certified to prescribe the drug because they would no longer have to stock it themselves and could write a prescription much as they would any other medication.
The new rule also opens the door for a fresh round of legal challenges. Abortion rights supporters were expected to use the latest regulatory update to make the case that under the law, only the FDA — not state governments — can decide which medication is safe enough to be sold in pharmacies.
In a statement, Evan Masingill, CEO of GenBioPro, which manufactures the generic version of the abortion pill, called the FDA action “a step in the right direction” to increase access and one that would “minimize the burden” on the health care system.
“Despite the FDA’s expert judgment, some states have restricted access to medical abortion care, so unfortunately today’s announcement will not provide equal access to all people,” Masingill said. “GenBioPro looks forward to working with prescribers and pharmacies to increase access to medical abortion care for all people.”
Mifepristone, also sold under the brand name Mifeprex, is approved by the FDA to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks. The single tablet works by blocking the hormone progesterone and is typically paired with a second drug, misoprostol, which causes cramping to empty the uterus. Only mifepristone though is subject to a special regulatory framework used by the FDA to minimize the risks of certain drugs.
An estimated half of abortions now rely on the medication, while the rest are surgical.
The FDA did not issue a formal statement Tuesday, but was expected to update information about the drug online. Since 2021, the FDA has said mifepristone is safe enough for certified providers to prescribe via telehealth and mail the drug directly to the patient. The FDA, though, didn’t have a plan to green light retail pharmacies to provide the drug until this week, restricting distribution access mostly to abortion clinics who could keep the drug in stock.
Kirsten Moore, director of the Expanding Medication Abortion Access Project, said it’s not clear how quickly Americans might see an impact or how sweeping those changes might be. Pharmacies would have to raise their hand to become certified to fill prescriptions for the drug, and even then some pharmacists might refuse to dispense the pill personally because of religious objections.
Still, she said, the FDA action signals an intention by the federal government to treat the drug more like other medications.
“This is a product that’s been very niche for a long time,” Moore said. “But this is definitely a step in the direction of mainstreaming this drug.”
Opponents of abortion rights said a top priority this year is challenging the FDA’s approval of the drug in court and trying to convince the government to crack down on unregulated sites selling the pill online. In one closely watched case in a federal court in Texas, the Alliance for Defending Freedom argued the FDA overstepped its authority in greenlighting the drug more than two decades ago.
Supporters of abortion rights counter that the FDA’s power to decide which drugs can be sold to consumers is rooted in federal law and that states don’t have the power to block it.
In an interview last month prior to the FDA’s announcement, Kristan Hawkins, president of the anti-abortion rights group Students for Life, said she believed there’s enough political support in some conservative states to crack down on illegal sales of mifepristone. But she acknowledged that widespread availability of mifepristone has made the job harder for the anti-abortion rights movement even after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
“I think when it comes to chemical abortion, we have an uphill battle,” she said.
(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — In the aftermath of Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin’s shocking collapse and cardiac arrest during Monday night’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals, expert medical organizations highlighted the importance of bystanders learning to perform lifesaving CPR.
“All of us need to learn CPR. People don’t realize that if someone is unconscious and not breathing and doesn’t appear to be alive, that CPR is essential,” Dr. Benjamin Abella, director of the Center for Resuscitation Science at the University of Pennsylvania, told ABC News.
During a cardiac arrest, the heart stops beating properly. More than 350,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest outside of the hospital each year, according to the American Heart Association. Of those cardiac arrests, 70% happen in homes and nearly 20% happen in public settings.
But less than half of those who have a cardiac arrest outside of a hospital are given CPR by people nearby — even though it can double their chance of survival, research shows. Only about 10% of people who suffer out-of-hospital cardiac arrest survive, according to the AHA.
The AHA has guidelines outlining the steps people should take if they see someone suffering a cardiac arrest.
The first step is recognizing that someone is in cardiac arrest and calling 911. Someone might be in cardiac arrest if they collapse suddenly, lose consciousness, are not breathing on their own, are gasping for air or do not have a pulse. Next, bystanders should start CPR immediately, the AHA says, which can restore and maintain blood flow through the person’s body until professional help arrives. If an automated external defibrillator (AED) is available, you should place it on the person while continuing CPR.
AEDs can help restore a normal heartbeat in some cases of cardiac arrest. You can often find AEDs in public spaces such as offices, stores and airports. They provide step-by-step instructions and voice prompts to assist someone in cardiac arrest.
Following these steps can improve the chances of survival and recovery for people who have a cardiac arrest out of the hospital.
There are free online resources from medical organizations such as NewYork-Presbyterian and the AHA that teach people the basics of CPR. Training is also widely available in the United States. In a survey of nearly 10,000 people in the U.S. in 2015, 65% reported having CPR training at some point.
When performing CPR, you should push on the chest with at least 100 compressions per minute. That’s applying compressions to the beat of songs like “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees or “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga. NewYork-Presbyterian curated a playlist of songs on Spotify that fit the necessary rhythm.
Many people who witness a cardiac arrest, though, don’t step in to perform CPR.
There are racial disparities among the individuals who commonly receive bystander CPR. Black and Hispanic adults are less likely to get CPR from bystanders than white adults, according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine. People in the United States are less likely to initiate CPR for people with cardiac arrest in low-income, predominantly Black or Hispanic neighborhoods than in high-income white neighborhoods, the study showed.
People said they’d be reluctant to perform CPR, even if they’re trained, out of fear of causing additional harm. But Good Samaritan laws in place in all 50 U.S. states protect civilians who step in to help during an emergency from legal liability in many cases.
Shelbi A. Swyden, MD, is an emergency medicine resident at Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York, and is a part of the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News’ Nicole Wetsman contributed to this report.
