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Russia-Ukraine live updates: 15 killed in Russian missile strike on residential building in Donetsk region

July 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jul 10, 11:41 am
15 killed in Russian missile strike on residential building in Donetsk region

At least 15 people were killed and two dozen more are feared trapped in rubble after Russian Uragan rockets slammed into a five-story apartment building in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, local officials said on Sunday.

Search-and-rescue workers were combing through the rubble for survivors on Sunday.

The missile strike came as Ukrainian officials reported clashes with Russian troops on the frontline in the eastern and southern Ukraine.

Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the strike on the apartment building occurred Saturday evening in the town of Chasiv Yar. The regional emergency service said Sunday that the death toll had climbed to 15 and that 24 more people could still be buried under the rubble.

“We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen,” a local resident, who gave her name as Ludmila, told rescuers as they removed a body wrapped in a white sheet and cleared rubble using a crane as well as their hands. “The second (strike), I do not even remember, there was lightning, we ran towards the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning.”

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said in a Telegram post that the strike was “another terrorist attack” and that Russia should be designated as a state sponsor of terrorism as a result.

Russian officials claimed its forces struck Ukrainian army hangars storing U.S.-produced M777 howitzers, a type of artillery, near Kostyantynivka in Donetsk region, but, so far, has not claimed responsibility for the missile strike on the residential building in Chasiv Yar.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Jul 10, 11:21 am
Blinken claims world food insecurity ‘significantly exacerbated’ by Russian invasion

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine has “significantly exacerbated” a global food insecurity crisis and may have contributed to the economic collapse of Sri Lanka.

“What we are seeing around the world is growing food insecurity that has been significantly exacerbated by the Russian aggression against Ukraine and as we’ve had opportunity to discuss in recent days, there are more than 20 million tons of grain that are sitting in silos in Ukraine that can’t get out can’t get out to feed people around the world,” Blinken told reporters during his first official visit to Thailand.

He noted that he discussed the global food insecurity crisis during meetings with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and said a memorandum of understanding the two leaders signed commemorating a new collaboration will “make it easier for Thailand and the United States to quickly share information and consult on possible supply chain disruptions so that we can actually take early action to mitigate problems.”

Blinken added that the impact of this Russian invasion of Ukraine is being felt around the world, particularly in Sri Lanka, where the prime minister said late last month that the island nation’s debt-laden economy had “collapsed” and run out of money to pay for food and fuel. The economic turmoil has prompted massive protests in Sri Lanka and over the weekend demonstrators stormed the president’s residence in the capital of Colombo.

“So we’re seeing the impact of this Russian aggression to play out everywhere,” Blinken said. “Again, it may have contributed to the situation in Sri Lanka. We’re concerned about the implications that it has around the world.”

-ABC News’ Lauren Minore

Jul 08, 3:27 pm
US announces new $400M aid package for Ukraine, including more HIMARS

The Biden administration announced a new $400 million military aid package for Ukraine on Friday that includes four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS.

Ukraine will now have a total of 12 of these precision rocket launcher systems, which have been “especially important and effective in assisting Ukraine in coping with the Russian artillery battle in the Donbas,” a senior defense official told reporters Friday.

The rockets have a range of 43 miles. The official said that Ukraine has been striking at Russian targets deep behind enemy lines but has not used them to strike inside Russia.

The new aid package also includes 1,000 new “greater precision” artillery. The name of the system was not shared for security purposes, the official said.

The new aid package is the 15th use of the presidential drawdown authority to give existing U.S. military stocks to Ukraine.

-ABC News’ Luis Martinez

Jul 07, 9:26 am
Moscow views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, Russian official says

Russia considers nuclear weapons only as a deterrent, according to Valentina Matviyenko, Chairman of the Russian Federation Council.

“Russia views nuclear weapons only as a deterrent,” Matviyenko said Thursday at a press conference.

The official noted that Russia has “clearly and strictly prescribed those exceptional cases when [nuclear weapons] can only be used in response to — God forbid that this never happens — a nuclear attack.”

“We behave like a civilized country, and we do it openly,” Matviyenko added.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 07, 8:16 am
Russia claims no new ground for first time since invasion’s start

Russia claimed no territorial gains in Ukraine on Wednesday for the first time since the beginning of its invasion in late February, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest report.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed territorial gains every day from the start of the war but has not done so since completing the encirclement of the eastern town Lysychansk on July 3, the ISW said.

The Washington-based think tank said the lull in Russian ground force movements supports its assessment that Russian forces “have largely initiated an operational pause.”

The break in operations is not equal to a complete ceasefire, however, as Russian troops still conducted a number of unsuccessful attacks on all frontlines, the experts added.

Russian troops are instead trying to set up conditions for a bigger offensive as they rebuild their combat power, the ISW report said.

Russia has already increased its fleet in the Black Sea on the shores of Ukraine, local media reported on Wednesday. The Russian naval presence grew by several missile carriers, as well as submarines and an amphibious assault ship.

Ukrainian officials refuted Russian claims on Wednesday according to which Russian troops destroyed two HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems supplied by the U.S.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy added that the Western supplied artillery “started working very powerfully” and at full capacity.

“Finally, it is felt that the Western artillery, the weapons we received from our partners, started working very powerfully,” Zelenskyy said in his Wednesday evening address. “Its accuracy is exactly as needed,” the president added.

Zelenskyy said the Western weapons have carried out strikes on depots and areas of logistical importance to Russian troops. “And this significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army,” Zelenskyy noted, adding that Russian losses “will only increase every week, as will the difficulty of supplying [Russian troops].”

Ukrainian forces celebrated another symbolic victory on Thursday when they raised their national flag on Snake Island, a recaptured Black Sea isle located 90 miles south of the Ukrainian port of Odesa that became a symbol of defiance against Moscow, according to local reports.

Images released by Ukraine’s interior ministry on Thursday showed three Ukrainian soldiers raising the blue and yellow national flag on a patch of ground on Snake Island next to the remains of a flattened building.

But Russia responded to the flag-raising ceremony fast. It said one of its warplanes had struck Snake Island shortly afterwards and destroyed part of the Ukrainian detachment there.

Russia abandoned Snake Island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill, raising Ukrainian hopes of unblocking local ports shut off by Russia.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Max Uzol, and Fidel Pavlenko

Jul 06, 10:02 am
Blinken to urge G20 to press Russia on grain deliveries

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to appeal to G20 countries to put pressure on Russia to make it support the U.N. initiative on unblocking the sea lanes for Ukraine and allow grain exports, according to local media reports.

“G20 countries should hold Russia accountable and insist that it supports ongoing U.N. efforts to reopen the sea lanes for grain delivery,” said Ramin Toloui, assistant secretary of state for economic and business affairs.

Toloui referred to a U.N. campaign aiming to expedite Ukrainian and Russian exports of harvest and fertilizer to global markets.

Around 22 million tons of grain remain blocked in Ukrainian ports due to the threat of Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.

Ukraine is in active negotiations with Turkey and the U.N. to solve the grain export stalemate, Zelenskyy added.

Blinken is also expected to once again warn China against backing Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

“[The upcoming G20 summit] will be another opportunity … to convey our expectations about what we would expect China to do and not to do in the context of Ukraine,” the top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

Jul 06, 8:42 am
Russia aims to seize territory far beyond the Donbas, Putin’s ally suggests

Russia’s main objective in its invasion of Ukraine is still regime change in Kyiv and the dismantling of Ukrainian sovereignty, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev suggested in a speech on Tuesday.

Patrushev said the Russian “military operation” in Ukraine will continue until Russia achieves its goals of protecting civilians from “genocide,” “denazifying” and demilitarizing Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The Russian official added that Ukraine must remain permanently neutral between Russia and NATO. Petrushev’s remarks nearly mirrored the goals Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the onset of the war to justify the military invasion.

Patrushev, a close Putin ally, repeated the Russian President’s stated ambitions despite Russia’s military setbacks in Ukraine and previous hints at a reduction in war aims following those defeats, the ISW pointed out.

Patrushev’s explicit restatement of Putin’s initial objectives “strongly indicates” that Russia does not consider its recent territorial gains in the Luhansk region to be sufficient, the ISW experts said.

Russia “has significant territorial aspirations beyond the Donbas” and “is preparing for a protracted war with the intention of taking much larger portions of Ukraine,” the observers added.

Patrushev’s comments dampened hopes for a “compromise ceasefire or even peace based on limited additional Russian territorial gains,” the experts concluded.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Max Uzol and Nataliia Kushnir

No reason US ‘will have a serious recession’ but economy should cool, Gina Raimondo says

July 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Following a stronger-than-expected jobs report released on Friday, the Biden administration is continuing to push back on fears of looming economic downtown while working to tame historic inflation.

“I don’t see any reason to think that we will have a serious recession,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday when asked about the trajectory of future growth as the Federal Reserve signals further interest rate hikes to slow spending and demand.

Raimondo said the “fundamentals” of the U.S. economy are “very strong” and tackling inflation is “our top priority.”

“We’ve recovered all the jobs since the pandemic. People’s household balance sheets are strong,” she said. “Companies are doing well. Companies are hiring, companies are growing.”

She acknowledged the strain of inflation on daily life and said she expected the economy to “transition to a more traditional growth level,” but said that the public should not “be talking ourselves into a recession.”

The Bureau of Labor Statistics last week announced that 372,000 jobs were added in June — nearly 100,000 more than economists had forecast — and the unemployment rate remained steady at 3.6%.

Asked on Sunday by Stephanopoulos to explain divide between “the strong economic fundamentals” and the “lowest consumer confidence” in the economy in years, Raimondo said it points back to “one word.”

“Inflation. … And people talk about it in different ways. But if you ask folks what they’re worried about, they’ll either say, ‘Grocery store prices are high, food prices are high, energy prices, gas prices,’ that’s in people’s daily lives.”

“Until we do get a handle on inflation, I think it’s natural for a family to be feeling that pinch,” she added.

But the administration will “get a handle” on the rising cost of goods and services, she said.

Amid calls from within the Democratic party to do more to combat inflation, Raimondo was pressed on what further actions President Joe Biden could be doing right now. But she turned some of the responsibility over to the Senate.

“Congress needs to pass the CHIPS Act,” she said, referring to one of two bills that would help accelerate U.S. manufacturing of semiconductor chips. “That has to pass. Has to pass now. Not in six months from now. Now. It’s bipartisan. [Senate Minority Leader] Mitch McConnell just threw a wrench in that about a week ago saying that he wasn’t going to allow Republicans to move on that unless we move down reconciliation. That’s a perfect example, George, of increasing supply. We have inflation now because of lack of supply.”

“Doesn’t that mean the CHIPS bill is dead?” Stephanopoulos asked Raimondo, echoing her point that McConnell has said he will block the legislation as long as Biden continues to push for a reconciliation spending bill over GOP objections.

“It shouldn’t be dead. Why can’t we do both?” Raimondo said. “It’s a false choice. He’s playing politics with our national security, and it’s time for Congress to do its job on both of those dimensions.”

Raimondo was also asked if she was confident in the effectiveness of the global price cap on Russian oil that Biden proposed, with Stephanopoulos pointing to “a lot of economists” who “are skeptical about whether that can really work.”

“I think it can [work],” she said of a price cap. “Yes, I think it can.”

Bannon now says he will testify for Jan. 6 committee after Trump’s OK — with contempt trial looming

July 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Steve Bannon, a former top adviser in Donald Trump’s White House, recently told the House panel investigating the Capitol riot that he would be willing to testify since Trump now says he won’t cite executive privilege.

In a letter on Saturday to the committee, obtained by ABC News, Bannon said he would prefer testifying in a live, public hearing after the former president had sent him a separate letter on Saturday — also obtained by ABC — waiving objections.

Both the House committee and federal prosecutors who sought to speak with Bannon have said the executive privilege claims never covered him, since the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection took place long after Bannon left his post as chief White House strategist in 2017.

Bannon previously defied a subpoena from the committee and is awaiting trial on criminal contempt charges.

His attorney wrote on his behalf in the letter this weekend that “circumstances have now changed.”

“President Trump has decided that it would be in the best interests of the American people to waive executive privilege for Stephen K. Bannon, to allow Mr. Bannon to comply with the subpoena issued by your Committee. Mr. Bannon is willing to, and indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing,” lawyer Bob Costello wrote. “Mr. Bannon is willing to, and indeed prefers, to testify at your public hearing.”

It’s unclear if Bannon now also plans to comply with the committee’s demand for documents, which accompanied his subpoena.

In Trump’s letter to Bannon, Trump reiterated his criticisms of the House committee and wrote that he felt his former aide — now a right-wing commentator — had been treated “unfairly.”

“When you first received the Subpoena to testify and provide documents, I invoked Executive Privilege. However, I watched how unfairly you and others have been treated, having to spend vast amounts of money on legal fees, and all of the trauma you must be going through for the love of your Country, and out of respect for the Office of the President,” Trump wrote. “Therefore, if you reach an agreement on a time and place for your testimony, I will waive Executive Privilege for you, which allows you to go in and testify truthfully and fairly…”

Speaking on CNN on Sunday morning, Jan 6 committee member Rep. Zoe Lofgren suggested the panel had not yet considered Bannon’s reversal but hinted that a public testimony may be unlikely. “This goes on for hour after hour after hour. We want to get all our questions answered, and you can’t do that in a live format,” Lofgren told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

The panel has typically held private depositions with witnesses before they end up testifying live in a hearing room — or clips from their depositions are aired to the audience.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, another member of the committee, was asked by ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday about Bannon’s possible testimony. Kinzinger said that “on a high-level position, anybody that wants to come in, that knows information to talk to the select committee, we welcome them to do so.”

“We welcome them to do so under oath. And we all know the history with our requests to have talked to Steve Bannon. So we’ll see how that comes out,” Kinzinger said.

After defying a Jan. 6 subpoena last year, Bannon was charged with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, though he argued Trump’s privilege claim protected him.

He pleaded not guilty and is set to go to trial next week.

Bannon remained an outside adviser to Trump after helping to lead his first presidential campaign and a short stint in the White House. He was at a meeting at the Willard Hotel where lawmakers were encouraged to challenge the 2020 presidential election results, the Jan. 6 committee claimed in a 2021 letter to Bannon along with his subpoena.

He was quoted as saying, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow,” the panel wrote in that letter, citing a Jan. 5, 2021, episode of his podcast “War Room.”

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders and Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

Trump White House counsel’s Jan. 6 interview didn’t contradict other witnesses: Kinzinger

July 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Adam Kinzinger, a member of the House select committee investigating last year’s Capitol riot, said Sunday that Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone didn’t contradict previous testimony by other witnesses and will be featured in the investigation’s final report after he sat for a transcribed, videotaped interview with the panel last week.

“You’ll see over the next couple of hearings a little of what he said. Certainly you’ll see a lot of that in the report,” Kinzinger, R-Ill., told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos. “But at no point was there any contradiction of what anybody said.”

Cipollone was recently subpoenaed and spoke with the committee on Friday. The subpoena came after he was repeatedly mentioned during startling testimony last month by former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

Hutchinson told the committee under oath in a public hearing that Cipollone had been wary of then-President Donald Trump’s desire to march with his supporters from the Ellipse to the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, where Congress was working to certify the 2020 Electoral College results.

“Mr. Cipollone said something to the effect of, ‘Please make sure we don’t go up to the Capitol, Cassidy, keep in touch with me. We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen,'” Hutchinson said.

The Jan. 6 panel had repeatedly referenced Cipollone as someone who pushed back against Trump’s unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.

Both CNN and The New York Times reported that Cipollone was not asked about some specifics from Hutchinson during his own interview on Friday.

Kinzinger was asked on “This Week” about a report that Trump may wave executive privilege for his former adviser Steven Bannon, who was charged with contempt of Congress for rejecting a subpoena related to the Jan. 6 investigation. (Bannon pleaded not guilty.)

“Does the committee still want to hear from him?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“I will just say, on a high-level position, anybody that wants to come in, that knows information to talk to the select committee, we welcome them to do so,” Kinzinger said. “We welcome them to do so under oath. And we all know the history with our requests to have talked to Steve Bannon. So we’ll see how that comes out.”

Kinzinger said he felt the same about possible testimony from Stewart Rhodes, the founder of the far-right Oath Keepers. But these examples had something in common, Kinzinger said: “They went from initially saying that this committee was nothing but a sideshow, something that nobody was interested in, to all of a sudden — ‘oh, yeah, I want to testify publicly in front of it.'”

Still, Stephanopoulos noted, the committee’s work on the deadly rioting “doesn’t appear to be breaking through to Republicans,” according to recent polls.

“On the margins, yes, it is puncturing through,” Kinzinger said. “And I think what’s most important is, again, what does history say in five or 10 years? Because I can guarantee — well, I can get about as close as I can to guaranteeing that — in about 10 years, there’s not going to have been a single Trump supporter that exists anywhere in the country. It’s like [Richard] Nixon. There were a lot of people that supported Nixon until he was out of office, and then everybody was like, ‘No, nobody supported Nixon.'”

Kinzinger said he wasn’t fazed by the possibility that Republicans would “review” the panel’s investigation if the GOP retakes the House in the November midterm elections.

“I welcome them to see the work that we’ve done,” Kinzinger said.

The committee will continue its work this week, with a hearing on Tuesday focusing on ties between Trump’s orbit and extremist groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers and another on Thursday that Kinzinger said would focus on Trump’s activity during the insurrection itself.

Teens allegedly beat 73-year-old man with traffic cone in fatal assault

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — Police in Philadelphia are seeking seven teenage suspects wanted in an attack on a 73-year-old man who later died from head injuries sustained during the assault.

The Philadelphia Police Department released disturbing surveillance footage on Friday of the deadly attack, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. on June 24.

In the footage, a group of teens can be seen chasing a person, who is blurred, across a street in North Philadelphia. One of the teens is captured hurling a traffic cone at the victim. A girl is then seen picking up the traffic cone and repeatedly throwing it at the victim. Another suspect appears to be filming the assault on a cellphone.

“The teens struck the victim several times with objects, knocking the victim to the ground causing injuries to his head,” the department said in a statement. “The victim was transported to the hospital where he died of his injuries the following day.”

Police identified the victim as James Lambert of North Philadelphia.

Homicide Capt. Jason Smith told reporters during a briefing Friday that the medical examiner has ruled the cause of Lambert’s death as blunt force trauma, ABC Philadelphia station WPVI reported.

Police said they are seeking four boys and three girls who appear to be in their early to mid-teens. Smith said at least two teens took part in the assault, WPVI reported.

The city is offering a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, as is the case with all open homicides.

Smith is appealing to the parents of the suspects to come forward.

“The message I would like to put out there is to the parents of these juveniles, if they are aware that their son or daughter is involved in this incident, I think that the best course of action would be for them to contact an attorney and then contact the homicide unit,” he said.

News of the assault comes a day after a summer curfew for minors went into effect.

Through Sept. 29, those between the ages of 14 and 17 are required to be home by 10 p.m. Previously, the latest some teenagers were able to be out was midnight. Those under 13 are required to be home by 9:30 p.m.

The modified curfew is an attempt to keep young people off the streets and safe during a high-crime season, officials said.

“We’re seeing our young people involved in more criminal incidents, criminal activity simply because they’re out late,” Councilwoman Katherine Gilmore Richardson, who proposed the bill that modified the curfew, told WPVI.

For those found violating the curfew, police will attempt to reunite them with their families at home or a precinct or bring them to one of several community centers that have been established during the curfew.

2 people charged with attempted murder after lighting man on fire during argument

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SANGER, Calif.) — Two people have been arrested and charged with attempted murder after getting into an argument with a man and then lighting him on fire.

The incident occurred at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Thursday, July 7, when the Sanger Police Department responded to reports of an injured man suffering severe burns to his upper body in Sanger, California — about 15 miles east of Fresno.

When authorities reached the victim, who remains unnamed, he told them that a woman had set him on fire several blocks away when they encountered each other at Sanger Park. He was immediately transported to a local area hospital due to the severity of his injuries.

“Investigators used video surveillance and witness statements to identify Patricia Castillo and Leonard Hawkins as the suspects,” the Sanger Police Department said in a statement released on social media. “The video shows Castillo approaching the victim and throwing a liquid from a cup onto him, and she and the victim appear to argue before Castillo sparks a lighter and lights the victim on fire. Further investigation revealed that Leonard Hawkins had provided the accelerant used to light the victim on fire to Castillo.”

Authorities were able to locate both suspects and reportedly arrested them without incident. Patricia Castillo, 48, and Leonard Hawkins, 43, were subsequently booked into the Fresno County Jail and charged with attempted murder, arson, and conspiracy.

The victim’s condition is currently unknown but he is expected to survive.

Paul Whelan’s brother speaks on his Russian detention, US government response

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The twin brother of Paul Whelan, the former U.S. Marine detained in Russia on espionage charges, said he had mixed feelings about the responses to the cases involving Trevor Reed and Brittney Griner in comparison to his brother.

Reed, another former U.S. Marine who was released from a Russian prison in April after serving nearly three years, told Good Morning America that the Biden administration is “not doing enough” for Paul Whelan and Griner, an American WNBA player and Olympic athlete that was detained in February on drug charges.

Speaking about Reed’s recent release, David Whelan described his “mixed feelings.”

“You’re thrilled for Trevor Reed, and I would be thrilled for Brittney Griner if she was able to go home too,” David Whelan told ABC News’ podcast “Start Here,” and continued “separately from whether Paul gets to go home or not.”

“It’s a devastating call to have to make to our parents for Paul,” he added, “to tell him he was left behind once, and maybe we might have to have that conversation a second time.”

David Whelan said that during the phone call, his brother was “very angry and very upset” and said “why was I left behind?”

During a press briefing Thursday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre addressed Paul Whelan’s detainment and that of others. .

“This President is doing everything that he can to make sure that they come home safely,” said Jean-Pierre. “We’re going to use any — every means that we have.”

Paul Whelan was detained in Russia in December 2018 and accused of spying. His brother said he was in Moscow for a friend’s wedding and was given a USB drive.

“I think one of the challenges for any wrongfully detained family is what are you going to do?” David Whelan said.. “What are you going to sacrifice?”

“One of the friends that he had made in Russia visited him the night of the wedding right before the wedding happened, and gave Paul USB,” he said. “As soon as he was given the USB stick and put it in his pocket, his door was opened by the FSB. And he was arrested.”

Paul Whelan pleaded not guilty, claiming it was a sting operation and that he thought the USB drive contained holiday photos. In June 2020, he was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years of “hard labor” in a Russian prison.

Before the Biden administration, the response of the White House to his brothers’ detainment was “radio silence,” said David Whelan. “Since January or February 2021, we’ve had a huge change.”

At one point, David Whelan said that somebody in the State Department asked his family to “make more noise” about Paul Whelan’s detention.

“We mostly pointed back at them and say, ‘Why would you ask a family to have to take on this responsibility,’” said David Whelan.

Asked by ABC News’ Brad Mielke to speak about the overlaps between the three cases, David Whelan said that “each of these cases is distinct. And each of them has different requirements. And so the resources that the U.S. government brings to bear on each case is going to be different.”

Later in the interview, he added, “I would hope that the U.S. government would look deep to find out what that concession is that they could make and to make it there. There’s got to be something that they can do.”

President Biden called Paul and David Whelan’s sister, Elizabeth Whelan, Friday to reaffirm his commitment to bringing the former marine home.

“Today, President Biden called Elizabeth Whelan, the sister of Paul Whelan who has been wrongfully detained by Russia since 2018,” a White House official said.

Cryptocurrency: Why some see it as a way to financially uplift people of color

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The digital currencies have crashed as interest rates rise and investors seek less risky investments.
Can cryptocurrency become an alternative financial system for people of color who have historically faced discriminatory banking practices? Some crypto enthusiasts of color who spoke with ABC News say they believe so, even despite the crash in the price of digital currencies.

Worries about the volatile cryptocurrency market also leave some wondering whether turning to digital currency could financially hurt people of color, who generally have less net worth and generational wealth than white people, rather than help them.

Prejudice in banking

Black and brown people have a history of being “underbanked” and discriminated against by traditional financial institutions.

Many low-income Hispanic and Black households have little-to-no bank access, according to research from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

At least 40% of Black Americans are under or unbanked – 13% are without a bank account and 27% rely primarily on other financial services that do not fully meet their financial needs, according to the Federal Reserve.

An analysis of Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data also found that of all mortgage applications, Black borrowers had the highest denial rate of 27%, followed by Hispanics at almost 22%.

And several investigations about discrimination by several banks, have shown that people of color have been charged more for banking fees or higher interest rates than their white counterparts.

Teri Williams, the president, COO and owner of OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest Black-owned banks, told ABC News that “banking while Black” is a phrase used to describe discriminatory banking practices.

“There are many reasons for the large percentage of unbanked or underbanked Black Americans, including lower median income and education, less access to banking services due to a lower concentration of bank branches and a higher concentration of check cashers in Black communities, and systemic racism,” she said.

She says many Black Americans simply feel unwelcome when they walk into most national bank branches.

Even Black-owned banks have struggled for adequate investment funding and don’t have access to the same resources as large banks.

Cryptocurrency became a space, she says, where communities of color could support and connect with one another without having the red tape of financial systems, according to Olayinka Odeniran, the founder of the Black Women Blockchain Council.

“Everybody always felt that we don’t really care about investing or budgeting,” said Odeniran, who is also a cybersecurity expert. “But in essence, we do. It’s just that historically, we have not had resources that allow us to tap in beyond risk, gaining some monetary freedom that’s beyond paycheck to paycheck.”

Crypto pitfalls

However, the recent crash of a popular stablecoin and the dramatic fall of Bitcoin from nearly $69,000 to below $22,000 in just about two years (at the time of publishing), highlights some of the hazards and risks that come from decentralized financial systems.

The cryptocurrency market crash erased billions of dollars and sent investors into a tailspin.

Even cryptocurrency’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders acknowledge the potential risks and instability that cryptocurrency can have. Its volatile marketplace and the prices of coins can change quickly and regularly, putting one’s money at stake. The market is also rife with scammers eager to take advantage of users.

Still, some say it’s not much different than the ebbs and flows of the stock market.

“Even though we’re experiencing a bear market right now, historically, Bitcoin is still on the up and up,” said Mesidor. “This is a currency that no one paid attention to and now it’s sitting at around $20,000.”

The volatility of the market is one of its major risks. When the market crashes, people of color are likely to be included in the wreckage.

Crypto is so volatile because it isn’t backed by anything intrinsically valuable besides the public interest in it, according to Forbes, whereas the U.S. dollar is backed by the government.

This means that different currencies can drop their value or soar in a day. People can lose money, or potentially owe more on their crypto-based loans, in an instant.

Another risk for those operating in the crypto space is falling prey to scammers, who have taken advantage of a decentralized market rife with a growing number of potentially uneducated newcomers.

Reported losses to crypto fraud in 2021 were up nearly sixty times the losses in 2018, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Without a third party to flag fraud or suspicious activity, or reverse payments, more than 46,000 people have lost money since the start of 2021 to crypto scammers.

An ‘alternative financial system’

A report from the Pew Research Center found that Black, Asian and Hispanic people are more likely to say they have invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency like Bitcoin or Ether.

“People of color sometimes have difficulty going to get a bank loan or going to get some sort of assistance from the government or a way to start their business and they’re turned down,” said cryptocurrency enthusiast Steven Bumbera. “Crypto doesn’t care.”

Cleve Mesidor, the executive director of the Blockchain Foundation, said that people of color are using crypto as “an alternative financial system to operate” without discrimination.

Enthusiasts contend the benefits of managing money on blockchain technology outweigh the risks for many people of color, and they’re sticking with it.

When using crypto, it can cost almost nothing and takes almost no time to transfer money to anyone in the world at any time, although it depends on the type of crypto.

For crypto-backed loans, borrowers can be given money from an exchange or lending agency without having to worry about racial discrimination.

“If you are on chain, and you have a wallet address, you’re a wallet address — that’s it,” said Bumbera. “Crypto doesn’t care about color, race, sexual orientation.”

Enthusiasts like Bumbera say they like that anyone with a smartphone can access cryptocurrency, without the red tape of banks or government institutions in which it takes days and costs fees or interest rates to do the same.

They also say crypto can be used to fund businesses and organizations directly without donations being penalized by a third-party to transfer the money.

However, for the wave of people of color working within the market, Williams says that this new financial frontier is bound to come with risks and challenges.

“Crypto is not a competitor to traditional banking, but a complement,” Williams said. “There will continue to be a need for traditional banking services, but crypto, in moderation, can provide opportunities for wealth building and opportunities to develop new services – such as remittance services – that can better meet the needs of the Black community.”

Heat to scorch parts of the West, South this weekend

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Oppressive heat continues to take hold of the South and West this weekend, with record heat possible for some regions Saturday.

A mix of excessive heat warnings and heat advisories are in effect across parts of 14 states, stretching from California to Alabama, as of Saturday morning.

The National Weather Service warned that there could be “dangerous heat and humidity” across parts of the South Plain to the Lower Mississippi and Tennessee valleys through Monday.

Record temperatures could be possible on Saturday in more than a dozen locations, from Utah to Mississippi. In Dallas, temperatures could reach 107 degrees, which would beat a record 106 degrees. In Houston, temperatures could exceed 105 degrees — topping a record 102 degrees.

Denver and Salt Lake City could also see record temperatures on Saturday.

Heat indices — what the temperature feels like — topped 110 degrees from Texas to Tennessee on Friday and could do so again on Saturday.

High temperatures are expected to continue throughout the weekend. Phoenix, Arizona, is forecast to hit temperatures north of 110 degrees from Saturday through Monday.

The heat follows record-setting temperatures on Friday, including in Memphis (103 degrees); Forth Smith, Arkansas (106 degrees); and Abilene, Texas (107 degrees).

Meanwhile, red flag warnings have been issued Saturday for critical fire danger in Nevada, Utah and Idaho. Winds will be gusty, up to 35 mph and the relative humidity will drop to as low as 6%.

Several fires are burning in the West, including the Washburn Fire, which has caused evacuations near Yosemite National Park and has closed the south entrance to the park. The Washburn fire has so far burned over 700 acres.

Elsewhere, flood watches have been issued for parts of Maryland and Virginia, including Washington, D.C., through this afternoon, where upwards of 7 inches of rain is possible.

Watch Five for Fighting’s new benefit video “Can One Man Save the World,” featuring the Ukrainian Orchestra

July 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Earlier this year, Five for Fighting released a song called “Can One Man Save the World,” which was inspired by the steadfastness of Ukrainian president Vladimir Zelensky in the face of the Russian invasion. Now, John Ondrasik, the man behind Five for Fighting, has released a new charity video of the song, co-starring the Ukrainian Orchestra. It premiered Saturday on ABC’s Good Morning America.

To create the video, John and a film crew made a grueling journey to a war-torn area of Ukraine. They filmed amid the ruins of the Antonov Airport, in front of what’s left of “Mriya,” the world’s largest cargo plane, which the Russians destroyed at the beginning of the war.

John made the video with the help of Save Our Allies, a rescue and relief organization that was formed in August of 2021 after Afghanistan fell to the Taliban following the U.S. withdrawal. It’s since provided support for evacuations from Ukraine. Proceeds from the single and the video will benefit Save Our Allies.

During the filming, a top Ukrainian general and his entourage approached them and told them that President Zelensky had personally approved the use of the airport as a location. The general, who didn’t speak English, asked to hear the song, so John and the orchestra played it.

Despite the fact that the soldiers didn’t understand the words, John says, “Many of the onlookers were in tears. The significance and weight of our location, mission, and a country fighting for its survival hit home…It was the moment, the music, and our common humanity that spoke to all of us.”

John says he hopes to organize a “Live Aid”-type concert benefit concert for Ukraine at the end of the summer, to benefit Ukrainian relief and refugees.

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