(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will announce as early as Tuesday that the U.S. will ban imports of Russian oil, a source told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega.
The White House said Tuesday morning that Biden has added a 10:30 a.m. event to his schedule about “actions to continue to hold Russia accountable for its unprovoked and unjustified war on Ukraine.”
He has been under pressure from both Democrats and Republicans in Congress to go forward with a ban.
Lots of people said “I do” to the Jennifer Lopez/Owen Wilson romantic comedy Marry Me on Peacock. Comcast CEO and chairman Brian Roberts told investors that the feature, in which the global pop star plays, well, a global pop star, who ties the knot on stage on a whim with a teacher and mathletics coach — played by Wilson — is the most-streamed streaming movie in Peacock’s history. Furthermore, its recently launched Fresh Prince reboot, Bel-Air, has become the most-streamed new series on the young NBC-owned service…
Hulu on Thursday released the official trailer for the psychological thriller Deep Dive, from Fatal Attraction and Indecent Proposal director Adrian Lyne and starring Ben Affleck and Knives Out‘s Ana de Armas. Based on Patricia Highsmith‘s novel, Deep Water explores “the marriage of picture-perfect Vic and Melinda Van Allen — played respectively by Affleck and de Armas — to discover the dangerous mind games they play and what happens to the people that get caught up in them.” Deep Water, which also stars Tracy Letts, Lil Rel Howery and Jacob Elordi, debuts March 18 on Hulu…
Netflix released a teaser video announcing April 20 as the premiere date the long-awaited second season of Natasha Lyonne’s Emmy-winning comedy Russian Doll, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Season two, per the streaming service, will “continue to explore existential thematics through an often humorous and sci-fi lens. Discovering a fate even worse than endless death, this season finds Nadia and Alan delving deeper into their pasts through an unexpected time portal located in one of Manhattan’s most notorious locations. At first they experience this as an ever-expanding, era-spanning, intergenerational adventure, but they soon discover this extraordinary event might be more than they bargained for and, together, must search for a way out”…
(NEW YORK) — Energy giant Shell announced on Tuesday plans to withdraw from its involvement in all Russian hydrocarbons, including crude oil and natural gas, amid Russia’s unprovoked invasion of neighboring Ukraine.
“As an immediate first step, the company will stop all spot purchases of Russian crude oil. It will also shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia,” Shell said in a statement.
Shell will immediately stop buying Russian crude oil on the spot market and not renew term contracts. The company will also change its crude oil supply chain to remove Russian volumes, but said “this could take weeks to complete and will lead to reduced throughput at some of our refineries.”
In addition, Shell will shut its service stations, aviation fuels and lubricants operations in Russia, and will start a phased withdrawal from Russian petroleum products, pipeline gas and liquefied natural gas.
The company apologized for buying Russian oil last week.
“We are acutely aware that our decision last week to purchase a cargo of Russian crude oil to be refined into products like petrol and diesel — despite being made with security of supplies at the forefront of our thinking — was not the right one and we are sorry,” Shell CEO Ben van Beurden said in a statement. “As we have already said, we will commit profits from the limited, remaining amounts of Russian oil we will process to a dedicated fund. We will work with aid partners and humanitarian agencies over the coming days and weeks to determine where the monies from this fund are best placed to alleviate the terrible consequences that this war is having on the people of Ukraine.”
(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”
Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.
Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 08, 6:49 am
Two children among at least 21 killed by Russian airstrike in Sumy: Ukrainian officials
At least 21 civilians, including two children, were killed by a Russian airstrike in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy on Monday night, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
The strike hit a residential area of Sumy, according to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, which the regional prosecutor’s office said was still on the scene searching for victims Tuesday.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk called on Russian forces to maintain the agreed upon temporary cease-fire in Sumy and four other Ukrainian cities to allow civilians to evacuate Tuesday. She said Russian authorities have confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one evacuation route out of Sumy will be open, but Ukrainian officials are awaiting confirmation on the other routes they submitted.
Mar 08, 6:19 am
Over two million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than two million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Over 1.2 million of the refugees from Ukraine are in neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
“Today the outflow of refugees from Ukraine reaches two million people. Two million,” U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said Tuesday in a post on his official Twitter account.
Mar 08, 5:36 am
Russia declares temporary cease-fire for humanitarian corridors in five Ukrainian cities
Russia declared Tuesday a temporary cease-fire in five besieged cities of Ukraine, including the capital, to let civilians leave.
“For safe evacuation of civilians from populated areas, a cease-fire is declared and humanitarian corridors are opening from Kyiv, Chernihiv, Sumy, Kharkiv, and Mariupol from 10:00 a.m. today,” Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press briefing.
All five cities except Kyiv had sustained brutal, indiscriminate bombardment in recent days.
It’s the fourth attempt to hold fire and allow civilians to escape the onslaught since Russian forces invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24. Russian and Ukrainian negotiators have been holding talks in recent days, and the Russian delegation has previously agreed to a temporary cease-fire and opening of humanitarian corridors in parts of Ukraine. But Russia has violated its own cease-fire and shelled evacuation points, while falsely accusing Ukraine of using people as human shields.
The hard-hit cities of Kharkiv and Mariupol were reported to be quiet Tuesday morning, with a local official telling ABC News that the center of Mariupol, a strategic port in the southeast, is not being shelled for the first time in days.
Ukraine said Russia has agreed this time to allow civilians to evacuate not only to Russia but also to other parts of Ukraine. Columns of buses and trucks with humanitarian aid are currently headed to Sumy, Mariupol and possibly other cities.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said Russia has confirmed to the International Committee of the Red Cross that one route out of Sumy will be open. Vereshchuk said she hopes Russia will confirm routes for the other cities and also for the eastern city of Volnovakha. She warned Ukraine has information that Russia may have plans to disrupt the evacuations by leading civilians out of the agreed safe routes, in order to claim that Ukraine is not observing the agreement.
Petro Andrushenko, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, said the city plans to evacuate people as long as Russian forces do not fire. A column of 60 buses and nine trucks of medical aid and food are headed to Mariupol now, and the hope is that at least 4,000 people can be evacuated via the buses plus an unknown number of private cars that will join the convoy, according to Andrushenko.
“If Russia doesn’t break it, we plan to evacuate people,” Andrushenko told ABC News via telephone Tuesday morning.
Mar 08, 2:05 am
World Bank approves $723 million in emergency support for Ukraine
The World Bank said its board approved a package of loans and guarantees for Ukraine totaling $723 million.
The funding will help the Ukrainian government pay for government services, “including wages for hospital workers, pensions for the elderly, and social programs for the vulnerable,” the bank said in a statement on Monday.
The bank said it’s preparing an additional $3 billion in support for Ukraine and neighboring countries, which have taken in more than 1.7 million refugees since the Russian invasion began.
“The World Bank Group is taking quick action to support Ukraine and its people in the face of the violence and extreme disruption caused by the Russian invasion,” World Bank President David Malpass said in a statement. “The World Bank Group stands with the people of Ukraine and the region. This is the first of many steps we are taking to help.”
The funding announced on Monday includes $350 million in supplemental loans, along with guarantees totaling $139 million from the Netherlands and Sweden, the bank said. Grant financing totaling $134 million will come from the United Kingdom, Denmark, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland. Japan is providing $100 million in additional financing, the bank said.
(NEW YORK) — Immigrant women in the U.S. often make nearly impossible and difficult decisions to leave behind family members, careers and various aspirations in order to create a new life for themselves in America.
“Like most of the people who immigrate to this country, I wanted more opportunities for my family,” Kandy Alva told ABC News’ Good Morning America about why she first moved to New York City from Peru in 2008. “Before I came I was in the management and hospitality field. Like all immigrants when they came to this country, even if you’re a professional in your home country, you just start at zero here.”
Alva earned her degree, worked as a nurse’s assistant in a nursing home and eventually pivoted to a culinary career running her own cake shop thanks to her time with Hot Bread Kitchen, an organization that helps immigrant women and women of color cultivate business skills, sharpen their culinary chops and build relationships for a local support network to forge their future endeavors.
In 2018, she saw the nonprofit’s culinary training program listed online, applied and secured an interview.
“There was more than 100 women in the same situation as me, with a lot of skills and they want to get ahead like me, most who were professionals in their own countries and want new opportunities,” she said.
Alva became one of 27 women from 10 different countries to make it into the culinary training program. After graduating in March 2019, Hot Bread Kitchen helped open another door, landing her an interview with the culinary team at Google, where she went on to work as a prep cook and restaurant associate in one of the tech giant’s New York cafeterias.
“We represent women at Hot Bread Kitchen,” she said. “Some women think we don’t have a chance in this world [or] think that you don’t belong in this country if you can’t do your goals — but if you make a lot of effort and focus on your dreams, your dreams can come true. I’m like a true example that immigrants can do amazing things for their future.”
“Now, after Hot Bread Kitchen,” Alva said “I started my own business, Sweet Kandy’s Cakes, and I’m very proud of that.”
Alva worked with her mother, who owned a catering business back in Peru, and said “all the skills I learned from my mom I have utilized in this country.”
“I feel very grateful for Hot Bread Kitchen and Google that gave me all the tools to get a position in this field,” she said. “Every woman has a different situation, but at the same time they have the same goal: to get ahead. I believe Hot Bread Kitchen is my family in this country because they check in and keep track of how I’m doing.”
“Most of the women in this field lost their jobs with COVID and we never felt alone in this moment. Hot Bread Kitchen always called us to see if we needed a part time job or just to say hi. That means a lot during difficult moments,” Alva said.
The nonprofit organization has welcomed women with open arms to their table since 2008 and helped them pave a path towards entrepreneurial success in the culinary industry. Recently, Hot Bread Kitchen found a new home for its headquarters at the former Food Network test kitchen space inside Manhattan’s bustling food hall Chelsea Market donated by Google.
The food career training program and job skills classes are back in action for the first time since early 2020 due to shutting down during the pandemic.
“There is now a room of 15 women learning and working so hard to get their first job in the culinary industry and it’s really incredible to have them here,” the organization’s senior communications manager, Jenny Kutner, told Good Morning America.
Fauzia Aminah Rasheed, the second-generation owner of beloved Bronx-based Jamaican food cart Fauzia’s Heavenly Delights, joined the small business program at Hot Bread Kitchen in 2018 alongside her mom.
“Being a part of Hot Bread Kitchen made me realize more than anything else in this entire process, how important it is to have a community,” she told GMA. “The things that you learned from just simply speaking to other people is way beyond what you would ever learn in a class — they really are able to help you with the ins and outs of what it means to be a business owner. And all of the little small nuances and details that you just don’t even think about.”
Their food truck has been in business for 25 years and Rasheed said it “all comes naturally” because it’s in her blood.
“But when I graduated Stony Brook University my mom asked, ‘Do you want to go ahead and start to take things over?’ I wanted to continue her legacy and all the hard work that she had put in, so I kind of stepped up and I’m trying to take the business into a whole different sphere,” she said.
Rasheed conceptualized a jarred spice line to get their brand into the consumer product space, but the mother-daughter duo needed a commercial kitchen to do so. That’s where Hot Bread Kitchen came in.
“They really meet you where you’re at. They were like we see that you’re starting from the beginning, here are the resources to do it, here’s community to help, and it’s just been nonstop blessings ever since,” Rasheed said. “There’s a lot of responsibilities that we have to juggle and the food cart itself is a lot of work, it’s like 7 to 7 every day. So that’s been a journey.”
“That was one of the main motivations for the whole concept was making your own version of what you really like from us and staying true to the flavors,” Rasheed said.
Her grandmother encouraged her to start the business, she said, because there wasn’t a jerk seasoning that lived up to what they ate in their home country.
“Now, the jerk chicken is basically one of our most popular, top selling items,” she said.
Working alongside women in their training, classes, mentorship and experience at Hot Bread Kitchen also gave Rasheed and her mom a greater sense of belonging in the culinary industry.
“Majority of them have been women and majority of them have been minorities and it’s just been really, really cool to kind of see yourself,” she explained. “So that familiarity has also been really nice and refreshing to be in that situation with so many people will look like you when they’re going through the same things that you are.”
Inci Mayo’s success at Hot Bread Kitchen in 2014 has led to longevity in baking. She landed a job on the bakery team at Whole Foods Market, took additional classes through the program with experts like Jeffrey Hamelman, and tirelessly pursued her new passion for pastry to eventually become the head baker at Restaurant Associates with Google.
“I took almost every opportunity they had,” she said. “My goal was to switch from bread only to the whole spectrum of pastry — I love the creative part of baking.”
As a German immigrant whose parents are from Turkey and family is still spread throughout Europe, Mayo said, “I didn’t find a good job when because my English wasn’t fluent when I got here eight years ago.”
“I appreciate Hot Bread Kitchen because I got the opportunity to take ESL classes [English as a secondary language] that was really helpful and a big support. I didn’t only learn how to make bread,” she said. “Hot Bread Kitchen showed me career opportunities that I didn’t think I was able to do by myself. I was at home baking every day and my husband said, ‘why don’t you do this as a profession?’ But I couldn’t afford the culinary arts school — then I saw Carla Hall on ‘The Chew’ talk about [HBK], which was really fortunate for me.”
The organization also provides its members with resources for part-time work, childcare and education, plus during the pandemic pivoted to create additional online resources and networking opportunities.
“Now, eight years later, I’ve created everything from a cookie to a tart to a cake, from flatbread to pizza and almost everything,” Mayo said. “I would like to move up and become a chef. In America I look up to people who can do the burden of being an entrepreneur with all kinds of skills and a plan to survive. When I do it, I want to be really ready with the management skills, people skills and financial skills. That is the dream.”
“I’m really grateful for the opportunities and the platform they’ve given women like me,” Mayo said. “I want to thank Hot Bread Kitchen for always thinking of me and I want to let other women to know that it’s a real game changer. You can really change your life.”
(NEW YORK) — Ali Krieger and Ashlyn Harris have been relishing their new roles as moms.
The dynamic duo undoubtedly learned a lot in their soccer careers, having reached the pinnacle already, winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup twice with the U.S. women’s national team in 2015 and 2019. But there’s always room to grow, and motherhood has notably taught them even more lessons both on and off the pitch.
Krieger and Harris, who married in December 2019, adopted their first child, a daughter named Sloane Phillips, last February.
“Our journey to becoming new moms and parents started when COVID hit. The Olympics were postponed and it really stripped away a lot of layers for Ali and I,” Harris told ABC News’ Good Morning America, saying that it was a “no-brainer” decision for them to become parents.
The couple signed up with an adoption agency, and, to their surprise, were matched with a baby girl within weeks.
“We ended up matching in about three weeks, so our life changed very quickly and very unexpectedly,” Harris recalled. “(The) adoption process is probably one of the most stressful experiences and tack COVID and isolation on, that was a really hard time for us but now having her and being able to say that she’s ours has been the greatest gift and we just are so lucky.”
Krieger and Harris say adopting Sloane opened their eyes to the nutritional needs of expectant mothers. They’re now paid spokespeople for Vitamin Angels, a charity working to provide essential vitamins to underserved moms and kids who are at risk of malnutrition around the world.
“It just really hit home for Ali and I, who adopted a baby who didn’t have access to those things, who was born very small and underweight, who didn’t have good nutrition,” Harris said. “Now, we are trying to reverse the clock to set her up for a successful life.”
To hear Krieger and Harris talk about motherhood, it has enriched their lives immensely, and not just their personal ones.
“I think something that’s translated from motherhood to the soccer field for us, I can probably say for me, patience and a little bit more strength,” Krieger said.
She and Harris signed with Gotham FC in December and are gearing up for their first game with the New Jersey and New York club on March 19.
“I think just having that patience and finding that joy for the game surprised me the most because I’m so happy at home, not only with Ash, my wife, but also just as a family with Sloane,” Krieger said.
Harris says welcoming Sloane into their life has helped ground her and put things into perspective.
“When I walk through the door, Sloane doesn’t care if I won a world championship, she just wants her mom,” Harris said. “I feel like that’s really taken a lot of pressure off for me and my job and I enjoy it a lot more because when I walk home, I’m not thinking about a bad performance or that goal I should have saved or if we won or lost, I’m just thinking about being the best version of myself, to be a good mom when I come home.”
Harris and Krieger are determined to support Sloane no matter what life throws at them.
“I don’t think we want to ever tell her what to do or how to do anything but we just want to set her up for success by just giving her tools that we’ve learned through our experiences and ultimately support and love her unconditionally,” Krieger said.
It’s also not just Sloane who they want to lift up. Krieger and Harris are also doing their part to support the next generation of young girls and soccer stars, continuing to advocate for more equity in the sport.
Krieger said last month’s settlement between the U.S. women’s national team and the U.S. Soccer Federation was a step in the right direction.
“We’re going to continue to fight for more but I do think it was a win and I think it’s great that even if we don’t see the benefits of that, our youth will be able to dream big and be able to profit from their hard work as well,” she said. “This also is a win, like Megan Rapinoe had said, for all women, not just in our country but around the world and all women in all industries.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 1.5 million people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began, according to the head of the U.N. Refugee Agency, many of whom are women and children.
Across the border, in Poland, fellow moms are stepping up to help.
A now-viral photo shows a line of fully-equipped strollers waiting for Ukrainian moms at a train station at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland.
The strollers were placed there by Polish mothers, according to Francesco Malavolta, the photographer who captured the photo.
“The thing that struck me before taking the photo was the absence of people around while two meters away there were miles of people. It seemed surreal,” Malavolta told ABC News by email. “I thought of them both, about the solidarity of those who brought the strollers and the dramatic stories of mothers fleeing the war.”
Malavolta also tweeted on Monday a photo he took showing strollers lined up at the border between Slovakia and Ukraine.
Dopo la stazione ferroviaria di Przemyśl in Polonia, anche sul confine tra Slovacchia e Ucraina vengono lasciati passaggini per quelle mamme costrette a scappare dall’Ucraina con i loro neonati. Copyright foto e testo Francesco Malavolta#ukraineconflict #Ukraine#WWIII#slovakiapic.twitter.com/w5HfDbYGvd
With men ages 18 to 60 forced to stay and fight in Ukraine, under a martial law order from the Ukrainian government, it is the images of mothers and children escaping the country that have captured the world’s attention.
In Medyka, a village on the border in southeastern Poland, moms and babies who have traveled for days to flee Ukraine are greeted with donated supplies, ranging from baby food to diapers and snow suits.
Adding to the growing humanitarian crisis, data shows, are the number of children who remain in Ukraine without guardians with whom they can flee.
Before the war, approximately 100,000 children in Ukraine were being raised in institutions, according to government statistics, a United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, spokesperson told ABC News Friday.
Many of the institutions are located in hot spots, according to the spokesperson, who added that large numbers of the children in institutions, such as boarding schools and orphanages, have disabilities.
These institutions are being evacuated without proper monitoring of the children’s situation, according to UNICEF.
Recently, Kane’s wife Katelyn shared a sweet photo of her husband at home during a day off from touring that shows him snuggled with the couple’s two-year-old daughter, Kingsley.
“Home,” Katelyn captioned the precious moment of the father and daughter peacefully slumbering together on the couch, as Kingsley clutches a toy monkey in her arms.
Kane and Katelyn welcomed their second child, Kodi Jane, on December 30, making a surprise announcement to fans on Instagram after the baby arrived.
The country star resumes his Blessed & Free Tour on May 7 at Finley Stadium in his hometown of Chattanooga, TN.
After a record 59 weeks, Glass Animals‘ “Heat Waves” has finally topped the Billboard Hot 100, and it’s perfect timing, considering the band is about to officially launch their U.S. tour tonight. Frontman Dave Bayley says they’ll continue to promote their 2020 album Dreamland, because thanks to the pandemic, they haven’t brought the tour to many cities — and thanks to “Heat Waves,” they suddenly have a bunch of new fans.
“It’s still gonna be Dreamland-related…but we are mixing it up,” Dave tells ABC Audio. “The songs change quite a lot as the tour goes on.”
Meanwhile, the singer says he’s excited by the prospect of performing for people who’ve never seen them before.
“Sometimes going on stage, it’s the end of…two years of touring…and it’s like a hundred and five degrees outside and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, this is going to be so difficult,'” notes Dave. “[But] that is the one thing I always remind myself: This is someone’s first — not just Glass Animals show — but probably someone’s first show ever.“
He adds, “I try to remember how I felt when I went to see my first show and I was, like, buzzing. It was electric. And immediately that makes me feel like so gassed, so excited to do the show.”
As for that number-one hit, “Heat Waves” has been such a success that Dave told ABC Audio a few months ago that if it did hit number one, it’d just be “an incredible bonus.”
“We never set out to do anything like this. We were just having fun making music,” he said, adding, “I’m not going to say it wouldn’t mean anything, but everything that’s happened so far is wonderful, and I’m already very lucky.”
The 57th Academy of Country Music Awards, hosted by Dolly Parton and co-hosted by Jimmie Allen and Gabby Barrett, streamed live on Amazon Prime Monday night from Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
Here’s the complete list of winners:
ENTERTAINER OF THE YEAR
Miranda Lambert
FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Carly Pearce
MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Chris Stapleton
DUO OF THE YEAR
Brothers Osborne
GROUP OF THE YEAR
Old Dominion
NEW FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Lainey Wilson
NEW MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Parker McCollum
ALBUM OF THE YEAR Dangerous: The Double Album — Morgan Wallen
SINGLE OF THE YEAR
“If I Didn’t Love You” — Jason Aldean and Carrie Underwood
SONG OF THE YEAR
“Things A Man Oughta Know” — Lainey Wilson
VIDEO OF THE YEAR
“Drunk (And I Don’t Wanna Go Home)” — Elle King and Miranda Lambert
SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
Michael Hardy
MUSIC EVENT OF THE YEAR
“Never Wanted to Be That Girl” — Carly Pearce and Ashley McBryde
