NACOGDOCHES â With 24 Dairy Queen locations set to close across Texas, people can now purchase a variety of restaurant items and equipment as part of an ongoing auction.
The âcomplete contentsâ of various Dairy Queen restaurants will be auctioned on Local Auctions until Thursday afternoon. Buyers will be responsible for disassembling all purchased items.
âMultiple Dairy Queen locations are closing their doors and must liquidate the assets. Bid on a large variety of restaurant assets and related items that need to be removed from the location,â the auction website said.
To see the full list of closing locations posted by our news partner, KETK, click here.
Lukas Schulze/Getty Images for Invictus Games DĂŒsseldorf 2023
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, is sharing new details about her lifestyle brand, including a new name, and debuting it alongside a photo with her daughter, Lilibet.
Meghan, the wife of Prince Harry, shared in an Instagram video Monday that her still-to-be-launched brand is now named As Ever, a change from the brand's previous name of American Riviera Orchard.
"âAs everâ means âas itâs always beenâ or some even say âin the same way as alwaysâ. If youâve followed along since my days of creating The Tig, youâll know this couldnât be truer for me," Meghan wrote on Instagram, referring to the blog she ran before marrying Harry in 2018. "This new chapter is an extension of what has always been my love language, beautifully weaving together everything I cherish â food, gardening, entertaining, thoughtful living, and finding joy in the everyday."
Meghan has not yet revealed when products from her As Ever brand will be available for sale.
A new website for the brand invites people to subscribe by email, saying, "Save your seat at the table."
The only image on the website so far is a photo of Meghan running in an open field alongside her daughter, Lilibet, who will turn 4 in June.
Harry and Meghan are also the parents of a 5-year-old son, Archie.
Harry appears to make an offscreen appearance in Meghan's Instagram video, handing her the phone as he tells her, "It's recording."
From there, Meghan says with a smile about her new project, "The cat's out of the bag."
Describing her decision to rename her brand As Ever, Meghan said she felt the name American Riviera Orchard â a nickname for the area of Santa Barbara, California, where she and Harry and their two children live â "limited" what she could do with the brand.
"It limited me to things that were just manufactured and grown in this area," Meghan said of the name, which she previously launched with its own Instagram account last March.
Along with announcing the new name As Ever, Meghan also revealed Monday that Netflix â the home of her upcoming lifestyle show â will partner with her on the brand.
"Then Netflix came on, not just as my partner in the show, but as my partner in my business. which was huge," she said. "So I thought about it, and Iâve been waiting for a moment to share a name that I had secured in 2022, and this is the moment, and itâs called As Ever."
(WASHINGTON) -- A judge on Tuesday will consider whether to temporarily block the Trump administration from carrying out mass layoffs across the federal government, in one of several lawsuits challenging Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency's large-scale effort to slash the federal workforce.
The lawsuit, filed last week by a coalition of five federal workers' unions, alleges that the Trump administration's ongoing effort to fire massive numbers of federal employees across multiple agencies -- including its recent deferred resignation offer to more than 2 million federal employees -- violates Congress' power to establish a federal workforce, as well as federal procedures that dictate how the workforce should be reduced.
"The Executive Branch acting as the 'woodchipper for bureaucracy' conflicts with Congress's role as the creator, funder, and mission setter for the executive branch agencies," the lawsuit said.
The unions, which represent hundreds of thousands of employees across dozens of federal agencies and departments, are seeking a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, claiming that the mass reduction of the federal work force will lead to a "critical" loss of revenues for unions as well as their influence at the bargaining table.
The National Treasury Employees Union, the unions claimed, stands to lose "as much as half of its dues revenue and around half of the workers that it represents."
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have pushed back against the allegations, arguing that an order blocking the changes would "interfere with the President's ability to manage, shape, and streamline the federal workforce to more closely reflect policy preferences and the needs of the American public."
"[T]he President is charged with directing the Executive Branch workforce, and he has determined that the politically accountable heads of his agencies should take steps to streamline and modernize the workforce through measures including voluntary deferred resignations, removal of certain probationary employees, and RIFs [reductions in force]," the Justice Department wrote in a court filing.
The government also claimed that President Donald Trump's executive action ordering the reductions is "consistent with applicable law," and dismissed the unions' concerns over their potential loss of revenues and bargaining power as "speculative."
Since Trump returned to the White House, Musk, named by Trump as the head of DOGE, has been spearheading efforts to reduce the size of government, slash thousands of federal contracts, cut programs deemed to be wasteful, and root out fraud.
After ending its deferred resignation offer last week amid court battles challenging the program, the Trump administration has begun layoffs by targeting mostly probationary employees -- recent hires who joined the federal workforce within the last one to two years, depending on the agency, and have fewer protections.
This initial round of layoffs could impact more than 200,000 workers hired by the federal government within the last two years, according to data from the Office of Personnel Management.
This video -- which was given to investigators, who are now reviewing it -- shows the plane reach the ground, erupt in flames, bounce on the runway and then overturn.
The aircraft came to a stop upside-down on the snow covered Toronto runway.
The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated the plane, which originated in Minneapolis.
Everyone survived, but at least 21 people were taken to hospitals. As of Tuesday morning, 19 have been released, according to Delta.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation. Investigators from the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting.
The CRJ 900 aircraft was operated by Endeavor Air.
"Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. "Weâll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them."
(LONDON) -- Hamas will release six more hostages on Saturday and the bodies of four deceased hostages on Thursday, Hamas and Israel confirmed.
Four more dead hostages are expected to be released next week in accordance with the ceasefire agreement, according to Israeli officials.
The hostages who will be released on Saturday have been identified as Eliya Cohen, 27; Tal Shoham, 40; Omer Shem Tov, 22; Omer Wenkrat, 23; Hisham Al-Sayed, 36; and Avera Mengistu, 39, according to Israeli officials and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum
Hamas accused Israel of procrastinating and evading engaging in the negotiations of the second phase and said it is ready to engage in negotiations to implement the terms of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Last week, Hamas threatened to not release hostages over the weekend, saying Israel was not holding up its end of the ceasefire by delaying the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza, targeting them with gunfire and slowing down aid and said the hostage-prisoner exchange would be postponed.
Hamas later said the exchange will take place as planned and released three hostages on Saturday. The three hostages freed from captivity were U.S. national Sagui Dekel Chen, Iair Horn and Sasha Troufanov.
In exchange for Hamas releasing three more Israeli hostages, Israel freed another 369 Palestinian prisoners on Saturday, most of whom were arrested in the Gaza Strip after the terror attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
President Donald Trump had issued a deadline last week, telling Hamas to release all remaining hostages by Saturday or he would leave it up to Israel to decide whether to violate the ceasefire and continue fighting.
SULPHUR SPRINGS â As East Texans prepare for below-freezing temperatures, school districts have announced class delays to ensure students and staff remain safe while on the road.
Tonight, rain will come to an end and temperatures will plummet into the 20s by Wednesday morning. There could be a brief period of wintry mix, especially closer to I-30, before the precipitation ends. Impacts are expected to be minimal, but there could be a few slick spots on area roadways.
Our news partner, KETK, has an updated list of the delays. You can view the list by clicking here.
(WASHINGTON) -- New research shows the far-reaching effects of the abortion bans that have proliferated the United States since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in 2022.
Three new studies have provided some of the first nationwide data on the effects of those bans in the states where they are currently active -- revealing more births but also a rise in infant deaths.
The impact of those bans have even spread to states where abortion is still legal, the studies showed.
In the first study, Johns Hopkins researchers found that birth rates rose 1.7% in states with abortion bans. It showed that the bans primarily affect racial minorities, younger individuals and those with lower income or education, especially in the South.
"Those experiencing the greatest structural disadvantages and in the states amongst the worst in maternal and child health outcomes experience the greatest impact of these abortion bans on the number of live births,â Suzanne Bell, PhD, MPH, the paperâs lead author and an assistant professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.
âMany of these occurred in states with among the weakest social services and worst outcomes, potentially deepening existing disparities and placing additional burdens on already strained resources,â she said.
At the same time, infant deaths rose in states with abortion bans, according to another Johns Hopkins study. Analyzing birth and death records from 2012 to 2023, Bellâs team noted 478 more infant deaths than expected in 14 states with the bans. The highest increases were seen in Black infants (about an 11% higher death rate), infants in Southern states and infants born with severe medical conditions.
âWhen you look at Texas' contribution to the overall findings, we see that Texas is responsible for 73% of the additional births and 80% of the excess infant deaths,â Bell said.
But states without bans have also felt the effects.
Abortion also rose in Colorado, a state that maintained access to abortion with no gestational limits, according to a research letter recently published in JAMA Network Open.
Colorado State University researchers found that abortions for out-of-state residents in Colorado rose from 13% in 2020 to 30% in 2023. Abortions among Colorado residents also peaked six months after Texasâ abortion ban, with an 11% increase in first-trimester abortions and an 83% increase in second-trimester abortions compared to before the ban.
The surge in demand led to delays, possibly raising costs, emotional toll and procedure complexity, the authors said. However, second-trimester abortions have since stabilized, possibly due to expanded telehealth, self-managed abortions and access in other states, they added.
Currently, abortion is illegal in 12 states, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, and 29 states have some sort of abortion limitation based on gestational age. Nine states have no restriction on abortion.
âThe literature we have demonstrates that not being able to obtain an abortion has negative physical, mental and economic implications for birthing persons, their children and their families -- and undermines achieving health equity,â Bell said. âThese bans are deepening or worsening some of these existing population health disparities that exist.â
Jessica Yang, DO, is a family medicine resident at Main Line Health Bryn Mawr Hospital and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) -- While President Donald Trump's comments about wanting to "clean out" Gaza and forcibly displace its nearly 2 million Palestinians have stirred outrage and accusations of ethnic cleansing among U.S. allies and international law experts, some members of the Arab American community still believe he was a better choice than Vice President Kamala Harris.
"I don't regret having supported the president. He promised us an end to the war, and he was able to get a ceasefire for us in Gaza, and for that we are grateful. Imagine how many hundreds of Palestinians we've been able to save because of the ceasefire," Bishara Bahbah, the chairman for Arab Americans for Peace told ABC News.
The Biden-Harris administration faced criticism from the Arab American community due to its perceived unconditional support for Israel in its war on Gaza. More than 48,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the war began after Hamas' surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed 1,200 people and hundreds more were taken captive.
"President Biden was asleep at the wheel, ignoring our our pleas with him. So we decided to tell President Biden that because you have ignored us, we are going to punish you at the polls, and that's one of the major reasons why we decided to establish Arab Americans for Trump," Bahbah said.
Many prominent Arab-American advocacy groups and community leaders threw their support behind Trump or Green Party candidate Jill Stein due to the Biden administration's stance on Gaza.
"For many people, this was very painful. This was not an easy choice, because they were looking at what was going on in Gaza, it was very hard for them to support President Biden," and later Vice President Harris, James Zoghby, the cofounder of the Arab American Institute, a political and policy organization that did not support Trump, told ABC News.
Now, with Trump proposing the forcible displacement of Palestinians, and attempting to pressure Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from Gaza -- by threatening to cut billions in aid -- some groups have maintained their support of Trump and are waiting to see what actions he takes and are maintaining their opposition to Harris and Biden.
"These were grotesque comments. They're unacceptable comments, they're absolutely horrific comments. But you know, at the end of the day, when you put them on a scale, they're comments. It's rhetoric, and I don't feel it is appropriate, nor is it honest to sit here and conflate it with the actions of the Biden-Harris administration, or to try and use that rhetoric to use it as a 'gotcha' moment to people who voted against the Biden-Harris administration," Hudhayfah Ahmad, the head of media for the Abandon Harris campaign, told ABC News.
The Abandon Harris campaign, which started as the Abandon Biden campaign, gave both Democratic Party candidates an ultimatum, asking for them to call for an unconditional ceasefire or lose the group's support. Biden and Harris did not meet the deadline set by the group to call for a ceasefire, according to Ahmad.
The Trump campaign was able to garner support from the Muslim American community largely in the last four weeks before the election by making public calls for a ceasefire and vowing to make it happen, Ahmad said.
"There was never really any support before that," Ahmad said.
"A considerable chunk of people who had previously committed to voting third party, said that I'm going to vote the Trump-Vance ticket at the top of the ticket, and I'll vote Green Party down ballot. I heard this from multiple people in multiple swing states," Ahmad said.
But some community leaders felt that despite the actions of the Biden Administration in Gaza, Trump would be worse.
"I was very much opposed to the hucksters who were trying to sell Jill Stein and to the folks who supported Donald Trump. It was a really not just a bad call, it was a dangerous call. And I felt that despite the insult, despite the hurt, we had a responsibility to think big. [Biden and Harris] were at fault for making our job more difficult," Zoghby said.
"The pain that we knew would occur if Donald Trump got back into the White House was too great to too many people," Zoghby said. "Even though [Biden and Harris] didn't give us what we needed, we still had to recognize that letting Donald Trump back into the White House was was going to be a disaster."
Arab Americans for Peace -- an advocacy group formerly called Arab Americans for Trump -- changed its name this month after hearing some of Trump's rhetoric surrounding the displacement of Palestinians, but a leader told ABC News they have not yet withdrawn their support for Trump.
"Our objective from the very beginning for supporting Trump was peace. We were telling the Biden administration continuously to stop its aid to the Israelis because the Israelis are committing genocide with the arms that are provided by the United States and Western Europe," Bahbah said.
"The change of the name does not mean that we are withdrawing our support for President Trump. It just means that we are going back to the root cause of our very existence, which is the promotion of peace in the Middle East," Bahbah said.
Even community leaders who did not support Trump as a candidate argued that he secured a ceasefire.
"Trump did this ceasefire solely for his own self interest and self image and self benefit. Nothing humanitarian about it at all," Ahmad said.
"It's hard to say that anyone feels regret [for supporting Trump] when you take into consideration that we are no longer seeing a daily influx of videos and pictures of children, men, women, elderly, being butchered with U.S. weaponry. That has stopped completely," Ahmad said.
Despite some holding onto support for Trump, his comments on forcibly displacing Palestinians drew sharp criticism from Arab Americans.
"We are totally opposed to the idea of displacing Palestinians out of Gaza. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians, and it is not for anyone in the world to tell the Palestinians to leave that territory," Bahbah said.
"Like my father, Palestinians are prepared to die on their homeland. And will not immigrate or be forced out of their homeland," Bahbah said.
"There's time to wait and see how things will evolve before I can say 'I am really angry with the president, and I no longer supporting him.' That is not the case right now, because it's just the beginning of that process. But I also believe that the coming four years are going to be critical for the Israel-Arab conflict," Bahbah said.
He said Arab Americans for Peace decided to support Trump because he promised to end the war in Gaza and ensure lasting peace in the Middle East.
He believes Trump's pressure on Netanyahu stopped the war in Gaza.
But Bahbah said he believes Trump's recent comments on Gaza are providing Israel cover to "destroy" the West Bank, drawing attention away from what is happening there.
Other leaders in the Arab community strongly disagreed with Trump's comments on Gaza, and are skeptical of the motivations behind Trump's comments on wanting to forcibly displace Palestinians.
"I think the purpose is to provide Netanyahu the cover to end this ceasefire after phase one and secure the hostages and go no further. Because I don't think Trump is interested at all in seeing this through on the terms that were negotiated -- which ultimately requires a full Israeli withdrawal and the reconstruction," Zoghby said.
Netanyahu has faced criticism for not laying out a plan for what happens in Gaza after the war is over. The ceasefire agreement requires a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, but remains unclear if the ceasefire will reach its final stages.
"I could get as indignant as everybody else about [Trump's comments] and it being illegal, but there's so much in that involves Israel's behavior toward Palestinians -- and the U.S.'s enablement of Israel doing it -- that is illegal, immoral," Zoghby said.
Now they are awaiting on Trump to deliver lasting peace, Bahbah said.
"We continue to insist and be a voice of reason, telling the president what we want as an Arab American community, and that is lasting peace in the Middle East based on a two state solution, keeping in mind that what brought us to this point is the Biden-Harris administration by allowing Israel to literally destroy the Gaza Strip," Bahbah said.
But support for Trump is conditional on what actions he takes, some activists say.
"We are not beholden to anybody or to any party. We will support whomever we think will end the wars and provide a permanent resolution to the Arab Israeli conflict and peace in the Middle East," Bahbah said.
The group Abandon Harris plans to throw its support behind third-party candidates in the future, Ahmad said.
"Our movement is solely structured behind morals, values, principles -- not parties, not individuals, not candidates," Ahmad said.
Peaky Blinders fans may have even more reasons to celebrate. A Netflix movie version of the Cillian Murphy-led series is already in the works, but creator Steven Knight has now hinted there are plans to continue the story beyond that.
In an interview with BBC Breakfast on Tuesday, Knight confirmed that production on the film concluded in December and based on early footage, fans wonât be disappointed.
âItâs a very fitting way to end this part of the Peaky story,â he said, putting emphasis on âthis part.â
Knight teased, âIâm not allowed to announce it, but Iâm just saying that the world of Peaky will continue.â
In the upcoming film, Murphy reprises his role as British gangster Tommy Shelby. Barry Keoghan, Rebecca Ferguson and Tim Roth are among the new cast members.
(NEW YORK) -- The death toll in Kentucky has risen to 14 from a devastating storm that battered the state this weekend as residents brace for up to 6 inches of snow from a new storm.
"This isnât just a number -- these are Kentuckians who will be missed by their families and loved ones," Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media. "Please pray for our commonwealth and our neighbors who have lost people they love."
Over 1,000 people have been rescued across the state, the governor said. In Louisville, crews have conducted over 30 rescues in the flash flooding, Mayor Craig Greenberg said.
One storm-related death was also reported in Georgia.
The storm dumped over 8 inches of rain in Kentucky and Tennessee, and 5 inches of rain in Virginia.
Next storm At least 25 states from Montana to Texas to Delaware are now under snow and ice alerts as a new storm moves east.
On Tuesday, heavy snow is falling in Kansas and Missouri while an ice and snow mix is falling as far south as Oklahoma and Texas.
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, could get up to 2 inches of a sleet and snow mix while Little Rock, Arkansas, could get up to 3 inches of ice and snow.
A freezing drizzle might reach the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area Tuesday evening.
On Tuesday night, the winter storm will spread to Kentucky and Tennessee, where residents are still recovering from this weekendâs devastating flooding.
Louisville could see up to 6 inches of snow while Memphis and Nashville could see 1 to 4 inches of snow.
By Wednesday morning, the storm will move into the Appalachians and the East Coast. Winter storm alerts were issued in Raleigh, North Carolina, and Norfolk, Virginia, where 1 to 6 inches of snow and ice could fall on Wednesday.
The storm will spare the busy Interstate 95 corridor. Light snow is possible in D.C. on Wednesday but no major accumulation is expected.
Record cold Dozens of record low temperatures are forecast this week from the Plains to the South.
Temperatures fell to the negative 30s Tuesday morning in the northern Plains.
The wind chill -- what temperature it feels like -- could plunge to as low as the minus 50s or 60s in the Heartland.
Later this week, the cold air will move south.
By Thursday morning, Dallas could reach a record low temperature of 15 degrees and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, could fall to 25 degrees.
(TORONTO) -- New video has emerged on Tuesday of the chaotic moments after Delta flight 4819 flipped over on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
In the video -- obtained exclusively by ABC News -- passengers can be seen hanging upside down in the cabin, being held into their seats dangling only by their seatbelts.
There were no warning signs for the passengers aboard Delta Flight 4819, as the 76 passengers and four crew approached a snowy Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday afternoon, according to passenger John Nelson.
âThe winds were whipping pretty hard and the runways were snow covered,â Nelson recounted to ABC Newsâ George Stephanopoulos. âThere was no warning.â
As the planeâs wheels touched the tarmac, Nelson described hitting the runway âextremely hard,â the aircraft popping slightly into the air, and the entire plane learning to the left.
âIt was just incredibly fast. There was a giant firewall down the side. I could actually feel the heat through the glass,â Nelson recounted.âThen we were going sideways. I'm not even sure how many times we tumbled, but we ended upside down,â he said.
When the plane finally came to a stop, Nelson recounted that the cabin was suddenly quiet before the 80 people onboard -- most of whom were hanging upside down bats in the cabin â attempted to âmake a sense of what just had happened.â
âWe released the seat belts. I kind of fell to the floor, which is now the ceiling, and helped the lady next to me get out of her seat belt,â Nelson said.
According to Nelson, the flight attendants immediately took control, directing passengers to exit the cabin and opening the emergency doors.
âYou heard the flight attendants yelling, âOpen the door. Everybody, take your stuff and get out now,ââ he recounted. âWe all worked together and got out of there as quickly as we could.â
According to Nelson, the scene was surprisingly âcalmâ as passengers assisted each other to crawl out of the plane and find their phones.
When he made it out the plane, Nelson took out his phone to capture the moment as every passenger and crew on the flight made it out alive.
âWeâre in Toronto. We just landed. Our plane crashed. Itâs upside down. Fire Department is on site. Upside down. Most people appear to be okay, weâre all getting off,â he said while shooting the video, which has been seen by millions over the last 24 hours.
âWhat was going through your mind? Could you believe you'd survived a crash?â Stephanopoulos asked.
âNo, it's something that I don't think you can ever even really prepare for,â Nelson recounted. âAs we were tumbling ⊠I tried to just keep from hitting my head right, and just trying to protect myself and my body. I was trying to, just to do the best to make it through it.â
Peter Koukov, who was also able to shoot video as he crawled out, said he didnât know something was wrong until they hit the ground.
âWe hit the ground and we were sideways, and then we were hanging upside down like bats,â Koukov told ABC News. âIt all happened pretty, pretty fast. The plane was upside down, obviously, some people were kind of hanging and needed some help being helped down.â
The flight crew can be seen standing on the ceiling helping passengers scramble to escape in the video.
âThe one minute you're landing and kind of waiting to see your friends and your people and the next minute you're physically upside down and just really turned around,â Pete Carlson, a passenger on the plane, told ABC News. âIt sounded, I mean, it was just cement and metal, you know.â
The Delta regional jet, a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air, departed from Minneapolis on Monday afternoon, heading to Toronto with 76 passengers and four crew landing just after 2 p.m. local time.
âAll of a sudden the fire trucks and helicopters, you know, pushed out on a trolley and thought there was something wrong,â said Ron James, an eyewitness who saw the smoke right before he was supposed to board his flight at a nearby terminal. âThen we were going to get on the plane and they said no youâre not going anywhere.â
At least 18 passengers were taken to hospitals, airport officials said in an update Monday evening.
Peel Regional Paramedic Services said none of the injuries were considered to be life-threatening.
Three people suffered critical injuries -- one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s -- according to Ornge, which provides medical transport. The child was transported to the Hospital for Sick Children and is listed in good condition, the hospital said Monday evening.
Among the others, 12 people have mild injuries, Peel Regional Paramedics Services said.
âAirport emergency workers mounted a textbook response, reaching the site within minutes,â said Deborah Flint, president and CEO of Toronto Pearson International Airport. âThis outcome is in due part to their heroic work, and I thank them profusely.â
At the time of landing, winds were gusting up to 40 mph but the cause of the crash is still under investigation.
âThis is an active investigation. It's very early on,â said Todd Aitken, fire chief at Toronto Pearson International Airport. âIt's really important that we do not speculate. What we can say is the runway was dry and there was no crosswind conditions.â
Russian Foreign Ministry / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) -- High-level delegations from the U.S. and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday over the fate of Ukraine, the negotiations taking place without Kyiv's participation.
The State Department said the talks were aimed to discuss ending the three-year-long war, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion of its neighbor in 2022 and followed sustained cross-border aggression from Moscow since 2014.
Tuesday's meeting in Riyadh concluded after around five hours, according to the press pool covering the meeting, with the State Department saying the discussions represented "an important step forward" toward "enduring peace."
Russia and the U.S. agreed to start the Ukraine settlement process "shortly," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said during a press conference after the talks.
The U.S. and Russia also agreed to appoint yet-to-be-named special representatives to continue the talks between the two countries, according to the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Russia said it has been informed that Gen. Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, will negotiate with Kyiv and Europe on a settlement in Ukraine, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov said on state-controlled Channel One Russia following the talks.
The U.S. suggested a "moratorium" on attacks on energy facilities in both Ukraine and Russia during the talks, according to Lavrov.
Ushakov said a possible meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Donald Trump was also discussed, Russian state media reported.
The talks between Moscow and Washington end a period of some three years -- since President Joe Biden and Putin met in Geneva before Russia invaded Ukraine -- without senior-level engagement between the two nations.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy responded to the talks while visiting Turkey on Tuesday, suggesting Russia was reviving ultimatums it issued as part of the peace talks that took place in the early stages of Moscow's full-scale invasion.
"I have the impression that there are now some negotiations happening and they have the same mood, but between Russia and the United States," Zelenskyy said at the Ukrainian embassy in Ankara.
"Again, about Ukraine without Ukraine," he added. "Itâs interesting, if Ukraine didnât yield to ultimatums in the most difficult moment, where does the feeling come from that Ukraine will agree to this now?"
"I never intended to yield to Russia's ultimatums and I donât intend to now," Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy also accused the U.S. of not providing Ukraine with support to ensure security guarantees in a potential peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
âWho will provide security guarantees so there is no chance of a repeat of this terrible war?â Zelenskyy said after meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday. âBut from the USA, we do not have such support today. The U.S. and some European partners do not want our participation in NATO.â
The U.S. team was led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and National Security Adviser Michael Waltz. The Russian negotiating delegation included Lavrov, Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov and Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia's sovereign wealth fund.
State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the U.S. team agreed to establish "a consultation mechanism to address irritants to our bilateral relationship with the objective of taking steps necessary to normalize the operation of our respective diplomatic missions."
The two sides also agreed to appoint "high-level teams to begin working on a path to ending the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible in a way that is enduring, sustainable and acceptable to all sides," Bruce said, plus to "lay the groundwork for future cooperation on matters of mutual geopolitical interest and historic economic and investment opportunities which will emerge from a successful end to the conflict in Ukraine."
"The parties to todayâs meetings pledge to remain engaged to make sure the process moves forward in a timely and productive manner," Bruce added.
Lavrov and Rubio talked on the phone Saturday, according to the State Department, after a conversation between Putin and Trump last week.
While a spokesperson for Putin said the meeting would be "devoted" primarily to "restoring the entire range of Russian-American relations," Bruce said that the meeting would be more narrowly focused on the "larger issue of Ukraine."
After the Trump-Putin conversation, Bruce called the meeting the "second step to determine if the Russians perhaps are serious, and if they're on the same page."
Ukraine 'will not recognize' deal struck without it Zelenskyy was not invited to the meeting. Zelenskyy said Monday that Ukraine "cannot acknowledge any ⊠agreements about us without us, and will not recognize such agreements."
"Earlier, during the war, it was considered taboo to talk to the aggressor," the Ukrainian president said.
On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists that Putin is prepared for negotiations with Zelenskyy "if necessary," though again questioned the Ukrainian president's legitimacy. Putin and his officials have repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as illegitimate, citing the delay to planned Ukrainian presidential elections necessitated by martial law.
Amid the flurry of diplomatic activity, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a meeting of European heads of government in Paris on Monday ahead of the U.S.-Russia engagement.
Macron and Trump spoke via telephone for nearly 30 minutes prior to the European meeting, a White House official said. The official called the conversation "friendly" and said it included a discussion of the war in Ukraine and the U.S.-Russia bilateral meetings Tuesday.
Mike Waltz, the White House national security adviser, said on Sunday he would "push back on ⊠any notion that [Ukrainians] aren't being consulted."
"They absolutely are. And at the end of the day, though, this is going to be under President Trump's leadership that we get this war to an end," Waltz said, conceding "they may not like some of the sequencing that is going on in these negotiations."
Zelenskyy was scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday during his trip to the Middle East, though he said he now plans to visit on March 10. He has said would ask Saudi de facto leader and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the U.S.-Russia meetings when in Riyadh.
The opening of White House-facilitated talks on peace in Ukraine came after Trump officials signaled potential terms for a deal in the lead-up to, and during, the Munich Security Conference in Germany last week.
Ahead of the conference, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called a return to Ukrainian borders before Russia's 2014 invasion of Crimea "unrealistic." That "illusionary goal" -- and NATO membership for Ukraine -- would not be promoted by the U.S., the secretary said.
Zelenskyy told Munich attendees that Ukraine must be assured of membership in "NATO, or a reliable alternative."
He called for the building of the "armed forces of Europe" as the Trump administration presses for more European spending on defense.
Among the attendees of Macron's hastily organized meeting in Paris, the prime ministers of the United Kingdom and Sweden said they would be open to contributing armed forces on the ground in Ukraine in a peacekeeping capacity after a potential deal is struck.
"If there is a peace deal [for Ukraine], and everybody wants a peace deal, then it's got to be a lasting peace deal, not just a pause for Putin to come again," U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in Paris.
"There's also a wider piece here which is the collective security and defense in Europe, and here, I think we've got a generational challenge. We've all got to step up," he added.
ABC News' Molly Nagle, Patrick Reevell, Yulia Drozd and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) -- The number of apprehensions along the southwestern U.S. border plummeted by a third during January, according to statistics obtained by ABC News on Tuesday.
There were 61,465 apprehensions along the southwest border in January, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, down from 96,048 in December 2024.
The numbers fell even more after President Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, according to the data.
In the three weeks before the inauguration, there was a daily average of more than 2,000 apprehensions, which fell to a daily average of 786 migrant apprehensions after the inauguration.
There were 176,195 migrant apprehensions along the southwest border in January 2024.
From Jan. 21 through Jan. 31, the number of U.S. Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border dropped 85% from the same period in 2024, according to data obtained by ABC News. In the 11 days after Jan. 20, migrants apprehended at ports of entry declined by 93%.
Trump signed executive orders shortly after taking office that declared a national emergency at the border and authorized active duty military and National Guard troops to support CPB's law enforcement activities. The government has been using military planes to return migrants to their home countries. In addition, the administration has said it is targeting gang members and violent offenders in its crackdown. It also rescinded a policy that barred law enforcement activities at schools and churches and at courthouses.
âThe men and women of U.S. Customs and Border Protection are aggressively implementing the Presidentâs Executive Orders to secure our borders. These actions have already resulted in dramatic improvements in border security,â said Pete Flores, acting CBP commissioner. âThe reduction in illegal aliens attempting to make entry into the U.S., compounded by a significant increase in repatriations, means that more officers and agents are now able to conduct the enforcement duties that make our border more secure and our country safer.â
CBP and military troops have âdramatically increasedâ patrolling the southern border, according to CBP.
Numbers of monthly border apprehensions fell below 100,000 for the first time in years in November 2024, according to CBP data.
(TORONTO) --As investigators work to determine what caused Delta Flight 4819 to crash and overturn at Toronto Pearson International Airport on Monday, the Toronto Pearson president and CEO noted the "extreme conditions" at the airport in the days before the dramatic incident.
Toronto Pearson President and CEO Deborah Flint said that from Thursday to Sunday there were "extreme conditions" at the airport from two separate storms.
"On Thursday and Sunday, we got more than 20 inches, 50 centimeters of accumulated snow. That is actually not typical. In fact, it is more snow within that time window than we received in all of last winter," Flint said at a news conference Tuesday. "There were many delays and cancelations across this part of Canada and the U.S. Northeast during this time, creating numerous flight delays and backlogs."
The crash occurred during blowing snow and strong wind gusts in the region. Winds reached 40 mph on the ground and were even stronger several hundred feet in the air.
When asked if the weather could have contribute to the crash, Flint said, "This would not be a time for us to have theory or to speculate."
Toronto Airport Fire Chief Todd Aitken said Monday that the runway was dry and there were no crosswind conditions at the time of the crash.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is leading the investigation and investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are assisting. Investigators are expected to review the aircraft at its current position on the runway for the next two days, officials said Tuesday.
The Delta regional jet -- a CRJ 900 aircraft operated by Endeavor Air -- touched down, set fire, flipped over and came to a stop upside-down on the snow covered Toronto runway. The 76 passengers and four crew evacuated.
Flint on Tuesday praised the flight crew, saying they "heroically led passengers to safety."
She said she was grateful there was no loss of life or life-threatening injuries.
Twenty-one passengers were taken to hospitals, and as of Tuesday, 19 of them have been released, according to Delta.
Injuries range from minor to critical, but non are life threatening, Flint said.
Three people suffered critical injuries: one child, a man in his 60s and a woman in her 40s, according to medical transport organization Ornge.
The flight originated in Minneapolis. There were 22 Canadian citizens among the passengers, Flint said.
The Toronto Airport temporarily stopped flights in the wake of the crash, with departures and arrivals resuming at 5 p.m. ET Monday, the airport said. Two runways remained closed, which Flint said may impact operations.
"Our most pressing priority remains taking care of all customers and Endeavor crew members who were involved," Delta CEO Ed Bastian said. "We'll do everything we can to support them and their families in the days ahead, and I know the hearts, thoughts and prayers of the entire Delta community are with them. We are grateful for all the first responders and medical teams who have been caring for them."
(LONDON and ROME) -- The Vatican has announced that the Jubilee Audience on Saturday has been cancelled as Pope Francis continues recover in hospital from a respiratory tract infection.
âDue to the Holy Father's health condition, the Jubilee Audience on Saturday, Feb. 22, is cancelled,â the Vatican said Tuesday morning. âFor the celebration of the Holy Mass on the occasion of the Jubilee of Deacons, scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 23, at 9 a.m., in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Francis has delegated H.E. Msgr. Rino Fisichella, Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Section for Fundamental Issues of Evangelization in the World.â
Matteo Bruni, the director of the Vatican press room, told reporters on Sunday that the pope had his second consecutive restful night after being admitted to the hospital on Friday.
"Pope Francis had a tranquil night. He slept well, had breakfast and read a few papers, as usual," Bruni said.
On Saturday, the Vatican said the pope "rested all night" Friday and had no fever on Saturday morning. His treatment has been slightly modified based on further "microbiological findings," according to the Vatican.
The Vatican added, "To facilitate his recovery, the medical staff prescribed absolute rest."
The pope was admitted to a hospital on Friday for "necessary tests" and to continue his ongoing bronchitis treatment, the Vatican said.
ANSA, the Italian news agency, reported that "several sources" revealed the pope had arrived on Friday at Gemelli Hospital very fatigued due to difficulty in breathing related to an excess of phlegm and that the treatment he was undergoing at home had not yielded the expected results.
"Pope Francis has been informed of the many messages of closeness and affection he has received and expresses his gratitude, as well as asking for continued prayers," the Vatican added.