Today is
Tuesday May 21, 2024
(LONDON) -- A plan by an International Criminal Court prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants for Israeli leaders is "absurd," casting a "terrible stain" on the court, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.
"We are supplying now nearly half of the water of Gaza. We supplied only 7% before the war. This is completely opposite of what he's saying. He's saying we're starving people?" Netanyahu said on ABC News' Good Morning America on Tuesday. "We have supplied half million tons of food and medicine with 20,000 trucks. This guy is out to demonize Israel. He's doing a hit job."
A prosecutor with the ICC on Monday said he would file applications for arrest warrants for Hamas and Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, alleging that they "bear criminal responsibility" for "war crimes and crimes against humanity" in Gaza.
Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said he would seek warrants for both Netanyahu and Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant. Khan laid out a list of allegations against Netanyahu and Gallant, including starvation of civilians, willfully causing great suffering and other "inhumane acts."
"We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy," Khan said in a statement. "These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day."
Netanyahu said on Monday that his country didn't have a "deliberate starvation policy" and the charges detailed by the ICC prosecutor were "fallacious."
"In fact, we have the opposite policy, to allow maximum humanitarian aid to get people out of harm's way," He said, "while Hamas is doing everything to keep them in harm's way at gun point."
World Food Programme Executive Director Cindy McCain recently said that "full-blown famine" is occurring in northern Gaza.
President Joe Biden called the prosecutor's decision to seek arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders "outrageous."
"And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence -- none -- between Israel and Hamas," Biden said Monday.
The prosecutor's statement came as Israel continued weighing a potential full-scale invasion into Rafah, a southern Gazan city where many Palestinians have sought refuge during Israel's war with Hamas.
"The battle in Rafah is critical. It is not only the remaining [Hamas] battalions there but their escape and supply pipelines," Netanyahu said last week while speaking to troops after taking an aerial tour of the Gaza Strip. "This battle, of which you are an integral part, is a battle that will decide many things in this campaign."
Netanyahu early this month met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for more than two hours in the prime minister's office in Jerusalem. Blinken during that meeting "reiterated the United States' clear position on Rafah," Matthew Miller, a State Department spokesperson, said at the time.
U.S. officials have in the weeks since that meeting been in "close communication" with Israeli leaders, letting them know that the U.S. opposes a major military operation in the city, Miller said on Monday.
"We don't think that would be productive to Israel's security either in the short term or the long term," Miller said, "and we think it would have a dramatic impact on the lives of the Palestinian people there and on the ability to get humanitarian assistance in."
More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the fighting began, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza. About 1,200 people were killed on Oct. 7 in the Hamas cross-border attack on southern Israel, according to Israel.
ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Monday asked what would happen when the war was over.
Netanyahu said Hamas would have to be destroyed first, then Israel could "demilitarize" Gaza. After that, there would have to be a civilian administration put in place, he said.
"There is peace and stability and prosperity only through victory," Netanyahu said. "The road to peace goes through victory over Hamas."
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(NEW YORK) -- A Congressional delegation traveled to Turks and Caicos over the fate of five U.S. tourists detained there for ammunition charges that carry a minimum 12-year sentence in prison if convicted.
The bipartisan delegation met with government leaders in Turks and Caicos on Monday, where they called for leniency for the Americans who they said inadvertently had ammunition in their luggage.
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, one of the members of the delegation, told ABC News' Good Morning America that he left the meetings feeling like they "didn't find a real path forward" and are considering next steps if they can't reach a solution.
"I felt like they were doing their job, which is representing Turks and Caicos. We went there doing our job, representing the United States with real concerns," he said. "I mean, you have currently five Americans being charged ... and among them all they had less than 20 bullets."
In addition to Mullin, the U.S. delegation included Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa.; Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa.; Rep. Bob Good, R-Va.; Rep. Josh Brecheen, R-Okla.; and Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas -- who all have constituents who are among the detained Americans.
Fetterman said he left the meetings feeling "optimistic that we can get this resolved."
"We had the opportunity to meet each of the detained Americans, who were in good spirits but want to go home," Fetterman said in a statement. "These people did not set out to break the law. They are people who made a mistake and now face substantial time in prison because of it. As we articulated to TCI officials, I urge the court to be lenient when addressing this case."
In the most recent case, Sharitta Shinise Grier, of Orlando, Florida, was visiting Turks and Caicos with her daughter for Mother's Day when, during a routine search at the Howard Hamilton International Airport on May 13, officials claim to have found two rounds of ammunition in her bag, police said. She was charged with one count of possession of ammunition and released on $15,000 bail. She has been ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case, police sources said.
Ryan Watson, of Oklahoma, was arrested on April 24 after hunting ammunition was allegedly found in his carry-on bag before flying home with his wife. He was released on $15,000 bond but remains on the islands as his court case continues. Watson told ABC News he didn't know the ammunition was in the bag.
Tyler Scott Wenrich of Virginia was charged on April 23 when officials found illegal ammunition during a checkpoint on Turks and Caicos while he was traveling on a cruise, investigators said. His plea hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.
Bryan Hagerich, of Pennsylvania, is awaiting sentencing on the islands after pleading guilty to possession of 20 rounds of ammunition. Hagerich, who was arrested in February, told ABC News he forgot hunting ammunition was in his bag while he was traveling. His next hearing has been scheduled for Friday.
Michael Lee Evans, of Texas, also pleaded guilty to possession of seven 9mm rounds of ammunition in his luggage and is awaiting sentencing.
Mullin said one family has already spent more than $100,000 in attorney fees, while a father has had to borrow money to be able to stay on the island while his son's case plays out and is "literally living off hot dogs and rice."
"We have to find some type of a solution here," Mullin said, adding that it is "unacceptable" that one American from Indiana has already served a six-month prison sentence on the ammunition charge.
Two years ago, the Turks and Caicos government tightened their gun laws and prohibited civilian firearms or ammunition. If convicted, offenders are sentenced to a minimum of 12 years in prison.
Mullin said they were pushing for Turks and Caicos officials to have more leniency when it comes to people mistakenly traveling with ammunition.
"We thought we could find some type of common ground to separate the two -- ones with the intent and one with no criminal intent," Mullin said. "We weren't able to get to that conclusion. So their whole point was that, let the system work."
Mullin said the next step might be warning American citizens about traveling and doing business in Turks and Caicos.
"I don't think we're to that point. But if we can't come to a solution, that's the next option for us," he said.
Following the meeting with the Congressional delegation, the Turks and Caicos governor's office said in a statement that the government has "clear laws prohibiting the possession of firearms and/or ammunition and strict penalties are in place to serve and protect all who reside and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands."
The office said the government officials "appreciated that the circumstances for U.S. nationals who find themselves in this position can be difficult but were aware that U.S. officials are providing consular support to each of the individuals."
"Where the court finds there are exceptional circumstances, the sentencing judge does have discretion, under the law, to impose a custodial sentence and a fine that are fair and just in the circumstances of each case," the governor's office added.
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(LONDON) -- One person was dead and several others injured after a Singapore Airlines flight encountered "severe" turbulence about 90 minutes from the plane's destination of Singapore, the airline said in a social media post.
There were 221 passengers and 18 crew members on board the Boeing 777-300ER, which departed London’s Heathrow Airport on Monday, according to the airline. The flight, SQ 321, was diverted to Bangkok, Thailand, the carrier said.
"Singapore Airlines offers its deepest condolences to the family of the deceased," the airline said in a statement on Tuesday. "Our priority is to provide all possible assistance to all passengers and crew on board the aircraft."
The aircraft appeared to have encountered the turbulence somewhere over the Andaman Sea.
The flight, which had been scheduled to arrive at Singapore Changi Airport, instead touched down in Thailand at about 3:45 p.m. local time, the carrier said.
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(LONDON) -- France’s postal service is expected to raise quite a bit of dough after releasing a brand new scratch-and-sniff stamp that smells like a baguette with just over two months to go until the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris.
La Poste, the French postal service announced the crumby idea on Friday, honoring the iconic French food by calling the baguette “bread of our daily life, symbol of our gastronomy, jewel of our culture.”
“Bearer of culture and customs, the baguette is deeply rooted in the daily practices of the French,” La Poste said in their press release announcing the new stamp. “She embodies a ritual, that of going to her bakery, a local business anchored in the regions, attracting twelve million consumers every day. The making of six billion baguettes each year confirms its iconic status in French food heritage. The baguette transcends borders to become an international icon.”
The stamp features a drawing by French artists Stephanie Humbert-Bassett of a baguette wrapped in a tricolor ribbon of the French flag and will only be on sale in France at a price of €1.96 ($2.13) but can be used in international shipments, according to La Poste. One stamp can ship a letter weighing up to 20 grams while two stamps will allow you to send up to 100 grams.
“The baguette transcends borders to become an international icon,” La Poste said. “The inclusion of these artisanal skills and its culture in UNESCO's intangible cultural heritage testifies to its influence and establishes it as an ambassador of the bakery craft."
But don’t loaf around if you want to get your hands on some. With France expected to receive an influx of visitors this summer for the 33rd Olympiad in Paris beginning on July 26, there will only be 594,000 printed in the initial run of stamps.
The baguette consists of just four ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast.
“This apparent simplicity reveals a complexity of manufacturing: dosing and weighing of ingredients, kneading, fermentation, division, relaxation, shaping, priming, cooking scarification,” La Poste said in their announcement. “So many meticulous steps mastered by the artisan baker whose unique know-how is passed down from generation to generation.”
The scratch-and-sniff stamps, released last Friday, are available for purchase now.
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(NEW YORK) -- A U.S. national has been mistakenly accused of involvement in last weekend's attempted coup in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cole Patrick Ducey, an engineer living in Eswatini, told ABC News Monday that he was not involved, despite reports online and in the media. DRC government officials also confirmed to ABC News that Ducey was not involved in the coup attempt over the weekend.
Ducey told ABC News he has been the subject of a "huge case of mistaken identity," with his name appearing in social media posts and news articles that erroneously suggest he was arrested Sunday in the DRC.
"I learned of what happened yesterday on the news just as you did," he said.
Authorities in the DRC told ABC News that the coup attempt was led by Christian Malanga, a DRC businessman and politician with U.S. ties. Malanga was killed in the coup attempt, the officials said.
The officials also told ABC News that a U.S. national, Benjamin Zalman-Polun, had been arrested on suspicion of involvement in the coup attempt. ABC News wasn’t immediately able to locate a legal representative for Zalman-Polun.
Ducey verified his identity by sending ABC News a video in which he displayed an identifying document. ABC News further verified Ducey’s identity by reviewing public records.
Ducey told ABC News that he attended the University of Colorado with Zalman-Polun in 2006 and 2007. The two lost contact for many years, Ducey said, until Zalman-Polun contacted Ducey in 2020 about a business opportunity in the mining sector. At that time, Ducey said Zalman-Polun introduced him to Malanga in a phone call.
In 2022, Ducey said, the trio met in Mozambique to review mining concessions. Ducey said they started a limited liability corporation but failed to find a viable spot to mine and did not continue working together.
Zalman-Polun, Malanga and Ducey are listed as partners in that LLC, according to records from the government of Mozambique's official bulletin.
Those records, which are publicly available, appear to have led to the case of mistaken identity.
However, Ducey claims, and DRC government officials affirm, he was not a part of the attempted coup over the weekend in any capacity.
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(NEW YORK) -- Haiti’s Port-au-Prince airport has been reopened after being closed for nearly three months after unprecedented gang violence forced it to close, effectively sealing the capital city off from the rest of the world.
So far, only Sunrise Airways, a small regional carrier, has resumed flights, but other international flights, including those operated by JetBlue and American Airlines, could start operating again in the next few weeks.
The only way to safely reopen the airport was to bulldoze hundreds of homes in its immediate vicinity, according to two Haitian officials briefed on the plans.
It was from the roofs of these homes that gang members were able to shoot into the airport during early March attacks, at one point even hitting planes parked on the runway.
Residents of the homes who were forced to flee the area are due to be compensated for the moves, according to those officials.
American military flights have landed nearly two dozen times in recent weeks as they shuttle in aid and supplies, much of which is designed to support the upcoming international security mission.
Kenyan Police Heading to Haiti Soon
Dozens of Kenyan police officers who have signed up to be a part of the UN-backed international security force will arrive in Haiti “soon,” according to a senior Kenyan government official. It could be as soon as this week.
The force will eventually grow to roughly 1,000 officers and hundreds of officers from several other countries, many of whom will arrive later in the summer.
The deployment comes just as Kenyan President Ruto is set to have a state visit to Washington, D.C.
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(NEW YORK) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian, and other officials died in a helicopter crash Sunday near Iran's northern border with Azerbaijan, Iranian state media said Monday morning.
The helicopter was part of a convoy of three helicopters returning from an event inaugurating a joint dam project when it crashed in heavy fog in a remote area on Sunday. The fog and rugged terrain hindered search operations. All eight bodies on board were found on Monday.
Raisi's death comes during heightened international tensions and increased speculation over who will eventually replace Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi was widely considered a potential successor.
ABC contributor Col. Steve Ganyard, a former fighter pilot and a former State Department official, analyzed the crash – and the political repercussions inside Iran and elsewhere – Monday morning with "Start Here."
START HERE: What do we know about this incident so far?
GANYARD: It seems to be a fairly classic mishap that occurs when helicopter pilots try to skirt underneath weather in very mountainous terrain. So we know that there was a lot of fog in the area. We know that they had dignitaries, very important people, which oftentimes puts an extra, at least mental burden on the pilots to make sure that they get to get to the destination. And when you're flying in the mountains and you have very low visibility, there's a natural tendency for helicopter pilots to begin to sort of descend and try to get lower and try to get underneath either the fog or the cloud layer. And they know that they can set the aircraft down if they need to. But oftentimes it leads to tragedy. If you remember, earlier this year, back in February, a marine Corps helicopter was trying to do this very thing, trying to get back to San Diego and in the mountains above San Diego, just to the to the east of San Diego, crashed. And unfortunately, all the Marines on board lost their lives.
START HERE: So we're looking at an area with dense forest, a lot of rain and fog. The Iranian government saying that they dispatched rescue teams. But we're not getting a lot of information from them. Is that typical with the Iranian state government?
GANYARD: It is when you have when you have a mishap that involves very senior people. Obviously, this is the president of the country. He's not the most important guy – Ayatollah Khamenei remains the most important person in terms of the leadership there in Iran. But this is still a very important, very public figure. He is in many ways the elected face of Iran to the rest of the world. And you had the foreign minister. So, interestingly, you had two of the people who are most responsible for the trouble that Iran has been causing in the region. They are, as we know, key supporters of the Houthis, key supporters of Hamas and key supporters of Hezbollah. And so, all of the region's woes and all of the instability are at least directed in some way, influenced by two of the people that were on that helicopter.
START HERE: Well, and you were kind of alluding to this, the politics there, could this crash change the dynamic and how the U.S. views Tehran, or would you expect that Raisi's hardline government is going to continue no matter what happens?
GANYARD: Well, Raisi is the most senior elected official in Iran, and his foreign ministers are very public foreign ministers. He is the face of the relations with the rest of the of the world, in particular the rest of the region. But it doesn't really affect the politics within Iran. The ayatollahs still control all of the power within Iran. But none of the true power rests with the president. It still rests with the mullahs. It still rests with the Ayatollah Khamenei.
START HERE: Well, and I realize, Steve, there are a lot of unknown about what actually caused this crash. Weather obviously is looking to be the primary culprit. But there will be people wondering if Israel could have had a hand in this in any way. Is that something that's even possible?
GANYARD: It's possible. You never know. The Israelis have done some amazing operations inside Iran. But we also know that weather was a key problem here, and the fact that there were two other helicopters with the president's helicopter who were able to land, but they lost sight of the president's helicopter – it would suggest that it was probably weather related. But at this point, we'll just have to wait and see. Obviously, the Iranians are never going to admit it if the Israelis did have a hand, and the Israelis probably in this case would not claim responsibility.
START HERE: And Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying that U.S. intelligence right now, pointing to that Israel was not behind this. So I want to make that clear. Steve, thanks so much for joining us.
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(LONDON) -- The U.K.’s High Court on Monday said Julian Assange can continue appealing his extradition to the United States, putting up the latest roadblock in America's years long effort to prosecute the WikiLeaks founder on charges of espionage.
Assange is accused by the United States of conspiring with Chelsea Manning, who, as an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Army, leaked to Assange hundreds of thousands of classified documents, including about 250,000 U.S. Department of State cables. WikiLeaks began publishing those documents in 2010.
The U.S. Department of Justice unsealed in 2019 an 18-count indictment accusing Assange of violating the Espionage Act by allegedly obtaining, receiving and disclosing classified information. A superseding indictment issued in 2020 added allegations that Assange had conspired with the Anonymous hacking group.
The U.K. court in March of this year said an extradition could go ahead if the U.S. was able to provide sufficient assurances that Assange's case would be considered under the full protections of the First Amendment and that he would not be subjected to the death penalty.
The U.S. Embassy in London reportedly sent assurances -- including that Assange would not face the death penalty -- to the United Kingdom in April.
Assange has been held for the last five years in Belmarsh Prison, a high-security facility in southeastern London. Stella Assange, a longtime partner, married Assange in 2022.
"Whatever the High Court decides today, please keep fighting for Julian until he is free," Stella Assange said on Monday.
Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, Assange's home country, has also called for the U.S. to drop its extradition request. "Enough is enough," he said last month.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called last week for the U.S. government to drop the extradition request. Sending Assange across the Atlantic "would allow for the prosecution of journalists who are simply doing their jobs and covering matters of public interest," the organization said in an open letter dated May 17.
Officials with the White House and the State Department have both declined to discuss the potential extradition. Reporters asked U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller about the possible extradition during at least two separate press briefings in April.
Miller said each time that he'd defer to the Department of Justice on specifics of the possible extradition, but also said during one of the briefings that the U.S. considers the allegations against Assange to be outside the realm of "legitimate journalistic practice." Assange is accused of "helping [Manning] actually break into government systems to retrieve classified information," Miller said.
A group of European Parliament members on Friday published an open letter asking U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly to put an end to the extradition.
“As elected representatives who have followed this case closely it is our view that there is no legitimate reason to the continued persecution of Mr. Assange and that he should be allowed to be united with his family,” the 31 members wrote in their letter.
ABC News' Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.
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(LONDON) -- With the news of Iranian President Raisi's death in a helicopter crash confirmed, Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, will take over with the supreme leader's approval, based on Article 131 of the Islamic Republic's constitution.
The article also clarifies that a council consisting of the head of the legislation, the head of the judiciary and the vice president must coordinate choosing a new president within 50 days.
In a statement issued Monday, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei applied the article and assented Mokhber as acting president.
"Mr Mokhbar is in the position of managing the executive branch, and he is obliged to arrange with the heads of the legislative and judicial branches to elect a new president within a maximum of fifty days," the statement said.
The Guardian Council of the country, the body responsible for holding the elections, said that the next president will run the country for four years, not just for the remaining terms of Raisi's term.
"The elected president in the next election is the president who will begin a 4-year term," said Hadi Tahan Nazif, spokesperson of the council, according to the official Fars News Agency.
Ibrahim Raisi was elected as the eighth president of the Islamic Republic in the 2021 election.
The vote was marred by a low turnout -- which the regime considers a key factor in justifying its legitimacy -- with a turnout of 48.8%, the lowest turnout of all presidential elections since the 1979 revolution.
With sensitivities about the succession of 85-year-old Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, who has the ultimate power in the theocratic regime, experts said Raisi's death may precipitate a crisis for the country's leadership.
"In Iran's conspiratorial political culture few will believe Raisi’s death was accidental," Karim Sadjadpour, a senior fellow with the Carnegie Endowment think tank, said on Sunday.
One of the first decisions that Mokhber made as the acting president was appointing Ali Bagheri Kani as acting foreign minister.
Bagheri Kani is a relative of the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei. He was working as deputy foreign minister to the late foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian who was killed in the chopper crash with President Raisi.
Bagheri Kani's most prominent role was being a member of the negotiating team during the failed talks that were aimed to revive the Iranian nuclear deal with the world powers, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Bagheri Kani is a critic of the former negotiating team which signed the original JCPOA with the world powers, saying that deal had ignored many of the Iranian red lines. His views are very close to those of the supreme leader.
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(WASHINGTON) -- All of the remaining U.S. troops based in Niger will leave the country no later than mid-September, according to U.S. officials and a joint statement from the two countries.
Both sides mutually agreed to a withdrawal deadline of September 15 after several days of meetings between May 15-19, according to a joint statement from the Pentagon and Niger's national defense department released Sunday. Fewer than a thousand troops remain in Niger.
The move finalizes a setback to U.S. efforts to combat terrorism in the Sahel, a region of sub-Saharan Africa where groups affiliated with ISIS and al-Qaeda operate. Russian troops are also currently based in Niger at the invitation of Niger's military junta.
A senior U.S. defense official who briefed reporters on a Pentagon call Sunday afternoon said they were unaware of Russia's current posture in the country and on Air Base 101 but said they do not anticipate Russia stepping in to fill the counterterrorism void left by the departure of U.S. troops.
"I don't think that this is a situation like we've seen in other countries in which the counterterrorism responsibilities will be turned over to a Wagner or a Russian-type entity. First off, I think the Nigerian military is too capable for that," the senior defense official said.
The U.S. plans to remove as much American equipment as is practical, according to a senior military official who also briefed reporters on the call.
"The goal is to take as much as we can to protect the investment of the U.S. taxpayers, but there's significant infrastructure, including the airbase," the official said.
Despite the ongoing withdrawal of U.S. forces, Nigerian officials have left the door open to future cooperation, according to the official, who noted that the American diplomatic presence will remain. The official suggested it is a good idea for the U.S. to leave that military infrastructure to the Nigerians.
"We are committed to a longer-term relationship with Niger. And so while ... our departure is certainly going to result in the reset of that, it's not in our interest to necessarily deny them the use of the equipment," the official said.
But all equipment that is feasible to remove will leave with the U.S. troops.
"Obviously, sensitive equipment, lethal equipment, hazardous equipment -- these kinds of things will be removed. A lot of what we expect will be left behind is either things that are immobile or are going to cost a lot more for the United States to take out than they're actually worth," the official said.
The U.S. is in discussions with nearby countries to try to keep some of the departing U.S. military capability in the region, though nothing concrete has come of that so far, according to the official.
"The expectation is that much of this equipment will return to ... our stocks if need be," the official said.
The troops and equipment are expected to leave Niger "well before" the Sept. 15 deadline, according to the official.
The Nigerian military first began efforts to have U.S. forces leave after a coup toppled the democratically elected president in July. It also asked French forces to leave the country.
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(NEW YORK) -- Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi is dead following a helicopter crash, Iranian state media said Monday morning.
The Iranian minister of foreign affairs and the others onboard were also killed in the crash. Raisi's administration began an emergency meeting on Monday following the news of his death.
The helicopter carrying the officials crashed Sunday as it traveled through rainy and foggy conditions in the rural mountainous area near Kalibar and Warzghan in northern Iran, near the borders with Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Red Crescent confirmed earlier Monday it had located the missing helicopter carrying Raisi, which had initially been said to have made a "hard landing." The head of Iran's Red Crescent, Hossein Kolivand, had told state media there was "no sign of life."
"The president's helicopter has been found," the head of Iran's Red Crescent said to state TV. "We can see the helicopter and we are moving towards the place. We have no details. Let us get on top of the helicopter to announce the details. We are about two kilometers away from the helicopter."
"Things are not good here," he said after being asked if they could see signs of a crash or burn.
Search and rescue operations were launched not long after the incident happened, according to the Iranian Foreign Ministry.
In a phone interview on Monday with the state TV news program, former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the U.S. sanctions on Iranian aviation were one of the main reasons for the crash.
"On the cruel American sanctions, the United States is one of the main guilty ones in the catastrophe of yesterday's crash because, despite the decision of the International Court of Justice, it has sanctioned selling airplanes and aviation spare parts and doesn't allow Iranian people have access to good air transportation," Zarif said. "These will be recorded in the list of the U.S. crimes against Iranian people that how they treated Iranian people."
Two hot spots were identified in the village of Tawal by a Turkish drone sent to help with rescue efforts, IRNA, Iran's state news agency, reported early Monday local time.
Red Crescent rescue teams began "moving towards the possible landing place of the helicopter," IRNA reported earlier.
"Currently, there are 73 rescue teams in the search area for the helicopter in the Tawal village, of which 23 Red Crescent teams (detector dogs) have been sent from Tehran and neighboring provinces to the accident area along with advanced and specialized equipment," IRNA reported Sunday.
The weather in the area was bad on Sunday and overnight, the emergency teams reported.
"The weather conditions in the area are foggy and rainy, and the search operation is conducted despite the difficult conditions and reduced visibility in the area," the Red Crescent National Emergency Management Headquarters said.
President Joe Biden was briefed on the Iranian president's helicopter incident, according to White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Sunday.
The State Department was closely following reports of the incident, a spokesperson said Sunday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Sunday he was sending 50 rescuers, two planes and one helicopter to Iran to help in the search, TASS, a Russian news service, reported.
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, the country sent an Akinci UAV and a Cougar-type helicopter with night vision capability to help with search and rescue operations.
Earlier, one of the president's relatives told the Fars News Agency that the helicopter was forced to land due to foggy weather.
In an appearance on state TV, Iranian Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi confirmed that the president's helicopter made a "rough landing."
Later Sunday, a spokesperson for the Iranian government described the helicopter incident as an "accident."
"We are experiencing difficult and complicated conditions. It is the right of the people and the media to be aware of the latest news about the president's helicopter accident, but according to the coordinates of the accident site and the weather conditions, there is 'no' new news until now. In these moments, patience, prayer and trust in relief groups are the way forward," the government spokesperson said.
The first reports of trouble with Raisi's helicopter, one of three in a convoy carrying the Iranian officials, began to circulate on state-affiliated media on Sunday at around 3:45 p.m. local time, or 8:15 a.m. ET.
Initially, 40 search-and-rescue teams had been sent to the area, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent announced to state media. Though search-and-rescue aircraft were also sent to the area, weather conditions prevented them from flying, according to the Red Crescent.
Vahidi said Raisi was in the area to help open the Khoda Afarin and the Qiz Qalasi dams near Azerbaijan and was returning home from the journey when the incident occurred.
"One of the helicopters was forced to make a rough landing due to bad weather conditions and fog in the area," Vahidi said.
Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan who was at the dedication of the dams Sunday with Raisi, offered assistance from his country in locating the helicopter.
"Today, after bidding a friendly farewell to the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, we were profoundly troubled by the news of a helicopter carrying the top delegation crash-landing in Iran," Aliyev said in a post on the social media site X. "Our prayers to Allah Almighty are with President Ebrahim Raisi and the accompanying delegation. As a neighbor, friend and brotherly country, the Republic of Azerbaijan stands ready to offer any assistance needed."
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran, also issued a statement Sunday asking people to pray that Raisi and the others are found safe.
"We hope that Almighty God will return the respected and honorable president and his companions to the arms of the nation," Khamenei said. "Everyone should pray for the health of this group of servants."
ABC News' Hami Hamedi contributed to this report.
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LONDON — The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth” press briefing on his court case.
Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come to an end in the U.K. as soon as Monday.
Assange faces a hearing in London’s High Court that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to reassurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
Here’s a look at the case:
Assange, 52, an Australian computer expert, has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over Wikileaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010.
Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He faces 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. If convicted, his lawyers say he could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower.
Assange and his supporters argue he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing and is protected under press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
“Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing and communicating information to the public of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. government,” his wife, Stella Assange, said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.”
U.S. lawyers say Assange is guilty of trying to hack the Pentagon computer and that WikiLeaks’ publications created a “grave and imminent risk” to U.S. intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While the U.S. criminal case against Assange was only unsealed in 2019, his freedom has been restricted for a dozen years.
Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after courts in England ruled he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation in the Scandinavian country.
He was arrested by British police after Ecuador’s government withdrew his asylum status in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail when he first took shelter inside the embassy.
Although Sweden eventually dropped its sex crimes investigation because so much time had elapsed, Assange has remained in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison while the extradition battle with the U.S. continues.
His wife said his mental and physical health have deteriorated behind bars.
“He’s fighting to survive and that’s a daily battle,” she said.
A judge in London initially blocked Assange’s transfer to the U.S. in 2021 on the grounds he was likely to kill himself if held in harsh American prison conditions.
But subsequent courts cleared the way for the move after U.S. authorities provided assurances he wouldn’t experience the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk.
The British government authorized Assange’s extradition in 2022.
Assange’s lawyers raised nine grounds for appeal at a hearing in February, including the allegation that his prosecution is political.
The court accepted three of his arguments, issuing a provisional ruling in March that said Assange could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The U.S. provided those reassurances three weeks later, though his supporters are skeptical.
Stella Assange said the “so-called assurances” were made up of “weasel words.”
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the judges had asked if Assange could rely on First Amendment protections.
“It should be an easy yes or no question,” Hrafnsson said. “The answer was, ‘He can seek to rely on First Amendment protections.’ That is a ‘no.’ So the only rational decision on Monday is for the judges to come out and say, ‘This is not good enough.’ Anything else is a judicial scandal.”
If Assange prevails, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to further drag out the case.
If an appeal is rejected, his legal team plans to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could possibly be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
“Julian is just one decision away from being extradited,” his wife said.
Assange, who hopes to be in court Monday, has been encouraged by the work others have done in the political fight to free him, his wife said.
If he loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials have no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign” and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
(GAZA) -- A "catastrophic" mental health crisis has unfolded in Gaza, affecting both civilians and humanitarian workers, amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, according to international aid organizations.
Since Hamas launched a surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and Israel responded by declaring war, more than 35,173 people have been killed in Gaza and more than 79,061 have been injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. More than 1,700 Israelis have been killed and more than 8,700 have been injured, according to Israeli officials.
The physical toll of the war has been documented in photographs and videos with Gazans suffering from severe injuries, including the loss of limbs, and malnutrition due to the shortage of food and clean water, as well as a "full-blown famine" that has struck northern Gaza.
But the war has taken a mental and emotional toll too, with fear and anxiety gripping adults and children alike and hidden scars that will likely last for decades, aid workers told ABC News.
They added that if Israel launches a full-blown ground offensive in Rafah, the city on the Gaza-Egypt border, the humanitarian effort, including the mental health response, will likely collapse.
The mental health crisis is "already catastrophic … and it keeps getting worse and worse," Dr. Audrey McMahon, a psychiatrist with Doctors Without Borders, or Médecins sans Frontières (MSF), who was the mental health activities manager based in Jerusalem until March, told ABC News. "Gaza has become an unlivable place. It's just unfathomable. The foundation of mental health is security, is safety, something that you can predict; they don't have that."
Studies show mental health effects of war
There is not much data documenting the mental health crisis among Gazans during the war, but studies of past conflicts have shown the effects of living in war-torn areas.
At least 10% of those who experience traumatic events in armed conflict will have serious mental health problems and another 10% "will develop behavior that will hinder their ability to function effectively," according to the World Health Organization in a review of research findings.
The most common conditions experienced are anxiety, depression and psychosomatic problems including insomnia and back and stomach aches, the WHO said.
In a study that looked at the psychological consequences of war trauma on women in Bosnia and Herzegovina, researchers found those exposed to serious war and traumatic events experienced more post-traumatic symptoms.
Another joint U.K.-Croatia study from 2017 looking at severe war-related trauma found that those exposed to such trauma were at risk of "interpersonal dysfunction 15 years after people were exposed to an armed conflict."
Most recently, a study published in The Lancet found in the first month of the Russian-Ukrainian war in March 2022, the first survey of Ukrainians' mental health showed 53% of Ukrainian adults were experiencing severe mental distress, 54% were experiencing anxiety, and 47% were experiencing depression. Six months into the war, 26% of parents still in Ukraine had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and 15% had developed complex PTSD.
In one of the only estimates available, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) says it believes almost all children in Gaza are in need of mental health and psychosocial support. Children under age 15 make up half of Gaza's population of 2.2 million people, according to the Population Reference Bureau.
Aid workers say Gaza is different than other regions of armed conflict because there are no safe zones and, unlike other war-torn areas, few people have been allowed to leave.
"Children have experienced not just one traumatic event, but what we call compound trauma, so traumatic event after traumatic event," Tess Ingram, a UNICEF spokesperson who was in Gaza three weeks ago, told ABC News. "And that's something we rarely, if ever, see because if you think about another conflict, a child might experience a traumatic event and then be able to flee to safety. But in the case of Gaza, children are trapped, and there's nowhere for them to go that is safe."
'A breach of childhood'
Because children make up such a large portion of Gaza's population, they have been disproportionately affected by the war and, in turn, the mental health crisis, experts said.
Davide Musardo, a psychologist and mental health activity manager for MSF currently in Rafah, said during one of his first days at the Rafah Indonesian Field Hospital, he came across a 10-year-old girl who had experienced burns due to the heavy fighting and screaming that she couldn't breathe.
"She was clearly in a panic attack," he said. "We start[ed] to recognize that every time that she has to do medical care, she was experiencing the pain of what she lived."
Musardo said he's seen many children in Gaza have acute stress reactions, suffering from panic attacks or screaming even if they are sedated. Other children may be so traumatized by what they have experienced, such as the loss of a parent, that they will shut down and not express any type of emotion, he said.
Ingram said during her most recent trip to Gaza in April, parents told her their children were becoming withdrawn: speaking less, playing less and sleeping less.
"That is describing a higher level of anxiety among their children, who had -- in many cases -- been displaced several times and understood that where they were currently wasn't safe," she said.
She said she met one boy, about age 9 or 10, at a hospital in Rafah who, during a previous military operation, had been badly injured and lost his father. Since that incident, he has not spoken much. The boy had been diagnosed with depression and PTSD, and his sister, a young woman in her early 20s, was the one explaining the boy's condition to Ingram.
For adults experiencing mental health issues, the main intervention is talk therapy, but, for children, Musardo said the main goal is to make their lives feel as normal as possible. He said his team at MSF mainly organizes play-based activities for children such as parties, listening to music and watching movies.
For the child who was screaming that she couldn't breathe, Musardo said he started to work and play with her, giving her a nurse's uniform and a doctor's pen, calling her "doctor" as a way to try and control her panic attacks. He said that as the days passed, she was able to calm herself down and experience fewer panic attacks.
McMahon said one team at MSF also wrote a storybook on grief and how to deal with grief when losing so many family members and friends.
"When we're able to offer a space, like ... a safe space to play, we do that a lot with younger patients," she said. "It's not always possible to play. Some children are not able to play anymore, and that's a very worrying sign for their development, for their mental health, and they haven't been to school in six months. It's just the breach of childhood, really."
Aid workers' mental health also worsens
Gaza's health care workers have also seen their mental health suffer over the past seven months. Many have been risking their lives to provide medical care, often with limited supplies.
McMahon said many MSF medical staff in Gaza are working under intense psychological strain. Some have been trapped in hospitals during Israeli raids and have to decide whether to leave patients behind or save their own lives, leading to feelings of distress and guilt.
"They are in an impossible situation," said McMahon. "Depending on who you talk to, they both feel like they are somehow heroes in the sense of doing the impossible and yet still offering care, but, at the same time, they are put in situations where they need to make choices that are extremely difficult."
She continued, "Like, do you choose between someone coming with an open wound bleeding that you need to do surgery quickly, or a child that is acutely malnourished and struggling to stay alive? And, like, both are in a dire situation. Who do you choose? And they are faced with that all the time."
Musardo said he has seen medical staff affected while treating patients during the war and part of his role is to provide support, both in giving them materials on how to self-care and letting them know he's there if they want to talk. He said staff members often come see him during the night shifts in the hospital, when it is calmer.
Many medical workers in the area are Gazans themselves and, therefore, are suffering from the same problems as many civilians.
McMahon said one staff member reported they couldn't go to work one day because they hadn't been able to find food or water for their children for the past three days and needed to prioritize searching. "That's the situation of medical staff," she added.
Looming threat of Rafah invasion
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dropped leaflets and sent text messages in Arabic on May 6, calling for about 100,000 people to evacuate the eastern part of Rafah and to head north to the Al-Mawasi humanitarian corridor as airstrikes began. Since then, nearly 600,000 people have evacuated Rafah, the U.N. said Wednesday.
The U.S. has assessed Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Rafah to move forward with a full-scale incursion into the city, but the U.S. is not sure if Israel has made a final decision to actually do so, two U.S. officials told ABC News on Wednesday.
If Israel does launch a full-scale incursion in Rafah, it will be "catastrophic for mental health," Ingram, from UNICEF, said.
"Over the past seven months, there's already been an enormous impact on children's mental health and every day that this continues to go on, it gets worse and our ability to treat children's mental health, when they're continuing to be in a situation that is unsafe, is nearly impossible," she said.
"While the fighting continues, not only does the trauma compound, but our ability to come in and try and help respond to that trauma is incredibly limited," she continued. "So, an offensive in Rafah would have an enormous impact from both of those angles, in terms of escalating the problem while continuing to limit the response."
Experts said their organizations and several others have been calling for a cease-fire for the fighting to end, the hostages being held in Gaza to be released and more aid to enter the strip.
Additionally, they say a cease-fire is the only way for Gazans to begin to address the emotional and mental scars they carry from the war.
"The scars, they will be long lasting and for life," McMahon said. "What has been and is still going on is utterly horrific, utterly abnormal. .... A war is potentially traumatizing for everyone. But again, the kind of systematic attacks on civilians, on children, this really impacts your view of the world, your sense of humanity, and this is extremely [difficult] to change or heal afterwards."
ABC News' Luis Martinez and Selina Wang contributed to this report.
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(BRAZIL) -- "It is absolutely, absurdly, extraordinarily serious what is happening in Rio Grande do Sul right now -- and unfortunately, it will get worse," Brazilian state governor Eduardo Leite said during a press conference at the onset of what has become the most severe climate catastrophe to impact the region.
Persistent rains and destructive flooding in the southern Brazilian state have left 150 people dead, 2.1 million affected, 620,000 residents displaced and 807 people injured, according to civil defense officials.
Harrowing images from the region show a once-vibrant city and abundant farmlands completely underwater.
The Guaíba River in Porto Alegre, the capital city of Rio Grande do Sul, could reach unprecedented levels of over 18 feet in the coming days, according to local officials.
Officials estimate recovering the southern state could mean building entirely new cities, begging the question, when an extreme weather event leaves your home uninhabitable, where do you go?
"We have a series of challenges and we cannot rule out having to remove entire cities from where they are, that is, rebuild cities in other locations," Rio Grande do Sul vice-governor Gabriel Souza said told local media on Thursday.
On Thursday, Jairo Jorge, the mayor of Canoas, a city in Rio Grande, told local media that currently 19,000 residents are in 79 shelters and 80,000 people have evacuated to the homes of relatives and friends in higher land.
"Most climate-driven migration and displacement will be internal," Alex Randall, head of programs at Climate Outreach and specialist in climate-driven migration, told ABC News, adding, "As climate-driven disasters become more regular and more extreme, inevitably more people will be displaced by those events."
What is climate migration?
Climate migration, or climate-related mobility, refers to the sudden or gradual displacement of individuals due to changes in the environment affecting their living conditions, according to the United Nations International Organization for Migration.
According to the Migration Data Portal, at least 7.7 million people in 82 countries and territories are living in internal displacement as a result of climate disasters.
In the years ahead, up to 216 million people could become internal climate migrants by 2050, according to estimates from the World Bank organization, which works to fight poverty with 189 member countries.
"This is one of many warning signs," Lawrence Huang, policy analyst for the Migration Policy Institute, told ABC News of the ongoing flooding in Brazil. "There's such a wide range of things we call climate migration, some of it is voluntary, some of it is forced. And in some cases, that's when entire communities become unlivable or uninhabitable and are forced to relocate."
Instances of mass climate migration were seen in the aftermath of the 2022 monsoon floods in Pakistan, where over 1.5 million people remained displaced in the country through the end of 2023, according to the U.N.
Socioeconomic stress in Pakistan combined with the environmental disaster led to an increase in residents seeking asylum in Europe, though most climate migration remains internal, Huang said.
From severe drought in East Africa to raging wildfires in Canada, the force of climate migration comes in many forms -- but it's often the most vulnerable communities who suffer the most, according to Huang.
"We know that when disasters happen, the wealthy are able to evacuate, and they're able to rebuild elsewhere, so it's often the low and moderate-income people who don't have the capacity," Huang said. "And we saw this in the U.S. with Hurricane Katrina."
In August 2005, the category 3 hurricane made landfall in southeast Louisiana, killing 1,833 people, displacing 1 million residents and leading to 3 million individuals registering for Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assistance.
"In the U.S., race and poverty are deeply connected," Randall said. "So it is far more likely that racialized communities will experience more extreme displacement situations in the face of climate-driven disasters."
Marking one of the most staggering natural disasters in American history, the warnings of Hurricane Katrina are just as pivotal in the present day as ever.
In terms of public opinion toward climate migration, Huang believes, "We need to do a lot more work to communicate with people and explain to them that this is the way migration works."
"We are going to see increased instability and increased mobility, internally within the U.S. and across the rest of the world, as the impacts of climate change worsen," Huang said.
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(LONDON) -- Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico's condition has been stabilized overnight following an assassination attempt, although his condition is still serious, his deputy said early Thursday.
Fico, 59, was shot five times on Wednesday outside a government building in the town of Handlova, according to Slovakian Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok.
Doctors worked overnight to stabilize his condition, with two medical teams working on him. He spent about five hours in surgery.
The complicated nature of his injuries means he's still considered to be in serious condition, his deputy said Thursday.
The suspect, who has not been named, has been charged with premeditated murder, according to Deputy Prime Minister Tomas Taraba.
Taraba described the suspect as a "lone wolf" and said he was only recently radicalized following the country's presidential election in April.
Fico took over as prime minister in October, running on a platform to end support for neighboring Ukraine in its battle against Russia, but had served as prime minister two times previously. In total, he's the longest-serving prime minister in the country's short history since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993.
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