Scorpion stings woman at Boston baggage claim as she picked up luggage after flight from Mexico
A passenger at Boston Logan was stung by a scorpion while retrieving her luggage in the baggage claim area of customs, according to police. (Massport)
(BOSTON) — A passenger at Boston Logan was stung by a scorpion while retrieving her luggage in the baggage claim area of customs, according to police.
The incident occurred at approximately 7:30 p.m. on Sunday evening while she was at Logan Airport Terminal E picking up her bags after flying back from Mexico when she was suddenly stung on her finger by a scorpion, according to statements from the Massachusetts State Police and Boston EMS.
She was taken to a nearby hospital for immediate treatment, according to the police and Boston EMS.
Authorities did not immediately disclose her condition following the sting and it is unclear how the scorpion ended up on her bag at the airport.
“While most scorpion stings are not serious, medical attention may be needed for pain management and wound care, including preventive tetanus vaccine,” according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. “Young children may be more likely to develop neurologic symptoms and need urgent treatment.”
Scorpions are not typically found in the Boston area but over 2,000 species of the predatory arachnids exist worldwide, according to the Mayo Clinic.
“Scorpions can be found on every continent except Antarctica but are most commonly seen in subtropical and tropical areas of the world,” the CDC says. “Scorpion stings often cause intense pain and redness, but venom from some species can cause severe illness, affecting the heart, nervous system, and other organs. Manifestations include agitation, arrhythmias, bleeding and other coagulation disorders, pancreatitis, uncontrollable muscle spasms, shock, and even death.”
(LONDON) — Israeli strikes killed at least 86 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip since the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas on Wednesday, Gaza’s Civil Defence body in the Hamas-run territory said.
More than 250 other people were injured in Israeli attacks, they added.
The strikes came despite the ceasefire agreement announced on Wednesday after weeks of intense negotiations in Doha, Qatar. The final round of talks followed more than a year of failed efforts to reach an accord.
The first of three ceasefire phases is set to go into force on Sunday, though is still pending approval by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. If the first is successful, the second phase will begin after 42 days, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who announced the deal in Doha.
On Thursday, Netanyahu’s office accused Hamas of trying to renege on parts of the deal, an allegation Hamas denied, saying in a statement that “The organization is committed to the ceasefire agreement announced by the mediators.”
Mediators hope the nascent ceasefire will form a roadmap to end more than 15 months of conflict in Gaza, which has devastated the Palestinian territory and created a vast humanitarian crisis.
Gaza Health Ministry officials said Thursday that at least 46,788 Palestinians had been killed and 110,453 injured in the strip since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a terrorist attack on southern Israel.
Some 1,200 people in Israel were killed in the attack, with 253 more taken hostage by militants, according to Israeli officials. Following several rounds of hostage releases, Israeli officials say 94 abductees remain in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead. Four more hostages abducted in 2014 are still being held in Gaza by Hamas, two of whom are believed to be alive.
More than 400 Israeli soldiers and security personnel have been killed during the fighting inside Gaza, nine of whom were killed in the past week, the IDF said.
The Israel Defense Forces claims to have killed more than 15,000 Hamas fighters and other militants throughout the course of the war. Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif were among those killed since October 2023.
ABC News’ Samy Zyara, Diaa Ostaz, Nasser Atta, Meredith Deliso, Somayeh Malekian and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
Trump on Tuesday said the U.S. could “level the site” and rebuild the sovereign territory — after earlier saying Palestinians living there should leave.
“They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony” in other areas or countries, Trump said Tuesday night during a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, D.C.
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We’ll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site. Level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out,” he added.
The White House defended Trump’s proposal as “bold, fresh, new ideas.”
“The fact that nobody has a realistic solution, and he puts some very bold, fresh, new ideas out on the table, I don’t think should be criticized in any way. I think it’s going to bring the entire region to come with their own solutions, if they don’t like Mr. Trump’s solutions,” National Security Adviser Mike Waltz told “CBS Mornings” on Wednesday.
Trump has not committed to putting American troops on the ground in Gaza, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “The president has not committed to putting boots on the ground in Gaza. He has also said that the United States is not going to pay for the rebuilding of Gaza. His administration is going to work with our partners [in] the region to reconstruct this region,” she said.
“I can confirm that the president is committed to rebuilding Gaza and to temporarily relocating those who are there, because, as I’ve showed you repeatedly, it is a demolition site,” she later said.
International reaction to Trump’s proposal came in swiftly on Wednesday.
United Nations
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres addressed the proposal during remarks to the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People at the U.N. on Wednesday.
“We must not make the problem worse,” Guterres said, in part, referring to Trump’s comments Tuesday but not addressing them directly or naming the U.S. president, adding: “It is vital to stay true to the bedrock of international law. It is essential to avoid any form of ethnic cleansing.”
“At its essence, the exercise of the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people is about the right of Palestinians to simply live as human beings in their own land,” Guterres said.
The secretary-general called for reaffirming the two-state solution.
Arab nations
Saudi Arabia issued a statement repeating what it has said in the past, that the kingdom would not establish relations with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state — even though Netanyahu said he thought normalization with the Gulf kingdom was “going to happen.”
“Saudi Arabia will continue its relentless efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel without that,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said.
Saudi Arabi reaffirmed its “unequivocal rejection” to attempts to displace Palestinians from their land, adding that its position to the Palestinians is “non-negotiable and not subject to compromises.”
Trump last month suggested Jordan and Egypt should take in Palestinians in order to “clean out” Gaza, something both Jordan’s king and Egypt’s president have fiercely opposed.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Wednesday called for swift reconstruction of Gaza without displacing Palestinians and for the Palestinian Authority to govern the territory.
In talks with Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa in Cairo, the two leaders agreed on “the importance of moving forward with early recovery projects and programs, removing rubble and providing humanitarian aid at an accelerated pace, without moving the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
While the statement did not directly address Trump’s surprise remarks, it marked Egypt’s first official response to the proposal.
Abdelatty stressed “Egypt’s support for the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people,” emphasizing the need for a permanent, just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the two-state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
“His Majesty King Abdullah II stresses the need to put a stop to settlement expansion, expressing rejection of any attempts to annex land and displace the Palestinians,” the Royal Hashemite Court of Jordan wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered a strong rebuke of Trump’s statements on Wednesday.
“We will not allow the rights of our people to be infringed upon, for which we have fought for many decades and made great sacrifices to achieve them,” Abbas said. “These calls represent a serious violation of international law, and peace and stability will not be achieved in the region, without the establishment of the Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, on the borders of June 4, 1967, on the basis of the two-state solution.”
The United Arab Emirates Foreign Ministry also responded to the proposal, saying Wednesday in a statement, in part, that it “affirmed its categorical rejection of infringement on the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people and attempts to displace them and called for the need to stop settlement activities that threaten regional stability and undermine opportunities for peace and coexistence.”
“The Ministry urged the international community, the United Nations and the Security Council to assume their responsibilities and put an end to illegal practices that contravene international law,” the ministry said.
Hamas, the terrorist organization that attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, and which is not part of the Palestinian Authority, also condemned Trump and called on the president to retract his “irresponsible statements.”
“We call on the U.S. administration and Trump to retract the irresponsible statements that contradict international laws and the natural rights of our people,” Hamas said.
“We call on the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the United Nations to convene urgently to follow up on these dangerous statements. We condemn in the strongest terms and reject Trump’s statements aimed at the United States occupying the Gaza Strip and displacing our Palestinian people from it. We affirm that we, our Palestinian people and its living forces will not allow any country in the world to occupy our land or impose guardianship over our Palestinian people,” the group added.
Europe
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Wednesday that Italy will look at Trump’s plan for Gaza, while adding that Rome remains in favor of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“It seems to me that as far as the evacuation of the civilian population from Gaza is concerned, the response of Jordan and Egypt has been negative, so it seems to me that it is a bit difficult (to implement the plan),” Tajani told the Italian Foreign Affairs Committees of the Lower House and Senate.
“I have said what the Italian position is, then we will see when there are concrete proposals. We are in favor of two peoples, two states. I have said that we are even ready to send Italian soldiers for a mission to reunify Gaza with the West Bank. The government has not changed its mind,” Tajani said.
The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated its “opposition to any forced displacement of Gaza’s Palestinian population, which would constitute a serious violation of international law, an attack on the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians and also a major obstacle to the two-state solution and a factor of major destabilization for our close partners, Egypt and Jordan, and the whole region.”
“France will continue actively promoting the implementation of the two-state solution, which alone can guarantee long-term peace and security to Israelis and Palestinians,” the ministry said in a press release. “Gaza’s future must lie not in the prospect of control by a third State but in the framework of a future Palestinian State, under the aegis of the Palestinian Authority. Hamas must be disarmed and have no part in the territory’s governance. France will continue to express its opposition to settlement activity — which is contrary to international law — and to any hint of the unilateral annexation of the West Bank.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock issued a statement saying, in part, “A displacement of the Palestinian civilian population from Gaza would not only be unacceptable and in breach of international law. It would also lead to new suffering and new hatred. And so the G7, the European Union and the United Nations have repeatedly made clear from the beginning that Gaza’s civilian population must not be displaced and Gaza must not be permanently occupied or resettled. A solution must not be put in place without consulting the Palestinians. A negotiated two-state solution remains the only solution which will enable both Palestinians and Israelis to live in peace, security and dignity. This is also the clear stance taken by the Arab states in the region.”
Israel
Netanyahu, however, seemed supportive of the president’s proposal during the Tuesday press conference and, delivering remarks after Trump, praised the president for his “fresh ideas” to accomplish their goals, which he said included ensuring Gaza is not a threat to Israel.
“I believe, Mr. President, that your willingness to puncture conventional thinking, thinking that has failed time and time and time again, your willingness to think outside the box with fresh ideas will help us achieve all these goals,” Netanyahu said.
Benny Gantz, a former military chief and the top political rival of Netanyahu who resigned from Israel’s emergency government in June 2024, wrote on X that Trump’s statement “is further proof of the deep alliance between the United States and Israel.”
“President Trump has shown, and not for the first time, that he is a true friend of Israel and will continue to stand by it on issues important to strengthening its security,” Gantz said. “In his remarks, he presented creative, original and interesting thinking, which must be examined alongside the realization of the goals of the war, and giving priority to the return of all the abductees.”
An Israeli official told ABC News that Netanyahu’s visit with Trump in D.C. on Tuesday “exceeded all our expectations and dreams.”
ABC News’ Hugo Leenhardt, Ayat Al-Tawy, Nasser Atta, Jordana Miller, Phoebe Natanson, Kelsey Walsh, Michelle Stoddart and Justin Ryan Gomez contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The Kremlin on Monday said it was “very important” to push President Volodymyr Zelenskyy toward making a peace deal, echoing arguments made by President Donald Trump in Friday’s contentious Oval Office meeting with the Ukrainian leader.
“He does not want peace. Someone should make Zelenskyy want peace,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, his remarks reflecting Russia’s long-standing false narrative blaming Kyiv for Moscow’s three-year-old invasion and more than a decade of cross-border aggression. “If the Europeans can do it, they should be honored and praised.”
The comments came shortly after Zelenskyy expressed gratitude for years of American backing in a statement ending a tumultuous week of transatlantic diplomacy that saw a dramatic and public break with Trump’s administration.
Zelenskyy framed this week’s outreach as the beginning of a longer process that may result in a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion of his country. “There will be many meetings and joint efforts in the coming days and weeks,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted to the presidential website.
“There will be diplomacy for peace,” he added. “And for the sake of all of us standing together — Ukraine, the whole of Europe, and necessarily America.”
On Monday, Zelenskyy reacted to another night of Russian long-range missile and drone strikes, writing on Telegram, “Ukraine is fighting for the normal and safe life it deserves, for a peace that is just and reliable. We want this war to end. But Russia does not want it and continues its aerial terror.”
“Those who want negotiations do not deliberately hit people with ballistic missiles,” the president added. “To force Russia to stop the strikes, we need a greater joint force of the world.”
Zelenskyy’s fiery Friday meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance demonstrated the divergence in Ukrainian and U.S. visions of Russia’s war, blame for which Trump has repeatedly and falsely attributed to Kyiv while also seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy.
Russian officials celebrated the disastrous meeting. Peskov told state television on Sunday that Trump’s administration is “rapidly changing” American “foreign policy configurations,” putting them “largely in line with our vision.”
In his Sunday statement, Zelenskyy said Ukrainians “understand the importance of America, and we are grateful for all the support we have received from the United States. There hasn’t been a single day when we haven’t felt grateful. Because this is gratitude for the preservation of our independence.”
“We need peace, not endless war,” he added. “And that is why we say that security guarantees are the key to this.”
Zelenskyy attended a summit of European leaders in London on Sunday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he had agreed with Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron that the U.K. and France would work with Ukraine to formulate a peace plan that will then be presented to the U.S.
Starmer outlined a plan including the continuation of aid flows to Ukraine and the maintaining of economic pressure on Russia. The prime minister said that any lasting peace agreement must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and security, and that Kyiv must be at the negotiating table.
In the event of a deal, Starmer said Europe will continue to help Ukraine militarily to deter any future military action by Russia. He also said there will be a “coalition of the willing” to help defend Ukraine.
Starmer said the United Kingdom is ready to back the plan with boots on the ground and planes in the air. He said he also recognizes that not all countries will be able to make this kind of commitment.
Starmer stressed that any deal will need strong U.S. backing to succeed.
Zelenskyy said Sunday he had been given “clear support from Europe,” reporting “even greater unity, even stronger readiness for cooperation” from his weekend meetings.
“Everyone is united on the main point — for peace to be real, real security guarantees are needed,” the president said. “And this is the position of all of our Europe — of the entire continent.”
“In the near future, all of us in Europe will shape our common positions — the lines we must achieve and the lines we cannot compromise on,” Zelenskyy said. “These positions will be presented to our partners in the United States.”
“Robust and lasting peace, and the right agreement on the end of the war are truly our shared priority,” he added.
ABC News’ Patrick Reevell contributed to this article.
