“The Soldier was found after a search by hundreds of rescue workers from the U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, Lithuanian Armed Forces, Polish Armed Forces, Estonian Armed Forces, and many other elements of the Lithuanian government and civilian agencies,” the Army said in a statement.
The four soldiers are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia. Their identities have not been released.
“This past week has been devastating,” Maj. Gen. Christopher Norrie, 3rd Infantry Division commanding general, said in a statement. “Though we have received some closure, the world is darker without them.”
The soldiers went missing on March 25 while operating an M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, the Army said, and the next day, their 63-ton vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and mud in a training area.
“Most likely, the M88 drove into the swamp,” and the vehicle “may have just gone diagonally to the bottom,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News via phone last week.
The soldiers’ vehicle was removed from a swamp early Monday morning after six days of work to retrieve it, the Army said.
The search effort — which included law enforcement and military personnel from several countries — was complicated by the muddy conditions and unstable ground, officials said.
“It has been truly amazing and very humbling to watch the incredible recovery team from different commands, countries and continents come together and give everything to recover our Soldiers,” Lt. Gen. Charles Costanza, commanding general, V Corps, said in a statement Tuesday. “Thank you, Lithuania, Poland, Estonia, the U.S. Navy and the Army Corps of Engineers. We are forever grateful.”
(LONDON) — Israel’s renewed military operation in the Gaza Strip “is expanding to crush and cleanse the area of terrorists and terrorist infrastructure and seize large areas that will be annexed to the security zones of the state of Israel,” Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement on Wednesday.
The minister said that a “large-scale evacuation of the Gazan population from the fighting areas” is accompanying the expanded military campaign in the strip.
“I call on the residents of Gaza to act now to eliminate Hamas and return all the kidnapped,” Katz added. “This is the only way to end the war.”
Israel renewed its assault on neighboring Gaza in March after a pause of nearly two months, during which time 33 Israeli hostages were released by Hamas in exchange for some 1,800 Palestinian prisoners, according to The Associated Press.
Israel is demanding the immediate release of all remaining hostages — consisting of 59 people, 24 of whom are still believed to be alive — who were abducted to Gaza during the Hamas-led surprise attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement that he ordered renewed strikes after Hamas refused Israeli demands to free half of the remaining hostages as a precondition for extending the ceasefire, the first phase of which expired on March 1. The bombardment resumed with “full force,” the prime minister said on March 18, adding that further negotiations “will continue only under fire.”
Israel’s renewed operations in Gaza sparked condemnation from regional powers including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the resumption was “fully coordinated with Washington.”
Israeli leaders have consistently expressed their intention to fully destroy Hamas and remove the Palestinian militant group from power in Gaza. Israel intends to retain security control over the territory as part of any post-war settlement, Netanyahu, Katz and other top officials have said.
Katz last month also announced the creation of a new directorate within the Israeli Ministry of Defense to facilitate the “voluntary emigration” out of strip. The directorate’s work aligns with U.S. President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians be resettled outside of Gaza, Katz said in February.
Palestinian, United Nations and human rights organizations have suggested that the U.S.-Israeli resettlement policy is akin to “ethnic cleansing.” Israel has denied such allegations.
Gaza has been devastated by the war that was sparked by the Oct. 7 terror attack, in which some 1,200 people were killed in Israel, according to the Israeli government.
Israel’s subsequent operations in Gaza have killed more than 50,300 people and injured more than 114,000, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health. More than 1,000 people have been killed since the resumption of Israeli strikes on March 18, the ministry said.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report
Nuns and the faithful attend Rosary prayers at St. Peter’s Square on February 28, 2025 in Vatican City, Vatican. The Vatican announced that there would be a recitation of the rosary for Pope Francis’s health, as he remains hospitalized following a respiratory infection. (Photo by Alessandra Benedetti – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
(ROME) — Pope Francis is recovering today after suffering a “sudden worsening of his respiratory condition,” the Vatican said.
“The night passed peacefully, the Pope is resting,” the Vatican said Saturday morning, but this comes after a dramatic turn Friday when the Vatican said he suffered an “isolated attack of bronchospasm” which caused vomiting with inhalation.”
The pope underwent broncho aspiration and was put on non-invasive mechanical ventilation, with a good response in terms of gas exchange, the Vatican said.
The pontiff, who has been hospitalized in Rome since Feb. 14, remained alert and oriented while receiving treatment, the Vatican said.
His prognosis “remains uncertain,” the Vatican said, and it will take 24 to 48 hours to understand the impact of the coughing attack and whether it has a worsened effect on his general condition.
The pontiff, who has led the Catholic Church since 2013, was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, according to the Vatican.
Andrew Tate (left) and his brother Tristan Tate are pictured inside The Court of Appeal in Bucharest, Romania, on December 10, 2024. (Photo by DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP v
(FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — Controversial influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate have landed in Florida, after Romanian officials announced that court restrictions prohibiting them from leaving Romania while awaiting trial were lifted.
The pair were traveling aboard a private jet after being allowed to leave Romania, according to a source close to the brothers.
Their spokesperson shared a live feed of the plane arriving in Fort Lauderdale late Thursday morning.
The Tates are accused of human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group with the goal of sexually exploiting women in two cases in Romania. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape. Separate allegations of money laundering are also under investigation. The Tates have denied the allegations.
Upon leaving the Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport, Andrew Tate said he believed he and his brother are “largely misunderstood.”
“We’ve yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives ever. We have no criminal record anywhere on the planet, ever,” Andrew Tate said.
He said their case in Romania was “dismissed” in December 2024 and, because they have no active indictment in court, the prosecutor “recently decided” to let them return to the U.S.
However, the charges against the Tates remain in force, and they will be expected to return to Romania for court appearances, according to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, or DIICOT. The agency warned that failure to observe the remaining judicial restrictions could result in harsher restrictions being instated.
The brothers had been confined to Romania since late 2022 when they were arrested on allegations of human trafficking, sexual abuse, money laundering and forming an organized criminal group. They were charged in 2023. A second case began last year on similar charges involving more women.
In December 2024, a Bucharest court ruled that the first case against the Tates and their two female associates couldn’t proceed to trial because of multiple legal and procedural irregularities and sent it back to prosecutors. The charges were not dropped. The second human trafficking case against the brothers in Romania is also still ongoing.
The Tates’ departure follows reports that Trump administration officials had lobbied Romania to lift a travel ban on them while they are awaiting trial.
President Donald Trump told reporters he wasn’t aware the brothers had left Romania for the U.S. when asked Thursday if his administration pressured the Romanian government to release them.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” he told reporters while in the Oval Office with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
“We’ll check it out, we’ll let you know,” Trump added.
A lawyer for an American woman who is one of the key alleged victims in the Romanian criminal case against Andrew Tate condemned the Trump administration after he was allowed to leave Romania.
“It seems clear the U.S. intervened in Romania to assist the Tate brothers who are being prosecuted for sex trafficking over 35 women including minors,” Dani Pinter, senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said in a statement. “This is a slap in the face to all the victims of the Tate brothers especially the U.S. victim who is not being protected by her country.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said his office had no involvement in the case and found out through the media that the brothers were traveling to Florida.
“But the reality is, no, Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air,” he said when asked by a reporter at an unrelated press conference on Thursday if Andrew Tate is welcome in Florida.
There is currently an arrest warrant against the Tates on allegations of sexual assault and human trafficking out of the United Kingdom. Last year, a Romanian court approved their extradition to the U.K. once their Romanian cases concluded.
A lawyer for four British women who have accused Andrew Tate of rape and coercing them have urged the U.K. government to intervene to ensure he is still prosecuted in Britain.
“Any suggestion that the Tates will now face justice in Romania is fanciful,” the lawyer, Matthew Jury, said in a statement. “The U.K. authorities must take immediate steps to secure their extradition to the U.K. to face charges for the offences of human trafficking and rape they are alleged to have committed in this jurisdiction. Romania has embarrassed itself. The U.K. must not do the same.”
The women in the U.K. case said in a joint statement that they are “in disbelief and feel re-traumatized by the news that Romanian authorities have given into pressure from the Trump administration to allow Andrew Tate to travel around Europe and to the U.S.”
Jury called on Starmer to raise the issue with Trump during their meeting in Washington, D.C., on Thursday.
The prime minister also addressed the matter from the Oval Office.
“There’s an English element here, so obviously it’s important that justice is done,” he said. “Human trafficking is obviously, to my mind, a security risk, and so we’ll catch up with the story.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
