‘Around 20’ hurt after car drives into pedestrians in Munich, police say
(Douglas Sacha/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — Munich police said “around 20” people were injured after a “vehicle drove into a group of people” in the center of the city on Thursday morning.
“The driver was able to be secured on site and currently poses no further danger,” police said in a post in German on social media.
Police said in an update that they didn’t yet have info on the severity of the injuries.
Police said the incident occurred in the area of Dachauer Street and Seidle Street in the heart of Munich, close to the city’s central train station.
Police said a “major operation” was underway, urging residents to avoid the area in order to assist emergency responders.
Thursday’s vehicle crash came less than two months after a car plowed through a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, killing two people and injuring nearly 70 others, local officials said at the time.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(MADRID) — Former Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales has been found guilty of sexual assault of stemming from his nonconsensual kiss of footballer Jenni Hermoso at the 2023 World Cup Final.
Spain beat England 1-0, taking home the 2023 World Cup title. Rubiales kissed Hermoso without her consent during the team’s trophy ceremony, which was captured on video and in photos.
Rubiales was suspended from his position in August 2023 after the incident. Nearly the entire coaching staff has resigned amid the controversy.
Rubiales had claimed that the kiss was consensual, but Hermoso publicly denied that claim.
After refusing to resign amid pressure from the Spanish government, players, soccer clubs and officials, he later resigned from his position. In October 2023, Rubiales was banned by FIFA from all soccer activities for three years.
The incident triggered protests and fed into the wider discussion about sexism and consent.
Rubiales could face more than a year in prison.
Last year, a judge said there was enough evidence for Rubiales and three other former executives with the Royal Spanish Football Federation to go to trial.
Prosecutors asked for a two-and-a-half-year sentence for Rubiales, arguing he held Hermoso’s head without her consent and that the nonconsensual kiss had personal and professional consequences for the soccer player, prosecutors told ABC News. He could also face a fine of at least 50,000 euros ($54,000), prosecutors said.
Prosecutors asked for Rubiales to be prohibited from communicating with or coming within a 200-meter radius of Hermoso.
The prosecutor’s office said it also requested one-and-a-half years in prison for the three former executives who the judge said may have put pressure on Hermoso to say it was a consensual kiss.
-ABC News’ Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report
Venezuelan community leaders speak to the media as they protest against the suspension of Temporary Protected Status in Doral, Fla., Feb. 3, 2025. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 350,000 Venezuelans who gained relief from deportation and obtained work permits in 2023 under Temporary Protected Status (TPS) will lose those protections in April, according to an unpublished notice filed in the Federal Register.
Last week, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she was canceling a recent extension of the program by former Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas which would have allowed nearly 600,000 current Venezuelan TPS holders to maintain their legal status until October 2026. She had until Feb. 1 to decide whether she’d extend protections for those who joined the program in 2023.
Now, nearly 350,000 Venezuelan immigrants may lose their legal status if they don’t have any other type of relief.
The program began in 1990 as a way to protect immigrants who are already in the United States when their home countries are deemed to dangerous to return to. TPS is under the DHS Secretary’s discretion.
In the notice, DHS acknowledges that some of the conditions in Venezuela that the Biden administration used to justify TPS designation in 2023, “may continue.” However, they claim things have gotten better in the country.
“There are notable improvements in several areas such as the economy, public health, and crime that allow for these nationals to be safely returned to their home country,” the notice file says.
The agency adds that Sec. Noem “has determined it is contrary to the national interest to permit the covered Venezuelan nationals to remain temporarily in the United States.”
The notice is set to publish Feb. 5 and says the termination of the 2023 TPS Venezuela designation will be effective 60 days from date of publication, however, protections were already set to expire April 2 without an extension.
In a letter to Noem last week, a group of Democratic lawmakers said returning Venezuelan immigrants “to a dictatorship” would be a “death sentence.”
“Given Venezuela’s increased instability, repression, and lack of safety, and within all applicable rules and regulations, we demand more information on why the Department has made this decision,” the lawmakers said. “The only justification that has been offered by the Administration is the false claim that all Venezuelans are ‘dirt bags,’ ‘violent criminals’ or the ‘worst of the worst.'”
Immigrant advocates are also sounding the alarm about the move some consider “cruel” and “reckless.”
“Donald Trump’s attempt to revoke protections for 300,000 Venezuelans is as cruel as it is reckless — but we know he won’t stop here. His shock-and-awe approach to dismantling the immigration system is already devastating families and communities across the country, and we’re likely to see immigrants from Ukraine and Afghanistan targeted next,” Keri Talbot, co-executive director of the Immigration Hub, told ABC News.
“Families who have built their lives here — who work, contribute, and play by the rules — are under attack, being thrown into crisis overnight and forced from their homes. This isn’t about policy; it’s about inflicting harm at any cost.” Talbot added.
The termination does not apply to Venezuelans who registered under the 2021 TPS designation, those protections will remain in effect until Sept. 10, 2025.
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (R) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken shake hands during a joint press conference following their meeting at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on January 6, 2025. (Photo by Lee Jin-man / POOL / AFP)
(SEOUL, TOKYO and LONDON) — The South Korean military detected a projectile fired from North Korea that was suspected to be a medium-range ballistic missile, a test-launch that arrived as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea.
The missile was fired from the area surrounding Pyongyang, the capital, toward the East Sea at about noon on Monday, according to the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff.
The joint chiefs said the South Korean military has heightened surveillance for additional launches and is maintaining a readiness posture for sharing ballistic-missile-related data with the U.S. and Japan.
Blinken condemned the test, which he called “yet another violation of multiple Security Council resolutions.” He added that President Joe Biden’s administration has “sought to engage the DPRK and multiple efforts to sit down to talk without any preconditions.”
“We communicated that on many occasions. We’ve done it privately, we’ve done it publicly,” Blinken said during a press conference in Seoul. “And the only response, effectively we’ve gotten has been more and more provocative actions, including missile launches.”
The last time North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile was Nov. 5, just before the U.S. presidential election.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan have during Biden’s term bolstered their real-time information sharing capabilities, a move that Blinken on Monday had “strengthened our common defense and common deterrence.”
He said the launch on Monday amounted to “just a reminder” of the importance of that trilateral collaboration, which has also included military drills.
“All of that and more is a strong and effective response to the provocations from North Korea,” Blinken said. “So I have confidence that, because it’s so in the interest of all of us, it will continue and future administrations, whether it’s here, whether it’s in the United States, whether it’s Japan, we’ll continue to build on the work.”
Tokyo reacted swiftly to the launch, saying it was reinforcing its regional alliances through coordinated action with the United States and South Korea. Officials condemned Pyongyang while emphasizing the importance of a unified approach.
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani, speaking from Indonesia, issued a strong condemnation, describing the repeated launches as a grave threat to Japan’s national security and regional peace.
“We strongly protest and denounce North Korea’s actions, which endanger not only our country but also the international community,” he said, reaffirming Japan’s commitment to work closely with the U.S. and South Korea to bolster deterrence and conduct thorough surveillance.
Many office workers in Tokyo were returning to their jobs after the New Year’s holidays when news of the launch broke. The projectile reached an altitude of about 62 miles and traveled about 684 miles before falling into the Sea of Japan, another name for the East Sea, and outside Japan’s Exclusive Economic Zone, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense. The Japan Coast Guard confirmed that no damage to vessels in the affected area had been reported.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba expressed serious concern about North Korea’s advancements in missile technology.
“The frequency of these launches and the evident improvement in technology demand that we redouble our efforts to strengthen deterrence,” he said during a press conference. “Japan’s peace and independence must be safeguarded by our own resolve.”
ABC News’ Will Gretsky contributed to this report.
