Category: National

(NEW YORK) — A rare asteroid will soon be visible to the naked eye in a rare celestial event, according to astronomers.

Asteroid 99942 Apophis – named after the Egyptian deity of chaos, darkness and fire – is expected to safely pass close to Earth on April 13, 2029, according to NASA.

The asteroid will pass within roughly 20,000 miles of Earth – nearly 12 times closer than the moon’s average distance from Earth, and closer than many satellites in geosynchronous orbit – making it one one of the closest approaches ever recorded for an object if its size and a “very rare event,” according to NASA.

The approach will be visible to observers on the ground in the Eastern Hemisphere, weather permitting, according to NASA. It will be close enough that sky-watchers won’t need a telescope or binoculars to see it, astronomers say.

When Apophis was first discovered in 2004, it was labeled a potentially hazardous asteroid because of the possibility that it could impact Earth in 2029, 2036 or 2068, according to NASA.

After closely tracking the asteroid and its orbit using optical telescopes and ground-based radar, astronomers are now confident that there is no risk of Apophis impacting Earth for at least 100 years.

The Earth’s gravitational pull could change the asteroid’s orbit around the sun as it passes in 2029, making the orbit slightly larger or the orbital period slightly longer, but the risk of impact with Earth will remain the same, NASA says. Its close passage will also afford astronomers around the world the opportunity to learn more about the asteroid.

Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian god known as Apep. The name was proposed by the astronomers who discovered the asteroid: Roy Tucker, David Tholen and Fabrizio Bernardi of the Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Arizona.

The asteroid is a relic of the early solar system from about 4.6 billion years ago, made of leftover raw material that was never part of a planet or moon, according to NASA. Though its exact size and shape is unknown, it has a mean diameter of about 1,115 feet and a long axis of at least 1,480 feet.

Apophis’ surface is weathered due to eons of exposure to space weather, including solar wind and cosmic rays, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Observatories around the world and in space will observe the asteroid’s historic approach to Earth in order to better understand its physical properties.

NASA has redirected a spacecraft to rendezvous with Apophis shortly after its close approach in 2029, while the European Space Agency is sending a spacecraft to study it.

When the April 2029 flyby occurs, Apophis will become a member of the “Apollo” group, the family of asteroids that cross Earth’s orbit but that themselves have orbits around the sun that are wider than the Earth’s, according to the ESA.

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(WASHINGTON) –A federal appeals court on Tuesday halted a criminal contempt inquiry into former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and other officials for last year’s deportation of more than 200 Venezuelans to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison, marking the second time in less than a year that the probe has been frozen.

A divided panel of judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered an end to the inquiry, concluding that the probe into whether the officials knowingly defied a court order with the deportations “encroaches on the autonomy” of the executive branch.

The Trump administration, in March 2025, invoked the Alien Enemies Act — an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process — to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a “hybrid criminal state” that is invading the United States.

U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned.

Boasberg subsequently sought contempt proceedings against the government for deliberately defying his order, and had concluded that “probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt” — but his inquiry was frozen by the same appeals court last year.

When Boasberg attempted to continue with his probe within the confines of the court’s order, the Trump administration filed an interlocutory appeal to stop the investigation outright.

“The district court proposes to probe high-level Executive Branch deliberations about matters of national security and diplomacy,” Judge Neomi Rao, one of two Trump appointees on the panel who ruled in favor of the government, wrote in Tuesday’s order. “These proceedings are a clear abuse of discretion, as the district court’s order said nothing about transferring custody of the plaintiffs and therefore lacks the clarity to support criminal contempt based on the transfer of custody.”

Judge J. Michelle Childs dissented from the majority and argued that Boasberg should have the latitude to proceed with basic fact-finding into the deportations.

“There is no question that there could be much to fear in a factual inquiry about the actions of potential contemnors who may have defied a court order. However, that does not mean that this court must intervene to end a criminal case before it begins, even for the Executive Branch,” she wrote.

In a sharply worded dissent, she argued that “the fate of our democratic republic” depends on whether courts can properly investigate and punish contempt.  

“Without the contempt power, the rule of law is an illusion, a theory that stands upon shifting sands,” she said.

Lee Gelernt, the lead counsel representing the Venezuelans, said in a statement, “The opinion is a blow to the rule of law. Our system is built on the executive branch, including the president, respecting court orders. In this case there is no longer any question that the Trump administration willfully violated the court’s order.”

The Venezuelan nationals were ultimately released to their home country from CECOT in a prisoner swap last July.

ABC News’ Armando Garcia contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — More than 50 million people across the Midwest are bracing for severe weather on Tuesday, a day after baseball-sized hail and multiple tornadoes were reported in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.

The threat of damaging storms has shifted slightly south from where strong winds blew the roofs off several buildings on Monday, including the collapse of a nursing home roof in Lodi, Wisconsin.

A level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk” for severe storms is in place on Tuesday for parts of Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Illinois, far northern Indiana, far northwestern Ohio and southern Michigan. Strong tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the Midwest on Tuesday, including the cities of Chicago, Milwaukee, Des Moines, Iowa and Detroit.

A level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk” for severe storms is also in place on Tuesday for parts of central Oklahoma. Some tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail are possible for parts of the south-central Plains on Tuesday, including Oklahoma City.

A widespread area from the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas to the U.S.-Canadian border in Michigan is under the threat of slightly less severe storms on Tuesday.

Tornadoes, especially in Oklahoma, are possible, along with large hail and damaging winds.

In the Northeast, there is also a chance for severe storms in parts of the region on Tuesday, with damaging wind gusts expected from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, including the cities of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Binghamton and Albany, New York, and Burlington, Vermont.

The storms are expected to pop up in the Northeast sometime after 3 p.m. ET on Tuesday and continue into the evening.

The severe weather comes after destructive storms hit on Monday in parts of rural Minnesota, Wisconsin and Kansas.

At least 14 tornadoes were reported on Monday across Kansas, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin.

The sheriff’s office in Franklin County, Kansas, reported that three people suffered minor injuries when a suspected tornado touched down in Ottawa, Kansas.

Video taken by ABC Kansas City affiliate station, KMBC, showed the roofs ripped off several buildings in the Ottawa area, including a motel in the city.

In nearby Hillsdale, Kansas, in Miami County, more than 50 homes were damaged by a suspected tornado, according to the Red Cross, which was providing support for displaced families.

On Wednesday, severe storms are expected to be in place from Oklahoma, including Oklahoma City and Tulsa, to southern Wisconsin. Parts of Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Ohio, including the cities of Pittsburgh and Cleveland, could also be in the path of severe weather on Wednesday.

In Michigan, heavy rains over the past few days, combined with snow melt, caused flooding on Monday when several rivers, including the Manistee River in northwest Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, overflowed, officials said. Several roads and bridges were washed away in the flood and some homes were damaged by the floodwaters, authorities said.

The Manistee River, near Sherman, Michigan, reached a new record level on Monday and was still rising early Tuesday morning as heavy rain continued to fall. The river has surpassed 18 feet, topping its previous record of 16.9 feet set in April 2014, authorities said.

Residents living downstream from two Michigan dams were advised to evacuate after seepage was found at the base of the Bellaire Dam in Antrim County. The Cheboygan Dam in Cheboygan County, near Lake Huron, was at risk of failing, authorities said Monday night.

Rain in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is expected to taper off on Tuesday afternoon, but another round of thunderstorms is expected to bring more rain to the area on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, increasing the flooding threat and adding pressure to the Bellaire and Cheboygan dams.

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(NEW YORK) — Brian Hooker, whose wife was reported missing in the Bahamas after going overboard on a dinghy, told ABC News he is staying on the island with his “sole focus” on finding her.

Lynette Hooker, 55, of Michigan, has been missing for over a week. She and Brian Hooker, 58, had departed Hope Town on the Abaco Islands for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay around 7:30 p.m. on April 4, when bad weather caused Lynette Hooker to fall overboard, her husband told authorities.

Brian Hooker was arrested on Wednesday and questioned by police. He was released on Monday without charges.

Hooker described being in police custody as “hell.”

“It was a little different chapter of hell in a giant hell that I’m in,” he said, overcome with emotion.

He told ABC News on Tuesday morning that he will stay in the Bahamas until his visa runs out.

He said his “only focus is to go back to the boat, and then hire or beg people to help me go find some areas to search.”

“I want you to know Lynette and I loved each other the most — we’ve been together almost half our lives,” Brian Hooker said. “My sole focus is finding Lynette, no matter how likely or unlikely that is. This search for Lynette has been interrupted by the investigation. I understand that investigations have to take place, but I’m going as soon as I can to start finding Lynette.”

Brian Hooker’s attorney did not allow him to answer questions about what happened the night his wife went overboard due to the pending investigation.

When asked if there was anything he wishes he’d done differently, Brian Hooker was emotional, saying, “I will always think there was something I could have done differently. My one job, my one job was to look out for her, and that has not happened. And I’m gonna keep looking out for her now, the best I can.”

“I’m going to keep going. I’m not leaving until I’m told to leave or convinced that it’s fruitless,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration on Monday agreed to fly the rainbow pride flag on federal grounds at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City after the National Park Service’s removal of the flag was challenged in a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.

The Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, agreed to fly the flag at the site as part of a resolution to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 17 by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation and Equality New York.

The site became the first federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights in 2016. The pride flag was permanently installed at the site during the Biden administration in 2021, but was removed by NPS in early February.

The move drew sharp criticism from a group of local lawmakers, officials and LGBTQ+ advocates, who rallied at the site on Feb. 12 and installed their own pride flag there to replace the one removed by the government. As the lawsuit moved forward, NPS did not remove the flag that was installed by advocates.

According to court documents, NPS agreed that the pride flag will fly at the site alongside the American flag and the NPS flag.

The Gilbert Baker Foundation, which is named after the artist who created the pride flag in 1978, celebrated the lawsuit’s resolution and the government’s agreement to fly the flag at the monument.

“The Rainbow Flag is more than a symbol — it is a global emblem of hope, visibility, and the ongoing struggle for equality,” Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, said in a statement announcing the agreement. “Its presence at Stonewall, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, is both historically and culturally indispensable. Restoring the flag affirms the truth of our history and the legitimacy of our continued fight for dignity and inclusion.”

ABC News reached out to the Interior Department and NPS for comment.

The NPS communications office confirmed the removal of the rainbow flag in a statement to ABC News in February. It said that, under federal guidance, “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”

“Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programs,” the statement continued.

The monument is located near the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar in the neighborhood that was a safe haven for many in the LGBTQ+ community in the 1960s. The bar was raided by the NYPD in 1969, leading to riots that became known as the Stonewall Uprising, which is credited with kickstarting the modern LGBTQ+ movement. The NYPD publicly apologized for the raid in 2019.

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(SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.) — A Texas man has been charged with traveling to California to allegedly throw a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman‘s house, according to court records unsealed on Monday.

The suspect, Daniel Moreno-Gama, was allegedly caught on video surveillance outside the CEO’s home in San Francisco, according to court records. 

Around 4 a.m. Friday, the suspect allegedly “threw an incendiary destructive device” at Altman’s house, which sparked a fire on an exterior gate, San Francisco police said. No one was injured, police said.

The suspect was arrested about an hour later outside OpenAI’s headquarters, where he was allegedly threatening to burn down the building, according to police.

Moreno-Gama, who allegedly had kerosene in his backpack, was seen trying to hit the building’s glass with a chair, according to court documents.

Federal prosecutors said they also found a document in which Moreno-Gama allegedly expressed anti-AI-executive sentiments.

He allegedly had a list of names and addresses of apparent board members and chief executive officers of AI companies and investors.

“MORENO-GAMA stated he “killed /attempted to kill” Victim-1,” court documents said. “MORENO-GAMA also wrote, ‘Also if I am going to advocate for others to kill and commit crimes, then I must lead by example and show that I am fully sincere in my message.'”  

In a separate incident, two people have been arrested for allegedly firing shots at Altman’s house on Sunday morning, police said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has fired two immigration judges who earlier this year dismissed the deportation cases of students advocating for Palestinian rights, the union representing immigration judges confirmed Monday.

Roopal Patel, who was appointed as an immigration judge in 2024, ruled in February that there were no grounds to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University. Ozturk was held in detention in Louisiana for 45 days.

Nina Froes, who was also appointed as a judge in 2024, dismissed deportation proceedings against Mohsen Mahdawi, a Columbia University student who was arrested by immigration authorities immediately following his citizenship interview last April.

Froes and Patel are among 113 immigration judges who have been fired during the current Trump administration. According to the National Association of Immigration Judges, six judges were terminated this past weekend alone.

It’s unclear if the two judges were terminated directly because of their rulings in the deportation cases of the students.

News of the dismissals was first reported by The New York Times.

A spokesperson for the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, which oversees immigration court judges, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., said on social media that the firings “violated every basic due process.”

“Donald Trump is purging immigration judges who aren’t rubber stamps for his cruel, inhumane mass deportation agenda,” Goldman said. “In just over a year in office, he has fired more than 100 judges and threatened others who refused to comply with his wishes.”

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(WINN PARISH, La.) — A Mexican migrant died last week in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, according to an agency notification sent to lawmakers, becoming the 47th person to die in ICE detention during the second Trump administration.

Alejandro Cabrera Clemente, 49, died on April 11 at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana.

In the notification, ICE said that Cabrera was found unresponsive and was transported to a local medical center.

“Despite life-saving efforts, at approximately 8:51 a.m., an onsite physician at WPMC pronounced Cabrera deceased,” the agency said.

Clemente is the 15th Mexican national to die in ICE custody since the administration began its immigration crackdown in 2025.

Last month, Mexican diplomat Vanessa Calva Ruiz called the recent deaths part of “an alarming, unacceptable trend” since the administration took office.

“These deaths reveal systemic failures, operational deficiencies, and possible negligence,” she said in Los Angeles.

ICE said that Clemente had prior convictions for disorderly conduct, drug possession, and probation violation, as well as an arrest for domestic violence. ABC News could not independently confirm these claims.

The increase in ICE deaths has coincided with an unprecedented rise in federal immigration detention. The number of people being held recently climbed to a record 70,000, the highest level in the agency’s 23-year history.

According to an ABC News analysis of ICE data, the first 14 months of the current term have been the deadliest period at federal detention centers since the COVID-19 pandemic. ABC News’ analysis found the current death rate is 11 per 100,000 admissions, compared to 7 per 100,000 last year and just 1 per 100,000 in 2022.

In a previous statement, an ICE spokesperson said, “Consistent with data over the last decade, death rates in custody are 0.009% of the detained population. As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained a higher standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens — including providing access to proper medical care. For many illegal aliens this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives.”

“It is a longstanding practice to provide comprehensive medical care from the moment an alien enters ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, and mental health services as available, and access to medical appointments and 24-hour emergency care,” the statement said. 

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(WASHINGTON) — A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder and aggravated sexual abuse in the death of his stepsister during a family cruise vacation, the Department of Justice announced Monday.

Anna Kepner, 18, died on the Carnival Cruise ship Horizon in November while the ship was in international waters and heading to Miami, prosecutors said.

The DOJ alleged the stepbrother “sexually assaulted and intentionally killed” Kepner. The Florida high school senior died from “mechanical asphyxiation,” officials said. 

The boy was initially charged as a juvenile, prosecutors said. He’s now been indicted as an adult by a federal grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse.

Kepner’s family said in a statement last year that the 18-year-old “loved being around people” and “drew you in with her smile and the way she carried herself.”

She was set to graduate from high school this May and was interested in joining the military, her family said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Monday threw out President Donald Trump’s $10 billion defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal after Trump sued the paper last July for its reporting on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s 50th birthday book.

In his order issued Monday, U.S. District Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that Trump failed to prove that the Wall Street Journal knowingly published false information in the paper’s July article on an alleged letter from Trump that was included in Epstein’s 50th birthday book in 2003.

“Because President Trump has not plausibly alleged that Defendants published the Article with actual malice, both Counts must be dismissed,” the order said.

The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Trump could attempt to refile the case by April 27.

In court filings, Trump’s lawyers had argued that the article and surrounding coverage were a “deliberate smear campaign designed to damage President Trump’s reputation” and subject the president to “public hatred and ridicule.”

In a 17-page ruling, Judge Darrin Gayles concluded that President Trump came “nowhere close” to the legal standard to prove that the Wall Street Journal acted with malice when it published its reporting about the birthday letter.

Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell told the Justice Department’s Todd Blanche last year that Epstein had asked her to coordinate contributions to a book celebrating his 50th birthday, but said she could not recall if President Trump, then a private citizen, was among those who responded.

Trump filed the suit by arguing that the Journal “acted with serious doubts about the truth of their reporting” because the president had claimed the letter was fake. However, Judge Gayles concluded that the reporters “attempted to investigate” the letter and did not act recklessly just because Trump denied its authenticity.

“To establish actual malice, ‘a plaintiff must show the defendant deliberately avoided investigating the veracity of the statement in order to evade learning the truth,'” the ruling said. “The Complaint comes nowhere close to this standard. Quite the opposite.”

The White House has continued to deny the authenticity of the letter after it was released by the House Oversight Committee in September.

Judge Gayles reached his conclusion without having to make a factual determination about the authenticity of the letter.

“Because the Court finds that the Complaint fails to adequately allege actual malice, it declines to address these issues at this juncture. Moreover, whether President Trump was the author of the Letter or Epstein’s friend are questions of fact that cannot be determined at this stage of the litigation,” he wrote.

Trump filed the defamation lawsuit in July against the Wall Street Journal, its parent company Dow Jones, its owner Rupert Murdoch, and the reporters who filed the story.

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