Category: World news

(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

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(PABRADĖ, Lithuania) — The fourth U.S. Army soldier who went missing during a scheduled training exercise near Pabradė, Lithuania, last week was found dead on Tuesday, according to the Army.

“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 bodies of the other three soldiers were recovered on Monday.

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.”

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(MANDALAY CITY, MYANMAR) — A 63-year-old woman was pulled alive from under the rubble Tuesday about 91 hours after Myanmar was struck by a devastating, 7.7 magnitude earthquake, the Myanmar Fire Services Department said on social media.

At least 2,719 people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of Friday’s massive earthquake in Myanmar, a government official reportedly told local media on Tuesday.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the leader of the country’s military junta, also said during a televised broadcast that another 4,521 people were injured, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.

“Among the missing, most are assumed to be dead,” he said on state television. “There is a narrow chance for them to remain alive as it has been over 72 hours.”

Rescues efforts were still underway on Tuesday, according to the Myanmar Fire Services Department.

With many areas hit by Friday’s earthquake still not reached by rescue crews, the number of people injured or dead is still expected to rise.

The epicenter of the earthquake was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country’s second-largest city. Even Bangkok, some 600 miles away, felt widespread shaking and saw significant damage from the quake — including the total collapse of a skyscraper under construction. More than a dozen people were killed in the collapse, officials said, with recovery efforts for the construction workers still ongoing.

The International Rescue Committee, an aid group, has reported “staggering humanitarian needs on the ground.”

“People require urgent medical care, clean drinking water, tents, food and other basic necessities,” the IRC said in a statement.

The IRC said it may be weeks before the full extent of the destruction is understood.

Ciarán Donnelly, senior vice president of international programs at the IRC, told ABC News Live that teams are dealing with an “unimaginably horrendous situation on the ground,” with 80% of buildings destroyed in some towns.

“The challenges are immense. You’ve got infrastructure that’s been destroyed, airports and roads that have been damaged, supply chains disrupted,” Donnelly said.

After the U.S. State Department said Monday that it was “in the process” of sending disaster relief experts to Myanmar, a leading aid group said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday that the U.S. has already “missed the first urgent window to help find survivors.”

“With USAID effectively gutted and critical staff receiving their final notices in the midst of an emergency, the US Government’s ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Myanmar and future crises is severely compromised. Speed, collaboration, and resources are life and death matters when disaster strikes. The illegal decision to dismantle USAID means the U.S. will be unable to show up like it has in past emergencies,” said Abby Maxman, president and CEO of Oxfam America.

“The U.S. has already missed the first urgent window to help find survivors. The second wave of crisis is the millions of people displaced who will soon face threats of disease, hunger, and more without access to clean water, food, shelter and other resources. The Trump administration must step up and continue the U.S. legacy of providing partnership and leadership right now for the communities who need urgent support,” Maxman said.

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Guy Davies and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

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(MANUEL ANTONIO, COSTA RICA) — High levels of carbon monoxide were detected in 14-year-old Miller Gardner’s hotel room, Costa Rican police revealed more than one week after the son of former New York Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner mysteriously died on a family vacation.

The carbon monoxide was discovered while conducting tests last week in Miller Gardner’s room at the exclusive Arenas Del Mar resort in Manuel Antonio, Costa Rican police said Monday.

Miller Gardner’s cause of death is not known and investigators are still waiting for final toxicology results.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic loss,” a spokesperson for the Arenas Del Mar resort said in a statement. “We trust that the forensic process will objectively, clearly, and conclusively clarify the causes of this unfortunate incident.”

“Out of respect for the ongoing judicial process and the family’s privacy, we will refrain from commenting on any unconfirmed hypotheses or possible causes,” the spokesperson continued.

Miller Gardner died in his sleep on the morning of March 21, according to the family.

The night before, the Gardners went out to dinner at a restaurant close to the resort, and they felt sick when they returned to the hotel, according to a Costa Rican source close to the investigation.

A hotel spokesperson said the staff “dispatched a medical team immediately, including a licensed doctor, which arrived to handle the emergency situation.”

“Miller was a beloved son and brother and we cannot yet comprehend our life without his infectious smile,” the Gardners said. “We are so thankful to all who have reached out to offer support and encouragement during this difficult time and we are confident our faith, family, and friends will help us navigate this unimaginable loss.”

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(MANDALAY CITY, MYANMAR) — At least 2,719 people have been confirmed dead in the aftermath of Friday’s massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake in Myanmar, a government official told local media on Tuesday.

Gen. Min Aung Hlaing said during a televised broadcast that another 4,521 people were injured, according to The Associated Press and Reuters.

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

ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.

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(LONDON) — Russia launched no long-range strike drones into Ukraine on Monday night and into Tuesday morning, Ukraine’s air force said, marking the first night since December 2024 in which zero such craft targeted the country.

Ukraine’s air force reported two missiles launched into the southern Zaporizhzhia region, both of which were shot down. The air force sent out no drone warnings during the night.

The air force also said that Russia attacked frontline communities in Zaporizhzhia with five guided bombs on Monday evening, killing one person and injuring five others.

The absence of attack drones represented a notable departure from recent weeks, which have seen Russia launch massed drone attacks — often of more than 100 drones in the course of a night — against Ukrainian cities.

“There were no strike UAVs,” Andriy Kovalenko — the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council — wrote on Telegram. “We are monitoring the situation, but this doesn’t mean anything yet.”

Both Kyiv and Moscow have continued to launch massed cross-border drone strikes in recent months, despite U.S. efforts to facilitate a ceasefire and eventual peace deal to end Russia’s 3-year-old invasion of its neighbor.

Last week, all three parties — the U.S., Ukraine and Russia — said they agreed to pause any attacks in the Black Sea and freeze strikes on energy infrastructure. Both Kyiv and Moscow have since accused the other of violating the pause on energy attacks.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Tuesday that its forces downed three Ukrainian drones overnight over the territory of its western Bryansk region. The ministry also alleged that Ukrainian drones targeted energy facilities twice over the previous 24 hours.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha also accused Russia of attacking energy infrastructure, telling journalists Monday that a strike on a facility in the southern Kherson region left 45,000 residents without power.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has repeatedly cited Russia’s near-nightly bombardments as evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin has no real interest in the ceasefire and peace being proposed by President Donald Trump and his administration.

In a Sunday evening video address, Zelenskyy reported “more strikes and shelling” in seven Ukrainian regions. “The geography and brutality of Russian strikes, not just occasionally, but literally every day and night, show that Putin couldn’t care less about diplomacy,” he said.

“For several weeks now, there has been a U.S. proposal for an unconditional ceasefire,” Zelenskyy added. “And almost every day, in response to this proposal, there are Russian drones, bombs, artillery shelling and ballistic strikes.”

In recent days, Trump hinted at frustration with Moscow, telling reporters he was “very angry” at Putin after the Russian leader again criticized Zelenskyy and called for his removal in favor of a transitional government.

Trump added he would consider applying new sanctions on Russia’s lucrative oil exports and on any nations purchasing its oil. China and India are among the most significant customers for Russian oil products.

The president later told reporters on Air Force One that his administration was making significant progress toward ending the war. Asked about his relationship with Putin, Trump responded, “I don’t think he’s going to go back on his word.”

Asked if there was a deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire, Trump suggested there was a “psychological deadline.”

He added, “If I think they’re tapping us along, I will not be happy about it.”

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(WASHINGTON) — As a U.S. team of experts heads to Myanmar to assist in recovery from the devastating earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people in Southeast Asia on Friday, international teams, including those from China and Russia, are filling the void in the U.S. absence.

The U.S. said Monday that it would provide $2 million in aid and a small U.S. Agency for International Development emergency response team has been deployed to assess the situation in Myanmar, but officials said that it had not yet been able to enter the country as of Monday morning.

While the dollar amount of initial aid is in line with what the U.S. has pledged in the past, the overall pace of the response has been slower. In the aftermath of the 2023 earthquake in Morrocco, for example, a USAID Disaster Assistance Response Team was deployed just hours later, although Morrocco did not ultimately ask for DARTs.

That same year when Libya endured catastrophic floodings, DARTs were deployed the same day. And when a major earthquake struck Turkey and Syria that same year, the DART teams were also launched just a few hours after the disaster hit. In both cases, the DARTs took a few days to get on the ground.

The U.S. response comes amid President Donald Trump’s efforts to remake the federal government and dismantle USAID, laying off thousands of employees, revoking funding for more than 80% of its programs and closing its headquarters, although those efforts are being is being challenged in multiple court cases.

On Friday, the State Department announced it was officially shuttering the agency and taking over “many of USAID’s functions and its ongoing programming.”

The State Department has pushed back on the assessment that cuts to USAID have limited the earthquake response, but officials say there has been at least some logistical impact caused by the reorganization, rather than a lack of funding.

“I would reject the notion this is obviously a result of the USAID cuts and that kind of funding,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Monday. “We’re certainly in the region.”

In the meantime, it was Chinese teams that arrived 18 hours after the quake and more than 400 Chinese personnel are now on the ground in the region. Beijing has in sent planes full of supplies, providing $14 million in aid. China also has multiple teams in Thailand.

It’s a propaganda win for China, showing it can be a reliable partner when its neighbors are in crisis.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning on Monday posted on X photos and videos of Chinese workers on the ground, rescuing survivors and delivering supplies, saying, “China, a friend in need.”

At the site where a 34-story building collapsed on Sunday in Bangkok, a group of U.S. military personnel were coming and going from the search area throughout Monday. The American team is working with Israeli soldiers to seach for survivor, sending drones into areas too dangerous for rescue workers to reach.

“We’re learning a lot from the Americans, and they’re bringing in a lot of good equipment,” said Choktong Issarangkool, one of the volunteers in the rescue and search teams who is also acting as a translator for the American teams.

Thais are grateful for the American assistance, something this region has become accustomed to following a natural disaster: U.S. aid teams have always been among the first on the ground to help.

State Department officials said discussions regarding a more extensive response to the earthquake are ongoing, including the possibility of sending a DART team, although it might be smaller than in past efforts.

“Our disaster experts, including those based in Bangkok, Manila and Washington, D.C., continue to monitor the situation with coordination with U.S. government counterparts in the region,” Bruce said.

She emphasized that the $2 million of initial support would be implemented through partner organizations that were already working in the impacted areas.

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(LEICESTER, UK) — Paleontologists are marveling over the unique fossil of a marine species that predated the dinosaurs, according to new research.

The fossil, dated to about 444 million years ago, contained a new species of arthropod that fossilized inside-out, according to a paper published in the journal Palaeontology last week.

The discovery was described by researchers as a “legless, headless wonder,” according to a statement from the University of Leicester.

The “exceptionally preserved” euarthropod was found with its muscles, sinews, tendons and guts all preserved in “unimaginable detail,” said Sarah Gabbott, a professor at the University of Leicester’s school of geology and lead author of the paper, said in the statement.

“Remarkably her insides are a mineralised time-capsule,” Gabbott said, adding that the specimen’s head and legs were lost to decay over hundreds of millions of years.

The new species was dubbed “Keurbos susanae,” or “Sue” — after the mother of the woman who discovered it. Researchers are certain it is a primitive marine arthropod, but the precise evolutionary relationships remain “frustratingly elusive,” Gabbott said.

The fossil was located on Soom Shale, a band of silts and clays about 250 miles north of Cape Town, South Africa. At the time the strata was laid down, a “devastating” glaciation had wiped out about 85% of Earth’s species — one of the “big five” mass extinctions in Earth’s history, the researchers said.

But the marine basin where Sue was found was somehow protected from the worst of the freezing conditions and provided shelter for a community of “fascinating” species, according to the paper.

“This fossil is just so beautifully preserved there’s so much anatomy there that needs interpreting,” Gabbott said. “Layer upon on layer of exquisite detail and complexity.”

The sediments that trapped the specimen were extremely toxic, the researchers said. The water contained no oxygen, but hydrogen sulphide — described as not only “stinky” but deadly — was dissolved in the water, the researchers said.

An unusual chemical alchemy may have been responsible for the unique way Sue was fossilized, the researchers hypothesized.

About 85% of the animals on Earth today are arthropods — including shrimps, lobsters, spiders, mites, millipedes and centipedes, the paper stated.

The downside to Sue’s unique fossilization is it makes it hard to compare the specimen with other fossils of similar species of the time.

“So it remains a mystery how she fits into the evolutionary tree of life,” according to the researchers.

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(PABRADĖ, Lithuania) — Three of the four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing during a training mission near Pabradė, Lithuania, last week were found dead on Monday, but the search is ongoing for the fourth soldier, the Army said.

Their identities were not released.

The M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle the soldiers were in when they went missing was removed from a swamp early Monday morning after six days of work to retrieve it, the Army said.

The soldiers, who are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, went missing on Tuesday during a training exercise, the Army said.

On Wednesday, their 63-ton-vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and “clay-like mud” in a training area, the Army said.

“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 multiday search effort was complicated by the swamp’s muddy conditions, officials said.

The Army said last week it brought in assets including “a large capacity slurry pump, cranes, more than 30 tons of gravel, and subject matter experts.”

“The Polish Armed Forces have also volunteered a unit of military engineers, which is bringing in an additional water pump, tracked recovery vehicles, other additional equipment and supplies needed along with 150 personnel,” the Army said.

On Saturday, a U.S. Navy dive team arrived at the site, joining Lithuanian divers, the Army said.

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(BANGKOK) — A desperate search for survivors continued Sunday — from a collapsed high-rise building that was under construction in Bangkok, Thailand, to the rubble of ancient buildings in neighboring Myanmar — as a series of powerful aftershocks from Friday’s 7.7-magnitude earthquake made it precarious for rescuers digging through debris, officials said.

The death toll in the Bangkok metropolitan region rose to 18 on Sunday, according to government officials. In Myanmar, the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake, at least 1,644 people were dead and another 139 were officially missing. At least 3,408 people were injured in Myanmar alone, officials said.

The number of deaths across the devastated region is expected to rise, officials said.

In the Bangkok metropolitan area, home to more than 17.4 million people, search-and-rescue workers were focused on a collapsed high-rise building in the Chatuchak district of Bangkok. At least 11 people, believed to all be construction workers, have been confirmed dead and another 78 people remain missing in the rubble of the 34-story Sky Villa condominium, according to the Bangkok Metropolitan administration.

More than 30 people were injured when floors of the building that was under construction began to pancake on top of each other around 1:30 p.m. local time on Friday, trapping construction workers in the debris and creating a large dust cloud that enveloped the area, officials said. The building collapsed about half an hour after the powerful earthquake, centered in Myanmar, struck.

Family members of the missing construction workers gathered near the collapsed building as search-and-rescue crews dug through the pile of debris by hand, racing against time in a search for survivors.

One brother and sister told ABC News their parents were among the workers who were in the building at the time of the collapse and are now among those unaccounted for.

American tourists Garret Briere and his wife told ABC News they never could have imagined that their first vacation to Thailand would end up being one of the most terrifying experiences of their lives.

The couple from Washington state was in the mall across the street from the Sky Villa construction site when the massive earthquake hit. Briere said he watched in horror as the building fell in the quake’s aftermath and described panicked people running for their lives away from the structure. Briere said a huge dust cloud enveloped the area.

“We ran out of the building because it started shaking,” Briere said. “I grabbed my wife’s hand and I said, ‘Don’t let go.’ Immediately, we were just covered in dust and debris, and we couldn’t see, and there were thousands of people just in a panic.”

It took just several seconds for the entire building to be reduced to a 7-story-high pile of rubble, the couple said.

The epicenter of the earthquake was in Mandalay, Myanmar, the country’s second-largest city. Bangkok is about 600 miles from the epicenter.

A series of aftershocks continued to shake the region Sunday. A 5.1 magnitude aftershock struck about 17 miles north of Mandalay on Sunday afternoon, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The USGS also recorded another strong aftershock as a 4.2 magnitude quake struck near Shwebo, which is about 68 miles northwest of Mandalay, earlier on Sunday.

Several videos emerged Sunday showing rescuers pulling survivors from the rubble in Myanmar. The Myanmar Fire Services Department released a video overnight showing rescuers pulling a woman alive from a collapsed building. People could be heard cheering in the background as the woman was taken to medics for treatment.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted Friday about the potential U.S. response to the earthquake.

“My prayers go out to the people of Burma and Thailand who are impacted by the earthquake,” Rubio wrote in a social media post. “We’ve been in contact with these countries and, as @POTUS said, stand ready to provide assistance.”

Rubio also confirmed the State Department’s teams in the affected countries were “safe and secure.”

The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has suspended nonemergency consular services for the time being. The U.S. mission to Thailand has not reported any disruption in services.

ABC News’ Karson Yiu, Gamay Palacios and Preechaya Rassadanukul contributed to this report.

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