Millions without power as outages hit Spain, Portugal and parts of France, Spanish officials say
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(LONDON) — Millions of people in Spain, Portugal and parts of France lost power on Monday due to an unknown grid issue, the Spanish government confirmed to ABC News.
The Spanish government said it called an emergency crisis meeting to fix the situation as soon as possible.
Authorities, meanwhile, asked people to stay at home and to avoid circulating, while emergency generators were also being put in place.
Red Eléctrica, the corporation that operates the national electricity grid in Spain, confirmed power outages across the country.
“Plans to restore the electricity supply have been activated in collaboration with companies in the sector following the zero that occurred in the peninsular system,” it wrote in a post to X. “The causes are being analyzed and all resources are being dedicated to solving it.”
A later post said power was recovered in some areas.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LONDON) — U.S.-Russian dual citizen Ksenia Karelina was released from Russian prison in an overnight prisoner exchange, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Thursday.
The exchange took place overnight in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Karelina’s lawyer Mikhail Mushailov confirmed to ABC News that she had been released.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the exchange in a tweet, writing, “American Ksenia Karelina is on a plane back home to the United States. She was wrongfully detained by Russia for over a year and President Trump secured her release.”
A U.S. official told ABC News that American and Russian intelligence agencies took the lead in negotiating the prisoner swap.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said in a statement, “Today, President Trump brought home another wrongfully detained American from Russia. I’m proud of the CIA officers who worked tirelessly to support this effort and we appreciate the government of UAE for enabling the exchange.”
A CIA spokesperson told ABC News that “much of the swap was negotiated by the U.S. government, with CIA playing a key role engaging with Russian intelligence.”
“Through these engagements, CIA negotiated with Russia and worked closely with domestic and foreign partners, including the UAE, to carry out the exchange,” the spokesperson said. “We also collaborated closely with counterparts at agencies across the [U.S. government] to facilitate this exchange.”
Russia’s Federal Security Service also confirmed Karelina’s release, saying she had been pardoned via a decree from President Vladimir Putin. The FSB said the exchange was made at Abu Dhabi airport with the mediation of the UAE.
German-Russian citizen Artur Petrov — who was detained in Cyprus in 2023 at the request of the U.S. and later extradited — was exchanged for Karelina, the service said.
A Justice Department notice of his arrest said Petrov was accused of involvement in a scheme to procure U.S.-sourced microelectronics subject to export controls on behalf of a Russia-based supplier. The components were intended for manufacturers supplying weaponry and other equipment to the Russian military, the notice said.
A 2024 statement related to Petrov’s extradition to the U.S. said he was part of a network that secretly supplied Russia’s military industrial complex with “critical U.S. technology, including the same types of microelectronics recovered from Russian weapons on Ukrainian battlefields.”
Karelina — a ballet dancer — was serving a 12-year prison sentence in a penal colony, having been convicted of treason in August 2024. She was accused of organizing fundraisers for Ukraine’s military, attending pro-Ukraine rallies and posting social media messages against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Her boyfriend, Chris Van Heerden, spoke to ABC News Live hours after her sentencing, saying she did nothing wrong. He said all she did was donate $50 to a Ukrainian charity.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti, Cindy Smith, Tanya Stukalova and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — Ukraine and its allies “are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire” with Russia “for at least 30 days” beginning on Monday, the Ukrainian foreign minister said Saturday.
“Ukraine and all allies are ready for a full unconditional ceasefire on land, air, and at sea for at least 30 days starting already on Monday. If Russia agrees and effective monitoring is ensured, a durable ceasefire and confidence-building measures can pave the way to peace negotiations,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in a post on X.
The European Union supports “the proposal for a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire” between Russia and Ukraine, the head of the EU’s main executive body said Saturday, adding that the “ball is now in Russia’s court.”
“It must be implemented without preconditions to pave the way for meaningful peace negotiations,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a post on X. “We stand ready to maintain strong pressure on Russia and impose further biting sanctions in the event of a breach of a ceasefire.”
The United Kingdom, France and Germany are saying they — with U.S-backing — are demanding Russia’s Vladimir Putin accept a 30-day ceasefire or they will all together increase sanctions on Moscow and increase military support to Ukraine.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said “all of us here, together with US, are calling Putin out.” If he is “serious” about peace then “he has a chance to show it now by extending the VE Day pause into a full, unconditional 30-day ceasefire,” Starmer said.
David Barnes appears in court in Russia on Feb. 13, 2024. Via ABC News.
(LONDON) — American David Barnes’ appeal to be released from a Russian detention center has been denied, causing prosecutors in Moscow to celebrate while Barnes’ friends and family in Alabama fear for his future.
In a hearing that lasted roughly three hours on Thursday, a judge at Moscow City Court rejected an effort by Barnes’ attorney Gleb Glinka to free him from custody. Instead, the judge increased Barnes’ sentence by six months, ordering that he be sent to a high-security penal colony and receive psychiatric treatment.
Cameras were not allowed in the courtroom, but Glinka told ABC News after the hearing that he was astounded by the decision, arguing that the Russian judicial system should not have jurisdiction over this case.
Barnes, 67, was convicted and sentenced to 21 years in a Russian penitentiary in February 2024.
The conviction came after Moscow prosecutors accused Barnes of abusing his two sons in Texas years earlier, despite Texas law enforcement having no involvement in the Russian trial.
Texas prosecutors previously found no basis to charge Barnes with a crime after his Russian ex-wife, Svetlana Koptyaeva, alleged during child custody proceedings that he abused their children in suburban Montgomery County.
“I do know that everyone that heard and investigated the child sexual abuse allegations raised by Mrs. Barnes during the child custody proceedings did not find them to be credible,” Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office Trial Bureau Chief Kelly Blackburn previously told ABC News.
“I didn’t do anything,” Barnes told his sister Carol on a phone call earlier this year. “This is a political situation and I need political help.”
Barnes, who was raised in Alabama and lived in Texas prior to his arrest in Moscow, is currently serving the longest prison sentence of any American currently being detained in Russia.
His case is unlike any other foreign detention case involving an American in recent memory, since Russian prosecutors have not accused him of committing crimes on Russian soil.
ABC News has been following the saga of Barnes’ detention since not long after he was taken into custody in Moscow in January 2022.
Barnes’ family members say he went to Russia a few weeks before his arrest in an effort to fight for visitation rights involving his children in Moscow’s family court system.
Although a Texas family court had designated Barnes as the primary guardian of his sons in August 2020, he could not see them since Koptyaeva, his ex-wife, allegedly committed felony interference with child custody in March 2019 by taking the children from the Houston suburbs to Russia and not returning.
A Texas warrant for Koptyaeva’s arrest remains active. Koptyaeva maintains that Barnes abused their two children, telling ABC News that she brought the children from the U.S. to Russia in order to protect them.
When Koptyaeva found out that Barnes had arrived in Moscow years later, she went to Russian law enforcement officials to report the allegations from Texas, according to Barnes’ relatives in Alabama.
Barnes was subsequently incarcerated.
His family and friends are hoping that he will be brought back from Russia to the U.S. through a prisoner exchange like the ones that saw the releases of Ksenia Karelina, Marc Fogel, Evan Gershkovich and Brittney Griner.
“If they have another exchange and he is not included on it, it’s going to devastate him,” Paul Carter, a friend of Barnes, told ABC News in January.
Carter and Barnes’ sisters, along with groups like the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation, are calling on the Trump administration and the State Department to declare Barnes as being wrongfully detained.
“Embassy officials continue to closely monitor developments in the case and are in contact with Mr. Barnes, his family, and legal team,” an unnamed State Department spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further details to share.”
Glinka told ABC News that he is planning to appeal Thursday’s ruling.
