Storm slamming Ireland and UK is ‘a likely danger to life,’ according to official
People walk about in the heavy rain on January 24, 2025 in Scotland, United Kingdom. The Met Office has issued rare red Warnings for wind for Northern Ireland as well as central and southwestern areas of Scotland. These are accompanied by wider Amber and Yellow Warnings for wind, as well as Yellow Warnings for rain and snow across the UK. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)
(LONDON) — A massive storm is battering parts of the U.K. and Ireland today, bringing devastating winds, heavy rain and snow, according to the Met Office, the United Kingdom’s national weather and climate service.
“This is probably going to be the most consequential wind storm for most people across the island of Ireland and across the U.K. in their lived experience,” Peter Thorne, a climate change professor at Maynooth University in Ireland, told ABC News.
Red warnings for high winds have been issued for Northern Ireland along with central and southwestern areas of Scotland. The storm, named Éowyn, will also impact Northern England, Southern England and Wales, according to officials.
“We reserve the issuing of Red Warnings for the most severe weather which represents a likely danger to life and severe disruption,” according to Met Office Chief Meteorologist Paul Gunderson.
“Storm Éowyn is a multi-hazard event, with snow likely for some, rain for many and strong winds for much of the U.K.,” Gunderson added. “As a result, a number of weather warnings have been issued, with all parts of the U.K. covered by one warning at some point on Friday.”
Wind gusts in excess of 90 mph were recorded in Northern Ireland and parts of Wales early Friday as the storm approached, with record peak gusts of 114 mph recorded in Mace Head, on the west-central Irish coast, according to the Met Office.
The initial forecast was for heavy rain and wind starting early Friday morning in southwestern parts of the U.K., according to the Met Office, traveling northeast across the rest of the country. Along with destructive winds, the storm will bring snow to Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland, but will quickly transition back to rain, the Met Service said.
In Ireland and Scotland, wind gusts were expected to reach up to 80-90 mph, and potentially up to 100 mph for exposed coastal areas, according to Gunderson.
In the U.S., winds of that velocity would be found in a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane.
“I’ve never seen a red warning cover the entirety of the island,” Thorne told ABC News.
Thorne said that the cold weather system from the U.S. is what’s making Éowyn a major storm.
“At the same time [as the cold weather], you have a North Atlantic that is near a time-of-year record warmth,” Thorne said. “That huge temperature gradient is kicking off a very active jet stream. This particular storm is hitching a ride on the jet stream that supercharges it.”
Thorne told ABC News he expects half a million to a million properties or businesses will be without power after this storm.
“It’s important to note that even those away from the immediate Red Warning areas will still likely see disruptive weather, with travel plans likely to be severely impacted, as well as the possibility of power cuts for some,” according to Gunderson.
The Met Service also notes that although the snow is unlikely to last long, it will change to rain which in turn could cause surface-water flooding in some places. The weather event will likely cause significant challenges and disruption to travel, according to the Met Office, which advises motorists to visit the U.K.’s National Highways website for hazardous weather travel safety tips.
After Éowyn barrels through on Friday and early Saturday, a series of additional storms are expected to arrive in northwest Europe, bringing more wet and windy weather on Sunday and continuing into the beginning of next week, according to the Met Office.
(LONDON) — The Israel Defense Forces continues its intense airstrike and ground campaigns in Gaza, particularly in the north of the strip. A latest round of peace talks to end the 15-month-old war has resumed in Qatar, with high-level delegations traveling to Doha.
Meanwhile, the November ceasefire in Lebanon is holding despite ongoing Israeli airstrikes on Hezbollah targets, which Israeli officials say are responses to ceasefire violations by the Iranian-backed militant group. Israeli forces also remain active inside the Syrian border region as victorious rebels there build a transitional government.
Tensions remain high between Israel and Iran after tit-for-tat long-range strikes in recent months and threats of further military action from both sides. The IDF and the Yemeni Houthis also continue to exchange attacks.
A ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas has hit a last-minute snag, with both sides at odds over the Philadelphia axis, a piece of land separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt, according to an Israeli source with direct knowledge of the negotiations.
“The Israeli negotiating team was recently informed that the Hamas terrorist organization decided at the last minute to make new demands – this time regarding the Philadelphia axis, in contrast to the maps that have already been approved by the cabinet and American mediators. Israel strongly opposes any changes to these maps,” the Israeli source told ABC News.
Hamas has given green light to ceasefire deal, sources say
Two sources close to the ceasefire negotiations tell ABC News Hamas has given the green light to the agreement.
“We are very close,” the sources said. “The goal (is) an agreement today or tomorrow.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
IDF attacks 50 Gaza targets as ceasefire deal nears
The Israel Defense Forces and Israeli intelligence agencies coordinated to attack around 50 targets across the Gaza Strip in the previous 24 hours, the IDF said in a Wednesday morning post to X.
The attacks targeted Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the IDF said.
It reported strikes in Gaza City in the north of the strip, Khan Younis in the south and Deir al-Balah in central Gaza.
The targets included “terrorist cells, weapons depots, underground infrastructure, anti-tank positions and military structures,” the IDF said.
The latest wave of strikes came as ceasefire negotiators in Qatar reportedly neared a deal to pause — and eventually scale down — the 15-month-old war.
Israel, Hamas agree on core elements of Gaza ceasefire, but haggling over details: US officials
Israel and the highest ranks of Hamas have now agreed to the core elements of the hostage release-ceasefire deal on the table, but both sides are continuing to haggle over the details of the proposal, according to two officials familiar with the negotiations.
The outstanding differences are seen as relatively minor, but talks are expected to continue into Wednesday, the officials said.
Many of the items that are still being ironed out are tied to stubborn sticking points that have emerged in the past, like the operation of the Rafah border crossing and Israeli security concerns connected to the movement of displaced Palestinians back to their homes in northern Gaza.
The disagreements are unlikely to derail progress at this point, according to the officials.
Two of the three Americans that are possibly alive inside Gaza are poised to be released in the initial days or weeks of the ceasefire if an agreement is reached, but an official said they expect the releases will happen slower than they did during the truce in November 2023.
While they don’t have recent proof of life for the two Americans, the assumption is that they and most — but not all — of the 33 hostages freed under the deal will be returned alive.
-ABC News’ Shannon K. Kingston
Israel waiting to hear back from Hamas on ceasefire agreement
Israel is currently waiting to hear back from Hamas on the most recent draft language of a ceasefire deal, sources told ABC News.
The two sides are reportedly closer to an agreement than ever before, according to a spokesperson for Qatar Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim bin Jabr Al Thani.
“The ongoing talks in Doha regarding Gaza are fruitful, positive and focus on the final details. Meetings are underway in Doha between the parties to the agreement and we are awaiting updates from them,” the spokesperson told ABC News.
Implementation of the agreement will begin shortly after it is announced, according to the spokesperson.
Qatar expecting ceasefire deal ‘soon’
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a Tuesday briefing that participants in the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha are close to a ceasefire deal.
“We expect the agreement to be announced soon,” the spokesperson said during the press conference.
Qatar is a key mediator between Israel and Hamas and has hosted several rounds of ceasefire talks in the capital Doha.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
61 Palestinians killed in Gaza as ceasefire talks continue
The Gaza Ministry of Health said Tuesday that Israel Defense Forces strikes killed at least 61 Palestinians in the previous 24 hours and injured 281 more in the Hamas-run territory.
The total number of Palestinians killed since the war broke out on Oct. 7, 2023, is now 46,645 with 110,012 people injured, according to the ministry.
-ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian
Hamas says Gaza talks are in ‘final stages’
Hamas said in a statement Tuesday that ceasefire, prisoner and hostage release talks with Israel are in their “final stages,” adding it hopes “that this round of negotiations will end with a clear and comprehensive agreement.”
In a statement posted to the group’s website, Hamas said it held meetings and consultations with leaders of other Palestinian factions regarding the progress made in ongoing negotiations in Doha, Qatar.
“During these contacts, the leaders of the forces and factions expressed their satisfaction with the course of the negotiations, stressing the need for general national preparation for the next stage and its requirements,” Hamas said.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta
Israel hoping for ceasefire announcement ‘soon,’ official says
An Israeli government official told ABC News on Tuesday morning they “hope we can announce something soon” regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza.
The official said there had been “real progress” on every part of the negotiation in the last few days.
The official added that Hamas has changed and they are no longer “dictating” the terms, but are negotiating. “We are close, but not there yet,” they said.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Sirens sound in central Israel after projectile launched from Yemen: IDF
A projectile was fired from Yemen towards Israel, the IDF said in a release early Tuesday morning local time.
Sirens were sounded in a number of areas in central Israel, the IDF said.
Latest on hostages in ceasefire deal
Thirty-three hostages, living and dead, are expected to be freed in the first phase of the ceasefire deal, according to a person with direct knowledge of the ongoing negotiations.
There are 94 abductees remaining in Gaza, including 34 who have been confirmed dead, according to Israeli officials.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
‘Real chance’ of ceasefire success, source says
A source close to the ongoing Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar told ABC News that Israel is waiting for Hamas to approve moving into a final “closing round of negotiations,” adding there is a “real chance” for a “breakthrough” after a diplomatic blitz in Doha this weekend.
“We still have ahead of us a closing round of negotiations,” the source added
Reuters reported Monday that mediators in Qatar handed both Israel and Hamas a final draft of the ceasefire proposal, citing an official briefed on the negotiations.
Reuters reported that the official said a breakthrough was reached after talks between Steve Witkoff — President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy — the Qatari prime minister and Israeli spy chiefs.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, meanwhile, said Monday “there is progress,” and that the situation “looks much better than previously.”
“I don’t want to say more than that because I realize there are families and they are sensitive to every word, and every sentence,” Saar added. “I hope that within a short time we will see things happening, but it is still to be proved.”
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Guy Davies
Far-right minister says potential Gaza ceasefire deal represents ‘catastrophe’
Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said he will not support the potential Gaza ceasefire deal currently being negotiated in Qatar, describing it as “a catastrophe for the national security of Israel.”
“We will not be part of a surrender deal that would include releasing arch terrorists, stopping the war and destroying its achievements that were bought with much blood and abandoning many hostages,” Smotrich wrote in a post to X on Monday.
“Now is the time to continue with all our might, to occupy and cleanse the entire strip, to finally take control of humanitarian aid from Hamas and to open the gates of hell on Gaza until Hamas surrenders completely and all the hostages are returned.”
-ABC News’ Dana Savir
Netanyahu spoke with Biden on ceasefire and hostage deal
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he spoke with President Joe Biden on Sunday about progress in negotiating a ceasefire and hostage deal.
A senior White House administration official confirmed the call to ABC News.
“The Prime Minister discussed with the US President the progress in negotiations for the release of our hostages, and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating delegation to Doha, in order to promote the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office wrote in a release about the call.
According to the White House, Biden and Netanyahu “discussed the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region.”
The call comes as Brett McGurk, the White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, is in the Middle East for negotiations. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday that McGurk is there to hammer out the “final details” of an agreement.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller and Michelle Stoddart
100 days of Israel’s north Gaza assault
Sunday marked 100 days since the Israel Defense Forces launched its military operation in northern Gaza, with the toll of dead and missing Palestinians now at 5,000 people, according to a report published by the Gaza media office in the Hamas-run territory.
Some 9,500 more people have been injured and 2,600 have been detained including women and children, the report said.
Israel continues striking targets across the strip. Over the last 24 hours, IDF attacks killed 24 Palestinians, according to data published by the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The report added that 46,565 Palestinians have been killed by Israel throughout Gaza since the war began in October 2023, with another 109,660 people injured.
Israeli attacks in the north of Gaza have targeted civilian infrastructures and hospitals, which combined with a siege of the area have worsened a humanitarian crisis there.
Calling for an end to the war, the Gaza media office report urged the international community — including the UN — to take immediate action to stop the assault and address the humanitarian crisis in the strip.
Israeli strikes on Gaza continued as Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dispatched senior negotiators to Qatar for ceasefire, prisoner and hostage release talks attended by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
-ABC News’ Samy Zyara and Jordana Miller
High-level delegations gather in Doha for Gaza talks
For the first time in months, Israeli sources are expressing cautious optimism that a Gaza ceasefire may be within reach before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Officials close to the matter told ABC News on Sunday that a high-level Israeli delegation led by the head of the Mossad — David Barnea — arrived in Doha, Qatar, for a critical round of talks.
Others participating are Egyptian and U.S. officials including President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming Middle East adviser, Steven Witkoff, and President Joe Biden’s outgoing adviser, Brett McGurk.
Witkoff made a surprise visit to Israel Saturday and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
According to Israel’s Channel 12, progress on some issues has been made — including the ratio of Palestinian prisoners to be released and the details of the Israel Defense Forces’ redeployment.
But some outstanding issues remain, including whether Hamas can provide Israel with a list of hostages who are alive. A Hamas official told Saudi media on Saturday that the group is ready to show flexibility.
The first phase of the deal is expected to last six to eight weeks, as the report suggests. A leaked hostage list by Hamas shows the names of two Americans to be released in the first phase. Seven Americans are among the 94 hostages, three of whom are presumed to still be alive.
Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 5, 2023. (Photo by PAVEL BYRKIN/SPUTNIK/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — “Europe’s last dictator” — as Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has often been termed — thus far appears to have kept his nation out of the worst of the spiralling war engulfing his neighbors to the east and south.
The 70-year-old provided invaluable material and political support for Russian ally President Vladimir Putin in his war on Ukraine, even offering Belarus as a launchpad for the doomed Russian drive towards Kyiv in the early stages of the full-scale invasion.
Since then, Russian forces have used Belarusian territory to launch ballistic missiles into Ukraine. Belarus houses bases at which Russian troops train for battle and hospitals where they recover.
Minsk even now hosts Russian nuclear warheads and Lukashenko brokered the short-lived settlement between the Kremlin and Wagner financier Yevgeny Prigozhin after the latter’s ill-fated 2023 mutiny.
As the war in Ukraine escalated and the enmity between Moscow and its Western rivals deepened, Lukashenko’s apparent hesitance to fully commit to the conflict seems to have bought him some level of freedom from retaliation.
But with Moscow’s drone and missile barrages into Ukraine growing in scale and regularity, Belarusian opposition groups say the danger to their country is increasing.
The Belarusian Hajun Project — an open-source intelligence group banned as an “extremist” organization by Minsk — said a record-high total of 151 drones entered Belarus during November. At least three were shot down by Belarusian air defenses, it added.
One Russian attack in late November saw a record 38 strike drones cross into Belarus, the group said. ABC News could not independently verify the drone flights.
Neither the Belarusian Defense Ministry nor Foreign Ministry replied to ABC News’ requests for comment.
Russian drones were first reported over Belarus in mid-July, their appearance then relatively sporadic. In October, the Hajun Project said it tracked a total of 49 Russian drones flying into Belarusian airspace across the month. The monthly total trebled by the end of November.
At least one drone landed and exploded in the southeastern Gomel Oblast, according to Ukrainian and opposition Belarusian media reports.
According to Ukrainian air force after-action reports, Russian drones enter Belarus near-nightly. The air force has noted that its evolving electronic warfare countermeasures play some role in the increasing number of Russian strike drones going off course.
Minsk has complained of Ukrainian drones violating its airspace. In July, Lukashenko himself demanded that Kyiv ensure “comprehensive measures be taken to rule out any such future incidents in the future which could lead to further escalation of the situation in the region.”
In September, Belarus’ military said it had downed foreign drones.
Chief of the General Staff Col. Sergei Frolov said drones were shot down without specifying their nation of origin. “Timely actions by the air defense forces on duty destroyed all the violators’ targets,” he said in a statement quoted by the state-run Belta news agency.
Jonathan Eyal of the Royal United Services Institute think tank in the U.K., told ABC News that Lukashenko “has always been very careful to calibrate the policy in a way that allows implausible deniability of any involvement in the Ukraine war — and at the same time makes himself useful to the Russians.”
“He also knows that most of the Belarusian population has no interest in being dragged into the war at all,” Eyal added, describing a “balancing act” in which the Belarusian leader has to at least pretend to be defending the nation’s airspace.
“It’s not a great secret that the Russians can do more or less what they want with Belarusian airspace,” Eyal added. “The idea that somehow the Belarusian military is determined to defend its sovereignty is a bit far-fetched.”
“These are very calibrated messages from Lukashenko trying to persuade people — both at home and overseas — that somehow he remains a complete master of his own destiny,” Eyal said.
For Belarus’ pro-Western opposition — many now living in exile following Lukashenko’s crackdown on the mass protests that followed the 2020 presidential election — the drone flights are a sign of Minsk’s weakness.
Franak Viacorka, the chief political adviser to Belarusian opposition leader-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, told ABC News that drones “are flying over Belarus practically every single night.” An average week sees 40 or 50 UAVs transit border areas, he said.
Viacorka said Lukashenko’s government is working hard to hide any evidence of errant Russian munitions. “It’s very uncomfortable for them to say that the Russians are using our airspace,” he said. “It happens with the agreement of Lukashenko, or perhaps Russia doesn’t even ask Lukashenko for permission.”
Aliaksandr Azarau — a former police investigator who defected and now leads the opposition BYPOL group made up of former Belarusian security employees — said government propaganda seeks to hide the problem while framing all intruding drones as Ukrainian.
“The concern is only for the people who see these drones above their heads near the Ukrainian border,” Azaru said. “The rest of Belarusians don’t think about the drones — it’s not their problem.”
Official Belarusian reports of drones being intercepted, he added, are part of “a political game.” Azaru even claimed that Belarusian military aircraft have held fire and flown alongside Russian drones, effectively escorting them into Ukrainian airspace
When a drone does fall on Belarusian territory, Viacorka said, “the place is cleared immediately” and any witnesses are pressed by security services not to reveal any details.
The issue, he added, is politically sensitive for Lukashenko. “His narrative is that, thanks to him, Belarus has not gotten involved in war,” Viacorka said. “But when people see drones and shells flying over their territory, they see that Belarus is already involved in war.”
“It’s very worrying that Belarus is getting more and more involved,” Viacorka said.
Lukashenko and his Russian allies, he added, are “putting more and more people in Belarus in danger.”
Russia’s access to Belarusian airspace may also pose a threat to eastern NATO nations, three of whom — Poland, Lithuania and Latvia — border the country.
Russian freedom to act throughout Belarusian airspace has “many implications” for regional NATO states, Eyal suggested, as well as for western Ukrainian regions that will be more accessible for Moscow’s Shaheds.
In September, Latvia’s Defense Ministry reported that a Russian strike UAV crashed in the Rezekne region in the east of the country after flying across Belarus.
Since then, “improvements in all levels of Latvian airspace surveillance have been made, as well as in decision-making and information exchange algorithms,” a ministry spokesperson told ABC News. This includes the deployment of mobile air defense battle groups to the eastern Latgale border region, they said.
The procedures for NATO’s Baltic air policing mission “have also been clarified, allowing allied fighters to destroy aggressor drones entering Latvian airspace if necessary,” the spokesperson added.
“Russia has control over Belarusian foreign and domestic policies,” they continued. “Belarus is an additional Russian military district, so the threat coming from Belarus is orchestrated by Russia. Unfortunately, it is not up to Belarus and its citizens to decide how Russia uses Belarusian airspace to achieve its aggressive foreign policy goals.”
“Hybrid warfare is already happening between Russia and the West,” the ministry spokesperson said. “Belarus is just a tool for Russian aggressive foreign policy. In the short term, Russia will continue to use a wide range of hybrid warfare tools to weaken Western countries and divide their unity.”
“The Belarusian regime’s hybrid attack on the Latvian border with artificial migration demonstrates that we must prepare for all possible scenarios including violation of our airspace,” they said.
Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(SEOUL and LONDON) — As lawmakers debated a motion to impeach South Korea’s embattled President Yoon Suk Yeol over his declaration of martial law on Tuesday, all but two members of Yoon’s own People Power Party walked out of the National Assembly session even before voting began Saturday evening.
This means the motion, jointly proposed by the opposition parties that control 192 of the South Korean legislature’s 300 seats, will likely not reach the required 200 votes — including at least eight votes from the ruling party — to pass, as the numbers don’t seem to be there for the motion to pass.
Opposition leaders have said that if the bill fails, they plan to revisit it again on Wednesday.
Voting is underway and the National Assembly has until 12:30 a.m. local time Sunday, 10:30 a.m. ET on Saturday, to close the polls.
Opposition lawmakers seated at the session are waiting for ruling party members to return to the chamber, as they need five more votes from them to pass the impeachment bill.
Thousands of protesters calling for Yoon’s impeachment, as well as those who are against the effort, are gathered in two different locations in Seoul. These rallies, filled with chants, music and group dances, are so far going peacefully.
Earlier Saturday, Yoon apologized to the nation in a brief televised address, saying his declaration of martial law was made out of “depression.” He “sincerely apologized” for the “anxiety and inconvenience” that it may have caused and promised not to make another attempt to impose martial law.
