Ukrainian firefighters evacuate an elderly woman from the scene of an attack as Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv overnight on Monday, killing at least ten people and heavily damaging apartment buildings on July 6, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- A large Russian drone and missile strike on Kyiv killed at least 18 people and injured dozens in the Ukrainian capital and surrounding region overnight, local officials said, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy again appealing to foreign partners to ramp up the delivery of key anti-missile ammunition.
The Ukrainian air force said in posts to Telegram that Russia launched 68 missiles -- among them 23 ballistic missiles -- and 351 drones into the country overnight.
The air force said that 37 missiles and 326 drones were shot down or otherwise suppressed, with impacts of 29 missiles and 18 drones reported across 34 locations.
The capital bore the brunt of Russia's latest overnight strike, officials said. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in posts to Telegram that at least 12 people were killed and 46 people were injured, of which at least 26 were hospitalized.
A further six people were killed and 26 people injured across the wider Kyiv region, according to regional governor Mykola Kalashnyk.
Klitschko reported damage in the Obolonskyi, Holosiivskyi, Podilskyi and Darnytskyi districts of the capital. In Podilskyi and Darnytskyi, the mayor said that rescue teams were searching for additional victims under the rubble of destroyed residential buildings.
Zelenskyy said in posts to social media that Ukrainian forces defending against the "massive Russian attack" intercepted many drones and cruise missiles, but not the more advanced ballistic weapons.
"The reason for this is precisely the insufficient supply of interceptor missiles. It is very important that the world, especially America and our European partners, come out of the NATO summit in Ankara with strong decisions to support our defense of the sky, and hence, the protection of ordinary people's lives," Zelenskyy wrote.
"As long as the missiles for the Patriots remain in the warehouses of allies, this only encourages Russia to continue destroying residential buildings," the Ukrainian president added, referring to the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system which Kyiv often uses to intercept Russian missiles.
"The U.S. and Europe have enough power to stop this terror," he added.
Russia's Defense Ministry, meanwhile, described the overnight attack in a post to Telegram as "a massive strike with high-precision long-range weapons of land, air and sea-based systems, as well as with strike drones."
The ministry claimed to have targeted military-industrial and energy facilities in Kyiv, plus military airfield infrastructure.
The Defense Ministry also reported that its forces intercepted at least 625 Ukrainian drones overnight and into Monday.
Moscow was among the targets of the latest wave of Ukrainian long-range attacks, the city's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said in posts to Telegram. The mayor said that at least 15 Ukrainian drones were shot down en route to the capital since midnight on Sunday.
ABC News' Natalia Popova, Natalia Kushnir and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
Smoke is seen as two major fires burn after a drone and missile attack by Russian forces on July 2, 2026 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
(LVIV, LONDON and NEW YORK) -- At least 20 people were killed and dozens of others were injured after Kyiv came under attack from a "massive" barrage of Russian ballistic missiles and drones overnight, Ukrainian officials said, describing multiple explosions across the capital.
Tymur Tkachenko, head of Kyiv City Military Administration, published an updated death toll on his Telegram channel. The State Emergency Service of Ukraine said the attack's main target was Kyiv. More than 90 people had been injured across the country.
Kyiv's Mayor Vitali Klitschko described the attack as "massive." President President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said first responders in the capital were "clearing the rubble, searching for people, and providing assistance."
"Damage has been reported at more than 20 sites across the city, most of them ordinary residential buildings," Zelenskyy said. "There was also damage to an ambulance station, a research institute, a hotel, and businesses."
Moscow targeted Ukraine with more than 70 missiles, nearly half of which were ballistic, along with almost 500 drones in the overnight attack, Zelenskyy said.
Damage has been reported in every district in Kyiv. The worst hit was the Darnytskyi district, where part of a nine-floor apartment building collapsed, leaving people trapped inside, Klitschko. Search and rescue teams are still looking for those thought to be under the rubble, including a 15-year-old girl and her family.
Another air raid alert has been issued in Kyiv right now due to Russian drones.
In Holosiivskyi district, the roof of a multi-story residential building was on fire, Klitschko said. In the Shevchenkivskyi district, in the center of the capital, there was a fire on the roof of a hotel.
During the strikes, the mayor urged residents to stay in shelters. Klitschko said earlier that of the 34 people initially recorded as injured in the strikes, 32 were taken to the hospital; two others were treated on the spot.
The strikes targeting Kyiv came hours after the Ukrainian military struck a large Russian oil refinery in Ufa, and a military complex in the Penza region, Zelenskyy said. The night before, Ukraine also struck a satellite communications center in the Moscow region, Zelenskyy said.
Ukraine's strikes on Russia came amid a mounting pressure campaign by Kyiv seeking to push Russia to end the war, which in February entered its fifth year.
An analysis from a U.S. think tank published on Wednesday said troop casualties in the war -- missing, killed and wounded -- had surpassed 2 million, including as many as 600,000 deaths.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in that report that the figures heavily skewed toward Russian losses, with roughly three Russians killed or wounded to every one Ukrainian killed or wounded.
Russian casualties amounted to 1.4 million people, according to the data, including 450,000 who had been killed in the war, the report said. Ukrainian forces have suffered 525,000 to 625,000 casualties, including 125,000 to 150,000 deaths, the study said.
Neither the Ukrainian nor the Russian military releases data detailing their own battlefield casualties.
The report's authors, drawing on information collected from Western governments, including the U.S., and on open source information, said Russia also lost territory in April and May. Overall, the report's authors said, 2026 has been counterproductive for the Russian military, and that Moscow may be losing the war.
Offering historical perspective, the report says Russian fatalities in Ukraine are more than four times greater than all U.S. fatalities in all wars combined since World War II, and more than nine times greater than all Soviet and Russian fatalities in all wars combined since World War II.
Russia's advances in key Ukrainian areas "are among the slowest rates of advance in any war over the last century," the report stated.
In Kyiv on Thursday, Ruslan Stefanchuk, the chair of Ukraine's parliament, accused Moscow of using missiles and drones to deliberately target civilians, which turned "an ordinary night in the capital of a European state into a struggle for survival."
"This crime, like every one before it, must be met not only with condemnation, but with a resolute response: stronger air defence for Ukraine, tougher sanctions against Russia, and inevitable accountability for everyone responsible," he said on social media.
ABC News' Patrick Reevell and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares to pose for a family photo before a cultural performance and concert during the G7 Summit on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Evelyn Hockstein-Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- The Ukrainian military struck a Russian oil refinery in Ufa on Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as Kyiv continues its pressure campaign seeking to push Russia to end the war.
"This is an entirely just response to everything Russia is doing against us," Zelenskyy said on social media. "Peace is needed, and this is exactly what Russia’s leadership must realize. Russia must end its war."
The Russian Defense Ministry did not appear on Wednesday to publicly comment on the attack, but said in a message on Telegram that its forces had shot down or otherwise destroyed at least 179 Ukrainian drones over Russian or Russian-occupied territory overnight.
The refinery, which Zelenskyy said was one of Russia's largest producers of lubricants, sits more than 1,300 km, or about 800 miles, from the frontline.
Ukraine overnight also launched an aerial strike at a military complex in the Penza region, where Russia develops and manufactures components related to missiles, Zelenskyy said.
The General Staff of Ukraine's military said the target was an aerospace facility known by its Russian acronym, NIIFI. The site is used to build sensors for some cruise and ballistic missiles, as well as satellite components, Ukraine said.
"Hits and smoke were recorded at the facility," the General Staff said in a Ukrainian-language update posted on social media. "This is a leading Russian enterprise in the field of space, aviation and military instrument-making."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the sidelines of the G7 summit on June 16, 2026 in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Photo by Isabel Infantes - Pool/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- Ukraine struck a satellite communications center in the Moscow region in an aerial attack on Tuesday, Kyiv said, as Moscow claimed to have shot down hundreds of drones launched into its territory overnight.
Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskyy said Ukraine struck the site, the "Dubna" space communications center, for the second time.
"This is a specialized satellite communications facility used, among other things, for intelligence gathering and coordinating the activities of Russia’s occupying forces in Ukraine," Zelenskyy said on social media on Tuesday.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a morning update on its official Russian-language Telegram channel that air defense systems had intercepted and destroyed at least 419 Ukrainian drones since late Monday evening.
Those drones were shot down in at least 16 regions, including Moscow, along with Russian-occupied areas in Crimea, the ministry said.
Sergey Sobyanin, the mayor of Moscow, said early on Tuesday that at least 61 Ukrainian drones had been shot down in the capital region overnight.
Zelenskyy in announcing the Ukrainian strike on the satellite communications center noted that the facility was more than 500 km, or about 310 miles, from the Ukrainian-Russian boarder.
"Recently, our Defense Forces of Ukraine already reached four such Russian centers, not only in the Moscow region but also in the Vladimir region," he said on social media.
He added, "Step by step, we are implementing our plan of long-range sanctions and making it as difficult as possible for the aggressor state to carry out its invasion operations against Ukraine and the occupation of our territories."
A crocodile sits on the bottom in the eel grass with school of fish above. teeth and tail are showing. (Gregory Sweeney/Getty Images)
(PUERTO VALLARTA, Mexico) -- A 28-year-old man was killed in a crocodile attack on a popular beach in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Friday evening, according to state authorities.
The victim, who was from Mexico, was on the beach in front of the Marriott Puerto Vallarta Resort and Spa when he was allegedly attacked by the reptile and dragged out to sea, Jalisco State Police said in a statement on Sunday.
The incident happened around 6 p.m. local time, police noted.
The victim’s body was recovered Saturday morning about 300 meters offshore after an overnight search and rescue operation at sea and on land.
Local authorities are reminding the public to obey warning signs and avoid entering the water where wildlife is known to be present, particularly in estuary and mangrove areas.
"The safety and security of our guests and associates are our top priority," the resort said in a statement to ABC News. "At the Marriott Puerto Vallarta we have appropriate signage, as well as night patrolling and red flags to indicate caution in the area and all were and are properly in place."
The resort said it reviews its "plans and procedures often" and works "closely with the appropriate authorities on an ongoing basis and our staff is trained in how to respond to safety matters appropriately."
"We extend our thoughts to the individual and their loved ones during this difficult time and are providing appropriate support in line with our policies," the resort said.
ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway and Madeline Wheeler contributed to this report.
A small aircraft flew into the tallest building in Beijing on June 26, 2026, sending huge hunks of debris and plane parts plummeting onto the streets below and prompting crowds to flee.
(BEIJING) -- A small aircraft crashed into Beijing's tallest skyscraper Friday before falling down in front of the building, according to eyewitnesses who spoke with Reuters and the Associated Press and videos posted online and verified by ABC News.
Videos taken by people near the Citic Tower appeared to show the plane striking a high floor before it spun downward and crashed to the ground in front of the tower's entrance.
Photos showed what appeared to be a hole or broken glass on one side of the building.
Videos, images and search results about the crash are actively being scrubbed from the Chinese internet.
Chinese authorities confirmed the plane crash on Saturday. A short WeChat statement was issued by the local Chaoyang District government, saying that only the pilot was on board the aircraft and was the killed in the collision.
Authorities in their post did not identify the pilot nor a potential motive. In addition, 13 individuals were injured in the building and on the ground, officials said.
The 109-story tower, which opened in 2019, is the tallest building in Beijing and the 10th tallest building in the world, standing 1,732 feet tall. It is a mixed-use building with offices, luxury apartments and hotel rooms.
China's national flag flutters in the wind next to the CITIC tower on May 12, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Maxim Shemetov Pool/Getty Images)
(BEIJING) -- A small aircraft crashed into Beijing's tallest skyscraper before falling down in front of the building, according to eyewitnesses who spoke with Reuters and the Associated Press.
Videos taken by people near the Citic Tower appeared to show the plane striking a high floor before it spun downward and crashed to the ground in front of the tower's entrance.
Photos showed what appeared to be a hole or broken glass on one side of the building.
Authorities have yet to address the incident. Videos, images and search results of the crash are actively being scrubbed from the Chinese internet.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Venezuela and other regions in the Caribbean on June 24, 2026, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Edilzon Gamez/Getty Images)
(CARACAS, Venezuela) -- When the first of two massive earthquakes hit Venezuela, American tourist Jason Wang said he was on a mountaintop outside Caracas, about to get on a cable car to head down.
It was just after 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday when a 7.2 magnitude jolted the South American country's coastal region, followed 39 seconds later by an even stronger 7.5 magnitude tremor, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
High up on El Ávila mountain, about 7 miles outside the capital city, the 39-year-old Wang of Las Vegas said he was caught in a scene of confusion and panic, unsure what had just occurred.
"I was about to board the cable car. I started recording myself going in, and the whole building just started shaking. The floor under me was shaking, and then all of a sudden everyone started panicking," Wang told ABC News on Thursday morning.
He said he and other tourists charged toward the exit of the cable car building.
"We were just rushing for the door to exit the building, and none of us knew what was going on until a few minutes afterwards," Wang said. "We realized we got hit with a massive earthquake."
Videos that Wang posted on social media showed him and others walking down the mountain back toward Caracas on a road blocked by numerous toppled trees. Wang said that as the sun was setting, he managed to get a ride back to his hotel in Caracas.
"I saw some people like cutting down trees that fell on the road to create a tunnel for us to get past," Wang said.
He said that when he finally reached his hotel and was able to get a WiFi signal, he learned that the twin tremors were the biggest earthquakes to hit Venezuela in a century, causing massive destruction and widespread death across Caracas, a city of more than 2 million people.
"Once I got back on WiFi, I was able to contact my family and friends and tell them I was OK," said Wang, adding that he was traveling out of the city to the jungle on Thursday morning to escape the danger being caused by numerous aftershocks.
Jorge Rodriguez, president of Venezuela's National Assembly, said that at least 188 people were killed in the earthquakes, and nearly 1,520 more were injured.
But the death toll is expected to grow. The USGS said there is a risk of more than 10,000 deaths, though official casualty tolls have been slow to be reported.
President Donald Trump said there could be a "devastating number of deaths," as Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that the U.S. is deploying rescue teams to Venezuela to help search for victims.
In Caracas, the scenes of devastation and desperation were evident in all directions. Online videos showed apartment and commercial buildings lying in heaps of rubble, houses knocked off foundations and thousands of people in the streets, shellshocked and watching as emergency crews searched for survivors.
At one point, more than 25,000 people were unaccounted for, officials said.
During the earthquakes, people ran from swaying buildings in Caracas, many visibly shocked when they turned back to see destroyed walls that left furniture visible from the street.
"It's like a horror movie," one frantic woman who escaped her damaged building said.
One Caracas resident, Armando Nori, posted a video on social media from inside an apartment building that began to shake violently during the earthquakes. The footage showed Nori and others in the building fleeing as walls and shelves collapsed, and items, including what appeared to be a water container, crashing to the floor.
Another Caracas resident, Gabriel Higuera, told ABC News that he lives on the top floor of an apartment building with his girlfriend, and described their harrowing race to escape. He said his girlfriend almost fell from one of the floors due to the violent tremors.
"The shaking made it impossible to move," Higuera said.
Another video verified by ABC News showed people in an apartment building in Junquito, west of Caracas, falling to the floor and holding onto each other as the building started to collapse around them. The man filming the video was heard in the footage screaming for his mother as he started to run for cover.
Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said numerous buildings had been brought down in Caracas, and that the cities of Trujillo, Yaracuy, Carabobo, Aragua, and Miranda had also been affected.
There were reports of widespread power outages and cell phone disruptions throughout the country. Gas to many buildings was turned off to prevent fires, officials said.
Rodriguez declared a state of emergency, saying the earthquakes had turned the coastal state of La Guaira into a "disaster zone."
"Dozens of buildings have collapsed there, about 30 kilometers north of Caracas, and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives," Rodriguez said in a televised address to the nation, according to The Associated Press.
She said Metro and rail services are suspended in the city and that the heavily damaged Maiquetía "Simón Bolívar" International Airport is closed.
Video posted online and verified by ABC News showed people at the airport running for their lives as part of its roof collapsed, creating a cloud of dust. In the footage, people could be heard screaming as the sound of crashing glass and chunks of falling concrete echoed in the background.
Amid the devastation came reports of heroic efforts to rescue people trapped in the rubble. Eighteen people were rescued from one of the two buildings that collapsed in the Chacao municipality, about 7 miles east of Caracas, authorities said.
Dozens of aftershocks have been reported following the initial tremors, forcing many people to sleep on the street on Wednesday night out of fear of more buildings collapsing.
Following the quake, a tsunami advisory was issued, with the potential for hazardous tsunami waves possible for coasts within 300 kilometers, or about 186 miles, of the earthquake epicenter. However, the tsunami advisory later expired.
ABC News' Will Gretsky, Shannon Kingston, Victoria Beaule and Aicha El Hammar Castano contributed to this report.
Beachgoers in Hamburg, Germany. (Photo by Georg Wendt/picture alliance via Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- Countries across Europe were on Thursday in the middle of one of the most brutal heat waves within the last 50 years, with temperatures breaking June records in the United Kingdom and France.
Weather officials in the United Kingdom said temperatures on Wednesday rose in some areas to 35.7 degrees Celsius, or about 96.2 degrees Fahrenheit, topping a June 1976 record of 35.6 C.
The Met Office updated its Red Extreme Heat Warning, spreading the warning along most of the southern and western areas of the United Kingdom.
"This is exceptional heat for June with temperature records expected to be broken this week," Met Office Chief Forecaster Matthew Lehnert said in a statement. "Red warnings are reserved for the most severe events and we’re expecting significant impacts from this heatwave, with health issues likely, even beyond those who are more vulnerable to the heat."
The Met also set Amber Heat Warnings for Friday and Saturday.
Warnings were still under review and constantly being updated, with the Met Office predicting that Friday could be the peak of the heat wave here in the United Kingdom, with temperatures soaring up as high as 100.4 F.
In France the north, west, and half of the southern areas of the country were on Thursday under red heat warnings, under which residents were being told to stay "Absolutely vigilant."
French authorities said on Thursday they expected that the heat to stay in the red for many hours ahead.
The country on Wednesday notched its highest-ever temperature, according to weather officials at Meteo-France, the national weather service. They said the country’s national heat index -- a daily average including regions around the country -- hit 30 C, or about 86 F.
"Another exceptional day is expected in terms of temperatures, with the peak of this historic heatwave anticipated," Meteo-France said in a bulletin on Thursday.
The Louvre and the Eiffel Tower were closing early for a third day in a row.
To stay safe in the heat everyone is being encouraged to stay hydrated, avoid the sun during peak hours, around midday, and staying home to keep cool.
They have recommended keeping curtains, blinds and windows closed during the day and opening windows at night to keep your house as cool as possible.
(NEW YORK) -- France has confirmed its first Ebola case linked to the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the United Nations warned that the outbreak is the fastest-growing in Africa's history.
The patient in France is a humanitarian doctor who recently returned from the DRC and has been transferred to a specialist hospital, authorities confirmed.
French health officials said the case was detected quickly, the necessary precautions are in place and that there is no indication of local spread.
"France has specialized capabilities for managing highly transmissible infectious diseases," France's Ministry of Health said in a statement announcing the case. "Patients are treated in a designated healthcare facility, following strict biosafety protocols (negative pressure room, dedicated equipment and protocols). Health authorities are fully mobilized and the situation is being continuously monitored."
"All precautionary measures, including the patient's isolation, were taken upon his arrival in the country, with transfer to the hospital under secure conditions to prevent any risk of contamination," the statement continued.
Officials said a thorough epidemiological investigation is underway to identify individuals who may have been in contact with the patient and that they will be contacted "without delay" by the regional health agency before undergoing 21 days of home isolation while being closely monitored the entire time.
The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said on Wednesday that the risk of infection is "low" for European residents and travelers to areas of active transmission, and "very low" for the general European population.
The development comes as U.N. officials warned on Tuesday that the Ebola outbreak in the DRC is spreading at an unprecedented pace.
As of Monday, there were 1,048 confirmed cases and 267 deaths, making it the largest number of confirmed Ebola cases recorded during the first month of an outbreak in Africa, according to Dr. Abdirahman Mahamud, director of heath and emergency alert and response operations at the World Health Organization.
Mahamud said it took just 37 days for the current outbreak to reach 250 deaths, compared to 78 days during the 2014 and 2016 West Africa outbreaks and 130 days during the 2018-2019 DRC outbreak.
Mahamud added that there are some signs the response has been scaled up to match the pace of the outbreak's spread.
The number of beds available for treatment has risen in the last two weeks, "going from a handful to over 500 beds across 19 health zones," he said.
Additionally, the U.N. said laboratory capacity has also increased from 30 tests a day in Kinshasa, the DRC's capital, at the start of the outbreak to more than 2,000 tests per day through eight labs in the three provinces at the center of the outbreak.
Paolo Cravero, senior office of communications and media relations at the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said there is "a lack of trust in the response" among affected communities and that the organization is "working hard with communities to bridge that gap."
"Rumor and misinformation are creating some difficulties," he said.
Startup Katalyst Space is teaming up with NASA to try and rescue the Swift telescope using the company’s newly developed robotic spacecraft. (NASA)
(LONDON) -- Satellites don't always stay in orbit. As they get closer to Earth, atmospheric drag can pull them lower and lower until they burn up, with solar activity speeding up the process.
NASA's Swift Space Observatory is facing that fate -- its orbit is decaying, and if left alone, it will be destroyed in a matter of months.
But in a first-of-its-kind mission, Katalyst Space, a startup, is teaming up with NASA to try and rescue Swift using the company's newly developed robotic spacecraft, LINK.
"This is a historic mission, you know, some would call it the first of its kind, a robotic spacecraft that can go and capture an unprepared satellite," said Robert Lamontagne, vice president of strategic partnerships at Katalyst Space.
Swift's original orbit was around 370 miles above the Earth's surface. But over the years, it's fallen to less than 250 miles, according to NASA. Now it's a race against the clock to keep Swift from falling even further and burning up in Earth's atmosphere.
To save the satellite before time runs out, the Arizona-based company built its 935-pound rescue spacecraft in just 250 days. LINK was designed to physically interact with Swift despite the observatory not being designed for this kind of operation.
"Over the last nine months, we have gone from a clean sheet to a spacecraft that is currently integrated on a rocket, on an airplane ready to go to college for launch," added Kieran Wilson, the principal investigator for LINK at Katalyst Space. "This is an absolutely unprecedented development timeline for this program."
If all goes as planned, LINK will be launched into space on Saturday aboard a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket, which will be launched from a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar carrier aircraft taking off from Kwajalein Atoll in the South Pacific.
Once in orbit, it will take about three weeks for LINK to rendezvous with and capture the 22-year-old observatory. Over two to three months, the spacecraft will use its thrusters to raise Swift into a more stable orbit. The two will then separate as LINK lowers itself back into Earth's atmosphere, where it will burn up, keeping it from adding to the rest of the space debris in our orbit.
The hope is that the maneuver will add 10 years to the mission and allow NASA to resume its scientific operations. The space agency had to stop most of the observatory's scientific operations to reduce drag and slow its descent from orbit.
"No one thought it was going to be possible," said Shawn Domagal-Goldman, NASA's division director for astrophysics. "No one thought we would get as far as we've already gotten today."
The clock is ticking for the $30 million mission to be completed. According to NASA, Swift is currently falling at roughly eight kilometers per month, and the space agency estimates it will drop below 300 kilometers sometime around October.
According to Wilson, at that point, the satellite will be "too low" for the rescue mission to be executed.
A potential blueprint for saving satellites
Earth's orbit is littered with lots of aging satellites. If the mission is successful, NASA and Katalyst hope it could help establish a blueprint for future satellite rescues so fewer spacecraft are abandoned. Katalyst envisions having a fleet of spacecraft that can repair, refuel and upgrade satellites in need of help.
"Katalyst is here really to kind of mark the end of that throwaway model and the start of a new model where we think the spacecraft operators should no longer be constrained by the silly decisions that were made before launch," Lamontagne said.
There's no guarantee the rescue will be successful. Swift wasn't designed to be grabbed by another spacecraft, and its age could make it vulnerable to damage during the capture.
"We still have to get spacecraft on orbit. We have to operate the spacecraft there successfully. And as we've all seen before, that's a very challenging thing to do," said Wilson.
"Rendezvous is going to be a challenge. It's always a technical challenge, but we think we're ready to handle that," he added.
NASA says space weather and how the Earth's atmosphere interacts with the spacecraft could also impact the outcome.
"If my confidence proves true and this team pulls off everything perfectly, the darn sun puffing up the darn atmosphere, at the wrong time," Domagal-Goldman said. "There are still unknowns, both in terms of the dynamic nature of this part of Earth's atmosphere, and its response to solar activity that is beyond all of our control."
The Swift Space Observatory is a NASA satellite built to study gamma-ray bursts, the brightest and most powerful explosions in the universe. Swift uses multiple instruments, including three multiwavelength telescopes that can collect data in visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma-ray light. NASA has used it to study black holes, stars, comets and other celestial objects.
"Swift can routinely conduct follow-up with things that go bump in the night within minutes. It really is NASA's first responder," said Brad Cenko, Swift's principal investigator at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Launched in 2004, the observatory was supposed to last only two years. But it's been operating for more than two decades.
"Last year, Swift received five requests from the community to follow up newly discovered sources each and every day. That's more annual community requests than any other NASA facility," Cenko added.
A man cools himself at a public fountain on June 21, 2026 in Seville, Spain. (Marcelo del Pozo/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- The number of people who experience heat stress around the world every year has increased exponentially in the last several decades due to climate change, according to new research.
One billion more people are currently facing at least one day of "extreme heat stress" annually compared to the 1970s, according to a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change.
Heat stress is defined as the net heat load on an individual and can be influenced by temperature, humidity, wind and radiation, according to the paper. Heat stress is the leading cause of weather-related deaths and can exacerbate underlying illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health and asthma, according to the World Health Organization.
"Heat is a leading cause of weather-related mortality at the global scale," Rebecca Emerton, senior scientist for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, in Reading, U.K., and lead author of the paper, told ABC News.
Researchers quantified the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), a thermal stress index, essentially a feels-like temperature that accounts for temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and how the human body reacts to the environment, Emerton said.
The scientists analyzed a global dataset of human heat stress from 1950 to 2024 to determine that the hottest days of the year looked like in decades past, especially in the 1970s, when the global feels-like trends started to rise, Emerton said. They then compared those figures to maximum UTCI values that are being seen today.
They found that the 10 warmest nights of each year have warmed faster than the 10 warmest days -- by about a global average rate of .58 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the paper.
Extreme feels-like temperatures are also more frequent on every continent, the new research shows. Subtropical regions, including southern North America, southern Europe and northern and southern Africa, now experience up to 50 additional days annually with "strong to extreme heat stress," defined by researchers as a UTCI greater than or equal to 89.6 degrees and 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.
Exposure to at least one day of extreme heat stress has risen from 16% to 22% of the global population, equivalent to about one billion people, according to the paper.
As a result, global heat stress is increasing in frequency, severity and duration -- both during the day and at night, the researchers found.
Nighttime heat is especially significant for health, because if the temperatures remain high overnight, the human body doesn't have as much of an opportunity to recover from the heat of the day, Emerton noted.
Extreme heat stress, now occurs 2.5 times more often in Europe and South America, twice as often in North America and 1.8, 1.7 and 1.2 times more often in Africa, Oceania and Asia, respectively, according to the paper.
The increased instances of heat stress experienced by modern populations is a direct result of climate change, Emerton noted.
While empirical evidence shows that heatwaves are becoming more frequent, longer and more intense, the changes experienced by people around the world -- including how the heat impacts them both during the day and at night -- has not yet been well-studied, the researchers said.
Action plans for heat health, as well as early-warning systems, urban cooling interventions and the integration of heat stress metrics in climate risk assessments, will be necessary to protect populations from increased heat stress, according to the paper.
"We hope this helps people across the world understand the changes that are happening, and we hope that information can support decision-making on how to plan and adapt for the future," Emerton said.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announces his resignation as UK Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party, outside No.10 Downing Street on June 22, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday he would resign as the leader of his party and as prime minister, setting the stage for the United Kingdom's seventh prime minister within a decade.
Starmer, who said he spoke on Monday with King Charles, said he expected to remain in office until a successor was chosen from within his Labour Party.
"The question my party is asking now is whether I am best placed to lead us into the next general election," he said outside 10 Downing Street. "I have heard the answer of my parliamentary party to that question, and I accept that answer with good grace."
Starmer, who had led Labour since 2020, was elected to lead the country in a general election 2024. His replacement is expected to be chosen by his party.
Starmer said he asked party leaders to open nominations for a successor on July 9. He did not give a date for his departure from 10 Downing Street, but said he expected a new prime minister to be in place by September, when Parliament returns from its summer recess.
The resignation announcement followed months of turmoil for Starmer, with some members of his own party criticizing his leadership, saying he had not been able to deliver the rapid change needed after taking office following 14 years of Conservative Party rule in Britain.
Many in Starmer's Labour party had written to Starmer asking him to step down following local elections in May, which saw the party lose more than 1,000 seats on local councils, results that were widely interpreted as a repudiation by British voters of Labour's performance under the prime minister's leadership.
A formal challenge to his premiership had not yet begun as of Monday, but some members of his party have in recent weeks coalesced in public support of Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester, as his potential successor.
Burnham, who won a special election on Friday to become a member of parliament representing Makerfield, was expected to be sworn in in the House of Commons on Monday.
Following Starmer's announcement, Burnham said on social media that he would seek a nomination in the Labour leadership contest.
"People want to see progress on economic growth, cost of living, public services, housing and opportunities for the next generation," he said. "Political change should never distract from the responsibility to improve people's lives."
Another potential successor, Wes Streeting, a member of parliament who resigned from his position as Starmer's health secretary in May, threw his support behind Burnham on Monday.
"We could spend the summer exaggerating our small differences, or we can roll up our sleeves and help [Burnham] to deliver the change our Party and our country needs,” Streeting said in a statement. “That is the choise that I am making and I hope that everyone else will back Andy, too.”
Starmer long said he intended to see out his full five-year term, which began with his party's 2024 landslide election victory, which also delivered Labour a historic majority in the House of Commons.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission, praised Starmer after his announcement, saying, "It can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years. European and Ukrainian security is stronger because of you. Thank you, dear Keir."
ABC News' David Brennan, Jamie Dorrington and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
Stock image of handcuffs. (Westend61/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- The man arrested and charged after a 3-year-old boy wound up in a crocodile enclosure at a British zoo was released on bail Friday as the investigation continues, police said.
The unidentified 30-year-old suspect from Norfolk was released after investigators said he "was assessed as unfit for police interview," according to the Cambridgeshire Constabulary.
The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a family-run farm and zoo located in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, when the unidentified boy "ended up in the crocodile enclosure," police said.
The boy sustained "serious injuries" while in the enclosure and was pulled out by staff from the zoo. He received medical treatment at the scene before being taken to the hospital, according to the police.
He was listed in critical but stable condition as of Friday. The suspect, who will remain on bail until September, is not known to the victim, according to police.
The suspect was arrested under suspicion of attempted murder.
Johnsons of Old Hurst said its tropical house, which is home to multiple species of crocodiles and other reptiles, will remain closed until further notice "out of respect to the family."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today," Johnsons of Old Hurst said in a statement on social media Thursday.
-ABC News' Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
Major Oak, RSPB Sherwood Forest Nature Reserve, Nottinghamshire, May 2026 (Ben Andrew/RSPB)
(LONDON) -- A giant, ancient oak tree located in the the Sherwood Forest -- the iconic setting of the "Robin Hood" legend -- has died, one of the U.K.'s top bird and wildlife conservation charities said.
Famous for its enormous trunk -- about 36 feet in circumference -- and gnarled branches, the Major Oak was believed to be about 1,200 years old, according to the RSPB Bird & Wildlife Conservation Charity.
The tree had been in "visible decline" for several years, the charity said and failed to produce any leaves this spring.
"Whilst the tree's failure to produce leaves this year is heart-breaking for everyone -- from the many people over the years who have looked after this magnificent tree to the millions who have travelled here to see it -- we know the Major Oak will have a lasting legacy, first and foremost because it is so inextricably linked to Robin Hood and Sherwood Forest," Hollie Drake, senior site manager at RSPB Sherwood Forest, said in a statement.
The organization said it couldn't determine the exact cause of the tree's demise.
Among the factors cited were poor soil and a weakened root system as well as "well-intentioned efforts to preserve the tree's impressive shape" over the years, including metal bracing and coverings that prevented the tree from aging naturally, the organization said.
The group also cited the effects of climate change and recent heat waves and drought.
While the tree has died, the organization said the oak will remain standing in its place in the park, "continuing as an emblem in the landscape and providing valuable decaying wood habitat."
In addition, acorns and cuttings from the tree have already been grown into saplings.
"There are Major Oak saplings planted in locations right around the world, so we are planning work to ensure that its offspring will grow and generate their own acorns -- and legends -- for centuries to come," the organization said.
Stock photo of a crocodile. (Diego Kondratzky/500px/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- A man has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a 3-year-old boy wound up in a crocodile enclosure at a zoo in eastern England, suffering serious injuries, according to police.
The "distressing incident" occurred Thursday afternoon at Johnsons of Old Hurst, a family-run farm and zoo located in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, police said.
The boy "ended up in the crocodile enclosure" and was taken to a local hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition, Cambridgeshire police said.
A 30-year-old man who is an apparent stranger to the child has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in connection with the incident, police said.
"At this stage we are speaking to people who were at the zoo at the time of this distressing incident to understand more about the circumstances," Det. Insp. Verity McCann said in a statement. "We do not believe the man arrested and the child are known to each other."
The incident remains under investigation.
Huntingdon Member of Parliament Ben Obese-Jecty said his "thoughts are with the young victim and his family during a hugely traumatic and difficult time."
"This is now a live criminal investigation and I would ask people to refrain from speculation online," he said in a statement on social media.
Johnsons of Old Hurst said its tropical house, which is home to multiple species of crocodiles and other reptiles, will remain closed until further notice "out of respect to the family."
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the boy and his family following the incident that occurred today," Johnsons of Old Hurst said in a statement on social media Thursday.
Black smoke rises from the area of the Russian oil producer Gazprom Neft's Moscow oil refinery on the south-eastern outskirts of Moscow on June 18, 2026. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- Ukraine launched hundreds of drones on Thursday targeting more than a dozen Russian regions, including Moscow, where they struck an oil refinery, sending plumes of black smoke into the air over the Russian capital.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said the country's defenses destroyed some 555 drones in the early morning hours. About 180 of those were shot down as they approached Moscow, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said in an update in Russian on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukraine laid claim to the aerial attack, with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying it marked the second time within a week that Kyiv had targeted the Moscow Oil Refinery, a sprawling facility in the city’s southeast that’s run by a subsidiary of state-owned Gazprom. Video verified by ABC News showed blasts at the Kapotnya district refinery.
"This is a fully justified response to Russian attacks on our cities and communities, and another important result of our warriors' work against facilities that sustain Russia’s war machine," Zelenskyy of Ukraine said on social media.
Russia on Thursday also continued its nightly long-range attacks on Ukraine, firing at least seven ballistic missiles and 239 drones at Ukraine overnight, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in an update posted on social media. Ukraine said its defenses shot down or otherwise destroyed at least 216 drones or missiles.
Thursday's Ukrainian strike ranked among the largest single-night long-range attacks undertaken by Kyiv since the war began more than four years ago. The country's military said it targeted the refinery because it is "involved in supporting the Russian military."
Zelenskyy sought in his social post to position Ukraine's long-range strikes, which have escalated in recent weeks, as a means to push Moscow toward diplomacy. He said Ukraine's Western partners have "have noted the precision and effectiveness of our mid-range strikes and long-range sanctions."
The attack came in the hours before defense ministers of NATO states were set to gather in Brussels, Belgium, for a summit, where Ukraine's security was among the topics to be discussed.
The Moscow public prosecutor’s office said "several" districts in the city were attacked by drones on Thursday, claiming there had been damage to apartment buildings. The office said there were casualties reported, but did not detail them.
Russia's Department of Defense said it had launched in response a drone-and-missile attack against "fuel and energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces."
ABC News' Victoria Beaule, Helena Skinner, Anna Sergeeva, Oleksiy Pshemyskiy and Jamie Dorrington contributed to this report.
Sea ice concentration, June 14, 2026. (National Snow and Ice Data Center)
(ANTARCTICA) -- A massive chunk of sea ice in West Antarctica has not refrozen following a winter heatwave in the region – a dramatic change that could further contribute to global sea level rise, experts told ABC News.
Graphics based on satellite imagery from the University of Colorado Boulder's National Snow and Ice Data Center taken on Sunday show a large portion of sea ice measuring approximately 150,000 square miles – roughly the size of Montana – is not included in what is typically already frozen at this time of year, which is mid-winter in the Southern Hemisphere, experts told ABC News.
Every winter, Antarctic sea ice grows and decays, Peter Neff, a glaciologist at the University of Minnesota who specializes in ice core records, told ABC News. But since 2015, Antarctic sea ice has entered a "new, much reduced state," in which less and less is re-freezing due to rising air and sea temperatures, Neff said.
This year, the level of sea ice in West Antarctica is about 50% lower than average, Neff estimated.
"This is a dramatic but not surprising observation in the context of the huge changes that have been occurring in Antarctica, particularly in this region of Antarctica, over the past decade," Chuck Amsler, a professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told ABC News.
If the West Antarctica Ice Sheet were to collapse in its entirety, it has the potential to contribute more than 10 feet in sea level rise, according to a 2025 study by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration, a partnership between U.S. and U.K. agencies.
It is possible that this year's June sea ice level in the area may surpass last year's record low, Rose Malanga, a Ph.D. student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who conducted field research in Antarctica earlier this year, told ABC News. In June of both this year and 2025, the region had some of the lowest sea ice levels on record, Ellen Buckley, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Department of Earth Science and Environmental Change, told ABC News.
Data gathered by the Copernicus Earth observation program in June 2025 showed there was 12.6 million square kilometers of Antarctic sea ice, which is about 1.3 million square kilometers less than the 1991-2020 average.
Contributing factors likely include strengthening westerly winds, a phenomenon that's connected to global warming due to climate change, as well as how the ocean is responding to those surface winds, Neff added.
A low-pressure anomaly north of the Bellingshausen Sea, which is adjacent to West Antarctica's Antarctic Peninsula, is likely causing warm air from higher latitudes to warm the region and prevent sea ice formation, Buckley said.
"Winds drive how the ocean moves, but satellites can't see into the ocean, so without being able to get down there, especially during the wintertime, we have very limited ability to do research," he said.
The news of the lack of sea ice comes on the heels of above-average temperatures in the region, records show.
From January through April, the Bellingshausen Sea, where the ice would typically form, has seensea surface temperatures anywhere from 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit above average, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration data. Throughout May, the sea surface conditions cooled slightly but remained about 1.8 to 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit above average temperatures.
In June, the Bellingshausen Sea surface temperature varied by as much as 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit above normal. Air temperatures over the Bellingshausen Sea are forecast to be up to 18 degrees Fahrenheit above average from Tuesday through the weekend.
The area that has not yet refrozen is located upwind of the regions on the Antarctic Peninsula that just experienced this warming. The heat wave can contribute to the lack of sea ice extent because there is not reflective white ice surface to keep it cold, Neff said.
"With this kind of situation where there isn't sea ice forming in the winter, that means in the spring there will be less sea ice to melt," according to Buckley.
The question of why the Antarctic sea ice freeze and thaw cycle has been behaving differently in the last 10 years, compared to the previous 30 years, is a "huge area of research" right now, Neff said, especially in the western region of the continent, which is being monitored closely by scientists.
Glaciologists have taken a particular interest in Antarctica's western shelf due to its potential to cause a severe rise in sea levels. Thwaites Glacier, also known as the "Doomsday Glacier," already contributes to 4% of overall sea level rise, while Pine Island Glacier is one of Antarctica’s fastest-melting glaciers.
Deterioration of the remaining portion of the Thwaites Glacier's floating ice shelf has been accelerating in recent months and is likely to break off in the coming weeks or months, Neff said, adding that while it won't completely destabilize the glacier it will contribute significantly to global sea level rise.
The Antarctic Peninsula is warming about five times faster than the global average. The most severe heat event occurred in March 2022, when the continent recorded temperatures between 54 degrees and 72 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
"The warm events are expected to be coming more frequently," Neff said.
ABC News' Kenton Gewecke and Sam Wnek contributed to this report.
A sign is displayed out the Ministry of Defence headquarters, May 7, 2024, in London. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- A Russian Navy vessel fired warning shots at a U.K.-registered yacht in the English Channel on Tuesday, the Russian military confirmed, saying the civilian boat was making a "dangerous approach" toward the warship.
The incident was reported midday Tuesday about 20 nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight, outside U.K. territorial waters.
The Russian frigate Admiral Grigorovich detected the U.K. yacht "proceeding under engine power on a dangerous course that would bring it into close proximity with the warship," the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The Russian defense ministry said the frigate's crew attempted to make radio contact with the yacht, launched signal flares and emitted sound signals, but the boat "continued its dangerous approach."
When the two vessels were about 150 meters apart, the frigate's commander fired warning shots "from small arms across the yacht's course," at which point the yacht immediately changed course away from the warship, the Russian defense ministry said.
"The crew of the Admiral Grigorovich acted in strict accordance with international navigation rules and took all necessary measures to prevent an incident," the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
The British military also confirmed that the Russian warship fired warning shots following attempts to contact the British vessel.
"These were not aimed at the vessel and were an attempt to prevent a possible collision," a spokesperson for the U.K.'s Ministry of Defense said in a statement.
The Royal Navy patrol ship HMS MERSEY was monitoring the Russian vessel at the time, ABC News understands.
A seaboat from HMS MERSEY visited the yacht to gather more information and confirm those on board are safe. No injuries or damage have been reported and the yacht is continuing on its journey.
The incident comes after the U.K.'s Royal Navy led an interdiction of a tanker, the Smyrtos, sanctioned for being part of Russia's shadow fleet, in the English Channel over the weekend.
The U.K.'s defense ministry said it determined that Tuesday's incident was isolated and not linked to the interdiction of the Smyrtos.
Close up of young college students hands holding mobile phones. (Daniel de la Hoz/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- U.K. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced he would be introducing a social media ban for children 16 and under in Britain on Monday.
The ban would prohibit kids age 16 and under from using "platforms like Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X," the U.K. government said in a statement, but it is not expected to impact messaging apps like Signal and WhatsApp.
"We're going further than any country in the world by banning social media for under-16s and putting wider protections in place to give kids their childhood back," Starmer said in a press conference Monday, saying the social media ban will "give [kids] more time, more security, more freedom to grow up, more opportunity."
"This is a line in the sand. Tech giants had their chance and failed, but we're stepping in to protect children, back parents and set a new normal for future generations," he added.
Social media platforms generally require users to be at least 13 years old to use their platforms and services, but those requirements may vary according to local laws.
Starmer said he hopes the legislation for the social media ban would be discussed in the U.K. parliament before Christmas and would be implemented in early 2027.
Britain is following a similar strategy as Australia, whose social media ban for kids went into effect in December 2025, but is adding more security measures, according to the government.
"The government will also go further than a blanket ban on social media with world-leading blocks on harmful functions such as livestreaming and stranger communication with children for under-16s," the government said in a statement.
Other countries have also proposed social media bans or announced similar age restrictions, including Canada, Brazil and Indonesia. Several additional countries, including France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand, and South Korea, are looking into or developing strategies to address kids' social media use, according to The Associated Press.
Social media companies have pushed back against proposals to ban social media for kids under 16, an important user base for the companies and their bottom line.
"We've invested in expert-led, age-appropriate experiences and default protections for teens for over a decade and will continue to do so," a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement, following the U.K. government's announcement on Monday. "YouTube is a vital resource for young people, educators and parents. Blanket bans push kids out of such curated, supervised, beneficial experiences and towards anonymous, less safe services."
Snapchat said it shared the British government's "objective of protecting people from online harm" but noted that "because the majority of time spent on Snapchat is in private messaging between friends and family, an outright ban that disconnects teens from those relationships doesn't make them safer -- it may simply push them to less safe platforms.
"We have long supported thoughtful and proportionate regulation, including the UK's groundbreaking Online Safety Act, and remain committed to working with [the U.K.'s Office of Communications] on implementation," a Snap Company spokesperson in a statement. "It is vital that the Government now carefully considers the scope of a ban, and how it will define and apply its exclusions."
Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and the messaging app Whatsapp, said the company also opposes a social media ban for children.
"We share the goal of keeping teens safe online, which is why we developed Teen Accounts to automatically limit who can contact them and the content they see," a Meta spokesperson said. "Like others, we don't think bans will achieve this goal."
The Meta spokesperson added that such bans "risk isolating teens from online communities and information, and driving them to unregulated alternatives that lack built-in protections and parental controls."
"To be both effective and easy for parents, any restrictions must be underpinned by an age verification system on devices so people aren't asked to hand over ID to dozens of individual services to prove their age," they said. "We will continue to engage with the government and Ofcom as they work to implement this policy."
When reached by ABC News, TikTok said in a statement, "We share the government's goal of safe online experiences for teens, which is why teen accounts on TikTok have more than 50 preset safety and privacy settings, such as private accounts, and we continue to invest in the latest technologies to advance platform safety. We will examine the details of the government's measures, and we look forward to collaborating constructively with the government on this important issue."
