Connect with us

News

Rubio Says Information on Abducted Ukrainian Children Will Be Preserved

Published

on

Rubio Says Information on Abducted Ukrainian Children Will Be Preserved

The State Department has preserved information on Ukrainian children abducted by the Russian government during its war in Ukraine that lawmakers feared had been deleted, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday night.

Researchers at Yale University, who were tracking tens of thousands of abducted Ukrainian children, had created a database as one project under the Biden administration State Department’s Conflict Observatory program. In addition to tracking potential war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, the Conflict Observatory tracked the civil war in Sudan. Lawmakers feared that the database on the Ukrainian children had been deleted when the State Department cut funding for the group tracking the abductions.

“The data is secure,” Mr. Rubio told reporters on his plane flying from Suriname to Miami at the end of a three-nation tour of the Caribbean and South America. He said the database would be transferred to “the appropriate party,” without specifying who, and that the program would no longer operate because the funding had been cut as part of a halt to almost all foreign aid when President Trump took office in January. The data is likely to be transferred to the International Criminal Court and Europol, Europe’s main law enforcement agency.

The Yale School of Public Health Humanitarian Research Lab, which was tracking the abductions, had counted more than 30,000 children taken from Ukraine to places including Russia and Belarus since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022. When the funding ended in January, the lab had put information into the database on thousands of children, including detailed dossiers on more than 300 of them, traced to Russia’s coercive adoption system.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has abducted 20,000 children from the country.

Advertisement

In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and an aide, accusing them of war crimes over the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin has denied accusations of war crimes but has not been secretive about the transfers of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Yale lab had intended to hand the database over to Europol and the International Criminal Court. In addition to the arrest warrant for Mr. Putin over the deportations, the court also issued one for an aide, Maria Lvova-Belova. The purpose of the database is to help the court bring charges against more Russian officials.

This month, U.S. lawmakers sent a letter to Mr. Rubio asking about the status of the project and saying they had heard the database might have been deleted after the funding was stopped.

Now with the effort to preserve the final stages of data collection, the project the Yale lab was leading is supposed to remain operational for six weeks to give experts time to transfer the database.

The main contractor for the program was the MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit that often does work for U.S. intelligence agencies. The Yale lab was a subcontractor under MITRE. Congress had allocated funding for the project from 2022 to this year.

Advertisement

After lawmakers expressed worries about the database, MITRE said in a statement that it had not been deleted and was in the hands of another specialist group.

News

Paul Pelosi in hit-and-run in California, car left with major damage, authorities say

Published

on

Paul Pelosi in hit-and-run in California, car left with major damage, authorities say

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her husband Paul arrive at the funeral services for Clive Davis at Central Synagogue in New York, Monday, June 29, 2026.

Adam Gray/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Adam Gray/AP

LOS ANGELES — The husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in a hit-and-run in California that left a parked car with “major” damage authorities said Saturday, and he could face misdemeanor charges.

Paul Pelosi was driving his brown convertible Friday in Yountville, a town in the heart of wine country, when he struck a legally parked car on the side of the road, briefly stopped and then drove away, the Napa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. No injuries were reported.

A witness saw the collision and called 911. Shortly afterward sheriff’s deputies found Pelosi with damage to the front of his car on a road roughly a quarter of a mile away. He reportedly told officers he knew he hit something but was not sure when or what caused the damage.

Advertisement

Pelosi, 86, did not have any alcohol in his system, according to the statement. The sheriff’s office referred him to the Department of Motor Vehicles for a process to determine whether he may continue to drive — something that officials say is common for older drivers.

Pelosi was not arrested, and because no one was injured, the sheriff’s office recommended a misdemeanor charge for fleeing the scene of an accident.

A staffer for Nancy Pelosi did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

Paul Pelosi pleaded guilty in 2022 to misdemeanor charges of driving under the influence in Napa County and was sentenced to five days in jail and three years of probation. However, he served only two days in jail and received good conduct credit for two other days, leaving just one day to serve in a work program at the courthouse.

As part of his probation, Pelosi was required to attend a three-month drinking driver class and install an ignition interlock device, which forces drivers to provide a breath sample to prove sobriety before the engine will start. He also was ordered to pay about $5,000 in victim restitution for medical bills and lost wages, along with nearly $2,000 in fines.

Advertisement
Continue Reading

News

Crowds ordered to evacuate National Mall area as stormy weather slams DC

Published

on

Crowds ordered to evacuate National Mall area as stormy weather slams DC

The thousands of people attending the Great American State Fair and other areas around the National Mall are being ordered to evacuate as stormy weather approaches.

The National Weather Service previously announced a Severe Thunderstorm Warning in the District. Officials are asking attendees to seek shelter.

SEE ALSO: Historic Fourth of July fireworks to light up National Mall: How to watch live

The DC Homeland Security & Emergency Management released a list of places where the crowds can go to get out of the weather:

Federal Buildings:

Advertisement
  • Ronald Reagan Building – 100 Pennsylvania Ave NW
  • Dept. of Commerce – 1401 Constitution Ave NW
  • Dept. of Agriculture – 1400 Independence Dr SW
  • Dept. of Education – 400 Maryland Ave SW
  • Internal Revenue Service – 1111 Constitution Ave NW
  • Voice of America – 330 Independence Ave SW
  • Thomas Jefferson Memorial – 16 E Basin Dr SW

Museums:

  • National Museum of American History – 1300 Constitution Ave NW
  • National Museum of Natural History – 1000 Constitution Ave NW
  • National Museum of African American History and Culture – 1400 Constitution Ave NW

Freedom 250 organizers released this statement:

“The safety of our guests, performers, and staff is our top priority. Due to approaching severe storms, Freedom 250, United States Secret Service, United States Park Police, National Park Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and all public safety partners are asking all guests to evacuate event grounds and seek temporary shelter in a nearby building. Available shelter locations include the Department of Commerce, Department of Education, Department of Agriculture, Internal Revenue Service, VOA Building, Thomas Jefferson Memorial, National Museum of American History, National Museum of Natural History, the African American Museum, and the Ronald Reagan Building. Please remain calm, follow the directions of law enforcement and event staff, and stay tuned to Freedom 250’s official channels for updates. Freedom 250 will share updates on programming and doors reopening — please stay close to our official channels for updates.”

The Secret Service said they have suspended screening on the National Mall.

“Security screening on the National Mall has been suspended due to dangerous storms,” the Secret Service said. “If you are already on the grounds, follow directions from officers and event staff and move to shelter immediately. Do not shelter under trees.”

Comment with Bubbles

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

Advertisement

Metro riders are also asked to seek shelter. Commuters should expect heavy crowds at stations near the National Mall and are asked to consider using L’Enfant Plaza, Metro Center, Archives, Federal Triangle or Federal Center SW stations to avoid congestion.

Continue Reading

News

Reflections on America’s 250th birthday

Published

on

Reflections on America’s 250th birthday

The nation’s capital may be the focal point of the 250th Independence Day celebration, but people all across America have plans to mark the occasion, from boisterous public parades to quiet personal reflections on history.

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP


hide caption

toggle caption

Advertisement

Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP

As the United States turns 250 years old, Americans across the country are spending the holiday thinking about what the big birthday means to them, with reflections and celebrations as diverse as the nation itself.

NPR’s member station reporters fanned out to collect snapshots of the occasion from sea to shining sea.

In one ‘City of Presidents,’ Main Street is decorated for a party

At least two cities in the U.S.call themselves the “City of Presidents” and Cuba City, in Wisconsin, is one of them, largely due to its patriotic Main Street decorations. Every year from Memorial Day through Veteran’s Day, red, white, and blue shields, one for each U.S. president, are prominently displayed high up on the light poles lining Main Street.

Advertisement

It’s a tradition that began in 1976 to commemorate the country’s bicentennial, says Donna Rogers, who is president of the ongoing project but admitted that when it first started, she wasn’t particularly tuned-in to the display.

“I was raising three little boys and working at John Deere, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to community service at that time,” she said.

Donna Rogers shows off one of Cuba City's presidential lampposts.

Donna Rogers shows off one of Cuba City’s presidential lampposts.

Susan Bence/WUWM


hide caption

Advertisement

toggle caption

Susan Bence/WUWM

A few years later, she was tapped to help keep the initiative alive.

When she thinks of the country’s history, she says the signing of the Declaration of Independence and abolition of slavery top her list, plus a current event–

Advertisement

“Of course, now, our nation’s 250th birthday. I think those three would be the three most important things in history to me,” she said, quickly adding “[the] right for women to vote, don’t forget that, right?”

Rogers and Cuba City are pulling out all the stops for the 250th, with a parade and a mac-and-cheese festival, because “that was some of our founding fathers favorite foods, along with turkey and cranberries and other items.”

She laughed and admitted she googled that. True or not, Rogers says they’ll go all-out to celebrate the 250th in her “City of Presidents”.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending