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Chicago Tribune
a few seconds ago
- Chicago Tribune
Turbulence forces Delta flight to land and sends 25 passengers to hospitals, airline says
A Delta Air Lines flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam was hit by serious turbulence, sending 25 passengers to hospitals and forcing the flight to divert to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the airline said. The Airbus A330-900, which can seat over 250 people, landed around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday. The airport fire department and paramedics met the flight. The 25 passengers were taken to hospitals for evaluation and treatment, the airline said. One passenger said people who weren't wearing seat belts were thrown about the cabin. 'They hit the ceiling, and then they fell to the ground,' Leann Clement-Nash told ABC News. 'And the carts also hit the ceiling and fell to the ground and people were injured. It happened several times, so it was really scary.' Delta said in a statement: 'We are grateful for the support of all emergency responders involved.' Serious injuries from in-flight turbulence are rare, but scientists say they may be becoming more common as climate change alters the jet stream. A man was killed when a Singapore Airlines flight hit severe turbulence in May 2024, the first person to die from turbulence on a major airline in several decades.
International Business Times
3 hours ago
- International Business Times
Who Is James Andrew McGann? Man Arrested for Murders of Parents in Front of Their Children at Arkansas Devil's Den State Park
A suspect has been arrested for the brutal double murder of two parents who were killed protecting their young daughters during a hike in Arkansas' Devil's Den State Park on Saturday—bringing a tense five-day manhunt to an end. Arkansas State Police arrested 28-year-old James Andrew McGann of Springdale while he was getting a haircut in town, charging him with two counts of capital murder. Police didn't mention a possible motive. McGann had recently relocated to the area and was employed at a local school, state police said. He is currently being held at the Washington County Jail as of Wednesday. Details regarding his first court appearance weren't immediately clear. Murderer in the Net James Andrew McGann X Clinton David Brink, 43, and his wife, Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, were walking with their two daughters, 7 and 9, along a trail in Devil's Den State Park on Saturday when a man, believed to be McGann, allegedly launched an attack around 2:30 p.m., according to authorities. The children were not injured and told authorities that their parents had been stabbed on a trail at the popular tourist spot known for its caves and rock formations, according to a CNN report. Clinton David Brink with his wife Cristen Amanda Brink Facebook "Clinton and Cristen died heroes protecting their little girls, and they deserve justice," the Brink family told local ABC News in a statement. The bodies of the brave parents were found on the popular hiking trail just hours after the brutal assault, triggering an urgent manhunt for the suspect, who was described as wearing a baseball cap, sunglasses, and fingerless weightlifting gloves. By Wednesday, the investigation into the killing of the hikers had entered its fifth day. Numerous aspects of the incident still remain unclear. A Lot Still Unclear Authorities shared both a composite sketch and a photo of a person of interest connected to the attack. They also released a photo showing the back of a person. Along with the sketch, state police issued a statement indicating the suspect "likely sustained an injury while attacking the couple," though they did not provide any additional specifics. Police released a photo showing the back of a person in search of James Andrew McGann X Police also described a vehicle possibly linked to the case — a black sedan, potentially a Mazda, which was seen at Devil's Den with duct tape covering its license plate. So far, State Police have released limited details, including details about how the couple was killed. The FBI's Little Rock field office is currently assisting with the investigation. The Brink family had recently relocated to Arkansas from South Dakota. Clinton was scheduled to begin a new job as a milk delivery driver on Monday, according to his employer. Although investigators have yet to reveal a motive behind the brutal murders, state officials have commended the successful arrest. Clinton David Brink and Cristen Amanda Brink Facebook "No news can heal the enormous harm done to the Brink family in last weekend's crime, but this announcement is a comfort and reassurance for our state," Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in the release. "If you target innocent people, law enforcement will hunt you down and bring you to justice," Sanders said. Local authorities referred to McGann as a "monster" and applauded the investigators for quickly capturing him. "Because of their hard work and investigative skill, we were able to take a monster off the streets, and bring relief to those two precious girls, and the rest of our citizens," ASP Col. Mike Hagar said in the arrest announcement.
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
Ex-ABC News reporter admits employer biased against Trump due to lack of ‘viewpoint diversity'
Former ABC News correspondent Terry Moran admitted this week his longtime employer was "biased" against President Donald Trump because the newsroom is filled with like-minded liberals and lacks "viewpoint diversity." Moran, who spent nearly 28 years at ABC News, was dropped by the outlet in June after attacking President Donald Trump and White House aide Stephen Miller on social media. He now offers his commentary on Substack and penned a look at the future of CBS News after FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said incoming ownership would implement an ombudsman to "root out the bias" last week when approving a long-planned merger. "Let's talk about bias. I worked at ABC News for almost 28 years, and I'm proud to say that," Moran wrote on his Substack on Tuesday. "But: Were we biased? Yes. Almost inadvertently, I'd say. ABC News has the same problem so many leading cultural institutions do in America: A lack of viewpoint diversity." Moran explained that ABC News was run by "White men" when he joined the network, but the Disney-owned news organization made efforts to increase diversity to change the company "for the better." "But there was one way ABC did not change and did not diversify. It is no secret. There are hardly any people who supported Donald Trump at ABC News," Moran wrote. "And this is bound to impact coverage, not so much out of malevolent bias… but more out of what is a kind of deafness," Moran continued. "The old news divisions don't hear many of the voices of the country, because those voices aren't in the newsroom. Yes, news teams go out with a microphone and a camera and accost people at Trump rallies; but to me that often comes off as weirdly anthropological and inaccurate, kind of like trying to understand nature by visiting a zoo." Moran added that it might "sound strange" coming from someone who was shown the door for an anti-Trump outburst, but he played devil's advocate to Trump critics inside ABC News. "But inside the newsroom, I had a reputation of trying to get colleagues to see the other side, to walk a mile in the shoes of MAGA, to acknowledge the democratic forces that have made Donald Trump the dominant political figure of our time," Moran wrote. "So, yes, from my perspective, the old news networks are biased." ABC News did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Moran's firing came less than six weeks after he interviewed Trump as part of a major primetime special for ABC marking Trump's first 100 days in office. Trump repeatedly chided Moran for his various lines of questioning. Moran was axed by ABC News in June, just before his contract with the network was set to expire, after he called Trump and Miller "world-class" haters. "The thing about Stephen Miller is not that he is the brains behind Trumpism," Moran began his post. "Yes, he is one of the people who conceptualizes the impulses of the Trumpist movement and translates them into policy. But that's not what's interesting about Miller. It's not brains. It's bile." "Miller is a man who is richly endowed with the capacity for hatred. He's a world-class hater," Moran wrote. "You can see this just by looking at him because you can see that his hatreds are his spiritual nourishment. He eats his hate." Moran's post went on to also call Trump a "world-class hater" but added that "his hatred [is] only a means to an end, and that end [is] his own glorification. That's his spiritual nourishment." An ABC News staffer told Fox News Digital in June that Moran was beloved by his colleagues and insisted he wasn't some "psycho liberal" like the X post that resulted in his firing may have suggested. Moran has said he doesn't regret the anti-Trump post on social media.
4 hours ago
- Business
Matcha no more? How US tariffs, high demand are leading to shortage of beloved Japanese drink
Outside of Kyoto, Japan, in a small city called Uji, tea farmer Yoshitsugu Furukawa is struggling to figure out what President Donald Trump's 15% tariffs on all Japanese exports set to go into effect on Aug. 1 could mean for his family business. "I would understand imposing these tariffs for things that would create competition," Furukawa told ABC News. "For example, if it's an automobile, they are manufactured in the U.S. and in Japan as well, so it can pose a threat. Whereas tea, currently there is no matcha making in the U.S., so it's not going to hurt anyone in the U.S. So, for things like that it should be tariff free." Furukawa, whose craft has been passed down to him through six generations, grows tencha tea leaves on his family's farm in Uji. Tencha leaves are then sold to wholesalers who undertake the laborious process of turning raw tea leaves into matcha powder, which is then sold to retailers in Japan, and now, all over the world. That matcha powder from Japan becomes the basis of a $7 matcha latte an American can buy at Starbucks or a local café in the U.S. Trump threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Japanese exports, saying the levies would go into effect on Aug. 1. Days before the deadline, Trump and Japan announced a trade deal. Japan agreed to invest $550 billion in U.S.-bound investments and loans in exchange for lowering tariffs on Japanese exports to the U.S. from 25% to 15%. Exact details of the trade deal remain unclear, but Japanese exports will still face tariffs. The "matcha boom," as the Japanese tea farmers, wholesalers and retailers refer to the increase in demand in the past two years, is largely seen as a positive among those who have worked in the industry for generations that ABC News spoke with. However, Trump's impending tariffs pose a threat to an already fragile industry facing other headwinds like the impacts of climate change and the ever-present challenge of making a thousand-year-long tea tradition modern and accessible. "This is somewhat unprecedented, so I don't know what to expect," Hideki Wakasugi, the CEO and president of Nishio City matcha wholesaler Shokakuen Co. Ltd, told ABC News. "More or less we are going to be affected, so I'm kind of waiting to see, once this kind of calms down, the whole wave, then only then can we take measures." "Matcha Boom" While overall production volume of tea across Japan has declined in the past 15 years, the production volume of tencha, the raw tea leaves that become matcha powder, has risen sharply in the past five years, according to statistics from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and the Japanese Association of Tea Production. Tencha overall makes up one small part of tea production in Japan, but it's one of the only areas of growth, the statistics show. "We think the demand is driven by the health-oriented trend and also the heightened interest in Japanese food in the U.S.," Tomoyuki Kawai, deputy director of the Tea and Fruits Division in the Crop Production Bureau of the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries told ABC News.'' According to data from the Trade Statistics of Japan Ministry of Finance, 78% of all powdered green tea exported from Japan -- which includes matcha powder -- went to the U.S. in 2024. After the U.S., the largest amount of powdered green tea was exported to the European Union and the United Kingdom, followed by Taiwan. Japanese farmers, wholesalers and retailers that ABC News spoke with echoed the sentiments the statistics show. People working in the tea industry largely noticed a decline in demand for their products, especially during COVID-19, but industry experts have noticed a sharp increase in demand for matcha specifically, primarily from the U.S., in the past year alone. In Nishio City, one of the areas with the highest matcha production in Japan, the Nishio Tea Cooperative Association, which represents all of the tea farmers and wholesalers in the area, said 30% of their overall revenue comes from exports to North America. Nishio Tea Cooperative Association President Tadateru Honda believes the "matcha boom" is "really due to health consciousness," from Americans in particular. "This consciousness is very high, and they may not be appreciating it to the extent that Japanese people do, but I think it's really the health benefit that is increasing the sales," Honda said. Ryoichiro Kanbayashi, the CEO of a matcha wholesaler and retailer based in Uji City outside of Kyoto, where production of matcha in Japan began hundreds of years ago, said he welcomes the matcha boom trend. He's noticed an increase in tourists from the U.S, the European Union and other Southeast Asian countries visiting his store in the past couple of years, he said. "I am more than welcoming this trend because pre-COVID, matcha was predominantly purchased by tea ceremony masters and people in that field," Kanbayashi said. "It wasn't really for general consumers, but then people outside of Japan were drinking it like regular tea, with latte or with flavoring… I am very grateful they are introducing Japan to this new way of enjoying it." At his store, visitors can experience the traditional matcha tea ceremony and buy matcha products. Whenever American tourists come to buy matcha products in his store, they ask him what the healthiest option is, he said. Kanbayashi's family has been producing tea in the Uji region for 150 years, and he said he's noticed matcha source material tencha has almost doubled in price in the past year because of the increased demand for the product. In the heart of Kyoto, modern matcha cafes have started popping up. People can buy not only the traditional hot matcha drink, but they can also buy matcha lattes, matcha ice cream, matcha lava cakes and other matcha sweets. One of those modern cafes in Kyoto, Hatoya Ryoyousha Kiyomizu, which opened in November 2024, aims to combine the traditional elements of matcha tea making with something more accessible to modern consumers. The price of their products has already increased in the short time the store has been open and it is expected to increase again, Hiiragi Fujii, a member of the global department of the matcha store chain, told ABC News. "It's definitely the demand for matcha throughout the world that has really caused an impact on the price increase," Fujii said. "There's always been a love for coffee, but never really matcha, but then all of a sudden everyone is holding a matcha instead of coffee." The Trump Tariff Scare While increased demand for matcha both from the U.S. and around the world has created optimism among tea farmers and wholesalers who say the industry was largely stagnant for the past 30 years, the Trump tariffs risk harming the growth from the matcha boom. Kanbayashi said he expects "some sort of ripple effect," on his business from the tariffs, even if he doesn't predict a direct impact on his sales at his store in Uji. If tariffs are imposed and fewer people in Japan export matcha to the U.S., he doesn't know how that will impact the price of tencha, the tea leaves used to make matcha and his overall business. "I would say eventually it'll be customers and consumers," who are impacted by the tariffs, Kanbayashi said. "'OK so the price has gone up two times, so we're going to charge you twice as much' -- that's not what we can tell our regular customers. But if it continues to rise, then we have no choice but to raise prices." Kawai at the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries agreed that the burden will likely fall on U.S. consumers first when the tariffs are imposed. "U.S. importers will pay for the tariffs first, which means there's a possibility that U.S. consumers will pay if not the full price but part of the burden," Kawai said. However, tea is considered an "indulgence item" rather than a necessity, Kawai said, so it's possible the tariffs could cause consumers to buy less product, hurting the Japanese farmers and wholesalers who have been working to meet the growing matcha demand. Matcha tea farmers and wholesalers are also facing challenges caused by climate change. Tencha tea leaves can only be harvested once a year if they are handpicked by farmers and up to four times a year if they are picked by machine, but with climate change causing rapid fluctuation in temperature, industry experts ABC News spoke with reported farmers harvested fewer tencha tea leaves this year compared to last year. The Japanese government offers subsidies to help cover the cost of materials needed to protect the tencha leaves against the fluctuating temperatures caused by climate change. It also provides subsidies to help farmers convert from producing other forms of tea to growing tencha leaves in order to meet the growing demand for matcha, Kawai said. For now, tea farmers and wholesalers in the industry are hopeful the matcha boom will last, but both the boom and Trump's tariffs leave uncertainty for the people who have dedicated their lives to producing this special form of green tea. "I wouldn't know how long this boom is going to last. I want it to last, because well, I'm more concerned about once the boom is gone," Honda, the Nishio Tea Cooperative president, said. "We can assume that the price can drop drastically, and so that's the fear." Furukawa, whose Uji tencha farm uses the hand-picking method to harvest tea leaves, says there is "nothing negative" about the matcha boom and hopes matcha culture will continue to spread. Wholesaler CEO and president Wakasugi also believes there's more room for growth in the U.S. market, despite the tariffs. "There's still parts of the U.S. that is not really using matcha, so I can see there is room to grow," he said.
5 hours ago
- Politics
Trump administration lifted sanctions on Israeli settler accused of killing Palestinian activist
An Israel i settler who Israeli officials say is suspected of shooting and killing a Palestinian activist tied to the Oscar-winning film "No Other Land" had been sanctioned by the Biden administration for alleged violence against Palestinians -- sanctions lifted by the Trump administration. Yinon Levi, the alleged shooter according to Israeli officials, faced financial sanctions imposed last year under then-President Joe Biden after being cited for allegedly inciting violence against Palestinian civilians and burning farmland. Speaking to ABC News Chief International Correspondent James Longman last year following Biden's sanctions, Levi and his wife, Sapir, denied the accusations cited in the sanctions and said they initially thought the sanctions were a "joke." "We are here and we have to defend ourselves and nothing more," Sapir Levi told Longman. Shortly after taking office in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order lifting the sanctions and removing Levi's name, among others, from the U.S. "Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List." Levi's name appears at the very top of the list of those who had sanctions lifted, released by the Treasury Department in January. Local officials confirmed that 31-year-old Awdah Hathaleen was shot dead in the West Bank village of Umm al-Khair on Monday. The father of three was an activist who worked on the film, "No Other Land," which tells the story of a West Bank community through the lens of a Palestinian activist. The movie won an Oscar in March for best documentary feature film. According to the Palestinian Education Ministry, Hathaleen was also a teacher who taught at the Al-Saray'a Secondary School. In a video posted on X, the director of "No Other Land," Yuval Abraham, called Hathaleen a "friend" and said he was "shot in the upper body." According to Israel police, "Palestinians threw stones at civilian vehicles that were lawfully conducting work in the area" and a firearm was discharged. A total of five Palestinians and two foreigners were detained by Israel Defense Forces "on suspicion of involvement," police said. Initially unnamed, the suspect was questioned for "reckless conduct resulting in death and unlawful use of a firearm," Israel police said in a statement. They added that that a court had ordered the person to be released to house arrest until Friday, denying a police request to extend his detention. ABC News has confirmed that Levi was taken into custody following Monday's incident, per Israeli officials. It is unclear if Levi has been charged and if he has publicly commented. During a press briefing Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce deflected questions about the allegations against Levi and lifting the sanctions, instead deferring to the Israeli government to investigate. "We decry the loss of life everywhere -- that has been the hallmark of the work that this administration is doing," she said. "We don't comment on investigations that belong to another government." In a statement Tuesday, Rep. John Garamendi, a California Democrat, slammed Israeli settler violence in the West Bank and demanded answers about Hathaleen's death. "Lifting sanctions on the very individuals who perpetrate these unacceptable acts only emboldens violent settlers and sends a signal that the United States won't hold violent actors accountable," Garamendi said.
