Suspect in slaying of 3 women in ‘serious condition’ as U.K. police confirm recovery of crossbow
By: Pan Pylas
LONDON (AP) — A man suspected of killing two sisters and their mother in a crossbow attack was in a “serious condition” at a London hospital, British police said Thursday as officers continued to carry out further searches of properties.
Tributes poured in for the three women who were found with serious injuries at their home in the quiet residential neighbourhood of Bushey, northeast of the capital, on Tuesday evening. Police and ambulance crews tried to save Carol Hunt, 61, and her daughters Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, but they were pronounced dead at the scene.
The women were the family of BBC radio’s horse racing commentator John Hunt. The killings prompted a major manhunt that led to the capture of the suspect, Kyle Clifford, on Wednesday in a cemetery near his home in Enfield, around 15 miles (24 kilometres) from the scene of the crimes.
Clifford, 26, was taken away on a stretcher from Lavender Hill Cemetery with undisclosed injuries. Police said no shots had been fired.
Hertfordshire Police said in a statement on Thursday that Clifford is in “a serious condition” and has yet to speak to officers. It added that a crossbow has been recovered as part of the investigation.
Biden news conference is key event as he faces calls to step aside
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is scheduled to hold a news conference at 6:30 p.m. ET Thursday, the key event in a monumental week for his campaign as he fends off calls for him to step aside as the party’s presumptive nominee. His big moment comes on the last day of the NATO summit.
After a dismal debate performance, Biden’s candidacy is still under question. The first Senate Democrat, Peter Welch of Vermont, and a ninth House Democrat, Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon, on Wednesday publicly called for Biden to end his campaign.
One of the staunchest supporters in the president’s corner has been his wife Jill Biden. As she tries to help her husband salvage his campaign she’s also coming under new scrutiny from critics who’ve cast her as a power-hungry wife pushing her 81-year-old husband to run again.
Israel will send cease-fire negotiators to Cairo for more talks, Netanyahu’s office says
JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says Israel will send a delegation to Cairo for further talks with mediators on a proposed deal with Hamas for a cease-fire and hostage release.
U.S., Egyptian and Qatari mediators are making a new push to seal the agreement, as Hamas and Israel have come the closest yet to narrowing the gaps between them after months of negotiations.
But obstacles still remain. Hamas agreed to relent on its key demand that Israel commit to ending the war as part of any agreement. But it still wants mediators to guarantee that talks will go on until a permanent cease-fire is reached, in return for a full release of hostages held by Hamas.
Netanyahu, meanwhile, says he won’t sign any deal that would force Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza before Hamas is eliminated.
Netanyahu’s office said Israel’s negotiating team returned from meeting with mediators in the Qatari capital Doha, without giving details on the results of the talks. The team was heading Thursday evening to Cairo for continuing discussions, it said.
Houston utility says 500K customers still won’t have electricity next week as Beryl outages persist
By: Nadia Lathan
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — About 500,000 customers still won’t have electricity into next week as wide outages from Hurricane Beryl persist and frustration mounts over the pace of restoration, an official with Houston’s biggest power utility said Thursday.
Jason Ryan, executive vice president of CenterPoint Energy, said power has been restored to more than 1 million homes and businesses since Beryl made landfall on Monday. The company expects to get hundreds of thousands of more customers back online in the coming days, but others will wait much longer, he said.
Ryan predicted that the prolonged outages into next week would be concentrated along the Texas coast, closer to where Beryl came ashore.
The Category 1 hurricane — the weakest type — knocked out power to around 2.7 million customers after it made landfall in Texas on Monday, according to PowerOutage.us.
CenterPoint Energy has struggled to restore power to affected customers, who have grown frustrated that such a relatively weak storm could cause such disruption at the height of summer.
Sizzling heat wave in parts of southern and central Europe prompts alerts
By: Jovana Gec
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Weather alerts, forest fires, melting pavement in cities: A sizzling heat wave has sent temperatures in parts of central and southern Europe soaring toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in some places.
From Italy to Romania, authorities warned people to be cautious, drive carefully if going on holiday, drink plenty of water and avoid going out during the hottest hours of the day.
Italian authorities declared a red weather alert in seven cities on Thursday, mostly in the central parts of the country but also the capital Rome and Trieste in the northeast.
The heat conditions are aggravated by humidity and could affect healthy people as well as those with health conditions, Italian authorities warned.
Similar warnings were issued in neighbouring Croatia and further east and south. Croatia’s main tourism resort, the southern Adriatic Sea town of Dubrovnik, recorded 28C (82.4 F) at dawn, signalling there won’t be relief when the sun goes down.
Forest fires have been reported this week in Albania, near the border with Greece, as well as in Bosnia and Italy. Several blazes raged Thursday in Greece’s southern Corinth area and on the eastern Aegean Sea island of Lesbos.
South Africa’s Cape Town is hit by more storms, with 4,500 people displaced by floods and damage
By: Gerald Imray
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — The South African city of Cape Town and surrounding areas were hit by more storms Thursday that ripped roofs off houses and caused widespread flooding, forcing at least 4,500 people out of their homes and damaging at least 15,000 structures, authorities said. The devastating weather began a week ago.
Multiple cold fronts have battered the region on the southwest tip of Africa since late last week, bringing record rainfall in some parts and gale-force winds. City authorities said the bad weather was expected to continue until the weekend and possibly into next week.
The Wynberg neighbourhood of Cape Town was littered with damage Thursday morning after the latest front hit overnight. The strong winds blew off roofs, destroyed parts of houses and other buildings, and brought down electricity poles.
The City of Cape Town said its Disaster Operations Centre worked through the night to respond to calls for help from residents.
At least 4,500 people were displaced and 15,000 structures damaged in and around Cape Town and the wider Western Cape province before the latest storm Wednesday night and those figures were expected to rise.
Yemen Houthi rebels fired an Iranian missile at Norwegian-flagged ship, debris analyzed by U.S. shows
By: Jon Gambrell
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Yemen’s Houthi rebels likely fired an Iranian-made anti-ship cruise missile at a Norwegian-flagged tanker in the Red Sea in December, an assault that now provides a public, evidence-based link between the ongoing rebel campaign against shipping and Tehran, the U.S. military says.
A report by the U.S. Defence Intelligence Agency released Wednesday linked the attack on the Strinda, which set the vessel ablaze, to Tehran, the Houthi’s main backer in Yemen’s nearly decade-long war. The findings correspond with those of a Norway-based insurers group that also examined debris found on the Strinda.
It comes as the Houthis continue their months-long campaign of attacks over the Israel-Hamas war, targeting ships in the Red Sea corridor, disrupting the $1 trillion flow of goods passing through it annually while also sparking the most intense combat the U.S. Navy has seen since World War II.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations, responding to questions from The Associated Press, again denied arming the Houthis despite the reports.
Woman swept to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach rescued 37 hours later and 50 miles away
By: Mari Yamaguchi
TOKYO (AP) — A Chinese woman who was swept out to sea while swimming at a Japanese beach was rescued 37 hours later after drifting in an inflatable swim ring more than 80 kilometres (50 miles) in the Pacific Ocean, officials said Thursday.
Japan’s coast guard launched a search for the woman, identified only as a Chinese national in her 20s, after receiving a call Monday night from her friend saying she had disappeared while swimming at Shimoda, about 200 kilometres (125 miles) southwest of Tokyo.
She was likely swept out to sea by a current and an evening seaward wind from the mountains and her swim ring made it more difficult to move against the wind, experts said.
The woman was spotted by a cargo ship early Wednesday, about 36 hours after she disappeared off the southern tip of Boso Peninsula, the coast guard said.
The cargo ship asked a passing LPG tanker, the Kakuwa Maru No. 8, to help. Two of its crew members jumped into the sea and rescued the woman, officials said. She was airlifted by a coast guard helicopter to land, they said.
