Ernesto becomes a hurricane after pummelling northeast Caribbean and knocking out power in the region
By: Dánica Coto
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Ernesto strengthened into a hurricane on Wednesday as it dropped torrential rain on Puerto Rico and left nearly half of all clients in the U.S. territory without power as it threatened to strengthen into a major storm en route to Bermuda.
The storm was located about 175 miles (280 kilometres) northwest of San Juan, Puerto Rico and was moving over open waters. It had maximum sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kph) and was moving northwest at 16 mph (26 kph).
A tropical storm warning was in effect for Puerto Rico and its outlying islands of Vieques and Culebra and for the U.S. and British Virgin Islands.
An island-wide blackout was reported in St. John and St. Croix, and at least six cell phone towers were knocked offline across the U.S. territory, said Daryl Jaschen, emergency management director.
He added that the airports in St. Croix and St. Thomas were expected to reopen at midday.
Schools and government agencies, however, remained closed in the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, where heavy flooding was reported in several areas, forcing officials to block roads, some of which were strewn with trees. Nearly 100 flights also were cancelled to and from Puerto Rico.
Israel-Hamas war latest: Israeli strikes kill at least 17 in Gaza overnight, Palestinians say
GAZA STRIP (AP) – Palestinian health officials say Israeli strikes across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Wednesday killed at least 17 people, including five children and their parents.
The strikes came on the eve of new talks aimed at reaching a cease-fire in the 10-month war. The United States, Qatar and Egypt are hoping to broker an agreement, but the sides remain far apart on several issues after months of indirect negotiations.
The overall Palestinian death toll in the war has almost reached 40,000, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
One strike hit a family home late Tuesday in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, which dates back to the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation. It killed five children, ranging in age from 2 to 11, and their parents, according to the nearby Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
An Associated Press reporter who saw the bodies said they had been dismembered by the blast and the two-year-old had been decapitated.
In the nearby Maghazi refugee camp, a strike on a home early Wednesday killed four people, the hospital said. In the southern city of Khan Younis, the Health Ministry’s emergency service said first responders recovered the bodies of four men killed in a strike on a residential tower late Tuesday. Two more people were killed in a strike on a house in the northern town of Beit Lahiya, according to the emergency service.
Japan’s Kishida announces he will not run in September, paving the way for a new prime minister
By: Mari Yamaguchi
TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a surprise move Wednesday, announced he will not run in the upcoming party leadership vote in September, paving the way for Japan to have a new prime minister.
Kishida was elected president of his governing Liberal Democratic Party and became prime minister in 2021. His three-year term expires in September and whoever wins the party vote will succeed him as prime minister because the LDP controls both houses of parliament. A new face is a chance for the party to show that it’s changing for the better, and Kishida said he will support the new leader.
“We need to clearly show an LDP reborn,” Kishida told a news conference Wednesday. “In order to show a changing LDP, the most obvious first step is for me to bow out.”
“I will not run for the upcoming party leadership election,” he said.
Stung by his party’s corruption scandals, Kishida has suffered dwindling support ratings that have dipped below 20 per cent.
4 injured in shooting at Virginia State University’ police have multiple suspects
PETERSBURG, Va. (AP) — A shooting injured four people at Virginia State University early Wednesday, police said. Charges are pending against multiple suspects, and there was no further threat to the community, officials said.
Officers responded to a report of a shooting at the university south of Richmond around 12:30 a.m. and found four people who were shot, Chesterfield County Police said in a news release. All four were taken to hospitals with injuries not considered life-threatening, police said.
None of the victims or suspects are enrolled for the fall semester, according to university spokesperson Gwen Williams Dandridge. Classes start next week, but freshmen and student leaders are already on campus this week, she said.
County and university police are investigating. No officers discharged firearms, police said.
The university enrolls about 4,000 students, according to its website.
‘No concrete leads’ in search for escaped inmate convicted of murder, North Carolina sheriff says
By: Makiya Seminera
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — More than 24 hours after a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder escaped from a transport van, the local sheriff said Wednesday that they have “no concrete leads” on his whereabouts.
Ramone Alston, 30, escaped from the van on Tuesday as it arrived at the UNC Gastroenterology hospital in Hillsborough, North Carolina, where he was being taken for a medical appointment. He freed himself from his leg restraints and fled into the woods with handcuffs on, according to a news release from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
Authorities brought in dogs and they did find tracks that led searchers north of the hospital, but the scent ran cold, Orange County Emergency Services director Kirby Saunders said at a Wednesday news conference.
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are supporting Orange County deputies and other state agencies in the search. Helicopters have swept over the area and tips are being called in, but so far, there are “no concrete leads” on Alston’s whereabouts, Orange County Sheriff Charles Blackwood told the news conference.
There are about 105 people across the various agencies and offices working on the search, and more are on the way, according to the sheriff’s office.
3 years into a life sentence, Alex Murdaugh to get his day before the South Carolina Supreme Court
By: Jeffrey Collins
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — The appeals are just beginning for disgraced former South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh, who is almost three years into a life sentence without parole for killing his wife and son.
The South Carolina Supreme Court has agreed to hear Murdaugh’s appeal of his murder convictions. His lawyers said they resulted from jury tampering by the clerk of court who watched over jurors during his six-week trial.
And in federal court, Murdaugh is appealing the 40-year sentence he was given after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $11 million from clients and his law firm.
Defence attorneys said that punishment — 10 years longer than the maximum recommended by sentencing guidelines — is too harsh under the U.S. Constitution. Prosecutors said it is a backstop in case Murdaugh, now 56, ever manages to get his murder conviction overturned.
His appeals will continue for years.
Texas woman recovering after dramatic rescue from submerged vehicle
WEST ORANGE, Texas (AP) — Newly available video shows police in southeast Texas making a dramatic water rescue of a woman whose vehicle was almost completely submerged in a pond.
Jonquetta Winbush’s two children, a 12-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl, managed to get out while Winbush was having a seizure in late July, West Orange, Texas, Assistant Police Chief Jessie Romero said Wednesday. Winbush then passed out and put her foot on the gas pedal, plunging her vehicle into the pond.
Body camera footage from veteran patrolman Charles Cobb, who was nearby monitoring traffic, shows Winbush’s son frantically approaching the officer.
Cobb put the boy in the back of his patrol car and raced to Winbush’s vehicle, which was almost completely underwater. Two workers from a local plant had already gotten in the water to get Winbush out, Romero said.
After dragging Winbush from the pond, Romero said Cobb administered chest compressions.
After three weeks in intensive care, Romero said Winbush is now breathing on her own.
