Suspect dead after shootings near Las Vegas leave 5 people dead, teen injured, police say

Suspect dead after shootings near Las Vegas leave 5 people dead, teen injured, police say
North Las Vegas Police investigate the scene of Monday night’s shooting at an apartment complex in North Las Vegas, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 26 June 2024
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Suspect dead after shootings near Las Vegas leave 5 people dead, teen injured, police say

Suspect dead after shootings near Las Vegas leave 5 people dead, teen injured, police say

LAS VEGAS: A man who fatally shot five people and critically injured a 13-year-old girl at apartments near Las Vegas has killed himself, authorities said Tuesday.

The North Las Vegas Police Department said the suspected shooter, 47-year-old Eric Adams, killed himself Tuesday morning as he was confronted by officers in a neighborhood. Authorities had been searching for him since Monday night’s shootings in separate apartment units.

Efforts to locate relatives of Adams for comment weren’t immediately successful.

Police said initially they found two women dead while investigating reports of a shooting late Monday at an apartment in North Las Vegas. One of them was in her early 40s and the other in her late 50s, according to the department.

While officers were investigating, the department said, they learned a teen girl had been taken to a hospital with critical gunshot wounds and that there could be more victims in a nearby apartment.

Officers then found the bodies of two women in their mid-20s and a man in his early 20s. All five victims had been shot, police said. They weren’t immediately identified.

The discovery led to an overnight search for Adams, who authorities had described as “armed and dangerous.”

Just after 10 a.m. Tuesday, police learned that the suspect had been seen at a business in North Las Vegas.

As officers arrived in the area, they saw the suspect with a firearm, running into the backyard of a nearby home. The department said officers followed him, but the suspect refused to drop his weapon and died by suicide.

Police haven’t disclosed a motive for the shootings, which they described as an “isolated incident.” A spokesperson for the police department didn’t respond Tuesday to phone and emailed requests for more information.


While Biden warns Israel against escalation, Trump suggests striking Iran nuclear facilities

While Biden warns Israel against escalation, Trump suggests striking Iran nuclear facilities
Updated 10 sec ago
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While Biden warns Israel against escalation, Trump suggests striking Iran nuclear facilities

While Biden warns Israel against escalation, Trump suggests striking Iran nuclear facilities
  • Biden said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ‘should remember’ US support for Israel when deciding on next steps
  • Trump, currently campaigning for another term in power, went so far as to suggest Israel should ‘hit’ the Iranian nuclear sites

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden on Friday advised Israel against striking Iran’s oil facilities, saying he was trying to rally the world to avoid the escalating prospect of all-out war in the Middle East.
But his predecessor Donald Trump, currently campaigning for another term in power, went so far as to suggest Israel should “hit” the Islamic republic’s nuclear sites.
Making a surprise first appearance in the White House briefing room, Biden said that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “should remember” US support for Israel when deciding on next steps.
“If I were in their shoes, I’d be thinking about other alternatives than striking oil fields,” Biden told reporters, when asked about his comments a day earlier that Washington was discussing the possibility of such strikes with its ally.
Biden added that the Israelis “have not concluded how they’re, what they’re going to do” in retaliation for a huge ballistic missile attack by Iran on Israel on Tuesday.
The price of oil had jumped after Biden’s remarks Thursday.
Any long-term rise could be damaging for US Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democrat confronts Republican Trump in a November 5 election where the cost of living is a major issue.
Meanwhile Trump, campaigning in North Carolina, offered a far more provocative view of what he thinks a response to Iran should be, referencing a question posed to Biden this week about the possibility of Israel targeting Iran’s nuclear program.
“They asked him, ‘what do you think about Iran, would you hit Iran?’ And he goes, ‘As long as they don’t hit the nuclear stuff.’ That’s the thing you want to hit, right?” Trump told a town hall style event in Fayetteville, near a major US military base.
Biden “got that one wrong,” Trump said.
“When they asked him that question, the answer should have been, hit the nuclear first, and worry about the rest later,” Trump added.
Trump has spoken little about the recent escalation in tensions in the Middle East. But he issued a scathing statement this week, holding Biden and Harris responsible for the crisis.

Biden’s appearance at the famed briefing room podium was not announced in advance, taking reporters by surprise.
It comes at a tense time as he prepares to leave office with the Mideast situation boiling over and political criticism at home over his handling of a recent hurricane that struck the US southeast.
Biden said he was doing his best to avoid a full-scale conflagration in the Middle East, where Israel is bombing Lebanon in a bid to wipe out the Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah.
“The main thing we can do is try to rally the rest of the world and our allies into participating... to tamp this down,” he told reporters.
“But when you have (Iranian) proxies as irrational as Hezbollah and the Houthis (of Yemen)... it’s a hard thing to determine.”
Biden however had tough words for Netanyahu, with whom he has had rocky relations as he seeks to manage Israel’s response following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
The Israeli premier has repeatedly ignored Biden’s calls for restraint on Lebanon, and on Israel’s war in Gaza, which has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians.
Biden deflected a question on whether he believed Netanyahu was hanging back on signing a Middle East peace deal in a bid to influence the US presidential election.
“No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None, none, none. And I think Bibi should remember that,” Biden said.
“And whether he’s trying to influence the election, I don’t know, but I’m not counting on that.”
Biden said he had still not spoken to Netanyahu since the Iranian attack, which involved some 200 missiles, but added their teams were in “constant contact.”
“They’re not going to make a decision immediately, and so we’re going to wait to see when they want to talk,” the US leader added.
Iran said its attack was in retaliation for the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Hezbollah has been launching rockets at Israel since shortly after the October 7, 2023 attacks.


Twin babies who died alongside their mother in Georgia are youngest-known Hurricane Helene victims

Twin babies who died alongside their mother in Georgia are youngest-known Hurricane Helene victims
Updated 5 min 16 sec ago
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Twin babies who died alongside their mother in Georgia are youngest-known Hurricane Helene victims

Twin babies who died alongside their mother in Georgia are youngest-known Hurricane Helene victims
  • The twins died alongside their mother when a large tree fell through the roof of their home in Thomson, Georgia, last week

Obie Williams said he could hear babies crying and branches battering the windows when he spoke with his daughter on the phone last week as Hurricane Helene tore through her rural Georgia town.
Kobe Williams, 27, and her month-old twin boys were hunkering down at their trailer home in Thomson, Georgia, with her mother, Mary Jones, who had been helping her take care of the babies. Williams’ father sensed his daughter was fearing for her safety, and she promised her father she would heed his advice to shelter in the bathroom with her babies until the storm passed.
The single mother had been sitting in bed holding sons Khyzier and Khazmir and chatting on the phone with various family members while the storm raged outside.
Minutes later, she was no longer answering their calls.
Jones, who was on the other side of the trailer, described hearing a loud crash as a tree fell through the roof of her daughter’s bedroom.
“Kobe, Kobe, answer me, please,” Jones cried out in desperation, but she received no response.
Kobe and the twins were found dead.
“I’d seen pictures when they were born and pictures every day since, but I hadn’t made it out there yet to meet them,” Obie Williams told The Associated Press days after the storm ravaged eastern Georgia. “Now I’ll never get to meet my grandsons. It’s devastating.”
The babies, born Aug. 20, are the youngest known victims of a storm that had claimed 200 lives across Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia and the Carolinas as of Thursday. Among the other young victims are a 7-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy from about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south in Washington County, Georgia.
“She was so excited to be a mother of those beautiful twin boys,” said Chiquita Jones-Hampton, Kobe’ Jones’ niece. “She was doing such a good job and was so proud to be their mom.”
Jones-Hampton, who considered Kobe a sister, said the family is in shock and heartbroken.
In Obie Williams’ home city of Augusta, 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of his daughter’s home in Thomson, power lines stretched along the sidewalks, tree branches blocked the roads and utility poles lay cracked and broken. The debris left him trapped in his neighborhood near the South Carolina border for a little over a day after the storm barreled through.
He said one of his sons dodged fallen trees and downed power lines to check on Kobe, and he could barely bear to tell his father what he found.
Many of his 14 other children are still without power in their homes across Georgia. Some have sought refuge in Atlanta, and others have traveled to Augusta to see their father and mourn together, he said.
He described his daughter as a lovable, social and strong woman. She always had a smile and loved to make people laugh, he said.
And she loved to dance, Jones-Hampton said.
“That was my baby,” Williams said. “And everybody loved her.”


Two more found dead in Taiwan after Typhoon Krathon

Two more found dead in Taiwan after Typhoon Krathon
Updated 05 October 2024
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Two more found dead in Taiwan after Typhoon Krathon

Two more found dead in Taiwan after Typhoon Krathon
  • Around 20,000 homes were still without power Saturday, mostly in the worst-hit southern seaport city of Kaohsiung
  • Krathon dissipated into a tropical depression on Friday after slamming into the island the day before

TAIPEI: Two people who went missing amid the destructive wind and torrential rains of Typhoon Krathon were found dead Saturday in Taiwan, doubling the death toll for the storm that lashed the island this week.
Across the island, around 20,000 homes were still without power Saturday, mostly in the worst-hit southern seaport city of Kaohsiung, where the typhoon made landfall.
Krathon dissipated into a tropical depression on Friday after slamming into the island the day before, bringing mudslides, flooding and record-strong gusts.
More than 700 people were injured.
On Saturday, two missing people were found dead in northern New Taipei city, bringing the typhoon’s death toll to four, the National Fire Agency said without providing details.
Heavy rains triggered landslides in several districts of New Taipei and flooded streets, temporarily stranding dozens of students at their schools, officials said.
The defense ministry said around 250 soldiers were dispatched on Friday to the city and nearby Keelung, which also reported landslides, to help clear roads and drain floodwater.
In Kaohsiung and neighboring Pingtung, about 1,500 soldiers were deployed for a second day to aid in typhoon relief work, according to the defense ministry.
Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, but scientists have warned climate change is increasing their intensity, leading to heavy rains, flash floods and strong gusts.
In July, Gaemi became the strongest typhoon to make landfall in Taiwan in eight years, killing at least 10 people, injuring hundreds and triggering widespread flooding in Kaohsiung.


Drought has dried a major Amazon River tributary to its lowest level in over 122 years

Drought has dried a major Amazon River tributary to its lowest level in over 122 years
Updated 05 October 2024
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Drought has dried a major Amazon River tributary to its lowest level in over 122 years

Drought has dried a major Amazon River tributary to its lowest level in over 122 years
  • The level of the Negro River at the port of Manaus was at 12.66 meters on Friday, as compared with a normal level of about 21 meters
  • It is the lowest since measurements started 122 years ago. The previous record low level was recorded last year, but toward the end of October

MANAUS, Brazil: One of the Amazon River’s main tributaries has dropped to its lowest level ever recorded, Brazil’s geological service said Friday, reflecting a severe drought that has devastated the Amazon rainforest and other parts of the country.
The level of the Negro River at the port of Manaus was at 12.66 meters on Friday, as compared with a normal level of about 21 meters. It is the lowest since measurements started 122 years ago. The previous record low level was recorded last year, but toward the end of October.
The Negro River’s water level might drop even more in coming weeks based on forecasts for low rainfall in upstream regions, according to the geological service’s predictions. Andre Martinelli, the agency’s hydrology manager in Manaus, was quoted as saying the river was expected to continue receding until the end of the month.
Water levels in Brazil’s Amazon always rise and fall with its rainy and dry seasons, but the dry portion of this year has been much worse than usual. All of the major rivers in the Amazon basin are at critical levels, including the Madeira River, the Amazon River’s longest tributary.
The Negro River drains about 10 percent of the Amazon basin and is the world’s sixth-largest by water volume. Manaus, the biggest city in the rainforest, is where the Negro joins the Amazon River.
For locals, the drought has made basic daily activities impossible. Gracita Barbosa, 28, works as a cashier on a floating shop on the Negro River. She’s out of work because boats that once stopped there can no longer navigate the river due to the low water levels. Barbosa can no longer bathe in the river and now has to travel longer distances to collect drinking water.
 


Biden warns Trump may not peacefully concede election if he loses

Biden warns Trump may not peacefully concede election if he loses
Updated 05 October 2024
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Biden warns Trump may not peacefully concede election if he loses

Biden warns Trump may not peacefully concede election if he loses
  • "The things that Trump has said, and the things that he said last time out, when he didn’t like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous,” Biden said
  • Trump was impeached in 2021 for inciting the insurrection after hundreds of his supporters battered police as they smashed windows at the Capitol and broke through doors

WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden said on Friday he is confident that the upcoming presidential election will be fairly conducted, but he warned that Republican candidate Donald Trump and his running mate could refuse to accept the outcome.
“I’m confident it will be free and fair. I don’t know whether it will be peaceful. The things that Trump has said, and the things that he said last time out, when he didn’t like the outcome of the election, were very dangerous,” Biden said.
Biden said it was notable that Trump’s running mate, US Senator JD Vance, would not confirm during this week’s vice presidential debate that he would accept the outcome of the vote in the Nov. 5 election.
Trump is running against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris for president, in a tight race that will come down to a handful of battleground states.

Biden’s warning came with lawmakers and analysts voicing concern over increasingly bellicose campaign language ahead of the vote.
Trump — who survived an assassination bid in July and another apparent plot in September — alleged widespread fraud after his defeat to Biden, and pro-Trump rioters riled up by his false claims ransacked the US Capitol.
Trump was impeached in 2021 for inciting the insurrection after hundreds of his supporters — exhorted by the defeated Republican to “fight like hell” — battered police as they smashed windows at the Capitol and broke through doors.

He has been indicted over what prosecutors allege was a “private criminal effort” to subvert the election that culminated in the violence.
Trump — who is due to return to the venue of his first assassination bid in Butler, Pennsylvania on Saturday — has long been assailed over his violent rhetoric.
Biden made his comments during what was the first appearance of his presidency in the White House briefing room, where he touted his administration’s achievements as his vice president, Kamala Harris, battles Trump.
Harris and Trump meanwhile were barnstorming the battleground states that are likely to decide who wins the White House.
Trump campaigned Friday in North Carolina, where he reprised his claims of 2020 voter fraud: “We should get elected, but remember this, they cheat like hell,” he said.
He also visited neighboring Georgia, a swing state narrowly claimed by Biden four years ago but won by Trump in 2016 — and one of the biggest prizes of the 2024 election map.
The Republican inserted himself aggressively into Georgia politics after his 2020 defeat, pushing for state officials to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s victory.
Trump, 78, was charged by state prosecutors with racketeering, in a case that is on pause and expected to start up again after the election. He denies wrongdoing.

Spreading misinformation
On Friday Trump joined Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp after receiving a briefing on the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Helene, the deadliest storm to hit the US mainland since Katrina in 2005.
Trump has repeatedly spread misinformation about the federal response to the disaster, falsely alleging that funding for relief has been misappropriated by Harris and redirected toward migrants.
Harris, who is neck-and-neck with Trump in all seven swing states, rallied Friday in Michigan — a union stronghold that epitomized the US manufacturing decline of the 1980s.
The Democratic contender accused Trump of jeopardizing Michigan auto jobs.
“This is a man who has only ever fought for himself. This is a man who has been a union buster his entire career,” she said at a stop in Detroit.
Later, in the city of Flint, she branded Trump “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history.”
Flint is a majority Black city where a 2010s scandal over lead-tainted water highlighted government mismanagement and the disproportionate damage to poor and non-white communities.
She reminded rallygoers that the election is just one month away, and early voting has already begun in several states.
“Folks, the election is here. And we need to energize, organize and mobilize,” Harris said.
Earlier her campaign announced the country’s first Black president, Barack Obama, would stump for her in Pennsylvania and other swing states from next week as she woos undecided voters in the US heartland.