At least 8 stabbed in ‘major’ incident in United Kingdom, police and emergency officials say
(LONDON) — At least eight people were transported to hospitals with stab wounds following a “major” incident in the United Kingdom, police and emergency officials said Monday.
Officers responded just before noon local time to reports of a stabbing at a property on Hart Street in Southport, a seaside town about 20 miles north of Liverpool, according to Merseyside Police.
“Armed police have detained a male and seized a knife. He has been taken to a police station,” the department said in a statement.
The eight injured people were transferred to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, Aintree University Hospital and Southport and Formby hospital, the North West Ambulance Service said on social media. The patients’ conditions and ages were not immediately released.
Thirteen ambulances had been dispatched to the scene, along with a Hazardous Area Response Team, an Air Ambulance and and Merit Doctors, emergency officials said.
Officials at Alder Hey said they were “working with other emergency services to respond to this incident and our Emergency Department is currently extremely busy.” The hospital said it had declared Monday’s stabbing a “major incident.”
“We ask parents to only bring their children to the Emergency Department if it is urgent,” the hospital said in a statement.
The town of Southport sits in the county of Merseyside, in the the U.K.’s northwest.
(LONDON) — Munich police shot a “suspicious person” in the Karolinenplatz area of the southern German city on Thursday morning, authorities said, adding they had launched a “major operation.”
“Police officers spotted a person who appeared to be carrying a firearm,” Munich’s police force said in an initial statement on social media. “The emergency services used their service weapons and the person was hit and injured.”
“The weapon used by the suspect is an older long gun,” a later police update clarified. “The suspect was fatally injured in the shootout. There are still no indications of further suspects or other injured persons.”
The area was cordoned off, with a helicopter in the air above the scene, the force said.
The shooting occurred next to the city’s Nazi Documentation Center, police said.
“Many emergency services are on their way to the site of operations,” the force noted. “We ask that you avoid this area as much as possible.”
The Nazi Documentation Center is one of the city’s most popular museums, located midway between the famous Karolinenplatz and Königsplatz squares just northwest of the medieval old town. It is less than 500 feet from the Israeli Consulate.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that there had been a “shooting incident” close to the consulate, noting that the facility was closed on Thursday coinciding with the anniversary of the deadly terror attack at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich.
“No one from the consulate staff was injured in the incident,” the ministry’s spokesperson said. “The shooter was neutralized by the German security forces and the incident is under their care.”
(LONDON) — No decisions were made on Ukraine’s use of American long-range weapons against Russia during a meeting between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian leadership on Wednesday, according to an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky.
The discussion comes as Blinken announced more than $700 million in new funds to support Ukraine during remarks in Kyiv.
Restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American long-range weapons against targets inside Russia have been one of the most pressing issues for Blinken during the visit. America’s top diplomat was accompanied by British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
During a lengthy meeting, Zelenskky and Blinken discussed lifting the ban on strikes deeper in Russian territory and weapon supplies, according to an adviser to Zelenskyy with knowledge of the meeting. Zelenskyy gave Blinken a detailed plan of how Ukraine could use long-range missiles for strikes into Russia and gave him a list of possible targets, the adviser said.
Blinken confirmed with reporters during remarks following the meeting that he discussed long-range fires with Ukrainian officials, “but a number of other things as well.”
Blinken said he will share what he learned from his talks with Ukrainian leadership on this trip with President Joe Biden, who is set to meet with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday to “discuss how to further help Ukraine.”
‘We have adjusted and adapted as needs have changed, as the battlefield has changed, and I have no doubt that we’ll continue to do that as this evolves,” Blinken said.
He said escalation from Russia — including the acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles — is “one of the factors that we always consider, but it’s certainly not the only factor.”
“We’re determined to ensure that they have what they need to succeed,” he added.
Blinken said the more than $700 million in new funds announced on Wednesday will help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid and provide humanitarian support as Ukraine heads into the fall fighting season against Russia.
“We remain fully committed to Ukraine’s victory, to not only ensuring that Ukraine can defend itself today, but can stand on its own feet strongly, militarily, economically, democratically for many, many days ahead,” Blinken said.
The new funds include $325 million to help repair Ukraine’s energy and electric grid, $290 million in new humanitarian support to those displaced by the war and $102 million in additional funding to help remove landmines and unexploded ordnances left behind by Russia across Ukraine, according to Blinken.
“The bottom line is this, we want Ukraine to win, and we’re fully committed to keep marshaling the support that it needs for its brave defenders and citizens to do just that now,” Blinken said.
Lammy also announced more than 600 million pounds in new support for Ukraine, including 242 million pounds this financial year for immediate humanitarian energy and stabilization needs.
Lammy additionally announced that the U.K. will send hundreds of additional air defense missiles and tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds to Ukraine by the end of the year.
“Together, Britain and our allies are united in our commitment to Ukraine, to freedom, to victory, because we both recognize what is at stake here — not just the liberty of Ukraine, but the security of Europe and the security of the West,” he said.
Kyiv has long been advocating for U.S. permission to strike military targets within Russian borders, including airfields that are key to Moscow’s long-range missile campaign against Ukrainian cities.
“We continue to persuade our partners at all levels about long-range capabilities,” Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel on Sunday.
“Russia can avoid seeking peace only as much as the world avoids making strong decisions aimed at Russia’s defeat. Long-range capabilities are one of those key, strategic decisions.”
Yehor Cherniev — a member of the Ukrainian parliament and the chairman of his country’s delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly — told ABC News that Ukrainians are hoping for U.S. permission to use the MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System, colloquially known as the ATACMS, for strikes within Russia. The longest-range variant of the weapon can hit targets out to 190 miles.
“It will inspire Ukrainians and our army,” Cherniev said. Russian airfields and military depots will be top of Kyiv’s target list if American restrictions on ATACMS use are indeed lifted, he added.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists at a Wednesday briefing prior to Blinken’s remarks that he expected the U.S. to give its permission.
“Most likely, of course, all these decisions have already been made,” he said, as quoted by the state-run Tass agency.
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.1 has rocked the coast of southern Japan, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
The epicenter of the earthquake is just a dozen miles off the coast of the city of Miyazaki on the island of Kyushu in Japan but the Japan Meteorological Agency has now lifted tsunami advisories for all but Miyazaki Prefecture.
There were reports of people falling and sustaining non-life-threatening injuries. One home in Kagoshima is said to have collapsed, but no injuries were reported. Regional nuclear plants are still reporting no abnormalities.
Miyazaki Airport experienced delays, and while bullet train services have resumed for the region, local services may still be disrupted.
The people of southwestern Japan seem to have avoided major damage, though the shaking would have been terrifying.
The epicenter was located in the Hyuganada Sea, just off the eastern coast of Japan’s southern main island of Kyushu, and was measured at a depth of about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles). The Japan Meteorological Agency initially issued a tsunami advisory, predicting waves of up to 1 meter (3.3 feet) along the southern coast of Kyushu and nearby island of Shikoku.
People have been urged to stay away from the coast or river and have been warned that other quakes — even on the same magnitude –may occur.
Video filmed by Ryosuke Take, an employee at a local radio station in Kirishima on Japan’s island of Kyushu, shows objects in the office vigorously shaking.
“The shaking was very strong,” Ryosuke told ABC News. Listeners also reported that “in private homes, dishes fell from kitchens, and nearby hotels have reported that their elevators and kitchens are unusable.”
One area in Kochi prefecture is ordering residents to evacuate but drastic sea level changes have not been reported.
The quake registered a lower 6 in the hardest-hit areas — very high on the Japanese shake scale, which goes from 0 to 7. It would’ve been strong enough to knock over furniture, damage some concrete buildings and even topple some wooden ones.
However, there are currently no reports of any major damage and shaking was not felt in the capital city of Tokyo. Additionally, there have been no change or irregularities reported with regional nuclear plants so far.
ABC News’ Anthony Trotter and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.