By DANICA KIRKA and BRIAN MELLEY from the Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Far-right demonstrations that had been anticipated by police in dozens of locations across Britain failed to materialize Wednesday as peaceful anti-racism protesters instead showed up in force.

Police had prepared for another night of violence at 100 locations following a week of rioting and disorder fueled by misinformation over a stabbing attack against young girls. Many businesses had boarded up windows and closed down in fear of what lay ahead.

Stand up to Racism and other groups had planned counter-protests in response, but in most places they reclaimed their streets with nothing to oppose.

In London, Bristol, Oxford, Liverpool and Birmingham, large, peaceful crowds gathered outside agencies and law firms specializing in immigration that had been listed by internet chat groups as possible targets of far-right activity.

In resounding choruses they chanted: “Whose streets? Our streets!”

It was a vast change from the chaos that has erupted on streets throughout England and Belfast, Northern Ireland, since July 30.

Cities and towns have been wracked by riots and looting for the past week as angry mobs, encouraged by far-right extremists, clashed with police and counter-demonstrators. The disturbances began after misinformation spread about the stabbing rampage that killed three girls in the seaside community of Southport, with social media users falsely identifying the suspect as an immigrant and a Muslim.

Rioters spouting anti-immigrant slogans have attacked mosques and hotels housing asylum-seekers, creating fear in Muslim and immigrant communities. In recent days, reports have emerged of violent counterattacks in some areas.

The head of London’s Metropolitan Police Service said earlier Wednesday that officers were focused on protecting immigration lawyers and services. In addition to thousands of officers already deployed, about 1,300 specialist forces were on standby in case of serious trouble in London.

“We’ll protect those people,″ Commissioner Mark Rowley said. “It is completely unacceptable, regardless of your political views, to intimidate any sector of lawful activity, and we will not let the immigration asylum system be intimidated.”

By early late evening, though, with the exception of scattered disturbances and some arrests, trouble had not erupted.

A crowd of immigrant supporters that quickly grew to several hundred in the London neighborhood of North Finchley found themselves largely alone with several dozen police officers.

The crowd chanted “refugees welcome” and “London against racism.” Some held signs saying “Stop the far right,” “Migration is not a crime” and “Finchley against Fascism.”

At one point, an unruly man who had been shouting at the group and pulling his shirt up to show off an eagle tattoo was punched by a protester. He was led away by someone and officers questioned a possible suspect.

Outside an immigration center in the Walthamstow area in east London, an anti-racism protest leader barked “fascist scum” to which a crowd of hundreds responded: “off our streets.”

In Liverpool, hundreds showed up to defend the Asylum Link immigration center. A grandmother held a placard reading “Nans Against Nazis” and someone else held a sign saying, “When the poor blame the poor only the rich win.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the previous disturbances as “far-right thuggery,” rejecting any suggestion that the riots were about the government’s immigration policies. He has warned that anyone taking part in the violence would “face the full force of the law.”

Police have made more than 400 arrests and are considering using counter-terrorism laws to prosecute some rioters. The government has pledged to prosecute those responsible for the disorder, including those who use social media to incite the violence.

Among the first to be sentenced was Derek Drummond, 58, who received three years in prison after admitting to violent disorder and punching a police officer in the face in Southport on July 30. He was one of three men jailed after their cases were heard Wednesday at Liverpool Crown Court.

“The three men sentenced today are the tip of the iceberg, and just the start of what will be a very painful process for many who foolishly chose to involve themselves in violent unrest,″ said Jonathan Egan, the senior district crown prosecutor. “Many of those involved will be sent to prison for a long time.”

London Mayor Sadiq Khan said in a post on X that the police, city hall and community leaders were working to protect targeted buildings and places of worship.

“I know the shocking scenes have left many Muslims and minority ethnic communities scared and fearful, so I ask my fellow Londoners to check on their friends and neighbors and show them that care and compassion is what Londoners are all about,” he said.

In Walthamstow, real estate agents shut down storefronts early and told staff to work from home. The Nags Head pub informed customers via social media it wouldn’t open because of “potential protest.” The council closed the local library.

Smaller communities were affected as well. Businesses owners in Westcliff-on-Sea, in southern England, boarded up shopfronts.

Saira Hussain, who runs a small architectural practice, described the unrest as “upsetting.’’

“I’m a third-generation British Pakistani,’’ she said. “I was born here, studied here, trade here and employ people from this country. I bet I’ve contributed much more to this country than any of these people that are causing trouble.”

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By  BINAJ GURUBACHARYA from the Associated Press

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — All five people on board a helicopter were killed when it crashed Wednesday in the mountains just northwest of Nepal’s capital, authorities said.

The bodies of four men and a woman were pulled from the wreckage, said Krishna Prasad Humagai, the government administrator of Nuwakot district.

Police and army rescuers reached the area and two rescue helicopters were also sent to assist in the operation, the official said.

The crash site is in the Suryachaur area, which is just northwest of Kathmandu, and is on a mountain covered by forest.

The helicopter had taken off from Kathmandu international airport at 1:54 p.m. local time and was heading towards the town of Syaprubeshi.

The helicopter, an Eurocopter AS350 belonging to Nepal-based Air Dynasty, had lost contact with the tower just three minutes after takeoff, according to a statement from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal.

The four passengers are Chinese nationals, and the pilot is a Nepali man, officials said.

The crash came two weeks after a passenger plane crashed just after taking off from the Kathmandu airport, killing 18 people and injuring a pilot, who was the lone survivor.

Nepal’s new prime minister seeks vote of confidence in parliament, secure more than two-third votes
All the people onboard the Saurya Airlines flight, including the co-pilot, were Nepali except for one passenger, who was a Yemeni national.

A government investigation has been ordered into the crash of the Bombardier CRJ 200 plane, which was heading to Nepal’s second-most populous city of Pokhara for maintenance work. Most of the passengers aboard were either mechanics or airline employees, airport officials said.

The pilot has injuries to his eyes has returned home from a hospital.

By  KRISTIN M. HALL from the Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — When a 911 call came in saying a woman in Nashville was experiencing sudden labor, emergency operator Kaitlyn Kramer says her training kicked in as she successfully coached the expectant mom and bystanders through delivering a healthy baby boy.

Audio of the July 7 call reveals Kramer’s calm voice guiding the process even as the voices on the other end grew frantic as the mother’s water broke and the baby’s head started crowning.

Kramer is a training officer for Nashville’s Department of Emergency Communications.

“Whatever the call comes in, you have to be able to maintain control,” Kramer said, adding that she had to remember to stay calm herself.

“We’re going to do this together,” Kramer told a friend of the mother’s over the phone. Moments later, the caller is yelling with excitement that the baby arrived but mentioned that the cord was wrapped around his neck.

Kramer said the bystanders were able to free the baby and soon enough, Kramer could hear his first wails over the phone.

“When I think of a baby being first born, the biggest thing for me is I want to hear them cry,” said Kramer. “And he did that on his own.”

The whole call lasted about eight minutes before the ambulance arrived and Kramer got to congratulate the mother and bystanders on a job well done. The family did not respond to a request for an interview.

“I think my favorite part about this whole situation was there was also another younger child in the room, maybe between the ages of seven and 10 years old,” Kramer said “She started talking to the baby, welcoming him to the world. And that absolutely just melted my heart.”

Kramer said this is the second time she has helped during a delivery over the 911 hotline.

“We get a lot of sad here. Our job is hard,” Kramer said. “This is one of the reasons that remind me that what I do is important … it just it makes me happy to do what I do.”

By  JIM VERTUNO from the Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas Department of Public Safety has reinstated a state trooper who was suspended after the botched law enforcement response to the shooting at a Uvalde elementary school in 2022.

In a letter sent to Texas Ranger Christopher Ryan Kindell on Aug. 2 and released by the agency on Monday, DPS Director Col. Steve McCraw removed the officer’s suspension status and restored him to his job in Uvalde County.

McCraw’s letter said the local district attorney had requested Kindell be returned to his job, and noted he had not been charged by a local grand jury that reviewed the police response.

Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the May 24, 2022, attack on Robb Elementary School, making it one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

Nearly 400 officers waited more than an hour before confronting the shooter in the classroom, while injured students inside texted and call 911 begging for help and parents outside pleaded for them to go in.

Kindell was initially suspended in January 2023 when McCraw’s termination letter said the ranger’s action “did not conform to department standards” and that he should have recognized it was an active shooter situation, not one involving a barricaded subject.

Scathing state and federal investigative reports on the police response have catalogued “cascading failures” in training, communication, leadership and technology problems.

Kindell was one of the few DPS officers disciplined. Later, another who was informed he would be fired decided to retire, and another officer resigned.

Only two of the responding officers from that day, both formerly with the Uvalde schools police department, face criminal charges. Former Uvalde schools police chief Pete Arredondo and officer Adrian Gonzales were indicted in June on charges of child endangerment and abandonment. Both pleaded not guilty in July.

In his reinstatement letter, McCraw wrote that Kindell was initially suspended after the agency’s internal investigation.

But now, McCraw said he had been told by Uvalde County District Attorney Christina Mitchell that a grand jury had reviewed the actions of all officers who responded to the attack, and “no action was taken on officers employed by the Texas Department of Public Safety.”

“Further, she has requested that you be reinstated to your former position,” McCraw wrote.

Mitchell did not respond to email requests for comment. It was not immediately clear if Kindell has an attorney.

Families of the victims in the south Texas town of about 15,000 people about 80 miles (130 kilometers) west of San Antonio, have long sought accountability for the slow police response that day. Some of the families have called for more officers to be charged.

Several families of Uvalde victims have filed federal and state lawsuits against law enforcement, social media and online gaming companies, and the gun manufacturer that made the rifle the gunman used.

By  RUSS BYNUM and JEFFREY COLLINS from the Associated Press

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby has moved menacingly into some of America’s most historic Southern cities, bringing prolonged downpours and flooding Tuesday after slamming into Florida and prompting the rescue of hundreds from flooded homes.

Record-setting rain from the storm that killed at least five people in Florida and Georgia was causing flash flooding, with up to 25 inches (64 centimeters) possible in some areas, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory Tuesday morning.

“Hunker down,” Van Johnson, the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, told residents in a social media livestream Monday night. “Expect that it will be a rough day” on Tuesday, he said.

The storm’s center was just southwest of Savannah early Tuesday with maximum sustained winds near 45 mph (75 kph) and it was moving northeast at less than 6 mph (10 kph).

“Tropical cyclones always produce heavy rain, but normally as they’re moving, you know, it doesn’t accumulate that much in one place,” Richard Pasch of the National Hurricane Center said Tuesday morning. “But when they move very slowly, that’s the worst situation.”

Tropical cyclones derive their energy from warm water, so Debby has weakened over land, but part of the circulation was interacting with water over the Atlantic, Pasch said. The storm’s center is expected to move out over the water off the Georgia and South Carolina coast, then move back inland, so it could restrengthen Wednesday before it moves inland Thursday over South Carolina, he said.

More than 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain had fallen through Monday at Savannah’s airport, and showed no signs of stopping Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported. That’s already a month’s worth of rain in a single day: In all of August 2023, the city got 5.56 inches (14.1 centimeters) of rain.

Flash flood warnings were issued in Savannah and Charleston, South Carolina, among other areas of coastal Georgia and South Carolina. Both Savannah and Charleston announced overnight curfews as the rains picked up. Charleston County Interim Emergency Director Ben Webster called Debby a “historic and potentially unprecedented event” three times in a 90-second briefing Monday.

Charleston police barricaded all eight roads leading into the 350-year-old city built on a marshy peninsula Monday night after urging non-residents to leave, and said the curfew would remain through Tuesday, letting only essential workers and emergency personnel pass through. Charleston also opened parking garages so residents could park their cars above floodwaters and updated an online mapping system showing road closures due to flooding.

Tornadoes knocked down trees and damaged a few homes on Kiawah Island and Edisto Island between Savannah and Charleston. A Walmart, an Applebee’s and other businesses were damaged and several vehicles flipped in Moncks Corner about 30 miles (48 kilometers) inland from Charleston.

More than 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain fell between Hilton Head Island and Charleston overnight, radar estimates showed.

At the edge of Hilton Head Island, musician Nick Poulin wasn’t overly concerned about Debby since his equipment was inside and he made sure that his car wasn’t parked under trees so it won’t be hit by falling branches.

“I’m born and raised here, so we’ve had plenty of storms,” he said. “It’s usually not as bad as people hype it up to be.”

Debby made landfall along the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday as a Category 1 hurricane. Weakening winds made it a tropical storm again, but its slow forward movement and the ocean water it picked up caused catastrophic in places. About 500 people were rescued Monday from flooded homes in Sarasota, Florida, a beach city popular with tourists, the Sarasota Police Department announced. Just north of Sarasota, Manatee County officials said 186 people were rescued.

“Essentially we’ve had twice the amount of the rain that was predicted for us to have,” Sarasota County Fire Chief David Rathbun said on social media.

Gov. Ron DeSantis warned that Florida’s threat is far from over as waterways north of the state line fill up and flow south.

“It is a very saturating, wet storm,” DeSantis said. “When they crest and the water that’s going to come down from Georgia, it’s just something that we’re going to be on alert for not just throughout today, but for the next week.”

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp shared a similar message Tuesday morning, warning of more rain and flooding in the coming days: “Do not let this storm lull you to sleep,” he said.

Five people had died due to the storm as of Monday night, including a tractor trailer driver who lost control on Interstate 75 in the Tampa area, flipping over a concrete wall and dangling over the edge before the cab dropped into the water below. Sheriff’s office divers located the body of the 64-year-old man from Mississippi in the cab, 40 feet (12 meters) below the surface, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

A 13-year-old boy died when a tree fell on a mobile home southwest of Gainesville, Florida, and in Dixie County, near where Debby made landfall, a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old boy died in a car crash on wet roads. In south Georgia, a 19-year-old man died when a large tree fell onto a porch at a home in Moultrie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

More than 155,000 customers remained without power in Florida and Georgia on Tuesday morning, down from more than 350,000, according to PowerOutage.us and Georgia Electric Membership Corp. More than 20,000 others were without power in South Carolina early Tuesday.

President Joe Biden approved emergency declarations making federal disaster assistance available to Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.

Vice President Kamala Harris postponed a campaign stop scheduled for Thursday in Savannah.

North Carolina is also under a state of emergency after Gov. Roy Cooper declared it in an executive order signed Monday. Several areas along the state’s coastline are prone to flooding, such as Wilmington and the Outer Banks, according to the North Carolina Floodplain Mapping Program.

North Carolina and South Carolina have dealt with three catastrophic floods from tropical systems in the past nine years, all causing more than $1 billion in damage.

As Debby slows to a crawl, forecasters say there’s much uncertainty as to where it heads next. After it moves off the Georgia and South Carolina coast and meanders over the ocean Tuesday and Wednesday, it could make another landfall just east of Charleston on Thursday, according to the latest official track from the Hurricane Center. Forecasters predict it would then move up the middle of North Carolina, through Virginia and into the Washington, D.C. area by Saturday.

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By NIC COURY and REBECCA BOONE from the Associated Press

FOREST RANCH, Calif. (AP) — Wildfires across the western United States and Canada put millions of people under air quality alerts on Sunday as thousands of firefighters battled the flames, including the largest wildfire in California this year.

The so-called Park Fire had scorched an area greater than the size of Los Angeles as of Sunday, darkening the sky with smoke and contributing poor air quality to a large swath of the northwestern U.S. and western Canada. The blaze spanned more than 562 square miles (1,455 square kilometers) of inland Northern California.

Firefighters were helped by cooler temperatures and more humidity on Saturday and made some progress, increasing containment from zero to 12%. The fire has drawn comparisons to the 2018 Camp Fire that tore through the nearby community of Paradise, killing 85 people and torching 11,000 homes.

Paradise and several other Butte County communities were under an evacuation warning Sunday.

However, Cal Fire operations section chief Jeremy Pierce had some good news for the area, saying around midday that the Park Fire’s southernmost front, which is closest to Paradise, was “looking really good,” with crews focusing on extinguishing any remaining hot spots and removing other hazards over the next three days. He also said they don’t expect it to move farther into Chico, a city of about 100,000 people just west of Paradise.

First responders initially focused on saving lives and property endangered by the Park Fire, but that has since shifted to confronting the blaze head-on, Jay Tracy, a spokesperson at the Park Fire headquarters, told The Associated Press by phone Sunday.

Nearly 4,000 firefighters are battling the blaze, aided by numerous helicopters and air tankers, and Tracy said reinforcements would give much-needed rest to local firefighters, some of whom have been working nonstop since the fire started Wednesday.

“This fire is surprising a lot of people with its explosive growth,” he said. “It is kind of unparalleled.”

In places where the flames had died down by Sunday, signs of the devastation were clear. Mailboxes and vehicles were covered with pink fire retardant dropped by aircraft in Cohasset. At other locations in the community the husks of a washer and dryer set were surrounded by burned debris from a home, and a charred motorcycle was still propped upright, balancing on rims after its tires apparently melted away.

Another part of the town was relatively unscathed, the Butte County Fire Chief said.

“We have an unburned island in that community that we are continuing to patrol and ensure that there are no hot spots in it,” Sjolund said.

Managing evacuation orders can be complex. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said authorities were about to downgrade the evacuation order to a warning for Forest Ranch when they learned a number of hot spots were reported nearby.

“That illustrates how rapidly things can change — we were all set to be able to reduce that order to get people back in there,” Honea said.

In Southern California, roughly 2,000 people had been ordered to evacuate because of a fire sweeping through the Sequoia National Forest. The wind-driven fire was moving fast, Kern County Fire Department public information officer Andrew Freeborn said, eating up more than 60 square miles (155.4 square kilometers) in four days.

The National Weather Service said a “red flag” warning was in effect for the region on Sunday, meaning dry fuels and stronger winds were increasing the fire danger.

The fire was exhibiting extreme fire conditions, fed by lots of dead plants that dried up after several years of rainfall, Freeborn said. The historic mining town of Havilah and several other communities have been “heavily impacted” by the fires, he said, but it was still too soon for damage assessment crews to count the number of burned homes.

So far, no fatalities have been reported in the Park and Borel fires. Some people in the region were choosing to ignore or disregard evacuation orders, increasing the danger for everyone, Freeborn said.

“When people are trying to ignore the orders and later call for rescue, that takes firefighters away from the task of fighting the fires,” he said. “This fire is moving at a pace and with such intensity that individuals should not be thinking they can wait until the last minute. They need to get out of the way.”

Although the area expects cooler-than-average temperatures through the middle of this week, that doesn’t mean “that fires that are existing will go away,” said Marc Chenard, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland.

The Park Fire has destroyed at least 66 structures and damaged five others, Tracy said. Authorities initially believed 134 structures had been lost, based on drone footage, but they lowered the number after teams assessed the damage in-person.

“Unfortunately, that number will probably go up,” Tracy said. “Each day that number has potential to grow — our teams obviously don’t do damage inspections when there is active fire in an area.”

Jerry White, 72, left his Magalia home when authorities issues an evacuation warning, a step below an evacuation order. Years earlier White sustained third-degree burns when a barbecue caused his coat to catch fire and he said the thought of that pain made him take the warning seriously.

“I don’t want to catch fire again. It’s one of the worst pains you can endure,” White said. “I wanted to get out of dodge. Burns are bad.”

White’s home is safe from the flames so far and he plans to keep living in the fire-prone mountain community, he said.

“I’ve been up here 50 years,” White said. “The beach is more dangerous than here … it was packed by sharks before, back when I used to surf. I’ll take a fire over a shark any day!”

The Park Fire started Wednesday, when authorities say a man pushed a burning car into a gully in Chico and then fled. A man accused of setting the fire was arrested Thursday and is due in court Monday.

The Park Fire was one of more than 100 blazes burning in the U.S. on Sunday, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Some were sparked by the weather, with climate change increasing the frequency of lightning strikes as the western U.S. endures blistering heat and bone-dry conditions.

Despite the improved fire weather in Northern California, conditions remained ripe for even more blazes to ignite, with the National Weather Service warning of “red flag” conditions on Sunday across wide swaths of Idaho, Montana, Utah, Colorado and Wyoming, in addition to parts of California.

Fires were also burning across eastern Oregon and eastern Idaho, where officials were assessing damage from a group of blazes referred to as the Gwen Fire, which was estimated at 43 square miles (111 square kilometers) as of Sunday.

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From the Associated Press

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Dozens of firefighters in northern Greece battled a cross-border wildfire Tuesday following a deadly blaze in neighboring North Macedonia, authorities said.

Two air tankers and a helicopter helped the firefighters hold back a fire from reaching a forest on the Greek banks of Lake Doiran which is shared by the two countries, they added.

Large wildfires in parts of North Macedonia Monday destroyed and damaged homes, forced evacuations and claimed the life of an elderly resident in a village some 60 kilometers (37 miles) east of the capital Skopje. Authorities said the man is believed to have died of smoke inhalation.

Successive heat waves have helped trigger fires across the Balkan region and elsewhere in southern Europe.

Near Athens, firefighters contained a large blaze on the Greek island of Evia, helped by 13 water-dropping aircraft and six helicopters operating after first light Tuesday. Two firefighters were being treated for burns.

From the Associated Press

LYON, France (AP) — Interpol says more than 200 people have been arrested and some $1.6 billion worth of illegal drugs and precursor chemicals seized as part of a two-month operation against narcotics trafficking across Europe, North America and Africa.

The international police organization, based in Lyon, France, said Operation Lionfish Hurricane in April and May led to the seizure of 615 tons of illegal drugs and chemicals.

In addition, the operation led to the arrest of 206 people and the seizure of 65 stolen cars, some 30,000 commercial-grade detonators diverted from military or commercial mining, and a “narco-sub” — a homemade semi-submersible vessel that’s used to transport cocaine through South American waterways and across the Atlantic — in the jungle of Guyana, Interpol said.

“The value of drugs seized in this two-month operation is higher than the GDP of some countries, which clearly shows the scale of the problem facing law enforcement,” said Jürgen Stock, head of the 196 member-country organization, in a statement. Statistics from the World Bank show fewer than 20 of the world’s smallest countries have economic output of less that $1.6 billion.

Interpol said a record 505 tons of precursor chemicals, used for manufacturing both drugs and explosives, were seized.

The operation, part of a series of “Lionfish” operations since 2013, was funded by the British Home Office and involved 31 countries in addition to other international organizations.

From the Associated Press

Alaska authorities are conducting a search for a missing airplane with three people onboard.

Alaska State Troopers received a report from the U.S. Coast Guard of a missing plane shortly before 7:30 p.m. Saturday, the state Department of Public Safety said in a statement.

The single-propeller, 1948 Beach Craft Bonanza was flying near Mount Crillon in Southeast Alaska with a pilot and two passengers.

The plane did not arrive on schedule in Yakutat, about 275 miles (442 kilometers) northwest of Juneau.

The ongoing search involves state troopers, the Coast Guard and the Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, the statement said.

From the Associated Press

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Authorities in Utah lifted evacuation orders for a wildfire in Salt Lake City that threatened neighborhoods near the state Capitol over the weekend.

The evacuation order was lifted late Sunday after authorities said more than 100 firefighters worked to protect homes. Officials cautioned that residents needed to remain ready to evacuate, with the fire only partially under control as of Monday morning.

The blaze ignited Saturday and grew to about 200 acres (80 hectares), officials said. Helicopters and planes dropped buckets over the flames as ground crews tried to contain the fire on Ensign Peak.

Police officers knocked on doors to warn homeowners after the fire department ordered a mandatory evacuation for an area of 40 homes on Sandhurst Drive, north of Dorchester Drive. A voluntary evacuation was ordered Saturday along East Capitol. There were no immediate reports of injuries or structure damage, he said.

Officials said fire crews resumed work early Monday in hopes of gaining ground on the blaze before high temperatures return in the afternoon.