Virginia teacher shot in classroom by pupil, 6, ‘showing signs of improvement’ in hospital
Teacher Abby Zwerner, who was shot by a six-year-old pupil in the US, is “showing signs of improvement”.
Ms Zwerner, in her 30s, was left critically injured after being shot in class by the boy during an altercation on Friday – and it was not accidental, according to police.
Phillip Jones, the mayor of the city of Newport News in Virginia, where the incident happened, described it as a “red flag for the country”.
He said the condition of the teacher at Richneck Elementary School is “trending in a positive direction” as she remains in hospital.
US gun violence: 863 killed in just two weeks
Ms Zwerner graduated from Virginia’s James Madison University in 2020. A statement from its president said they were “deeply saddened by the tragic incident,” describing it as “an incredibly difficult time”.
Police initially said the teacher’s injures were “life-threatening” but said a senior officer had met her on Saturday and “she has improved and is currently listed in stable condition”.
Chief Steve Drew said the shooting did not appear to be an accident and that it was isolated to the single victim. He said the student and teacher had known each other in a classroom setting.
“We did not have a situation where someone was going around the school shooting,” he told reporters.
He said the boy had a handgun in the classroom, and investigators were trying to work out where he got it.
Students and police gather outside the school after the shooting
Mr Jones said: “I do think that after this event, there is going to be a nationwide discussion on how these sorts of things can be prevented.”
Newport News public schools superintendent George Parker III said: “I’m in awe, and I’m in shock, and I’m disheartened.”
Boy is too young to face trial
School officials have said there will be no classes at Richneck on Monday.
Virginia law does not allow six-year-olds to be tried as adults.
In addition, a six-year-old is too young to be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice if found guilty.
A juvenile judge would have authority, though, to revoke a parent’s custody and place a child under the purview of the Department of Social Services.
Police responding to the shooting on Friday
Mr Jones would not say where the boy is being held, but added: “We are ensuring he has all the services that he currently needs right now.”
One angry British mother, living in the area, spoke to reporters outside the school, and said it was time for change.
“Let’s do something. Let’s change it.
“You’ve got a beautiful country, you have beautiful people, but what’s the problem? Guns!” she said.
“I am only here because my husband is in the military, otherwise I would not have come to this country.”
Young children accessing guns ‘is rising’
Professor Daniel Webster, who studies gun violence at Johns Hopkins University, said a six-year-old shooting a teacher at school was extremely unusual.
But he said his research shows that instances of young children accessing loaded guns and shooting themselves or others unintentionally in homes or other settings are rising.
“A six-year-old gaining access to a loaded gun and shooting him/herself or someone else, sadly, is not so rare,” he said.
Parents with their children outside Richneck Elementary
Researcher David Riedman, who founded a database that tracks US school shootings dating back to 1970, said it was “not something the legal system is really designed or positioned to deal with”.
He said he was only aware of three other shootings caused by six-year-old pupils in the time period he has studied; a fatal shooting of a fellow pupil in 2000 in Michigan and shootings that injured other students in 2011 in Texas and 2021 in Mississippi.
Mr Riedman said he only knows of one other instance of a student younger than that causing gunfire at a school, in which a five-year-old brought a gun to a Tennessee school in 2013 and accidentally discharged it.
No one was injured in that case.
World
Body of missing rabbi Zvi Kogan found in UAE – as Israeli PM says he was murdered in ‘antisemitic terror incident’
The COP29 climate talks have reached a last ditch deal on cash for developing countries, pulling the summit back from the brink of collapse after a group of countries stormed out of a negotiating room earlier.
The slew of deals finally signed off in the small hours of Sunday morning in Azerbaijan includes one that proved hardest of all – one about money.
Eventually the more than 190 countries in Baku agreed a target for richer polluting countries such as the UK, EU and Japan to drum up $300bn a year by 2035 to help poorer nations both curb and adapt to climate change.
It is a far cry from the $1.3trn experts say is needed, and from the $500bn that vulnerable countries like Uganda had said they would be willing to accept.
But in the end they were forced to, knowing they could not afford to live without it, nor wait until next year to try again, when a Donald Trump presidency would make things even harder.
Bolivia’s lead negotiator Diego Pacheco called it an “insult”, while the Marshall Islands’ Tina Stege said it was “not nearly enough, but it’s a start”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said: “This new finance goal is an insurance policy for humanity, amid worsening climate impacts hitting every country.
“No country got everything they wanted, and we leave Baku with a mountain of work still to do. So this is no time for victory laps.”
The funding deal was clinched more than 24 hours into overtime, and against what felt like all the odds.
The talks were rocked from the start by the incoming presidency of climate denier Mr Trump, the moment Argentina’s team were recalled back to Buenos Aires by their right-wing president and a controversial letter that sent shockwaves through the United Nations.
Pic: AP
The fraught two weeks of negotiations pitted the anger of developing countries who are footing the bill for more dangerous weather that they did little to cause, against the tight public finances of rich countries.
A relieved Juan Carlos Monterrey Gomez, climate envoy for Panama, said there is “light at the end of the tunnel”.
Just hours ago, the talks almost fell apart as furious vulnerable nations stormed out of negotiations in frustration over that elusive funding goal.
They were also angry with oil and gas producing countries, who stood accused of trying to dilute aspects of the deal on cutting fossil fuels.
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Climate-vulnerable nations storm out of talks
The UN talks work on consensus, meaning everyone has to agree for a deal to fly.
A row over how to follow up on last year’s pledge to “transition away from fossil fuels” was left unresolved and punted into next year, following objections from Chile and Switzerland for being too weak.
A draft deal simply “reaffirmed” the commitment but did not dial up the pressure in the way the UK, EU, island states and many others here wanted.
Saudi Arabia fought the hardest against any step forward on cutting fossil fuels, the primary cause of climate change that is intensifying floods, drought and fires around the world.
Governments did manage to strike a deal on carbon markets at COP29, which has been 10 years in the making and will allow countries to trade emissions cuts.
‘Not everything we wanted’
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The UK’s energy secretary, Ed Miliband, said the deal is “not everything we or others wanted”, but described it as a “step forward”.
“It’s a deal that will drive forward the clean energy transition, which is essential for jobs and growth in Britain and for protecting us all against the worsening climate crisis,” he added.
“Today’s agreement sends the signal that the clean energy transition is unstoppable.
“It is the biggest economic opportunity of the 21st century and through our championing of it we can help crowd in private investment.”
Protesters at the summit in Baku. Pic: AP
Read more:
Azerbaijan president hails oil and gas as ‘gift from God’
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The Azerbaijan team leading COP29 said: “Every hour of the day, we have pulled people together. Every inch of the way, we have pushed for the highest common denominator.
“We have faced geopolitical headwinds and made every effort to be an honest broker for all sides.”
At least 20 people have been killed and 66 injured in Israeli strikes on central Beirut, Lebanese authorities have said.
Lebanon‘s health ministry said the death toll could rise as emergency workers dig through the rubble looking for survivors. DNA tests are being used to identify the victims, the ministry added.
The attack destroyed an eight-storey residential building and badly damaged several others around it in the Basta neighbourhood at 4am (2am UK time) on Saturday.
The central Basta neighbourhood in Beirut
The Israeli military did not warn residents to evacuate before the attack and has not commented on the casualties.
At least four bombs were dropped in the attack – the fourth targeting the city centre this week.
A separate drone strike in the southern port city of Tyre this morning killed two people and injured three, according to the state-run National News Agency.
The victims were Palestinian refugees from the nearby al Rashidieh camp who were out fishing, according to Mohammed Bikai, spokesperson for the Fatah Palestinian faction in the Tyre area.
Israel’s military warned residents today in parts of Beirut’s southern suburbs that they were near Hezbollah facilities, which the army would target in the near future. The warning, posted on X, told people to evacuate at least 500 metres away.
The army said that over the past day it had conducted intelligence-based strikes on Hezbollah targets in Dahiyeh, in Beirut’s southern suburbs, where Hezbollah has a strong presence. It said it hit several command centres and weapons storage facilities.
Pic: AP
Israel has killed several Hezbollah leaders in air strikes on the capital’s southern suburbs.
Heavy fighting between Israel and Hezbollah is ongoing in southern Lebanon, as Israeli forces push deeper into the country since launching a major offensive in September.
According to the Lebanese health ministry, at least 3,670 people have been killed in Israeli attacks there, with more than 15,400 wounded.
It has displaced about 1.2 million people – a quarter of Lebanon’s population – while Israel says about 90 soldiers and nearly 50 civilians have been killed in northern Israel.
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‘Dozens’ of Palestinians killed in Israeli airstrike
Meanwhile, six people, including three children and two women, were killed in the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.
Some 44,176 Palestinians have been killed since the start of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry.
The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but it has said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
US envoy Amos Hochstein was in the region this week to try to end more than 13 months of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, ignited last October by the war in Gaza.
Mr Hochstein indicated progress had been made after meetings in Beirut on Tuesday and Wednesday, before going to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and defence minister Israel Katz.
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