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Suspects plead guilty in savannah shooting that killed british tourist.

Police identified the deceased as 27-year-old Benjamin Tucker, a resident of London.

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Above file video: British tourist killed in Savannah shooting

A little over a year after a British tourist was killed and another man injured in a downtown Savannah shooting, both suspects have pleaded guilty for their roles in the crime.

On Monday, Georgiamae Lawrence pleaded guilty to malice murder and sentenced to life in prison with parole stemming from the April 24, 2022 shooting on West Bay Street, near River Street.

Savannah police identified the deceased as 27-year-old Benjamin Tucker, a resident of London, England.

Tucker was visiting family during a month-long stay in Savannah. Another man, Henry McDonough, was also shot but survived.

Corey Reynolds Kent, also charged in the shooting, pleaded guilty July 10 to voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 20 years.

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British man killed in 'reckless' Georgia shooting

• Published 21 January 2022

An astrophysicist has been killed in a "reckless" shooting while visiting his girlfriend in the US state of Georgia.

At 02:00 local time (07:00 GMT) on Sunday, officers were called to an apartment block in Clairmont Road in Brookhaven, Atlanta.

Dr Matthew Willson, 31, from Surrey, UK, was found in bed with a single gunshot wound to the head.

The Foreign Office said it was "supporting the family of a British man following his death".

Brookhaven Police said the shooting of Dr Willson, from Chertsey, was "random" and involved the "reckless discharge of firearms".

Dr Willson "was in town from England visiting loved ones when the incident occurred," police said.

Police told local news station WSB-TV2 in Atlanta that it was "a senseless act" and Dr Willson was "a completely innocent victim".

Investigators also said he had just flown in to Atlanta.

Officers had earlier been called to a neighbouring block of flats after reports of gunshots. They received a second call regarding a "person being shot" while they were checking the area.

Dr Willson was a former PhD student at the University of Exeter in the south-west of England.

The university said in a statement that Dr Willson was a "much-loved member of our astrophysics team".

It added: "Our hearts go out to his family, friends and colleagues. We are offering support to colleagues at the university who will also want to commemorate his life."

Dr Willson also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Georgia State University between 2017 and 2019, the university said.

No suspects have been arrested and police are seeking information from the public. Authorities are offering a cash reward for tips that lead to an arrest.

Sgt Jake Kissel from Brookhaven Police described the location of the shooting as "a generally safe area".

Sgt Kissel told BBC Radio Surrey that officers "immediately responded to the priority call of someone being shot and that's where they met with a female caller who was rendering aid to her boyfriend who had been shot dead".

He said: "We are asking for our public's help in assisting us with this investigation.

"Our investigators are currently following up on all leads to include potential video, eyewitness accounts as well as the evidence that was left on scene."

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'He was too cautious to do anything illegal': Family and friends deny British tourists shot dead in Florida ghetto were trying to buy drugs

By Paul Thompson for MailOnline and Michael Seamark for MailOnline Updated: 16:38 EDT, 19 April 2011

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The family and friends of two British holidaymakers who were shot dead in a Florida backstreet have denied the pair were trying to buy drugs.

Residents in Sarasota had claimed James Cooper and James Kouzaris would only have visited the gang-infested Newton area to buy marijuana.

The two university friends, who were staying at Longboat Key 12 miles away, were killed after they were both shot several times in the back as they tried to run away.

Denial: Liz Clare, an ex-girlfriend of James Kouzaris, has said the Briton and his friend would not have been trying to buy drugs

Victim: James Cooper pictured having fun in a bar just hours before he was gunned down alongside his friend

The final picture: James Kouzaris photographed earlier on in the night that he was killed in the notorious district of Newtown

The Sarasota Police Department released CCTV images showing Cooper and Kouzaris in Smokin' Joes bar at 00.14am on Saturday April 16 shortly before they were killed.

Liz Clare, who dated Mr Kouzaris, 24, for three years, told the Evening Standard: 'I just can't understand why they were there. They're not stupid.

'I was with [James] for three years and he was so cautious. We used to call him grandad because he was so cautious.

'My biggest fear is what people might think about why they were in a dodgy area. Some people are saying there might be a link to drugs but everyone who knows them both knows it would never be that.'

Arrested: 16-year-old Shawn Tyson has been charged with two counts of murder following the shootings

James Cooper's grandfather, Desmond Walton, said: 'He never did drugs. He did not even smoke - he hated people who smoked.

'He was a professional tennis coach. Taking drugs would be the last thing on his mind.'

It comes after the last pictures taken of the two friends the day before they were murdered were revealed.

Pictured enjoying themselves in a bar, university friends James Cooper and James Kouzaris appeared to be having a good time as they enjoyed a three-week holiday in Longboat Key.

The 16-year-old charged with murdering the two Britons was freed by a judge two weeks ago after he was arrested over an armed robbery.

Shawn Tyson, who allegedly shot Mr Cooper and Mr Kouzaris, was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon following that incident.

However as it was his first offence he was released from custody while police investigated the case.

He will now be charged as an adult and, if convicted of first-degree murder of the two Britons, could face the death penalty.

Police investigators were last night trying to piece together how the two university friends were murdered in a gang-ridden neighbourhood in the city of Sarasota.

U.S. officers were said to be mystified that the two middle-class visitors were in the Newton district.

One theory, however, is that  they may have accepted the offer of a lift back to their upmarket resort 12 miles away, only to find themselves being set up for a robbery.

A blogger known as 'Laklak' wrote: 'The Courts public housing project is a cesspit. There are drug dealers and hookers openly plying their trade at all hours.

'Most likely they were looking for a bit of weed... I wouldn't go into this area for any reason at all, even armed to the teeth.'

Gunned down: James, 24, from Northampton (right) and James, 25, from Warwickshire, were murdered during a holiday in Florida with family and friends

Best buddies: The two became friends after meeting at university. Police don't understand what they were doing in such a dangerous area at 3am

'RIP to a legend': Tributes said James Kouzaris, left, drinking beer with a friend 'lived every day to the fullest'

The pair were fleeing for their lives when they were shot ‘multiple times’ in the back with a handgun at 3am.

They were left to die in a run-down housing project infamous for drug-dealing and violent gang activity. Their bodies were found 50ft apart surrounded by at least 20 bullet cases.

It was understood that the weapon allegedly used by Tyson was a TEC-9, a semi-automatic handgun.

Mr Cooper, 25, a tennis coach who once played Andy Murray, and Mr Kouzaris, 24, a town planner and leading amateur rugby player, met while studying at Sheffield University.

They had arrived in Florida last week in time to celebrate Mr Cooper’s 25th birthday on Wednesday.

They had planned to stay for three weeks with his parents Stanley and Sandra at their £1,200-a-week rented condominium in Longboat Key, an island resort renowned for its pristine white sandy beaches.

On Friday night, the two men went bar-hopping in downtown Sarasota, a beach city familiar to countless Britons who have headed to Florida for winter sun.

Police suspect they were driven from the bar area to Newtown because there was no sign of a hire car in the area, which last year accounted for 43 per cent of Sarasota’s armed robberies and 83 per cent of its murders.

At the peak of a recent crime wave, violence was so bad many residents stopped wearing jewellery in public for fear of being robbed.

Mr Cooper had a girlfriend in Florida, 31-year-old Gina Cross. The couple had kept in constant touch since meeting two years ago and spent Thursday night together.

‘I don’t know how they ended up where they were found,’ she said. ‘It’s a very bad neighbourhood – somewhere I would not even drive.

‘So why they were there is the big question on everyone’s mind.’

Detectives say they have found no evidence to suggest that the pair had been trying to buy drugs.

Although cash was found on the Britons’ bodies, sources in the Newtown neighbourhood said they had been lured into an ambush by masked gunmen.

Murder scene: James Cooper and James Kouzaris were found dead on this one way street which is off the usual tourist trail

Sonja Seymour, who lives on the street where the men were found in the early hours of Saturday, said: ‘I heard that when they arrived here there were already some people waiting for them. They were wearing masks.

‘The men ran away and they were shot. I saw one of them lying in the street on his back with his arms outstretched.

‘The other was across the road and lying on his back. They were not moving.

‘The ambulance arrived and tried to work on the two men but they couldn’t do anything. They were covered up and taken away and the police put up all the yellow tape.’

Captain Paul Sutton, of Sarasota police, said: ‘We are still investigating why they would have been in this area. It would be wrong to say they were buying drugs as no drugs paraphernalia were found on them.

‘It is very unusual to find tourists or visitors in this area. It is a residential neighbourhood with no shops and no bars. We do not know what brought them here at 3am.

‘This is not an area that you would expect tourists from England to venture into. This is a low-income area which has had its problems with crime.’ At Longboat Key last night, a family friend said that 58-year-old Stanley Cooper, a retired BBC executive, and his 52-year-old wife were ‘too distraught’ to speak about their only child’s death.

‘They are both hysterical and are still just coming to terms with what has happened.’

Well-travelled: Mr Kouzaris is believed to have taught English while living in Taiwan

Fun-loving: James Kouzaris with pictures from his round-the-world holiday posted on Facebook

Mr Walton added: ‘As it was getting late his mother rang his mobile and got no answer. She carried on ringing until the early hours and eventually a policeman answered it – they had picked up his mobile.

‘They came to get Sandra and his dad and took them down to the police station, and only then did they tell them that boys had been shot and killed.

‘Sandra is shattered, as are we.’

In a brief statement released through Northamptonshire Police, Mr Kouzaris’s family said: ‘James was a wonderful son.

‘We loved him so much and we can’t believe he has gone.We are absolutely devastated and in a state of complete shock.’

Murder victim James Cooper's family home near Warwick, with a Jaguar and a 4x4 in the driveway

His sister Emily added in a tribute on Facebook: ‘My brother was a legend and he will be missed and loved by many, many people.’

Mr Kouzaris’s aunt, Carole Kouzaris, of Syston, Leicestershire, said: ‘We’ve got no idea what James and his friend would have been doing in that part of the city at that time of night.

‘Nobody knows. They’re the only ones that know that, and sadly they won’t be able to tell us now.’

An uncle, Michael Kouzaris, 63, from Dartford, Kent, described his nephew as ‘one in a million’.

He added: ‘James was a real family guy, very caring and he loved to travel.

‘He would go abroad a fair bit as I think he wanted to get it all out of his system before he settled down. He was ambitious and liked to see the world and to broaden his perspective and understanding of different places.’

The tennis prodigy and the friend who lived to travel

Talented: James Cooper was a county level tennis player who later became a coach and said his claim to fame was that he once took on Andy Murray

James Cooper was a talented tennis player whose main claim to fame was playing Andy Murray at the age of 14.

He had spent Thursday evening with an American woman he met when he travelled to Florida with Mr Kouzaris two years ago.

Gina Cross, 31, from Sarasota, said: ‘He was by no means my boyfriend because he lived so far away, but you could say we were casual dating. It was a friendship that had the potential to go a lot further.

‘James kept in touch with me for two years. He was unlike anybody I had ever met before – he was special.

‘I’m heartbroken, I’ve spent all week telling my friends what a great guy James is and how he is a gentleman.’

Miss Cross had been hoping to introduce Mr Cooper to her friends on Saturday evening, hours after he was gunned down.

Mr Cooper lived with his parents, Stanley, 58, and Sandra, 52, in a £850,000 converted barn in Hampton Lucy, outside Warwick. The couple are also both keen tennis players.

Although a professional career proved beyond their son, he had stayed in the game, playing at county level for Warwickshire.

Since graduating in management from Sheffield two years ago, he worked as a tennis coach for a company called Inspire2Coach, which runs courses at Warwick University and other venues around the Midlands. Mr Cooper had recently been promoted to a head coach role.

He attended Kenilworth School in the town where he grew up and was a season-ticket holder at Coventry City football club, attending games with his father, who was said to have taken early retirement from the BBC.

A keen traveller, he enjoyed a trip to Australia in January last year, visiting the Australian Open tennis tournament.

His grandfather Desmond Walton, 79, from Southgate, North London, said he was a ‘good boy’ and said the pair were more like ‘mates than granddad and grandson’.

Keen traveller: Mr Cooper can be seen taking a boat trip during a trip to Australia last year, where he also visited the Australian Open tennis tournament

‘Whenever James called me he would always finish off by saying ‘I love you Granddad’. That’s the sort of boy he was. He wouldn’t hurt a fly.’

James Roe, who was James Cooper’s doubles partner at Kenilworth Tennis Club, said ‘People still asked him about the day he played Andy Murray.

‘I’ve known him since he was 14. He was a very good junior and represented Warwickshire and played in all the local leagues.

‘I was his doubles partner from 2003 to 2009 when we won the club championships. Tennis was his whole life.’

James Kouzaris was described as a ‘gregarious’ free spirit.

Since leaving the University of Sheffield with a masters degree in town planning in 2008, he fitted work around his major passion – travelling.

He had returned only a fortnight ago from a three-month journey through Latin America, visiting Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Bolivia. He is thought to have spent a week with his parents, Hazel and Peter, both 52, at their home in Northampton, before flying out to Miami for the ill-fated three-week break with his friend.

James Kouzaris lived in Taiwan but had spent months touring South America before meeting up with his friend

Mr Kouzaris was signed up to Northamptonshire County Council’s register of temporary workers and helped across a variety of departments. He had been due to return to the authority to fill a position in the finance department later this month. 

Born in Northampton, he attended the 470-year-old Northampton School for Boys, captaining his year group at rugby for three years.

In 2002 he led the school rugby team on its tour of Australia and New Zealand. He also captained a team at Old Northamptonians Rugby Club from the age of nine until he left for university and taught English as a foreign language on his travels while in Taiwan.

Holiday: An image posted on Mr Kouzaris' Facebook page show him in a bar

Shortly before he flew home from his travels last month, he had written on Facebook that he was heading ‘back to normality soon’.

In a reference to their forthcoming Florida break, James Cooper replied: ‘U have got to be kiddin, ur back a week and then we go off to America.’

Relatives said James Kouzaris had been planning to settle down in London, where he had a girlfriend, but had talked of emigrating to Australia.

Deadly side of the Sunshine State

As a  destination long favoured by British tourists, Florida conjures up a wealth of enticing images: sun-drenched beaches, long-drives along coastal highways with breathtaking views, magnificent theme parks such as Disneyland, and wonderful food to suit every budget.

But there is another Florida, a world away from this travellers’ paradise. The peninsula state also has a far darker, seamier, more violent side, where only naive or criminal visitors dare to tread.

The dangers of this environment were graphically exposed by the fatal shooting of two Britons. What has so perplexed the Florida police about this double murder is that few tourists visit the deprived neighbourhood where they were killed, particularly because there are no nightclubs or restaurants.

Poverty: People sit on porches outside their homes in Florida, where the contrast between rich and poor is one of the biggest in the western world

This tragic case shows just how risky it can be to stray into the wrong neighbourhood in Florida. That is certainly what I discovered during my spell between 1998 and 2006 as the British Consul in Orlando, one of the most popular places for visiting Britons.

Away from the all the luxury and glamour of the attractions and hotels, a gun-toting, drug-fuelled menace awaits where people live in abject deprivation on a scale unimaginable in Britain, with our generous welfare state and infrastructure of public services.

This desperate poverty and squalor has served as the breeding ground for serious, often lethal crime from young men who feel they have nothing to lose, in a society which has given them nothing. And it is precisely this sense of desperation which makes these neighbourhoods so dangerous for those outsiders unfortunate or foolish enough to enter them.

The United States has always been a land of extremes. The richest country in the world also contains some of the most shameful poverty in the West. The land of liberty also has the most draconian criminal justice regime of any developed country, reflected not only in the retention of the death penalty but also in the massive prison population.

And although a nation of immigrants which prides itself on being a melting pot, America is still riven by deep-seated ethnic divisions.  

Contrast: The resort of Long Boat Key, where the two men were staying is just 12 miles from Sarasota, but a whole world apart in terms of safety and wealth

How the other half live: Some properties in Long Beach can fetch £30m and belong to celebrities including Tiger Woods - yet within 20miles there are concrete housing estates and shanty towns

These extremes are carried to a heightened level in Florida. What always intrigued me about the state was that affluence and deprivation, crime and security could exist so closely beside each other. In Palm Beach, you can find properties worth around £30million, some belonging to celebrities such as Donald Trump and Tiger Woods.

The rich and famous here don’t just have one swimming pool attached to their mansions, they have two.

Yet within 20 miles you can find the most incredible poverty, either in squalid concrete jungles of housing estates or impoverished shanty towns.

The double murder of the two Britons is a case in point. They were, apparently, staying only 12 miles away from Sarasota in the attractive resort of Longboat Key, but the distance in safety and wealth was much greater. As I found, this disparity can occur even in a small area. Within one part of a Florida city, you could be walking down a street full of appealing shops and cafes.

Then suddenly, if you take a wrong turning, you find yourself on a bleak estate, filled with boarded-up properties and threatening graffiti.

Even in the most notorious areas of Latin America, such as inner-city Bogota in Colombia, you would struggle to find anything as bad. Similarly, you could be driving through the countryside and then come across a group of primitive huts, made of corrugated sheets or derelict caravans, resembling something that you might find in an African village. There would not even be running water, the inhabitants relying on a standpipe.

Bleak future: With the desperate poverty and squalor in some parts of the state, many young men feel they have nothing to lose and turn to crime

It is no surprise to find that Florida is therefore scarred by high rates of crime. In my experience, the state has fewer petty offences than urban Britain – binge drinking is much more rare, for instance. But the incidence of serious crime is much higher. It is telling that Britain has by far the largest prison population in Europe in proportion to its size, at a total of 85,000 inmates.

Yet 100,000 prisoners are held in the jails of Florida, even though the state’s 15million population is only a quarter of Britain’s. Murder, drugs, rape, and firearm offences are all much more common in Florida. Tourists are an obvious target for gangsters and opportunistic criminals. One of the most sinister crime waves I had to deal with as a diplomat involved British hotel guests attacked in their rooms by gunmen.

Not only did the thugs steal cash and personal possessions such as jewellery and passports, but they also sometimes locked the husband in the bathroom while they raped the wife.

I will never forget one case where two British pensioners in their seventies were attacked as they walked into their hotel room. The husband refused to go into the bathroom when ordered at gunpoint. Instead, he leapt at his assailant and, in a life-or-death-struggle, managed to disarm him, though he suffered a severe blow which cracked his skull. 

It was a remarkable act of heroism and devotion to his wife, though the would-be rapist managed to escape. The pensioner told me afterwards at the consulate that he did not mind about the valuables, but when the robber threatened his spouse, he knew he had no alternative but to swing into action.

Hugh Hunter is the former British Vice-Consul in Florida, and author of Our Man In Orlando  

Share or comment on this article: Florida shooting: Why were British tourists James Cooper and James gunned down?

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US gun crime: why tourists are being warned to avoid and beware

Visiting Lecturer, School of Architecture + Cities, University of Westminster

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Ross Bennett-Cook does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

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The year 2023 is on track to be the worst in recent history for mass shootings in the US, according to the Gun Violence Archive database. Some commentators are questioning whether security fears surrounding gun violence and mass shootings could keep international fans away from the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Los Angeles.

No other developed nation has mass shootings at the same scale or frequency as the US. Estimates suggest that Americans own 393 million of the 857 million civilian guns available, around 46% of the world’s civilian gun ownership.

A 2013 report by the European Commission found just 5% of EU citizens owned a gun, compared to around 32% of Americans in 2020. And the US figure is expected to have increased in response to recent shootings

Read more: US shootings: Norway and Finland have similar levels of gun ownership, but far less gun crime

Whenever another mass shooting takes place, foreign politicians and media react with incomprehension that American gun laws differ so much from those of most other western nations. Thirteen US states allow open carrying of a gun without a permit , and 25 (soon to be be 26) don’t require a permit to wear a concealed gun in public.

Several nations have now issued their citizens with US travel warnings relating to gun violence.

Uruguay has suggested its citizens avoid certain cities, including Detroit and Baltimore. Germany warns of the possibility of killing sprees and that arms and ammunition purchases have increased significantly since the COVID-19 crisis.

Canada now recommends its citizens familiarise themselves with how to respond to an active shooter before visiting and warns of mass shootings. Australia ’s official travel advice warns “gun crime is prevalent”.

Even Venezuela , ranked one of the world’s most dangerous countries , issued its highest advisory against travel to the US following mass shootings, starting from 2019.

Read more: Florida 'freakishness': why the sunshine state might have lost its appeal

China has also warned its citizens that they were travelling to a country with “frequent shootings”. The New York Times reported that the Chinese foreign ministry issued an advisory urging citizens to “be careful and prepare for the possibility that gun crimes may occur at workplaces, schools, at home and at tourist sites”.

In 2022, research by data analysis group Morning Consult found that a staggering 93% of Chinese nationals who wanted to visit the US were so worried about violent crime that they may not make a trip.

Tourism and violence

Journalist Rosie Spinks has questioned how America has managed to remain a “safe” country to visit, while similar incidents happening elsewhere would instantly cause countries to be locked off to international visitors.

In June 2015, a mass shooting took place in the Tunisian resort of Port El Kantaoui, killing 39 people, mostly tourists. The massacre dramatically affected Tunisia’s tourism industry and thousands lost their jobs.

For three years the UK advised against all travel to the country, with much of the world implementing similar policies. Research found that even in other Muslim countries that had no connection to the attack, their tourism industries were negatively impacted.

That is not to say that governments were wrong for cancelling holidays to Tunisia. Tourists’ safety should always be top priority.

Yet in the year of the Tunisia shooting, there were 372 mass shootings in the US. Meanwhile, the country welcomed a record number of overseas visitors. The difference here may be that Tunisian shootings were aimed at tourists.

Perhaps a destination’s ability to rebound after tragedy is often down not to the realities on the ground, but of our perceptions of safety . And these perceptions often come from prejudices, media bias, and governmental advice that favours certain destinations.

How do nations protect tourists?

Safety and security are vital for the tourism industry. More than any other economic activity, the success or failure of a tourism destination depends on being able to provide a safe and secure environment for visitors.

Some places opt to cocoon their tourists in enclave resorts , where they are protected in specific zones. The Egyptian resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh, for example, has been encircled by a 22-mile long, six-metre high wall, to protect its tourists after several violent incidents shook the Egyptian tourism industry.

Those wishing to enter the resort by road must now pass through gates equipped with cameras and scanners, while planes land directly within its walled interior.

Although these measures may seem unrealistic for the US, some areas that rely heavily on tourism have already put controls in place to protect their visitors. Loaded guns were once banned in all US national parks and wildlife reserves, until Barack Obama controversially overturned the 20-year law during his first month in office.

Walt Disney World has a strict no-gun rule in its theme park, yet reported seeing a sharp increase in people trying to enter with concealed weapons in 2021.

Gun violence in the US doesn’t seem to be going away, but global awareness and scrutiny of US gun laws and violence seems to be increasing.

Tourism is a big business in the US: in 2019 international visitors injected a staggering $233.5 bn (£187.6 bn) into the American economy. If the US hopes to maintain a positive tourism image and continue to attract visitors, it may soon have to consider how gun safety looks to the outside world.

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Has gun violence made America too dangerous for tourists?

There is demonstrably more gun violence in the U.S. than in any other large, wealthy country

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The U.S. is a wonderful tourist destination, with vibrant cities, scenic national parks, world-class museums and sports arenas, and a delicious panoply of food and beverages, among other delights and attractions.

Or, looked at another way, the U.S. is a violent hellscape where wealthy cities are filled with homeless encampments , the government was nearly overthrown in a coup, life expectancy is lower — and health care spending much higher — than in any other large and wealthy nation on Earth, civilian-owned guns far outnumber people, a mass shooting happens about once a day, school shootings are so prevalent that kindergartners are drilled on active shooter scenarios, and even something as purely American as Little League baseball games are thrown into chaos by random gunfire.

That latter view got a fresh airing after yet another spate of mass shootings — this time at a Tennessee private school, a Kentucky bank, a Texas neighborhood, a Texas outlet mall — and a series of encounters where people were shot just for mistakenly approaching the shooter's house or car. A Twitter user in Australia then dug up and posted a video the FBI released in September 2020 — when few people were going out — on how to survive a mass shooting in a public space.

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"Broken country," tweeted Kat Abu of Media Matters. "I am from Australia — can someone please explain if this is parody or not?" another Twitter user, Stu Mac, asked earnestly . It was not. "Other countries don't have to do this," said another Australian . "People in other countries don't even have to think about things like this." Another response : "This should be shown on international flights as the plane lands in America." And another : "American Visas should come with a warning like a cigarette pack."

The replies were filled with foreigners agreeing that the video and its necessity are crazy, some lamentations that the U.S. is hosting the next World Cup, Americans saying they have to watch videos like this for work and at school, others saying they cried after watching the video, and a few people calling it proof you should carry a gun to bars and restaurants.

So, is America a top-level destination for families and other tourists, or a nation too dangerous for all but the most hardened, risk-tolerant travelers?

What do other countries say, officially?

For decades, the U.S. has "enjoyed the supremacy and monopoly of issuing travel warnings" for citizens considering visits to "countries marred by violence or terrorism," the Tourism Academy travel industry school observed in a June 2022 essay. "The balance of power has however shifted, with foreign nations warning their citizens to avoid traveling to the United States," starting after a pair of back-to-back deadly mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Ohio, in 2019.

Even then, the number of countries raising their warning levels was small: Venezuela and Uruguay urged their citizens to avoid travel to the U.S., while the Japanese Consulate in Detroit, 200 miles north of Dayton, noted that the U.S. is a "gun society" and advised Japanese citizens they "should be aware of the potential for gunfire incidents everywhere in the United States." Amnesty International called on "people worldwide to exercise caution and have an emergency contingency plan when traveling throughout the USA" due to "ongoing high levels of gun violence in the country."

Other countries, like New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, and Germany, have cautioned their citizens about America's gun violence without advising them to stay away. Most of the big drivers of U.S. tourism counsel would-be visitors that "the U.S. is more violent than what you're used to," they should "learn to take precautions that you might not have to take at home," and "violent crime rarely involves tourists," CNN Travel reported in January.

Concern about U.S. gun violence and tourism isn't exactly new, as this 2015 New Yorker cartoon illustrates.

But before 2019, foreign tourists to the U.S. were mostly warned about things like "expensive emergency health care, overly sensitive attitudes toward nude sunbathing, and gross tap water," Mental Floss reported in 2016, with examples.

But mass killings started to rise in the U.S. in 2019, and they have kept going up amid a subsequent jump in gun sales and mental and financial stress from the Covid-19 pandemic, James Alan Fox, a gun violence expert at Northeastern University, told USA Today . Mass shootings "are the kinds of events that make headlines, scare people, and make them look around when they go into a supermarket or retail store," he added. The U.S. typically experiences about six public mass shootings a year, but it reached that number in May with the outlet mall shooting in Allen, Texas.

Is America getting a free pass from wealthy allies?

Yes, "even in our thoroughly globalized world, there is an inherent unfairness in how we determine what countries are 'safe' to visit in the wake of a tragedy," and the U.S. especially gets a "seemingly infinite benefit of the doubt," Rosie Spinks wrote at Skift in 2019. Tourism lives and dies on perception, and America gets to "indulge in a kind of identity-forging belief that it is 'the greatest country in the world' — even when, say, it's the only country in the world that suffers mass shootings to this degree."

In fact, unlike the State Department's Level 2 advisory for parts of Europe or its guidance "for Turkey — which, at Level 3, advises travelers to 'reconsider travel' and stay away from regions near the Syrian and Iraqi border — there is no rhyme or reason to where the threat of a mass shooting in the U.S. lies," Spinks pointed out. You could get shot anywhere, at any time, "and sure, while the statistical likelihood of a traveler being caught up in a mass shooting in America is low, is it any lower than that of a terrorism attack in Turkey or Western Europe?"

Has gun violence affected tourism?

Anecdotally, yes. And there is some data that suggests tourism drops off for months in places where there were high-profile mass shootings, like Las Vegas after the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in 2017 and Orlando after 2016's Pulse nightclub killings.

Nationally, foreign tourism numbers dipped across the U.S. a bit in 2019, then plummeted in 2020 and 2021, after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. International visitor arrivals jumped 128% between 2021 and 2022, to 50.9 million visitors from 22.3 million, according to the U.S. International Trade Administration , but foreign arrival numbers were still 36% lower than in 2019.

Even after pandemic-related testing requirements to enter the U.S. lifted, "travelers are likely to pause before rushing back to a country where hate crimes and mass shootings are becoming far too commonplace," Lebawit Lily Girma wrote at Skift in June 2022. Travelers do research their destinations while planning a trip, Eastern Kentucky University hospitality and tourism professor Daegeun Kim told USA Today , and the more frequently they see news about gun violence at "a destination where they want to go, it is more likely that it's going to affect their decision-making process."

Canada was the top source of U.S. tourism in 2022, followed closely by Mexico, with Britain a distant third. But "there's no getting around it — gun violence and racial and political division are growing deterrents for Canadians and other international travelers to visit one of the world's great destinations," Bruce Parkinson wrote at Canadian Travel News in May 2022. "We love exploring the United States," but "for many Canadians, real freedom is about living in a civil, tolerant society where gun violence is a minuscule threat. The same goes for when we travel."

And it's not just Canada, Parkinson added. "The fact is that most of the world sees America's unfettered gun laws as bizarre and disturbing. And a growing number are literally afraid of traveling to places where the guy sitting beside them at the bar may have a gun on his hip — and is fully within his rights to do so."

Should tourists shun the U.S.?

"In Europe there is a deep sense that U.S. rampant gun violence is a totally domestic issue, tragic of course, both a stain to the country's image and a total mystery, but that it won't affect the visitor's everyday life," Vincent Bontoux, a consultant based in France who recently visited New York City with his 87-year-old mother, told Skift .

There is demonstrably more gun violence in the U.S. than in any other large, wealthy country — 4.12 firearm homicides per 100,000 people versus 0.18 in Australia and 0.04 in the United Kingdom, USA Today reports , citing research by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. And other U.S. news reaches an international audience as well.

"You just never know how police will behave, what will happen on the border, whether or not you'll be shot by someone," said Alexandra Mirskikh, a Ukrainian living in the Netherlands who now avoids visiting the U.S. "The world is really large," she added. "There are so many places I haven't been."

"We understand that the events and headlines we have been seeing may cause concerns to those abroad — we as American citizens also share that concern," Chris Thompson, CEO of tourism market firm BrandUSA, told Skift in 2022.

"I think one, this is a big country, and two, we need to address the issue — but it's not an issue where I feel unsafe walking down the street or traveling in the U.S," and that context should be made clear, Elliot Ferguson, CEO of Destination DC, told Skift. "Collectively, when you look at all the reasons why America is an attractive destination, that has not changed," he added. "There's still a level of interest in our country that fortunately for us has not been skewed 100%."

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.  

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10 shot by teen gunman at Florida party venue, police say

SANFORD, Fla. — A teenage gunman wounded 10 people when he opened fire early Sunday after fighting broke out during a private event at a Florida party venue, authorities said.

A security guard tackled and disarmed the shooter almost immediately, and a second guard handcuffed him until sheriff’s deputies arrived, according to an arrest report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

None of the victims suffered life-threatening injuries, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. It said 10 people were treated at a local hospital for gunshot wounds, primarily below their waists.

Sunday’s mass shooting underscored the problem of gun violence in America and was the latest example of how law enforcement officials nationwide face increasing difficulty curbing violence as juveniles find easy access to firearms.

A 16-year-old suspect was arrested in the Florida case Sunday and taken to a juvenile detention center. He was charged with attempted homicide, firing a weapon in a public place, using a firearm during a felony and illegal possession of a firearm by a minor.

The shooting happened during a crowded, late-night event at Cabana Live in Sanford, about 20 miles north of Orlando. The venue’s website says it’s a restaurant that rents cabanas and hosts pool parties and other events.

Witnesses told law enforcement the shooting started after a fistfight broke out. Someone who wasn’t involved in the melee drew a handgun and began firing toward a crowd of people, the arrest report said. A security guard standing near the gunman wrestled him to the ground and disarmed him.

Two deputies who were assisting private security at the venue arrived soon after and arrested the teenager. The arrest report said they also recovered a 9mm handgun and spent shell casings that matched the bullets in the gun’s magazine.

A post on the Facebook page for Cabana Live said it was holding a private event when the shootings occurred and all of its employees were safe. A woman who answered the phone there Sunday afternoon said no one had further comment.

“We are cooperating with the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office and praying for all those involved,” the social media post said.

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Rules for travelling to the USA from the UK explained: tests, vaccines and more

By Sarah James

The US eased travel restrictions for visitors from the UK in November 2021, with rules around testing eased in June 2022. Find out what all this means for your trip.

Can I travel to the USA?

Yes. Since November 2021, international travellers from the UK have been able to visit the USA. Between November 2021 and May 2023, this was on the condition that travellers were fully vaccinated. We were on the first flight out in early November 2021, so have first-hand experience of the process.

What Covid tests do I need to travel to the USA?

As of June 2022, the requirement for air travellers to show proof of a negative test to enter the USA has been dropped.

"We are able to take this step because of the tremendous progress we've made in our fight against the virus. We have made lifesaving vaccines and treatments widely available and these tools are working to prevent serious illness and death, and are effective against the prevalent variants circulating in the US and around the world," a senior official said in a statement.

Do I need to be vaccinated to go to the USA?

At the time of writing (2 May 2023), yes – most international air travellers need to show proof of being fully vaccinated to enter the USA. Any vaccine approved for use by the World Health Organisation or by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will be accepted, including AstraZeneca, Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech and others. The final vaccine dose must have been administered at least 14 days before travelling.

From 11 May 2023, the US will end the vaccination requirements for interntational travellers. This is when the coronavirus public health emergency ends.

Can unvaccinated people travel to the USA?

Until 11 May, to enter the USA unvaccinated you must have been granted an exception or be a US Citizen, US National, or US Lawful Permanent Resident. You can find out if you qualify as an exception to the rules by reading the list outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) .

After 11 May, you don't need to be vaccinated to travel to the USA.

Do I need to wear a face mask in the USA?

Rules on wearing masks differ in each state and in different settings, so it's important to check before you travel, however there are currently no states requiring people to wear masks in public spaces. You may be required to wear a mask in certain settings, such as healthcare facilities.

London tourist Sean Patterson was victim of contract killing in Jamaica, claim police

• Thursday 5 January 2023 at 3:05pm

A British man was shot twelve times in Jamaica in what police believe may have been a contract killing ordered in the UK.

Sean Patterson, a personal trainer from west London, was targeted by the pool of a villa in Bogue Heights, St James, just after noon on Monday , his family told ITV News London.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force said one man has been taken into custody as they continue to work with UK authorities on the investigation.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey said in a video statement on Wednesday that Mr Patterson has previous convictions in the UK for drugs, violence and firearm offences.

He said police believe the 33-year-old was killed in a "contract killing that emanated from Britain".

Mr Patterson, who worked as a personal trainer, arrived in Jamaica shortly before New Year’s Eve with another man who was also from London.

The pair had spent several days at an apartment before checking into the villa in Bogue Hill on New Year’s Day.

Later that day, the commissioner said, the two Brits had met up with a third man – from Kingston – who was present when Mr Patterson was shot and killed.

All three men had stayed at the guest house in separate rooms and the following day at around noon, Mr Patterson and the Jamaican man had gone to the villa’s pool deck.

"(The Kingston man) reported that his back was turned to (Mr) Patterson when he heard several loud explosions (which) sounded like gunshots,” Mr Bailey said.

"He reported that he looked around and saw a lone man dressed in a black hooded sweatshirt with a handgun shooting (Mr) Patterson."

The witness reportedly fled and hid in bushes.

Police found the victim on his back in a "pool of blood" with "what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the upper-body and head".

Mr Bailey added: "There is no evidence Mr Patterson was robbed."

The commissioner concluded by saying local authorities were working with their international partners – including UK police – and were making "significant progress" in the case.

Below: Sean's father tells ITV News London how his son left for Jamaica shortly after celebrating Christmas together

Speaking to ITV News London, Sean's father, Alan Patterson, said his son was shot "multiple times".

Alan Patterson added: "It’s just tragic, I can’t believe it.

"He left here just after Christmas and we won’t be spending another one [together] again, it’s painful.

"Reports that we are getting, my son was outside and the other friends were inside. My son got shot outside.

"The whole picture of this is a bit patchy and there are so many stories so we don’t have a full idea of what took place apart from Sean being shot multiple times."

Sean's family said their priority was to bring his body back to London.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said they were currently "supporting the family of a British man who died in Jamaica and are in contact with the local authorities".

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Caitlin Clark 'keeps the momentum rolling' on first day of Indiana Fever training camp

INDIANAPOLIS — Caitlin Clark likes to push the pace.

That was evident during Clark's college career at Iowa , when she frequently grabbed a rebound and turned to run back up the court, quickly pulling up for a transition 3-pointer. She's someone that likes to play quick.

And that is working out in her favor, especially as she transitions from the 30-second college shot clock to the 24-second WNBA clock. There are also only eight seconds to get the ball over halfcourt, instead of 10.

"It's fast, a fast shot clock, but I think all of you know that's how I like to play," Clark said. "So, I think it suits my game pretty well. And, you know, it's a fast pace, a lot faster than college. You gotta learn quicker, you gotta get your mind fully wherever, you know, there's no time to be tired."

More: Four questions to open Indiana Fever training camp: How will Caitlin Clark jell?

The Fever cut that number down even more on the first day of training camp on Sunday, playing five-on-five with a 15-second shot clock. Clark was running with the first team during practice, joining center Aliyah Boston, forwards NaLyssa Smith and Katie Lou Samuelson, and guard Erica Wheeler. Kelsey Mitchell, who has started for the Fever for multiple years, is currently out with an ankle injury to start camp.

Clark easily kept up with the first team during that drill, which also featured rim passes to Smith — something head coach Christie Sides was emphasizing during their film session. But Clark never got out of basketball shape. After all, she played in the national championship game just three weeks ago.

"I feel like I'm in really good basketball shape," Clark said. "There's no getting back in shape for myself, I've been playing basketball. There's been no really off period. And for me, I feel like that's a really good thing. It just keeps the momentum rolling."

Even as the pace quickens for Clark, her fundamentals never wavered. She sank 3-pointers and made elaborate passes throughout the first official day of practice, looking like the same player she was in college. Clark averaged 8.9 assists per game in her senior year at Iowa, and her passing ability will be crucial for a Fever team that had just 18 assists per game — 11th in the league — in 2023.

Her new teammates will just have to get used to those passes coming their way.

"Her passing ability, I mean, you saw some of the passes," coach Christie Sides said. "Like, I'm more mad at how many missed layups that we had. It was off a couple of her passes that I think we're just not used to having, you know, someone who can make some of those passes. So, for me, it's her passing. I'm just enamored at times."

Now, the only thing Clark will really have to work on is her defense, something she said Sides has already been on her about.

"Can't let people drive middle," Clark said with a laugh. "I need to work on that for sure."

Indiana ranked 10th in general defense last year, and Sides said of the 26 close games the Fever were in last year, they could never get stops late – they had a defensive rating of 119 in those moments.

"I hate to even admit that we were focused on defense because we fell (10th) last year, right," Sides said. "That didn't sit well with me. We're going to be better defensively. We have to be better."

Brit tourist dies after being shot in 'ambush' outside 5-star hotel in Argentina

A British father and stepson were shot when thugs on a motorbike tried to rob them as they arrived in a taxi at the Faena Art Hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina

• 17:40, 14 Dec 2019
• Updated 01:02, 15 Dec 2019

A British tourist has died and his stepson is in hospital after they were shot in an ambush outside a five-star hotel in Buenos Aires, according to reports.

It is said the 50-year-old man was shot in the lung during a violent struggle with gun-wielding robbers who were on a motorbike and in a car.

His 28-year-old son is in hospital after he was shot in the thigh, close to his groin.

The pair, thought to be from England, were attacked outside the doors of Faena Art Hotel in the capital's upmarket Puerto Madero neighbourhood at about 11am local time on Saturday.

The entire attack was captured on CCTV.

Sources told Infobae that the men were ambushed they got out of a taxi to enter the hotel close to the waterfront.

Do you know the people involved or did you witness the incident? Email [email protected].

The Brits were shot as they tried to resist the theft of their belongings, the sources added.

Aerial footage appears to show paramedics performing CPR on a man sprawled on the floor.

Initial reports said one of the men was in a serious condition after a bullet entered his body through his right armpit and went into his chest.

The bullet punctured the man's lung, Haceinstantes reported.

He was pronounced dead after arriving at a local hospital.

Local officials initially gave his age as 35, but later corrected it to 50.

Speaking before the British man was confirmed dead, Alberto Crescenti, of the SAME paramedic service, told Cronica: "Upon arrival, they met a 35-year-old man with an impact that had entered through his right armpit and had reached his chest."

Mr Crescenti added: "The impact that the 35-year-old man received caused considerable damage and blood entered his lung.

"He is very serious and health professionals are trying to save his life. We are very worried about him. The second, 28, is out of danger, thank God." 

The other tourist was in a stable condition after being shot in the thigh, close to his groin, Clarin reported.

The bullet just missed his femoral artery, it is said.

Witnesses heard at least give gunshots, La Nacion reported.

A witness told Canal America 24 that there was a commotion outside the hotel and he saw a person covered in blood on the ground as they were given medical treatment.

The witness was told at the scene that the victims were shot during an attempted robbery.

The witness, named only as Florencia, added: “When I reached the corner of the hotel I saw that there was a person lying at the front door and they were being attended to.

"A motorcycle passed, wanted to steal and shot them.

"After 15 minutes, paramedics came to assist them. It was very serious what happened. The delinquents escaped. It is supposed to be a safe area and is monitored by the Prefecture."

It is believed the robbers were being supported by accomplices in a car when they attacked the holidaymakers, according to reports.

The entire attack was captured by a CCTV camera mounted on a building across the street. 

Police have launched a hunt for the gunmen, who fled the scene.

A spokeswoman for the Faena Art Hotel said: "Faena Hotel Buenos Aires is deeply saddened by the incident which took place in the vicinity of the hotel.

"We express our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

"Faena Hotel Buenos Aires is working with the authorities and providing our full support."

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We are supporting the family of two British men following an incident in Buenos Aires, and are in contact with the local authorities there."

The £350-a-night hotel has been named one of the best hotels in Argentina by critics.

It is set within the historic El Porteno building, a former grain warehouse made of imported Manchester bricks that was saved from the wrecking ball in 1998.

The building was transformed into a stylish hotel by Argentine fashion designer Alan Faena, opening in 2004.

The shooting happened in Puerto Madero, a revitalised dockside area which lures tourists with its Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve and upscale hotels and restaurants.

More than 111,000 British nationals visited Argentina in 2018, according to the Foreign Office, which said most visits are "trouble-free".

But tourists are warned to be alert to street crime, including armed robberies, and advised to hand over cash and valuables without resistance.

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Eloise Dixon named as British tourist shot driving into Brazilian favela

Language mix-up reportedly sees family enter dangerous neighbourhood home to a notorious drug trafficking gang, article bookmarked.

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A British woman shot in the stomach after she and her family mistakenly drove into a favela in Brazil has been named as 46-year-old Eloise Dixon.

Ms Dixon was travelling with her partner and their three children in Angra dos Reis, 90 miles east of Rio de Janeiro and close to the popular tourist town of Paraty , when she was attacked, police said.

Reports said a language mix-up saw them enter the Agua Santa neighbourhood, an area associated with drug trafficking gang Terceiro Comando Puro, or Pure Third Command, after they apparently asked for directions to buy bottled water.

• British family on holiday in Brazil shot after taking wrong turn

The rented Renault the family were travelling in was approached by a group who told them to get out of the vehicle before opening fire.

Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported that the family’s lack of Portuguese meant they failed to understand orders to leave the area by members of the gang.

A police statement said the woman was hit in the abdomen and was taken to nearby Japuiba General Hospital.

Rodrigo Mucheli, medical director at the facility, said “the bullet travelled through her abdomen but luckily didn’t hit any major arteries or vital organs”.

The rest of the family, including the couple’s three daughters, the youngest aged four, were unhurt.

Ms Dixon, who lives in Bromley , south-east London, is now recovering in hospital.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are in touch with the local authorities in Angra dos Reis, Brazil, following reports of the shooting of a British national.”

World news in pictures

Police are still searching for the gunmen.

Local police chief Bruno Gilaberte said: “This whole confusion seems to have happened partly because of the language barrier.

“They ended up driving towards the Água Santa community where they were challenged by criminals. Because they didn’t understand the order they received to leave the area, they just carried on and were shot at.”

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American tourist facing possible 12-year prison sentence after ammo found in luggage in Turks and Caicos

By Kris Van Cleave

Updated on: April 25, 2024 / 7:28 PM EDT / CBS News

Valerie Watson returned to Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport in tears on Tuesday morning in a drastic departure from how she imagined her long weekend trip to Turks and Caicos would end.

Watson is home, but her husband, Ryan Watson, was jailed on the island and is facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years behind bars after airport security allegedly found four rounds of hunting ammo in his carry-on bag earlier this month. 

"We were trying to pack board shorts and flip flops," Valerie Watson told CBS News. "Packing ammunition was not at all our intent."

Valerie Watson, who learned Sunday she would not be charged and would be allowed to return home, said the trip "went from what was supposed to be a dream vacation to a nightmare."

Ryan Watson was released on bail after two nights , but must remain on the island and check in with police twice a week.

The Watsons are not the only ones going through this ordeal.

Bryan Hagerich is awaiting trial after ammo was found in the Pennsylvania man's checked bag in February.

"I subsequently spent eight nights in their local jail. Some of the darkest, hardest times of my life, quite frankly," Hagerich said. "These last 70 days have been kind of a roller coaster, just the pain and suffering of having your family at home and I'm here."

Possessing a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously often able to just pay a fine. In February, however, a court order mandated that even tourists in the process of leaving the country are subject to prison time.

Since November 2022, eight firearms and ammunition prosecutions in total have been brought involving tourists from the United States, three of which are currently before the court with each of the defendants on bail.

Last year, a judge found Michael Grim from Indiana had "exceptional circumstances" when he pleaded guilty to accidentally having ammunition in his checked bag. He served almost six months in prison. 

"No clean running water. You're kind of exposed to the environment 24/7," he told CBS News. "Mosquitoes and tropical illnesses are a real concern. There's some hostile actors in the prison."

The judge was hoping to send a message to other Americans. 

"[His] sentencing was completely predicated on the fact that I was an American," Grim said. 

The U.S. embassy last September posted a travel alert online, warning people to "check your luggage for stray ammunition," noting it would "not be able to secure your release from custody."

In a statement, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News, "We are aware of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Turks and Caicos.  When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country's laws, even if they differ from those in the United States." 

Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints, and most of them were loaded.  

"I can't even begin to think that this very innocent, regrettable mistake would prevent me from being able to watch my son graduate or teach him to shave or take my daughter to dances," Ryan Watson said. "It's just unfathomable. I do not — I can't process it."

The Turks and Caicos government responded to CBS News in a lengthy statement confirming the law and reiterating that, even if extenuating circumstances are found to be present, the judge is required to mandate prison time.   

Kris Van Cleave is CBS News' senior transportation and national correspondent based in Phoenix.

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Teen accidentally kills his younger brother with a gun found in an alley

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ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — A 14-year-old Florida boy told police he accidentally shot and killed his 11-year-old brother after finding a gun in an alley near their home, authorities said.

St. Petersburg police responded to the family’s home shortly after noon on Friday and found Amir Williams suffering from a gunshot wound, according to a police news release. The boy died at the scene.

Students had the day off from school on Friday, and Amir was home with his older brother and 13-year-old sister, police said. The children’s mother wasn’t home.

Amir’s brother told investigators he found the gun and that no one else in the family knew he had it. Police were working with prosecutors to determine if any criminal charges would be filed.

The gun was reported stolen on Wednesday in St. Petersburg.

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British tourist injured in shark attack is ‘aware and can communicate’

Peter Smith is in intensive care after suffering damage to an arm, leg and hand and puncture wounds to abdomen

A British tourist who was seriously injured in a shark attack off a Caribbean island is “aware of what is happening and can communicate” in intensive care, his wife has said.

Peter Smith, 64, from Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, was savaged 10 metres (33ft) off the shore near the Starfish hotel in Courland Bay on the north coast of Tobago on Friday morning.

He suffered damage to his left arm and leg, puncture wounds to the abdomen and injuries to his right hand, the full extent of which are still being evaluated after the attack by a bull shark .

He was in a “stable” condition in Scarborough general hospital in Tobago on Sunday after undergoing surgery.

His wife, Joanna, said in a statement through the BBC: “As of 9am local time today, Peter is aware of what is happening and is able to communicate a little, although he is still under strong medication.”

She thanked “two friends” who remained in the water during the attack to “battle” the shark, estimated to be between 8ft (2 metres) and 10ft long and 2ft wide.

The couple had been holidaying on the island with friends and were due to fly home that day.

The Foreign Office said it was supporting the family.

Several beaches and coastal areas were closed and a $10,000 (£8,000) bounty previously offered to anyone who could capture the shark was later retracted .

Last year, there were 69 unprovoked shark attacks and 22 provoked bites worldwide, along with 14 fatalities, according to the Florida-based International Shark Attack File .

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Duke and Duchess of Sussex to visit Nigeria in May after Meghan learnt of her heritage

The country expresses its ‘honour and delight’ at the visit which is linked to the Invictus Games

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are to make a joint trip to Nigeria in May 2024, it has been confirmed.

The country’s defence headquarters expressed its “honour and delight” that the Sussexes had accepted an invitation for a visit. They are expected to meet military servicemen and women and be hosted at an “array of cultural activities” for a trip linked to the Invictus Games .

On Sunday, Brigadier General Tukur Gusau published a letter in which he said the visit would “consolidate Nigeria’s strong hold” of the games, as well as the “possibility of hosting the event [in] later years”.

Further details will be confirmed by the Sussexes’ office nearer the time.

Nigerian Misan Harriman , the couple’s friend and favoured photographer, acknowledged the news on X, formerly Twitter, with a heart and flag emoji, raising speculation that he may travel with them to capture the trip.

Prince Harry is travelling to London to take part in a 10th anniversary service for the Invictus Games at St Paul’s Cathedral on May 8. Meghan is not thought to be attending.

‘43 per cent Nigerian’

In 2022, the Duchess told her podcast listeners that she had recently discovered she was “43 per cent Nigerian” after doing a genealogy test.

At the opening ceremony of the 2023 Invictus Games in Dusseldorf, Germany , the Duke made reference to the link as he hailed Nigeria – along with Colombia and Israel – for sending its first delegation to the games for injured, sick and wounded veterans.

“Now, I’m not saying we play favourites in our home, but since my wife discovered she is of Nigerian descent , it’s likely to get a little bit more competitive this year,” he said.

It will be one of few overseas tours the couple have done since leaving the Royal family. In January 2024 they visited Jamaica for the premiere of the Bob Marley film One Love, and they undertook what was described as a quasi-royal tour to New York in September 2021.

They have also appeared at Invictus Games events in the Netherlands and, most recently, Canada. The Duchess has not travelled to the UK since the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022.

The King and Queen, then the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, last visited Commonwealth country Nigeria in 2018.

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See the UK destroyer crew that scored the Royal Navy's first missile kill since the Gulf War

• A UK warship on Wednesday destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile likely targeting a commercial ship.
• It marked the Royal Navy's first such kill since the Gulf War, according to a report.
• A 1991 engagement marked the first time ship-launched anti-air missiles successfully destroyed an enemy missile in naval combat.

A UK warship on Wednesday shot down a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis in Yemen, marking the Royal Navy's first such kill since the Gulf War more than 30 years ago.

The HMS Diamond, a Type 45 destroyer, used its advanced Sea Viper missile interceptors to down the deadly Houthi threat while the warship was protecting a commercial ship in the Gulf of Aden, according to a new report.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, said on Wednesday that a coalition vessel had "successfully engaged" an anti-ship ballistic missile over the Gulf of Aden earlier in the day, marking the first confirmed Houthi attack in over a week.

The missile was likely targeting the MV Yorktown, a US-flagged, owned, and operated merchant vessel with American and Greek crew members aboard, CENTCOM noted in a statement . There was no reported damage or injuries, it added.

The coalition vessel has since been identified as the Diamond by The Times, which reported new details of the engagement on Thursday. Grant Shapps, the UK defense secretary, confirmed the incident and told the outlet that it was the first time a missile was intercepted in combat by a Royal Navy warship since 1991.

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During the Gulf War, the Type 42 destroyer HMS Gloucester used Sea Dart missiles to destroy an Iraqi silkworm anti-ship missile that was targeting an American warship. That engagement marked the first time anti-air missiles successfully destroyed an enemy missile threat during a battle at sea.

It is not immediately clear what type of missile the Houthis used on Wednesday. The rebels are confirmed to have employed a variety of missiles and drones of Iranian origin since they started attacking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden last year.

The UK Ministry of Defense did not immediately respond to Business Insider's queries on the engagement.

The Diamond first deployed to the region in December as part of a US Navy-led task force that has been squaring off against relentless Houthi threats off the coast of Yemen. The warship spent several weeks back home earlier this year to receive maintenance and additional supplies, but it has since returned to the region.

During these deployments, the Diamond has used its Sea Viper missiles and 30mm gun to destroy a handful of Houthi drones on multiple occasions. Several other European warships have also destroyed Houthi threats in the air, alongside American vessels .

Meanwhile, shortly after the Diamond's engagement on Wednesday, which ended a period of relative calm in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden that lasted a little more than a week, US forces destroyed four drones over Yemen.

CENTCOM said it was determined that the Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile and drones presented "an imminent threat to US, coalition, and merchant vessels in the region."

"These actions are taken to protect freedom of navigation and make international waters safer and more secure for US, coalition, and merchant vessels," CENTCOM added.

Watch: See the hectic flight deck of a US warship fighting Houthis in the Red Sea

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‘beyond paradise’ renewed for season 3 plus christmas special by bbc & britbox.

• Prince Harry Confirms Return To UK For Invictus Games Anniversary

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Prince Harry has confirmed he will return to the UK in just over a week’s time to attend a ceremony marking the 10 th anniversary of the Invictus Games , which he founded.

T he BBC reports that Harry will attend a service of thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in London on May 8, when he will give a reading alongside actor Damian Lewis.

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It is the first major event he will have attended in the UK for some time.

The prince first created the Invictus Games, a sport event for military personnel wounded in action, back in 2014, when the first event took place in London.

A spokesperson for the Games said, “The ceremony will mark “a decade of changing lives and saving lives through sport.”

News of Harry’s visit comes two days after it was confirmed by Buckingham Palace that King Charles will begin resuming public engagements next week, after he has made sufficient progress in his cancer treatment. While his cancer has not been specified, the Palace statement added that “doctors were “very encouraged by the progress made so far and remain positive about the King’s continued recovery.”

There has been no public update on the health of Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, since she disclosed last month that she was undergoing preventative chemotherapy following abdominal surgery.

In a statement released in March, Catherine said the diagnosis was a “huge shock” after an “incredibly tough couple of months”.

This week, the Palace said King Charles was “so proud of Catherine for her courage” in speaking about her treatment, and had remained in close contact with his beloved daughter-in-law.

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