starts right now. i m pamela brown in washington. new developments tonight in the idaho murder investigation. for the first time we are hearing from the parents of the suspect in this case. 28-year-old bryan kohberger. he is facing four counts of first-degree murder in the brutal slayings of four young students. it is a shock to his family. cnn s veronica miracle has more on what the family is saying today. reporter: pamela, that family put out a statement through his public defender. his attorney. this is according to cnn and here s what it reads. it says, first and foremost, we care deeply for the four families that lost their children. we pray each day for them. we ll continue to let the legal process unfold and as a family love and support our son and brother. we have fully cooperated with law enforcement agencies in an attempt to seek the truth and promote his presumption of innocence rather than judge unknown facts and make assumptions. we respect privacy in the mat
benedict xvi who he says, is very ill. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. hello and welcome to audiences in the uk and around the world. america has become the latest country to impose mandatory covid tests on chinese tourists, after beijing announced it would reopen its borders next week. it comes as china s covid cases surge. tighter measures have also been imposed by italy, japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. our diplomatic correspondent paul adams reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worrying results. wards full of desperately ill people. outside this hospital in chengdu, a queue for emergency services. government officials say the situation is under control. that s not what these pictures suggest. at this funeral home,
disastrous holiday weekend continues to come at the expense of their customers. also this hour we ll check on the next storm system as buffalo residents begin to dig out and get back on the road and hopefully avoid tlooding in their communities. and an update from officials as doctors continue around the clock supervision of pope benedict from his bedside in a vatican city monastery. some new developments in the southwest airlines debacle just in the last few minutes. southwest is now announcing plans to, quote, return to normal operations with minimal disruptions by tomorrow. but still today thousands more flights have been cancelled. thousands of fliers still struggling to figure out how they are going to make it to their final destinations. other airlines like american, delta, united have offered to try to help putting a cap on flight prices between certain cities to give customers more options. it s unclear whether that s work ing. let s bring in nala charles. what
condition has worsened in recent hours. and britain is on course to record its warmest year ever, after a summer of heatwaves, wildfires and drought. we ll look at the impact it s had. welcome to bbc news. the announcement that china s borders are to be reopened next month is prompting a tough response by an increasing number of countries. italy is the latest to announce plans to enforce mandatory covid testing of passengers on flights from china after tighter measures were outlined by japan, malaysia, taiwan and india. the us and the philippines are also considering new coronavirus restrictions. american officials accuse the chinese authorities of a lack of transparency as cases of covid have been surging there. our diplomatic correspondent, paul adams, reports. from the world s most populous nation, alarming scenes china s hospitals overwhelmed, covid infections soaring. the country s abrupt decision to dismantle much of its strict covid regime apparently yielding worryin