It was the speech that made Nigel Farage’s reputation: inflammatory, insulting and riddled with distortions. Speaking on the floor of the European parliament, Farage addressed Herman Van Rompuy, an erudite, softly spoken former Belgian prime minister, appointed to the new post of European Council president. “I don’t want to be rude,” Farage began. “But, really, you have the charisma of a damp rag and the appearance of a low-grade bank clerk and the question I want to ask is: ‘Who are you?’”

Van Rompuy’s job was to chair meetings between EU leaders, rather than, as Farage put it, be “the political leader for 500 million people”. Amid heckles and boos in the far-from-full Strasbourg chamber, Farage said Van Rompuy’s intention was to be “the quiet assassin of European democracy”, before going on to insult the Belgian’s home nation as “a non-country”.

The new MP for Clacton, who was sworn in on Wednesday, is not likely to get away with such unparliamentary behaviour in the House of Commons. (Farage was fined for the attack on Van Rompuy in 2010.) But allies and EU officials agree it was that 1 min 24 sec speech in 2010 that propelled him to public attention – and notoriety – all across Europe.

“Suddenly the media sat up and took notice,” said Gawain Towler, Reform UK’s head of press, who has been working with Farage for 20 years. “That really put Nigel Farage on the map,” he said, recalling “hundreds of thousands of views” on Greek, Italian and Dutch YouTube.

For EU insiders, the insults were not a surprise. “It was the usual stuff,” said Guy Verhofstadt, the veteran Belgian MEP, who is standing down from the European parliament and was in the chamber that day. “His style of debating was always like that,” Verhofstadt said. “What he did was attack everybody that stood for Europe. You could know from the start of the debate what he was going to say.”

But it took time for the Ukip MEP to craft his style.

Farage was first elected to the European parliament in 1999, benefiting from proportional representation, introduced by Tony Blair for the UK’s European elections that year. He was not yet the boisterous performer he would become, but his message was consistent. In one of his first speeches in 1999, his notes shake slightly in his hand as he urges the government to “leave this club and get into the real trading world”.

He and his MEPs were known for stunts: heckling, wearing protest T-shirts and fixing little union flags to their desks in the chamber. But they struggled to get the British media attention they craved. Towler – who along with a later Ukip leader, Paul Nuttall, once dressed up in a chicken suit for a photo opportunity about EU leaders’ alleged cowardice for not holding referendums on a treaty – complained that the British press ignored them.

The arrival of the European parliament’s streaming service in 2008 combined with the rise of social media was a gamechanger. Short, punchy clips of Farage haranguing European politicians went viral on social media, getting far more views than the EU’s official channels at that time.

Richard Corbett, a long-serving Labour MEP, recalls initial puzzlement over speeches from Farage and his Ukip team. “They’d get up and start doing a rant about something that had sometimes nothing to do with what was on the agenda, it was completely out of context … but of course, the reason was that it was geared to making a YouTube clip.”

In their occasional meetings on trains or planes, Corbett recalls someone who was “chatty” but “tried to avoid getting caught into discussing facts, figures”. EU civil servants remember a disrespectful attitude: “It was clear that he despised the civil servants, he despised any rule or custom,” said one former civil servant. “His demeanour was very dismissive, unpleasant.”

“He never did any proper work,” the person added. “He was really just there to disrupt things.”

He had frequent run-ins with officials over expenses – and was docked half his MEP salary in 2018 over allegations of misuse of public funds. And he appointed a woman he met in a Strasbourg bar, long rumoured to be his girlfriend, to a job as a parliamentary researcher.

While the chamber was an important stage, Farage made no impact in the committee rooms, where the legislative work was done. Over a three-year period, he attended only one of 42 meetings of the parliament’s fisheries committee when it was negotiating decisive reforms. In 2014-2016, he took part in four in 10 European parliament votes, the worst voting record of all British MEPs.

For the anti-EU party, that was the point. Farage and his MEPs “were voted [in] to fight it, not to take part in it”, Towler said. “And they won. In 2016, they won.”

As an MP, Farage will face new demands from his 78,000-strong constituency in Clacton. “The one thing we know from his time as an MEP is that he likes being in the limelight,” Simon Usherwood, a professor of politics at the Open University, said. “He is not a great paperwork guy.”

Towler, Reform’s spokesperson, said Farage saw his constituency work as “absolutely vital”, as was “ensuring you had a good team of caseworkers who can pick it up and do the job”.

Usherwood will also be watching to see whether Farage and the other Reform MPs join House of Commons committees. “He could justify not participating in the life of the European parliament because he rejected its legitimacy and its authority, but clearly he can’t do that with Westminster,” Usherwood said.

The jury is out, he added, on whether Farage tries to be “constructive and useful” or uses his seat “as a platform for protest”.

“I can imagine that [Farage] wants to be seen as being in parliament and speaking from the green benches. It is going to be part of that curation of an aura of respectability, which is presumably the next stage of his plans for getting ahead in the world.”

It’s happened to me dozens of times: I’m riding a wave when, out of the corner of my eye, I see a black shape coming up beneath me. Being in Cape Town – a great white shark hotspot – it’s hard not to assume the worst. But fear soon gives into relief when it becomes clear that I’m sharing the wave with a Cape fur seal. Sometimes, they get so close you can see the bubbles on their whiskers.

Now, nine seals have tested positive for rabies – the world’s first significant outbreak of the disease in marine mammals – and people like me are watching the water along this 400-mile (600km) coastline for a different reason.

“I was out surfing the other day, when this seal popped up in the lineup [of surfers] to sun itself,” says Gregg Oelofse, who is in charge of coastal management for Cape Town council. “Usually, surfers would enjoy the interaction. But now everyone was paddling as fast as they could to get away.”

Last month, a single seal bit several surfers in a matter of minutes and another seal swam ashore with horrific facial injuries that could only have been inflicted by a seriously aggressive animal. These attacks convinced authorities to euthanise four animals and send their bodies to be tested for rabies.

Three of those four seals tested positive, and the number of cases has since risen to nine.

Scientists from the University of Pretoria are sequencing the virus to determine where and when rabies entered the seal population. Rabies is endemic among many wild animals in southern Africa (jackals, for example) but most of these animals do not live close to humans.

Seal behaviour started to change a few years ago. Oelofse and his team noticed a marked increase in seal aggression in Cape Town in late 2021, after intermittent reports of seals attacking humans.

To understand this highly unusual behaviour, they joined up with marine scientists from a local research organisation, Sea Search, and an animal welfare organisation, the SPCA, to catch animals and test them.

They considered rabies as a possible cause, but the fact that there had only ever been one recorded case of a seal contracting rabies – in Norway’s Svalbard islands in 1980 – suggested this was very unlikely.

Oelofse stresses that the increasing number of cases is not a sign of the outbreak increasing exponentially. “We are retrospectively testing euthanised animals,” he says. “We are very fortunate that Sea Search has sampled and kept 120 brains over the last two and a half years.”

Testing these brains will allow them to get a better picture of when rabies first appeared in the population and how far it has spread. They will continue to test any animals that they suspect of having rabies.

On Cape Town’s shoreline, swimmers and surfers like me are being given a clear message: anyone bitten by a seal, no matter how long ago, must seek medical attention immediately. Rabies can take anywhere between a week and two years to incubate, with a few months being the norm.

But the evidence Oelofse has seen of reports is reassuring. “We think quite a few people have been bitten by rabid seals, but luckily no human has got infected yet,” he says. “We don’t know why. Perhaps the transfer rate is low? Does salt water in their mouth reduce the viral load?”

Two million Cape fur seals live in colonies stretching from southern Angola to Algoa Bay on the east coast of South Africa, says Dr Greg Hofmeyr, a marine biologist who has been studying seals for 32 years. “They can spend days to weeks at sea, covering vast distances, and only hauling out on to islands occasionally to rest or to mate.”

When they are on these offshore colonies, however, they live in extremely close proximity, where there are frequent fights. Rabies is primarily transmitted through saliva, so there is a concern that the disease could spread quickly among seals.

Meanwhile, lifeguards and shark spotters have been instructed to close beaches if an aggressive seal is spotted, and members of the public are urged to report any unusual seal behaviour, to always keep their dogs on leashes and to stay away from seals in harbours that have become habituated to humans.

While panic and the urge to swim away from any seal fast is understandable, Oelofse says it is not entirely justified. “If a seal is behaving weirdly or aggressively, stay well away and report it to the authorities,” he says. “A relaxed seal is unlikely to pose a threat.”

The message seems to be getting through. I was out surfing yesterday when a seal joined us at the backline, rolling around on the surface like an oversized labrador. No one around me panicked and after a while the seal swam away from us.

There is, Oelofse stresses, “no global ‘best practice’ to follow”, so the authorities are taking a proactive approach.

“We really want to know the transfer rate [of the disease],” he says, expressing concern that rabies might become endemic in the seal population or jump to other coastal mammals such as Cape clawless otters.

“We’re also super-worried about what it might mean for our seals,” he says. “And we really don’t want any humans to get rabies.”

Put out more flags. Dig out the George Cross jester’s hat from behind the sofa. At the end of a Euro 2024 campaign that has seen England’s footballers, questioned, written off, and even described in post-watershed terms by respected broadcasters, Gareth Southgate and his team will now contest the final of Euro 2024 in Berlin on Sunday after yet another thrilling moment of late drama in Dortmund.

The Aston Villa striker Ollie Watkins scored the winning goal, playing at his first tournament, on here as a late sub for Harry Kane. With the game poised at 1-1 England and the Netherlands were already staring balefully at the prospect of extra time and beyond that the late-night horror of a semi-final penalty shootout. Watkins had been on the pitch for nine minutes. With his fourth touch of the ball he took a pass from Cole Palmer, another Southgate substitute, turned swiftly and simply hammered the ball low into the far corner.

The BVB Stadion is another of the Rhineland’s huge lankly industrial metal football hangars. In that moment the ground just exploded, a huge wave of noise barrelling down from the flag-draped red and white end.

As the full-time whistle blew shortly afterwards Watkins crumpled and crouched, breathing hard, his own clear still moment of light. This is a footballer who came up through the levels, who was still trying to get his break at Exeter City when Southgate took over as England manager, and who has now added his own mark to England’s baroque tournament history.

Victory here is significant in other ways, not least for the relentlessly resilient Southgate, who has dodged plastic cups and V-signs from his own supporters at this tournament, and who has become a kind of lightning rod for English rage and frustration.

His team will now play in their second successive final in this tournament, extraordinary progress for a nation that had reached one final in its entire history pre-Southgate. Spain will present a daunting obstacle in Berlin. But whatever happens on Sunday, England’s reluctant fill-in for a fill-in now has a fair case as England’s most successful men’s team manager of all time.

From the start the whole occasion felt big, epic, retro, and always somehow slightly out of control. Dortmund was thronging all afternoon with orange shirts, crackling with broken glass under foot, its winding shopping streets haunted by England songs, England wails and drones and chants. Don’t Take Me Home. Phil Foden’s on Fire, and recent addition to the canon Stop the Boats Nigel Farage, heard here echoing around Düsseldorf Hauptbahnhof.

England fielded their comfortable armchair formation again, the Southgate security truss, three at the back, with the hugely composed Marc Guéhi returning after suspension. They look happier with that extra defensive body, the box of white shirts tighter. Southgate-ism is control and security, the footballing equivalent of a pensive and reassuring frown.

The talk at this tournament had been about gaps. Gaps in the team. Gaps between the manager, fans, media. But there was a window of light in this game as for half an hour in the first half England’s young midfielders played like princelings.

The Dutch had taken the lead from a quick turnover, Xavi Simons slamming a shot into the top corner past the flailing palm of Jordan Pickford. The noise came in an extraordinary slingshot from that end as the Dutch players ran to their fans.

No matter. England looked perky, fresh, unafraid. They pushed back and were awarded a penalty with 16 minutes gone, made by Bukayo Saka’s intricate, slaloming run. Kane buried the kick to make it 1-1.

The sky above the city had turned a lovely Martian red by now, and for a while Foden, Saka and Kobbie Mainoo had the ball on a string, just zipping about, making things up. It was the nicest, sunniest most liberated half an hour of England time so far in Germany. They can play, these boys.

On the touchline the Dutch manager, Ronald Koeman, sank deep into his chair, flaring his jowls, then rejigged his team, reinforcing the Dutch where England were creating the overloads. And half-time just seemed to draw the life out of the game. The Netherlands set themselves defensively to match England, a kind of mass orange-shirted embrace.

On his touchline, Southgate appeared concerned. The waistcoat is long gone now, glimpsed only in the retro cardboard cutouts brandished by England’s supporters in bars around the town, like a stag-do memento. At this European Championship, Southgate has gone charity pro-am golf weekend: the lattice-weave cream polo shirt, the skinny black slacks. He stood and frowned and waited.

Patience has been a slow-burn virtue at this European finals tournament. And it was Southgate’s two late subs who won the game here.

Arguably this tournament will now stand as his greatest achievement with England, if only because he has had to overcome two additional things: his own tactical mistakes, and also the absurd white noise around him, anti-support, a self-sustaining cycle of bad news.

That toxicity is a function of wider politics, free-floating rage, an extraordinary few years in the country generally. Southgate’s own politics have faded. He seems a little careworn and bruised. He has been a unique public figure over the past eight years, a kind of beacon of centrist dad-ness, the handsome middle-aged man with the courteous, moderate manner.

He has been such an oddly pervasive public figure, so vividly present. What will he do now if this is to be his final tournament? Run the Football Association perhaps, or became the government’s football tsar, the nation’s PE teacher. He could probably spend his time wearing black roll necks and doing TedTalks called Functionalising Your Management Culture Reach.

For now England will face a huge challenge in Berlin on Sunday. But this is an era that has now almost run its course; and with a sense now of a kind of completion.

An Iraqi court has issued a death sentence against one of the widows of the late Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, alleging that she was complicit in crimes committed against Yazidi women captured by the militant group.

The ruling comes weeks before the 10-year mark since IS launched a series of attacks against the Yazidi religious minority in the northern Iraqi region of Sinjar in early August 2014, killing and capturing thousands – including women and girls who were subjected to human trafficking and sexual abuse. The UN said the campaign against the Yazidis amounted to genocide.

A statement by Iraq’s judicial council said the Karkh criminal court sentenced the woman for “detaining Yazidi women in her home” and facilitating their kidnapping by “the terrorist Isis gangs in Sinjar district”, the state-run Iraqi News Agency reported. It also said the ruling was issued in accordance with Iraq’s anti-terrorism law and its “Yazidi survivors law”.

The statement did not name the defendant, but two court officials
identified her as Asma Mohammed, who was arrested in 2018 in Turkey and
later extradited. A senior Iraqi security official told the Associated
Press that another wife of al-Baghdadi and his daughter, who were also
extradited from Turkey to Iraq, had been sentenced to life in prison.

The sentences were handed down a week ago but were announced by the judicial council on Wednesday, he said.

Survivors of the IS attacks in Iraq have complained of a lack of accountability and have criticised the decision – made at the request of the Iraqi government – to wind down a UN investigation of IS crimes, including the alleged use of chemical weapons.

At the same time, human rights groups have raised concerns about the lack of due process in trials of alleged IS members in Iraq and have particularly criticised mass executions of those convicted on terrorism charges. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have said the convictions are often extracted under torture and urged Iraq to abolish the death penalty.

On 29 June 2014, al-Baghdadi, known as one of the most ruthlessly effective jihadist leaders of modern times, declared the militant group’s caliphate in large swaths of Iraq and Syria.

In 2019, he was killed in a US raid in Syria, dealing a big blow to the militant group which has now lost its hold on all the areas it previously controlled, though some of its cells continue to carry out attacks.

Is it time for a rethink about Gareth Southgate’s substitutions? As the tension rose at the BVB Stadion and extra time beckoned, it was England who found an extra burst when two players who had not been on the pitch long combined to send them through to a first final on foreign soil.

They were all off the bench when Ollie Watkins collected Cole Palmer’s pass, swivelled away from Stefan de Vrij and arrowed a stunning shot into the Netherlands net. Having trailed to a spectacular early goal from Xavi Simons, England had rallied through Harry Kane’s penalty, but they had run out of steam during the second half. When Southgate took Kane off for Watkins, nobody could have imagined the impact the striker would make.

After a day of sweltering temperatures, a torrential downpour that left supporters running for cover not long before kick-off was never going to douse the sense of occasion. With the famous Yellow Wall turned a brilliant shade of orange for the evening, there was no holding back from the Dutch during a blistering opening period.

Structural frailties were evident in England straight away. Seven minutes in, they were slow to react when Marc Guéhi, restored at left centre-back after a one-match ban, headed away a long ball. Declan Rice gathered possession, but he did not sort out his feet and was swiftly dispossessed by Simons.

In a tournament of great goals by wonderkids, here was another one. Simons advanced with one thought in his mind, any doubt banished by John Stones backing off. A few yards outside the area, the midfielder laced a right-footed effort towards the far corner and pretty much stunned Jordan Pickford, who was beaten by the power of the shot despite getting a hand to the ball.

England were behind for the third successive game. Over on the left, Kieran Trippier called for calm. There was no need to panic. England, again arranged in a 3-4-2-1, had looked bright. Jude Bellingham was purposeful and Bukayo Saka was lively on the right again. Phil Foden and Kobbie Mainoo were in the mood for some fun.

As for Kane, he had a point to prove. There was more zip to the captain’s movement, more energy. England sensed a way back when Kane, having pulled away from Virgil van Dijk, tested Bart Verbruggen from 25 yards.

Saka was next to drive forward, wriggling away from Nathan Aké, who was having a torrid time. Desperation taking over, the Dutch defence panicked as the ball reached Kane, who shot over a split second before being caught by a high foot from Denzel Dumfries.

It was a clear foul, albeit one that needed a VAR review, and Kane stepped up to take his first penalty in a tournament since his miss against France. Would he blink again? No chance. Verbruggen guessed correctly, diving to his right, but Kane’s shot was too hard and England celebrated a deserved equaliser.

Now they poured forward, Trippier pushing up the left and Kyle Walker supporting Saka with a stream of overlapping runs. Foden, always in space, was having a splendid game. He almost Lamine Yamal’d in a left-footed shot from 25 yards and was also denied by a goalline clearance from Dumfries.

The Netherlands right-back was having quite the half. There was a warning for England when Dumfries headed a corner against the bar. But the Dutch were hanging on. Mainoo, who took the breath away with one delightful mid-air turn, was running midfield.

Ronald Koeman responded, replacing the hamstrung Memphis Depay and stiffening his midfield with Joey Veerman. A turning point? Southgate has been attacked for his in-game management. Koeman would also change the complexion of his attack at half-time, Donyell Malen making way for big Wout Weghorst, whose first contribution was to clobber Stones.

Southgate had also made a move, the arrival of Luke Shaw for Trippier giving England more balance on the left. Yet there was less urgency at the start of the second half. England had the ball but they were finding it harder to break through the lines, the Dutch more compact with Veerman providing the defence with an extra shield.

It became edgy as the spectacle descended into long spells of sideways passing from England. The ball was no longer finding its way to Saka in space. Bellingham and Foden were probing without success. From a poorly defended free-kick, Pickford made a smart stop from Aké.

England were fading, their bluntness captured by Jerdy Schouten halting Bellingham’s burst down the left. Bellingham, desperate to make an impact, was booked for a clumsy foul. Moments later he failed to gather a huge throw from Pickford.

The sight of Tijjani Reijnders, Schouten and Veerman dictating the tempo felt all too familiar. England needed fresh legs and Southgate reacted after Saka had a goal disallowed for a tight offside against Walker, Foden and a tiring Kane making way for Palmer and Watkins. But still the Dutch pressed and it needed a vital challenge from Guéhi to deny Weghorst.

Cody Gakpo had finally come alive on the left, worrying Walker with his dangerous dribbling. At the other end, a rare England attack ended with Shaw’s cross reaching Palmer. With glory beckoning, he sliced a shot wide.

But Palmer kept his head up. As the 90th minute arrived, he slipped a lovely pass to Watkins. His turn and shot ended the argument. England were on their way to Berlin to face Spain in Sunday’s final. They will not be favourites. But they have depths of resilience that should not be underestimated. After Bellingham’s overhead kick against Slovakia and the penalty heroics against Switzerland, here was the latest act of defiance.

A British army veteran wanted in connection with the death of three women in a suspected crossbow attack has been captured after being found with injuries, police have said.

Kyle Clifford, 26, who is understood to have served in the British army for about a year, was named as a suspect by Hertfordshire police after the deaths of Carol Hunt, 61, and two of her daughters, Hannah, 28, and Louise, 25, at a property in Bushey.

Ch Supt Jon Simpson from Hertfordshire police told reporters earlier on Wednesday the suspected murders were believed to be targeted.

Later on Wednesday, a statement from Hertfordshire police said Clifford had been found in north London and received medical treatment for injuries. Police emphasised no shots were fired.

London ambulance service confirmed a man was treated at Lavender Hill Cemetery before being transported to a “major trauma centre”, which could be one of four hospitals in the capital.

On Wednesday afternoon, there was a significant number of police officers at the cemetery, 16 miles from the crime scene and near a property that was searched earlier in the day as part of the manhunt.

Paramedics and ambulances were also at the location. Footage captured from a helicopter showed a man being stretchered out of the cemetery.

Police believe the suspect was known to the victims and no one else is being sought in connection with the investigation.

Sources said that Carol Hunt was found in the hallway of the house with a crossbow bolt in her chest, while evidence of ligatures were found near the victims. One of the victims is understood to have texted her partner, urging them to call the police.

Clifford is believed to have served in the British army for a year, sources have said. The Ministry of Defence has been contacted for comment.

The women are understood to be the family of the BBC’s racing radio commentator, John Hunt. As part of a note sent to BBC Radio 5 Live staff on Wednesday, the organisation described the incident as “utterly devastating”.

The Hunts have another daughter, Amy, who is thought to live in Birmingham.

Police said a crossbow or other weapons may have been used in the attacks, and they are investigating what relationship any of the victims may have had to Clifford.

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, is urgently considering the findings of a Home Office review launched in 2021 to see if tougher crossbow laws need to be introduced.

A source said the victims were not gagged and bound when found, but there were ligature marks around their wrists and face, suggesting they had been and that these were removed. The source added that all of the victims had injuries to their knees.

The Guardian understands that one of the victims called 999 and alerted the police to the incident before the perpetrator fled.

Detectives have appealed for information or video footage and asked the public to report anything suspicious they saw in Ashlyn Close from midday on Tuesday, about seven hours before they found the women.

One source said the women may have been held hostage for hours before police were called.

On Wednesday morning armed police raided a property not far from the cemetery in Rendlesham Road, Enfield, which is understood to have been linked to Clifford’s brother, Bradley, who was jailed for life in 2018 for murder.

Schools in Enfield were placed in lockdown.

DI Justine Jenkins from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit said: “This continues to be an incredibly difficult time for the victims’ family and we would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with what has happened.

“This investigation is moving at pace and formal identification of the victims is yet to take place.”

She added: “Following extensive inquiries, the suspect has been located and nobody else is being sought in connection with the investigation at this time.

“We have had an overwhelming number of calls and would like to express our gratitude to the members of the public who have contacted us.”

Cooper, said she was being kept fully updated on the inquiry into the “truly shocking” deaths.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We keep legislation under constant review and a call for evidence was launched earlier this year to look at whether further controls on crossbows should be introduced.

“The home secretary will swiftly consider the findings to see if laws need to be tightened further.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced articles of impeachment against conservative US supreme court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, the Democratic congresswoman’s office said in a statement on Wednesday.

It follows calls from two US senators, Sheldon Whitehouse and Ron Wyden, that the US attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate potential criminal violations of federal ethics and tax laws by Thomas.

These are just the most recent protests in Washington circles concerning the two justices, amid accusations of financial corruption over gifts and favors and lack of political neutrality in their work.

Ocasio-Cortez, the high-profile progressive New York representative, said in the statement: “The unchecked corruption crisis on the supreme court has now spiraled into a constitutional crisis threatening American democracy writ large.

“Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito’s pattern of refusal to recuse from consequential matters before the court in which they hold widely documented financial and personal entanglements constitute a grave threat to American rule of law, the integrity of our democracy, and one of the clearest cases for which the tool of impeachment was designed.”

Her action was co-sponsored by seven other Democratic House members and will make a splash while having a negligible chance of making meaningful progress in the Republican-controlled chamber.

More details soon …

Reuters contributed reporting

The Irish premier, Simon Harris, has said that a travel ban imposed by Dubai authorities on Tori Towey, an Irish woman who was reportedly charged with attempted suicide, has been lifted.

Towey, 28, a flight attendant from Co Roscommon, was charged with attempted suicide and alcohol abuse after waking up in a police station after an attack, Irish parliamentarians were told.

Dubai authorities had also banned her from leaving the state, the Dáil chamber heard.

Addressing the Irish parliament on Wednesday afternoon, Harris said: “I’ve just been informed that the travel ban has been lifted, that the embassy will take Tori to the airport as soon as she is ready to go and that the embassy of course will continue to follow up on the case, which is still active as of now.”

He thanked the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates for their work on the case.

Mary Lou McDonald, the leader of Ireland’s main opposition party, Sinn Féin, had raised the case in the Irish parliament on Wednesday for the second day in a row, criticising what she said was the “medieval, grotesque treatment of women” in the United Arab Emirates.

She said she had spoken to Towey and her mother, Caroline, who is with her in Dubai. “[Tori] does not belong to Dubai, she belongs at home in Ireland,” McDonald said.

The taoiseach thanked McDonald and the Roscommon TD Claire Kerrane for raising the “distressing” case. He said the Irish embassy in the United Arab Emirates had been in constant contact with Towey.

“We want Tori Towey back in this country, we want her back home in Roscommon,” Harris said.

“No effort will be spared by us, by Ireland, to make progress on this matter, to get Tori home. She’s not a criminal, she’s a victim of gender-based violence.”

Harris said he had spoken to Ireland’s deputy premier, Micheál Martin, who is the minister of foreign affairs, and Ireland’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.

Her aunt Ann Flynn said both were trying to stay positive. “They’re very nervous and can’t wait to get home,” she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

“It’s really terrible that this has happened to a young woman that was full of life, full of adventure, she loved travelling.”

Radha Stirling, founder of the Detained in Dubai group, said the support of the Irish people and the Irish government had “given them hope and inspiration”. She said the case was due to be heard next week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing “ongoing consular assistance” in the case, as was Ireland’s embassy in the United Arab Emirates.

South East Water has said it needs a cash injection from investors to stay in business as it gears up for a major Ofwat ruling on its future spending plans.

The struggling water company – which serves 2.3 million people across Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire and Berkshire – said it is “in discussions with lenders and shareholders regarding additional liquidity”.

The talks are at an “advanced” stage and bosses “expect” to raise the extra funding, but the company has not struck a deal on the investment.

“If it is not possible to raise the additional liquidity, the group and therefore company would not have sufficient liquidity for the going concern period,” it said in a results statement on Wednesday.

It added that “the risk that the funding will not be received constitutes a material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the group and company to continue as a going concern”.

South East Water’s parent company, HDF Holdings, is owned by NatWest’s pension fund, an Australian infrastructure investor and a Canadian pension fund.

The company is already on regulator Ofwat’s watchlist for financially at-risk companies, alongside Thames Water and other regional monopolies.

The company’s financial update will be followed on Thursday by a draft verdict from Ofwat on water companies’ five-year spending plans and bill increases to 2030. That will kick off six months of negotiations with Ofwat, before the regulator’s final decision in December.

South East Water has put forward plans that would see spending rise to £1.9bn to maintain and update its infrastructure. Those plans would also involve increasing customer bills by 22%.

The search for funding comes after South East Water’s owners provided a £150m loan to a unit in the utility group earlier this year.

South East Water’s pre-tax loss narrowed to £36m for the year to 31 March, down from £74m the year before. Turnover rose 9% to £281m.

It is also still under investigation by Ofwat for an incident in June 2023 when the company failed to deliver water to thousands of customers for more than a week. The consequences could include a hefty fine from the regulator.

South East Water said: “Since the investigation was launched, we have entered into a constructive and transparent dialogue with Ofwat.

“Our colleagues, contractors, partners and stakeholders have all played a vital role in ensuring we kept the taps flowing for as many customers as possible, even during the extreme weather which impacted on our operations and overall performance in 2023/24.

“Despite all our efforts, there were still some issues during the year and we’d like to apologise to customers who experienced any supply interruptions.”

Detectives believe a triple-murder suspect may have gone on the run armed with a crossbow, after the bodies of three women were found in Bushey in Hertfordshire.

Police have launched a search for Kyle Clifford, 26, and warned he may have a weapon.

Hertfordshire police say they were called to a home in Ashlyn Close in Bushey just before 7pm on Tuesday and discovered three women who had suffered serious injuries.

The women are believed to be related and all three died at the scene.

Police named Clifford in connection with the deaths and said they believed he was from Enfield, north London, about 16 miles from the scene.

Police say they are “actively seeking” Clifford, and have been hunting him since the discovery of the three women.

A spokesperson for Hertfordshire police confirmed to the Guardian that Clifford “may be in possession of a crossbow”.

A major and urgent part of the police investigation is how the three women received their fatal injuries.

Two air ambulances – one from London – along with ambulances and other paramedics were sent to the scene.

Police believe Clifford may be in the Hertfordshire or north London areas. Officers are warning people who believe they have spotted him not to approach him, but to call 999 instead.

They have appealed to anyone who was in or around Ashlyn Close between lunchtime and 7pm on Tuesday to contact them if they believe they saw anything that could help their investigation.

Detective Supt Rob Hall, from the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire major crime unit, said: “This is an incredibly difficult incident for the victims’ family and we would ask that their privacy is respected as they come to terms with what has happened.

“Whilst we are still in the early stages of this investigation, we are actively seeking Kyle Clifford who we believe could be in the areas of Hertfordshire or north London.

“Given the serious nature of the incident, I would ask anyone who knows where he is to contact police immediately. If you believe you see him, please do not approach him and dial 999 straight away. He may still be in possession of a weapon.

“Our inquires will continue over the coming days to ascertain the full circumstances of what happened, but I would also like to take this opportunity appeal to anyone who was in the area around Ashlyn Close from around lunchtime on Tuesday until 7pm, and believes they may have seen anything that could assist the investigation, to contact us.

“This incident will of course be of concern to local residents. Officers from the neighbourhood policing team will be in the area today so please do speak to them if you need to.”

A spokesperson for East of England ambulance service said: “We were called around 7pm on Tuesday 9 July to a property in Ashlyn Close in Bushey. Three ambulances, a rapid response vehicle, an ambulance officer vehicle, the hazardous area response team, the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance and London Air Ambulance were sent to the scene.

“Sadly, despite the team’s best efforts, three women were pronounced dead at the scene.”

The home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said on social media: “The loss of three women’s lives in Bushey last night is truly shocking. My thoughts are with the family & friends of those who have been killed & with the community.

“I am being kept fully updated. I urge people to support @HertsPolice with any information about this case.”

A local councillor, Laurence Brass, who lives close by, said: “At 7pm last night a helicopter landed on the lawn in the development I live in, which is 100 yards away from here, but it was an air ambulance, I’m told, and then rumours started circulating about a crossbow.

“The worst thing that’s ever happened in this part of Bushey is a bit of illegal flytipping and then suddenly we get three murders and we’re all a bit shellshocked.

“This is a very traditional, quiet, leafy suburb, we don’t get this sort of thing in this area and I want residents to know that the council will be ensuring that the liaison team is down here and doing everything they can to comfort them and make sure that they are reassured that everything is being done.

“But we’re worried that this guy is still floating around somewhere.”