MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An angry crowd rioted outside an Australian Outback hospital where a man accused of killing a 5-year-old girl was treated for a vigilante beating.
The suspect, Jefferson Lewis, allegedly abducted the girl at an Indigenous community near Alice Springs in the central Australia at the weekend. The body of the girl, who is now known as Kumanjayi Little Baby because of an Indigenous ban on naming the dead, was found on Thursday.
Lewis had been beaten unconscious by a mob before police arrested him at an Indigenous community later Thursday, police said.
He was taken to Alice Springs Hospital, where hundreds of people late Thursday demanded he face so-called payback under customary law, which can involve spearing or beating.
Police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Several police vehicles were damaged.
The hospital discharged Lewis to police, who flew him to the Northern Territory capital Darwin, 1,500 kilometers (900 miles) to the north, for his own safety to be detained.
He is expected to be charged Friday.
Community members gather outside the Alice Springs Hospital where a man suspected of killing a five-year-old girl is under police guard in Alice Springs, Australia Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Rhett Hammerton/AAP Image via AP)
Community members gather outside the Alice Springs Hospital where a man suspected of killing a five-year-old girl is under police guard in Alice Springs, Australia Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Rhett Hammerton/AAP Image via AP)
A police vehicle burns outside the Alice Springs Hospital where a man suspected of killing a five-year-old girl is under police guard in Alice Springs, Australia, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (Rhett Hammerton/AAP Image via AP)
LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2026--
The U.K. industry posted improved revenue per available room (RevPAR) in March, according to data from CoStar, a global leading provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets.
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In the first quarter of 2026, the U.K. recorded a 1.2% increase in RevPAR, while occupancy remained flat, supported by events in regional markets including Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Birmingham.
The Barclays UK Consumer Spend Report also showed travel spending fell in March for the first time in five years, with year‑on‑year declines across travel agents, airlines and public transport,” said Cristina Balekjian, principal market analyst at CoStar Europe. “Cancellations of overseas travel plans could boost demand for domestic staycations, as seen over the Easter weekend when demand spiked from Good Friday to Easter Sunday, although rate growth remained challenging.”
Looking ahead, stronger demand from British travellers staying closer to home is expected to support key U.K. tourist destinations, particularly over the summer, while London, which is more reliant on international and long‑haul demand, may face greater challenges than regions driven primarily by domestic travel.
The full analysis can be found here.
For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit www.costargroup.com.
About CoStar Group
CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a global leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, online marketplaces, and 3D digital twin technology. Founded in 1986, CoStar Group is dedicated to digitizing the world’s real estate, empowering all people to discover properties, insights, and connections that improve their businesses and lives.
CoStar Group’s major brands include CoStar, a leading global provider of commercial real estate data, analytics, and news; LoopNet, the most trafficked commercial real estate marketplace; Apartments.com, the leading platform for apartment rentals; Homes.com, the fastest-growing residential real estate marketplace; and Domain, one of Australia’s leading property marketplaces. CoStar Group’s industry-leading brands also include Matterport, a leading spatial data company whose platform turns buildings into data to make every space more valuable and accessible; STR, a global leader in hospitality data and benchmarking; Ten-X, an online platform for commercial real estate auctions and negotiated bids; and OnTheMarket, a leading residential property portal in the United Kingdom.
CoStar Group’s websites attracted over 131 million average monthly unique visitors in the first quarter of 2026, serving clients around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, CoStar Group is committed to transforming the real estate industry through innovative technology and comprehensive market intelligence. From time to time, we plan to utilize our corporate website as a channel of distribution for material company information. For more information, visit CoStarGroup.com.
This news release includes "forward-looking statements" including, without limitation, statements regarding CoStar's expectations or beliefs regarding the future. These statements are based upon current beliefs and are subject to many risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. The following factors, among others, could cause or contribute to such differences: the risk that London occupancy demand is not negatively impacted as increasing demand for short distance travel to other U.K. regions would suggest and the risk that higher demand in U.K. regions other than London due to domestic travel by British travelers does not continue as expected. More information about potential factors that could cause results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, those stated in CoStar’s filings from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including in CoStar’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022 and Forms 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2023, June 30, 2023, and September 30, 2023, each of which is filed with the SEC, including in the “Risk Factors” section of those filings, as well as CoStar’s other filings with the SEC available at the SEC’s website ( www.sec.gov ). All forward-looking statements are based on information available to CoStar on the date hereof, and CoStar assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
The U.K. industry posted improved revenue per available room (RevPAR) in March
