• Videos show him recoiling, blood visible on his neck.
• University confirms a suspect has been arrested.
• Trump slams “dastardly” attack, urges prayers for Kirk.

US right-wing activist and commentator Charlie Kirk was shot on Wednesday at an event at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, and a suspect was in custody.

Kirk, 31, is an influential ally of President Donald Trump and co-founder of Turning Point USA, the largest conservative youth organisation in the country. He was taken to a hospital, Fox News reported.

“Charlie Kirk has been shot at Utah Valley University. Condition unknown,” a Kirk spokesperson told the network.

Cellphone video clips of the incident circulating on social media showed Kirk addressing a large outdoor crowd when a loud crack that sounded like a gunshot rang out. 

Kirk can be seen briefly moving his hand to his neck as he falls off his chair, sending the attendees running.

“A shot was fired from a nearby building, and we have a suspect in custody,” a university spokesperson told Reuters in an email.

Local TV station KSL-TV aired video of an older man wearing a blue shirt being led away by police following the attack.

Reacting to the incident, US President Donald Trump condemned the attack and urged people to pray for Kirk’s recovery.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot. A great guy from top to bottom,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Kirk and Turning Point USA played a key role in driving youth support for Trump in November. His events at college campuses nationwide typically draw large crowds.

“We must all pray for Charlie Kirk, who has been shot,” Trump said on X. “A great guy from top to bottom. GOD BLESS HIM!”

Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on the scene, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X.

Kirk has been an effective voice for the conservative movement. He has 5.2 million followers on X and hosts a popular podcast and radio program, “The Charlie Kirk Show.” He has also recently co-hosted “Fox & Friends” on Fox News.

The attack on Kirk came amidst a spike in politically related violence over the past few years.

In July 2024, Trump was grazed by a gunman’s bullet during a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania. A second assassination attempt two months later was foiled by federal agents.

In April, an arsonist broke into Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence and set it on fire while the family was inside.

Earlier this year, a gunman posing as a police officer in Minnesota murdered state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and shot Senator John Hoffman and his wife. 

And in Boulder, Colorado, a man used a makeshift flamethrower and Molotov cocktails to attack a solidarity event for Israeli hostages, killing one woman and injuring at least six more.

Both Republican and Democratic politicians expressed support for Kirk following the shooting.

“Political violence is NEVER acceptable,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the US House of Representatives, said on X. “My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X, “Please join us in praying for our good friend, Charlie Kirk.”

• Drone crashes into pensioner’s house in eastern Polish village.
• Polish premier says it was closest they’ve been to open conflict.
• Nato chief calls incident absolutely reckless, dangerous.
  

Poland shot down suspected Russian drones in its airspace on Wednesday with the backing of military aircraft from its Nato allies, the first time a member of the Western military alliance is known to have fired shots during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told parliament it was “the closest we have been to open conflict since World War Two”, although he also said he had “no reason to believe we’re on the brink of war”.

Polish F-16 fighter jets, Dutch F-35s, Italian AWACS surveillance planes and Nato mid-air refuelling aircraft scrambled in an operation to shoot down drones that began entering Polish airspace on Tuesday evening and kept coming until morning, officials said.

One drone smashed into Tomasz Wesolowski’s two-storey brick house in the eastern Polish village of Wyryki-Wola at 6:30am while he was downstairs watching news about the incursion on TV.

The roof was destroyed and debris was strewn across the bedroom. Wesolowski told Reuters the house “needs to be demolished”.

A blackened spot in a black field elsewhere in southeastern Poland showed where other drones had fallen.

Moscow denied responsibility for the incident, with a senior diplomat in Poland saying the drones had come from the direction of Ukraine. Russia’s defence ministry said its drones had carried out a major attack on military facilities in western Ukraine but it had not planned to hit any targets in Poland.

The leaders of France, Britain, Germany and Canada were among Nato leaders to condemn the Russian incursion in strong terms.

There was no immediate statement from Washington. The US Air Force general serving as the top Nato commander, Alexus Grynkewich, said the alliance had “responded quickly and decisively to the situation, demonstrating our capability and resolve to defend allied territory”.

European leaders, who have lately been trying to persuade US President Donald Trump to join them in tightening sanctions on Russia and boosting support for Kyiv, said it justified a collective response.

Poland said 19 objects had entered its airspace during a large Russian air attack on Ukraine, and that it had shot down those that posed a threat.

Tusk called the incident a “large-scale provocation” and said he had activated Article Four of Nato’s treaty, under which alliance members can demand consultations with their allies.

Andrey Ordash, Russia’s charge d’affaires in Poland, was cited by RIA state news agency as calling accusations of an incursion “groundless” and said Poland had not given any evidence that the drones shot down were of Russian origin.

The Kremlin declined to comment directly on the incident but spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the EU and Nato “accuse Russia of provocations on a daily basis. Most of the time without even trying to present at least some kind of argument.”

During the incident, the Operational Command of the Polish Armed Forces urged residents to stay at home, with three eastern regions at particular risk.

Several Polish airports were temporarily closed, including one that has been used as the main access point for Western officials and supplies travelling to Ukraine over land.

Nato chief Mark Rutte said that a full assessment of the incident had not yet been made but added that, “whether it was intentionally or not, it is absolutely reckless, it is absolutely dangerous.” 

Countries bordering Ukraine have reported occasional Russian missiles or drones entering their airspace in the past during the war, but not on such a large scale, and they are not known to have shot them down. Two people were killed in Poland in 2022 by a Ukrainian air defence missile that went astray.

Since Nato’s creation in 1949, Article 4 has been invoked seven times, most recently in February 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

EU calls for action

“Russia’s war is escalating, not ending. We must raise the cost on Moscow, strengthen support for Ukraine, and invest in Europe’s defence,” the EU’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas said.

Early indications suggested the entry of Russian drones into European airspace was intentional, not accidental, she added in her post on X.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia used 415 drones and 40 missiles in attacks on Ukraine overnight, adding that at least eight Iranian-made shahed drones had been aimed towards Poland.

“An extremely dangerous precedent for Europe,” he said. “A strong response is needed – and it can only be a joint response by all partners: Ukraine, Poland, all Europeans, the United States.”

Russia has long said it has no intention of stoking a war with Nato and that Western European countries suggesting it is a threat were trying to worsen relations.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called for more sanctions on Russia, and said the EU was preparing sanctions on ‘shadow fleet’ tankers that transport its oil and third countries that buy it.

Trump, who warmly welcomed Putin in Alaska at a summit in August, said over the weekend he was ready to move to a second phase of sanctioning Russia after months of talks about a peace deal.

A knife attacker in the southern French city of Antibes wounded a teacher and a student at a horticultural college Wednesday, police said, the latest attack to hit an educational establishment in the country.

The victims are a 16-year-old student and a 52-year-old teacher, who was seriously injured, officials said, adding their lives were not in danger.

“Thank you to the national and municipal police, as well as the fire brigade, for their rapid response and exemplary commitment in this extremely tense situation, symbolic of the tragic rise in violence in our country,” Eric Pauget, a lawmaker who represents Antibes, posted on X.

France has seen several knife attacks on teachers and students in recent years.

Last week, a teacher was wounded by a colleague who stabbed him twice during an altercation in the staff room of a high school in Martigues, northwest of the southern port city of Marseille.

In June, a 14-year-old secondary school student stabbed to death a 31-year-old teaching assistant in the eastern town of Nogent.

In April, a student killed a 15-year-old girl and wounded three other people at a college in the western city of Nantes.

In March, police began carrying out random searches for concealed weapons in and around schools.

Contacted by AFP, the education ministry did not immediately comment.