Politics
Charlie Kirk killer still at large as police find gun
- Authorities secure video images of suspect, not yet released.
- FBI confirms two detained individuals had no involvement.
- Trump blames radical left, vows sweeping response to killing.
The gunman who shot dead US right-wing youth leader Charlie Kirk in a targeted killing remained at large Thursday but authorities said they have video images of the suspect and have recovered a “high-powered” rifle.
Kirk, a 31-year-old superstar on the Republican right who was credited with helping Donald Trump return to the presidency last year, was shot while addressing a large crowd at Utah Valley University on Wednesday.
The killing — described by the FBI as a “targeted event”— shocked a nation already reeling from political tensions half a year into Trump’s second term.
Authorities acknowledged the gunman remained at large after having escaped into woodland.
“We’re doing everything we can to find him, and we’re not sure how far he has gone yet, but we will do our best,” FBI Special Agent Robert Bohls told a media briefing.
Authorities said they had secured quality images of the killer, who was of university age.
“We do have good video footage of this individual. We are not going to release that at this time,” said Beau Mason, commissioner of the Utah Department of Public Safety.
Bohls said the presumed murder weapon had also been found.
“It is a high powered bolt action rifle. That rifle was recovered in a wooded area where the shooter had fled,” the FBI agent said.
Two people initially detained for questioning were released after officials determined they had no connection to the shooting.
‘Dark moment’
Reflecting the intensely political nature of the incident, it was Trump, rather than law enforcement authorities, who first announced to Americans that Kirk had died from his wound.
Trump then addressed the nation in a video address on social media in which he cited a “dark moment for America.”
Despite no public information about the shooter’s identity or motive, the president went on to suggest that the left wing was responsible — and to pledge a wide-reaching response.
“For years, those on the radical left have compared wonderful Americans like Charlie to Nazis and the world´s worst mass murderers and criminals,” he said.
“This kind of rhetoric is directly responsible for the terrorism that we´re seeing.”
“My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity,” Trump said.
Shot in neck
Kirk was shot in the neck while speaking to the crowd and collapsed in his chair.
Students at the university described the ensuing panic— and their broader fears as political divisions deepen across the country.
“It makes me feel like I should be very careful about expressing my political ideas,” said Samuel Kimball, a software engineering student, told AFP.
Utah Governor Spencer Cox, a Republican, called the killing a “political assassination.”
Kirk, who supporters have hailed as a “martyr” for conservative ideals, had an outsized influence in US politics.
He co-founded Turning Point USA in 2012 to drive conservative viewpoints among young people, his natural showmanship making him a go-to spokesman on television networks.
Kirk used his enormous audiences on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to build support for anti-immigration policies, outspoken Christianity and gun ownership, and to spread carefully edited clips of his interactions during debates at his many college events.
Three months ago, a Minnesota man shot dead a Democratic lawmaker and her husband in their home, and Trump survived an assassination attempt during his election campaign in July 2024.
Vice President JD Vance was due to travel to Utah to meet Kirk’s family Thursday, a source familiar with the plans said, after he canceled a trip to New York to mark the 9/11 attacks anniversary.
THE HAGUE: A huge inferno gutted a 19th-century Amsterdam church Thursday, as the Netherlands endured an unsettled New Year’s Eve with two dead from fireworks and “unprecedented” violence against police.
The blaze broke out in the early hours at the Vondelkerk, a tourist attraction that has overlooked one of the city’s top parks since 1872.
The 50-metre-high (164-foot) tower collapsed and the roof was badly damaged but the structure was expected to remain intact, Amsterdam authorities said.
The cause of the blaze was not immediately clear.
The head of the Dutch Police Union, Nine Kooiman, reported an “unprecedented amount of violence against police and emergency services” over New Year’s Eve.
She said she herself had been pelted three times by fireworks and other explosives as she worked a shift in Amsterdam.
Shortly after midnight, authorities released a rare country-wide alert on mobile phones warning people not to call overwhelmed emergency services unless lives were at risk.
Reports of attacks against police and firefighters were widespread across the country. In the southern city of Breda, people threw petrol bombs at police.
Two people, a 17-year-old boy and a 38-year-old man, were killed in fireworks accidents. Three others were seriously injured.
The eye hospital in Rotterdam said it had treated 14 patients, including 10 minors, for eye injuries. Two received surgery.
It was the last year before an expected ban on unofficial fireworks, so the Dutch bought them in massive quantities.
According to the Dutch Pyrotechnics Association, revellers splashed out a record 129 million euros ($151 million) on fireworks.
Some areas had been designated firework-free zones, but this appeared to have little effect.
An AFP journalist in such a zone in The Hague reported loud bangs until around 3am.
Steeper US tariffs on some imported furniture items took effect Thursday, in a move that could add pressure on households already feeling the pinch from elevated costs of living.
The increase was planned under an earlier tranche of sector-specific tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, as the US leader widened a slate of duties he has rolled out since returning to the White House.
Trump’s tariffs in 2025 have affected goods ranging from steel to autos, and more investigations — that could lead to even more levies — are underway.
In October, a 10-percent duty on imported softwood timber and lumber came into effect, along with a 25-percent duty on certain upholstered furniture and kitchen cabinets.
These tariffs, justified by the Trump administration as a means to boost US industries and protect national security, also included a planned increase come January 1, 2026.
Effective Thursday, the rate on certain upholstered furniture rises to 30 percent, while that on kitchen cabinets and vanities doubles to 50 percent.
The measure is likely to impact imports from countries like Vietnam and China, which have been key suppliers of imported furniture to the United States.
But the tariff levels for wood products from Britain will not exceed 10 percent, while those from the European Union and certain other trading partners who reached deals with Washington face a 15-percent ceiling.
Products subject to sector-specific tariffs are also not doubly hit by countrywide “reciprocal” levies that Trump has separately imposed, which are in some cases higher.
The Supreme Court is due to rule on the legality of these countrywide tariffs, imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
But the high court’s eventual decision does not affect sector-specific duties.
GENEVA: Several people were killed and others injured when an explosion ripped through a bar in the luxury Alpine ski resort town of Crans Montana, Swiss police said early Thursday.
“There has been an explosion of unknown origin,” Gaetan Lathion, a police spokesman in Wallis canton in southwestern Switzerland told AFP.
“There are several injured, and several dead.”
He said the explosion took place at around 1:30am (0030 GMT) in a bar called Le Constellation, which is popular with tourists, as revellers rang in the new year.
Images published by Swiss media showed a building in flames, and emergency services nearby.
“The intervention is still ongoing,” he said.
This is a developing story and is being updated with further details.
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