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  • Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of pharaoh in Luxor

    Egypt reveals restored colossal statues of pharaoh in Luxor

    LUXOR, Egypt — Egypt on Sunday revealed the revamp of two colossal statues of a prominent pharaoh in the southern city of Luxor, the latest in the government’s archaeological events that aim at drawing more tourists to the country.

    The giant alabaster statues, known as the Colossi of Memnon, were reassembled in a renovation project that lasted about two decades. They represent Amenhotep III, who ruled ancient Egypt about 3,400 years ago.

    “Today we are celebrating, actually, the finishing and the erecting of these two colossal statues,” Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, told the Associated Press ahead of the ceremony.

    Attempts to revive a prestigious temple

    Ismail said the colossi are of great significance to Luxor, a city known for its ancient temples and other antiquities. They’re also an attempt to “revive how this funerary temple of king Amenhotep III looked like a long time ago,” Ismail said.

    Amenhotep III, one of the most prominent pharaohs, ruled during the 500 years of the New Kingdom, which was the most prosperous time for ancient Egypt. The pharaoh, whose mummy is showcased at a Cairo museum, ruled between 1390–1353 BC, a peaceful period known for its prosperity and great construction, including his mortuary temple, where the Colossi of Memnon are located, and another temple, Soleb, in Nubia.

    The colossi were toppled by a strong earthquake in about 1200 BC that also destroyed Amenhotep III’s funerary temple, said Mohamed Ismail, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.

    They were fragmented and partly quarried away, with their pedestals dispersed. Some of their blocks were reused in the Karnak temple, but archaeologists brought them back to rebuild the colossi, according to the Antiquities Ministry.

    In the late 1990s, an Egyptian German mission, chaired by German Egyptologist Hourig Sourouzian, began working in the temple area, including the assembly and renovation of the colossi.

    “This project has in mind … to save the last remains of a once-prestigious temple,” she said.

    A pharaoh facing the rising sun

    The statues show Amenhotep III seated with hands resting on his thighs, with their faces looking eastward toward the Nile and the rising sun. They wear the nemes headdress surmounted by double crowns and the pleated royal kilt, which symbolizes the pharaoh’s divine rule.

    Two other small statues on the pharaoh’s feet depict his wife, Tiye.

    The colossi — 48 feet and 45 feet respectively — preside over the entrance of the king’s temple on the western bank of the Nile. The 86-acre complex is believed to be the largest and richest temple in Egypt and is usually compared to the temple of Karnak, also in Luxor.

    The colossi were hewn in Egyptian alabaster from the quarries of Hatnub, in Middle Egypt. They were fixed on large pedestals with inscriptions showing the name of the temple, as well as the quarry.

    Unlike other monumental sculptures of ancient Egypt, the colossi were partly compiled with pieces sculpted separately, which were fixed into each statue’s main monolithic alabaster core, the ministry said.

    Eye on tourism

    Sunday’s unveiling in Luxor came just six weeks after the inauguration of the long-delayed Grand Egyptian Museum, the centerpiece of the government’s bid to boost the country’s tourism industry and bring cash into the troubled economy. The mega project is located near the famed Giza Pyramids and the Sphinx.

    The tourism sector, which depends heavily on Egypt’s rich pharaonic artifacts, has suffered during years of political turmoil and violence following the 2011 uprising. In recent years, the sector has started to recover after the coronavirus pandemic and amid Russia’s war on Ukraine — both countries are major sources of tourists visiting Egypt.

    “This site is going to be a point of interest for years to come,” said Tourism and Antiquities Minister Sherif Fathy, who attended the unveiling ceremony. “There are always new things happening in Luxor.”

    A record number of about 15.7 million tourists visited Egypt in 2024, contributing about 8% of the country’s GDP, according to official figures.

    Fathy, the minister,has said about 18 million tourists are expected to visit the country this year, with authorities hoping for 30 million visitors annually by 2032.

  • Police have person of interest in custody over Brown University shooting that killed 2, wounded 9

    Police have person of interest in custody over Brown University shooting that killed 2, wounded 9

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A person of interest was in custody Sunday after a shooting during final exams at Brown University that killed two students and wounded nine others, though key questions remained unanswered more than 24 hours after the attack.

    The attack Saturday afternoon set off hours of chaos across the Ivy League campus and surrounding Providence neighborhoods as hundreds of officers searched for the shooter and urged students and staff to shelter in place. The lockdown, which stretched into the night, was lifted early Sunday, but authorities had not yet released information about a potential motive.

    The person of interest is a 24-year-old man from Wisconsin, according to two people familiar with the matter. The people were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

    Col. Oscar Perez, the Providence police chief, said Sunday afternoon that no one has been charged yet. Perez, who also said no one else was being sought, declined to say whether the detained person had any connection to Brown.

    The person was taken into custody at a Hampton Inn hotel in Coventry, R.I., about 20 miles from Providence, where police officers and FBI agents remained Sunday, blocking off a hallway with crime scene tape as they searched the area.

    The shooting occurred during one of the busiest moments of the academic calendar, as final exams were underway. Brown canceled all remaining classes, exams, papers, and projects for the semester and told students they were free to leave campus, underscoring the scale of the disruption and the gravity of the attack.

    College President Christina Paxson teared up while describing her conversations with students both on campus and in the hospital.

    “They are amazing and they’re supporting each other,” she said at an afternoon news conference. “There’s just a lot of gratitude.”

    The gunman opened fire inside a classroom in the engineering building, firing more than 40 rounds from a 9 mm handgun, a law enforcement official told the Associated Press. Two handguns were recovered when the person of interest was taken into custody and authorities also found two loaded 30-round magazines, the official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly and spoke to AP on the condition of anonymity.

    One student of the nine wounded students had been released from the hospital, said Paxson. Seven others were in critical but stable condition, and one was in critical condition.

    Some businesses remain closed in shocked city

    Providence leaders said residents would notice a heavier police presence, and many area businesses announced Sunday that they would remain closed. A scheduled 5K run was postponed until next weekend.

    Mayor Brett Smiley invited residents to gather Sunday evening in a city park where an event had been scheduled to light a Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah.

    “For those who know at least a bit of the Hanukkah story, it is quite clear that if we can come together as a community to shine a little bit of light tonight, there’s nothing better that we can be doing,” he told reporters.

    Smiley said he visited some of the wounded students and was inspired by their courage, hope, and gratitude. One told him that active shooting drills done in high school proved helpful.

    “The resilience that these survivors showed and shared with me, is frankly pretty overwhelming,” he said. “We’re all saddened, scared, tired, but what they’ve been through is something different entirely.”

    Exams were underway during shooting

    Investigators were not immediately sure how the shooter got inside the first-floor classroom at the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the School of Engineering and physics department. The building includes more than 100 laboratories and dozens of classrooms and offices, according to the university’s website.

    Engineering design exams were underway. Outer doors of the building were unlocked but rooms being used for final exams required badge access, Smiley said.

    Emma Ferraro, a chemical engineering student, was in the lobby working on a final project when she heard loud pops coming from the east side. Once she realized they were gunshots, she darted for the door and ran to a nearby building where she waited for hours.

    Surveillance video released by police showed a suspect, dressed in black, walking from the scene.

    Former “Survivor” contestant just left the building

    Eva Erickson, a doctoral candidate who was the runner-up earlier this year on the CBS reality competition show Survivor, said she left her lab in the engineering building 15 minutes before shots rang out.

    The engineering and thermal science student shared candid moments on Survivor as the show’s first openly autistic contestant. She was locked down in the campus gym following the shooting and shared on social media that the only other member of her lab who was present was safely evacuated.

    Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside.

    “I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as armed officers surrounded his dorm.

    Students hid under desks

    Students in a nearby lab turned off the lights and hid under desks after receiving an alert, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block from where the shooting occurred.

    Mari Camara, 20, a junior from New York City, was coming out of the library and rushed inside a taqueria to seek shelter. She spent more than three hours there, texting friends while police searched the campus.

    “Everyone is the same as me, shocked and terrified that something like this happened,” she said.

    Brown, the seventh-oldest higher education institution in the U.S., is one of the nation’s most prestigious colleges, with roughly 7,300 undergraduates and more than 3,000 graduate students.

    Crystal McCollaum, of Chicopee, Mass., was staying at the hotel where the person of interest was taken into custody. She was with her daughter to attend a cheerleading competition in Providence, but after hearing about the shooting, she thought they would be safer staying outside the city.

    “It was just weird and scary,” she said.

  • The holiday shopping season comes with tons of extra emissions. Here’s how to do it sustainably

    The holiday shopping season comes with tons of extra emissions. Here’s how to do it sustainably

    We’re in the thick of the holiday shopping season, and U.S. residents are expected to shatter the spending record again this year. The National Retail Federation forecasts that 2025 will be the first time we collectively spend more than $1 trillion on year-end gifts.

    A lot of materials, energy, packaging, and gasoline have gone into making and moving those gifts. All of those processes release planet-warming gases into the atmosphere.

    But a lot of that environmental impact is avoidable. Making, baking, thrifting, and avoiding traditional wrapping paper are all more planet-friendly ways to give. We’ve got tips on how to do them all.

    Homemade doesn’t have to be difficult

    Sure, if you’ve got the skill to turn a wooden bowl or needlepoint a Christmas stocking, those gifts are guaranteed to be unique and meaningful. But not all of us have the knowledge or time.

    Sandra Goldmark, associate dean of Columbia Climate School’s Office of Engagement and Impact, said one of her favorite options is an act of service for a loved one. One year, for example, her husband organized all her passwords for her.

    “It was not something easy to wrap and put under the tree, but believe me, it was meaningful and really helped me more than any additional object cluttering up my home could have,” she said.

    Another winner: food. If, say, you have a long list of recipients, buy ingredients in bulk and pack them in Mason jars. Cookie mix, soup mix, sourdough starter, and spice mixes are all easily sealed and transported that way. Add some ribbon and a sprig of cedar, and it’s festive. Homemade baked goods and snacks are other options.

    “It’s inexpensive, but it takes care and time and attention,” said sustainable-living educator Sarah Robertson-Barnes.

    Give experiences instead of buying more stuff

    The advice here starts out simple: Buy less stuff. The best way to give gifts more sustainably is to buy fewer new things, said Goldmark.

    Stockings can be a common spot for toys that break quickly before going straight to the landfill. Instead, you can fill stockings with things that your friends or family need anyway, like toothbrushes or body wash, or traditional treats like fruit and chocolates.

    Giving someone an experience is another popular option. That might mean a pair of concert tickets, a spa day, a gift card to a favorite local restaurant, a local news subscription, or a membership to a local garden or zoo that the recipient can use over and over. Research has indicated that experiences strengthen relationships better than material gifts do.

    “There is so much that you could do by just saying, ‘I would prefer if you just made me a nice meal or took me out for some sort of adventure,’” said Atar Herziger, environmental psychologist and assistant professor at Technion — Israel Institute of Technology.

    Experiences also come with less packaging. Herziger cautions, though, that travel can have a high impact especially if it involves planes. So she recommends local options such as a nearby hike or a staycation.

    And if you’re unsure what experience your loved one would prefer? Herziger said don’t overcomplicate it — just ask.

    Go vintage

    Secondhand gifts are easier on the planet because they involve less manufacturing, packaging, and shipping. Robertson-Barnes looks to Facebook Marketplace or her local Buy Nothing group to find items that she would have otherwise bought new.

    “I bet somebody has the thing that you’re looking for and they would love to get rid of it,” she said.

    Still, for some recipients, secondhand gifts are taboo.

    “We do have a weird cultural thing where new is better and used is gross,” said Robertson-Barnes, who suggested reframing used gifts as “vintage.”

    Similarly, Herziger said secondhand options might be received better when they’re items that can’t be bought new, such as a family heirloom or a collectible that isn’t produced anymore.

    Goldmark looks to thrift stores for smaller toys or mugs. Record stores, used book stores, furniture stores, and antique shops are other options. And of course big names like eBay and Goodwill can have rare and unique finds, too.

    If buying secondhand simply won’t work for a recipient, Goldmark said to focus on items that are high-quality, long-lasting, repairable, and really needed. That ensures that it’s worth investing in and reduces the chance that it gets returned. Look to buy locally, rather than ordering online, to reduce how far it travels.

    The wrapping matters, too

    Millions of pounds of wrapping paper end up in the landfill every year. Much of it is blended with plastic to make it shiny or sparkly, so it can’t be recycled.

    Not sure whether your wrapping paper is recyclable? Check your local recycler’s website for guidelines, or try a simple test by crumpling it into a ball. If it holds its shape, it’s more likely recyclable. Also, if it rips as easily as printer paper or gets soggy like a saturated brown grocery bag, those are good signs it’s recyclable, too.

    Robertson-Barnes said if you already have wrapping paper on hand, you should use it rather than waste it. But once it’s gone, she recommends reusable wrapping cloths such as furoshiki, a traditional Japanese fabric for presenting gifts.

    Some experts also recommend gift bags as long as they’re reused — and not tossed.

    Another cheaper and more planet-friendly alternative to wrapping paper is newspaper or brown paper bags. Tie them off with reusable ribbon, a couple pinecones or a candy cane, and suddenly it’s festive.

    Plus, brown paper is a blank canvas with endless opportunities for customization. “If you’ve got kids, then their drawings are wonderful packaging materials. They make the best wrapping paper,” Herziger said.

  • Mayor says at least 2 dead in shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island

    Mayor says at least 2 dead in shooting at Brown University in Rhode Island

    PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A shooter dressed in black killed at least two people and wounded eight others at Brown University on Saturday during final exams on the Ivy League campus, authorities said, as police searched for the suspect.

    Officers were hunting through campus buildings and sifting through trash cans more than three hours after the shooting erupted.

    The suspect was a male in dark clothing who was last seen leaving the building where the shootings occurred, said Timothy O’Hara, deputy chief of police.

    Mayor Brett Smiley said a shelter-in-place order was in effect for the area and encouraged people living near the campus to stay inside and not to return home until it is lifted.

    “We have all available resources” to find the suspect, Smiley said.

    The eight wounded people were in critical but stable condition, the mayor said. He declined to say whether the victims were students.

    University officials initially told students and staff that a suspect was in custody, before later saying that was not the case and that police were still searching for a suspect or suspects, according to alerts issued through Brown’s emergency notification system.

    The mayor said a person preliminarily thought to be involved was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

    “We’re still getting information about what’s going on, but we’re just telling people to lock their doors and to stay vigilant,” said Providence Councilmember John Goncalves, whose ward includes the Brown campus. “As a Brown alum, someone who loves the Brown community and represents this area, I’m heartbroken. My heart goes out to all the family members and the folks who’ve been impacted.”

    The shooting occurred near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-story complex that houses the university’s School of Engineering and physics department. According to the university’s website, the building includes more than 100 laboratories and dozens of classrooms and offices.

    Engineering design exams were underway in the building when the shooting occurred.

    Brown senior biochemistry student Alex Bruce was working on a final research project in his dorm directly across the street from the building when he heard sirens outside and received a text about an active shooter shortly after 4 p.m.

    “I’m just in here shaking,” he said, watching through the window as a half-dozen armed officers in tactical gear surrounded his dorm. He said he feared for a friend who he thought was inside the engineering building at the time.

    Students in a nearby lab hid under desks and turned off the lights after receiving an alert about the shooting, said Chiangheng Chien, a doctoral student in engineering who was about a block away from the scene.

    Students were urged to shelter in place as police responded to the scene, and people were told to avoid the area. A police officer warned media to take cover in vehicles because the area was still an active scene.

    President Donald Trump told reporters that he had been briefed on the shooting and “all we can do right now is pray for the victims.”

    “It’s a shame,” he said in brief remarks at the White House.

    Officials cautioned that information remained preliminary as investigators worked to determine what had occurred.

    Police were actively investigating and still gathering information from the scene, said Kristy DosReis, the chief public information officer for the city of Providence. The FBI said it was assisting in the response.

    Brown is a private institution with roughly 7,300 undergraduate students and more than 3,000 graduate students.

  • Some Native Americans draw shocked response over contract to design immigration detention centers

    Some Native Americans draw shocked response over contract to design immigration detention centers

    MAYETTA, Kan. — The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, whose ancestors were uprooted by the U.S. from the Great Lakes region in the 1830s, are facing outrage from fellow Native Americans over plans to profit from another forced removal: President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.

    A newly established tribal business entity quietly signed a nearly $30 million federal contract in October to come up with an early design for immigrant detention centers across the U.S. Amid the backlash, the tribe says it’s trying to get out of it.

    Tribal leaders and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security haven’t responded to detailed questions about why the firm was selected for such a big contract without having to compete for the work as federal contracting normally requires. A former naval officer — who markets himself as the “go-to” adviser for tribes and affiliated companies seeking to land federal contracts — established the affiliate, KPB Services LLC, in April.

    The criticism has been so intense that the 4,500-member tribe said it fired the economic development leaders who brokered the deal.

    “We are known across the nation now as traitors and treasonous to another race of people,” said Ray Rice, a 74-year-old who said he and other tribal members were blindsided. “We are brown and they’re brown.”

    ICE deals with tribes generate scrutiny

    Tribal Chairperson Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick promised “full transparency” about what he described as an “evolving situation.” In a video message to tribal members Friday, he said the tribe is talking with legal counsel about ways to end the contract.

    He alluded to the time when federal agents forcibly removed hundreds of Prairie Band Potawatomi families from their homes and ultimately corralled them on a reservation just north of Topeka.

    “We know our Indian reservations were the government’s first attempts at detention centers,” Rupnick said in the video message. “We were placed here because we were prisoners of war. So we must ask ourselves why we would ever participate in something that mirrors the harm and the trauma once done to our people.”

    The U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way in September for federal agents to conduct sweeping immigration raids and use apparent ethnicity as a relevant factor for a stop. With some Native Americans being swept up and detained in recent raids, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s overtures to tribes and even longstanding deals are generating extra scrutiny.

    An LLC owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians in Alabama also has a multimillion-dollar contract with ICE to provide financial and administrative services. Meanwhile, some shareholders of an Alaska Native corporation say their values don’t align with the corporation’s federal contracting division, Akima, to provide security at several ICE detention facilities.

    “I’m shocked that there is any tribal nation that’s willing to assist the U.S. government in that,” said Brittany McKane, a 29-year-old Muscogee Nation citizen who attends the tribe’s college in Oklahoma.

    Some tribal nations have advised their citizens to carry tribal IDs.

    Last month, actor Elaine Miles (Northern Exposure) said she was stopped by ICE agents who alleged her ID from the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation in Oregon was fake.

    Economic pressure increases as federal funding decreases

    The economic arms of tribes, which can be run by non-Natives, are under increasing pressure to generate revenue because of decreased federal funding, high inflation, and competition from online gambling, said Gabe Galanda, an Indigenous rights attorney based in Seattle.

    But the economic opportunities presented to tribes don’t always align with their values, said Galanda, a member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes in northern California.

    The Prairie Band Potawatomi has a range of businesses that provide healthcare management staffing, general contracting, and even interior design.

    The tribal offshoot hired by ICE — KPB Services LLC — was established in Holton, Kan., and is not listed on the tribe’s website. It previously qualified along with dozens of other companies to provide logistical support to the U.S. Navy although, to date, it hasn’t performed any work for the federal government.

    The ICE contract initially was awarded in October for $19 million for unspecified “due diligence and concept designs” for processing centers and detention centers throughout the U.S., according to a one-sentence description of the work on the federal government’s real time contracting database. It was modified a month later to increase the payout ceiling to $29.9 million. Sole-source contracts above $30 million require additional justification under federal contracting rules.

    The contract raises a number of questions and seems to go against the Trump administration’s stated goal of cleaning up waste, fraud, and abuse, said attorney Joshua Schnell, who specializes in federal contracting law.

    “The public’s trust in the federal procurement system depends on transparency and competition,” said Schnell. “Although there is a role within this system for multimillion dollar sole-source contracts, these contracts are an exception to statutory competition requirements, and taxpayers are entitled to know how the government is spending their money.”

    Backlash swift as news about ICE contract spread

    It’s unclear what the Tribal Council knew about the contract. A spokesperson for the Tribal Council did not respond to repeated requests from the AP for details, including who was terminated.

    What is known is that KPB was registered by Ernest C. Woodward Jr., a retired U.S. naval officer with degrees in engineering and business who is a member of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, according to a website for his one-time consulting firm, Burton Woodward Partners LLC.

    The website described Woodward as a serial entrepreneur and tribal adviser on mergers and acquisitions, accessing capital, and landing federal contracts. The consulting firm was registered to an office park in Sarasota, Fla., in 2017 but was delisted two years later after it failed to file an annual report.

    The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in a 2017 news release said Woodward’s firm advised it on its acquisition of another government contractor, Mill Creek LLC, which specializes in outfitting federal buildings and the military with office furniture and medical equipment.

    Woodward also is listed as the chief operating officer of the Florida branch of Prairie Band Construction Inc., which was registered in September.

    Attempts to locate Woodward were unsuccessful. The phone number listed on Burton Woodward Partners was disconnected, and he did not respond to an email sent to another consulting firm he’s affiliated with, Virginia-based Chinkapin Partners LLC.

    Carole Cadue-Blackwood, who has Prairie Band Potawatomi ancestry and is an enrolled member of the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, hopes the contract dies. She has been part of the fight against an ICE detention center opening in Leavenworth, Kan., and works for a social service agency for Native Americans.

    “I’m in just utter disbelief that this has happened,” she said.

  • Fighting rages on Thai-Cambodian border despite Trump’s ceasefire claim

    Fighting rages on Thai-Cambodian border despite Trump’s ceasefire claim

    SURIN, Thailand — Fighting raged Saturday morning along the border of Thailand and Cambodia, even after U.S. President Donald Trump, acting as a mediator, declared that he had won agreement from both countries for a new ceasefire.

    Thai officials said they did not agree to a ceasefire. Cambodia has not commented directly on Trump’s claim, but its defense ministry said Thai jets carried out airstrikes Saturday morning.

    Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow said Saturday that some of Trump’s remarks didn’t “reflect an accurate understanding of the situation.”

    He said Trump’s characterization of a land mine explosion that wounded Thai soldiers as a “roadside accident” was inaccurate, and did not reflect Thailand’s position that it was a deliberate act of aggression.

    Sihasak said that Trump’s willingness to credit what may be “information from sources that deliberately distorted the facts” instead of believing Thailand hurt the feelings of the Thai people “because we consider ourselves — we are proud, in fact — to be the oldest treaty ally of the United States in the region.”

    The latest large-scale fighting was set off by a skirmish on Dec. 7 that wounded two Thai soldiers and derailed a ceasefire promoted by Trump that ended five days of earlier combat in July over longstanding territorial disputes.

    The July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from Trump, who threatened to withhold trade privileges unless Thailand and Cambodia agreed. It was formalized in more detail in October at a regional meeting in Malaysia that Trump attended.

    Number of displaced tops half a million

    More than two dozen people on both sides of the border have officially been reported killed in this past week’s fighting, while more than half a million have been displaced.

    The Thai military acknowledged 15 of its troops died during the fighting and estimated earlier this week that there have been 165 fatalities among Cambodian soldiers. Cambodia has not announced military casualties, but has said at least 11 civilians have been killed and more than six dozen wounded.

    Trump, after speaking to Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, announced on Friday an agreement to restart the ceasefire.

    “They have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me, and them, with the help of the Great Prime Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Ibrahim,” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post.

    Trump’s claim came after midnight in Bangkok. Thai Prime Minister Anutin had, after his call with Trump, said he had explained Thailand’s reasons for fighting and said peace would depend on Cambodia ceasing its attacks first.

    The Thai foreign ministry later explicitly disputed Trump’s claim that a ceasefire had been reached. Anutin’s busy day on Friday included dissolving Parliament, so new elections could be held early next year.

    Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet, in comments posted early Saturday morning, also made no mention of a ceasefire.

    Leaders held Friday night phone talks with Trump

    Hun Manet said he held phone conversations on Friday night with Trump, and a night earlier with Malaysia’s Anwar, and thanked both “for their continuous efforts to achieve a long-lasting peace between Cambodia and Thailand.”

    “Cambodia is ready to cooperate in any way that is needed,” Hun Manet wrote.

    Anwar later posted on social media that he was urging the two sides to implement a ceasefire on Saturday night. Cambodia’s prime minister, also posting online, endorsed the initiative, which included having Malaysia and the United States help monitor it. However, Thai Prime Minister Anutin denied that his country was even in negotiations over the proposal.

    Thailand has been carrying out airstrikes on what it says are strictly military targets, while Cambodia has been firing thousands of medium-range BM-21 rockets that have caused havoc but relatively few casualties.

    BM-21 rocket launchers can fire up to 40 rockets at a time with a range of 19-25 miles. These rockets cannot be precisely targeted and have landed largely in areas from where most people have already been evacuated.

    However, the Thai army announced Saturday that BM-21 rockets had hit a civilian area in Sisaket province, seriously injuring two civilians who had heard warning sirens and had been running toward a bunker for safety.

    Thailand’s navy was also reported by both sides’ militaries to have joined the fighting on Saturday morning, with a warship in the Gulf of Thailand shelling Cambodia’s southwestern province of Koh Kong. Each side said the other opened fire first.

  • Speaker Johnson unveils healthcare plan as divided Republicans scramble for alternative

    Speaker Johnson unveils healthcare plan as divided Republicans scramble for alternative

    WASHINGTON — The Senate failed to get anywhere on the healthcare issue this week. Now it’s the House’s turn to show what it can do.

    Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled a Republican alternative late Friday, a last-minute sprint as his party refuses to extend the enhanced tax subsidies for those who buy policies through the Affordable Care Act, also called Obamacare, which are expiring at the end of the year. Those subsidies help lower the cost of coverage.

    Johnson (R., La.) huddled behind closed doors in the morning — as he did days earlier this week — working to assemble the package for consideration as the House focuses the final days of its 2025 work on healthcare.

    “House Republicans are tackling the real drivers of health care costs to provide affordable care,” Johnson said in a statement announcing the package. He said it would be voted on next week.

    Later Friday, though, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “House Republicans have introduced toxic legislation that is completely unserious, hurts hardworking America taxpayers, and is not designed to secure bipartisan support. If the bill reaches the House floor, I will strongly oppose it.”

    Time is running out for Congress to act. Democrats engineered the longest federal government shutdown ever this fall in a failed effort to force Republicans to the negotiating table on healthcare. But after promising votes, the Senate failed this week to advance both a Republican healthcare plan and the Democratic-offered bill to extend the tax credits for three years.

    Now, with just days to go, Congress is about to wrap up its work with no consensus solution in sight.

    What Republicans are proposing

    The House Republicans offered a 100-plus-page package that focuses on long-sought GOP proposals to enhance access to employer-sponsored health insurance plans and clamp down on so-called pharmacy benefit managers.

    Republicans propose expanding access to what’s referred to as association health plans, which would allow more small businesses and self-employed individuals to band together and purchase health coverage.

    Proponents say such plans increase the leverage businesses have to negotiate a lower rate. But critics say the plans provide skimpier coverage than what is required under the Affordable Care Act.

    The Republicans’ proposal would also require more data from pharmacy benefit managers, or PBMs, as a way to help control drug costs. Critics say PBMs have padded their bottom line and made it more difficult for independent pharmacists to survive.

    Additionally, the GOP plan includes mention of cost-sharing reductions for some lower-income people who rely on Obamacare, but those would not take effect until January 2027.

    The emerging package from the House Republicans does not include an extension of an enhanced tax credit for millions of Americans who get insurance coverage through the Affordable Care Act. Put in place during the COVID-19 crisis, that enhanced subsidy expires Dec. 31, leaving most families in the program facing more than double their current out-of-pocket premiums, and in some cases, much more.

    What Trump wants

    President Donald Trump has said he believes Republicans are going to figure out a better plan than Obamacare — something he has promised for years — but offered few details beyond his idea for providing Americans with stipends to help buy insurance.

    “I want to see the billions of dollars go to people, not to the insurance companies,” Trump said late Friday during an event at the White House. “And I want to see the people go out and buy themselves great healthcare.”

    The president did not comment directly on the House’s new plan. He has repeatedly touted his idea of sending money directly to Americans to help offset the costs of healthcare policies, rather than extending the tax credits for those buying policies through Obamacare. It’s unclear how much money Trump envisions. The Senate GOP proposal that failed to advance would have provided payments to new health savings accounts of $1,000 a year for adult enrollees, or $1,500 for those ages 50 to 64.

    It appeared there were no such health savings accounts in the new House GOP plan.

    Political pressure is building for many

    Going Johnson’s route has left vulnerable House Republicans representing key battleground districts in a tough spot.

    Frustrated with the delays, a group of more centrist GOP lawmakers is aligning with Democrats to push their own proposals for continuing the tax credits, for now, so that Americans don’t face rising healthcare costs.

    They are pursuing several paths for passing a temporary ACA subsidy extension, co-sponsoring a handful of bills. They are also signing on to so-called discharge petitions that could force a floor vote if a majority of the House signs on.

    Such petitions are designed to get around the majority’s control and are rarely successful, but this year has proven to be an exception. Lawmakers, for example, were able to use a discharge petition to force a vote on the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files held by the Department of Justice.

    One petition, filed by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), had signatures from 12 Republicans and 12 Democrats as of Friday afternoon. It would force a vote on a bill that includes a two-year subsidy extension and contains provisions designed to combat fraud in the ACA marketplace. There are also restrictions for PBMs, among other things.

    Fitzpatrick offering a plan to extend ACA subsidies

    Another petition from Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) has 39 signatures and is broadly bipartisan. It’s a simpler proposal that would force a vote on a one-year ACA enhanced subsidy extension and would include new income caps limiting who qualifies for the enhanced credit.

    Both discharge petitions have enough Republicans’ support that they would likely succeed if Jeffries encouraged his caucus to jump on board. So far, he’s not tipping his hand.

    “We’re actively reviewing those two discharge petitions and we’ll have more to say about it early next week,” Jeffries said.

    Meanwhile, Jeffries is pushing Democrats’ own discharge petition, which has 214 signatures and would provide for a clean three-year subsidy extension. No Republicans have signed on to that one.

    And as Republicans made clear in the Senate this week, a three-year extension without changes to the program has no chance of passing their chamber.

  • Israel says it has killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza

    Israel says it has killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza

    JERUSALEM — Israel on Saturday said it killed a top Hamas commander in Gaza after an explosive device detonated and wounded two soldiers in the territory’s south.

    Hamas in a statement did not confirm the death of Raed Saad. It said a civilian vehicle had been struck outside Gaza City and asserted it was a violation of the ceasefire that took effect on Oct. 10.

    Saad served as the Hamas official in charge of manufacturing and previously led the militant group’s operations division. The Israeli statement described him as one of the architects of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that sparked the war, and said that he had been “engaged in rebuilding the terrorist organization” in a violation of the ceasefire.

    The Israeli strike west of Gaza City killed four people, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw their bodies arrive at Shifa Hospital. Another three were wounded, according to Al-Awda hospital.

    Israel and Hamas have repeatedly accused each other of truce violations.

    Israeli airstrikes and shootings in Gaza have killed at least 386 Palestinians since the ceasefire took hold, according to Palestinian health officials. Israel has said recent strikes are in retaliation for militant attacks against its soldiers, and that troops have fired on Palestinians who approached the Yellow Line between the Israeli-controlled majority of Gaza and the rest of the territory.

    Israel has demanded that Palestinian militants return the remains of the final hostage, Ran Gvili, from Gaza and called it a condition of moving to the second and more complicated phase of the ceasefire. That lays out a vision for ending Hamas’ rule and seeing the rebuilding of a demilitarized Gaza under international supervision.

    The initial Hamas-led 2023 attack on southern Israel killed around 1,200 people and took 251 hostages. Almost all hostages or their remains have been returned in ceasefires or other deals.

    Israel’s two-year campaign in Gaza has killed more than 70,650 Palestinians, roughly half of them women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between militants and civilians in its count. The ministry, which operates under the Hamas-run government, is staffed by medical professionals and maintains detailed records viewed as generally reliable by the international community.

    Much of Gaza has been destroyed and most of the population of over 2 million has been displaced. Humanitarian aid entry into the territory continues to be below the level set by ceasefire terms, and Palestinians who lost limbs in the war face a shortage of prosthetic limbs and long delays in medical evacuations.

  • Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old

    Affable comedy acting legend Dick Van Dyke turns 100 years old

    Comedy icon Dick Van Dyke celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, hitting the century mark some six decades after he sang and danced with Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins and starred in his self-titled sitcom.

    “The funniest thing is, it’s not enough,” Van Dyke said in an interview with ABC News at his Malibu, Calif., home. “A hundred years is not enough. You want to live more, which I plan to.”

    As part of the celebration of Van Dyke’s birthday this weekend, theaters around the country are showing a new documentary about his life, Dick Van Dyke: 100th Celebration.

    Van Dyke became one of the biggest actors of his era with The Dick Van Dyke Show, which ran from 1961-66 on CBS; appeared with Andrews as a chimney sweep with a Cockney accent in the 1964 Disney classic Mary Poppins; and, in his 70s, played a physician-sleuth on Diagnosis: Murder.

    Also a Broadway star, Van Dyke won a Tony Award for Bye Bye Birdie to go with a Grammy and four Primetime Emmys. In 1963, he starred in the film version of Bye Bye Birdie.

    Just last year, he became the oldest winner of a Daytime Emmy, for a guest role on the soap Days of Our Lives.

    In the 1970s, he found sobriety after battling alcoholism and spoke out about it at a time when that was uncommon to do.

    Now that he has hit triple digits, Van Dyke said he’s gotten some perspective on how he used to play older characters.

    “You know, I played old men a lot, and I always played them as angry and cantankerous,” he told ABC News. “It’s not really that way. I don’t know any other 100-year-olds, but I can speak for myself.”

    He recently imparted wisdom about reaching the century mark in his book, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life. He credited his wife, 54-year-old makeup artist and producer Arlene Silver, with keeping him young.

    “She gives me energy. She gives me humor, and all kinds of support,” he told ABC News.

    Van Dyke was born in West Plains, Mo., in 1925, and grew up “the class clown” in Danville, Ill., while admiring and imitating the silent film comedians.

    He told ABC News he started acting when he was about 4 or 5 years old in a Christmas pageant. He said he was the baby Jesus.

    “I made some kind of crack, I don’t know what I said, but it broke the congregation up,” he said. ”And I liked the sound of that laughter.”

    And what’s hard about being 100?

    “I miss movement,” he told ABC News. “I’ve got one game leg from I don’t know what.”

    “I still try to dance,” he said with a laugh.

  • 2 U.S. service members, one American civilian killed in ambush in Syria, U.S. Central Command says

    2 U.S. service members, one American civilian killed in ambush in Syria, U.S. Central Command says

    DAMASCUS, Syria — President Donald Trump said Saturday that “there will be very serious retaliation” after two U.S. service members and one American civilian were killed in an attack in Syria that the United States blames on the Islamic State group.

    “This was an ISIS attack against the U.S., and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them,” he said in a social media post.

    The American president told reporters at the White House that Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, was “devastated by what happened” and stressed that Syria was fighting alongside U.S. troops. Trump, in his post, said al-Sharaa was “extremely angry and disturbed by this attack.”

    The two service members killed were members of the Iowa National Guard, according to a person briefed on the situation who was granted anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly.

    U.S. Central Command said three service members were also wounded in an ambush Saturday by a lone IS member in central Syria. Trump said the three “seem to be doing pretty well.” The U.S. military said the gunman was killed.

    The attack on U.S. troops in Syria was the first with fatalities since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.

    “There will be very serious retaliation,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.

    The Pentagon’s chief spokesperson, Sean Parnell, said the civilian killed was a U.S. interpreter. Parnell said the attack targeted soldiers involved in the ongoing counterterrorism operations in the region and is under active investigation.

    The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, which earlier said two members of Syria’s security force and several U.S. service members had been wounded. The casualties were taken by helicopter to the al-Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

    The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attacker was a member of the Syrian security force.

    Syria’s Interior Ministry spokesperson Nour al-Din al-Baba said a gunman linked to IS opened fire at the gate of a military post. He added that Syrian authorities are looking into whether the gunman was an IS member or only carried its extreme ideology. He denied reports that suggested that the attacker was a security member.

    Later al-Baba clarified that the attacker was a member of the Internal Security force in the desert, adding that he “did not have any command post” within the forces nor was he a bodyguard for the force commander.

    Al-Baba added in an interview with state TV that some 5,000 members have joined Internal Security forces in the desert and they are evaluated on a weekly basis. He added that three days ago, an evaluation was made of the attacker and it turned out that he might have extreme ideology. A decision was expected to be issued regarding him on Sunday but “the attack occurred on a Saturday which is a day off for state institutions.”

    U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X: “Let it be known, if you target Americans — anywhere in the world — you will spend the rest of your brief, anxious life knowing the United States will hunt you, find you, and ruthlessly kill you.”

    The U.S. has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.

    The U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Syria under Assad, but ties have warmed since the fall of the five-decade Assad family rule. Al-Sharaa made a historic visit to Washington last month where he held talks with Trump. It was the first White House visit by a Syrian head of state since the Middle Eastern country gained independence from France in 1946 and came after the U.S. lifted sanctions imposed on Syria during the Assads’ rule.

    Al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled Bashar Assad in December 2024 and was named the country’s interim leader in January. Al-Sharaa once had ties to al-Qaida and had a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head.

    Last month, Syria joined the international coalition fighting against the IS as Damascus improves its relations with Western countries following the ouster of Assad when insurgents captured his seat of power in Damascus.

    IS was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the group’s sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks in the country. The United Nations says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq.

    U.S. troops, which have maintained a presence in different parts of Syria — including Al-Tanf garrison in the central province of Homs — to train other forces as part of a broad campaign against IS, have been targeted in the past. One of the deadliest attacks occurred in 2019 in the northern town of Manbij when a blast killed two U.S. service members and two American civilians as well as others from Syria while conducting a patrol.