AP News in Brief at 6:04 a.m. EDT

Authorities say Kirk was killed with a single shot from a rooftop on Wednesday. Whoever fired the gun then slipped away amid the chaos of screams and students fleeing the Utah Valley University campus. Federal, state and local authorities were still searching for an unidentified shooter early Thursday and working what they called “multiple active crime scenes."

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation," said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. "I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

Two people were detained Wednesday but neither was determined to be connected to the shooting and both were released, Utah public safety officials said.

Authorities did not immediately identify a motive, but the circumstances of the shooting drew renewed attention to an escalating threat of political violence in the United States that in the last several years has cut across the ideological spectrum. The assassination drew bipartisan condemnation, but a national reckoning over ways to prevent political grievances from manifesting as deadly violence seemed elusive.

The Latest: Conservative activist Charlie Kirk is shot and killed while speaking at a Utah college

Conservative activist Charlie Kirk was killed by a single shot in a targeted attack during an outdoor event Wednesday at Utah Valley University, authorities said.

Kirk co-founded the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA and was a close ally of President Donald Trump.

No one was in custody Wednesday evening as authorities seek a new person of interest in the assassination, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation. The Utah Department of Public Safety also confirmed no one was in custody in the investigation into Kirk’s killing.

“This is a dark day for our state. It’s a tragic day for our nation,” said Utah Gov. Spencer Cox. “I want to be very clear this is a political assassination.”

The shooting comes amid a spike in attacks on political figures in the United States across all parts of the ideological spectrum.

Authorities say a student is dead after shooting 2 peers and then himself at Colorado high school

DENVER (AP) — A student shot two of his peers Wednesday at a suburban Denver high school before shooting himself and later dying, authorities said.

The handgun shooting was reported around 12:30 p.m. at Evergreen High School in Evergreen, Colorado, about 30 miles west of Denver in the Rocky Mountain foothills.

Shots were fired both inside and outside the school building, and law enforcement officers who responded found the shooter within five minutes of arriving, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Jacki Kelley said.

None of the law enforcement officers who responded to the shooting fired any shots, Kelley said.

More than 100 police officers from the surrounding area rushed to the school to try to help, Kelley said. A 1999 school shooting at Jefferson County’s Columbine High killed 14 people, including a woman who died earlier this year of complications from her injuries in the shooting.

Polish PM Tusk vows to press ahead with military modernization after Russian drone incursion

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk pledged Thursday to push ahead with a “great modernization program” for his country’s military, a day after Russian drones crossed into Poland and forced the NATO alliance to confront a potential threat in its airspace for the first time.

European officials described Wednesday’s incursion, which occurred during a wave of unrelenting Russian strikes on Ukraine, as a deliberate provocation. It deepened longstanding fears that the three-year war between Poland’s neighbors could precipitate a wider conflict. U.S.-led efforts to steer Moscow and Kyiv toward a peace settlement have so far failed to get traction.

The Polish Air Navigation Agency announced Thursday morning that Poland was introducing air traffic restrictions in the eastern part of the country. It said the step was taken at the request of the Polish army for national security reasons but did not elaborate.

Poland said some of the drones that entered its airspace Wednesday came from Belarus, where Russian and local troops have begun gathering for war games scheduled to start Friday. Poland is closing its border with Belarus at midnight Thursday, a planned move also associated with the military exercises.

Tusk addressed Polish troops at an air base in the central city of Lask, praising their quick action and that of NATO allied forces from the Netherlands that responded to the multiple Russian drone incursions.

Israeli airstrikes on Yemen kill at least 35, Houthi officials say

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israel launched another round of heavy airstrikes in Yemen on Wednesday, killing dozens just days after Houthi rebels carried out a drone attack that struck an Israeli airport.

The Israeli strikes killed at least 35 people and wounded more than 130 others, the Houthi-run health ministry said. Search crews were continuing to dig through the rubble.

Most of those killed were in Sanaa, the capital, where a military headquarters and a fuel station were hit, the health ministry said.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, meanwhile, said she would seek sanctions and a partial trade suspension against Israel over the war in the Gaza Strip. The move adds to Israel’s already unprecedented global isolation as it grapples with the fallout from its strike targeting Hamas leaders in U.S.-allied Qatar on Tuesday.

Al-Masirah, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, said one of the strikes on Yemen hit a military headquarters building in central Sanaa. Neighboring houses were also damaged, it reported.

As Nepal's army tries to restore order, capital's residents ask what's next

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Residents of Nepal's capital rushed to buy groceries Thursday morning when the army briefly lifted a curfew it imposed to quell violent protests that toppled the country's government, as confusion set in about who would govern the Himalayan nation.

Nepal army, which took control of the capital Tuesday night after two days of protests that burned government buildings and businesses, lifted the curfew for four hours Thursday morning. People rushed to buy rice, vegetables and meat, while others took the opportunity to pray at Hindu temples.

Armed soldiers were guarding the streets, checking vehicles and offering assistance to those in need.

It remained unclear who would take control of the government as the search for an interim leader continued.

When the protests prompted Prime Minister Khadga Prasad Oli to resign Tuesday, the country’s ceremonial President Ram Chandra Poudel asked him to lead a transitional government until a new one could be put in place. But Oli fled from his official residence, and his whereabouts were not clear.

What to know about the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk, the co-founder of Turning Point USA

Charlie Kirk, the CEO and co-founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was fatally shot Wednesday at an event at a Utah college.

Kirk was a top podcaster, culture warrior and ally of President Donald Trump. He led an effort to remake the GOP’s get-out-the-vote effort in the 2024 election based on the theory that there were thousands of Trump supporters who rarely vote but could be persuaded to vote.

His killing is the latest example of political violence in the U.S. spanning a range of political ideologies and affecting both major political parties.

Here's what to know about Kirk's shooting:

Kirk was speaking at a debate hosted by Turning Point USA at Utah Valley University when authorities said the shooter fired from a roof.

US marks 24th anniversary of 9/11 terror attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — Americans are marking 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with solemn ceremonies, volunteer work and other tributes honoring the victims.

Many loved ones of the nearly 3,000 people killed will join dignitaries and politicians at commemorations Thursday in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Others choose to mark the day at more intimate gatherings.

James Lynch, who lost his father, Robert Lynch, during the World Trade Center attack, said he and his family will attend a ceremony near their hometown in New Jersey before spending the day at the beach.

“It’s one of those things where any kind of grief, I don’t think it ever goes away,” Lynch said as he, his partner and his mother joined thousands of volunteers preparing meals for the needy at a 9/11 charity event in Manhattan the day before the anniversary. “Finding the joy in that grief, I think, has been a huge part of my growth with this,” he said.

Qatar official says Netanyahu 'killed any hope' of hostage release with its strike in Doha on Hamas

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Qatar’s prime minister said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “killed any hope” of releasing hostages still held in the Gaza Strip after Israel attacked Hamas leaders in Doha.

The comments from Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, ahead of appearing at the United Nations on Thursday, underscored the wider anger among Gulf Arab countries over Israel's strike that killed at least six people.

“I was meeting one of the hostages' families the morning of the attack,” Sheikh Mohammed told CNN in an interview aired late Wednesday. “They are counting on this (ceasefire) mediation. They have no other hope for that.”

Sheikh Mohammed added: “I think that what Netanyahu has done yesterday, he just killed any hope for those hostages.”

His remarks came as thousands of Palestinians continued to flee Gaza City ahead of Israel's impending offensive there. The numbers leaving the city have grown in recent days, though many have refused because they say they no longer have the strength or money to relocate.

South Korea says a charter plane carrying South Korean workers will leave Atlanta at Thursday noon

FOLKSTON, Ga. (AP) — A South Korean charter plane arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday to take home Korean workers detained in an immigration raid in Georgia last week. Its planned return the same day was canceled, and South Korea's Foreign Ministry later said the flight would take place Thursday at noon, without giving further details.

A total of 475 workers, more than 300 of them South Koreans, were rounded up in the Sept. 4 raid at the battery factory under construction at Hyundai’s sprawling auto plant. U.S. authorities released video showing some being shackled with chains around their hands, ankles and waists, causing shock and a sense of betrayal among many in South Korea, a key U.S. ally.

South Korea’s government later said it reached an agreement with the U.S. for the release of the workers.

South Korean TV footage showed the charter plane, a Boeing 747-8i from Korean Air, taking off at Incheon International Airport, just west of Seoul, and it landed in Atlanta on Wednesday morning.

The Foreign Ministry said the plane was not able to depart from the U.S. the same day, as South Korea wished, due to an unspecified reason involving the U.S. side.