At Least 20 Killed in Shooting in Las Vegas

At least 20 people were killed and over 100 wounded in a shooting in the US city of Las Vegas. (AFP)
At least 20 people were killed and over 100 wounded in a shooting in the US city of Las Vegas. (AFP)
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At Least 20 Killed in Shooting in Las Vegas

At least 20 people were killed and over 100 wounded in a shooting in the US city of Las Vegas. (AFP)
At least 20 people were killed and over 100 wounded in a shooting in the US city of Las Vegas. (AFP)

At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 wounded when a gunman opened fire at a music festival in the US city of Las Vegas on Sunday.

The attacker fired down from the 32nd floor of a hotel, where he was shot dead by police.

Police described the suspect as being a local Las Vegas man who acted alone and was not believed to be connected to any militant group, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.

Concert-goers reported hearing what they described as automatic gun fire during the shooting.

The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States since a gunman who pledged allegiance to the ISIS terrorist group killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub in June 2016.

"We have no idea what his belief system was," Lombardo said.

"Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static."

Authorities were seeking a woman they named as Marilou Danley, he said. He described her as Asian, 4 foot 11 inches (1.5 m) tall, 111 pounds (50 kg). He gave no details of whether she was suspected of involvement in the attack but described her as an "associate".

Police were also searching for two cars that belonged to the suspect.

Lombardo said rumors of other shootings or explosives such as car bombs in the area were false. Video taken of the attack showed panicked crowds fleeing as sustained rapid gunfire ripped through the area.

Las Vegas's casinos, nightclubs and shopping are a major draw for some 3.5 million visitors from around the world each year and the area was packed with visitors when the shooting broke out shortly after 10 p.m. (0400 GMT).

Police warned the death toll may rise.

"I don't want to give you an accurate number because I don't have it yet," Lombardo said.

At least one police officer was hospitalized with critical injuries, Lombardo said.

The shooting broke out on the last night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest festival, a sold-out event attended by thousands and featuring top acts such as Eric Church, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean.

US media, including Fox News, reported that Aldean was performing when the rampage began but that he had been bundled safely off stage at the event outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in the Nevada gambling resort. CNN reported all the performers were safe.

Lombardo said the gunfire came from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, where the gunman was killed.

Police have disclosed no information that would suggest a motive for the shooting or revealed the identify of the suspect.

Even so, the rampage was reminiscent of a mass shooting at a Paris rock concert in November 2015 that killed 89 people, part of a coordinated attack by ISIS that left 130 dead.

A witness named Christine told CNN both she and her husband had separately taken shooting victims to two hospitals, the University Medical Center and the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

"The shots just kept coming," she said. "Everyone was telling us 'run, run as fast as you can'."

The concert venue was in an outdoor area known as Las Vegas Village, across the Strip from the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor hotels.

The Mandalay Bay hotel is near McCarran International Airport, which said on Twitter it had temporarily halted flights after the shooting. Later, the airport said that some flights had resumed.

The United States has seen a series of deadly mass shootings in recent years. Prior to Orlando, the deadliest occurred in April 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech university and in December 2012 a man killed 26 young children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he was at the concert when he heard hundreds of shots ring out.

"It was crazy - I laid on top of the kids. They're 20. I'm 53. I lived a good life," McGarry said. The back of his shirt bore footmarks, after people ran over him in the panicked crowd.

Hours after the shooting, Aldean posted on Instagram that he and his crew were safe and said the shooting was "beyond horrific."

Kodiak Yazzie, 36, said he and his girlfriend were watching Aldean's performance when he heard what sounded like fireworks. The music stopped temporarily and started up again before another round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.

Thousands fled as bursts of gunfire could be heard for more than five minutes, Yazzie said.

Authorities shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15. Flights were temporarily halted at McCarran International Airport because of the shooting, the airport said on its verified Twitter account.



Army Chief Says Switzerland Can’t Defend Itself from Full-Scale Attack

Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
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Army Chief Says Switzerland Can’t Defend Itself from Full-Scale Attack

Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)
Lieutenant General Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Armed Forces of the Swiss Army, attends a news conference on the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Bern, Switzerland, March 16, 2020. Picture taken March 16, 2020. (Reuters)

Switzerland cannot defend itself against a full-scale attack and must boost military spending given rising risks from Russia, the head of its armed forces said.

The country is prepared for attacks by "non-state actors" on critical infrastructure and for cyber attacks, but its military still faces major equipment gaps, Thomas Suessli told the NZZ newspaper.

"What we cannot do is defend against threats from a distance or even a full-scale ‌attack on ‌our country," said Suessli, who is ‌stepping ⁠down at ‌the end of the year.

"It's burdensome to know that in a real emergency, only a third of all soldiers would be fully equipped," he said in an interview published on Saturday.

Switzerland is increasing defense spending, modernizing artillery and ground systems ⁠and replacing ageing fighter jets with Lockheed Martin F-35As.

But the ‌plan faces cost overruns, while ‍critics question spending on artillery ‍and munitions amid tight federal finances.

Suessli said ‍attitudes towards the military had not shifted despite the war in Ukraine and Russian efforts to destabilize Europe.

He blamed Switzerland's distance from the conflict, its lack of recent war experience and the false belief that neutrality offered protection.

"But that's historically ⁠inaccurate. There are several neutral countries that were unarmed and were drawn into war. Neutrality only has value if it can be defended with weapons," he said.

Switzerland has pledged to gradually raise defense spending to about 1% of GDP by around 2032, up from roughly 0.7% now – far below the 5% level agreed by NATO countries.

At that pace, the Swiss military would only be ‌fully ready by around 2050.

"That is too long given the threat," Suessli said.


Another 131 Migrants Rescued off Southern Crete

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
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Another 131 Migrants Rescued off Southern Crete

A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture
A dinghy transporting dozens of refugees and migrants is pulled towards Greece's Lesbos island after being rescued by a war ship during their sea crossing between Türkiye and Greece on February 29, 2020. Aris Messinis, AFP/File picture

The Greek coast guard Saturday rescued 131 would-be migrants off Crete, bringing the number of people brought out of the sea in the area over the past five days to 840, a police spokesperson said.

The migrants rescued Saturday morning were aboard a fishing boat some 14 nautical miles south of Gavdos, a small island south of Crete.

The passengers, whose nationality was not revealed, were all taken to Gavdos.

Many people attempting to reach Crete from Libya drown during the risky crossing.

In early December, 17 people -- mostly Sudanese or Egyptian -- were found dead after their boat sank off the coast of Crete, and 15 others were reported missing. Only two people survived.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 16,770 people trying to get to Europe have arrived in Crete since the beginning of the year, more than on any other Greek island.

In July, the conservative government suspended the processing of asylum applications for three months, particularly those of people arriving from Libya, saying the measure as "absolutely necessary" in the face of the increasing flow of migrants.


Thailand and Cambodia Sign New Ceasefire Agreement to End Border Fighting

A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
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Thailand and Cambodia Sign New Ceasefire Agreement to End Border Fighting

A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Defense Ministry of Thailand shows Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Seiha (L) and Thai Defense Minister Natthaphon Narkphanit attending a General Border Committee Meeting in Ban Pak Kard, Chanthaburi Province, Thailand, 27 December 2025. (EPA/Defense Ministry of Thailand/Handout)

Thailand and Cambodia on Saturday signed a ceasefire agreement to end weeks of armed combat along their border over competing claims to territory. It took effect at noon local time.

In addition to ending fighting, the agreement calls for no further military movements by either side and no violations of either side’s airspace for military purposes.

Only Thailand employed airstrikes in the fighting, hitting sites in Cambodia as recently as Saturday morning, according to the Cambodian defense ministry.

The deal also calls for Thailand, after the ceasefire has held for 72 hours, to repatriate 18 Cambodian soldiers it has held as prisoners since earlier fighting in July. Their release has been a major demand of the Cambodian side.

The agreement was signed by the two countries’ defense ministers, Cambodia’s Tea Seiha and Thailand’s Nattaphon Narkphanit, at a checkpoint on their border after lower-level talks by military officials met for three days as part of the already-established General Border Committee.

The agreement declares that the two sides are committed to an earlier ceasefire that ended five days of fighting in July and follow-up agreements and includes commitments to 16 de-escalation measures.

The original July ceasefire was brokered by Malaysia and pushed through by pressure from US President Donald 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.

Despite those deals, the two countries carried on a bitter propaganda war and minor cross-border violence continued, escalating in early December to widespread heavy fighting.

Thailand has lost 26 soldiers and one civilian as a direct result of the combat since Dec. 7, according to officials. Thailand has also reported 44 civilian deaths from collateral effects of the situation.

Cambodia hasn’t issued an official figure on military casualties, but says that 30 civilians have been killed and 90 injured. Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated from affected areas on both sides of the border.

Each side blamed the other for initiating the fighting and claimed to be acting in self-defense.

The agreement also calls on both sides to adhere to international agreements against deploying land mines, a major concern of Thailand. Thai soldiers along the border have been wounded in at least nine incidents this year by what they said were newly planted Cambodian mines. Cambodia says the mines were left over from decades of civil war that ended in the late 1990s.

Another clause says the two sides “agree to refrain from disseminating false information or fake news.”

The agreement also says previously established measures to demarcate the border will be resumed and the two sides also agree to cooperate on an effort to suppress transnational crimes.

That is primarily a reference to online scams perpetrated by organized crime that have bilked victims around the world of billions of dollars each year. Cambodia is a center for such criminal enterprises.