Final exams were taking place in the engineering building on Saturday afternoon when a shooter opened fire, Brown University provost Frank Doyle said.

Police said the suspect - described as a male dressed in black - left the building on foot and is still at large.

Officers searched the buildings of the Ivy League campus and sifted through trash cans for several hours after the shooting erupted.

Providence mayor Brett Smiley said a "shelter-in-place" was in effect for the area and urged 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, he said at a news conference.

Mr Smiley said a person who was initially thought to be involved in the shooting was detained but was later determined to have no involvement.

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

Mr Smiley asked for prayers for the families of the victims, noting the coming Christmas holiday.

"It's going to be a difficult rest of the day, difficult days and months ahead as this community heals," he said.

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he had been briefed on the situation, which he called "terrible".

"All we can do right now is pray for the victims and for those that were very badly hurt," he added.

The shooting was reported near the Barus & Holley building, a seven-storey structure that houses the School of Engineering and Physics Department, according to the university's website.

It includes 117 laboratories, 150 offices and 15 classrooms.

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

Providence Council member John Goncalves, whose ward includes the Brown campus, said: "We're still getting information about what's going on, but we're just telling people to lock their doors and to stay vigilant.

"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."

'I was hoping that no one's getting hurt'

Student Chiang-Heng Chien said he was working in one of the labs with three other students when they received a notification about a shooting nearby.

"We decided to turn the light off and close all the doors and hide under our desks, and wait for the next notification after the shooting," he told reporters.

The students hid under the desks for about two hours.

"I was hoping that no one's getting hurt and no one's dead," he said.

The students left the building when they received another notification, and security personnel moved in to search the facility.

Local media reports indicated that the manhunt was made more challenging by the large crowds in downtown Providence, where holiday shoppers and thousands of concertgoers were gathered.

According to officials, federal law enforcement and police from nearby cities and towns were helping with the search.

"We are a week and a half away from Christmas. And two people died today and another eight are in the hospital," Mr Smiley said.

"So please pray for those families."

In a televised message on Friday, Charles said his treatment can be reduced in the new year thanks to an "early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to doctors' orders".

The monarch, who announced he had been diagnosed with cancer in February 2024, also urged people to take up available screenings for the disease.

Cancer Research UK said tens of thousands of people visited its Screening Checker website, which was launched on 5 December, after the King's message.

NHS England also said its cancer-related pages saw a substantial spike in activity, with almost 4,000 views in a 24-hour period, compared to almost 8,000 over the full week.

A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said on Saturday it has been "delighted by the scale and sensitivity of the worldwide media reaction", and is "most grateful for the many kind comments we have received for the King, both from those working in cancer care and from the general public".

"I know His Majesty will be greatly encouraged and deeply touched by the very positive reaction his message has generated," the spokesperson said.

"He will be particularly pleased at the way it has helped to shine a light on the benefits of cancer screening programmes.

"It has long been the King's view that if some public good can come from sharing elements of his personal diagnosis and treatment journey, then it would be his pleasure and duty to do so.

"His thoughts and warmest wishes will remain with all those affected by cancer and those who care for them."

Delivering his message in support of the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, the King said that early diagnosis had enabled him to "continue leading a full and active life, even while undergoing treatment".

Cancer Research UK said about 100,000 people had visited its new Screening Checker since it was launched, with the majority taking place after the King's update.

The tool allows visitors to quickly check the different types of cancer screenings available with the NHS, and Public Health Agency (PHA) in Northern Ireland, and helps them find out which ones apply to them.

Michelle Mitchell, chief executive at the charity, said on Saturday: "This response shows just how important open conversations about cancer can be.

"Knowing which screening you're eligible for, and what happens next, isn't always straightforward, which is why we've launched this simple new Screening Checker.

"Taking just a few minutes to check what screening you're eligible for could be an important step towards protecting your health and could ultimately save lives."

Shabana Mahmood said the dedicated units will be in place across every force by 2029 as part of Labour's violence against women and girls (VAWG) strategy due to be launched later this week.

The use of Domestic Abuse Protection Orders (DAPOs), which had been trialled in several areas, will also be rolled out across England and Wales. They are designed to target abusers by imposing curfews, electronic tags and exclusion zones.

The orders cover all forms of domestic abuse, including economic abuse, coercive and controlling behaviour, stalking and 'honour'-based abuse. Breaching the terms can carry a prison term of up to 5 years.

Nearly £2m will also be spent funding a network of officers to target offenders operating within the online space.

Teams will use covert and intelligence techniques to tackle violence against women and girls via apps and websites.

A similar undercover network funded by the Home Office to examine child sexual abuse has arrested over 1,700 perpetrators.

Abuse is 'national emergency'

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement: "This government has declared violence against women and girls a national emergency.

"For too long, these crimes have been considered a fact of life. That's not good enough. We will halve it in a decade.

"Today we announce a range of measures to bear down on abusers, stopping them in their tracks. Rapists, sex offenders and abusers will have nowhere to hide."

The target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade is a Labour manifesto pledge.

The government said the measures build on existing policy, including facial recognition technology to identify offenders, improving protections for stalking victims, making strangulation a criminal offence and establishing domestic abuse specialists in 999 control rooms.

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Labour has 'failed women'

But the Conservatives said Labour had "failed women" and "broken its promises" by delaying the publication of the violence against women and girls strategy.

Shadow Home Secretary, Chris Philp, said that Labour "shrinks from uncomfortable truths, voting against tougher sentences and presiding over falling sex-offender convictions. At every turn, Labour has failed women."

Two US service members and one civilian died and three other people were injured in an ambush on Saturday by a lone IS - also often called ISIS in Syria and Iraq - gunman, according to the he US military's Central Command.

The attack on US troops in Syria is the first to inflict fatalities since the fall of President Bashar Assad a year ago.

"This is an ISIS attack," the US president told reporters at the White House before leaving for the Army-Navy football game in Baltimore.

He paid condolences to the three people killed and said the three others who were wounded "seem to be doing pretty well".

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Mr Trump said "there will be very serious retaliation".

The shooting took place near historic Palmyra, according to the state-run SANA news agency, and the casualties were taken by helicopter to the al Tanf garrison near the border with Iraq and Jordan.

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

Syria's Interior Ministry spokesman Nour al Din al Baba said authorities are looking into whether the gunman was an IS member or only carried its extreme ideology, and denied reports suggesting he was a security member.

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Central Command earlier said in a post on X that the gunman was killed, while the identities of the service members killed wouldn't be released until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified.

Pentagon chief spokesman Sean Parnell said the civilian killed in the attack was a US interpreter.

US defence 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 US has hundreds of troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting IS.

The group was defeated on the battlefield in Syria in 2019 but the UN says the group still has between 5,000 and 7,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, and its sleeper cells still carry out deadly attacks.

Syria's interim president, Ahmad al Sharaa, made a historic visit to Washington DC last month as Syria signed a political cooperation agreement with the US-led coalition against IS.

"This was an ISIS attack against the US, and Syria, in a very dangerous part of Syria, that is not fully controlled by them," Mr Trump said in his social media post, adding that Mr al Sharaa was "extremely angry and disturbed".

Human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and Maria Kolesnikova, a key figure in the mass protests that rocked the country in 2020, were among those released.

Earlier on Saturday, the Trump administration confirmed that the US was lifting sanctions on Belarus's potash sector after officials held two days of talks in Minsk.

John Coale, US special envoy for Belarus, also hinted that around 1,000 remaining political prisoners in Belarus could be released in the coming months as authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia, seeks to improve relations with Washington.

Separately, Ukraine confirmed it had received 114 prisoners released by Belarus. The other nine were received by Lithuania.

Ms Kolesnikova, 43, known for her close-cropped hair and trademark gesture of forming a heart with her hands, was one of dozens of released prisoners who arrived in Ukraine by coach on Saturday.

"Of course, this feeling is incredible happiness," she said in a video released on X from the Military Intelligence of Ukraine.

"At the same time, of course, I think about those people who are not yet free. I am very much looking forward to the moment when we can all hug each other, when we can all see one another, when we will all be free," she added.

Ms Kolesnikova became a symbol of resistance when Belarusian authorities tried to deport her to Ukraine in September 2020. She broke away from security forces at the border, tore up her passport and walked back into Belarus.

The professional flautist was convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to seize power and sentenced to 11 years in prison, but then fell seriously ill and underwent surgery.

Mr Bialiatski, 63, who founded Viasna, Belarus' oldest and most prominent human rights group, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 while awaiting trial for charges which were widely regarded as politically motivated.

After arriving in Lithuania, he spoke briefly to crowds outside the US embassy in Vilnius and said in English: "Never give up".

He was seen by authorities as especially dangerous because of what Belarus alleged were his "extremist tendencies".

Sentenced to 10 years in 2023, he had been held at a penal colony in Gorki, notorious for beatings and hard labour, and his health was deteriorating, according to his wife.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee expressed "profound relief and heartfelt joy" at the release of Mr Bialiatski and called on the Belarusian authorities "to release all political prisoners".

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Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is an opposition leader in exile and a close ally of Ms Kolesnikova, posted her delight on X: "Maria is free!"

She added: "For five years, we fought for Maria Kolesnikova's freedom. I am deeply grateful to the US administration and our European partners who worked tirelessly to secure her release.

"Maria is in a safe place, and we hope to hear from her soon."

Ukrainian officials said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had also spoken to Ms Kolesnikova after her release, although they have not released any more details.

In a statement published on the Telegram social media platform, the Military Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed more details of who had been released, including people "imprisoned for political reasons".

Among the group were Viktar Babaryka, a former banker jailed in 2021 after challenging Mr Lukashenko at the polls, and journalist Maryna Zolatava, who was imprisoned in 2023 on a range of charges including harming national security. Critics argue both sentences were politically motivated.

President Lukashenko has ruled the nation with an iron fist for more than three decades, but has been repeatedly sanctioned by Western countries both for its crackdown on human rights and for allowing Moscow to use its territory in the invasion of Ukraine.

Following the two-day talks, US envoy John Coale posted on X: "Another 156 political prisoners released thanks to President Trump's leadership! An important step in US-Belarus relations."

It is not clear whether the figure includes previously released prisoners.

Speaking to the Reuters news agency on Saturday, Mr Coale said around 1,000 remaining political prisoners in Belarus could be released in the coming months.

"I think it's more than possible that we can do that, I think it's probable... We are on the right track, the momentum
is there."

US officials eased some sanctions after meeting with President Lukashenko in September 2025. In response, Minsk freed more than 50 political prisoners into Lithuania, taking the total number freed by Belarus since July 2024 to more than 430.

Mr Coale also spoke about weather balloons which have flying over the border from Belarus into Lithuania.

"He [Mr Lukashenko] agreed recently to do everything he could to stop the balloons," Mr Coale told the Reuters news agency.

Lithuania has declared a state of emergency over the balloons, used by cigarette smugglers, which have caused over a dozen closures of Vilnius airport in recent months.