BERLIN (AP) — The newly elected mayor of a town in western Germany was found with serious stabbing wounds on Tuesday, and Chancellor Friedrich Merz said she was the victim of “an abhorrent act.”

An ambulance stands in front of police cars on a street in Herdecke, Germany, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025, after the newly elected mayor of Herdecke, Iris Stalzer, has been found critically injured in her apartment. (Alex Talash/dpa via AP)

Iris Stalzer was elected as mayor of Herdecke on Sept. 28. She is a member of the center-left Social Democrats, the junior party in Germany’s conservative-led national government.

German news agency dpa, citing unidentified security sources, reported that she was found with life-threatening injuries and had several stabbing wounds.

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Police said only that there was a large operation underway in Herdecke.

Merz wrote on social media that “we fear for the life of mayor-elect Iris Stalzer and hope for her full recovery.”

The leader of the Social Democrats’ parliamentary group in Berlin, Matthias Miersch, told reporters that “we heard a few minutes ago that newly elected mayor Iris Stalzer was stabbed in Herdecke.” He said that “we hope that she survives this terrible act.”

“We can’t say anything at the moment about the background,” he added.

Stalzer, who beat a candidate from Merz’s center-right Christian Democrats in a runoff vote to win election, is due to take office on Nov. 1. Herdecke is a town of about 23,000 people in western Germany’s Ruhr region, between the cities of Hagen and Dortmund.

Stalzer’s website says she is 57 and married with two teenage children. It says she has spent almost her whole life in Herdecke and has worked as a lawyer specializing in labor law.

By SAMY MAGDY and DAVID RISING, Associated Press

CAIRO (AP) — Peace talks between Israel and Hamas resumed at an Egyptian resort city on Tuesday, the two-year anniversary of the militant group’s surprise attack on Israel that triggered the bloody conflict that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in Gaza.

The second day of indirect negotiations at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh are focused on a plan proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump last week that aims to bring about an end to the war.

After several hours of talks Monday, an Egyptian official with knowledge of the discussions said the parties agreed on most of the first-phase terms, which include the release of hostages and establishing a ceasefire. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meetings, said the talks resumed Tuesday afternoon.

The plan has received widespread international backing, and Trump told reporters on Monday that he thought there was a “really good chance” of a lasting deal.

“This is beyond Gaza,” he said. “Gaza is a big deal, but this is really peace in the Middle East.”

Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told journalists that members of the U.S. delegation would join the talks on Wednesday.

Trump’s peace plan

Many uncertainties remain, however, including the demand that Hamas disarm and the future governance of Gaza.

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long said Hamas must surrender and disarm, but Hamas has not yet commented.

The plan envisions Israel withdrawing its troops from Gaza after Hamas disarms, and an international security force being put in place. The territory would be placed under international governance, with Trump and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair overseeing it.

The war began on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251.

The devastating war that has ensued has upended global politics, resulted in the deaths of 67,160 Palestinians and nearly 170,000 wounded, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and left the territory in ruins.

The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but says more than half of the deaths were women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government, and the United Nations and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.

A growing number of experts, including those commissioned by a U.N. body, have said Israel’s offensive in Gaza amounts to genocide — an accusation Israel vehemently denies.

On Tuesday at the area attacked by Hamas two years ago, thousands of Israelis gathered to pay tribute to loved ones who were killed and kidnapped. An explosion echoed across the fields following the launch of a rocket in northern Gaza. No damage or injuries were reported.

People attend a memorial service marking two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas cross-border attack on Israel, in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, southern Israel where many of its community members were Killed and abducted, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

In Gaza City, residents said Israeli attacks continued until Tuesday’s early hours. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

“We pray to God that this war will end as soon as possible, today instead of tomorrow,” Sanaa Adwan, a displaced woman, said in Khan Younis on Monday.

A promise of humanitarian relief

Ahead of the resumption of talks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the hostilities have created “a humanitarian catastrophe on a scale that defied comprehension.”

“The recent proposal by U.S. President Donald J. Trump presents an opportunity that must be seized to bring this tragic conflict to an end,” Guterres said in a statement.

Mediators from Qatar and Egypt are facilitating the talks, meeting first on Monday with members of the Hamas delegation and later with those from Israel.

Monday’s talks went for four hours, according to Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.

Israel’s delegation included Gal Hirsch, coordinator for the hostages and the missing from Netanyahu’s office. Hamas representatives included top negotiator Khalil Al-Hayya.

White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said Monday that U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner were on hand to take part in the talks.

She did not comment on a specific deadline for concluding them, but said it is important “that we get this done quickly.”

Part of the plan is to surge humanitarian aid into Gaza, where more than 2 million Palestinians are facing hunger and, in some areas, famine.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said there are “many thousands of metric tons in the pipeline of goods ready to enter” from Jordan, the Israeli port of Ashdod and elsewhere.

Rising reported from Bangkok. Melanie Lidman in Reim, Israel; Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel;Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court will hear arguments in its latest LGBTQ+ rights case Tuesday, weighing the constitutionality of bans passed by nearly half of U.S. states on the practice known as conversion therapy for children.

The justices are hearing a lawsuit from a Christian counselor challenging a Colorado law that prohibits therapy aimed at changing sexual orientation or gender identity. Kaley Chiles, with support from President Donald Trump’s Republican administration, argues the law violates her freedom of speech by barring her from offering voluntary, faith-based therapy for kids.

Colorado, on the other hand, says the measure simply regulates licensed therapists by barring a practice that’s been scientifically discredited and linked to serious harm.

The arguments come months after the Supreme Court’s conservative majority found states can ban transition-related health care for transgender youths, a setback for LGBTQ rights. The justices are also expected to hear a case about sports participation by transgender players this term.

State says therapy is health care and subject to regulation

Colorado has not sanctioned anyone under the 2019 law, which exempts religious ministries. State attorneys say it still allows any therapist to have wide-ranging, faith-based conversations with young patients about gender and sexuality.

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“The only thing that the law prohibits therapists from doing is performing a treatment that seeks the predetermined outcome of changing a minor’s sexual orientation or gender identity because that treatment is unsafe and ineffective,” Colorado state attorneys wrote.

Therapy isn’t just speech, they said — it’s health care that governments have a responsibility to regulate. Violating the law carries potential fines of $5,000 and license suspension or even revocation.

Linda Robertson is a Christian mom of four from Washington state whose son Ryan underwent therapy that promised to change his sexual orientation after he came out to her at age 12. The techniques led him to blame himself when it didn’t work, leaving him ashamed and depressed. He died in 2009, after multiple suicide attempts and a drug overdose at age 20.

“What happened in conversion therapy, it devastated Ryan’s bond with me and my husband,” she said. “And it absolutely destroyed his confidence he could ever be loved or accepted by God.”

Chiles contends her approach is different from the kind of conversion therapy once associated with practices like shock therapy decades ago. She said she believes “people flourish when they live consistently with God’s design, including their biological sex,” and she argues evidence of harm from her approach is lacking.

Chiles says Colorado is discriminating because it allows counselors to affirm minors coming out as gay or identifying as transgender but bans counseling like hers for young patients who may want to change their behavior or feelings. “We’re not saying this counseling should be mandatory, but if someone wants the counseling they should be able to get it,” said one of her attorneys, Jonathan Scruggs.

The Trump administration said there are First Amendment issues with Colorado’s law that should make the law subject to a higher legal standard that few measures pass.

Similar laws also face court challenges

Chiles is represented by Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal organization that has appeared frequently at the court in recent years. The group also represented a Christian website designer who doesn’t want to work with same-sex couples and successfully challenged a Colorado anti-discrimination law in 2023.

The group’s argument in the conversion therapy case also builds on another victory from 2018: A Supreme Court decision found California could not force state-licensed anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers to provide information about abortion. Chiles should also be free from that kind of state regulation, the group argued.

Still, the Supreme Court has also found that regulations that only “incidentally” burden speech are permissible, and the state argues that striking down its law against conversion therapy would undercut states’ ability to regulate discredited health care of all kids.

The high court agreed to hear the case after the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the law. Another appeals court, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta, has struck down similar bans in Florida.

Legal wrangling has continued elsewhere as well. In Wisconsin, the state’s highest court recently cleared the way for the state to enforce its ban. Virginia officials, by contrast, have agreed to scale back the enforcement of its law as part of an agreement with a faith-based conservative group that sued.

By MARY CLARE JALONICK, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats believe health care is an issue that resonates with a majority of Americans as they demand an extension of subsidies in exchange for their votes to reopen the shuttered U.S. government. But it is also one of the most intractable issues in Congress — and a real compromise amid the government shutdown will not likely be easy, or quick.

There are some Republicans in Congress who want to extend the higher subsidies, which were first put in place in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as millions of people who receive their insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplaces are set to receive notices that their premiums will increase at the beginning of the year. But many GOP lawmakers are strongly opposed to any extension — and see the debate as a new opportunity to cut back on the program altogether.

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“If Republicans govern by poll and fail to grab this moment, they will own it,” wrote Texas Rep. Chip Roy, a Republican, in a letter published in the The Wall Street Journal over the weekend. He encouraged senators not to go “wobbly” on the issue.

“The jig is up, the pandemic is over and my colleagues shouldn’t blink in any other direction,” Roy wrote.

Republicans have been railing against the Affordable Care Act, former President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, since it was enacted 15 years ago. But while they have been able to chip away at it, they have not been able to substantially alter it as a record 24 million people are now signed up for insurance coverage through the ACA, in large part because billions of dollars in subsidies have made the plans more affordable for many people.

Now, some of them see the Democrats’ fight as their chance to revisit the issue — putting Republican congressional leaders and President Donald Trump in a complicated position as the government shutdown enters its seventh day and hundreds of thousands of federal workers are going unpaid.

“I am happy to work with Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to reopen,” Trump wrote on social media Monday night, walking back earlier comments saying there were ongoing negotiations with Democrats.

Waiting for the other side to blink

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has repeatedly indicated that Republicans are open to extending the subsidies, with reforms, if Democrats would reopen the government. But he has refused to negotiate until that happens — and has suggested Trump will be key to the eventual outcome.

Thune told reporters Monday “there may be a path forward” on ACA subsidies, but stressed, “I think a lot of it would come down to where the White House lands on that.”

Many GOP senators argue the only path forward is to overhaul the law. “The whole problem with all of this is Obamacare,” said Florida Sen. Rick Scott.

Most House Republicans agree, and House Speaker Mike Johnson has been noncommittal on discussions.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., leaves after holding a news conference on the 6th day of the government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. Johnson is keeping the House out of session for the second week in a row during the shutdown. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

“Obamacare is not working,” Johnson said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We’re trying to fix it.”

Democrats believe that public sentiment is on their side and argue that Trump and Republicans will have to come to the negotiating table as people who are enrolled in the program, many of whom live in Republican districts and states, are notified that their rates will increase.

“All I can tell you is the American people feel very deeply about solving this health care crisis,” Schumer said after the Senate rejected a House-passed bill to reopen the government for the fifth time Monday evening. “Every poll we have seen shows they want us to do it, and they feel that the Republicans are far more responsible for the shutdown than we are.”

Bipartisan talks face difficulties

With leaders at odds, some rank-and-file senators in both parties have been in private talks to try to find a way out of the shutdown. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota has suggested extending the subsidies for a year and then phasing them out. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Susan Collins, R-Maine, has suggested pushing ahead with a group of bipartisan spending bills that are pending and a commitment to discuss the health care issue.

But many Democrats say a commitment isn’t good enough, and Republicans say they need deeper reforms — leaving the talks, and the U.S. government, at a standstill.

Maine Sen. Angus King, an Independent who caucuses with Democrats, voted with Republicans to keep the government open. But he said Monday that he might switch his vote to “no” if Republicans do not “offer some real solid evidence that they are going to help us with this crisis” on health care.

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma said his party is “not budging,” however. “First and foremost, before we can talk about anything, they need to reopen the government.”

Some Republicans urge action on health care

Still, some Republicans say they are open to extending the subsidies — even if they don’t like them — as it becomes clear that their constituents will face rising costs.

“I’m willing to consider various reforms, but I think we have to do something,” said Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri. He said Congress should address the issue “sooner rather than later” before open enrollment begins Nov. 1.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said she is “not a fan” of Obamacare but indicated she might vote to extend it.

“I’m going to go against everyone on this issue because when the tax credits expire this year my own adult children’s insurance premiums for 2026 are going to DOUBLE, along with all the wonderful families and hard-working people in my district,” she posted on social media Monday evening.