US President Donald Trump said on Friday that American journalist Austin Tice, captured in Syria more than 12 years ago, has not been seen in years. Trump was asked if he brought up Tice when he met with Syria's new President Ahmed al-Sharaa during a visit to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday."I always talk about Austin Tice. Now you know Austin Tice hasn't been seen in many, many years," Trump replied. "He's got a great mother who's just working so hard to find her boy. So I understand it, but Austin has not been seen in many, many years."Tice, a former US Marine and a freelance journalist, was 31 when he was abducted in August 2012 while reporting in Damascus on the uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was ousted by Syrian rebels who seized the capital Damascus in December. Syria had denied he was being held.

US law enforcement officials said on Thursday they were looking into a social media post by former FBI Director James Comey depicting an image of "8647," which some Trump supporters interpreted as a threat against President Donald Trump.Comey, who was fired by Trump in 2017, later took down the post, saying he was unaware the apparent political message could have been associated with violence.In US parlance the number 86 can be used as verb meaning to throw somebody out of a bar for being drunk or disorderly, and 47 is code for Trump, the 47th president. Some Trump supporters interpreted the message as one to violently remove Trump from office, including by assassination.The Merriam-Webster Dictionary says on its website that one recent meaning of the term was "to kill" but that it had not adopted that "due to its relative recency and sparseness of use."The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting the president, said it was aware of Comey's post but did not assess its meaning.