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What to know about the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump in Florida

What to know about the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump in Florida
Separately, prosecutors trying the case asked a judge ahead of the September trial to rule out the introduction of inadmissible evidence, such as Routh’s previous writings, that may unfairly influence jurors. (REUTERS)
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Updated 25 July 2025

What to know about the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump in Florida

What to know about the man charged with trying to assassinate Trump in Florida
  • Ryan Routh’s court-appointed federal public defenders asked to be taken off the case, saying he had refused repeated attempts to meet with their team
  • Separately, prosecutors trying the case asked a judge ahead of the September trial to rule out the introduction of inadmissible evidence, such as Routh’s previous writings, that may unfairly influence

A man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump in South Florida last year was back in court this week, asking a federal judge to let him represent himself, as prosecutors tried to block him from introducing irrelevant evidence during trial.
Ryan Routh’s court-appointed federal public defenders on Thursday asked to be taken off the case, saying he had refused repeated attempts to meet with their team.
Separately, prosecutors trying the case asked a judge ahead of the September trial to rule out the introduction of inadmissible evidence, such as Routh’s previous writings, that may unfairly influence jurors. The judge was planning to hear arguments over that matter on Friday.
Here’s what to know about the case.
The judge lets Ryan Routh represent himself
US District Judge Aileen Cannon signed off Thursday on Ryan Routh’s request to represent himself during his trial but said court-appointed attorneys need to remain as standby counsel.
The judge told Routh that she believed it was a bad idea for Routh to represent himself, but he wouldn’t be dissuaded. Routh, who has described the extent of his education as two years of college after earning his GED certificate, told Cannon that he understood and would be ready.
On Friday, the judge was hearing a motion from prosecutors to limit unrelated evidence at trial. “As the Court knows, Routh has been very explicit in his desire to turn this trial into a circus where his supposed good character is weighed against the President’s,” the prosecutors wrote.
Routh is a self-styled mercenary leader
The 59-year-old Routh was a North Carolina construction worker who in recent years had moved to Hawaii. A self-styled mercenary leader, Routh spoke out to anyone who would listen about his dangerous, sometimes violent plans to insert himself into conflicts around the world, witnesses have told The Associated Press.
In the early days of the war in Ukraine, Routh tried to recruit soldiers from Afghanistan, Moldova and Taiwan to fight the Russians. In his native Greensboro, North Carolina, he had a 2002 arrest for eluding a traffic stop and barricading himself from officers with a fully automatic machine gun and a “weapon of mass destruction,” which turned out to be an explosive with a 10-inch-long fuse.
In 2010, police searched a warehouse Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen items, from power tools and building supplies to kayaks and spa tubs. In both felony cases, judges gave Routh either probation or a suspended sentence.
Routh is charged with attempted assassination
Authorities said Routh tried to assassinate Trump, who was running for his second term last September as the GOP presidential nominee, while he played golf at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Routh is facing five felony counts in federal court in Fort Pierce, Florida. They include attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate; possessing a firearm to carry out a violent crime; assaulting a federal officer; felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition; and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Judge presided over Trump’s classified documents case
If the judge’s name sounds familiar, it’s because she presided over another high-profile case involving Trump — the classified documents case.
Last year, Cannon sided with Trump’s lawyers who said the special counsel who filed the charges was illegally appointed by the US Justice Department. Cannon’s ruling halted a criminal case that at the time it was filed was widely regarded as the most perilous of all the legal threats the president faced before he returned to office last January.
Cannon was a former federal prosecutor who was nominated to the bench by Trump in 2020.
Trump was not hurt in the incident
He was fine. US Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing golf noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away. An agent fired, and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera. He was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.
Last September’s assassination attempt took place just nine weeks after Trump survived another attempt on his life in Pennsylvania.


Putin defiant after Trump sanctions Russian oil companies over Ukraine

Putin defiant after Trump sanctions Russian oil companies over Ukraine
Updated 10 sec ago

Putin defiant after Trump sanctions Russian oil companies over Ukraine

Putin defiant after Trump sanctions Russian oil companies over Ukraine
  • Putin shrugs off impact expanded US-EU sanctions, warns on long-range weapons
  • US sanctions prompted Chinese state oil majors to suspend Russian oil purchases in the short term

MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin remained defiant on Thursday after US President Donald Trump hit Russia’s two biggest oil companies with sanctions to pressure the Kremlin leader to end the war in Ukraine, a move that pushed global oil prices up 5 percent.
The US sanctions prompted Chinese state oil majors to suspend Russian oil purchases in the short term, trade sources told Reuters. Refiners in India, the largest buyer of seaborne Russian oil, are set to sharply cut their crude imports, according to industry sources.
The sanctions target oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil, which together account for more than 5 percent of global oil output, and mark a dramatic U-turn by Trump, who said only last week that he and Putin would soon hold a summit in Budapest to try to end the war in Ukraine.
While the financial impact on Russia may be limited in the short term, the move is a powerful signal of Trump’s intent to squeeze Russia’s finances and force the Kremlin toward a peace deal in its 3-1/2-year-old full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Putin derided the sanctions as an unfriendly act, saying they would not significantly affect the Russian economy and talked up Russia’s importance to the global market. He warned a sharp supply drop would push up prices and be uncomfortable for countries like the United States.
“This is, of course, an attempt to put pressure on Russia,” Putin said. “But no self-respecting country and no self-respecting people ever decides anything under pressure.”
Asked about Putin comment that the new sanctions would not have significant impact, Trump told reporters later on Thursday: “I’m glad he feels that way. That’s good. I’ll let you know about it in six months from now.”
With Ukraine asking US and European allies for long-range missiles to help turn the tide in the war, Putin also warned that Moscow’s response to strikes deep into Russia would be “very serious, if not overwhelming.”

Trump’s latest about face
Trump, in his latest about-face on the conflict, said on Wednesday that the planned Putin summit was off because it would not achieve the outcome he wanted and complained that his many “good conversations” with Putin did not “go anywhere.”
“We canceled the meeting with President Putin — it just didn’t feel right to me,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “It didn’t feel like we were going to get to the place we have to get. So I canceled it, but we’ll do it in the future.”
Putin said Trump most likely meant the summit had been postponed. The two leaders met in Alaska in August.
Russia has signalled that its conditions for ending the war in Ukraine — terms which Kyiv and many European countries regard as tantamount to surrender — remain unchanged.
The conflict raged on as European Union leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss funding for Ukraine.
EU leaders agreed to meet Ukraine’s pressing financial needs for the next two years but stopped short of explicitly endorsing the use of Russian frozen assets to give Kyiv a large loan, after concerns were raised by Belgium.
Moscow said it would deliver a “painful response” if the assets were seized.

Zelensky urges more pressure on Moscow
Ukraine’s Zelensky hailed the sanctions as “very important” but that more pressure would be needed on Moscow to get it to agree to a ceasefire.
After the August summit with Putin, Trump dropped his demand for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and embraced Moscow’s preferred option of going straight to negotiating an overall peace settlement.
But in recent days he has reverted to the idea of an immediate ceasefire, something that Kyiv supports but which Moscow, whose forces are steadily edging forward on the battlefield, has repeatedly made clear it has no interest in.
Russia has said it opposes a ceasefire because it believes it would only be a temporary pause before fighting resumes, giving Ukraine time and space to rearm at a time when Moscow says it has the initiative on the battlefield.
Separately, EU and NATO member Lithuania on Thursday said two Russian military aircraft briefly entered its airspace, prompting a formal protest and a reaction from NATO forces, while Russia denied the incident.

EU targets Russian LNG
In another bid to starve Moscow of revenue, the European Union adopted its 19th package of Russia sanctions on Thursday, banning Russian liquefied natural gas imports and targeting entities including Chinese refiners and Central Asian banks.
The EU has reduced its reliance on once-dominant supplier Russia by roughly 90 percent since 2022, when the current conflict began, but nonetheless imported more than 11 billion euros of Russian energy in the first eight months of this year. LNG now represents the biggest EU import of Russian energy.
Russian oil and gas revenue, currently down by 21 percent year-on-year, accounts for around one-quarter of its budget and is the most important source of cash for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year.
However, Moscow’s main revenue source comes from taxing output, not exports, which is likely to soften the immediate impact of the sanctions on state finances.


How the EU wants to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine

How the EU wants to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine
Updated 47 min 30 sec ago

How the EU wants to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine

How the EU wants to use Russian assets to fund Ukraine
  • So-called “reparation loan” is seen as crucial to helping keep Kyiv in the fight against Moscow — but it is fraught with legal and political perils
  • The EU froze some 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets after Moscow’s tanks rolled into Ukraine in 2022

BRUSSELS, Belgium: EU leaders on Thursday took a cautious first step toward using Russian frozen assets to provide a mammoth new loan for Ukraine — though marathon talks in Brussels failed to produce a clear green light.
The so-called “reparation loan” is seen as crucial to helping keep Kyiv in the fight against Moscow and making the Kremlin pay — but it is fraught with legal and political perils.
To get around them, the European Commission has floated a complex scheme it says could hand 140 billion euros ($162 billion) to Kyiv over the next few years.
Here’s what is at stake and how it could work:

What’s happened? 

The EU froze some 200 billion euros of Russian central bank assets after Moscow’s tanks rolled into Ukraine in 2022.
The vast majority are held in international deposit organization Euroclear, based in Belgium.
G7 countries have already used the interest of the frozen assets to fund a $50-billion loan for Ukraine.
But as Russia’s war drags on through a fourth year — and support dries up from Washington — Kyiv’s backers are now looking to go further to help plug its budget.

What’s the plan? 

While more hawkish countries in the EU have called to just seize the Russian assets outright, that is a red line for many others.
To get around that, the European Commission, the EU’s executive, has floated a financial switcheroo that it insists does not touch the Russian sovereign assets.
Instead, under the proposal the EU would borrow funds from Euroclear that have matured into cash.
That money would then in turn be loaned to Ukraine, on the understanding that Kyiv would only repay the loan if Russia coughs up for the damage it has wrought.
The scheme would be “fully guaranteed” by the EU’s 27 member states — who would have to ensure repayment themselves to Euroclear if they eventually decided Russia could reclaim the assets without paying reparations.

Belgian demands? 

Belgium has been the most vocal skeptic of a plan it fears could open up the country to costly legal challenges from Russia.
Prime Minister Bart De Wever has insisted that to move ahead Belgium needs firm guarantees from all other EU states that they will share the liability if Moscow comes calling.
He also wants other countries in the bloc to promise to start tapping Russian assets frozen in their territories.
He warned at Thursday’s summit that unless those conditions were met, he would do all in his power “politically and legally, to stop this decision.”

What’s next? 

Thursday’s summit conclusions — adopted by all member states with the exception of Hungary, seen as Russia’s closest ally in the 27-nation bloc — had to be watered down in light of objections from Belgium.
The text did not mention the loan directly, instead inviting the commission to present “options for financial support” for Ukraine for 2026 and 2027 — to be presented to leaders at their next summit in December.
There is certain to be lengthy wrangling over the small print of any proposal, with lawyers poised to go through it with a fine-tooth comb.
One key sticking point could be the conditions for how the funds can eventually be spent by Kyiv.
France is insisting that the bulk of the funds go to buying weapons from within Europe, as it seeks to bolster the EU’s defense industry.
The commission has backed that argument for now but other member states insist the focus should be on allowing Kyiv to get what it needs to fight Moscow, wherever it comes from.
That could also help to keep US President Donald Trump on side by pumping some of the funds to buying American weaponry.
 


Palestine justice group seeks court summons for British citizen who fought for Israel

Palestine justice group seeks court summons for British citizen who fought for Israel
Updated 24 October 2025

Palestine justice group seeks court summons for British citizen who fought for Israel

Palestine justice group seeks court summons for British citizen who fought for Israel
  • The human rights organization intends to argue that the Briton joined a foreign army engaged in conflict with a state, Palestine, with which the UK was not at war
  • A law from 1870 bans British citizens from accepting or agreeing to military service for foreign nations at war with state that is at peace with Britain

LONDON: The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians has launched a legal bid to initiate a private prosecution against British citizens who fought for Israel.

The human rights group plans to argue in court that the Britons joined a foreign army engaged in a conflict with Palestine, a state with which the UK was not at war.

An application for a summons against one named individual was submitted to a magistrates' court on Monday, The Guardian reported on Thursday. The newspaper described the attempt to mount a private prosecution of this kind as “highly unusual.”

The ICJP argues that individuals who fought for Israeli forces in Palestine violated Section 4 of the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870, which prohibits a person from accepting or agreeing to military service for foreign nations at war with a state that is at peace with the UK.

Palestine, which the British government officially recognized as a state in September, has never engaged in any act of war against the UK. The region was a British colony for nearly 30 years until 1948.

Though the legal papers only identify one individual for attempted prosecution, the ICJP reportedly has evidence on more than 10 British citizens. In the interests of securing a successful prosecution, and to avoid prejudicing the case, the organization has not publicly identified the individual named in the summons.

The ICJP accuses the Israeli army of engaging in a war that not only targets Hamas militants in Gaza, but all Palestinians and the State of Palestine itself. The repeated military operations and acts of aggression also extend to Palestinians and civilian infrastructure in the West Bank, demonstrating that Israel has been at war with all of Palestine, it argues.

The organization will need show that the defendant is a British citizen who accepted a commission in the Israeli armed forces, that Israel was at war with Palestine, and that Palestine is a foreign state that was not involved in a conflict with the UK.

Israeli law does not require anyone outside its own territory, including Israelis who are British subjects, to serve in its military. Therefore, any British nationals who fought with Israeli forces would have done so voluntarily.


At a pumpkin festival near Berlin, powerful women take shape — one gourd at a time

At a pumpkin festival near Berlin, powerful women take shape — one gourd at a time
Updated 23 October 2025

At a pumpkin festival near Berlin, powerful women take shape — one gourd at a time

At a pumpkin festival near Berlin, powerful women take shape — one gourd at a time
  • The festival started in 2004 as more and more Germans were embracing the American tradition of Halloween
  • After exploring different topics over the past 21 years, this year is all about women’s power

BEELITZ, Germany: The pumpkin is the undisputed star of the show at the Klaistow farm near Berlin.
Over 100,000 pumpkins in various shapes and colors are laid out across the farm and on shelves along its winding paths — 500 different varieties from around the world, each labeled with its name and origin.
The huge pumpkin festival on the farm 56 kilometers (35 miles) southwest of the German capital, which is now taking place for the 22nd time, has become so popular that it draws up to 12,000 visitors on weekend days and more than 5,000 on weekdays.
This year it features 15 larger-than-life pumpkin sculptures and many kinds of sweet and savory food offerings — all made with pumpkin.
The pumpkins hail from the farm’s own pumpkin patches and from around the world.

A pumpkin sculpture depicting a goddess with six arms, is displayed at Klaistow farm's annual pumpkin festival, which this year celebrates "powerful women," in Beelitz near Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 21, 2025. (AP)

The festival started in 2004 as more and more Germans were embracing the American tradition of Halloween. In just a few short years it became common for Germans to put carved pumpkins in their yards, for kids to go trick-or-treating and for young adults to revel in gory costumes at parties.
The theme of the first exhibition was how the pumpkin came to Europe, said Antje Winkelmann, who co-runs the family farm, saying it was “a great topic, as it came from America to Europe.”
“Christopher Columbus brought it with him, and we rebuilt the ship that Christopher Columbus sailed on and told the whole story,” she said.
After exploring different topics over the past 21 years, this year is all about women’s power.
“We had sports, we had ancient Rome, we had the Alps and mountains and the world of stars and planets. And now it really felt like it was time for women to be the topic,” Winkelmann said.
They pored over lists of famous women, she said, and then chose a few “based on what would be easy to present, what would be appealing to the eye.”
Winners included Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, the beloved fictional Swedish book character Pippi Longstocking, and ancient Egypt’s Cleopatra — all of them, of course, created from colorful pumpkins.
“We realized there really were and are a lot of amazing women,” Winkelmann said.

A pumpkin sculpture depicting Mexican artist Frida Kahlo is displayed at Klaistow farm's annual pumpkin festival, which this year celebrates "powerful women," in Beelitz near Berlin, Germany, on Oct. 21, 2025. (AP)

On a recent day, families explored the vast farm, strolling past a huge Marge Simpson, her hair made up of dozens of brown, round winter squash, her dress created with small orange pumpkins. Nearby was Elsa from the children’s all-time favorite movie “Frozen,” dressed in pale yellow pumpkins.
Bertha Benz, the famous German automotive pioneer, sat on an early model Mercedes, the wheels decorated with the same kind of orange winter squash as her long skirt.
Gesine Struppert, who visited the farm with her little daughter from the town of Wittenberg, said she was inspired to make new pumpkin dishes at home and was impressed by the sculptures.
“It’s pretty crazy,” she said.
For sale were 30 different kind of pumpkins, both edible and decorative, and many pumpkin delicacies.
“Of course, pumpkin is also on the menu,” Winkelmann said. “We have stuffed pumpkin and chicken coated with pumpkin sauce. We have pumpkin tarte flambée, pumpkin crème brûlée, all kinds of things with pumpkin, so you can try them out. And in our bakery, of course, pumpkin is also in the spotlight, with pumpkin seeds, pumpkin seed bread, pumpkin cake, pumpkin cream slices.”
 


Met Police sack British officer over ‘racism’ revealed in BBC Panorama probe

Met Police sack British officer over ‘racism’ revealed in BBC Panorama probe
Updated 23 October 2025

Met Police sack British officer over ‘racism’ revealed in BBC Panorama probe

Met Police sack British officer over ‘racism’ revealed in BBC Panorama probe
  • Philip Neilson dismissed with immediate effect on Thursday after Met hearing upholds three allegations, including making ‘highly racist and discriminatory remarks’ about different ethnic groups
  • Neilson is the first of 10 current or former officers to face a hearing as part of the Metropolitan Police’s accelerated misconduct proceedings regarding footage recorded during the investigation

LONDON: A Metropolitan Police officer at Charing Cross police station in London has been sacked for gross misconduct after being secretly recorded in a BBC Panorama undercover investigation making racist comments and endorsing inappropriate force.

Philip Neilson was dismissed with immediate effect on Thursday after a Met hearing upheld three allegations against him, including making “highly racist and discriminatory remarks” about different ethnic groups.

Neilson was recorded by BBC undercover reporter Rory Bibb describing an “invasion” of “scum” from the Middle East, and making offensive remarks about individuals from Algeria and Somalia.

He is the first of 10 current or former officers to face a hearing as part of the Met Police’s accelerated misconduct proceedings regarding footage recorded during the Panorama investigation, according to the BBC.

The first allegation against Neilson involved glorifying the use of inappropriate force against a restrained detainee and promoting unlawful violence against migrants.

The second involved Neilson referring to Somalians as “scum” and claiming there was an invasion of the UK by migrants, comments the undercover reporter described as “floridly racist.”

Neilson was also recorded saying a detainee who had overstayed his visa stay in the UK should have a “bullet through his head.”

Commander Jason Prins, chair of the panel held in southwest London on Thursday, found all the allegations proven.

“It was or must have been obvious to him that the comments made were abhorrent,” Prins said. “The conduct of the officer is a disgrace.”

Neilson, who had worked for the Met Police for four years, denied being racist and said that the BBC undercover reporter had “breached his human rights.”

The officer acknowledged that the remarks were inappropriate, but argued that they only constituted misconduct, with some being made while he was intoxicated after consuming a large amount of alcohol.

A second police officer featured in BBC Panorama, Martin Borg, was also dismissed on Thursday after the Met’s panel upheld five out of eight allegations of gross misconduct against him.

The scandal is the second to affect Charing Cross police station in central London following the exposure of shocking messages exchanged by officers in 2022. Officers at the station were found by the Independent Office for Police Conduct to have joked about rape and domestic abuse, and also made racist comments in messages exchanged from 2016-2018, The Independent reported.