World
Trump safe after assassination attempt thwarted at Florida golf course
The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe on Sunday after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI called an apparent assassination attempt while he was golfing on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Several Secret Service agents fired on a gunman in bushes near the property line of the golf course after he was spotted a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing, law enforcement officials said.
The suspect left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested, Reuters reported.
The apparent attempt on Trump’s life came just two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, sustaining a minor injury to his right ear.
Both incidents highlight the challenges of keeping presidential candidates safe in a hotly contested and polarized campaign with just over seven weeks to go before the Nov. 5 election.
“I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes – It was certainly an interesting day!,” Trump said on social media late on Sunday, thanking Secret Service and police for keeping him safe.
CNN, Fox News and The New York Times identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, citing unidentified law enforcement officials. The FBI declined to comment and Reuters could not independently verify his identity.
It was not clear if or how the suspect knew Trump was playing golf at the time, or what his motive was, but the attempted attack was sure to raise new questions about the level of protection he is given.
World
Trump says he may go to Islamabad if Iran deal reached
Trump struck an optimistic tone about Iran as he spoke with reporters on the White House lawn on his way to a trip to Nevada and Arizona.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that if a deal with Iran to conclude the war is reached and signed in Islamabad, he might go, and that Iran has agreed to almost everything, Reuters reported.
Trump struck an optimistic tone about Iran as he spoke with reporters on the White House lawn on his way to a trip to Nevada and Arizona. He said he could extend a U.S.-Iran ceasefire set to expire next week, but may not need to do so.
“If a deal is signed in Islamabad I may go,” Trump said. “They want me.”
He also said without providing evidence that Iran has agreed to give up the enriched uranium believed buried from U.S.-Israeli airstrikes last year. Trump is pushing for a deal with Iran in which Tehran would give up its nuclear program.
World
White House denies U.S. requested ceasefire, says new talks may happen in Pakistan
Speaking at a White House press briefing, Leavitt said any fresh talks would likely be in Pakistan again as it has emerged as the “only mediator” in the effort to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Reports that the White House has requested a ceasefire in the Iran war are wrong, press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Wednesday but added that discussions about a second round of talks with the Iranians were ongoing and productive, Reuters reported.
Speaking at a White House press briefing, Leavitt said any fresh talks would likely be in Pakistan again as it has emerged as the “only mediator” in the effort to end the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
“These conversations are productive and ongoing, and that’s where we are right now. I’ve also seen some reporting about the potentiality for in-person discussions. Again, those discussions are being had, but nothing is official until you hear it from us here at the White House, but we feel good about the prospects of a deal,” Leavitt said.
The talks last weekend broke down without an agreement to end the war, which President Donald Trump began alongside Israel on February 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Iran’s Gulf neighbors and reigniting a conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, read the report.
The war has led Iran to effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz – a vital artery for global crude and gas shipments – to ships other than its own, sharply reducing exports from the Gulf, particularly to Asia and Europe, and leaving energy importers scrambling for alternative supplies.
World
US hosts rare Israel-Lebanon talks, progress unclear
The U.S. State Department released a statement after the meeting saying the two sides had “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted the first direct talks between Israel and Lebanon in decades on Tuesday and both sides said they held positive discussions although it was not immediately clear if they agreed to a framework for peace, Reuters reported.
The meeting marked a rare encounter between representatives of governments that have technically been in a state of war since Israel was established in 1948. They entered the talks with conflicting agendas, with Israel ruling out discussion of a ceasefire in Lebanon and demanding Beirut disarm Hezbollah.
The U.S. State Department released a statement after the meeting saying the two sides had “productive discussions on steps toward launching direct negotiations.”
It set out each country’s positions but did not say they had reached any common ground. “All sides agreed to launch direct negotiations at a mutually agreed time and venue,” the statement said.
Speaking to reporters after the more than two-hour-long meeting in Washington, Yechiel Leiter, Israeli ambassador to the United States, said the Lebanese government made it clear during the talks that it will no longer be “occupied” by Iran-aligned Lebanese militia Hezbollah. He declined to say whether Israel would cease its attacks on Lebanon.
Lebanese ambassador Nada Moawad described the preliminary meeting as “constructive”. In a statement to Reuters, she said in the meeting she called for a ceasefire and the return of displaced people to their homes and measures to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Lebanon caused by the conflict.
The meeting comes at a critical juncture in the crisis in the Middle East, a week into a fragile ceasefire between the United States, Israel and Iran.
The wider conflict in the region began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28. Hezbollah opened fire in support of Tehran on March 2, sparking an Israeli offensive that has killed more than 2,000 people and forced 1.2 million from their homes, according to Lebanese authorities.
The presence of Rubio, President Donald Trump’s top diplomat and national security adviser, signalled Washington’s desire to see progress.
Trump has urged Israel to scale back attacks in Lebanon apparently to avoid undermining the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran. The Middle East conflict has led to the largest oil supply disruption in history, piling pressure on Trump to find an off-ramp, read the report.
Iran says Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon must be included in any agreement to end the wider war in the Middle East, complicating talks mediated by Pakistan aimed at averting further economic fallout. Washington has pushed back, saying there is no link between the two sets of talks.
Speaking at the start of the meeting, Rubio acknowledged that Tuesday’s talks would not solve “all of the complexities” but he hoped they would help form a framework for peace.
Israeli ambassador Leiter later expressed hope but did not mention a concrete way forward.
“What gives me hope is the fact that the Lebanese Government made it very clear that they will no longer be occupied by Hezbollah… This is an opportunity. This is the first time our two countries are sitting together in over three decades,” Leiter said, adding that there may be further talks in the coming weeks.
The Lebanese government led by President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam has called for negotiations with Israel despite objections from Hezbollah, reflecting worsening tensions between the Shi’ite Muslim group and its opponents.
The Lebanese state has been seeking to disarm Hezbollah peacefully since a war between the militia and Israel in 2024. Any move by Lebanon to disarm it by force risks igniting conflict in a country shattered by civil war from 1975 to 1990. Moves against Hezbollah by a Western-backed government in 2008 prompted a short civil war.
The current government banned Hezbollah’s military wing after it opened fire on Israel last month.
Lebanese officials have said Moawad only has authority to discuss a ceasefire in Tuesday’s meeting while Israeli government spokesperson Shosh Bedrosian said Israel would not discuss a ceasefire, underscoring how at odds the two sides are.
In earlier remarks, Rubio said these talks were a process and not a one-off event. Leiter said there may be more talks soon but none of the participants mentioned a set time and a place.
“There were a few proposals, a few recommendations. We will of course bring these recommendations to our governments… and we will return in the next few weeks, we will continue to sit together. We will probably continue the talks in Washington,” Leiter said.
Rubio was hosting Tuesday’s talks amid questions over his lack of in-person participation in talks with Iran, with the Republican president sending Vice President JD Vance to Islamabad over the weekend to lead the U.S. negotiations, read the report.
Rubio was with Trump in Florida watching a mixed martial arts event as Vance announced in Pakistan that talks with the Iranians had concluded with no breakthrough.
State Department Counselor Michael Needham, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, and U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Michel Issa, a personal friend of Trump, were also participating in the talks on Tuesday.
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