HOT POINT

NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Authorities in Cyprus said Wednesday a body discovered last month on a beach along the country's southern coastline has been identified as the former chief executive of Russia's largest potash company who had been detained in Belarus in 2013 on charges of harming the Belarusian economy.

Police on a British military base in Cyprus said DNA analysis confirm the body is that of Vladislav Baumgertner, 53, who went missing from his home in the coastal city of Limassol on Jan. 7. Baumgertner's body was found a week later on Avdimou beach.

An investigation into the circumstances as well as the cause of Baumgertner's death is ongoing, according to the British Sovereign Base Areas police. Baumgertner's relatives have been notified. Avdimou lies inside one of two military bases on Cyprus that the U.K. retained after the island gained independence from British colonial rule in 1960. The bases have their own police force and courts.

Baumgertner was the CEO ofUralkali when Belarusian authoritiesplaced him under house arrest in September 2013 after a dispute between his company and its Belarusian trading partner escalated.

He was released two months later and extradited to Russia where prosecutors launched a criminal probe against him on abuse of office charges.

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At the time, analysts had attributed Baumgertner's arrest to retaliation for Uralkali's decision to pull out of a joint venture.

Uralkali and state-owned Belarusian Potash Co. had been exporting the commodity — a key ingredient in fertilizer — through a joint venture that at the time accounted for about a quarter of the world's potash.

Uralkali pulled out of the trading venture after accusing the government in Minsk of allowing the state-owned company to export potash independently.

Uralkali's withdrawal left Belarusian Potash Co. with virtually no qualified staff and raised fears of a price war. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko claimed that Uralkali and Baumgertner's actions harmed his country's economy.

Baumgartner had been living in Cyprus for several years. He had reportedly been staying in an apartment above his place of business in Limassol that thousands of Russian expatriates have made their home.

Since the collapse of the old Soviet Union, Russia has cut a substantially diminished figure on the international stage.

The breakup, back in 1991, of what US President Ronald Reagan once dubbed an "evil empire" left the Kremlin with less territory, less financial muscle and less influence around the globe.

But Russia retained its clout in one crucial area.

Its continued status as a nuclear superpower, on a roughly equal footing with the United States, guaranteed even a weakened Moscow a place at the top table of international diplomacy.

At nuclear summits, the Kremlin's leader could grandly sit across from the incumbent in the White House – just like in the glory days of the Cold War – to decide on matters of international security.

In 2010, then-US President Barack Obama and his briefly empowered Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, did just that, agreeing the New START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty), which was hailed at the time by the White House as "historic." The New START treaty limits both countries to a maximum of 1,550 deployed long-range nuclear warheads on delivery systems, including intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine-launched ballistic missiles and bombers.

But those days, like the New START treaty itself that expires on Thursday, now appear to be over.

The demise of the last arms control deal between the US and Russia – which Washington repeatedly accused Moscow of violating by denying inspections of Russian nuclear facilities – has been brushed off by the Trump administration, with the US president himself shrugging off the terrifying prospect of a world without nuclear limits.

"If it expires, it expires,"Trump quipped in January, while suggesting a "better" deal may eventually be done.

That distinct lack of urgency from Washington stands in stark contrast to the anxiety in Moscow, where there has been much wailing and gnashing of teeth over the arms reduction issue.

Speaking to journalists in Moscow as the expiry of the New START treaty loomed, Medvedev – no longer president but an outspoken security official on the margins of power – warned of the danger of allowing the deal to lapse. He suggested it would speed up the "Doomsday Clock," the symbolic representation of how close humanity is to destroying the world.

"I don't want to say that this immediately means a catastrophe and a nuclear war will begin, but it should still alarm everyone," Medvedev added.

The Kremlin certainly seems alarmed.

It's proposal to extend the terms of New START has, according to the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, so far been met with silence from the US side, threatening to unleash a new era of insecurity.

"For the first time, the United States and Russia, the two countries that possess the world's largest nuclear arsenals, will be left without a fundamental document that would limit and establish controls over these arsenals," Peskov told journalists on a recent conference call focused on the nuclear issue.

"We believe this is very bad for global and strategic security," he added, pressing on fears likely to be shared around much of the world.

But the Kremlin's expressions of concern may be more self-interested and strategic than they are prepared to admit.

Apart from being deprived of an arms-reduction platform that grandstands one of their last remaining vestiges of Soviet-era power, Moscow is now facing a future of potentially unconstrained US nuclear expansion.

The Trump administration has, for example, already re-floated the idea of nuclear-armed "Trump-class" battleships, a Cold War era policy that was abandoned decades ago.

The old Soviet Union could have matched it. But with an economy and a defense budget that are a fraction of Washington's, Moscow has virtually no hope of keeping up – exacerbating the already vast gap in power and leverage between the old rivals.

Of course, the US has its own reasons for allowing nuclear arms control with Russia to lapse, not least its desire to include China, an emerging nuclear power, in future agreements.

But the expiry of New START marks the end of an era, not just of "superpower" arms control treaties that focused exclusively on Moscow and Washington, but also of one in which the US was willing to accept nuclear limits.

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FORT PIERCE, Fla. — Ryan Routh will be back in federal court Wednesday morning for the first time sincehe was found guiltylast year of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump.

Prosecutors are asking for a life sentence for Routh, who was convicted of trying to kill Trump, then a presidential candidate, at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach in September 2024.

Prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum that Routh "remains totally unrepentant" and that "the heinous nature of this assassination attempt — his selfish, violent decision to prevent the American voters from electing President Trump by killing him first — that warrants severe criminal punishment."

Routh, who represented himself during the trial, has been assigned a court-appointed attorney to help him prepare for his sentencing hearing.

The attorney, Martin Roth, argued in a court document last month that Routh did not "commit an act of terrorism" and asked the judge to issue a "term of 20 years, followed by the required 7 year mandatory sentenced required" for his firearm conviction in relation to the assassination attempt. Routh would "be in custody into his eighties and would not pose any threat to cause harm to the public," Roth said.

Routh will have the opportunity to make one more plea before U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon at the sentencing hearing, which is expected to last only over an hour. Each side will be allowed to present arguments, but neither expects to call any live witnesses or present any exhibits.

Routh was arrested in September 2024 after Secret Service agent Robert Fercano spotted him hiding in the shrubbery near the fifth hole of Trump's golf club. According to prosecutors, he was waiting for Trump to get into his line of fire.

Friends and relatives of Routh's have submitted letters of support to the court.

Routh's son Adam wrote that his father "wants to move forward in the right way and continue to be someone who contributes to our family and his community" and added that "we still need him, and he still has people who love and support him."

Nancy Meyers, Routh's sister, asked Cannon to consider placing her brother in a prison facility in North Carolina, saying the family was "devastated" by his actions but "committed to assisting him with his rehabilitative efforts."

Wednesday's hearing will be the first time Routh has been back in court since hetried to stab himself in the neck with his penafter his guilty verdict was read last year. U.S. marshals quickly escorted him out of the courtroom.

During the closing of the two-week trial, Routh delivered a brief and disjointed argument in which he tried to argue that there was no crime because he never fired a shot at Trump. Routh brought up the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on Capitol Hill and began talking about Ukraine, Founding Father Patrick Henry and the "common man," before Cannon put a halt to his argument.

After just over two hours of deliberations, the jury of seven women and five men found Routh guilty on all five counts, which included three federal gun charges and an assault on the Secret Service agent who rousted him from his hiding place.

Routh underwent a medical evaluation before the trial. In its sentencing memorandum, the government wrote that a private psychiatrist retained by Routh's former counsel "ultimately acknowledged that Routh had no basis to claim incompetence, insanity, or diminished capacity, but did propose that Routh suffers from two disorders [Narcissistic Personality Disorder and a Bipolar II diagnosis]."

The government said Routh made no effort to explain how the supposed conditions related to his crimes or how they excused his criminal conduct.

Routh's attorney asked that his client receive mental health treatment while he is in custody after he is sentenced.

By Jack Queen

FORT PIERCE, Florida, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Ryan Routh, a man accused of hiding in the bushes of a Florida golf course with a semi-automatic rifle to try to assassinate Donald Trump less than two months before the 2024 U.S. election that returned him ​to the presidency, is set to be sentenced on Wednesday.

Prosecutors have asked U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to sentence Routh to life in ‌prison during the hearing in Fort Pierce, Florida. Routh, 59, was convicted by a jury last September of five criminal counts including attempted assassination after serving as his own defense lawyer at trial.

Prosecutors said ‌in a court filing that Routh's crimes "undeniably warrant a life sentence" because he had plotted the assassination for months, was willing to kill anybody who got in the way and has expressed neither regret nor remorse.

Routh has asked the judge, a Trump appointee, to impose a 27-year term.

In a court filing, Routh denied that he intended to kill Trump, and said he was willing to undergo psychological treatment for a personality disorder in prison. Routh suggested that jurors were misled about the facts of ⁠the case by his inability to mount a proper legal ‌defense at trial.

Routh, who at the time of his arrest had resided most recently in Hawaii after previously living in North Carolina, also was convicted of three illegal firearm possession charges and one count of impeding a federal officer during his ‍arrest.

Secret Service agents spotted Routh hiding in bushes a few hundred yards (meters) from where Trump was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on September 15, 2024. Routh fled the scene and left behind an assault-style rifle but was later arrested.

SECOND ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT

The incident occurred two months after a bullet fired by a gunman grazed Trump's ear ​at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Both incidents came in the run-up to the November 2024 election in which Trump regained the presidency after having ‌been defeated four years earlier by Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, a Republican, turned the attempted assassinations into a campaign issue, saying the U.S. Justice Department under Biden could not be trusted with investigations.

Prosecutors said Routh arrived in South Florida about a month before the incident, staying at a truck stop and tracking Trump's movements and schedule.

Routh carried six cellphones and used fake names to conceal his identity, according to trial evidence, and prosecutors said he lay in wait in thick bushes for nearly 10 hours on the day of the incident. Investigators on the scene found the assault-style rifle, two bags containing body armor-like metal plates and a ⁠video camera pointed at the golf course.

Routh pleaded not guilty in the case but fired ​his lawyers and opted to represent himself at trial despite lacking any formal legal training.

His meandering ​opening statement touched on topics including the origin of the human species and the settlement of the American West before he was cut off by Cannon, who warned him against making a mockery of the courtroom. Routh's defense strategy focused on what he described ‍as his nonviolent nature, but he offered ⁠little pushback as a parade of law enforcement witnesses detailed the evidence in the case.

Prosecutor John Shipley told jurors that Routh's plot was "carefully crafted and deadly serious," adding that without the Secret Service's intervention "Donald Trump would not be alive."

After the jury read the verdict, Routh appeared to try ⁠to stab himself with a pen several times and had to be restrained by U.S. marshals. His daughter yelled in court that her father had not hurt anyone and that she would ‌get him out of prison.

Trump lauded the verdict in a post on his Truth Social site, writing, "This was an evil man with an ‌evil intention, and they caught him."

(Reporting by Jack Queen in Fort Pierce, Florida)

By Dawoud Abu Alkas and Pesha Magid

GAZA CITY/JERUSALEM, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Israeli tank shelling and airstrikes killed 21 Palestinians including six children in Gaza on Wednesday, health officials said, the latest violence to undermine a truce in the enclave.

Among the dead was a medic who rushed to ​help victims of a strike in the southern city of Khan Younis and was then killed by a second attack on the same location, health ‌officials said.

Other strikes hit Gaza City in the north, where health officials said a 5-month-old boy was killed. The attacks come three days after Israel reopened Gaza's main border crossing with Egypt, a major step ‌in the U.S.-backed truce.

"While we were sleeping in our house, the tank shelled us and the shells hit our house, our children were martyred - my son was martyred, my brother's son and daughter were martyred... We have nothing to do with anything, we are peaceful people," said Abu Mohamed Habouch, speaking at a funeral for his family.

Tents in Mawasi, a coastal area near Khan Younis crowded with Gazans displaced by the conflict, had been ripped apart by the strikes. Nearly all of Gaza's over 2 million population has been forced ⁠to flee their homes.

The Israeli military said it had ‌launched the strikes in response to militants opening fire against Israeli troops operating near its armistice line with Hamas.

It said an Israeli soldier was severely injured by the militant fire, which it described as a violation of the ceasefire agreement.

RAFAH REOPENING

Palestinian patients preparing to cross ‍through the newly opened Rafah border crossing to Egypt were told that Israel had postponed the passage of patients through the border. A few hours later the patients were told to prepare again to cross the border.

The Israeli agency that controls access to Gaza, COGAT, said in a statement that Rafah crossing remained open, but it had not received the necessary coordination details ​from the World Health Organization to facilitate the crossing.

The WHO did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

An Egyptian security source told Reuters that efforts ‌were being made to reopen the crossing, and that Israel had cited security issues in the Rafah area as the reason for the closure.

Reopening the crossing was one of the requirements under the October ceasefire that set out the first phase of U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to stop fighting between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants.

Sixteen patients from Gaza and 40 of their escorts crossed into Egypt on Tuesday, Gazan medics told Reuters. A Hamas police source told Reuters that at least 40 people crossed from Egypt to Gaza late on Tuesday.

Wednesday's violence brings the number of Palestinians killed since the border reopened to 29, according to a tally of reports from Gazan health officials.

On ⁠Saturday, before its reopening, Israeli strikes killed more than 30 Palestinians in Gaza. The military ​said it launched those strikes after gunmen emerged from a tunnel in a Gaza area under Israeli ​control.

SECOND PHASE OF CEASEFIRE

In January, Trump declared the start of the second phase of the ceasefire where the sides would negotiate the shattered enclave's future governance and reconstruction.

Key issues like the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the over 50% of Gaza they currently occupy and the ‍disarmament of Hamas remain unresolved, while the fragile ⁠ceasefire has been marked by near-daily violence.

Since the start of the ceasefire, Israeli fire has killed at least 530 people, most of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Palestinian militants have killed four Israeli soldiers in the same period, according to Israeli authorities.

Israel's two-year offensive on the Gaza Strip killed ⁠more than 71,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health authorities, displaced most of its population, and left much of the strip in ruins.

The October 7, 2023, Hamas attack that triggered the war killed around 1,200 ‌people in Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Cairo and Dawoud Abu Alkas in Gaza City. Additional reporting by Tala Ramadan ‌and Pesha Magid; Writing by Pesha Magid; Editing by Rami Ayyub and Ros Russell)

MILAN — The title for the fastest sport at the2026 Winter OlympicsinMilano Cortinabelongs to luge.

Athletes will reach speeds of nearly 100 mph as they race feet-first down an icy track on a tiny sled at the Cortina Sliding Centre, the same track that'll be used for bobsled and skeleton. Luge sleds don't have brakes or a steering wheel, so athletes have to use their body to navigate twists and turns at lightening speed.

USA Luge is in pursuit of its first Olympic gold medal. The U.S. has won six Olympic luge medals all-time, including three silver and three bronze medals, most recently Chris Mazdzer's bronze in the men's single event in Pyongchang in 2018. U.S. lugers will have more chances to medal with women's doubles set to make its Olympic debut in Milano Cortina.

Historic images look back at the first Winter Olympics in 1924

When did luge become a Winter Olympic sport?

Luge made its Olympic debut at the 1964 Innsbruck Winter Games. The team relay was added to the program in Sochi in 2014 and women's doubles will be contested for the first time in Milano Cortina.

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How does Olympic luge work?

There are five luge events for men and women:

• Singles (men and women): Four heats over two days. The competitor with the lowest combined time wins.

• Doubles (men and women): Each pair completes two runs in a single day. The team with the fastest cumulative time wins.

• Team relay: This event features four events – women's singles, men's singles, women's doubles and men's doubles. The women's luger goes first and after the competitor reaches the bottom of the track, the male competitor starts, finishing with women's and men's doubles. The team with the lowest cumulative time wins.

Top Team USA athletes

• Emily Fischnaller: The 32-year-old won bronze at the 2019 and 2025 World Championships to become the second American to win multiple luge singles medals. She's looking to improve upon her 26th finish at the 2022 Beijing Games. Fischnaller also competed at the 2018 Pyongchang Games, but suffered a fractured back and neck in a crash during the women's singles event.

International landscape

Germany swept all four gold medals at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games and has won the most Luge Olympic medals of any country, with 43 total medals and 22 gold.

Olympic luge schedule

• Feb. 7: Men's singles Runs 1 and 2

• Feb. 8: Men's singles Runs 3 and 4

• Feb. 9: Women's singles Runs 1 and 2

• Feb. 10: Women's singles Runs 3 and 4

• Feb. 11: Women's doubles Runs 1 and 2; Men's doubles Runs 1 and 2

• Feb. 12: Team relay

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Luge at 2026 Winter Olympics: How it works, what to know

MILAN —Curlinghas emerged as a cult classic at theWinter Olympics.

The U.S. will be represented in all three curling events the2026 Milan Cortina Games, with Team Casper competing in the men's curling event afterJohn Shuster'sbid to compete at his sixth consecutive Winter Games fell short. Team Peterson and the duo of Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin will also represent Team USA in the women's curling event and mixed doubles, respectively.

All three teams will look to win Team USA's first curling medal in eight years. The U.S. has only won two curling medals in Olympic history, most notably a gold medal won by Team Shuster in the men's event at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. The U.S. hasn't made the Olympic podium in the women's or mixed doubles events.

Meet Korey Dropkin, Mixed doubles curler for Team USA

When did curling become a Winter Olympic sport?

Men's curling was part of the inaugural 1924 Chamonix Winter Games, but it was held as a demonstration event in 1932 at Lake Placid, in 1988 at Calgary and in 1992 at Albertville. Men and women's curling were officially added to the program for the 1998 Nagano Olympic Winter Games, while mixed doubles made its debut at Pyeongchang in 2018.

How does Olympiccurlingwork?

Two teams of four people each take turns gliding 44-pound stones down a sheet of ice toward a target that looks like a bullseye. Each match features six to 10 rounds, called ends. The stones have a handle on them, so when they are released, they curl down the ice. As the stone glides toward the target, players sweep the ice in front of it, which can affect the direction and the speed of the stone.

During each round, teams take turns throwing eight rocks, and the team with the rock or rocks closest to the center of the target wins the end. Players can throw guards to block the target, draws to try to score or takeouts to remove the opponent's stones as each end plays out. There are three curling events:

• Men's curling

• Women's curling

• Mixed doubles

Who are the top Team USA athletes incurling?

• Cory Thiesse and Korey Dropkin: The duo is set to make its Olympic debut in mixed doubles at the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Games after becoming the first U.S. mixed doubles team to win gold at the world championships in 2023. Thiesse will also represent Team U.S. in the women's curling event.

• Danny Casper: The 24-year-old skipper leads Team Casper, which dethroned Team Shuster at the 2025 U.S. Olympic Curling Trials. Team Casper is also made up of Luc Violette (third), Ben Richardson (second), Aidan Oldenburg (lead) and Rich Ruohonen (alternate).

• Tabitha Peterson: The 36-year-old skipper leads Team Peterson, which won the 2025 U.S. Olympic Curling Trials and earned the final berth in the women's competition in the 2026 Winter Games. Team Peterson also includes Cory Thiesse (third), Tara Peterson (second) and Taylor Anderson-Heide (lead).

International landscape

Canada holds the most Olympic curling medals with 12 overall, including six gold medals between all events, the most of any country. Sweden is a close second with 11 total medals and four golds, including a gold in the men's event in Beijing 2022, in addition to a bronze in the women's event and mixed doubles.

Olympic curling schedule

• Feb. 4-10: Mixed doubles round robin with semifinals on Feb. 9 and medal games on Feb. 10.

• Feb. 11-19: Men's and women's round robin

• Feb. 19: Men's semifinals

• Feb. 20: Women's semifinals; men's bronze medal game

• Feb. 21: Women's bronze medal game; men's gold medal game

• Feb. 22: Women's gold medal game

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Curling at 2026 Winter Olympics: How it works, what to know