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The GuardianPolitics

US justice department still has hundreds of thousands of Epstein files due to be released

Amid outrage over limited release so far and widespread redactions, DoJ analysts labor to vet remaining files The US justice department estimates it has hundreds of thousands of additional records related to Jeffrey Epstein to review – a process that involves a team of 200 departmental analysts and which will take another week to complete. According to Axios, which cited unnamed justice department officials, about 750,000 records have been reviewed and disclosed, and about 700,000 more remain to be examined. However, many of those may be duplicates, so the remaining number of records may only be in the thousands. Continue reading...

Last updated 0h ago
The GuardianPolitics

US and Ukraine edge closer to joint plan to end war – with Moscow’s response uncertain

Ukraine accepts principle of demilitarised zone in east, while insisting Russia make similar concessions in pulling back forces Washington and Kyiv have edged closer to a jointly agreed formula to end the war in Ukraine amid continuing uncertainty over Moscow’s response and a number of unresolved issues. Revealing the latest status of the peace talks, brokered by Washington, Ukraine’s president, Volodmyr Zelenskyy, appeared to have secured several important concessions from earlier versions of the now slimmed-down plan after intense talks with the US negotiating team. Continue reading...

Last updated 4h ago
The GuardianPolitics

Israel strikes southern Lebanon as deadline to disarm Hezbollah nears

Strikes were latest violation of year-long ceasefire and targeted what Israel said were Hezbollah sites Israel carried out several airstrikes on southern Lebanon on Wednesday targeting what it said was Hezbollah infrastructure, as a new year’s deadline for the Lebanese state to disarm the group in the south of the country loomed. Israeli warplanes bombed the valleys of Houmin, Wadi Azza and Nimeiriya in the southern Nabatieh area on Wednesday morning. Residents reported that Israeli drones continued to hover over the area and other areas of south Lebanon and its eastern Bekaa valley after the strikes. Continue reading...

Last updated 3h ago
The GuardianWellness

‘There’s no going back’: Iran’s women on why they won’t stop flouting dress code laws

Despite fresh attempts to make women cover up, many believe the regime wouldn’t risk mass arrests for fear of sparking a wave of popular unrest last seen after the killing of Mahsa Amini On the streets of Iran’s capital, Tehran, young women are increasingly flouting the compulsory hijab laws, posting videos online that show them walking the streets unveiled. Their defiance comes more than three years after the killing of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman taken into custody by the “morality police” for allegedly breaching the dress code rules. Her death led to the largest wave of popular unrest for years in Iran and a crackdown by security services in response, with hundreds of protesters killed and thousands injured. Under Iran’s “hijab and chastity” law , which came into force in 2024, women caught “promoting nudity, indecency, unveiling or improper dressing” face severe penalties, including fines of up to £12,500, flogging and prison sentences ranging from five to 15 years for repeat offenders. Two young female friends meet up in Laleh park to rest and drink tea together after a long working day. They used to be classmates studying English Continue reading...

Last updated 2h ago
The GuardianPolitics

Trump’s claims to Venezuelan oil are part of broader ‘resource imperialism’, experts say

Critics compare offensive to Iraq war, citing familiar mix of regime-change rhetoric, security pretexts and oil interests Donald Trump’s recent claims that the US should keep Venezuelan oil from seized tankers are part of a broader belief in rightwing “resource imperialism”, experts say. In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated pressure on Venezuela, invoking drug-trafficking claims. This month, the US intercepted two tankers carrying Venezuelan oil and began pursuing a third, while intensifying its campaign against the country’s president, Nicolás Maduro. Continue reading...

Last updated 3h ago
The GuardianWellness

Woman deported before she could see dying husband in ICE custody: ‘I never saw him again’

Francisco Gaspar-Andrés died in El Paso hospital after being detained at Fort Bliss – his wife was deported to Guatemala without a chance to see him A Guatemalan man has become the first person to die in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Fort Bliss army base in Texas. His wife of 25 years was deported from the same camp without a chance to see her dying husband. Francisco Gaspar-Andrés, 48, died on 3 December at a hospital in El Paso, as Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates were ramping up demands that the camp be closed down amid allegations of inhumane conditions there. The DHS has said such allegations are “categorically false”. Continue reading...

Last updated 6h ago
The GuardianPolitics

‘Warning to others’: murky death of militia leader as Kremlin reasserts control

Reports that Stanislav Orlov was killed by Moscow security services highlights careful managing of non-state power Beneath the frescoed ceilings and golden icons of Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, hundreds of men packed tightly into the lower hall as priests intoned prayers for the dead. Dressed in dark winter jackets, the mourners on Monday filled one of Russia’s most sacred spaces – a church usually reserved for moments of state ritual and national commemoration. Later, near his grave, the crowd lit bright flares and shouted: “One for all, and all for one.” They had gathered to bid farewell to Stanislav Orlov, better known by his callsign “Spaniard”, the founder of the far-right Española unit – a formation of football hooligans and neo-Nazi volunteers who fought as a paramilitary force on Russia’s side in Ukraine. Continue reading...

Last updated 13h ago
The GuardianWellness

How hope is fading: the mobs bringing violence back to the streets of Bangladesh

As crowds attack newspaper offices and violence has killed 184 people, the optimism around Sheikh Hasina’s overthrow has dimmed The sounds of a mob were already audible when Zyma Islam hit send on her article for Friday’s edition of Bangladesh’s Daily Star newspaper. She quickly headed out, hoping to avoid the crowd that had already burned down the offices of Prothom Alo, another of Bangladesh’s most prestigious newspapers. But when she reached the door, they were already there. The rioters were a ngered by the assassination of Sharif Osman Hadi , a prominent leader from the pro-democracy movement that unseated the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina in August 2024. Hadi’s killers were Hasina loyalists who had escaped to India, according to the authorities. The crowd that had rapidly gathered on the night of 18 December was ready to lash out at anyone they saw as linked to the previous government. Continue reading...

Last updated 8h ago
The GuardianPolitics

Republicans aim to exempt major polluters from Pfas cleanup costs

Water treatment and landfill companies given chance to make case that EPA rules should not apply to them Republicans are attempting to exempt some major polluters from paying for Pfas “forever chemical” cleanup. If successful, it could mark a major setback in US effort to rein in Pfas pollution. The Republican-led House energy and commerce committee recently held a hearing at which it invited representatives from the water treatment and landfill industries, among others, to make the case about why they should be exempted from rules that hold polluters financially accountable for the cleanup of two types of dangerous Pfas. Continue reading...

Last updated 3h ago