Release of Epstein documents crashes court website but details are less scandalous

The majority of those whose names appear in the documents are not accused of wrongdoing and have been mentioned previously

When legal documents related to the case of convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein were made public on Wednesday night, it caused an online frenzy that crashed the court website hosting the files in minutes.

More than 900 pages of papers were unsealed late in the day, identifying numerous Epstein associates and public figures as mentioned in proceedings of the case Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre filed against Ghislaine Maxwell in 2015.

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Transatlantic slavery continued for years after 1867, historian finds

Exclusive: Evidence found by Hannah Durkin includes ships landing in Cuba in 1872, and people held in Benin in 1873

Historians have generally assumed that the transatlantic slave trade ended in 1867, but it actually continued into the following decade, according to new research.

Dr Hannah Durkin, an historian and former Newcastle University lecturer, has unearthed evidence that two slave ships landed in Cuba in 1872. One vessel, flying the Portuguese flag, had 200 captives aged from 10 to 40, and the second is believed to have been a US ship with 630 prisoners packed into its hold.

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Sandy Hook parents press gunmakers to stop marketing weapons of war to kids

Families of children killed in massacre call out manufacturers’ push to sell weapons to adolescents

Parents of children massacred in the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting are stepping up their anti-gun violence campaign by exposing how the firearms industry is marketing weapons of war specifically to vulnerable adolescents.

In a fresh stage in their battle to staunch the rising loss of life from mass shootings, Sandy Hook parents are pressuring gun manufacturers to stop what they say is a cynical and aggressive effort to sell military-style weapons to young and impressionable Americans. They are alarmed by a shift in tone in gun advertising in which, they say, major companies have consciously decided to boost profits by targeting kids as young as 10.

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Documents linking associates to Jeffrey Epstein unsealed | First Thing

Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, David Copperfield and Prince Andrew among high-profile names in court documents. Plus, 20 easy, mind-expanding ways to be more creative

Good morning.

Numerous court documents identifying associates of the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were made public last night.

Epstein’s elite circle was huge. What was the source of his $580m fortune? The documents released shed some light on the circumstances of Epstein’s lifestyle, but they do not answer any of the pending questions about his financial arrangements with wealthy men, and how he came to amass such a fortune.

Where can we see the unsealed court papers? Hundreds of pages of documents linked to Epstein associates were made public on Wednesday. You can read them here in full.

What was behind the campaign to get her sacked? Some of the activists who campaigned most prominently against Gay made clear this week that their broader aim was opposing “diversity, equity and inclusion” (DEI) programs in all US universities and attacking DEI as a movement, not just opposing the choices of one individual Harvard president.

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Republicans seek to override Ohio governor’s veto of trans rights bill

Mike DeWine defied his party on gender-affirming care for youths and now legislature is set to reconvene early to push law through

A legislative showdown is brewing in Ohio after Governor Mike DeWine split from his party to veto a bill that would impose substantial new restrictions on the lives of trans children.

The bill, HB 68, prohibits doctors from providing gender-affirming care to trans youths. It also blocks transgender female student athletes from participating in girls’ sports.

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Courtroom video shows defendant attacking judge in Nevada

Mary Kay Holthus and court officials injured in incident which has led to new charges against Deobra Delone Redden

A defendant has attacked a judge during a felony battery case, dragging her to the floor and sparking a brawl involving court officials and attorneys, officials and witnesses have said.

In a violent scene captured on courtroom video on Wednesday, Deobra Delone Redden jumped over a defence table and the judge’s bench, knocking the Clark county district judge Mary Kay Holthus from her seat and against a wall then pulled her to the floor. She sustained some injuries but was not sent to hospital, courthouse officials said.

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‘I can ride the bus. I can walk the streets’: the joy of freedom for Rohingya resettled in the US

A diplomatic breakthrough has allowed 62 refugees to start a new life in America. Yet a million still remain in fear and poverty in the Bangladeshi camps

After 23 hours on his first international flight, it was only after stepping off the plane in the United States that Nurul Haque finally felt the relief of escaping the refugee camps of Bangladesh, where he was born.

Haque was among the first Rohingya refugees allowed to leave Bangladesh in more than a decade. The 62 people who have flown to the US since late last year might be few, but resettlement has given them hope of opportunity and security that was denied them in Bangladesh.

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US soldier’s family rescued from Gaza in secret operation – report

The mother and uncle of Ragi A Sckak were taken from Gaza in an operation coordinated by the US, Israel and Egypt, according to a US official

The mother and uncle of a US service member were rescued from the fighting in Gaza in a secret operation coordinated by the US, Israel, Egypt and others, according to a US official speaking to the Associated Press.

It is the only known operation of its kind to extract American citizens and their close family members during the months of devastating ground fighting and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

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Unsealed Jeffrey Epstein court papers – read document in full

Hundreds of pages of documents linked to Epstein associates were made public on Wednesday. You can read them here in full

Court documents linked to associates of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been made public on Wednesday.

The unsealed papers run to almost 950 pages and list people including Prince Andrew and Bill Clinton.

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‘A bully’: the billionaire who led calls for Claudine Gay’s Harvard exit

US hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posts 4,000-word screed decrying ‘racism against white people’ after Gay’s departure

Chief among the campaigners celebrating the resignation of Claudine Gay as president of Harvard University was a man who arguably did the most to push Gay, Harvard’s first Black president, out the door: Bill Ackman, a billionaire hedge-fund manager and Harvard alumnus.

Ackman, who accused Gay of antisemitism and plagiarism, was a major player in what increasingly became a rightwing campaign against the Harvard president – who said many of the attacks against her were “fueled by racial animus”.

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Trump asks US supreme court to review Colorado ruling removing him from 2024 ballot

Colorado supreme court issued ruling on Tuesday but in anticipation of appeal stayed it until 4 January

Donald Trump appealed to the US supreme court on Wednesday to undo the Colorado ruling that removed him from the ballot in the western state under the 14th amendment to the US constitution, for inciting an insurrection.

“In our system of ‘government of the people, by the people, [and] for the people,’ Colorado’s ruling is not and cannot be correct,” Trump’s lawyers wrote in their Wednesday filing. They also said the Colorado supreme court’s ruling “if allowed to stand, will mark the first time in the history of the United States that the judiciary has prevented voters from casting ballots for the leading major-party presidential candidate”.

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Jeffrey Epstein: documents linking associates to sex offender unsealed

Names were contained in court documents filed as part of Virginia Giuffre’s lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell

Numerous court documents identifying associates of notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been made public on Wednesday.

Some of the high-profile names in the court documents include Prince Andrew, the former US president Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and David Copperfield.

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New Jersey imam fatally shot outside mosque as shooter remains at large

Cleric was attacked outside Masjid-Muhammad-Newark on Wednesday morning in Newark

A New Jersey imam was shot and killed on Wednesday outside a mosque in the state’s largest city, authorities said as officers worked to identify and arrest the shooter.

The cleric, Imam Hassan Sharif, was shot after 6am outside the Masjid-Muhammad-Newark mosque, Newark’s public safety director, Fritz Fragé, said in an emailed statement. Sharif was taken to nearby University hospital and was in critical condition, authorities said. He later succumbed to his injuries.

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California police show severe racial bias in stops and searches, data finds

Black residents were stopped the most, while Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups

Law enforcement in California handcuffed and detained Black and Indigenous residents during traffic stops at significantly higher rates than white people in 2022, according to data released on Wednesday.

The annual racial profiling report from a state board analyzed 4.5m vehicle and pedestrian stops conducted by 535 law enforcement agencies, the first time departments from across the state contributed data.

Black residents were stopped the most, making up 5.4% of the state’s population, but 12.5% of stops.

Latinos were also disproportionately stopped, making up 32.4% of the population, but 42.9% of stops.

White and Asian American residents were stopped at lower rates than their proportion of the population.

Native Americans were searched most frequently compared to all racial groups, in 22.4% of stops, nearly twice the rate of white people, who were searched in 12.4% of stops. Native Americans were also handcuffed at the highest rate of all groups at 17.8% of stops, compared with less than 10% for white people.

Black residents were detained on the curb or in a patrol car at the highest rate, at 20.2% of stops, and also ordered to exit their cars more frequently than all other groups, at 7.1% of stops. Black residents were also issued a sole charge of resisting arrest at a rate more than three times the state average, making up 19.2% of those cases.

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Record half million people crossed the treacherous Darién Gap in 2023

Jungle between Colombia and Panama marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United States

A record 520,000 people crossed the treacherous jungle between Colombia and Panama known as the Darién Gap in 2023, more than double the number reported the year before, according to new figures from the government of Panama.

The people who made the journey that marks the start of the dangerous trek north from South America to the United States last year were mostly from Venezuela, Ecuador, Haiti and China, according to the numbers from Panama’s migration agency.

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Biden to jump-start 2024 campaign with focus on fight for democracy

Biden-Harris campaign, in a conference call with reporters, said they aim to draw sharp contrast between US president and Trump

Ailing in opinion polls, Joe Biden will aim to jump-start his re-election campaign in the coming week with events designed to symbolise the fight for democracy and racial justice against Donald Trump.

The Biden-Harris campaign announced the plans in a conference call with reporters that mentioned Trump by name 28 times in just 24 minutes, a sign of its determination to draw a sharp contrast between the US president and his likely Republican challenger.

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Texas can ban emergency abortions despite federal guidance, court rules

The ruling by a unanimous panel of fifth US circuit court of appeals comes amid a wave of lawsuits focusing on abortion exceptions

The US government cannot enforce federal guidance in Texas requiring emergency room doctors to perform abortions if necessary to stabilize emergency room patients, a federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday, siding with the state in a lawsuit accusing Joe Biden’s administration of overstepping its authority.

The ruling by a unanimous panel of the fifth US circuit court of appeals comes amid a wave of lawsuits focusing on when abortions can be provided in states whose abortion bans have exceptions for medical emergencies.

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Bob Menendez faces fresh corruption allegations involving Qatar

Democratic senator offered gifts in return for making positive comments about Gulf state, superseding indictment says

Bob Menendez, already the subject of sensational charges concerning the acceptance of illicit cash, gold bars and a Mercedes Benz car, faces new corruption allegations, outlined in a superseding indictment made public on Tuesday.

The New Jersey Democratic senator has already pleaded not guilty on charges involving interests linked to Egypt. He is now accused of corruption involving Qatar, although he does not face new charges.

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Bernie Sanders calls on Congress to block funding to Israel

Israel’s response ‘has been grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law’, senator says

Bernie Sanders, the progressive senator of Vermont, issued a statement Tuesday calling on Congress to block additional funding to Israel amid the war in Gaza, where more than 22,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks after Hamas killed 1,200 people in Israel on 7 October.

“While we recognize that Hamas’ barbaric terrorist attack began this war, we must also recognize that Israel’s military response has been grossly disproportionate, immoral and in violation of international law,” Sanders said.

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Man found dead inside airplane engine at Salt Lake City international airport

Utah police found the 30-year-old unconscious inside an engine of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers

A man was found dead inside an airplane engine on Monday night at Salt Lake City international airport after police say he breached an emergency exit door, walked onto the tarmac and climbed inside the jet’s engine.

Officers found 30-year-old Kyler Efinger, a Park City resident, unconscious inside an engine mounted to the wing of a commercial aircraft loaded with passengers, the Salt Lake City police department (SLCPD) announced on Tuesday. The plane had been sitting on a de-icing pad, the engine was rotating at the time, but the cause of Efinger’s death remains unclear.

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