World news | The Guardian

Governments opting for oligarchy while brutally repressing protests over austerity and lack of jobs, charity report says

The world saw a record number of billionaires created last year, with a collective wealth of $18.3tn (£13.7tn), while global efforts stalled in the fight against poverty and hunger.

Oxfam’s annual survey of global inequality has revealed that the number of billionaires surpassed 3,000 for the first time during 2025. Since 2020, their collective wealth grew by 81%, or $8.2tn, which the charity claims would be enough to eradicate global poverty 26 times over.

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Yoweri Museveni wins seventh term but poll criticised by observers and rights groups over repression of opposition and internet blackout

Uganda’s president, Yoweri Museveni, fresh from winning a seventh term in office at 81, said on Sunday that the opposition were “terrorists” who had tried to use violence to overturn the election results.

Official results showed Museveni winning a landslide with 72% of the vote, but the poll was criticised by African election observers and rights groups due to the heavy repression of the opposition and an internet blackout.

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Museveni’s opponent, Bobi Wine, alleges that members of polling staff were kidnapped and called for peaceful protests

Yoweri Museveni, has won the Ugandan election and his seventh term with more than 70% of the vote, state election authorities have said, amid an internet shutdown and claims of fraud by his opponent.

His opponent, a youthful musician known as Bobi Wine, condemned what he called “fake results” and alleged that members of polling staff were kidnapped, among other election irregularities. He called for peaceful protests to pressure the authorities to release what he called the “rightful results”.

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Atlas Lions face Senegal in final of Africa Cup of Nations on Sunday and Moroccan diaspora scents victory

London’s Little Morocco is brimming with pride and anticipation. The Moroccan diaspora in North Kensington is in no doubt that on Sunday the Atlas Lions will triumph against Senegal in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations.

“There’s not just an excitement, it has completely taken over everything else,” said Souad Talsi, who runs the Al-Hasaniya Moroccan women’s centre at the base of 31-storey Trellick Tower, at the north end of Golborne Road.

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Virunga park ranger says babies are well cared for by mother Mafuko but high infant mortality makes first weeks critical

It was noon by the time Jacques Katutu first saw the newborn mountain gorillas. Cradled in the arms of their mother, Mafuko, the tiny twins clung to her body for warmth in the forest clearing in Virunga national park, in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Katutu, head of gorilla monitoring in Virunga, has seen dozens of newborns in his 15 years as a ranger. But, he tells the Guardian, even he was touched by the sight of the fragile infant males, who face serious obstacles if they are to become silverbacks one day.

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President announces 30-day order after inmates also took 46 people hostage at three prisons

Guatemala’s president has declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency to combat criminal gangs after authorities accused them of killing eight police officers and holding hostages at three prisons.

The killings occurred in the capital, Guatemal City, and surrounding areas a day after gang-affiliated inmates took 46 people hostage in the three prisons across the country to demand incarcerated gang leaders be moved to lower-security facilities.

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Fires blaze through 8,500 hectares, forcing 50,000 people to evacuate as firefighters struggle to extinguish flames

Wildfires raging across central and southern Chile have killed at least 18 people, scorched thousands of hectares of forest and destroyed scores of homes, authorities said, as the South American country swelters under a heatwave.

Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, declared a state of catastrophe in the country’s central Biobío region and the neighbouring Ñuble region, about 500km (300 miles) south of Santiago, the capital.

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Any Lucía López Belloza was detained at Boston’s airport in November and flown to Honduras two days later

• US citizens and permanent residents: have you been racially profiled by ICE?

The Trump administration apologized in court for a “mistake” in the deportation of a Massachusetts college student who was detained trying to fly home to surprise her family in Texas for Thanksgiving.

But the administration still argued that the federal government error should not affect her immigration case.

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John Ratcliffe meets Delcy Rodríguez in Caracas less than two weeks after his agents helped to oust her precedessor

The CIA chief whose agents reputedly played a key role in abducting Nicolás Maduro has flown to Venezuela to meet his successor as the sidelined opposition leader, María Corina Machado, vowed she would become the country’s first elected female president.

Machado’s comments were broadcast on Friday, a day after she handed her Nobel peace prize medal to Donald Trump in recognition of what she called a principled and decisive move against Maduro, whom US special forces snatched on 3 January.

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Former president convicted for coup plot to take advantage of law that knocks four days off jail term for each book read

Jair Bolsonaro’s lawyers appear to have been reading up on the country’s penal code and have found a way to help their client reduce the 27-year prison sentence he received last year for plotting a coup: by reading books.

There is only one problem: the former far-right Brazilian president has never been known as a bibliophile. “Sorry, I don’t have time to read,” Bolsonaro once declared. “It’s been three years since I read a book.”

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Fourth year of decline deepens concerns over ageing, shrinking workforce and long-term economic impact

China’s population fell for a fourth consecutive year in 2025 as the birthrate plunged to another record low despite the introduction of polices aimed at encouraging people to have children.

Registered births dropped to 7.92 million in 2025 – or 5.63 for every 1,000 members of the population – down 17% from 9.54 million in 2024, and the lowest since records began in 1949.

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Sanae Takaichi tells senior figures in ruling Liberal Democratic party she plans to dissolve lower house on 23 January

Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, has called a snap election as she attempts to capitalise on high approval ratings since becoming the country’s first female prime minister three months ago.

Takaichi, a conservative who is embroiled in a deepening dispute with China over the security of Taiwan, said on Monday she would dissolve the lower house of the Diet – Japan’s parliament – on 23 January, with an election to follow on 8 February.

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Economy weathered a fraught geopolitical landscape to reach 5% goal but domestic structural challenges ‘not going away’, say experts

• China’s population falls again as birthrate hits record low

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China has said its economy grew 5% last year, hitting Beijing’s official target as the world’s second-largest economy overcame Donald Trump’s tariff war with a record trade surplus.

Data released on Monday by Beijing’s National Bureau of Statistics showed the Chinese economy hit the official target of “around” 5% – the same growth as in 2024 – despite a slowdown to 4.5% in the final three months of the year.

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Decision expected on Monday or Tuesday, potentially smoothing relations before Keir Starmer’s visit to China

• Why Chinese ‘mega embassy’ is not such a worry for British spies

A decision on China’s proposed mega embassy in London is expected on Monday or Tuesday, with Chinese officials and British diplomats in Beijing holding their breath in anticipation of the planning application finally being approved.

The saga, which has been running since 2018, is widely expected to end with the British government giving the green light for construction. If it does, one group likely to be grateful is those who work in the British embassy’s dilapidated building in Beijing. The UK’s plans to redevelop its outpost in China’s capital have been blocked for years by the Chinese government because of the London embassy row.

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A return to nuclear power is at the heart of Japan’s energy policy but, in the wake of the 2011 disaster, residents’ fears about tsunamis, earthquakes and evacuation plans remain

The activity around the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant is reaching its peak: workers remove earth to expand the width of a main road, while lorries arrive at its heavily guarded entrance. A long perimeter fence is lined with countless coils of razor wire, and in a layby, a police patrol car monitors visitors to the beach – one of the few locations with a clear view of the reactors, framed by a snowy Mount Yoneyama.

When all seven of its reactors are working, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa generates 8.2 gigawatts of electricity, enough to power millions of households. Occupying 4.2 sq km of land in Niigata prefecture on the Japan Sea coast, it is the biggest nuclear power plant in the world.

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Neither Recoveriescorp nor its parent entity has paid the tax since securing multi-million dollar government contracts

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A private debt collector has paid zero corporate tax since securing contracts worth tens of millions of dollars from the Australian Taxation Office to pursue arrears payments, including from welfare recipients.

The parent entity of the outsource operator, Recoveriescorp, has recorded large income streams in its two most recent annual accounts, according to Guardian Australia analysis, with revenue surpassing $100m during 2025.

Do you know more? Email jonathan.barrett@theguardian.com

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Exclusive: David Connolly says he won’t publicly express political opinions after he was announced for a role similar to that of a state governor

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The Northern Territory’s incoming administrator levelled a series of insults at Anthony Albanese and claimed First Nations people were “the main group responsible” for crime in the Top End in a 2024 speech, it can be revealed.

David Connolly is due to begin his tenure as administrator – King Charles’s representative in the territory, which is the equivalent of a state governor – next month. A former NT Cattlemen’s Association president, Connolly was chosen for the role by the territory’s Country Liberal chief minister, Lia Finocchiaro.

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Liberals MPs agreed late on Monday to back Labor’s revised bill, which came in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attack

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Hate speech laws designed to help combat antisemitism in the wake of the Bondi beach terror attack are set to pass after Sussan Ley agreed to cut a deal with Anthony Albanese.

Ahead of a Coalition partyroom meeting to settle a final position, Liberals MPs agreed late on Monday to back Labor’s revised bill after talks between the prime minister and opposition leader.

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NSW Ambulance treat man at Manly beach in Sydney’s north after attack by shark on Monday evening

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A man believed to be in his 20s is in a critical condition after being bitten by a shark in the third attack at Sydney beaches in two days.

He was taken to Royal North Shore hospital on Monday evening after New South Wales Ambulance officers treated the man at Manly beach in Sydney’s north following the attack.

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• Labor and Coalition on track to achieve deal on hate speech laws

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Marles ‘confident about the future of Nato’ despite Trump pressure

Continuing his media rounds, the deputy PM, Richard Marles, is pressed on the government’s response to Donald Trump’s tariffs on some European nations, in a bid to take over Greenland.

Nato has played a very important role and continues to be very strong. I’ve been to the last two Nato meetings representing Australia, and there is a definite sense of unity when you’re at Nato meetings. So I feel confident about the future of Nato.

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German chancellor Friedrich Merz says that Trump repeatedly threatens tariffs and often implements them, but sometimes you can talk him out of following through.

• Donald Trump links threats to seize Greenland to Nobel prize snub

In a nod to Trump’s efforts on Ukraine, Starmer says he recognises the US president’s role in pushing for ceasefire there – as he says “we will work closely with the United States, Ukraine and our other allies to apply pressure where it belongs: on Putin.”

In his strongest criticism of Trump yet, Starmer goes on to say:

A trade war is in no one’s interest, and my job is always to act in the UK’s national interest.

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Reuters obtains letter from union last year raising worries over potholes and power lines amid investigations into cause of devastating crash

King Felipe of Spain has expressed his “concern about the terrible accident” in which at least 39 people have been killed.

Speaking from Greece, the monarch was quoted as having told the media:

We have been in contact with Sánchez and Juanma Moreno to learn the details. As soon as we finish, we will return as soon as possible. I understand the anguish of the families of the victims and the injured.

We know that many residents of Adamuz assisted the victims immediately, and we express our gratitude to them for that.

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Putin shows no signs of ending Ukraine war and claim adds weight to accusation Trump favours Russian president

The Kremlin has announced that Vladimir Putin has been invited to join Donald Trump’s “board of peace”, set up last week with the intention that it would oversee a ceasefire in Gaza.

The Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists on Monday that Russia was seeking to “clarify all the nuances” of the offer with Washington, before giving its response.

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Fear, abuse and eroding rights for trans people have created a hostile environment in the US – can they claim asylum in the Netherlands?

• The transgender refugees fleeing the US – podcast

Ter Apel, a small, unassuming Dutch town near the German border, is a place tourists rarely have on their itinerary. There are no lovely old windmills, no cannabis-filled coffee shops and on a recent visit it was far too early for tulip season.

When foreigners end up there, it is for one reason: to claim asylum at the Netherlands’ biggest refugee camp, home to 2,000 desperate people from all around the world.

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PM says US tariffs are in no one’s interests – and Greenland row should be resolved through ‘calm discussion’

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Keir Starmer has played down the prospect of retaliatory tariffs on the US, saying they would be the “wrong thing to do”, after Donald Trump threatened them against Nato allies to try to secure Greenland.

The prime minister said US tariffs would damage the British economy and were “in no one’s interests”. The UK would instead prefer to address the issue through “calm discussion” between allies, he added.

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Syrian Democratic Forces warns of serious security repercussions that could open door to ‘chaos and terrorism’

The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has said it is fighting Syrian government forces near a prison holding Islamic State group detainees on the outskirts of Raqqa, in what it described as an “extremely dangerous development”.

The announcement came less than 24 hours after the Syrian president, Ahmad al-Sharaa, said it had agreed a ceasefire with the SDF and would move to dismantle the group’s decade-long control of the country’s north-east.

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Two people detained in Kermanshah, including 16-year-old, tell group they were subjected to sexual abuse during arrest

A 16-year-old was among protesters sexually assaulted in custody by the security forces in Iran during the nationwide uprising that has left thousands dead, according to a human rights group.

Two people, one of them a child, detained in the city of Kermanshah in western Iran told the Kurdistan Human Rights Network (KHRN) that they were subjected to sexual abuse by riot police during their arrest.

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Government’s truce with Syrian Democratic Forces follows advance on Kurdish-held areas amid struggle to control entire country

The Syrian government on Sunday announced a ceasefire with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), taking almost full control of the country and dismantling the Kurdish-led forces that controlled the north-east for over a decade.

The announcement comes as tensions between government forces and the SDF boiled over earlier this month, eventually resulting in a major push by government forces towards the east. The SDF appeared to have largely retreated after initial clashes on a tense frontline area in eastern Aleppo province.

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President issues warning amid speculation Donald Trump plans to assassinate or remove supreme leader

Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, warned on Sunday that any attack on the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, would be a declaration of war.

In an apparent response to speculation that Donald Trump is considering an attempt to assassinate or remove Khamenei, Pezeshkian said in a post on X: “An attack on the great leader of our country is tantamount to a full-scale war with the Iranian nation.”

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Finance minister says Netanyahu should back annexation and settlement, and attacks Turkey and Qatar’s role on Gaza ‘executive board’

Far-right members of Israel’s governing coalition on Sunday rejected a US-backed plan for postwar governance in Gaza, criticising their prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for failing to annex the Palestinian territory and establish new Israeli settlements in the territory.

After the announcement of the White House’s pick of world leaders who will join the so-called Gaza “board of peace”, which includes representatives of Turkey and Qatar, both of which have been critical of Israel’s war in the strip, Israeli far-right finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, described Netanyahu’s “unwillingness to take responsibility for Gaza” as “the original sin”.

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Eastern region on high alert as authorities try to track animal tearing through villages in Jharkhand after apparently becoming separated from herd

Forest officials in India are on the hunt for an elephant that has killed more than 20 people in a days-long rampage through the eastern state of Jharkhand.

Since the beginning of January, 22 people have been killed by a single-tusked elephant that has been tearing through forests and villages in West Singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

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Delhi is world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude, which is now cheaper than oil from Middle East

Russia is already working to circumvent the latest US sanctions to ensure India can continue to import high levels of cheap Russian crude oil, according to industry analysts.

Since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, India has become the world’s second largest purchaser of Russian crude oil, which has been heavily discounted due to the impact of western sanctions.

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Police ask Paramjeet Singh Pamma to install security cameras and reinforce door locks at his home

Police have advised a high-profile Sikh activist in the UK to install security cameras at his home and reinforce door locks because of threats from Hindu nationalist elements.

Paramjeet Singh Pamma, 52, said he had been visited by police and received verbal advice to increase his security due to intelligence suggesting threats to his safety.

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UN and many western countries as well as human rights groups say that in the absence of a meaningful opposition the election is neither free, fair nor credible

Voters in war-torn Myanmar queued up on Sunday to cast their ballots in the second stage of a military-run election, following low turnout in the initial round of polls that have been widely criticised as a tool to formalise junta rule.

Myanmar has been ravaged by conflict since the military ousted a civilian government in a 2021 coup and detained its leader, Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, sparking a civil war that has engulfed large parts of the impoverished nation of 51 million people.

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Satat Sampada founders Harjeet Singh and Jyoti Awasthi say allegations are ‘baseless, biased and misleading’

Police have raided the home of one of India’s leading environmental activists over claims his campaigning for a treaty to cut the use of fossil fuels was undermining the national interest.

Investigators from India’s Enforcement Directorate (ED) claim Harjeet Singh and his wife, Jyoti Awasthi, co-founders of Satat Sampada (Nature Forever), were paid almost £500,000 to advocate for a fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty (FFNPT).

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The award, run by Hachette UK and Libraro, aims to ‘sidestep the traditional barricades of the book industry’ and give readers a role in discovering new talent

A new £50,000 writing prize that allows readers to select the shortlist from submitted manuscripts – and rewards them with cash prizes for their involvement – has been launched by the publishing platform Libraro, in partnership with Hachette UK.

The Libraro prize aims to “sidestep the traditional barricades of the book industry”, according to organisers. Writers upload full manuscripts to the Libraro platform, where readers champion their favourite entries to create a shortlist of six books.

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Reform UK leader says he will be ‘having some words with the American administration’

But, Starmer says, the future of Greenland is for a matter for Denmark and Greenland to decide on their own.

There is a principle here that cannot be set aside, because it goes to the heart of how stable and trusted international cooperation works.

And so any decision about the future status of Greenland belongs to the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone. That right is fundamental and we support it.

On Greenland, the right way to approach an issue of this seriousness is through calm discussion between allies.

And let’s be clear, the security of Greenland matters, and it will matter more as climate change reshapes the Arctic, as sea routes open and strategic competition intensifies.

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Tribunal ruling follows Airwars investigation into Britain’s conduct in bombing campaign against IS in Syria and Iraq

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The British government’s secrecy around how it tracks civilian deaths in UK military campaigns risks undermining public confidence in the process, a tribunal has found.

The UK has no published guidelines for how it reviews and assesses allegations that civilians have been killed or injured in an attack, unlike its closest ally, the US.

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Howard League charity fails in battle to halt government’s decision to make Pava available to prison staff

An attempt to halt the use of pepper spray on children held in young offender institutions (YOIs) has failed after the high court ruled on Monday that the weapon’s rollout was lawful.

The Howard League for Penal Reform challenged the Labour government’s decision to authorise the use of Pava, a synthetic form of pepper spray, in three prisons in England holding boys as young as 15.

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Duke of Sussex and six other high-profile figures say media company used unlawful information gathering

Lawyers representing Prince Harry and six other prominent figures have accused the publisher of the Daily Mail of “clear, systematic and sustained use of unlawful information gathering” to secure stories about them.

In a witness statement submitted to the court, the Duke of Sussex accused the newspaper group of subjecting him to “intrusion [that] was terrifying” for loved ones, creating a “massive strain” on his personal relationships. He said it had the effect of “driv[ing] me paranoid beyond belief, isolating me”.

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Trust had $254m invested in companies such as Chevron, BP and Shell in 2024, a nine-year record, analysis shows

The Gates Foundation Trust holds hundreds of millions of dollars in fossil fuel extractors despite Bill Gates’ claims of divestment made in 2019.

End-of-year filings reveal that in 2024 the trust invested $254m in companies that extract fossil fuels such as Chevron, BP and Shell. This was a nine-year record and up 21% from 2016, Guardian analysis found. Adjusting for inflation, it was the highest amount since 2019.

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US president’s talk of Greenland-linked import taxes also sends dollar sliding 4% against safe-haven currencies

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European stock markets fell on Monday and gold and silver prices hit record highs after Donald Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on eight European countries in an increasingly aggressive attempt to claim Greenland.

Germany’s DAX, France’s CAC and Italy’s FTSE MIB were all down more than 1%, as was the pan-European STOXX 600. In the UK, the FTSE 100 fell 0.4% to 10,194.

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Deadline mandated by Epstein Files Transparency Act long past, but millions of documents have still not been released

One month after the justice department’s congressionally mandated deadline to release all Jeffrey Epstein investigative files went unmet, victims’ advocates are expressing outrage over the department’s failure to comply with federal law.

Advocates have also indicated that they are not surprised, describing the justice department’s noncompliance with the Epstein Files Transparency Act as yet another example of US officials failing to hold wrongdoers accountable in the ongoing saga.

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Critics draw ‘direct line’ between content by Nick Sortor and similar figures and violent actions of federal agents

A rightwing influencer, who appeared to admit that he recently drove his truck at protesters in Minneapolis, has for years cooperated with the Trump administration even while he has been repeatedly accused of escalating conflict for video content he pumps out to 1.2 million followers on X.

Nick Sortor has received full-throated support of the Trump administration after an October arrest in Portland, and attended an October 2025 White House influencer roundtable on “antifa”.

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Donald Trump links Greenland seizure threats to Nobel snub in letter to Norway’s prime minister. Plus, unseen home video of Martin Luther King Jr

Good morning.

Donald Trump has linked his repeated threats to seize control of Greenland to his failure to receive the Nobel peace prize, according to an extraordinary letter sent to the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre.

What else has Trump said about Greenland this weekend? The US president on Saturday threatened to impose a 10% tariff on imports from Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Finland from 1 February until the US is allowed to buy the Arctic island.

How have those countries responded? The EU is weighing up retaliatory tariffs on US goods and even the use of its most severe economic sanctions as European leaders lined up to criticise Trump’s threat, which one minister described as “blackmail”.

How has the city’s mayor, Jacob Frey, responded? He said on Sunday that any military deployment would be “ridiculous” and would only exacerbate tensions in Minnesota’s largest city, where the Trump administration has sent 3,000 immigration and border patrol officers who have faced largely peaceful protests.

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