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Iran's president on Tuesday said he has instructed the country's foreign minister to "pursue fair and equitable negotiations" with the United States. The comments from reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian represent the first clear signal from Iran that it may take part in negotiations being organized by Turkey. Pezeshkian made the comments on X. "I have instructed my Minister of Foreign Affairs, provided that a suitable environment exists - one free from threats and unreasonable expectations - to pursue fair and equitable negotiations, guided by the principles of dignity, prudence, and expediency," he said. The U.S. has yet to acknowledge the talks will take place.
The Justice Department said Monday that it had taken down several thousand documents and "media" that may have inadvertently included victim-identifying information since it began releasing the latest batch of documents related to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein on Friday. It blamed the release of sensitive information that drew an outcry from victims and their lawyers on mistakes that were "technical or human error." In a letter to the New York judges overseeing the sex trafficking cases brought against Epstein and confidant Ghislaine Maxwell, US Attorney Jay Clayton wrote that the department had taken down nearly all materials identified by victims or their lawyers, along with a "substantial number" of documents identified independently by the government. Clayton, who is based in Manhattan, said the department has "iteratively revised its protocols for addressing flagging documents" after victims and their lawyers requested changes to the process for review and redaction of ..
President Donald Trump implored the House on Monday to end the partial government shutdown, but neither Republicans nor Democrats appeared ready to quickly approve the federal funding package he brokered with the Senate without first debating their own demands over immigration enforcement operations. Democrats are refusing to provide the votes House Speaker Mike Johnson needs to push the package forward as they try to rein in the Trump administration's deportation operations after the shooting deaths of two Americans in Minneapolis. That's forcing Johnson to rely on his slim GOP majority, which has its own complaints about the package, to fall in line behind Trump's deal with Senate Democrats. Voting could begin as soon as Tuesday, which would be day four of the partial shutdown. The Pentagon, Homeland Security and other agencies saw their funding lapse Saturday. And while many operations at those departments are deemed essential, and still functioning, some workers may go without pa
From tech titans to Wall Street power brokers and foreign dignitaries, a who's who of powerful men make appearances in the huge trove of documents released by the Justice Department in connection with its investigations of Jeffrey Epstein. All have denied having anything to do with his sexual abuse of girls and young women. Yet some of them maintained friendships with Epstein, or developed them anew, even after news stories made him widely known as an alleged abuser of young girls. None has been charged with a crime connected to the investigation. Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019. Here's a primer on some of the notable names in the Epstein files: Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor ------------------------------------ The man formerly known as Britain's Prince Andrew has long been dogged by questions about his relationship with Epstein, including allegations from the late Virginia Roberts Giuffre that she was trafficked by Epstein and instructed to have sex with ...
X.J. Kennedy, an award-winning poet, author, translator and educator who schooled millions of students through "The Bedford Reader" and other textbooks and engaged voluntary readers with his children's stories and intricate, witty verse, has died at age 96. Kennedy died Sunday of natural causes at his home in Peabody, Massachusetts, according to his daughter, Dr. Kate Kennedy. Born Joseph Charles Kennedy, he chose the professional name X.J. Kennedy as a young man to avoid confusion with Joseph P. Kennedy, the former ambassador to Britain and father of President John F. Kennedy. Starting in the early 1960s, he turned out dozens of poetry and children's books, contributed to the popular Bedford Reader and collaborated with the poet and onetime National Endowment for the Arts chair Dana Gioia on anthologies of poetry, drama and fiction. "I write for three separate audiences: children, college students (who use textbooks), and that small band of people who still read poetry," Kennedy o
A top Justice Department official played down the possibility of additional criminal charges arising from the Jeffrey Epstein files, saying Sunday that the existence of "horrible photographs" and troubling email correspondence does not "allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody." Department officials said over the summer that a review of Epstein-related records did not establish a basis for new criminal investigations. That position remains unchanged, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said, even as a massive document dump since Friday has focused fresh attention on Epstein's links to powerful individuals around the world and revived questions about what, if any, knowledge the wealthy financier's associates had about his crimes. "There's a lot of correspondence. There's a lot of emails. There's a lot of photographs. There's a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him," Blanche said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "But that doesn
President Donald Trump says he will move to close Washington's Kennedy Center performing arts venue for two years starting in July for construction. Trump's announcement on social media Sunday night follows a wave of cancellations since Trump ousted the previous leadership and added his name to the building. Trump announced his plan days after the premier of "Melania" a documentary of the first lady was shown at the storied venue. The proposal, he said, is subject to approval by the board of the Kennedy Center, which has been stocked with his hand-picked allies. Leading performing arts groups have pulled out of appearances, most recently, composer Philip Glass, who announced his decision to withdraw his Symphony No. 15 "Lincoln" because he said the values of the center today are in "direct conflict" with the message of the piece. "This important decision, based on input from many Highly Respected Experts, will take a tired, broken, and dilapidated Center, one that has been in bad .
"Like it or not, China matters to the UK," is the message British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is taking on his visit to Beijing on Wednesday, accompanied by a 60-strong business and cultural delegation. Downing Street said the visit, which will also cover Shanghai, reflects the UK's "clear-eyed and realistic" approach to China in terms of opportunities and challenges they pose by continuing to pursue cooperation while "maintaining guardrails" when it comes to the country's national security. The Labour Party government is keen to highlight its re-engagement with China with this first visit in eight years, coming close on the heels of a ministerial go-ahead for its controversial new "mega embassy" in London. "For years, our approach to China has been dogged by inconsistency blowing hot and cold, from Golden Age to Ice Age. But like it or not, China matters for the UK," Starmer said in a pre-visit statement. "As one of the world's biggest economic players, a strategic and consistent
A man sprayed an unknown substance on Democratic US Rep. Ilhan Omar and was tackled to the ground on Tuesday during a town hall in Minneapolis, where tensions over federal immigration enforcement have come to a head after agents fatally shot an intensive care nurse and a mother of three this month. The audience cheered as the man was pinned down and his arms were tied behind his back. In the video of the incident, someone in the crowd can be heard saying, "Oh my god, he sprayed something on her." Just before that, Omar had called for the abolishment of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign or face impeachment. Calls are mounting on Capitol Hill for Noem to step down after the shooting deaths in Minneapolis of two people who protested deportations. Few Republicans have risen to her defence. "ICE cannot be reformed," Omar said, seconds before the attack. Minneapolis police said officers saw the man use a syringe to spray an .
The chief federal judge in Minnesota says the Trump administration has failed to comply with orders to hold hearings for detained immigrants and ordered the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement to appear before him Friday to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt. In an order dated Monday, Chief Judge Patrick J. Schiltz said Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, must appear personally in court. Schlitz took the administration to task over its handling of bond hearings for immigrants it has detained. "This Court has been extremely patient with respondents, even though respondents decided to send thousands of agents to Minnesota to detain aliens without making any provision for dealing with the hundreds of habeas petitions and other lawsuits that were sure to result," the judge wrote. The order comes a day after President Donald Trump ordered border czar Tom Homan to take over his administration's immigration crackdown in Minnesota following the second death this month
The Federal Aviation Administration says seven people were killed and a crew member survived with serious injuries when a private business jet crashed in a snowstorm at Maine's Bangor International Airport. The Bombardier Challenger 600 carrying eight people crashed on takeoff Sunday night as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. The airport, about 200 miles north of Boston, shut down after the crash. Snowfall was heavy at the time, as it was in many other parts of the country.
Egypt's Parliament is looking into ways to regulate children's use of social media platforms to combat what lawmakers called "digital choas," following some western countries that are considering banning young teenagers from social media. The House of Representatives said in a statement late Sunday that it will work on a legislation to regulate children's use of social media and "put an end to the digital chaos our children are facing, and which negatively impacts their future." Legislators will consult with the government and expert bodies to draft a law to "protect Egyptian children from any risks that threaten its thoughts and behavior," the statement said. The statement came after President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday urged his government and lawmakers to consider adopting legislation restricting children's use of social media, "until they reach an age when they can handle it properly." The president's televised comments urged his government to look at other countries ...
A private aircraft carrying eight people crashed on takeoff Sunday night at Maine's Bangor International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said. The Bombardier Challenger 600 crashed around 7:45 p.m., and there was no immediate word on the conditions of those aboard. The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. The crash occurred as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. Bangor had undergone steady snowfall Sunday along with many other parts of the country. The airport issued a statement that emergency crews were on the scene at the airport, which was closed after what it described as an incident involving a single aircraft departing the airport. Bangor International Airport offers direct flights to cities like Orlando, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, and is located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Boston. Throughout the weekend, the vast storm dumped sleet, freezing rain an
Tensions over US President Donald Trump's plans to take control of Greenland have driven a wedge in the once iron-clad link between MAGA and Europe's far-right. The rift seems to signal that ideological alignment alone may not be enough to temper worries among European nationalists over Trump's interventionism abroad. Far-right leaders in Germany, Italy and France have strongly criticised Trump's Greenland plans. Even Nigel Farage, a longtime ally of Trump and head of the Reform UK nationalist party, called Trump's Greenland moves "a very hostile act." During a debate Tuesday in the European Parliament, far-right lawmakers typically aligned with Trump overwhelmingly supported halting a EU-US trade pact over their uneasiness with his threats, calling them "coercion" and "threats to sovereignty." MAGA's trans-Atlantic partners -------------------------------------- Such a divergence between Trump and his European acolytes came as some surprise. Far-right parties surged to power in