diplomacy

Netanyahu to push Trump on Iran missiles in White House talks

BY DANNY KEMP

  • They "discussed regional issues, and they provided an update on the first round of negotiations they held with Iran last Friday," according to a statement on the X account for the Israeli prime minister.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will push Donald Trump on Wednesday to take a tougher stance in nuclear talks with Iran, after rushing to Washington to stiffen the US president's resolve.
  • They "discussed regional issues, and they provided an update on the first round of negotiations they held with Iran last Friday," according to a statement on the X account for the Israeli prime minister.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will push Donald Trump on Wednesday to take a tougher stance in nuclear talks with Iran, after rushing to Washington to stiffen the US president's resolve.
Trump said on the eve of the hastily arranged White House meeting -- set to begin at 11:00 am (1600 GMT)-- that he was weighing sending a second US "armada" to the Middle East to pressure Tehran to reach a nuclear deal.
But Netanyahu, making his sixth visit to the United States since Trump took office, will also be urging the US leader to take a harder line on arch-foe Iran's ballistic missile program.
Tehran, which resumed talks with Washington last week in Oman, warned Monday of "destructive influences" on diplomacy ahead of the Israeli premier's visit. 
On Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said his country would "not yield to excessive demands" on its nuclear program, though he said the country is not seeking an atomic weapon.
"We are not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons. We have stated this repeatedly and are ready for any verification," Pezeshkian said.
Netanyahu had been expected to come to Washington for a February 19 meeting of Trump's "Board of Peace" for Gaza, but reportedly brought forward his visit as the US-Iran talks proceeded.

What does Trump think?

Already in town Tuesday night, Netanyahu met with Trump's Middle East envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
They "discussed regional issues, and they provided an update on the first round of negotiations they held with Iran last Friday," according to a statement on the X account for the Israeli prime minister.
While talking up hopes of a nuclear deal, Trump warned in an interview with the Axios news outlet earlier Tuesday that he was "thinking" of sending a second aircraft carrier strike group to the region.
"Either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time," Trump said. "We have an armada that is heading there and another one might be going."
Trump, who ordered US strikes on Tehran's nuclear sites during Israel's 12-day war with Iran last June, separately told Fox Business that any deal would have to involve "no nuclear weapons, no missiles."
He added that Iran's leaders "want to make a deal" but "it's got to be a good deal," saying Tehran had been "very dishonest with us over the years."

What are Netanyahu's goals?

Netanyahu said as he left for Washington his talks would "first and foremost" be about the Iran negotiations, while adding that they would also discuss Gaza and other regional issues.
"I will present to the president our views regarding the principles for the negotiations," he said in a video statement. Netanyahu's office said he would highlight Iran's missile arsenal.
Israel's concerns came to a head during their unprecedented war last year, during which Iran launched waves of ballistic missiles and other projectiles at Israeli territory, striking both military and civilian areas.
So far, Iran has rejected expanding the scope of its talks with the United States beyond the issue of its nuclear program, though Washington also wants Tehran's ballistic missile program and its support for regional militant groups on the table.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog, speaking during a visit to Australia, said he hoped the talks would help fight Iran's "empire of evil."

What about the West Bank?

The meeting will also come amid growing international outrage over Israeli measures to tighten control of the occupied West Bank by allowing settlers to buy land directly from Palestinian owners.
Israel's security cabinet approved the move ahead of Netanyahu's Washington visit. It's unclear whether Trump will address it.
A US official said on Monday that Trump "does not support Israel annexing the West Bank" and wants stability, while holding off from directly criticizing the Israeli government's moves.

How many meetings?

Wednesday's meeting will be the sixth between the two leaders on US soil since Trump returned to office in January 2025 -- five times at the White House and once at the Republican's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
A seventh meeting took place in Jerusalem in October when Trump announced a ceasefire in Gaza.
burs-dk/nro/lga/mtp

military

US grand jury rejects bid to indict Democrats over illegal orders video

  • In the video posted to social media in November, the members of Congress called on the military to "refuse illegal orders."
  • Federal prosecutors failed to bring charges Tuesday against six Democratic lawmakers who urged service members to refuse illegal orders, outraging President Donald Trump, who had called for jail time, US media reported.
  • In the video posted to social media in November, the members of Congress called on the military to "refuse illegal orders."
Federal prosecutors failed to bring charges Tuesday against six Democratic lawmakers who urged service members to refuse illegal orders, outraging President Donald Trump, who had called for jail time, US media reported.
A federal grand jury composed of local citizens in Washington denied the Justice Department's attempts to indict the lawmakers who posted a short video urging conscientious service, sources told the New York Times and the Washington Post.
In the video posted to social media in November, the members of Congress called on the military to "refuse illegal orders."
It featured Arizona's Mark Kelly, Michigan's Elissa Slotkin, Jason Crow of Colorado, Chris Deluzio and Chrissy Houlahan of Pennsylvania and Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire.
In a statement posted to her Instagram account Tuesday night, Slotkin reiterated that the 90-second video "simply quoted the law," adding: "Hopefully, this ends this politicized investigation for good."
"I will not be intimidated for a single second by the Trump Administration or Justice Department lawyers who tried and failed to indict me today," Deluzio said in his own statement posted to X.
"American citizens on a grand jury refused to go along with this attempt to charge me with a crime for stating the law in a way Trump and his enablers didn't like," he said.
The Post noted that it is "exceedingly rare" for federal prosecutors to strike out in a grand jury proceeding because they "only need to convince a majority of grand jurors that there is a probable cause that a crime was committed -- a relatively low threshold."
The six Democrats -- all of whom served in the military or the nation's spy agencies -- never specified which orders to refuse, but Trump has leaned heavily on the use of the military in his second term, both domestically and abroad.
The 79-year-old Republican has ordered the National Guard into US cities to back his immigration crackdown, in many cases over the protest of local leaders.
He has also ordered strikes abroad, including attacks in Nigeria, Iran and a series of lethal hits on alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that have killed at least 130 people, and which experts say are illegal.
After the Democrats' video circulated on social media, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform: "THE TRAITORS THAT TOLD THE MILITARY TO DISOBEY MY ORDERS SHOULD BE IN JAIL RIGHT NOW," later calling it "SEDITION AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL."
In another post, Trump said the behavior was "punishable by DEATH!"
In addition to the Justice Department's attempt to land an indictment, the Pentagon said in November that it was considering a court-martial against Kelly, a former astronaut, in an extraordinary escalation of the Trump administration's response.
Later that month, Democratic lawmakers accused Trump of using the FBI to "intimidate" members of Congress and said the law enforcement agency had requested interviews with them following their criticism of the president.
"It wasn't enough for Pete Hegseth to censure me and threaten to demote me, now it appears they tried to have me charged with a crime -- all because of something I said that they didn't like," Kelly wrote on X Tuesday, referencing the secretary of defense.
"Donald Trump wants every American to be too scared to speak out against him. The most patriotic thing any of us can do is not back down."
sla/jgc/lga/mtp

politics

Moderna says US refusing to review mRNA-based flu shot

  • Moderna said it had received a Refusal-to-File letter, which would indicate the application did not meet the requirements for substantive review.
  • Vaccine manufacturer Moderna said Tuesday the US Food and Drug Administration was refusing to review an application for its first mRNA-based flu shot.
  • Moderna said it had received a Refusal-to-File letter, which would indicate the application did not meet the requirements for substantive review.
Vaccine manufacturer Moderna said Tuesday the US Food and Drug Administration was refusing to review an application for its first mRNA-based flu shot.
The move comes as the current iteration of the FDA has called for a reconsideration of approval procedures for certain vaccines, including for influenza -- proposed federal policy changes under President Donald Trump that have triggered widespread alarm among public health and medical professionals.
Moderna, a US company, said the agency's top vaccine regulator, Vinay Prasad, wrote in a letter that Moderna's clinical trial was not "adequate and well-controlled," and had not tested its experimental shot against the best product on the market.
In the large trial Moderna had compared its new vaccine with Fluarix, an approved flu shot from the company GSK.
Moderna said the rejection was "inconsistent with previous written communications" with the FDA branch that regulates biological products, including vaccines, known by the acronym CBER.
The decision "did not identify any safety or efficacy concerns with our product" and "does not further our shared goal of enhancing America's leadership in developing innovative medicines," Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said in the statement. 
"It should not be controversial to conduct a comprehensive review of a flu vaccine submission that uses an FDA-approved vaccine as a comparator in a study that was discussed and agreed on with CBER prior to starting."
Moderna said it had received a Refusal-to-File letter, which would indicate the application did not meet the requirements for substantive review. The company said it had requested a meeting to discuss the decision.
The letter did not identify any safety or efficacy concerns regarding the mRNA vaccine, said Moderna, which added the shot was accepted for review in the European Union, Canada and Australia.
During his first term Trump called mRNA technology a "modern-day miracle." 
It was used during the Covid-19 pandemic to swiftly develop an immunization against the fast-spreading illness, and was credited with saving millions of lives.
Vaccines against Covid-19 are considered safe and effective by global health authorities, and protect against the most severe forms of the infection. 
But in his second term, Trump has appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr as his health chief, and the long-time vocal vaccine skeptic has spent the past year reshaping federal health agencies in his image.
That has meant spreading false information and sowing doubt about the safety and efficacy of vaccines widely known to be safe, and upending the pediatric immunization schedule.
Notably, Kennedy cut off federal research grants that funded mRNA development.
mdo/nro

rights

'Outrage' as LGBTQ Pride flag removed from Stonewall monument

BY GREGORY WALTON

  • New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
  • The removal of an LGBTQ rainbow pride flag from the United States' most prominent gay monument after new rules issued by the Trump administration sparked an outcry and a noisy protest on Tuesday.
  • New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
The removal of an LGBTQ rainbow pride flag from the United States' most prominent gay monument after new rules issued by the Trump administration sparked an outcry and a noisy protest on Tuesday.
The removal of a large rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York followed a January 21 memo from the federally run National Park Service responsible for the heritage site.
It banned the flying of flags other than the US national banner and the Department of the Interior's colors, with limited exceptions.  
About 100 noisy demonstrators, many draped in LGBTQ flags, gathered in a park opposite Stonewall in downtown Manhattan with attendees decrying the move as a "slap in the face" for the community.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani said he was "outraged" by the removal of the rainbow pride flag from the monument.
"New York is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, and no act of erasure will ever change, or silence, that history," he wrote on X.
The Stonewall national monument memorializes the eponymous Stonewall Uprising of 1969, when LGBTQ New Yorkers rose up against discriminatory policies and oppression.
A police raid of the small Greenwich Village gay bar ignited six days of rioting that birthed the modern US gay rights movement, later extended to transgender and non-binary people, who do not identify as male or female.

'Unconscionable behavior'

Trump regularly criticized transgender people and what he termed "gender ideology extremism" while on the campaign trail, and days after returning to office he signed an executive order declaring only two official genders in the United States, male and female. 
A month later, the National Park Service scrubbed references to transgender and queer people from the website of the monument, with other government departments implementing similar purges.
"To have somebody take down something that is so meaningful to us and to our community outside a historic site like that is basically a slap in the face," said trans community organizer Jade Runk, 37, who used cable ties to fasten LGBTQ flags to railings in Christopher Park opposite Stonewall.
"It's a message saying 'we don't want you to exist'."
The area around the Stonewall monument, including the adjacent, privately run Stonewall Inn, is still adorned with many bright LGBTQ flags, as well as banners representing the trans community.
New York state Governor Kathy Hochul said that she would "not let this administration roll back the rights we fought so hard for."
The National Park Service did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
LGBTQ campaign group GLAAD said "attempts to censor and diminish visibility are tactics that LGBTQ Americans overcame decades ago, and we will continue to defeat."
Gay history archivist Alec Douglas, 29, told AFP that "we've seen this movie before." 
"It's just unconscionable behavior from an autocratic government to erase a minority," said Douglas, holding up a rainbow flag from a 1994 pride march signed by the banner's original designer, Gilbert Baker.
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal told local media he would reraise the flag at the site on Thursday.
One protester angrily shouted "Let's do it now. What are we waiting for?"
gw-ph/md

politics

FBI election probe in Georgia launched by Trump advisor: affidavit

  • Fulton County officials filed a lawsuit demanding their return and District Judge JP Boulee, a Trump nominee, ordered the unsealing on Tuesday of the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure.
  • The FBI seizure of 2020 ballots in the southern state of Georgia stemmed from a criminal probe launched by an advisor to US President Donald Trump who backed his failed bid to overturn the election, according to a search warrant unveiled Tuesday.
  • Fulton County officials filed a lawsuit demanding their return and District Judge JP Boulee, a Trump nominee, ordered the unsealing on Tuesday of the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure.
The FBI seizure of 2020 ballots in the southern state of Georgia stemmed from a criminal probe launched by an advisor to US President Donald Trump who backed his failed bid to overturn the election, according to a search warrant unveiled Tuesday.
FBI agents last month raided election offices in Georgia's Fulton County, which includes the heavily Democratic capital Atlanta, removing hundreds of boxes of ballots and other materials related to the 2020 vote, which Trump has falsely claimed that he won.
Fulton County officials filed a lawsuit demanding their return and District Judge JP Boulee, a Trump nominee, ordered the unsealing on Tuesday of the search warrant affidavit used to justify the seizure.
According to the document, the FBI is conducting a probe into allegations of "electoral impropriety" in the 2020 election and "whether any of the improprieties were intentional acts that violated federal criminal laws."
"The FBI criminal investigation originated from a referral sent by Kurt Olsen, Presidentially appointed Director of Election Security and Integrity," it said.
As potential evidence of fraud, the affidavit cited a number of previously aired claims about the 2020 vote in Fulton County, some of which have been proven false.
Olsen was among the members of Trump's 2020 legal team who filed dozens of lawsuits contesting the results that were tossed out by courts around the country.
Trump nevertheless continues to falsely claim that he won the 2020 election over Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump narrowly lost to Biden in Georgia in 2020 and urged a state election official in a phone call before the tallies were finalized to help him "find 11,780 votes" he needed to win.
The Republican president and others were charged in Georgia over their alleged efforts to subvert the election, but the prosecutor became embroiled in scandal and the case was ultimately dismissed in November 2025.
Trump also faced federal charges over his alleged election subversion efforts that led to the January 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol by his supporters.
Those charges were dropped after Trump was elected in November 2024.
Fulton County chairman Rob Pitts, speaking to reporters following the FBI raid, said the county has been targeted because he "stood up to Donald Trump's big lie."
"Every audit, every recount, every court ruling has confirmed what we the people of Fulton County already knew: our elections were fair and accurate, and every legal vote was counted," the official said.
US elections are administered by individual states, but Trump recently floated the idea of Republicans moving to "nationalize the voting" in certain areas over his unfounded fraud claims.
cl/nro

Epstein

Chappell Roan leaves agency headed by embattled 2028 Olympic chief

  • The Grammy-winning singer said in a post on Instagram late Monday she was leaving the Wasserman agency with immediate effect. 
  • US singer-songwriter Chappell Roan has announced she is leaving the talent agency led and founded by Casey Wasserman, the embattled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics chief whose name recently appeared in files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
  • The Grammy-winning singer said in a post on Instagram late Monday she was leaving the Wasserman agency with immediate effect. 
US singer-songwriter Chappell Roan has announced she is leaving the talent agency led and founded by Casey Wasserman, the embattled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics chief whose name recently appeared in files related to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The Grammy-winning singer said in a post on Instagram late Monday she was leaving the Wasserman agency with immediate effect. 
"As of today, I am no longer represented by Wasserman," Roan wrote.
"I hold my teams to the highest standards and have a duty to protect them as well. No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that conflict so deeply with our own moral values."
Roan did not explicitly mention Casey Wasserman in her statement, which followed similar announcements by lesser-known artists including the band Best Coast.
Wasserman apologized last month after a flirty and sexually suggestive 2003 email correspondence between him and Epstein's jailed former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell appeared in a trove of new Epstein files released by the US Department of Justice. 
Wasserman, 51, who has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the scandal, said his exchange with Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year sentence for trafficking underage girls for Epstein, took place before her crimes came to light.
Wasserman also emphasized he "never had a personal or business relationship with Jeffrey Epstein."
While the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee last week gave strong backing to Wasserman, local officials in Los Angeles have called for the 2028 chief to step down.
"Having (Wasserman) represent us on the world stage distracts focus from our athletes and the enormous efforts needed to prepare for 2028," Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn told The Los Angeles Times.
bur-ane/jfx/rcw/bb

climate

US to scrap legal cornerstone of climate regulations this week

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • The finding under then-president Barack Obama concluded that six greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change.
  • President Donald Trump is set this week to scrap a landmark scientific finding that greenhouse gases jeopardize public health by driving climate change -- the bedrock of US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution.
  • The finding under then-president Barack Obama concluded that six greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change.
President Donald Trump is set this week to scrap a landmark scientific finding that greenhouse gases jeopardize public health by driving climate change -- the bedrock of US regulations to curb planet-warming pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last summer proposed reversing the so-called "endangerment finding" of 2009, in the administration's latest boost to the fossil fuel industry.
"On Thursday, President Trump will be joined by (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin to formalize the rescission of the 2009 Obama-era endangerment finding," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told a news briefing Tuesday.
"This will be the largest deregulatory action in American history, and it will save the American people $1.3 trillion in crushing regulation."
The finding under then-president Barack Obama concluded that six greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change.
That determination flowed from a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act and directed the EPA to determine whether they pose a danger to public health and welfare.
While it initially applied only to a section of the Clean Air Act governing vehicle emissions, it was later incorporated into other regulations.
As a result, repealing the determination would immediately be accompanied by revoking the requirement for federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.
The revocation is also set to place a broader suite of climate regulations at legal risk, including limits on carbon dioxide from power plants and methane from oil and gas operations.
"This action is unlawful, ignores basic science, and denies reality," said Democratic governors Gavin Newsom of California, a likely presidential candidate, and Tony Evers of Wisconsin in a joint statement. 
"We know greenhouse gases cause climate change and endanger our communities and our health — and we will not stop fighting to protect the American people from pollution."

Study authored by climate-skeptics

The administration's draft proposal, which elicited more than half a million public comments, asserts that greenhouse gases should not be treated as pollutants in the traditional sense because their effects on human health are indirect and global rather than local. 
Regulating them within US borders, it contends, cannot meaningfully resolve a worldwide problem.
The proposal also sought to downplay the scale and impacts of human-caused climate change, citing a study commissioned by an Energy Department working group filled with skeptics of human-caused climate change to produce a report challenging the scientific consensus.
That report was widely criticized for misattribution and misstating the conclusions of the studies it cited. 
Environmental groups sued the Energy Department, alleging the panel was convened behind closed doors in violation of federal rules. 
Energy Secretary Chris Wright later disbanded the group.

Legal challenges, disputed math

The Trump administration has claimed that repealing the endangerment finding would lead to reduced new car costs, which have spiraled since the pandemic, but its calculations do not account for savings from reduced fuel use. 
Dan Becker of the Center for Biological Diversity's Safe Climate Transport Campaign, said the administration was "stoking oil demand at home by pushing for more gas guzzlers," while presenting a gift to China's electric vehicle makers who would no longer face meaningful US competition.
While the administration says the rules imposed more than $1 trillion in cumulative regulatory costs that were passed on as "hidden taxes," critics say it does not weigh those costs against the monetized benefits from climate protection, public health and fuel savings.
"The EPA's slapdash legal arguments should be laughed out of court," said Meredith Hankins, federal climate legal director at the Natural Resources Defense Council, vowing a swift court challenge.
ia/sla

Epstein

US commerce chief admits 'Epstein Island' lunch but denies closer ties

BY BEIYI SEOW

  • Lutnick denied Tuesday that he had dinner in Epstein's New York City home in 2011, although he acknowledged that the documents indicated a planned meeting with Epstein in May that year.
  • Facing growing calls for his resignation, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitted Tuesday to having lunch on Jeffrey Epstein's private island in 2012, but strenuously denied any closer relationship with the convicted sex offender.
  • Lutnick denied Tuesday that he had dinner in Epstein's New York City home in 2011, although he acknowledged that the documents indicated a planned meeting with Epstein in May that year.
Facing growing calls for his resignation, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitted Tuesday to having lunch on Jeffrey Epstein's private island in 2012, but strenuously denied any closer relationship with the convicted sex offender.
Lutnick's ties to Epstein have come under intense scrutiny after email exchanges included in newly released files undermined his earlier insistence that he had cut all links with the late financier back in 2005.
So far, President Donald Trump's administration has stood by Lutnick, with White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying the president "fully supports" him.
She added that he "remains a very important member" of Trump's team.
Epstein, a convicted sex offender who had ties to top business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minor girls.
In a podcast last year, Lutnick recounted moving in next door to Epstein in 2005 and receiving a house tour that left him disturbed. He and his wife decided that he would "never be in the room with that disgusting person, ever again."
"So I was never in the room with him socially, for business or even philanthropy," he said.
But records have emerged showing Lutnick's plans in 2012 to meet Epstein for lunch in Little Saint James, notoriously known as "Epstein Island."
"We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour," Lutnick told a Senate committee hearing.
But he stressed that he was with his wife, children and nannies.
"We were on family vacation," he said.
Asked if he saw anything untoward, Lutnick maintained that besides his family and that of another couple who were present, he only saw staff who worked for Epstein on the island.
High-profile people have come under scrutiny for visits to Little Saint James, the private redoubt in the US Virgin Islands where prosecutors alleged Epstein trafficked underage girls for sex.

No 'relationship'

Lutnick stressed to the Senate Appropriations Committee on Tuesday: "Over a 14-year period, I did not have any relationship with him. I barely had anything to do with that person."
The billionaire was referring to the period starting in 2005 when he moved to a New York home where Epstein was his neighbor. He said that he met Epstein when they were both in New York.
He has come under fire from US lawmakers, however.
Democratic Senator Adam Schiff said Monday that "Lutnick has no business being our Commerce Secretary, and he should resign immediately."
He added that Lutnick's earlier denial of dealings with Epstein raises "serious concerns about his judgment and ethics."
On Sunday, Republican lawmaker Thomas Massie also told CNN the commerce secretary "should just resign," citing similar resignations in Great Britain.
And Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House oversight committee, charged in a social media post that Lutnick "has been lying about his relationship with Epstein."
"He said he had no interactions with Epstein after 2005, yet we now know they were in business together," Garcia said.
Released documents indicated the men had become investors in a firm some time after the island visit, although it is unclear if they personally engaged over the deal. They also appear to have communicated through assistants on other occasions.
Lutnick denied Tuesday that he had dinner in Epstein's New York City home in 2011, although he acknowledged that the documents indicated a planned meeting with Epstein in May that year.
The commerce chief was also questioned about documents that suggested Epstein had an interest in meeting his nanny, but said this "had nothing to do with me."
"I have nothing to hide, absolutely nothing," Lutnick said.
Lutnick -- a close ally of Trump's -- served as chief executive of financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald before becoming US commerce secretary last year.
bur-bys/aha

immigration

US immigration officials grilled by Congress over Trump crackdown

BY ROBIN LEGRAND

  • The operations have sparked mass protests in Minneapolis, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
  • The heads of US immigration agencies faced heavy criticism in Congress Tuesday as they defended President Donald Trump's mass deportation drive and fielded questions about the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis.
  • The operations have sparked mass protests in Minneapolis, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
The heads of US immigration agencies faced heavy criticism in Congress Tuesday as they defended President Donald Trump's mass deportation drive and fielded questions about the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis.
Trump acknowledged in the wake of the Minneapolis killings that a "softer touch" may be needed on immigration, and his administration announced concessions including the withdrawal of hundreds of officers from the Midwestern city.
But the issue remains far from resolved, with Democrats demanding changes to the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducts its immigration sweeps and threatening to block its funding, while Trump's administration vows to maintain its deportation efforts, with backing from Republican lawmakers.
"The president tasked us with mass deportation, and we are fulfilling that mandate," Todd Lyons, the acting head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), said in his opening remarks during the Tuesday hearing on DHS oversight.
He testified alongside Rodney Scott, the head of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Citizenship and Immigration Services director Joseph Edlow.
Scott hailed efforts on the southern US frontier, saying CBP "spent the last year rebuilding what was an intentionally broken border" and that "the United States... enjoys the most secure border in our nation's history."
The Trump administration officials faced a barrage of criticism and tough questions from Democratic lawmakers over the major crackdown on migrants in multiple US cities, which Republican representatives largely defended. 
"This administration and the agencies represented before us have shown a complete and utter disregard for the law and the Constitution," Democratic Representative Tim Kennedy said.
Representative Eli Crane, a Republican, pushed back on criticism of immigration enforcement, accusing Democrats of seeking to "demonize ICE and Homeland Security."

'Days, not weeks'

In Minneapolis, thousands of federal agents have in recent weeks conducted raids in what the administration claims are targeted operations against criminals.
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday that he expects the crackdown -- which has seen detentions of broad categories of immigrants and sometimes citizens -- to end soon.
"We're very much in a 'trust but verify' mode. But it's my expectation... that we are talking days, not weeks and months, of this occupation," Walz said.
The operations have sparked mass protests in Minneapolis, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
When Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell asked Tuesday if Lyons would apologize to Good and Pretti's families over the Trump administration's initial description of them as "domestic terrorists," he declined, saying he would not comment on active investigations.
Opposition Democrats have been calling for sweeping reforms to ICE operations, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces, and requiring warrants.
Democratic leaders in Congress are also threatening to block the 2026 funding bill for DHS. The White House has indicated it is willing to negotiate, but its response has failed to satisfy opposition lawmakers so far.
"Republicans shared an outline of a counterproposal, which included neither details nor legislative text," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement.
They denounced the White House response as "incomplete and insufficient in terms of addressing the concerns Americans have about ICE's lawless conduct," and said they were awaiting further details.
If negotiations fail, DHS could face a funding shortfall starting Saturday. CBP and ICE operations could continue using funds approved by Congress last year, but other sub-agencies such as federal disaster organization FEMA could be affected.
rle-wd/des

politics

Minnesota governor eyes end to ICE raids in 'days'

  • Speaking at an event to address the impact of ICE on small businesses, Walz described the sprawling deployment to his state as "a federal retribution campaign."
  • Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday he was hopeful the unprecedented US federal immigration enforcement operation underway in the state would end within days.
  • Speaking at an event to address the impact of ICE on small businesses, Walz described the sprawling deployment to his state as "a federal retribution campaign."
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said Tuesday he was hopeful the unprecedented US federal immigration enforcement operation underway in the state would end within days.
US President Donald Trump's sweeping detention and deportation push prosecuted by waves of masked, heavily armed agents has left two US citizens dead and fueled massive protests in the Midwestern state.
"Minnesota has asked that this surge of folks leave. I spoke with (Trump's border czar) Tom Homan yesterday. I spoke with Susie Wiles, the president's chief of staff this morning," Walz told a briefing. 
"We're very much in a 'trust but verify' mode. But it's my expectation -- and we will hear more from them I think in the next day or so -- that we are talking days, not weeks and months, of this occupation."
In Minnesota's largest city Minneapolis, thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in recent weeks have conducted raids in what the Trump administration claims are targeted operations against criminals. 
The crackdown has seen detentions of broad categories of immigrants -- and sometimes US citizens.
The operations have sparked mass protests in the city, and the fatal shootings of US citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti less than three weeks apart last month led to a wave of outrage.
Speaking at an event to address the impact of ICE on small businesses, Walz described the sprawling deployment to his state as "a federal retribution campaign."
"We've seen the terror in the streets. We've seen the violence in our streets. We're seeing the economic destruction of this."
Opposition Democrats have been calling for sweeping reforms to ICE operations, including ending mobile patrols, prohibiting agents from concealing their faces, and requiring warrants.
Democratic leaders in Congress are also threatening to block the 2026 funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security. The White House has indicated it is willing to negotiate, but its response has failed to satisfy opposition lawmakers so far.
A US judge on January 31 denied Minnesota's bid to force ICE to suspend its operation in the state.
gw/aha

Armenia

US vice president Vance on peace bid in Azerbaijan after Armenia visit

BY EMIL GULIYEV

  • The visit follows US President Donald Trump's mediation last year of a peace agreement between the historical rivals Baku and Yerevan, which have fought two wars over the Karabakh region.
  • US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday visited Azerbaijan, arriving from Armenia as part of a regional trip aimed at consolidating a US-brokered peace process between the Caucasus neighbours.
  • The visit follows US President Donald Trump's mediation last year of a peace agreement between the historical rivals Baku and Yerevan, which have fought two wars over the Karabakh region.
US Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday visited Azerbaijan, arriving from Armenia as part of a regional trip aimed at consolidating a US-brokered peace process between the Caucasus neighbours.
The visit follows US President Donald Trump's mediation last year of a peace agreement between the historical rivals Baku and Yerevan, which have fought two wars over the Karabakh region.
Vance sparked controversy by deleting a post from the @VP account on X that said he and his wife had laid a wreath "at the Armenian Genocide memorial to honour the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide."
His office said the post was published in error by staff not part of the delegation.
Armenia has long sought international recognition of the World War I-era killings of some 1.5 million Armenians in the Ottoman Empire as genocide.
Turkey rejects the label, estimates Armenian deaths at 300,000 to 500,000 and claims that as many Turks died in civil strife after many Armenians sided with invading Russian forces.
Last year, in his message marking the tragedy's anniversary, Trump avoided describing the massacres as genocide -- reversing the stance taken by his predecessor Joe Biden.

Strategic partnership

In Baku, Vance met with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev before the two signed a strategic partnership agreement between the United States and Azerbaijan.
Vance said the agreement "will formalise that partnership and make it very clear that the United States–Azerbaijan relationship is one that will stick".
The United States will "ship some new boats to Azerbaijan to help you with territorial waters protection", he told Aliyev as they made statements to the press.
Aliyev said relations between the two countries "are entering a new phase", including in defence cooperation, "through equipment sales".
"We will continue cooperation in the field of security and will work together on counterterrorism operations."
On Monday, Vance held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in Yerevan.
The visit is expected to advance a flagship transport communications project integrating the two countries into a new east-west trade route.
Azerbaijan seized Karabakh in a 2023 lightning offensive, ending three decades of rule by Armenian separatists.
At a White House summit in August 2025, Trump brokered an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that saw the two countries commit to renouncing claims on each other's territory and refrain from using force.

'Peace and prosperity'

Before the meeting with Aliyev, Vance said the issue of Armenian separatist leaders imprisoned in Azerbaijan was "certainly going to come up" in talks with Azerbaijani leaders.
Last week, a military court in Baku handed lengthy sentences, including life jail terms, to Armenian separatist leaders in a war crimes trial.
More than 20 Armenian human rights groups sent an open letter urging Vance to help secure the release of Armenian detainees in Azerbaijani jails. Karabakh refugees held a rally in Yerevan with the same demand. 
The US State Department said the visit would "advance President Donald Trump's peace efforts and promote the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP)".
The TRIPP is a proposed road-and-rail corridor designed to link Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave, cut off from the mainland by Armenian territory, while integrating the region into a wider east-west trade route connecting Central Asia and the Caspian basin to Europe.
Washington has presented the project as a confidence-building measure following decades of conflict between the two countries.
Aliyev said the TRIPP "will make another contribution to peace, development and cooperation in the region".
Azerbaijan sees the opening of regional communications as the main precondition for signing a comprehensive peace treaty with its rival.
eg-im/phz

climate

US to scrap cornerstone of climate regulation this week

  • "The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
  • President Donald Trump's administration is expected to finalize this week its repeal of a foundational scientific determination that underpins the US government's authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
  • "The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
President Donald Trump's administration is expected to finalize this week its repeal of a foundational scientific determination that underpins the US government's authority to regulate greenhouse gas pollution.
The Environmental Protection Agency last summer proposed reversing the so-called Endangerment Finding of 2009, in what was seen as a major blow to climate action in the world's biggest historic contributor of planet-warming emissions. 
"This amounts to the largest act of deregulation in the history of the United States," EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin told The Wall Street Journal.
The finding under then-president Barack Obama concluded that six greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide and methane -- endanger public health and welfare by driving climate change.
That determination flowed from a 2007 Supreme Court decision, Massachusetts v. EPA, which ruled that greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act and directed the EPA to determine whether they pose a danger to public health and welfare.
While the finding initially applied only to a section of the Clean Air Act governing vehicle emissions, it was later incorporated into other regulations.
As a result, repealing the finding would immediately revoke the requirement for federal greenhouse gas emissions standards for automobiles.
And it would place a broader suite of climate regulations in legal jeopardy, including limits on carbon dioxide from power plants and methane from oil and gas operations.
"The Obama Administration made one of the most damaging decisions in modern history," the EPA said in a statement to AFP Tuesday.
"The Endangerment Finding is the legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to justify trillions of dollars of greenhouse gas regulations covering new vehicles and engines," it added.
The administration's draft proposal rests on both legal and scientific arguments. Procedurally, it asserts that greenhouse gases should not be treated as pollutants in the traditional sense because their effects on human health are indirect and global rather than local. 
Regulating them within US borders, it contends, cannot meaningfully resolve a worldwide problem.
On the scientific front, the administration has sought to downplay the scale and impacts of human-caused climate change. 
It commissioned a Energy Department working group filled with skeptics of human-caused climate change to produce a report challenging the scientific consensus.
That report was widely criticized for misattribution and misstating the conclusions of the studies it cited. Environmental groups sued the Energy Department, alleging the panel was convened behind closed doors in violation of federal rules. Energy Secretary Chris Wright later disbanded the group.
Environmental organizations are expected to move quickly to challenge in court the elimination of the 2009 determination. 
"If the EPA follows through and tries to repeal the Endangerment Finding, we will see them in court," Manish Bapna, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council, said recently.
ia/dw

politics

US Justice Dept pushes to overturn ex-Trump aide Bannon's conviction

  • The Justice Department, in a filing to the Supreme Court, asked to send the conservative firebrand's case back to a lower court, where a separate motion seen by AFP seeks to throw out the case.
  • The US Justice Department moved on Monday to overturn a conviction against Steve Bannon, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, in a case linked to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
  • The Justice Department, in a filing to the Supreme Court, asked to send the conservative firebrand's case back to a lower court, where a separate motion seen by AFP seeks to throw out the case.
The US Justice Department moved on Monday to overturn a conviction against Steve Bannon, a former advisor to President Donald Trump, in a case linked to the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
Bannon, a leading figure of the far right, served four months in a federal prison for contempt of Congress after defying a subpoena to testify before the panel investigating the 2021 attack. He was freed in October 2024.
The Justice Department, in a filing to the Supreme Court, asked to send the conservative firebrand's case back to a lower court, where a separate motion seen by AFP seeks to throw out the case.
"The government has accordingly lodged a motion in the district court... to vacate the judgment and dismiss the indictment with prejudice," the motion reads.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, in a statement to the Washington Post, described the move as a course correction from what he claimed was "the prior administration's weaponization of the justice system."
In the motion to dismiss Bannon's case, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro argued it was "in the interest of justice" to do so.
Bannon was one of the loudest voices behind false accusations claiming fraud in the 2020 presidential election won by Democratic candidate Joe Biden.
Bannon is yet to comment, but Pirro's motion states that he "does not oppose" it.
In a separate case, Bannon pleaded guilty last year to defrauding donors who gave money to a private scheme to build a wall on the US-Mexico border -- a key Trump campaign promise.
Bannon entered a guilty plea in an agreement with New York prosecutors that spared him prison time.
One of the masterminds behind Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, Bannon also faced federal charges over the border wall scheme but received a pardon at the end of the Republican's first term in the White House.
bur-ane/msp

migrants

US court blocks effort to deport Turkish student: lawyers

  • Her lawyers said in a filing to an appeals court that an immigration judge had ruled that "the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability," with the court subsequently terminating her deportation proceedings.
  • A US court has terminated removal proceedings against a Turkish student detained as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism, her lawyers said in a court filing Monday.
  • Her lawyers said in a filing to an appeals court that an immigration judge had ruled that "the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability," with the court subsequently terminating her deportation proceedings.
A US court has terminated removal proceedings against a Turkish student detained as part of President Donald Trump's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activism, her lawyers said in a court filing Monday.
Video footage showing masked federal agents arresting 30-year-old Rumeysa Ozturk in March last year sparked outrage online, and added to concerns about freedom of speech and respect for due process under Trump.
Her lawyers said in a filing to an appeals court that an immigration judge had ruled that "the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability," with the court subsequently terminating her deportation proceedings.
Ozturk, a doctoral student at Tufts University, was apprehended on a sidewalk outside her home following an opinion piece she co-wrote criticizing Israel and the school's response to the Gaza war.
A judge freed her in May pending arguments after more than six weeks at an ICE facility in Louisiana.
"Today, I breathe a sigh of relief knowing that despite the justice system's flaws, my case may give hope to those who have also been wronged by the US government," said Ozturk in a statement.
"Though the pain that I and thousands of other women wrongfully imprisoned by ICE have faced cannot be undone, it is heartening to know that some justice can prevail after all."
Her detention had courted criticism from Turkey, where Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc called it "unacceptable for someone to be prosecuted because of their faith or their support for Palestine."
Tufts University publicly backed Ozturk, demanding her release so she can return to the school and complete her doctoral studies in child development.
Trump has targeted prestigious universities that became epicenters of the US student protest movement sparked by Israel's war in Gaza, stripping federal funds and directing immigration officers to deport foreign demonstrators.
Critics argue that the campaign amounts to retribution and will have a chilling effect on free speech.
jfx/ami

Epstein

Epstein accomplice Maxwell seeks clemency from Trump before testimony

BY ROBIN LEGRAND

  • Maxwell's attorney, David Markus, said she would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
  • Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell refused Monday to answer questions from US lawmakers but her attorney said she was prepared to speak if granted clemency by US President Donald Trump.
  • Maxwell's attorney, David Markus, said she would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
Convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell refused Monday to answer questions from US lawmakers but her attorney said she was prepared to speak if granted clemency by US President Donald Trump.
Maxwell, 64, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for sex trafficking, was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee to discuss her relations with Epstein.
Rather than answer the committee's questions, however, the former British socialite invoked her Fifth Amendment right to not incriminate herself.
A recording of the deposition released by the committee showed Maxwell speaking via video link, her eyes cast down at the table she was seated at in a Texas prison.
She was asked about her and Epstein's co-conspirators, whether they surrounded themselves with the rich and famous in order to "curry favor" and avoid scrutiny, and whether Trump ever engaged "in sexual activity with an individual introduced to him by you or Jeffrey Epstein."
Wearing a drab, beige uniform, Maxwell repeated the phrase "I invoke my Fifth Amendment right to silence" until the committee gave up and called off their questioning early.
Maxwell's attorney, David Markus, said she would be prepared to speak publicly if granted clemency by Trump.
"If this Committee and the American public truly want to hear the unfiltered truth about what happened, there is a straightforward path," Markus said in a statement. 
Markus also said that Trump and former president Bill Clinton -- both of whom were once friendly with Epstein -- are "innocent of any wrongdoing."
"Ms Maxwell alone can explain why, and the public is entitled to that explanation," he said.
Maxwell is the only person convicted of a crime in connection with Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.
She was convicted in 2021 of supplying underage girls to Epstein, who had ties to powerful business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics.
Her deposition comes amid the recent release by the Justice Department of millions of documents related to the government's investigation into Epstein, many of which have been heavily redacted.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) passed by Congress in November compelled the Justice Department to release all of the records in its possession related to Epstein.
It required the redaction of the names or personal identifying information about Epstein's victims, who numbered more than 1,000 according to the FBI.
But the EFTA said no records could be "withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary."

Congressional access to unredacted files

Members of Congress were given access to unredacted versions of the files Monday, though only under strict, in-person visits at secure Justice Department viewing locations.
"I saw the names of lots of people who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons," Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat, told reporters, including "people who were enablers and cooperators."
The Justice Department has said no new prosecutions are expected.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican, said he discovered the names of six men whose identities have been redacted from the publicly released documents and who "are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files."
Massie declined to provide their identities but said one "is pretty high up in a foreign government."
He also posted on X a sordid 2009 email exchange between Epstein and a redacted sender discussing a "torture video."
Massie said the email exchange appeared to be with "a Sultan" and that the Department of Justice should make his identity public.
Later, on CNN, Massie said prominent businessman Les Wexner was listed as a "co-conspirator" in a 2019 child sex trafficking case, in a file that had been improperly redacted. Wexner is the billionaire behind women's retailers and lingerie brand Victoria's Secret.
The House Oversight Committee has also summoned Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, to testify about their interactions with Epstein.
The Clintons have called for their depositions to be held publicly to prevent Republicans from politicizing their testimony.
Trump was once a close friend of Epstein but has not been called to testify by the Republican-controlled committee.
cl/nro/sla

music

Despite Trump, Bad Bunny reflects importance of Latinos in US politics

BY WITH DANNY KEMP IN WASHINGTON DC AND GERARD MARTINEZ IN SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

  • "What a slap in the face.
  • President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance a "slap in the face" to the United States.
  • "What a slap in the face.
President Donald Trump called Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime performance a "slap in the face" to the United States.
For US Latino voters, however, the show was a reminder of their significant role in American society.
Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former Florida congresswoman who was born in Ecuador, told AFP: "What Bad Bunny was able to do in the largest stage in American media was make a statement of what the Hispanic community, the Puerto Rican community, represents to this country."
The 31-year-old performer, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, sang entirely in Spanish in a spectacle that showcased Latino neighborhoods and culture within the United States, including his native Puerto Rico.
"He was presenting the culture of Latino Americans who live in his country and embracing the language not as a form of protest, but in some ways as an educational piece that Latinos who speak Spanish don't pose a threat," said Mucarsel-Powell, now head of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management.

'We are important'

The show drew backlash from the US right, especially for its use of Spanish, with Trump calling it "an affront to the Greatness of America" on his Truth Social platform.
But for Martina Grifaldo, 62, Bad Bunny's show was "a powerful message because it is saying that we are important and necessary in this country."
"It gives strength to those Latinos who can no longer cope with everything that is happening," added Grifaldo, who leads the International Latino Alliance in Houston, Texas.
Trump won 48 percent of the Latino vote in 2024, a 12-point increase from 2020, but his immigration policies since returning to office have begun to reverse that trend. 
More than 36 million Latinos were eligible to vote in the 2024 presidential election, about 15 percent of the country's electorate.
"The Hispanic/Latino vote has been a swing vote and what we saw in 2024 was a result of the pain of what the Hispanic community was feeling on the economy...and they saw Trump as a means to get out of that," said Mucarsel-Powell.

'Racism still exists'

"They have not seen any changes or any economic gains for their community...But now the issues of respect and security are important. They are starting to see immigration affect their friends and their community."
According to a January NYT/Siena poll, 58 percent of Hispanic voters disapprove of Trump's performance, while 39 percent approve. A Pew Research poll from November showed that 70 percent of Latinos disapproved of his performance.
Trump "has an erroneous view of Latinos. He believes that we bring crime and bad habits, but we have always been working," said Lenny Medina, a 26-year-old parking lot attendant in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which has been a US territory since 1898.
"Racism still exists in the 21st century," he added.
Michelle Venegas, a 50-year-old Puerto Rican resident of Austin, Texas, told AFP that because of Trump's immigration crackdown, "we're having to walk around with our passports and even that doesn't guarantee that we're not going to be detained." 
"What a slap in the face. That's a slap in the face," she added.
mav/jgc/mlm

USA

US athletes using Winter Olympics to express Trump criticism

BY PIRATE IRWIN

  • The focus of several competitors' ire at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy has been the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in particular the tactics adopted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
  • The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is in danger of developing into a Cold War between the athletes and US President Donald Trump with several competitors voicing criticism of his administration.
  • The focus of several competitors' ire at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy has been the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in particular the tactics adopted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics is in danger of developing into a Cold War between the athletes and US President Donald Trump with several competitors voicing criticism of his administration.
Gestures of a political nature on the medal winners' podium have been forbidden since 2021 under article 50 of the Olympic Charter but athletes are permitted to express their views in press conferences and on social media. 
The focus of several competitors' ire at the 2026 Winter Games in Italy has been the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, in particular the tactics adopted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
The fatal shootings of two protesters by federal officers in Minneapolis last month sparked outrage in the United States.
British freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy, who won 2014 Olympic silver for the United States but has switched to the country of his birth, made no bones about his distaste for ICE.
A post on his Instagram account read "Fxxx ICE", apparently having urinated on the snow.
As a result he says while many messages have been supportive he has also received death threats.
Kenworthy's gesture failed to get a reaction from Trump but the combative president went on the attack when American freestyle skier Hunter Hess voiced misgivings about the state of play in the United States.
"Just because I'm wearing the flag doesn't mean I represent everything that's going on in the US," said Hess.
Hess added it "brings up mixed emotions to represent the US right now.”
Trump did not hold back on his Truth Social platform, displaying his penchant for attacking those who do not support him.
"Hunter Hess, a real Loser, says he doesn't represent his Country in the current Winter Olympics."
Hess, though, received support from US snowboard superstar Chloe Kim, who called for more "love and compassion" in response to Trump's attack.
"I think in moments like these it is really important for us to unite and kind of stand up for one another, for all that's going on and I think that I'm really proud to represent the United States," Kim said. 

'Fix ourselves'

Other athletes have been less blunt. 
Mikaela Shiffrin, the most successful World Cup alpine skier in history, said she had "some thoughts" when asked how she felt about representing the US at a time when the country is riven by deep political divides.
The 30-year-old, bidding to add to her two Olympic gold medals, cited a quote from Nelson Mandela, which had been used by South Africa-born Oscar-winning actress Charlize Theron during the opening ceremony on Friday.
"'Peace is not just the absence of conflict. Peace is the creation of an environment where all can flourish regardless of race, color, creed, religion, gender, class, caste or any other social markers of difference'."
Shiffrin said it resonated with her.
"For me this relates to the Olympics. I'm really hoping to show up and represent my own values. Values of inclusivity, values of diversity and kindness."
American figure skater Amber Glenn, who won Olympic team gold on Sunday, said it had been "a hard time for the (queer) community overall in this administration".
Glenn, who identifies as pansexual and bisexual, took issue with those who questioned the legitimacy of athletes voicing their opinions.
"I know that a lot of people say you're just an athlete, like, stick to your job, shut up about politics, but politics affect us all," the 26-year-old said at a press conference before the Games.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to get dragged into the issue, especially when asked about Trump's comments about Hess.
"I'm not going to add to the discourse, because I don't think it's very helpful to heat up any kind of discourse like that," IOC spokesperson Mark Adams said on Monday.
Some American spectators at the Olympic figure skating in Milan, though, wanted to send a message to the world by holding up a flag for the TV cameras.
On one side was inscribed "Go Team USA" and on the other: "Apologies to the world for our bad behaviour. We will fix ourselves."
pi/gj

politics

US lawmakers reviewing unredacted Epstein files

  • Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, was among the Democratic and Republican lawmakers who examined the unredacted Epstein files at a secure Justice Department location on Monday.
  • US lawmakers began reviewing the unredacted files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Monday, and expressed concern that some names have been removed from the records which have been released to the public.
  • Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, was among the Democratic and Republican lawmakers who examined the unredacted Epstein files at a secure Justice Department location on Monday.
US lawmakers began reviewing the unredacted files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein Monday, and expressed concern that some names have been removed from the records which have been released to the public.
The Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA), passed overwhelmingly by Congress in November, compelled the Justice Department to release all of the documents in its possession related to Epstein.
It required the redaction of the names or personal identifying information about Epstein's victims, who numbered more than 1,000 according to the FBI.
But it said no records could be "withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official, public figure, or foreign dignitary."
Representative Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, was among the Democratic and Republican lawmakers who examined the unredacted Epstein files at a secure Justice Department location on Monday.
"I saw the names of lots of people who were redacted for mysterious or baffling or inscrutable reasons," Raskin told reporters.
"There are certainly lots of names of other people who were enablers and cooperators with Jeffrey Epstein that were just blanked out for no apparent reason," he said.
Representative Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, said he discovered the names of six men whose identities have been redacted from the released documents and who "are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files."
Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, said "there's no explanation why those people were redacted."
They declined to provide their identities but Massie said one of them "is pretty high up in a foreign government" and Khanna said one of the others "is a pretty prominent individual."
Massie and Khanna also said that many of the redactions in the released files had actually been made prior to the documents being received by the Justice Department. Those redactions may have been made earlier by the FBI or by prosecutors, they said.
"Our law was very clear," Khanna said. "Unless something was classified, it required it to be unredacted."

Clemency

Epstein, who had ties to top business executives, politicians, celebrities and academics, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking minor girls.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking underage girls to the financier and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
On Monday, Maxwell testified from prison to Congress but refused to answer any questions -- while stating that she would speak if President Donald Trump granted her clemency.
The Justice Department has said no new prosecutions are expected but a number of political and business leaders have already been tarnished by scandal or resigned after their ties with Epstein were revealed in the files.
Trump fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about Epstein -- a longtime former friend -- but a rebellion among Republicans forced him to sign off on the law mandating release of all the records.
The move reflected intense political pressure to address what many Americans, including Trump's own supporters, have long suspected to be a cover-up to protect rich and powerful men in Epstein's orbit.
cl/sla

US

US vice president visits Armenia, Azerbaijan to 'advance' peace

BY MARIAM HARUTYUNYAN

  • Pashinyan called the visit "truly historic" and said he had "great hope" that President Donald Trump would "rightfully" receive the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process.
  • US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Armenia on Monday, before a scheduled trip to Azerbaijan, as Washington seeks to consolidate a peace process between the neighbours.    
  • Pashinyan called the visit "truly historic" and said he had "great hope" that President Donald Trump would "rightfully" receive the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process.
US Vice President JD Vance arrived in Armenia on Monday, before a scheduled trip to Azerbaijan, as Washington seeks to consolidate a peace process between the neighbours.    
Vance is the most senior US official to visit Armenia, where he is also expected to advance a flagship project to improve road and rail infrastructure in the region.
His visit to Armenia -- until recently a close Russia ally -- comes as Moscow's influence has dwindled in the region since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.  
At a White House summit in August 2025, US President Donald Trump brokered an agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan that saw the two countries commit to renouncing claims on each other's territory and refrain from using force.
The arch-foes have fought two wars over the Karabakh region in recent years.
Azerbaijan finally seized the mountainous territory in a lightning offensive in 2023, ending three decades of rule by Armenian separatists.
On Monday, Vance held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and will head to Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Tuesday.
"We are not just making peace for Armenia. We are also creating real prosperity for Armenia and the United States together," Vance told a news conference alongside Pashinyan.
He announced a US drone technology sale to Armenia worth $11 million.
Pashinyan called the visit "truly historic" and said he had "great hope" that President Donald Trump would "rightfully" receive the Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process.
The two also signed a civil nuclear energy agreement, which Pashinyan said "will open a new chapter in the deepening energy partnership between Armenia and the United States".

Regional communications

The US State Department said the visit would "advance President Donald Trump's peace efforts and promote the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP)".
The TRIPP is a proposed road-and-rail corridor designed to link Azerbaijan with its Nakhchivan exclave, cut off from the mainland by Armenian territory, while integrating the region into a wider east-west trade route connecting Central Asia and the Caspian basin to Europe.
Washington has presented the project as a confidence-building measure following decades of conflict between the two countries.
Azerbaijan sees the opening of regional communications as the main precondition for signing a comprehensive peace treaty with its rival.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Armenian Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan announced in January an implementation framework for TRIPP, building on commitments made at the White House summit last year.
The framework stresses sovereignty, territorial integrity and reciprocity, while promising economic gains for both Armenia and Azerbaijan through expanded trade and transit.

Shifting alignments

US officials say the route would also strengthen regional connectivity and bolster American commercial interests by opening new supply chains that bypass Russia and Iran.
Few details of Vance's programme have been disclosed but the visit comes as Washington seeks a larger diplomatic and economic footprint in the South Caucasus and as regional alignments shift.
More than 20 Armenian human rights groups sent an open letter urging Vance to help secure the release of Armenian detainees in Azerbaijani jails.
A handful of Karabakh refugees held a rally outside the meeting venue, urging Vance to press for the prisoners' release. 
Last week, an Azerbaijani military court handed lengthy sentences, including life jail terms, to Armenian separatist leaders in a war crimes trial.
Armenia -- historically Russia's outpost in the South Caucasus -- has frozen its participation in a Moscow-led security pact and moved to deepen ties with the United States and the European Union.
Russia's influence across the former Soviet Union has been strained since its invasion of Ukraine, which has spooked many of the countries that were for decades dominated by Moscow.
Vance will not go to Georgia, which was once Washington's key ally in the region. 
US-Georgian ties have faltered after what US officials have described as Tbilisi's democratic backsliding and a pro-Russian tilt, prompting Washington to suspend a strategic partnership agreement.
mkh-im/asy/phz

Epstein

US Congress to depose Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell

  • Though the deposition will occur behind closed doors, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, published a letter of the questions he intended to ask Maxwell even if she refuses to answer.
  • Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell will be questioned behind closed doors by the US Congress on Monday, though she's expected to invoke her right to not answer questions.
  • Though the deposition will occur behind closed doors, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, published a letter of the questions he intended to ask Maxwell even if she refuses to answer.
Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell will be questioned behind closed doors by the US Congress on Monday, though she's expected to invoke her right to not answer questions.
Maxwell, currently serving 20 years in prison for trafficking girls to the disgraced financier Epstein, will face questions from prison via video-link, in a deposition by the House of Representatives' Oversight Committee.
Though no new US prosecutions are expected after the latest dump of government files on Epstein, numerous political and business leaders have fallen into scandal or resigned as their ties to the convicted sex criminal were revealed.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is probing Epstein's connections to powerful figures and how information about his crimes was handled.
Maxwell, however, is expected to invoke her right to not incriminate herself, guaranteed in the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
Epstein was convicted in 2008 of soliciting a minor. His extensive ties to the world's rich and powerful, especially after he was released in 2009, have become politically explosive across the globe.
He died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for trafficking children in what was ruled a suicide.
Maxwell's lawyers have pushed for Congress to grant her legal immunity in order to testify in the deposition, but lawmakers refused.
Without that, her legal team said she would invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
"Proceeding under these circumstances would serve no other purpose than pure political theater," her lawyers said in a letter.
Though the deposition will occur behind closed doors, Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat, published a letter of the questions he intended to ask Maxwell even if she refuses to answer.
Some touch on Trump's ties to Epstein and Maxwell. 
Others focus on four "co-conspirators" as well as 25 other men who allegedly "sexually abused minors at Epstein's island."
One of the questions asks: "Why do you believe they were not indicted?"
Another question claims that it is "well documented" that Maxwell, Epstein and US President Donald Trump had a "social relationship," citing several photographs of the trio together.
It further probes whether she or Epstein ever "arranged, facilitated or provided access to underage girls" to Trump.
Beyond the trafficking charges, Maxwell will also be asked if she had any knowledge of Epstein sharing "information" with "foreign governments or intelligence services" with Russia and Israel used as examples.
As Maxwell prepares for the closed-door discussion, scrutiny of the Trump administration's handling of her case has again come under fire.
Last year Maxwell was moved to a minimum-security prison in Texas after meeting twice with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who previously served as US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer.
Trump himself was a longtime Epstein associate, but has not been called to testify by the Oversight Committee, which is led by members of his Republican Party.
Trump has not been accused of criminal wrongdoing related to Epstein's activities.
Also expected to be deposed by the committee are former president Bill Clinton and his wife, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, both Democrats.
The Clintons have called for their depositions to be held publicly to prevent Republicans from politicizing their testimony.
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