The White House was served a legal rebuke this week when federal grand jurors in Alexandria, Va., rejected the Justice Department’s push to indict Letitia James, the New York attorney general, on mortgage-related charges for the second time in a week.
A study of more than 45,000 women found that screening women according to their level of risk was as effective in detecting tumors as the one-size-fits-most screening currently recommended.
The prospect of soaring health care costs could exacerbate Americans’ feelings about affordability, an issue that President Trump has tried to downplay. But Democrats plan to keep the issue front and center.
The hearing was the first concrete step toward repealing some of the state’s vaccine requirements. Rolling back others would require legislative action.
Larry Downs Jr., of Pensacola, Fla., speaks against childhood vaccine mandates at a public hearing held by Florida’s Department of Health on Friday in Panama City Beach, Fla.
On Theo Von’s show this week, Mr. Carlson lashed out at a major supporter of the president, the F.B.I. and “unimpressive, dumb, totally noncreative people” leading the nation.
Tucker Carlson did not mention President Trump by name in his attacks on Theo Von’s podcast, but his broadsides were the latest evidence of a deepening divide in Republican politics.
Four Canadian provinces are selling off the American liquor they pulled from shelves in protest over President Trump’s tariffs. Some bourbon drinkers are thrilled.
Watch: King Charles issues update on his cancer treatment
King Charles has shared "good news" about his cancer, saying in a personal message that early diagnosis and "effective intervention" means his treatment can be reduced in the new year.
In a recorded video message broadcast on Channel 4 for the Stand Up To Cancer campaign, the King said: "This milestone is both a personal blessing and a testimony to the remarkable advances that have been made in cancer care."
According to Buckingham Palace, the King's recovery has reached a very positive stage and he has "responded exceptionally well to treatment", so much so that doctors will now move his treatment "into a precautionary phase".
The regularity of treatment is going to be significantly reduced - but the King, 77, is not described as being in remission or "cured".
"Today I am able to share with you the good news that thanks to early diagnosis, effective intervention and adherence to 'doctors' orders', my own schedule of cancer treatment can be reduced in the new year," the King said in his speech.
The video message, recorded in Clarence House two weeks ago, was played in the Stand Up To Cancer show on Channel 4 on Friday evening, in a fundraising project run with Cancer Research UK.
The campaign encourages more people to get tested for cancer and to take advantage of national screening schemes - and the King's message emphasised the importance of checks to catch cancer at an early stage.
"I know from my own experience that a cancer diagnosis can feel overwhelming. Yet I also know that early detection is the key that can transform treatment journeys, giving invaluable time to medical teams," said the King.
Early detection could be a lifesaver, he said: "Your life, or the life of someone you love, may depend upon it."
PA Media
King Charles had a message of "hope" at an Advent service this week
The King also spoke of how much he had been "profoundly moved by what I can only call the 'community of care' that surrounds every cancer patient - the specialists, the nurses, researchers and volunteers who work tirelessly to save and improve lives".
Until now the King has said little publicly about his illness.
He didn't seem to want to be defined by the disease and his approach has been to keep working, with a busy schedule including overseas trips and hosting state visits, including last week's by the German president.
A couple of days ago he was sending a message of optimism and seasonal "hope", when he attended an atmospheric, candle-lit Advent service at Westminster Abbey.
The Stand Up To Cancer show, presented by celebrities including Davina McCall, Adam Hills and Clare Balding, has urged people not to be frightened of getting cancer checks.
In particular, the show has appealed to the estimated nine million people in the UK who Cancer Research UK says are not up to date with NHS screening schemes, offering an online checker to let people see if they are eligible for tests for breast, bowel and cervical cancer.
The King said it "troubles me deeply" that this represents nine million missed opportunities to catch cancer early - and he urged people to use the screening checker online tool.
"The statistics speak with stark clarity. To take just one example: When bowel cancer is caught at the earliest stage, around nine in 10 people survive for at least five years. When diagnosed late, that falls to just one in 10," he said.
According to royal sources, the King's reference to bowel cancer should not be seen as linked to his own condition, and prostate cancer has previously been ruled out.
In an attempt to demystify cancer checks and show the value of early diagnosis the Stand Up To Cancer show had a live broadcast from cancer clinics at Addenbrooke's and Royal Papworth hospitals in Cambridge.
"I want to take the fear out of cancer screening and show everyone that they are not on their own in this," said McCall, 58, who recently said she was recovering from breast cancer surgery.
Reuters
The King has talked about the shock of receiving a cancer diagnosis
Currently in the UK, there are three NHS cancer screening programmes - for bowel, breast and cervical cancer - available to certain age groups.
A new lung cancer screening programme is also being slowly rolled out for anyone at high risk of developing the disease, specifically targeting people aged 55-74 years old, who currently or used to smoke.
Men may enquire about prostate cancer checks, but there is no national programme in place.
The Stand Up to Cancer project, which has raised £113m since 2012, is funding 73 clinical trials involving 13,000 cancer patients.
Michelle Mitchell, chief executive of Cancer Research UK, said public figures speaking openly about cancer can encourage others to have a check up.
"Spotting cancer early can make a real difference and provides the best chance for successful treatment," she said.
Supporters are continuing to speak of their frustration at the astronomical cost of following the 2026 World Cup.
The Football Supporters' Association has called ticket prices a "laughable insult" to fans.
For some smaller nations, the cost of group-stage tickets is going to be higher than a month's wages in that country. And that is before factoring in travel and accommodation.
One Ghana fan told the BBC of "anger and disappointment" that Black Stars supporters might now be forced to cancel their plans.
Fifa's ticket price policy was revealed on Thursday, with group-stage tickets up to three times the prices of those for Qatar in 2022. The cheapest ticket for the final will cost £3,119.
BBC Sport has contacted Fifa for comment.
Ticket prices outstrip wages for many countries
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Many Ghana fans are rethinking their plans to support their team at the World Cup
"It's a chance to qualify. It is a chance to participate in a big event," Fifa president Gianni Infantino declared in January 2017.
The Fifa Council had just unanimously voted to expand the World Cup to 48 teams. Nations who had never or rarely reached the finals were being given hope.
Infantino added: "Football is more than Europe and South America. Football is global.
"The football fever you have in a country that qualifies for the World Cup is the most powerful tool you can have, in those nine months before qualifying and the finals."
Yet that "football fever" is falling a little flat after the ticket prices were released.
While the players will be there, the price of tickets could outstrip wages.
Take Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world. The average wage in the Caribbean nation is around $147 (£110) a month.
The cheapest tickets for Haiti's first game at the World Cup in 42 years, against Scotland, cost $180 (£135).
To attend all three matches - they also play Brazil and Morocco - would cost $625 (£467). That's more than four months' salary for the average Haitian, just to get into the ground.
It's a similar story for Ghana, where the average monthly salary is around $254 (£190).
Ghana supporter Jojo Quansah told BBC World Service that fans would have to cancel their plans.
"It's a bit of a disappointment for those who, for the last three-and-a-half years, have been trying to put some money away in the hope that they can have their first World Cup experience," he said.
"Fifa themselves have gone ahead to increase the number of teams so a lot more smaller football nations will get a chance to have themselves and their fans represented.
"It's been overshadowed by pricing those same fans out of a chance to watch their country play at the World Cup.
"I have a feeling that quite a number of people within the next couple of months, are going to drop out of that desire to be at the next World Cup. Sadly. So sadly."
Other nations could see their fans priced out.
You've bought your tickets, how about the flights?
Any fan wanting to follow their team from the first game to the final - if they get there - will spend a minimum of £5,200 on tickets.
There there's travel. For an England fan planning to attend the group stage, current prices show flights from London to Dallas to Boston to New York/New Jersey and then home are £1,300. Add on £526 if you get the cheapest match tickets.
It gets a lot more expensive if you want to go for the whole tournament. If they were winners of Group L, England would have to go from Atalanta to Mexico City and then to Miami. Those two flights alone would cost £800.
Flights across the tournament could cost £2,600. Add on the cheapest match tickets, and it is £7,800.
What about Scotland fans travelling from Glasgow? Flights across the group stage would cost £1,675 each, with the lowest ticket price bracket £500 on top.
If Scotland were to win Group C, flights through to the final would be £2,357. With tickets that is £7,567.
These prices are as of today. Many supporters would not want to book flights for the knockout rounds before they know they need to travel. By then, it could be a lot more expensive.
What England and Scotland fans are saying
Paul Clegg (61), from Blackburn, says: "This will be my fifth World Cup. I haven't missed a game since 2014.
"I'm in contact with England fans all over the country. I'm a top capper.
"We all plan to boycott games after the group stage.
"Football is dead."
Anne-Marie Carr (54), from York, says: "I have diligently attended England matches so that I can earn the caps to get tickets for major tournaments only to then find that I, as so many others, are being priced out.
"WC 26 will be for the few, the sponsors and the glory hunters who've got the money to attend the big matches when they come along."
Katie, from Glasgow, says: "Buy a ticket, you must be joking!
"These prices are not for the real fans, these are for corporates, bigwigs, sponsors. The real fans cannot afford those glorified prices."
Ian, from Glenrothes, says: "Not sure why anyone is surprised.
"One of the reasons I'm not going, as much as I would want to see my country at a World Cup, is that there are too many practical things negating it.
"Airline and hotel greed, and now ticket prices.
"Not for me!"
Ticket prices have soared since the bid document
Every nation that wants to host the World Cup has to present its case from stadiums, to sustainability, to ticket prices.
The world has changed a lot since the United States, Mexico and Canada set out its plan in 2017.
Covid has placed a great deal of inflationary strain across the globe. But not this much.
In fairness, the ticket prices for the group stage are not vastly higher. For games such as Scotland v Haiti ($180) the prices for the cheapest tickets are in line with the $174 in the bid document.
It's for the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final where Fifa has massively increased the prices.
Category three for the final was proposed to be $695 (£520). Adjusted for inflation, it would cost $890 (£666). Yet Fifa is now charging $4,185 (£3,119).
How do World Cup ticket prices compare to other major events in the United States?
The biggest sporting event of the year in the United States is the Super Bowl - the finale to the NFL season.
Super Bowl tickets are not released for sale to the general public but can be bought via official resale sites.
According to Forbes,, external tickets for the 2025 Super Bowl started at around £3,500 - £5,000 each.
Basketball's NBA finals are not priced as high. Last year, tickets at Oklahoma City Thunder started at £52 in the top tier of their Paycom Center home as they won their first NBA Championship.
Away from sport, tickets for next year's WWE Wrestlemania in Las Vegas are available for between £250 and £1,000.
While musician Taylor Swift's hugely successful Eras Tour tickets at US venues were typically priced at between £37 and £335 each - although the resale market had tickets priced well above £1,000.
Festive forecast: Will we see a white Christmas this year?
Image source, Getty Images
Published
As the mild December continues, are our hopes of a white Christmas melting away?
It's still a little too early to confirm the details of the forecast for Christmas 2025, but there are some signs we may see the weather turning a little cooler and calmer.
Since the turn of the century, more than half of all Christmas Days in the UK have seen snow falling somewhere.
But at this early stage what do we actually know about the chances of this Christmas being "white"?
What is in the Christmas forecast?
Forecasters look at data produced by several different weather supercomputers generated over different timescales.
Not all computer models are in agreement about how the finer details of the Christmas forecast will look, but there are some themes now emerging.
The first half of December has been mild and wet, dominated by rain-bearing Atlantic low pressure systems. This general set-up is expected to continue for the next week or so, but there is a chance of higher pressure building into late December, which would bring a drier spell compared to recent conditions.
Whilst temperatures are likely to drop a little, returning to more typical for the time of year, there is no especially cold weather expected at this stage. Overnight frost and fog could well become more of an issue over the Christmas period. Wintry showers cannot be ruled out, especially over high ground in the north, but there are currently no indications of widespread snow.
Forecasting snow in the UK is notoriously difficult, and it is still too early to know for certain whether we will see a white Christmas in 2025.
The festive forecast will become much clearer about five days before Christmas, so keep an eye on the BBC Weather app or website for the latest updates.
Image caption,
Lying snow looks beautifully festive but a Christmas is only officially 'white' if snow is recorded falling from the sky
What makes a Christmas officially 'white'?
Christmas cards often depict snow that is "deep and crisp and even", but often a "white Christmas" will be much less wintry in reality.
In fact, just a single snowflake has to be recorded falling at any point during the 24 hours of 25 December at any of the Met Office's network of around 300 observing stations.
Snow already lying on the ground on Christmas Day may make things look merry and bright, but it does not count under the official definition.
Will it be a White Christmas?
Join BBC Weather’s Carol Kirkwood, Matt Taylor and Barra Best, along with famous faces Jeremy Vine and Lucy Porter, to explore where our fascination with a white Christmas comes from.
Since 2020, every year except 2024 has officially been a white Christmas. However, in each of these years very few places reported any snow actually settling on the ground.
The last time the UK saw a widespread white Christmas was back in 2010, when snow fell at 19% of weather stations and, very unusually, 83% of stations reported snow lying on the ground.
Whilst snow is more common between January to March than in December, odds are still pretty high that somewhere in the UK will see snow on 25 December.
However, as our climate warms, winters in the UK are becoming milder and wetter. Whilst the Met Office says, "This generally reduces the chances of a white Christmas," it also recognises that, "The natural variability of the weather will not stop cold, snowy winters happening in the future".
On Theo Von’s show this week, Mr. Carlson lashed out at a major supporter of the president, the F.B.I. and “unimpressive, dumb, totally noncreative people” leading the nation.
Tucker Carlson did not mention President Trump by name in his attacks on Theo Von’s podcast, but his broadsides were the latest evidence of a deepening divide in Republican politics.
A self-taught session man extraordinaire, he played with a constellation of stars, including Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Chaka Khan and Dizzy Gillespie.
Phil Upchurch in 1983, playing at the North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague. Although he was known for his versatility across multiple genres, he considered himself a jazz player — albeit one with his own vision.
Indiana Republicans’ redistricting rejection marks a rare ceasefire in the gerrymandering wars — and could lead to other state leaders backing off their own plans.
The result gives cover for some Democratic-leaning states to stand down, even as the party’s base is frenzied over the issue. Lawmakers in Illinois and Maryland have for months had internal debates about whether to move forward with redrawing their maps. Indiana’s outcome relieved some of the mounting pressure they anticipated facing had Republicans in Indiana further gerrymandered their maps.
Illinois Democrats have long said they would only gerrymander if the Indiana GOP bowed to Trump’s demands and redid their own map. In the wake of Hoosier Republicans’ move Thursday, their Democratic neighbors don’t seem eager to change their minds.
Meanwhile in Maryland, one Democratic leader is rebuffing entreaties from top Democrats to eliminate the state’s lone remaining GOP seat.
Maryland Democratic Senate President Bill Ferguson has exchanged phone calls with Indiana Senate Republican leader Rodric Bray, four people familiar with the two leaders, granted anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly, told POLITICO. Each resisted pressure from top officials in their party to move on redistricting. Bray’s success could now lessen the pressure on Ferguson. Bray's spokesperson, Molly Swigart, said no deal was ever made between Bray and Ferguson on redistricting in their respective states.
Officials in Virginia, where Democrats gained 13 seats in their House of Delegates in November’s statewide elections, are poised to make drastic changes to their congressional maps that could net the party upwards of four seats. But Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger sounded reluctant to the idea of making wholesale changes to congressional lines at a POLITICO event earlier this week.
There are headwinds elsewhere for Trump and his allies. In Kansas and Kentucky Republicans have so far failed to move forward with their redistricting pushes that are complicated by opposition from Democratic governors. Ohio Republicans struck a compromise with Democrats for a less aggressive gerrymander than what some national leaders wanted. And a judge picked a map in Utah that drew a safe Democratic seat; and Republicans are facing a potential setback for Missouri.
That doesn’t mean the redistricting wars are over. Lawmakers in a number of other states are still weighing their own maps, with GOP-led Florida and Democratic-controlled Virginia remaining the biggest question marks on the board. Republicans are still eyeing Kentucky and Nebraska as well.
“We’ve got a lot more states that we can do work on,” one person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly on a sensitive matter, told POLITICO on Friday, while admitting that “Indiana was definitely frustrating.”
And if the U.S. Supreme Court issues a ruling further gutting the Voting Rights Act in the coming months, a number of states are expected to rush to redraw their lines before their states’ filing deadlines, in a move that could give the GOP a huge boost and potentially put the House out of reach for Democrats.
“The truth is, I think we're still, we're in the middle of this redistricting war,” said John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee. “We're all waiting to hear back from the Supreme Court as to what they're going to do and how they're going to move forward.”
Here’s what to expect in the coming weeks from states including Maryland, Florida, Illinois and a challenge to the already-passed maps passed in Missouri.
Maryland
Perhaps lawmakers breathing the biggest sigh of relief from Indiana bucking Trump’s redistricting push are those in Maryland.
While that likely closes the door on the redistricting push for this year, Moore still has an opportunity to reignite a pressure campaign aimed at Ferguson to hold a vote on the issue in January, when the legislature returns for regular session. The governor’s Redistricting Advisory Commission is meeting Friday for its final public hearing to solicit comments from Maryland residents before its members make a recommendation to the governor and the General Assembly on whether to redraw maps.
Illinois
For months, Illinois Democrats have suggested they were unlikely to try to squeeze another seat out of their already-gerrymandered state unless Indiana Republicans redrew their seats.
And while state Democratic leaders didn’t completely rule out redistricting in the wake of the Indiana GOP’s vote, they don’t sound particularly eager for a new map.
“Our neighbors in Indiana have stood up to Trump’s threats and political pressure, instead choosing to do what’s right for their constituents and our democracy,” Gov. JB Pritzker said in a statement after the result, without saying what Illinois might do.
A person in Pritzker’s office, granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly, said the governor was less than equivocal in his statement because no one knows what Trump's next move might be.
State House and Senate Democratic leaders struck similar tones, praising their Hoosier neighbors while pledging to stay vigilant against similar efforts in other states.
Virginia
Democrats’ best remaining chance for a multi-seat gerrymander is Old Dominion. But while statehouse leaders seem eager to push forward with a complicated plan for a voter referendum to approve a new gerrymander — much like California’s move — the state’s incoming Democratic governor doesn’t seem quite as eager to lend a hand.
The Democratic-dominated Virginia legislature is expected to easily pass a procedural measure before putting the issue of redistricting before voters to approve a constitutional Virginia amendment to redraw the state’s maps ahead of the midterms — a move that legislative leaders have teased could lead to a 10-1 map.
“I feel comfortable that we have an opportunity to do a number of maps here in Virginia to allow for us to level the playing field,” Virginia House Speaker Don Scott said at a POLITICO event this week.
But at the same event, Spanberger hedged when asked if she supported redrawing maps to achieve the feat.
“The calendar is tight, and for me, I want to win,” Spanberger said, pointing to Virginia’s first and second congressional districts that are currently held by Republicans. “I want to flip seats in the House of Representatives, and I know that we can because I just won those districts.”
But when asked directly if redistricting is the way to go, Spanberger said that Virginia should “leave open the option” of new maps but that ultimately voters will decide if the legislature should move forward.
Florida
Florida Republicans could deliver their party three to five more seats if they press ahead with mid-decade redistricting. But two factors complicate that effort.
First, GOP leaders aren’t on the same page. GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis has been touting the need to draw new maps since last summer, has suggested waiting until the spring of next year in case the U.S. Supreme Court weakens the Voting Rights Act and bars the consideration of race when drawing lines, a position backed by the state’s GOP Senate president, Ben Albritton.
But state GOP House Speaker Daniel Perez said this week it is “irresponsible” to wait and that the House is prepared to send a map to the Senate during its regular session that starts next month.
Second, GOP leaders may be constrained by Florida’s voter-approved constitutional ban on redistricting for partisan gain. Democrats have already asserted that drawing up any new map is “illegal’ and would violate these standards signaling that litigation is likely if state legislators pass a new map. But Florida's conservative-dominated state Supreme Court already ruled in 2022 that legislators can sidestep minority protections when it allowed a previous GOP-drawn map that was muscled into law by DeSantis, weakening its impact.
Missouri Republicans already passed a map to flip Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s (D-Mo.) district red, but Democrats are hoping to undo the GOP-passed map in Missouri via ballot measure. Earlier this week, they submitted more than double the 107,000 signatures required to force a statewide vote for the secretary of state.
If the signatures are validated, the map may not cannot go into effect in time for the midterms, and if voters approve the ballot measure, the map gets tossed. Republicans still have a bit of time, since GOP Secretary of State Denny Hoskins doesn’t have to approve the signatures until July. Plus, it’s unclear when the Republican-controlled Legislature will actually put those signatures up for a vote.
The timing is causing a bit of chaos. Since candidates need to file by the end of March, prospective members of Congress may have to file in districts that aren’t set for the midterms.
Adam Wren, Andrew Howard, Shia Kapos, Alex Gangitano and Gary Fineout contributed to this report.
Three generations of a family built their homes and lives in Sri Lanka’s highland tea country. The biggest storm in decades wiped out their hamlet in a landslide.
Villagers carrying bodies for burial at a cemetery in Kandy in Sri Lanka.
A large fire broke out on a Turkish car ferry anchored at the Ukrainian port city of Odesa after it was hit in a strike on Friday.
The company that operates the Cenk T confirmed the attack occurred at 16:00 local time (14:00 GMT) shortly after it docked at the Chornomorsk port.
Ukraine's President Volodymr Zelensky has blamed the strike on Russia, which has not commented.
The attack came hours after Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin that a limited ceasefire for energy facilities and ports could be beneficial. Russia has resisted all calls for a ceasefire.
Moscow has threatened to cut "Ukraine off from the sea" in response to Kyiv's maritime drone attacks on Russia's "shadow fleet" tankers thought to be used to export oil - and a main source for funding the ongoing war.
Cenk Denizcilik, the company that owns the cargo ship that operates on the Karasu-Odesa route across the Black Sea, said on Friday that it had been carrying "essential food supplies" when it was hit shortly after anchoring at the Ukrainian port city.
Emergency response measures were immediately activated with the vessel's crew, port fire brigade and assisting tugboats after a fire broke out on the forward section of the ship, the company's statement added.
"At this stage, there are no reports of casualties or injuries among the crew," it said.
Video footage of the attack's aftermath, which was shared on Zelensky's Telegram account, shows crews attempting to extinguish a large blaze on the vessel.
While condemning a series of missile attacks that Russia had carried out on the Odesa region the night before, the Ukrainian leader blamed Moscow for targeting the civilian Turkish ship, saying it "could not have any military meaning".
Turkey's foreign ministry said an agreement should be reached that would guarantee "the security of shipping and suspending attacks against energy and port infrastructure in order to prevent escalation in the Black Sea".
"We once again underline the importance of urgently ending the war between Russia and Ukraine," the ministry said.
Turkey has sought to maintain relations with the two warring countries since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
It also controls the Bosphorus Strait, which is a key passage for transporting Ukrainian grain and Russian oil out to the Mediterranean.
US President Donald Trump was among several prominent figures featured in the images released on Friday
More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.
It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.
Watch: Massie and Garcia on latest photos from Epstein estate
The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."
"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.
Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".
The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".
Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.
Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.
House Oversight Committee
A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.
An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".
House Oversight Committee
House Oversight Committee
Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.
The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.
Getty Images
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.
House Oversight Committee
A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.
A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.
Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.
Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.
The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.
Angry French farmers are calling for more protests over the government-backed slaughter of cattle herds affected by so-called Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD).
On Thursday there were clashes between riot police and demonstrators in the southern Ariège department, after vets were called in to destroy potentially contaminated cattle at a farm.
Elsewhere in the south, farmers have dumped manure outside government buildings and blocked roads. The offices of several environmentalist groups were ransacked in the Charente-Maritime department.
LSD is a highly contagious bovine disease which is transmitted mainly by fly-bites. The symptoms are fever, mucal discharge and nodules on the skin.
Shutterstock
Though mainly non-fatal, it can badly affect milk-production and the cows are unsaleable.
The government's policy of slaughtering entire herds where a single animal has been infected has run up against bitter opposition from two of the three main farmers' unions.
Conféderation Rurale and Conféderation Paysanne say the policy is being brutally applied, and is in any case unnecessary because a combination of selective culling and vaccination would suffice.
But most vets disagree.
"Right now we are unable to tell the difference between a healthy animal and a symptomless animal carrying the virus. That is the only reason we have to carry out these whole-herd slaughters," said Stephanie Philizot who heads the SNGTV vets' union.
Since June there have been around 110 outbreaks of LSD in France, originally in the east but now increasingly in the south-west. Ministry officials blame the illegal movement of cattle from affected zones. Around 3,000 animals have been slaughtered.
The French government is worried the protests could snowball into a wider movement among a farming population that feels itself under growing threat from the imposition of EU norms and competition from abroad.
A big protest is planned in Brussels next week during the summit of EU leaders. Several French farming sectors are in deep crisis, from wine-growers hit by falling consumption to poultry farmers hit by avian flu.
There is also widespread opposition to the impending signature of an EU free-trade agreement with South American countries, which farmers fear will open France to more cheap food imports, much of it produced under looser environmental and sanitary constraints.
Trump had already announced a deal to stop the fighting between the neighbours
US President Donald Trump has said the prime ministers of Thailand and Cambodia will halt fighting "effective this evening".
Trump made the announcement after telephone conversations with the two leaders following deadly border clashes in recent days which have left at least 20 people dead and half a million displaced.
Neither Thai PM Anutin Charnvirakul nor his Cambodian counterpart Hun Manet has commented.
However, after his call with Trump earlier, Charnvirakul told a news conference that a ceasefire would only come about if "Cambodia will cease fire, withdraw its troops, remove all landmines it has planted".
In a post on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump said both leaders "have agreed to CEASE all shooting effective this evening, and go back to the original Peace Accord made with me.
"Both Countries are ready for PEACE and continued Trade with the United States of America."
The long-standing border dispute escalated on 24 July, as Cambodia launched a barrage of rockets into Thailand, which responded with air strikes.
After days of intense fighting which left dozens dead, the neighbouring South East Asian countries agreed to an "immediate and unconditional ceasefire" brokered by Trump and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.
Since then, tensions continued to build.
This week, violence expanded into at least six provinces in north-eastern Thailand and five provinces in Cambodia's north and north-west.
The two countries have been been contesting territorial sovereignty along their 800km land border for more than a century, since the borders of the two nations were drawn after the French occupation of Cambodia.
The Transportation Security Administration is providing passenger lists to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement to identify and detain travelers subject to deportation orders.
The center at the university’s public health school was also a focus of the Trump administration after having been examined in a Harvard antisemitism report earlier this year.
The François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard’s public health school will have new leadership. An interim was named in the meantime.
Ukraine's president says it is right for Russia's frozen assets to be used to rebuild his country
Ukraine is running out of cash to keep its military and its economy going, after almost four years of Russia's full-scale war.
For Europe, the solution to plugging Kyiv's budget hole of €135.7bn (£119bn; $159bn) for the next two years lies in frozen Russian assets sitting in Belgian bank Euroclear and EU leaders hope to sign that off at their Brussels summit next week.
Russian officials warn the EU plan would be an act of theft and Russia's central bank announced on Friday it was suing Euroclear in a Moscow court even before a final decision is made.
'Only fair' to use Russia's assets
In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets frozen in the EU, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.
The EU and Ukraine argue that money should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed: Brussels calls it a "reparations loan" and has come up with a plan to prop up Ukraine's economy to the tune of €90bn.
"It's only fair that Russia's frozen assets should be used to rebuild what Russia has destroyed – and that money then becomes ours," says Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says the assets will "enable Ukraine to protect itself effectively against future Russian attacks".
Russia's court action was expected in Brussels. But it is not just Moscow that is unhappy.
Belgium is worried it will be saddled with an enormous bill if it all goes wrong and Euroclear chief executive Valérie Urbain says using it could "destabilise the international financial system".
Euroclear also has an estimated €16-17bn immobilised in Russia.
Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever has set the EU a series of "rational, reasonable, and justified conditions" before he will accept the reparations plan, and he has refused to rule out legal action if it "poses significant risks" for his country.
What is the EU's plan?
Thierry Monasse/Getty Images
The German chancellor (L) says the EU's plan will enable Ukraine to defend itself
The EU is working to the wire ahead of next Thursday's summit to come up with a solution that Belgium can accept.
Until now the EU has held off touching the assets themselves directly but since last year has paid the "windfall profits" from them to Ukraine. In 2024 that was €3.7bn. Legally using the interest is seen as safe as Russia is under sanction and the proceeds are not Russian sovereign property.
But international military aid for Ukraine has slipped dramatically in 2025, and Europe has struggled to make up the shortfall left by the US decision to all but stop funding Ukraine under President Donald Trump.
There are currently two EU proposals aimed at providing Ukraine with €90bn, to cover two-thirds of its funding needs.
One is to raise the money on capital markets, backed by the EU budget as a guarantee. This is Belgium's preferred option but it requires a unanimous vote by EU leaders and that would be difficult when Hungary and Slovakia object to funding Ukraine's military.
That leaves loaning Ukraine cash from the Russian assets, which were originally held in securities but have now largely matured into cash. That money is Euroclear property held in the European Central Bank.
The EU's executive, the European Commission, accepts Belgium has legitimate concerns and says it is confident it has dealt with them.
The plan is for Belgium to be protected with a guarantee covering all the €210bn of Russian assets in the EU.
Should Euroclear suffer a loss of its own assets in Russia, a Commission source explained that would be offset from assets belonging to Russia's own clearing house which are in the EU.
If Russia went after Belgium itself, any ruling by a Russian court would not be recognised in the EU.
In a key development, EU ambassadors are expected to agree on Friday to immobilise Russia's central bank assets held in Europe indefinitely.
Until now they have had to vote unanimously every six months to renew the freeze, which could have meant a repeated risk to Belgium.
The EU ambassadors are set to use an emergency clause under Article 122 of the EU Treaties so the assets remain frozen as long as an "immediate threat to the economic interests of the union" continues.
Why Belgium is not yet satisfied
Belgium is adamant it remains a staunch ally of Ukraine, but sees legal risks in the plan and fears being left to handle the repercussions if things go wrong.
A usually divided political landscape in this case has rallied behind Prime Minister Bart de Wever, who is under pressure from European colleagues and having talks with UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in London on Friday.
"Belgium is a small economy. Belgian GDP is about €565bn – imagine if it would need to shoulder a €185bn bill," says Veerle Colaert, professor of financial law at KU Leuven University.
While the EU might be able to secure sufficient guarantees for the loan itself, Belgium fears an added risk of being exposed to extra damages or penalties.
Prof Colaert also believes the requirement for Euroclear to grant a loan to the EU would violate EU banking regulations.
"Banks need to comply with capital and liquidity requirements and shouldn't put all their eggs in one basket. Now the EU is telling Euroclear to do just that.
"Why do we have these bank rules? It's because we want banks to be stable. And if things go wrong it would fall to Belgium to bail out Euroclear. That's another reason why it's so important for Belgium to secure water-tight guarantees for Euroclear."
Europe under pressure from every direction
There is no time to lose, warn seven EU member states including those closest to Russia such as the Baltics, Finland and Poland. They believe the frozen assets plan is "the most financially feasible and politically realistic solution".
"It's a matter of destiny for us," warns leading German conservative MP Norbert Röttgen. "If we fail, I don't know what we'll do afterwards. That's why we have to succeed in a week's time".
While Russia is adamant its money should not be touched, there are added concerns among European figures that the US may want to use Russia's frozen billions differently, as part of its own peace plan.
Zelensky has said Ukraine is working with Europe and the US on a reconstruction fund, but he is also aware the US has been talking to Russia about future co-operation.
An early draft of the US peace plan referred to $100bn of Russia's frozen assets being used by the US for reconstruction, with the US taking 50% of the profits and Europe adding another $100bn. The remaining assets would then be used in some kind of US-Russia joint investment project.
An EU source said the added advantage of Friday's expected vote to immobilise Russia's assets indefinitely made it harder for anyone to take the money away. Implicit is that the US would then have to win over a majority of EU member states to vote for a plan that would financially cost them an enormous sum.
US President Donald Trump was among several prominent figures featured in the images released on Friday
More images from the estate of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein have been released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
The Democrats said the 19 images came from a tranche of 95,000 photos the committee received from Epstein's estate as part of its ongoing investigation.
US President Donald Trump, former Prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon are among the high-profile figures featured in the photos. The images, many of which have been seen before, do not imply wrongdoing.
It comes one week before a deadline for the US justice department to release all Epstein-related documents, which are separate from the images shared by the committee on Friday.
Watch: Massie and Garcia on latest photos from Epstein estate
The individuals featured in the images have not yet commented. Many of them have previously denied wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
In a statement, Representative Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, said: "It is time to end this White House cover-up and bring justice to the survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and his powerful friends."
"These disturbing photos raise even more questions about Epstein and his relationships with some of the most powerful men in the world. We will not rest until the American people get the truth. The Department of Justice must release all the files, NOW" he added.
Republicans, who are in the majority on the committee, have accused Democrats of "cherry-picking photos and making targeted redactions to create a false narrative about President Trump".
The White House called the release a "Democrat hoax" against Trump that has been "repeatedly debunked".
Trump appeared in three of the images released on Friday. One image showed him standing next to a woman whose face has been redacted.
Another showed Trump standing next to Epstein while talking to model Ingrid Seynhaeve at a 1997 Victoria's Secret party in New York – an image that was already publicly available.
House Oversight Committee
A third photo showed Trump smiling with several women, whose faces have also been redacted, flanked on either side of him.
An additional photo showed an illustrated likeness of the president on red packets next to a sign that reads: "Trump Condom".
House Oversight Committee
House Oversight Committee
Among the images released was what appeared to be cropped photo of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor next to Bill Gates. A fuller version of the photo, which was available on photo agency Getty Images, showed King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales, on the right side of the photo.
The Getty Images' caption said the picture was taken during a summit during the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in London in April 2018.
Getty Images
Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was also pictured in some of the images. He was shown speaking with Epstein at a desk, and in another, standing beside him in front of a mirror.
House Oversight Committee
A third image showed him speaking with filmmaker Woody Allen.
A photo featuring former US President Bill Clinton's showed him standing next to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in facilitating the disgraced financier's abuse.
Two other people the BBC has yet to identify are also in the image, which appeared to have been signed by Clinton.
Clinton has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein. In 2019, a spokesperson said he "knows nothing about the terrible crimes" Epstein pleaded guilty to.
Other prominent figures which appear in the images include US economist Larry Summers, lawyer Alan Dershowitz and entrepreneur Richard Branson. Not all the images show those individuals in the company of Epstein.
Epstein was charged with sex trafficking in July 2019. He died in prison a month later while awaiting trail.
The president was a friend of Epstein's, but has said they fell out in the early 2000s, years before he was first arrested.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.
The justice department is required to release investigative material related to Epstein by 19 December under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which was signed into law by Trump last month.
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