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With more records, world sees how Jeffrey Epstein leveraged powerful to abuse vulnerable girls

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — A new batch of unsealed documents pertaining to Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse of teenage girls was released Thursday, adding several hundred pages to a trove of information detailing how the financier leveraged connections to the rich, powerful and famous to recruit his victims and cover up his crimes.The 19 documents, or about 300 pages, were half as many as the over 40 released Wednesday. The documents so far — with more to come — were sprinkled with names of celebrities and politicians who socialized with Epstein or worked with him in the years before he was publicly accused nearly two decades ago of paying underage girls for sex.They also contained the accounts of some of Epstein’s young victims, many of whom were high school students who took payments of $200 to give him illicit massages.The records being unsealed were part of a lawsuit filed by one of those victims, Virginia Giuffre, against Ghislaine Maxwell, who was Epstein’s former girlfriend, househo...

What’s in store for Europe in 2024?

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

Listen on Spotify Apple Music Google Play EN_Google_Podcasts_Badge Created with Sketch. Acast Amazon Music This isn’t just any new year — 2024 in the political calendar means mega elections in Europe, the U.S., the U.K. and beyond. Our EU Confidential crew predicts how these elections could impact pressing issues around the European Union.Bringing together the collective knowl...

Europe’s stance on Gaza has undermined its credibility

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

Nathalie Tocci is director of the Istituto Affari Internazionali, a part-time professor at the European University Institute and a Europe’s Futures fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences. Her latest book, “A Green and Global Europe,” is out with Polity.Russia’s invasion of Ukraine prompted Europe’s moment of reckoning with many countries across the globe, particularly those often lumped together under the, for lack of a better term, “global south” label.Over the last couple years, the Continent’s relationship with the rest of the world has gone through the consecutive stages of illusion, awakening, outreach and repackaging, finally followed by the first timid signals of an actual rethink of its official position. However, Europe’s approach to the war in the Middle East has now dramatically set back these first steps. And it now has a much tougher job ahead than it already had to begin with.But there’s no shying away from this now. We no longer live in a world where we can ignore...

Sinn Féin walks immigration tightrope toward power in Ireland

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

DUBLIN – For Sinn Féin chief Mary Lou McDonald to become Ireland’s next prime minister, she will have to negotiate a delicate path over the newly hot-button topic of immigration.Tensions about Ireland’s overwhelmed refugee system have shot to the top of the political agenda following race riots in Dublin — and now pose challenges for all parties ahead of elections later this year.While centrists in Ireland’s coalition government face their own backroom tensions over immigration policy, it is the main opposition party, Sinn Féin, which is considered most at risk of splitting its base and shedding support to right-wing rivals.Such a development would undercut Sinn Féin right on the cusp of an historic breakthrough in the Republic of Ireland, where it appears poised to gain power for the first time following decades of expansion from its longtime stronghold in neighboring Northern Ireland. The Irish republicans, with popular anti-establishment messages and strong working-class ro...

Politicians behaving badly: 6 times partying politicos went too far

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

Some politicians might have resolved in the new year to steer clear of wild, scandal-ridden parties. But if history is anything to go by, it’s a promise they’re unlikely to keep. Just look at Italy, where 2024 began with a bang (pun very much intended) when a firearm belonging to a member of parliament went off and injured someone at a New Year’s Eve party.That got us thinking: Who’s been having the wildest, most scandalous political parties of the past few years? An out-of-control New Year’s EveLet’s kick off our list with the most recent example from the small town of Rosazza in Italy’s Piedmont region, where a New Year’s Eve party turned into a political nightmare for Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy grouping. During boisterous celebrations, a gun belonging to far-right MP Emanuele Pozzolo went off, injuring someone in the leg.Pozzolo admitted the gun belonged to him but claimed he hadn’t fired it. That story con...

How Israel will fight Gaza genocide accusations in The Hague

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

Jamie Dettmer is opinion editor at POLITICO Europe.Back in November, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the far-right and religious nationalists in his coalition government to pipe down and “be careful with their words” when talking about their desired outcomes for the war on Hamas.“Every word has meaning when it comes to diplomacy,” he said at a Cabinet meeting, warning that speaking out of turn harms Israel’s international legitimacy.Netanyahu’s plea for circumspection was triggered by a series of contentious public remarks made by hard-liners in his government, hinting at the possible annexation of the Gaza Strip and the expulsion of Palestinians from the coastal enclave.And these off-the-cuff, ill-judged comments will now complicate Israel’s defense before the International Court of Justice at The Hague (ICJ), which has scheduled a hearing next week on the genocide accusations South Africa has lodged against Israel.Just days before Netanyahu’s appeal, Agriculture Mi...

Macron’s government abstains from dry January

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

To the despair of France’s medical establishment, dry wine has won out over dry January.It’s that time of year when — bleary eyed and a few kilos heavier from too many festive toasts — many of us swear off alcohol, at least for a little while. It’s known as dry January, and according to its proponents, it’s both healthy and fun. But for the fourth year in a row it’s failed to get the French government’s official backing. President Emmanuel Macron’s top team have French wine-makers to keep sweet. The practice of staying sober for the first month of the year was launched as an official campaign by British charity Alcohol Change U.K. in 2013 as part of a health communications push to get people to realize the benefits of cutting down on boozing. Since then, it’s been repeated yearly, and even gotten official backing from the U.K. government. “It is shortsighted for governments to not, at least, recognize the huge social and...

Expensive fuel and million dollar missiles: Counting the cost of the Red Sea crisis

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

The combat reports from Western navies operating in the Red Sea in recent days read like missives from a war zone — anti-ship missiles shot down, boats full of fighters sunk. But this conflict is playing out in one of the world’s busiest waterways and the knock-on disruption to global trade routes has the potential to reverberate around the globe.Attacks on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthi militants have spiked in recent weeks in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war, with dozens of cargo ships and fuel tankers targeted or delayed as a result of the fighting.While a U.S.-led coalition has been deployed to keep peace in the region, the impact of the burgeoning conflict is already being felt in a number of sectors. And, with Iran vowing to ensure its long-running efforts to pressure Israel continue, it’s likely the crisis has only just begun.Here’s what it means in practice.Bad for businessThe Bab el-Mandeb strait, located between Djibouti and Yemen, has been the focal point for...

Crosby’s power-play goal in 3rd period sends Penguins to 6-5 win over Bruins

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

BOSTON (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored on the power play to snap a third-period tie and added two assists, lifting the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 6-5 win over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.Crosby’s goal broke a 5-all deadlock and halted a four-game winning streak for the first-place Bruins, who rallied from three down to tie it. The Penguins also got goals from Drew O’Connor, Ryan Graves, Jake Guentzel, Lars Eller and Jeff Carter. Alex Nedeljkovic made 24 saves.Brad Marchand scored twice for the Bruins, and David Pastrnak had a goal and two assists. Morgan Geekie added a goal and an assist, and Jeremy Swayman stopped 29 shots.The game started with a back-and-forth flourish as the teams combined for five goals in the first eight minutes. Boston opened the scoring 41 seconds in as Marchand won a 1-on-1 battle in front of Nedeljkovic after Pastrnak fired a wrist shot.The Penguins got the next two goals from O’Connor and Graves before Pastrnak collected his second point of the period on...

BPS superintendent assures principals half of city’s public schools will not be closing after release of long-term facilities plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 15:36:00 GMT

The superintendent of the Boston Public Schools on Wednesday assured principals that half of the city’s public schools will not be closing in the coming years. This week, the city released a long-term facilities plan that details plans to possibly close or consolidate half of Boston’s 119 schools. In an email to principals, Superintendent Mary Skipper said the plan does not imply half the schools should or will be closing but acknowledges work needs to be done. “The plan does outline something we all already know: many of our buildings do not meet the full needs and aspirations of our students and, over the next several years and likely decades, we must invest in facilities that will,” Skipper said.Skipper said the Boston public school system will continue to have many smaller schools that offer a range of diverse programming.