US lawmakers wrote to Britain’s disgraced former prince Andrew on Thursday requesting he sit for an interview about his friendship with the sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.The letter was disclosed as King Charles III formally stripped his younger brother of his titles after last week’s announcement that Andrew was being banished from the monarchy.Sixteen Democratic Party members of Congress signed a letter asking Andrew to participate in a “transcribed interview” with the House of Representatives oversight committee investigating Epstein, who took his own life in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.”The committee is seeking to uncover the identities of Mr Epstein’s co-conspirators and enablers and to understand the full extent of his criminal operations,” the letter read.”Well-documented allegations against you, along with your long-standing friendship with Mr Epstein, indicate that you may possess knowledge of his activities relevant to our investigation.”The letter asked Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, to respond by November 20.It was signed by Democrats who are in a minority in the House. US Congress also has no power to compel testimony from foreigners, making it unlikely that Andrew will give evidence.A spokesperson for the former prince did not immediately respond to a request for comment from AFP.Emails recently released by the committee as well as a posthumous memoir written by Andrew’s sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre reignited UK anger over Andrew’s ties to Epstein.It culminated in Charles deciding to remove all of Andrew’s royal titles and honours and announcing that he would be ousted from his 30-room mansion on the royal estate at Windsor, west of London.Charles has formally made the changes with an announcement published Wednesday in The Gazette, the UK’s official public record.Andrew has always denied that he sexually abused Giuffre, who alleged that she was trafficked to have sex with him on three occasions, twice when she was just 17.After she launched a lawsuit against him, he paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen, died by suicide at her home in Australia in April.

A US man charged with using a sandwich to assault a law enforcement officer was acquitted Thursday after a jury decided that charges brought by President Donald Trump’s prosecutors were baloney.The prosecution made a surprise local hero of 37-year-old Sean Dunn, who was protesting Trump’s shock takeover of law enforcement in the capital Washington.He was accused of flinging a “sub-style sandwich” at an armed Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent on August 10 in a busy nightlife district after shouting expletives at the officer.The officer was part of a huge crackdown ordered by Trump, with multiple agencies and troops deploying in Washington and several other Democratic-run cities, ostensibly to fight what the Republican president says are crime waves and anarchy.Prosecutors wanted serious felony charges, but a grand jury refused to indict Dunn — a rare occurrence. A misdemeanor charge was filed and Dunn faced a maximum of one year in prison if convicted.While prosecutors ultimately proved ham-fisted, Dunn had appeared to be in a serious pickle.Right after hurling his sandwich he was chased down, then released, only to be arrested in a raid on his home that was publicized by the White House.As video of the initial altercation went viral, Dunn was quickly dubbed “DC sandwich guy,” becoming a symbol of resistance to Trump. Stylized images of him in mid-sandwich-attack appeared on posters, graffiti, T-shirts and even a popular Halloween costume.  Trump’s much-touted crime crackdown has seen an increase in arrests and indictments, but US media analysis of the data shows much of that has come from pursuing minor offenses in court.The top Trump-appointed prosecutor for Washington, Jeanine Pirro, has pursued maximum penalties for all arrests since taking office, including in the Dunn case.Dunn was a paralegal at the Justice Department at the time of the altercation and was fired from his position.On Monday, as proceedings opened, Judge Carl J. Nichols noted that he expected the trial to be a short one as “this is the simplest case in the world.”Dunn’s defense did not dispute that he threw the sandwich at the officer, instead arguing that his action did not constitute an offense, and that the charges against him were a “blatant abuse of power.”Much of the case centered on the definition of key terms, including whether the throwing of a soft object constitutes an act that is “forcible,” and whether Dunn’s action impeded the officer in the conduct of their duties.On the first day of court proceedings, the defendant, dressed in a black-and-white patterned sweater, appeared subdued as his defense team engaged in feverish consultation.Dunn’s defense has contended that he was being selectively prosecuted due to his political views, having called the federal officers “fascists” before he threw the sandwich.

The US Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration on Thursday to require passport applicants to be identified on the document by their biological sex at birth rather than their gender identity.The move is the latest blow to the rights of transgender and nonbinary Americans from the conservative-majority court, which includes three justices appointed by Republican President Donald Trump.Trump, after taking office in January, issued an executive order declaring that only two genders would now be recognized — male and female — ending recognition of a third gender, denoted by an “X” on US passports.In line with the order, passports issued by the State Department are now required to state the biological sex — “M” or “F” — of their holder at birth.The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) challenged the move and a district court judge ordered the State Department to resume issuing “X” passports to transgender and nonbinary people affected by the policy change.An appeals court denied a Trump administration bid to overturn the district judge’s order, and the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to issue an emergency stay.In a brief unsigned order, the top court said the Trump administration’s passport policy could remain in place for now while the case proceeds in the lower courts. “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth — in both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment,” the court said.The three liberal justices on the nine-member court dissented.The State Department first issued “X” passports in October 2021 under president Joe Biden, with the “X” gender marker reserved for nonbinary, intersex, and gender non-conforming individuals.Senior ACLU counsel Jon Davidson condemned the Supreme Court order and said the legal fight would continue.”This is a heartbreaking setback for the freedom of all people to be themselves, and fuel on the fire the Trump administration is stoking against transgender people and their constitutional rights,” Davidson said in a statement.”We will continue to fight this policy and work for a future where no one is denied self-determination over their identity,” Davidson added.Trump also issued an executive order in January banning transgender Americans from military service, and the Supreme Court ruled in June that the ban could take effect while litigation challenging it plays out.

Kazakhstan said Thursday it will join the Abraham Accords between Israel and mainly Muslim nations, in a largely symbolic move aimed at boosting US President Donald Trump’s push for Middle East peace.The central Asian republic has had diplomatic ties with Israel for decades, unlike the four Arab states that normalized relations with Israel under the original accords signed in Trump’s first term.But with Trump aiming to shore up his fragile Gaza ceasefire deal, Washington is pushing to get as much support as possible behind a wider peace initiative.The announcement comes as Trump hosts Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and the leaders of the other four central Asian republics — Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.After the leaders arrived at the White House, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he, Tokayev and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had held a “great call.”An official signing ceremony will be announced soon, Trump said, adding that “there are many more Countries trying to join this club of STRENGTH.”Kazakhstan said Thursday it was “natural and logical” for it to join.”Our anticipated accession to the Abraham Accords represents a natural and logical continuation of Kazakhstan’s foreign policy course — grounded in dialogue, mutual respect, and regional stability,” the country’s government said in a statement.US special envoy Steve Witkoff said earlier that a new country would join the accords, sparking initial speculation — later quashed — that it could be the elusive prize of Saudi Arabia.Kazakhstan will be the first country to join since the original Abraham Accords in 2020, when the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco normalized ties with Israel.- ‘Lot of people joining’ -Saudi Arabia had been in talks with the United States on normalizing ties with Israel, in what would be a historic milestone as the kingdom is home to Islam’s two holiest sites.But the Gulf kingdom stepped back after the Gaza war broke out following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October 2023.Saudi Arabia has long insisted it cannot normalize ties without progress toward an independent Palestinian state, a prospect long opposed by Netanyahu.Trump said at the America Business Forum in Miami on Wednesday: “We have a lot of people joining now the Abraham Accords and hopefully we are going to get Saudi Arabia very soon.”He then added jokingly to an audience which included the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, “But I’m not saying that. I’m not.”The US-brokered Gaza deal has been in place since October 10 but remains shaky, with Israel accusing Hamas of dragging its feet in returning the bodies of hostages.Israel has also launched a number of attacks despite the truce, claiming that its forces have come under attack, and says Hamas is not doing enough to give up its weapons.Witkoff, one of the key negotiators, said Thursday he was still hopeful it could hold, adding that they were “right in the middle of standing up a decommissioning process of weapons” by Hamas.Hamas insisted this process would depend on the deployment of an international security force, which would be greenlighted under a draft UN Security Council resolution presented by the United States this week, Witkoff said.