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Music’s A-listers are set for Sunday’s Grammy Awards, the industry’s biggest night, with superstars Kendrick Lamar, Bad Bunny and Lady Gaga hoping to make history in Los Angeles.All three are angling to add to their trophy cabinets by taking home the gala’s most coveted award, Album of the Year, for the first time.Lamar, the Pulitzer Prize-winning rapper, has nine nominations this time around for his album “GNX” — the most of any artist.The 38-year-old California native, who won five gramophones last year thanks to his smash diss track “Not Like Us,” is also up for Record and Song of the Year for “Luther” featuring R&B artist SZA.Pop chameleon Lady Gaga and Puerto Rico’s Bad Bunny also are competing in all three top categories.Also nominated for Album of the Year are: pop princess Sabrina Carpenter; R&B singer-songwriter Leon Thomas; Tyler, the Creator; hip-hop duo Clipse (Pusha T and Malice); and pop superstar Justin Bieber — with his first studio effort in four years.Lady Gaga, Bieber, Carpenter and Bruno Mars are set to lead a starry list of performers that also includes Lauryn Hill and a tribute to late rocker Ozzy Osbourne featuring Post Malone.- Bad Bunny’s hot streak -Standing in Lamar’s way for Album of the Year is Bad Bunny, who is on a world tour in support of his album “Debi Tirar Mas Fotos” (I Should Have Taken More Photos) after a hugely successful residency in San Juan.”It was a very exciting album,” musicologist Lauron Kehrer told AFP.”It touched on so much in terms of thematic material and musical material,” Kehrer said, pointing to the allusions to decolonization and use of traditional Puerto Rican rhythms.The 31-year-old Latin megastar, born Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, will headline the Super Bowl halftime show a week after the Grammys, where he is up for six awards.His “Un verano sin ti” (2022) was the first Spanish-language album nominated for Album of the Year honors. A win on Sunday would give Bad Bunny another mention in the history books.Lady Gaga, 39, made a splashy comeback to touring with “Mayhem,” her collection of pop bangers with a dark edge that embraces her dramatic side. She has seven nominations.A win for Album of the Year would complete her hat trick of top awards. She took Record and Song of the Year honors seven years ago for the soundtrack hit “Shallow,” from “A Star is Born” — which also earned her an Oscar.This time around, Song of the Year — which honors songwriting — is a crowded category that includes Carpenter’s “Manchild” and “Golden” from the Netflix animated smash hit “KPop Demon Hunters.”Many pundits believe the energetic K-pop hit will triumph.Up for best new artist are Alex Warren, girl group Katseye, Britain’s Olivia Dean, TikTok dancer-turned-singer Addison Rae, The Marias, sombr, Lola Young and Thomas.- ‘Reactionary’ -For musicologist Kehrer, the infusion of rap, reggaeton and K-pop in the top Grammy categories reflects changes in the composition of the Recording Academy’s voting group.More than 3,800 new members have been admitted. Half of those new members are age 39 or younger, and 58 percent of them are people of color, the academy says.Invitations were also offered to all members of the Latin Recording Academy.”The Grammys are more reactionary than anything else,” said Kehrer.”These artists winning those major awards is more of an indication of climate, rather than trying to move or change the climate.”The Grammy Awards will once again be hosted by comedian Trevor Noah. The main broadcast begins at 5:00 pm (0100 GMT Monday), but many of the 95 awards will be handed out at a pre-gala event.

Come Thursday, barring a last-minute change, the final treaty in the world that restricted nuclear weapon deployment will be over.New START, the last nuclear treaty between Washington and Moscow after decades of agreements dating to the Cold War, is set to expire, and with it restrictions on the two top nuclear powers. The expiration comes as President Donald Trump, vowing “America First,” smashes through international agreements that limit the United States, although in the case of New START, the issue may more be inertia than ideology.Russian President Vladimir Putin in September suggested a one-year extension of New START.  Trump, asked afterward by a reporter for a reaction while he was boarding his helicopter, said an extension “sounds like a good idea to me” — but little has been heard since.Putin ally Dmitry Medvedev, who as Russia’s president signed New START with counterpart Barack Obama in 2010, said in a recent interview with the Kommersant newspaper that Russia has received no “substantive reaction” on New START but was still giving time to Trump.A White House official said on condition of anonymity that Trump would like to see “limits on nuclear weapons and involve China in arms control talks.”The way to do that, the official said, Trump “will clarify on his own timeline.”Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, which supports reducing nuclear risks, said Trump’s second administration, which has sidelined career diplomats and entrusted decision-making only to a handful of people, is not functioning in a normal way that would allow complex negotiations.Trump “seems to have the right instinct on this issue but has thus far failed to follow through with a coherent strategy,” Kimball said.Jon Wolfsthal, director of global risk at the Federation of American Scientists, said Trump and Putin could pick up the phone and agree immediately at a political level to extend New START.”This is a piece of low-hanging fruit that the Trump administration should have seized months ago,” he said.Wolfsthal is among experts involved in the “Doomsday Clock” meant to symbolize how near humanity is to destruction. It was recently moved closer to midnight in part due to New START’s demise.- ‘Empty formality’? -Trump called in October for the United States to resume nuclear testing for the first time in more than 30 years, although it is not clear he will carry it out.Russia in 2023 already suspended a key element of New START, allowing inspections, as relations deteriorated sharply with US President Joe Biden’s administration over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.Alexander Khramchikhin, a Russian military analyst, said the two powers already had indicated they will do as they like.”It’s clear that the treaty has reached its end,” he said. “It’s just an empty formality that will disappear.”Vassily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies in Moscow, said Russia would watch if the United States ramps up its nuclear arsenal and, if so, would decide measures in response.”But if the Americans don’t take any drastic measures, such as installing warheads, Russia will most likely simply wait, observe and remain silent,” he said.- China factor -New START restricted Russia and the United States to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads each — a reduction of nearly 30 percent from the previous limit set in 2002. It also limits launchers and heavy bombers to 800 each, although the number is still easily enough to destroy Earth.During his first term, also faced with New START’s expiration, Trump insisted a new treaty bring in China — whose arsenal is fast growing, although well below the other two powers. A US negotiator even provocatively put an empty chair with a Chinese flag.Biden on taking office in 2021 quickly agreed to extend New START by five years to 2026. Despite his stance on New START, Trump has enthusiastically restarted diplomacy with Russia that Biden cut off over the war, inviting Putin to an August summit in Alaska and unsuccessfully trying to broker a deal in Ukraine.US allies France and Britain also have established nuclear arsenals on a smaller scale, while India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea have known nuclear weapons but are not part of international agreements.

A powerful snowstorm blasted southern US states on Saturday, snarling travel and bringing subzero temperatures as deadly weather intensified in regions not accustomed to extreme winter conditions.The latest misery came about a week after a monster storm pummeled a wide swath of the United States, killing more than 100 people and leaving many communities still struggling to dig out from snow and ice.Heavy snow fell in North Carolina and neighboring states Saturday, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.All of North and South Carolina, and portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia were under a winter storm warning.North Carolina saw 750 car crashes on Saturday, the highway patrol said. Faust, North Carolina recorded 14.5 inches (37 cm) of snow, while West Critz, Virginia got 12.5 inches. Harrisburg, Tennessee received more than 9 inches of accumulation.In the town of Cape Carteret, high winds sent thick snow blowing sideways, promoting the National Weather Service to warn that travel was “Treacherous and Potentially Life-Threatening especially if you become stranded.”In dramatic footage released by the Gastonia, North Carolina police, a train plowed at high speed into a semi-truck that had gotten stuck on the tracks, crushing the vehicle. No one was hurt.Saturday’s storm forced more than 1,000 flight cancellations at Charlotte Douglas International Airport in North Carolina, a major hub for American Airlines. A 300-strong “snow team” was working to clear runways, taxiways, roads and sidewalks, the airport said.More than 600 flights were cancelled at Atlanta’s international airport, the world’s busiest.”An explosively deepening coastal cyclone will continue to bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas,” the National Weather Service said Saturday.”An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning.”Davis, West Virginia recorded the lowest temperature in the lower 48 states on Saturday — a frigid minus 28 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 33 Celsius).Nearly 200,000 customers remained without power Saturday, mostly in the south, according to poweroutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit. In North Carolina, the National Park Service announced the closure of campgrounds and some beaches at the Outer Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of southern state that are vulnerable to storms.It said oceanfront structures were threatened, and a section of highway that threads through its dunes was closed.In another southern state, Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped to install generators at critical sites, and authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centers across the state.The freezing weather forced NASA to postpone a key fueling test over the weekend of the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. That in turn is likely to push back by at least a couple of days a planned, manned Moon flyby slated for next month.

Iran’s top security official said Saturday that progress had been made towards negotiations with the United States, even as the Islamic republic’s army chief warned Washington against launching military strikes.US President Donald Trump confirmed the two sides were talking, while keeping the threat of an attack in the foreground.Washington has deployed warships led by the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier off Iran’s shores, after Trump threatened to intervene in the wake of Tehran’s deadly crackdown on anti-government protests.”Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing,” said Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.He was speaking a day after the Kremlin said he held talks in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin.Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Saturday a broader conflict would hurt both Iran and the United States.”The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought, and in no way seeks, war and it is firmly convinced that a war would be in the interest of neither Iran, nor the United States, nor the region,” he said in a call with Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, according to the Iranian presidency.Later Saturday, Trump confirmed that there was a dialogue between Washington and Tehran.”(Iran is) talking to us, and we’ll see if we can do something, otherwise we’ll see what happens… we have a big fleet heading out there,” he told Fox News.”They are negotiating,” he added.Qatar’s foreign ministry said its premier Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who also serves as foreign minister, held talks in Tehran with Larijani on Saturday to try to “de-escalate tensions in the region”.- Fears of conflict -The arrival of the US flotilla has raised fears of a direct confrontation with Iran, which has warned it would respond with missile strikes on US bases, ships and allies — notably Israel — in the event of an attack.Trump has said he believes Iran will make a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes rather than face US military action.Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks if its missiles and defence capabilities are not on the agenda.Iranian army chief Amir Hatami has warned the United States and Israel against any attack, saying his forces were “at full defensive and military readiness”.”If the enemy makes a mistake, without a doubt it will endanger its own security, the security of the region, and the security of the Zionist regime,” Hatami said, official news agency IRNA reported.Iran’s nuclear technology and expertise “cannot be eliminated”, he added.With tensions heightened, Iranian authorities rushed to deny that several incidents on Saturday were linked to any attack or sabotage.They included an explosion in the southern Iranian port city of Bandar Abbas that local firefighters said was caused by a gas leak.- Naval exercise -On Friday, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) would conduct “a two-day live-fire naval exercise” in the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for global energy supplies.CENTCOM warned the IRGC against “any unsafe and unprofessional behaviour near US forces”, drawing a sharp response from Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi.”The US military is now attempting to dictate how our Powerful Armed Forces should conduct target practice in their own turf,” he wrote on X.The United States designated the IRGC a terrorist organisation in 2019, a move the European Union followed on Thursday, prompting angry reactions from Tehran.The United States carried out strikes on key Iranian nuclear sites in June when it briefly joined Israel’s 12-day war against its regional foe.Nationwide protests against the rising cost of living erupted on December 28, before turning into a broader anti-government movement that peaked on January 8 and 9 in what authorities called “riots” blamed on the United States and Israel.- ‘Serve the people’ -The official death toll from the authorities stands at 3,117. However, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said it has confirmed 6,713 deaths, including 137 children.On Saturday, Pezeshkian urged his government to heed public grievances and “serve the people”. Some Iranians at the Kapikoy border point separating Iran and Turkey, where a little over 100 people crossed on Saturday, said they wanted to be free of the clerical leaders in Tehran.”They were shooting us in the back. We were even targeted through our windows,” said Shabnan, using a pseudonym. “Everyone has lost loved ones, friends, neighbours, acquaintances.”burs-jj/acb/abs/mtp

A US judge delivered a blow Saturday to Minnesota’s bid to force Immigration and Customs Enforcement to suspend its sweeping detention and deportation operation in the state that has left two US citizens dead and fueled massive protests.But while the federal court denied the state’s bid to immediately halt the operation, a judge in a separate case delivered a stinging rebuke of the government and ordered authorities to release a five-year-old Minnesota boy and his father who were detained during the immigration crackdown.”The case has its genesis in the ill-conceived and incompetently-implemented government pursuit of daily deportation quotas, apparently even if it requires traumatizing children,” US District Judge Fred Biery wrote.Masked and heavily armed federal agents have swept through Minnesota communities seeking undocumented migrants, detaining thousands and shooting dead two US citizens in the process.The heavy-handed campaign championed by President Donald Trump has sparked outrage across the United States, with tens of thousands marching in Minnesota on Friday against the operation dubbed Metro Surge.On Minnesota’s bid to obtain a temporary restraining order to end the federal operation, judge Katherine Menendez wrote in a ruling that “ultimately, the Court finds that the balance of harms does not decisively favor an injunction.”Minnesota argues that the month-long federal operation violated its sovereignty as a state.Menendez said she was not making a final judgment on the state’s overall case in her decision, something that would follow arguments in court.She also made no determination on whether the immigration crackdown in the state had broken the law.- ‘Would-be authoritarian king’ -The killings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by masked, heavily armed agents sparked a nationwide outcry after which Trump withdrew combative Customs and Border Protection commander Gregory Bovino and replaced him with his border point man Tom Homan who pledged to draw down the operation, with conditions.The case of Liam Conejo Ramos, 5, who was detained on January 20, has also stoked outrage. Immigration officers seeking to arrest the boy’s Ecuadoran father, Adrian Conejo Arias, took the pair into custody outside their Minneapolis home as Liam returned from preschool. The pair, both asylum seekers, have been held at a facility in Texas since then.Biery ordered authorities to release them by Tuesday, according to a court order seen by AFP.In the opinion accompanying the order, Biery wrote that the plaintiffs “seek nothing more than some modicum of the process and the rule of law.”He criticized what he called the government’s apparent “ignorance” of the US Declaration of Independence that “enumerated grievances against a would-be authoritarian king over our nascent nation.”He also cited the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution which protects the right against “unreasonable searches and seizures.”Ahead of Saturday’s ruling on the state’s case to seek an end to the ICE crackdown, Hamline University politics and legal studies professor David Schultz said  Minnesota was arguing that the national government was “trying to force or coerce the state into doing certain things.””Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to the state of Minnesota after Alex Pretti was killed and said, ‘Well, if you want the ICE operations to stop, we want you to do this, this and this.’ It kind of read like a threat,” Schultz said.The mayor of Minneapolis, Minnesota’s largest city and the main target of the immigration raids, voiced disappointment over the ruling.”This decision doesn’t change what people here have lived through — fear, disruption, and harm caused by a federal operation that never belonged in Minneapolis in the first place,” Mayor Jacob Frey said in a statement.Bondi said, in response to the ruling, that “neither sanctuary policies nor meritless litigation will stop the Trump Administration from enforcing federal law in Minnesota.”Minneapolis is a “sanctuary” city where local police do not cooperate with federal immigration officials.

As Britain’s former prince Andrew was again caught up in the Epstein scandal, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the disgraced royal should testify in the US about the late American sex offender’s crimes.King Charles III’s brother is under renewed pressure to answer US lawmakers’ questions in Congress about Jeffrey Epstein after the US Justice Department released the latest batch of files on the case Friday.It included embarrassing photographs of Andrew and emails between him and Epstein from 2010, two years after the financier had pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution. The undated photos of the then-prince show him kneeling on all fours over a woman lying on the floor.The emails feature Epstein proposing Andrew have dinner with a “beautiful, trustworthy” 26-year-old Russian woman. Asked Saturday whether Andrew should testify in the US Congress as repeatedly demanded, Starmer said “yes” as he wrapped up an official visit to China and Japan.”I’ve always said anybody that [has] got information should be prepared to share that information in whatever form they are asked to do that,” the British leader told reporters.Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor — as the former Duke of York is now known — has long been dogged by his links to Epstein, who committed suicide in jail in 2019 while facing sex trafficking charges.- Windsor exit -The 65-year-old son of the late Queen Elizabeth II, who has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, stepped back from royal duties that same year over their ties. Then last October, Charles stripped Andrew of his royal titles and honours after the late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre recounted shocking claims against him in a posthumous memoir.Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen who took her own life last year, has alleged she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew three times, including twice when she was 17.After she launched a lawsuit against him, he paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.The latest disclosures in Washington come as Andrew is reportedly set to leave his 30-room mansion on the royal estate at Windsor after Charles ousted him, and are likely to fuel further criticism.He was pictured Saturday driving on the grounds of the estate, west of London, according to UK media.One of the newly released undated pictures of Andrew and the unidentified female, both of them clothed, appears to show him touching her abdomen. In another he stares, crouching over her, directly into the camera.No context is provided for the images and it is unclear where and when they were taken.- ‘Private time’ -Meanwhile, in the August 2010 emails, Epstein told Andrew — addressed as “The Duke” — that he had “a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with” in London later that month.In the exchanges, Epstein said the woman was “26, Russian, clevere [clever] beautiful, trustworthy”, noting that he had given her the prince’s email.Andrew eventually replied he “would be delighted to see her”. It is unclear if such a meeting took place.Weeks later, he and Epstein also discussed having dinner at Buckingham Palace after the American contacted Andrew while in London saying they needed to have some “private time”.Andrew replied they could “have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy”, later adding “come with whomever”.In a 2019 BBC interview, Andrew claimed he had cut ties with Epstein after December 2010, but court documents revealed later showed he continued to communicate with him.Other documents made public last year and Giuffre’s memoir have reignited UK anger over their ties and the claims against Andrew.US lawmakers and investigators have for years repeatedly requested he face questions about his Epstein association.Last November, 16 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.But Andrew has given no public indication in recent years that he would be willing to do so.

A powerful snow storm bore down Saturday on southern states as icy weather that has left more than 100 dead across a swath of the United States intensified in regions not used to subzero conditions.Heavy snows were falling Saturday morning in North Carolina and neighboring states, as authorities urged residents to stay off the roads and warned oceanfront structures were threatened by the storm.The freezing weather forced NASA to postpone a key fueling test over the weekend of the 322-foot (98-meter) rocket that is on the Cape Canaveral launch pad in Florida. That in turn is likely to push back by at least a couple of days a planned, manned Moon flyby slated for next month.The National Weather Service said Saturday that an explosively deepening coastal cyclone will bring moderate to heavy snow, high winds, and possibly blizzard conditions for the Carolinas.”An intense surge of arctic air behind the coastal storm will send below freezing temperatures down toward South Florida by Sunday morning,” the service said, adding that it could experience the coldest temperatures there since 1989.It issued a winter storm warning for all of North and South Carolina into portions of Georgia, eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as southern Virginia.In South Carolina, the public works department in the state capital Columbia was preparing its eight snow plows for deployment for the first time in five years, local news network WIS10 reported.The mercury was set to dip there to a low of -9C at the weekend. On average it ranges between 2C and 15C during January.The new cold front comes just days after the onset of a major winter storm that has killed more than 100 people, according to tally of official figures and local media reports. The storm blanketed a vast swath from New Mexico in the southwest to Maine in the northeast in snow, sleet and icy rain.In United States, nearly 200,000 customers remained without power Saturday, mostly in the south, according to poweroutage.us, with Mississippi, Tennessee and Louisiana hardest hit. In North Carolina, the National Park Service announced the closure of campgrounds and some beaches at the Outer Banks, a series of barrier islands off the coast of southern state that are vulnerable to storms.It said oceanfront structures were threatened, and a section of highway that threads through its dunes was closed.In another southern state, Mississippi, Governor Tate Reeves said the US Army Corps of Engineers helped to install generators at critical sites, and authorities were opening 79 shelters and warming centers across the state.

Between 8,000 and 10,000 people joined an emotional silent march in Copenhagen on Saturday organised by Denmark’s Veterans’ Association to protest Donald Trump’s comments downplaying the role of non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan.The association had expected well over a thousand people to take part, and Danes braved subzero temperatures en masse to support their veterans and the 44 Danes who died in Afghanistan.Police told AFP they estimated the number of demonstrators were “at least 10,000”, while organisers put the turnout at between 8,000 and 10,000.Trump sparked outrage in Denmark and across Europe on January 22 when he said European NATO troops “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” during the 20-year conflict in Afghanistan.The Scandinavian country fought alongside US forces during the Gulf War as well as Afghanistan and Iraq.Gathering in Copenhagen’s Kastellet, or citadel, a brief ceremony was held at the monument to fallen soldiers before the procession began.”The demonstration is called #NoWords because that really describes how we feel. We have no words,” the vice president of the association, Soren Knudsen, told AFP.”Obviously, we also want to tell Americans that what Trump said is an insult to us and the values that we defended together.”Some demonstrators waved red-and-white Danish flags and others were dressed in military uniform, as they marched quietly — no slogans or chanting — to the US embassy about two kilometres (1.2 miles) away.Most were sombre, others were visibly emotional with tears streaming down their cheeks.”We’re very happy that so many people turned out,” Knudsen told AFP outside the US embassy, pleased that veterans from the US and across Europe had also joined in.”What Trump said was very insulting,” Henning Andersen, who served as a Danish UN soldier in Cyprus, told AFP.”I have friends who were down there. Some of them were wounded, and they carry the war with them even today,” the 64-year-old said, four military medals pinned to his black veterans’ jacket.”He’s saying things he doesn’t know the full truth about.”One 58-year-old member of Denmark’s home guard, who gave her name only as Orum, also expressed anger over Trump’s remarks.”How can he even say that? It’s insulting,” she said, clad in khaki fatigues and green beret. – 44 flags -Protesters at the front of the march carried a large red banner reading “NoWords”, while others carried hand-drawn signs. One said “Trump is so dumb”, while another held by a child read “Say sorry, Trump”.In response to Trump’s claim, 44 Danish flags, which carried the names of the 44 Danish soldiers killed in Afghanistan, were placed on Tuesday in planters outside the US embassy in Copenhagen.The embassy removed the flags, before apologising and replacing them.”We have nothing but the deepest respect for Danish veterans and the sacrifices Danish soldiers have made for our shared security. There was no ill intent behind the removal of the flags,” the embassy said in a post on its Facebook page.It noted that the planters were embassy property and not in the public domain, and the initial planting of the flags had not been coordinated with the embassy.On Friday, the US ambassador placed 44 Danish flags in the flowerbeds.On Saturday, 52 additional Danish flags were added, with names inscribed on them: 44 for the Danes who died in Afghanistan, and eight others for those killed in Iraq.A minute of silence was also observed outside the embassy. One person laid down a wreath of red and white flowers.Denmark has traditionally been an ardent US ally, and continues to call Washington its “closest ally” despite tensions over Trump’s recent interest in taking over Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory.

Britain’s former prince Andrew was again engulfed Saturday by the Epstein scandal, after newly released files included photographs of him kneeling on all fours over a woman lying on the floor.The images were among millions of new documents disclosed Friday by the US Justice Department from the Jeffrey Epstein files, which also featured the late sex offender proposing in 2010 that the then-prince meet a Russian woman.That was two years after the disgraced US financier had pleaded guilty in Florida to soliciting a minor for prostitution. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, as the ex-prince he is now known, has long been dogged by his links to Epstein, who died in 2019 by suicide in jail as he awaited trial for sex crimes against minors.The 65-year-old Briton has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, but stepped back from royal duties that year over their links. Then last October, King Charles III stripped him of all his royal titles and honours after the late Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre recounted in a posthumous memoir shocking claims against the disgraced royal.Giuffre, a US and Australian citizen who took her own life last year, has alleged she was trafficked to have sex with Andrew three times, including twice when she was 17.After she launched a lawsuit against him, he paid her a multi-million-pound settlement in 2022 without making any admission of guilt.- ‘Beautiful, trustworthy’ -The latest disclosures in Washington come with Andrew reportedly set to leave his 30-room mansion on the royal estate at Windsor imminently after Charles ousted him, and are likely to fuel further criticism.He will also face fresh pressure to testify in the US over what he knew about Epstein’s conduct.One of the undated pictures of Andrew and the unidentified female, both of them clothed, appears to show the former duke touching her abdomen. In another he stares, crouching over her, directly into the camera.No context is provided for the images and it is unclear where and when they were taken.Meanwhile, in the August 2010 email, Epstein told Andrew — addressed as “The Duke” — that he had “a friend who I think you might enjoy having dinner with” in London later that month.In the exchanges, Epstein said the woman was “26, Russian, clevere [clever] beautiful, trustworthy”, noting that he had given her the prince’s email.Andrew eventually replied he “would be delighted to see her”.It is unclear if any meeting subsequently took place.- ‘Private time’ -Weeks later, he and Epstein appeared to discuss having dinner at Buckingham Palace after the American contacted Andrew while in London saying they needed to have some “private time”.Andrew replied they could “have dinner at Buckingham Palace and lots of privacy”.Two days later the ex-duke emailed again that he was “delighted for you to come here to BP (Buckingham Palace)”. “Come with whomever…” he added.It was not clear whether any dinner at the palace — then the official London residence of the late Queen Elizabeth II — ever took place.In a 2019 BBC interview, Andrew claimed he had cut ties with Epstein after December 2010, but court documents revealed later showed he continued to communicate with him.Other documents made public last year and Giuffre’s memoir have reignited UK anger over their ties and the claims against Andrew.The new files also again spotlight the relationship between Epstein and former British ambassador to Washington and UK minister Peter Mandelson.Mandelson resigned from the US post last year after emails emerged showing he had also maintained friendly contact with him after the American’s 2008 conviction. The latest disclosures show Epstein in 2009 wired thousands of pounds to Mandelson’s husband after he had asked the American to pay for the fees for an osteopathy course.

Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein said their alleged abusers “remain hidden and protected” after the US government released millions of new pages from files related to the convicted sex offender on Friday, adding fuel to the case that has dogged President Donald Trump.Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the White House played no role in the Justice Department’s review of the extensive files on Epstein, a former friend of Trump.”They did not tell this department how to do our review, what to look for, what to redact, what to not redact,” Blanche told a news conference.More than three million documents were released on Friday that included mention of numerous powerful figures, including 79-year-old Trump, Elon Musk, Bill Gates and former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.The Justice Department said some of the documents contained “untrue and sensationalist claims” about Trump that were submitted to the FBI before the 2020 presidential election.Blanche, formerly Trump’s personal lawyer, denied suggestions that embarrassing material about the president had been redacted from the newly released files, which included at least 180,000 images and 2,000 videos.”We did not protect President Trump,” he said.Blanche said all images of girls and women had been redacted aside from those of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of trafficking underage girls for Epstein and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.However, a statement from survivors of Epstein’s alleged abuses claimed identifying information about them still remained in the files, “while the men who abused us remain hidden and protected.”The letter was signed by 19 people, some using aliases or initials, and demanded “the full release of the Epstein files” and that Attorney General Pam Bondi directly address the matter when she testifies before Congress next month.- Executives, politicians, celebrities -A wealthy US financier, Epstein died in a New York prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of underage girls. His death was ruled a suicide.Previous document releases have shed light on Epstein’s ties to top business executives such as Microsoft’s Gates, celebrities such as filmmaker Woody Allen, academics and politicians, including Trump and former president Bill Clinton.In a draft email among the latest published documents, Epstein said Gates had engaged in extramarital affairs, a claim the Gates Foundation denied in a statement to The New York Times.Another document showed an email exchange between Musk and Epstein in 2012 in which Musk asked: “What day/night will be the wildest party on your island?”Musk said in a post on his X platform on Saturday he was aware that the email correspondence could be “misinterpreted and used by detractors to smear my name.”He called for the prosecution of “those who committed serious crimes with Epstein.”In other emails, Epstein connected Steve Tisch, 76, producer of the movie “Forrest Gump” and the co-owner of the New York Giants football team, with multiple women.In one exchange with Tisch, Epstein describes a woman as “russian, and rarely tells the full truth, but fun.”Former prince Andrew, who was stripped of his royal titles over his ties to Epstein, is mentioned in one document inviting Epstein to Buckingham Palace in 2010 after Epstein proposed introducing Andrew to a Russian woman.- Conspiracy theories -Trump’s right-wing base has long been obsessed by the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories that the financier oversaw a sex trafficking ring for the world’s elite.Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, is the only other person charged in connection with his crimes and Blanche appeared to play down expectations that the latest files would lead to further prosecutions.Trump and Clinton both figure prominently in the records published so far but neither has been accused of wrongdoing.A Republican-led House panel voted recently to launch contempt of Congress proceedings against Bill and Hillary Clinton over their refusal to testify before its probe into Epstein.Trump, who moved in the same social circles as Epstein in Florida and New York, fought for months to prevent release of the vast trove of documents about the disgraced financier.However, a rebellion inside his Republican Party forced him to sign off on a law mandating release of all the documents.Trump has given varying accounts of why he eventually fell out with Epstein. He has criticized the file dumps, saying that people who “innocently met” Epstein over the years risked having their reputations smeared.The Epstein Files Transparency Act called for all the documents held by the Justice Department to be published by December 19.Blanche said Friday’s release “marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process”. He blamed the delay on work on redactions to protect the identities of Epstein’s more than 1,000 alleged victims.