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US President Donald Trump on Tuesday reiterated his denial that he had authored a lewd birthday note to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after the alleged letter was released to the public a day earlier.The Wall Street Journal reported in July on the existence of the alleged 2003 letter, prompting a $10 billion defamation suit from the Republican president against the newspaper and its owners.The letter, a type-written message inserted into the sketched outline of a nude woman — with Trump’s alleged signature in the place of her pubic hair — was one of many notes sent by Epstein’s friends that his associate Ghislaine Maxwell had compiled into a book for his 50th birthday.On Monday, the House Oversight Committee published a copy of the book and other personal files subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate.”It’s not my signature and it’s not the way I speak,” Trump told reporters Tuesday evening, as he made a rare trip to dine out in the US capital.”Anybody that’s covered me for a long time knows that’s not my language. It’s nonsense. And frankly, you’re wasting your time,” he added.The letter consists of a short dialogue between “Donald” and “Jeffrey,” with the former at one point remarking that “enigmas never age.”It ends with Donald wishing Jeffrey a happy birthday, adding: “may every day be another wonderful secret.”- Handwriting expert? -In arguing that the signature on the alleged letter is not authentic, Trump’s allies have pointed to differences with documents he has signed since he first became president in 2017.However, The New York Times on Monday published several letters signed by Trump from the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which his signature bears a striking resemblance to the 2003 letter.Asked if the White House would approve of a professional handwriting expert reviewing the documents, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday: “Sure we would support that.”Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections around the world, was convicted of sex offenses and found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls recruited to provide him with sexual massages.Trump has been dogged for months by controversy surrounding the late sex offender, after his administration confirmed Epstein’s death was a suicide and deemed the release of more case files unnecessary — despite having previously fanned long-running conspiracies of covered-up wrongdoing.Trump’s prior relationship with Epstein has also proved to be potent fodder for his political opponents, with the president and his allies seeking to downplay the whole saga as a Democratic “hoax.”After Monday’s publication of the letter, Leavitt posted on social media that “it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.””This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!” she said.Asked on Tuesday to clarify which aspect was a hoax — given the documents were provided by the Epstein estate — Leavitt said: “I did not say the documents are a hoax.”I said the entire narrative surrounding Jeffrey Epstein right now that is absorbing many of the liberal cable channels on television is a hoax that is being perpetuated by opportunistic Democrats… who are trying to push this hoax against the president of the United States.”

US Attorney General Pam Bondi vowed Tuesday to pursue the “maximum penalty” against a man charged with murdering a Ukrainian refugee, as the Trump administration continues touting its tough-on-crime agenda in Democratic-led cities.Authorities say Iryna Zarutska was repeatedly stabbed from behind by 34-year-old DeCarlos Brown Jr. last month while riding a light rail train in the southern city of Charlotte, North Carolina.”We will seek the maximum penalty for this unforgivable act of violence — he will never again see the light of day as a free man,” Bondi said in a statement. Brown is charged with one federal count of committing an act causing death on a mass transportation system, and faces life in prison or the death penalty, the statement said.Mecklenburg County prosecutors have separately charged Brown with first degree murder.Local Democratic leaders came under fire for highlighting Brown’s history of mental health issues in their response to the slaying.Zarutska, 23, left Ukraine in 2022 following Russia’s invasion, and “her blood is on the hands of the Democrats,” US President Donald Trump wrote on social media Monday.Chilling security footage that went viral shows a man boarding the tramway, sitting behind her, and minutes later stabbing her three times — with no prior interaction.The case has been seized upon by Trump administration officials, who accuse Democrats of being lenient on crime. Criminal cases are typically the jurisdiction of local prosecutors in the United States, based on state and local criminal codes. Federal prosecutions are typically limited to crimes committed against federal law.Brown has multiple prior convictions — including an armed robbery that led to five years in prison, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.”This monster should have been locked up, and Iryna should still be alive, but Democrat politicians, liberal judges and weak prosecutors would rather virtue signal than lock up criminals and protect their communities,” Leavitt said.Brown also has “a long history” of mental health issues, according to his lawyer in a previous case, the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper reported.

US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday unveiled the Trump administration’s long-awaited roadmap to tackle chronic disease, calling for better nutrition, tighter scrutiny of medical advertising, and even a new push to boost fertility.Conspicuously absent, however, were concrete proposals to directly restrict ultra-processed foods or pesticides — long priorities of Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement. The omissions are viewed as wins for the food and agriculture industries.”There has never been an effort like this across all the government agencies,” said Kennedy during a Washington event where he released the plan, calling chronic illness “an existential crisis for our country.”President Donald Trump later signed a memorandum directing agencies to step up enforcement of existing rules on online pharmaceutical advertising to curb misleading claims, backing one of the report’s priorities. Kennedy, however, had previously called for an outright ban on drug marketing.Experts also criticized what they called the vague and voluntary nature of the “Make Our Children Healthy Again” strategy, a follow-up to an initial assessment published this spring.”The administration is trying to have it both ways,” Scott Faber, senior vice president of government affairs at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, told AFP.”In May, they described a hellscape of junk food and toxic exposures that put all our children at risk. In September, they are calling for more studies and plans and proposals.”The new 20-page report highlights many of Kennedy’s signature causes: reviewing fluoride in drinking water, revisiting childhood vaccine schedules and expanding parental opt-outs, and raising doubts about antidepressants.Many of these positions sit well outside mainstream medicine, particularly his take on vaccines.Other eye-catching ideas include a MAHA fertility education campaign — reflecting right-wing anxieties over declining birth rates — and a call to probe “electromagnetic radiation,” apparently a reference to cellphone use, though it is not spelled out.The first report was widely ridiculed after it was found to contain numerous fabricated citations, apparently from using AI tools. The new paper avoids that pitfall by omitting citations altogether. – Deregulation push -Critics said the plan was thin on specifics, even for areas that enjoy broad consensus, like tackling America’s junk-food addiction.One section calls for a government-wide definition of ultra-processed foods, without saying what should follow. “This is such an opportunity. I sure wish they had taken it,” Marion Nestle, a professor emerita of nutrition at New York University, told AFP.It also says the government wants to boost breastfeeding rates, reduce animal testing, and promote innovation in the sunscreen market, where the United States lags behind many countries.On the use of pesticides, the report on the one hand evokes the possible use of “precision technology” to “decrease pesticide volumes,” while elsewhere it calls for deregulation to help bring “chemical and biologic products to protect against weeds, pests, and disease” to market faster.It comes as Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency is bringing a new wave of pesticides to market despite experts warning the proposed substances constitute harmful so-called “forever chemicals.”Zen Honeycutt, a health activist aligned with the MAHA movement, did not hide her disappointment at the fact pesticides were barely mentioned — but said she did not blame Kennedy.”It was not as strongly worded about pesticides as it would have been had it been only Bobby writing the report,” she told AFP, adding this was a “glaring example of chemical company corruption.”Similarly, even as the MAHA report urges higher birth rates, the EPA’s weakening of air-pollution standards risks undermining fertility, given the well-established harms of contaminants to sperm and egg health.

The US Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to hear arguments in November on the legality of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, after his administration asked for an expedited ruling on the issue.A lower court found that Trump exceeded his authority in tapping emergency economic powers to impose wide-ranging duties but allowed them to temporarily stay in place, giving the Republican leader time to take the fight to the top court.Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose “reciprocal” tariffs on almost all US trading partners, with a 10-percent baseline level and higher rates for dozens of economies including the European Union and Japan.He tapped similar powers to slap separate tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China over what he said was the flow of deadly drugs into the United States.But several legal challenges have been filed against the tariffs, and the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled 7-4 last month that many of the levies were illegal, affirming a lower court’s finding.The appeals court ruling also cast doubt over deals Trump has struck with key trade partners such as the EU — raising the question of what would happen to the billions of dollars in tariffs already collected by the United States if the conservative-majority Supreme Court does not side with him.Trump’s administration asked the top court last week for an expedited ruling preserving the tariffs, saying the lower court decision has already damaged trade negotiations.In a sign of Trump’s ongoing efforts to strike trade deals, the president said Tuesday that talks with India would continue, despite strained ties since his imposition of 50-percent tariffs over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil.”I am pleased to announce that India, and the United States of America, are continuing negotiations to address the Trade Barriers between our two Nations,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform, adding he feels “certain that there will be no difficulty in coming to a successful conclusion” for both countries.Trump also said he would be speaking with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi “in the upcoming weeks.”

Meta systematically suppressed internal research highlighting serious child safety risks on its virtual reality platforms, according to allegations from current and former employees who testified to Congress on Tuesday.The social media giant deployed lawyers to screen, edit and sometimes veto sensitive safety research after facing congressional scrutiny in 2021, six researchers alleged. In their allegations, first revealed in the Washington Post, the whistleblowers claim Meta’s legal team sought to “establish plausible deniability” about negative effects of the company’s VR products on young users.Though a major money loser for the company that owns Facebook and Instagram, Meta is a leading force in the VR industry, primarily through its Quest lineup of devices, including the successful Quest 3.”Meta is aware that its VR platform is full of underage children. Meta purposely turns a blind eye to this knowledge, despite it being obvious to anyone using their products,” said former Meta researcher Cayce Savage at the US Senate hearing.According to the Post, internal documents show that after former Meta product manager Frances Haugen leaked damaging information about the company’s policies on content issues, the company imposed new rules on any research into “sensitive” topics including children, gender, race and harassment.This included advice to researchers to “be mindful” about how they framed studies, avoiding terms like “illegal” or saying something “violates” specific laws.But the documents reveal employees repeatedly warned that children under 13 were bypassing age restrictions to use Meta’s VR services, despite terms of service limiting access to users 13 and older.As early as 2017, one employee estimated that in some virtual rooms as many as 80 to 90 percent of users were underage, warning: “This is the kind of thing that eventually makes headlines — in a really bad way.”Speaking to the Post, Meta vehemently denied the allegations, with spokeswoman Dani Lever calling them a “predetermined and false narrative” based on cherry-picked examples.”We stand by our research team’s excellent work and are dismayed by these mischaracterizations of the team’s efforts,” Lever said, noting the company has developed various safety protections for young users.Researcher Jason Sattizahn told the Senate hearing that it was “very clear that Meta is incapable of change without being forced by Congress.””Whether it’s engagement or profits at any cost, they have, frankly, had unearned opportunities to correct their behavior, and they have not,” Sattizahn told senators.

A US woman charged with registering her dog to vote appeared in court Tuesday facing charges that could see her jailed for six years.Laura Yourex, 62, posted a photograph on social media showing her dog Maya Jean wearing an “I voted” sticker after California’s 2021 gubernatorial election.Another post from October 2024 showed a photograph of Maya’s dog tag and a vote-by-mail ballot with the caption “maya is still getting her ballot” even though the dog had died.Yourex, of Costa Mesa, south of Los Angeles, reported herself to authorities over the alleged voter fraud last year.The local district attorney investigated and she was charged with multiple felonies including perjury, procuring or offering a false or forged document, casting a ballot when not entitled to vote, and registering a non-existent person to vote.After a brief court appearance Tuesday, in which she did not enter a plea, Yourex’s lawyer said his client had sought to highlight what she saw as defects in the system.”Laura Yourex sincerely regrets her unwise attempt to expose flaws in our state voting system, intending to improve it by demonstrating that even a dog can be registered to vote,” Jaime Coulter told reporters.Coulter said Yourex’s intention was “to have them investigate and ultimately improve our voting registration system.”Under California election law, citizens can be registered to vote if they submit an affidavit — signed under penalty of perjury — detailing their name, residence, mailing address, date of birth and political party preference.”Proof of residence or identification is not required for citizens to register to vote in state elections nor is it required to cast a ballot in state elections,” the Orange County District Attorney’s office said in a statement.Proof of residence and registration is required for first-time voters in a federal election, it said.”As a result, the 2022 primary ballot cast in Maya Jean’s name was challenged and rejected.”US voter roll security has become a huge issue in recent decades, with a constant drum beat from a swathe of the Republican Party charging — without evidence — that they are filled with non-citizens and dead people.

The White House continued to deny on Tuesday that President Donald Trump had authored a lewd birthday letter to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, after the alleged note was published a day earlier.The Wall Street Journal reported in July on the existence of the alleged 2003 letter, prompting a $10 billion defamation suit from the president against the newspaper and its owners.The letter, a type-written message inserted into the sketched outline of a nude woman — with Trump’s alleged signature in the place of her pubic hair — was one of many notes sent by Epstein’s friends that his associate Ghislaine Maxwell had compiled into a book for his 50th birthday.On Monday, the House Oversight Committee published a copy of the book and other personal files subpoenaed from Epstein’s estate.”The president did not write that letter. He did not sign those documents. He maintains that position, and that position will be argued in court by his lawyers,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday.Leavitt and other Trump allies contend that the signature on the 2003 letter is not authentic, pointing to differences with documents he has signed since he first became president in 2017.However, The New York Times on Monday published several letters signed by Trump from the late 1990s and early 2000s, in which his signature bears a striking resemblance to the 2003 letter.Asked if the White House would approve of a professional handwriting expert reviewing the documents, Leavitt said Tuesday: “Sure we would support that.”Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections around the world, was convicted of sex offenses and found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls recruited to provide him with sexual massages.Trump has been dogged for months by controversy surrounding the late sex offender, after his administration confirmed his death was a suicide and deemed the release of more case files unnecessary — despite having previously fanned long-running conspiracies of covered-up wrongdoing.Trump’s prior relationship with Epstein has also proved to be potent fodder for his political opponents, with the president and his allies seeking to downplay the whole saga as a Democratic “hoax.”After the publication of the letter on Monday, Leavitt posted on social media that “it’s very clear President Trump did not draw this picture, and he did not sign it.””This is FAKE NEWS to perpetuate the Democrat Epstein Hoax!” she said.Asked on Tuesday to clarify which aspect was a hoax — given the documents were provided by the Epstein estate — Leavitt said: “I did not say the documents are a hoax.”I said the entire narrative surrounding Jeffrey Epstein right now that is absorbing many of the liberal cable channels on television is a hoax that is being perpetuated by opportunistic Democrats… who are trying to push this hoax against the president of the United States.”

A festering corpse has been found in the trunk of an impounded Tesla registered to rising US rap star D4vd, police and media reported Tuesday.Neighbors of a tow yard called police about a foul smell coming from the site in Hollywood on Monday.When officers arrived, they said they found a rotting body wrapped in a plastic sheet in the luggage compartment, which is found at the front in this kind of electric vehicle.”We were notified this morning, and the car’s been here for a couple of days,” Robert Peters of the Los Angeles Police Department told reporters.The vehicle is registered in Texas, to David Anthony Burke, whose stage name is D4vd, ABC7 news channel reported.D4vd was Tuesday scheduled to play in Minneapolis, the latest stop in a world tour for the 20-year-old.The young star shot to internet fame in 2022 when his “Romantic Homicide” became a breakout hit on TikTok.D4vd has continued to post on social media in the last few days, promoting his new album, but has made no reference to the grisly find. The tow yard where the gruesome discovery was made sits just a stone’s throw from Elon Musk’s new Tesla Diner, which opened to great fanfare in Hollywood in July.

A lewd birthday letter that Donald Trump allegedly sent to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003 — which the US president claimed did not exist — was published Monday by a congressional panel investigating the late financier’s sex crimes case.The letter, a type-written message inserted into the sketched outline of a nude woman, was one of many notes sent by Epstein’s friends that his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, now imprisoned, had compiled into a book for his 50th birthday.The Wall Street Journal had reported on the existence of the book and letter in July, prompting a $10 billion defamation suit from Trump, 79.The US House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the book along with other documents from Epstein’s estate, including bank records, as part of its probe launched this summer into the handling of the late sex offender’s case.Trump’s alleged note consists of a short dialogue between “Donald” and “Jeffrey.””We have certain things in common,” says Donald, to which Jeffrey responds: “Yes, we do, come to think of it.””Enigmas never age, have you noticed that?” asks Donald.”As a matter of fact, it was clear to me the last time I saw you,” says Jeffrey.”A pal is a wonderful thing. Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret,” the note ends, followed by Trump’s signature, which takes the place of pubic hair on the nude outline.Another letter in the book also mentions Trump, with a photo of Epstein holding an oversized $22,500 check. The signature on the check says “DJ Trump” but is very different from Trump’s normal writing.”Jeffrey showing early talents with money + women! Sells ‘fully depreciated’ [redacted name] to Donald Trump,” reads the note.The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the letter from businessman Joel Pashcow referenced a woman who was courted by both Trump and Epstein in the 1990s.Democrats on the panel published the copy of the Trump letter before the entire book was released, prompting accusations from Republican chairman James Comer of “cherry-picking documents and politicizing information.”The White House reiterated its denial of the authenticity of the letter, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying “it’s very clear President Donald Trump did not draw this picture and he did not sign it.””President Trump’s legal team will continue to aggressively pursue litigation,” she added.Epstein, a wealthy financier with high-level connections around the world, was found dead in his New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial for alleged sex trafficking of underage girls recruited to provide him with sexual massages.Trump’s supporters have been obsessed with the Epstein case for years and held as an article of faith that “deep state” elites were protecting a sex ring of Epstein associates, particularly in the Democratic Party and Hollywood.- Committee investigation -Trump took office in January promising to quickly get to the bottom of the Epstein conspiracies.But many of his supporters have been up in arms since the FBI and Justice Department said in July that Epstein had committed suicide, did not blackmail any prominent figures, and did not keep a “client list.”Trump himself has repeatedly attempted to bury the controversy — dubbing it the “Democrat Epstein hoax” — as attention intensifies on his own long-term friendship with the financier.Democrats and a handful of Republicans risking Trump’s ire have doubled down, demanding that all legal files related to Epstein be released.The Republican-controlled Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Justice Department documents as well as testimony from many high-ranking officials, including former president Bill Clinton, whose own letter allegedly written to Epstein appears in the birthday book praising his “childlike curiosity” and “desire to make a difference.”Peter Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the United States since 2024, also allegedly left a message in the book, calling Epstein his “best pal” and an “intelligent, sharp-witted man” who would come and go as he pleased, “leaving you with some ‘interesting’ friends to entertain instead.”As part of its response to the controversy, Trump’s Justice Department interviewed Epstein associate Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting underage girls for the financier.She was interviewed by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Trump’s former personal lawyer.The Justice Department later released a transcript and audio recording of the interview, in which Maxwell says Trump was friendly with Epstein but was “never inappropriate with anybody.”The 63-year-old Maxwell, the only former Epstein associate convicted in connection with his activities, was moved from a prison in Florida to a minimum security facility in Texas following the interview with Blanche.

Best-selling American author Dan Brown, creator of the publishing phenomenon “The Da Vinci Code”, released his latest thriller Tuesday in 16 languages simultaneously.”The Secret of Secrets”, which runs to nearly 700 pages in English, marks Brown’s return eight years after his last novel, “Origin”.Brown called it “by far the most intricately plotted and ambitious novel I’ve written to date.””The hallmarks of Dan’s books — codes, art, history, religion, and cutting-edge science –- are on full display alongside a propulsive plot,” the CEO of publisher Penguin Random House Global, Nihar Malaviya, said in a statement. Publishers, printers and translators worked in secrecy and with strict confidentiality clauses to prevent leaks in the run up to the release.Brown, 61, is set to begin a month-long promotional tour on Tuesday in New York that will take him to 12 countries. The New York Times was broadly positive in a review published Tuesday, while noting that its “hyperactive plotting runs on hyperventilating prose”. Britain’s The Guardian newspaper called it “weapons-grade nonsense from beginning to end”.After two little-noticed early books, the discreet American high school teacher became one of the world’s best-selling authors in 2003 with “The Da Vinci Code”.With a complex plot revolving around the supposed descendants of Jesus, the Mona Lisa and freemasonry, the novel won him millions of fans but also criticism from scholars who said his works were riddled with errors and nonsense.US publisher Penguin Random House says Brown has sold more than 250 million copies in 56 languages.