New pictures released by the House Oversight Committee today have been dubbed ‘disturbing’, with key figures appearing in the 19 snaps grabbing peope’s attentions

Jeffrey Epstein appears with Steve Bannon in two pictures(Image: House oversight)

New Jeffrey Epstein photos released today have catapulted the late paedophile’s relationship with global elites back into the spotlight – but hidden among the headline-grabbing figures are a series of less obvious unusual details.

The near 100 snaps – part of a massive 95,000-strong horde seized from Epstein’s estate by the US Congress House Oversight Committee – have drawn public interest after Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor appeared among them. Their presence in the snaps, seen both with and without Epstein, do not indicate any wrongdoing, and the photos were presented without captions.

Eagle-eyed members of the public browsing through the pictures released today have raised some questions after noticing the details behind the photos’ central figures.

READ MORE: All NINE famous faces in new Epstein photo dump including actor and billionaireREAD MORE: Jeffrey Epstein photo dump IN FULL – all 19 pictures released with Trump bombshellA picture appeared to show a person lying on a bed

The photo on Epstein’s desk

One picture capturing Epstein in conversation with Steve Bannon, Mr Trump’s former Chief White House Strategist and influential far-right podcaster, showed the layout of the late paedophile’s desk. Included on the surface were two photos, one appearing to be of Epstein with another figure, and one framed picture people have struggled to identify.

The blue frame, placed to Epstein’s right, shows what appears to be a figure lying on their side, with a black censor box placed over where their head might be.

However, the unclear snap has left social media users confused, some of whom have directly quizzed the House Oversight Committee’s account. X user Matt Harrison asked the account: “What is going on in that photo in the blue frame?!” Others tried to ask the platform’s resident AI, Grok, which was also unable to come up with an answer.

Another unidentified item was placed on Epstein’s desk

The items on Epstein’s desk

The photo wasn’t the only item on Epstein’s desk to draw confusion, with several other items similarly disguised from view in the photos. Epstein was an art collector who famously had pieces scattered around his home and sex island. The items in this case are small statues only a collector or expert would be able to properly identify.

The Glove

At first, the picture of a gloved hand wouldn’t seem to fit in with the other photos of Epstein and his associates, with Donald Trump and Bill Clinton’s photos stealing the spotlight. But, on closer inspection, the seemingly latex hand covering is actually a marital aid, with each finger serving as a different kind of penetrative toy.

The glove is actually five different marital aids(Image: House oversight)

Other sex toys

The glove isn’t the only toy included in the photos, with several other items collected together in another picture, both in and out of their boxes. According to the labels, they include a “P***y Pump”, a set of bondage ropes and “Extreme Restraints”, along with what appears to be a pair of handcuffs.

The Jawbreaker Gag label warns of ‘serious injury or death’ with misuse(Image: House oversight)

The potentially deadly gag

One item, another sex toy, is only identified by its label, which is the main focus of another photo. The label for the “Jawbreaker Gag” notes it is potentially dangerous, and must be used “with extreme caution”.

The label states: “Always observe a person who has a gag in their mouth. Never leave that person unattended. The Jawbreaker Gag will cause a person’s mouth to produce more saliva than a regular gag and create a choking hazard if the person is unattended or inverted for any reason.

“It is possible for a person to vomit and suffocate even while standing, so extreme care and caution must me exercised with use of this product. Failure to follow these instructions could result in serious injury or death.”

One photo shows Epstein had a framed photograph of Bill Gates

The framed picture of Bill Gates

Bill Gates appears in a few of the pictures posted by the committee today, usually as the focal point of the photos, but he is also visible in another framed snap sticking out from a group of censored faces. One photo showing black varnished draws in Epstein’s home also captures a series of framed pictures above it.

The only non-censored photo of the lot appears to show Bill Gates sat in his private jet. Billionaire Mr Gates also appeared in another picture with the jet, standing outside the aircraft.

Copies of Fire and Fury were stacked alongside Mr Bannon and Epstein in one picture(Image: House oversight)

Fire and Fury

One picture featuring Epstein and Mr Bannon taking a selfie in front of a Mirror was taken in front of a table stacked with five books. Those books appear to be Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, which was written by journalist Michael Wolff and published during Mr Trump’s first term in 2018.

Emails from a previous committee document dump showed that Mr Wolff had previously traded correspondence with the paedophile, appearing to give him advice on how to deal with Mr Trump. He told The Atlantic earlier this year that he was trying to “ingratiate” himself with the financier so he would speak to him as a journalist.

Trump Condoms have been archived by the National Museum of American History(Image: House oversight)

The archived condoms

One photo among the collection shows several Trump-themed novelty condoms. The red and white packaging, complete with “I’M HUUUUGE” slogan shows the condoms are made by New York-based novelty firm Fishs Eddy, and a stand behind the items lists them as costing $4.95 (£3.70). The photo doesn’t list any additional information about the items.

Interestingly, one of the condoms produced by Fishs Eddy – not the ones in the photo – was taken for archiving by one of the US’s most prominent museums. The National Museum of American History has it listed in its medicine archives, however it isn’t currently on show so people can’t go and see the condom in person.

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Monterrey, Mexico – In April, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced the country’s aerospace industry could see sustained annual growth of as much as 15 percent over the next four years, and attributed the sector’s expansion to a robust local manufacturing workforce, increasing exports, and a strong presence of foreign companies.

But with the review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) coming up – the free-trade treaty between the three countries that helped Mexico’s aerospace sector to grow and flourish – the industry’s future is no longer certain.

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Stakeholders warn that ensuring investment stability and strengthening labour standards are essential to protecting the sector’s North American supply chain.

Mexico is striving to become one of the top 10 countries in aerospace production value, a goal outlined in Plan Mexico, the country’s strategic initiative to enhance global competitiveness in key sectors.

As the sixth-largest supplier of aerospace parts to the US, the industry has benefited significantly from the USMCA, which fostered regional supply chain integration, said Monica Lugo, director of institutional relations at the consulting firm PRODENSA.

However, the integration is no guarantee of business continuing to grow as the country is at an “unprecedented moment” with US President Donald Trump and his wide-ranging tariff policies.

Lugo, a former USMCA negotiator, said that recent tariffs on materials like steel and aluminium — critical to the aerospace sector— have eroded trust in the US as a reliable partner. She predicts that if current conditions continue, the sector risks losing capital, investments and jobs.

“Having this great uncertainty – one day it’s on, the next it’s off, who knows tomorrow – and based on no specific criteria, but rather on the president’s mood, creates chaos and severely damages the country and the economy,” she said.

On December 4, Trump suggested the US might let the USMCA expire next year, or negotiate a new deal. This follows comments by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to US news outlet Politico that the administration is considering separate deals with Canada and Mexico.

A booming aerospace sector

The Mexican aerospace market is valued at $11.2bn, and is expected to more than double to $22.7bn by 2029, Sheinbaum said, citing data from the Mexican Aerospace Industry Federation (FEMIA). Home to global companies like Bombardier, Safran, Airbus, and Honeywell, Mexico has established itself as a key player in the global aerospace market and is now the world’s twelfth-largest exporter of aerospace components.

Marco Antonio Del Prete, secretary of sustainable development in Queretaro, attributes this success in part to heavy investment in education and training. In 2005, the Queretaro government promised Canada’s Bombardier that it would invest in education and set up the Aeronautical University, which now offers programmes ranging from technical diplomas to master’s degrees in aerospace manufacturing and engineering.

“Since Bombardier’s arrival, an educational and training system was created that allows us to develop talent in a very efficient way, let’s say, fast track,” Del Prete told Al Jazeera.

Bombardier has served as an anchor, propelling Queretaro’s rise as a high-skilled manufacturing hub for parts and components.

While the Bombardier plant in Queretaro originally focused on wiring harnesses, it has evolved to specialise in complex aerostructures, including the rear fuselage for the Global 7500, Bombardier’s ultra-long-range business jet, and key components for the Challenger 3500, the mid-sized business jet.

Marco Antonio Carrillo, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Queretaro (UAQ), pointed out that the area’s wide educational offerings have cultivated a powerful workforce, which has gained significant attention from aeroplane makers, mainly from the US, Canada and France.

“This development [of Queretaro] has been, if you look at it in terms of time, truly explosive,” Carrillo said.

Mexico also aims to join France and the US as the third country capable of fully assembling an engine for Safran.

But the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Union, which represents more than 600,000 workers in Canada and the US, is worried that progress could lead to more advanced manufacturing and assembly work to eventually shift to Mexico, given the local investment in aeronautical universities and training.

“Right now they’re [Mexican workers] doing more entry-level type things, but our concern is that later on, larger pieces of the aerospace operation will go to Mexico,” Peter Greenberg, the IAM’s international affairs director, told Al Jazeera.

High-skilled, low-cost workforce

Of the three countries in the USMCA agreement, Mexico’s biggest attraction has been its low-cost manufacturing.

Edgar Buendia and Mario Duran Bustamante, economics professors at the Rosario Castellanos National University, cite Mexico’s low labour costs and geographical proximity to the US as the country’s key advantages. This is partly why the US has intensified pressure on the Mexican government, including during the initial USMCA negotiations in 2017, to raise wages to level the playing field and reduce unfair competition.

“Most US companies have incentives to move their production here in Mexico, given the [low] wages and the geographic location. So, to prevent that from happening, the United States is pressuring Mexico to raise labour standards, ensure freedom of association, and improve working conditions,” Buendia told Al Jazeera, things that will benefit Mexican workers even as employer-dominated labour groups worry that they may lose their advantage.

The IAM originally opposed the USMCA’s predecessor, NAFTA. Greenberg said that while they acknowledge USMCA will continue, US and Canadian workers “would probably be perfectly happy” if the agreement ended as the NAFTA deal had led to plants being shuttered and workers being laid off as jobs moved from the US and Canada to low-cost Mexico.

“There is a need for stronger incentives to keep work in the United States and Canada. We want to see the wages in Mexico go up so that it doesn’t become automatically a place where companies go to because they know they will have lower wages and workers who do not have any bargaining power or strong units,” Greenberg added.

Under Sheinbaum’s Morena party, Mexico has raised the minimum wage from 88 pesos ($4.82) in 2018 to 278.8 pesos ($15.30) in 2025, with the rate in municipalities bordering the US reaching 419.88 pesos ($23). On December 4, Sheinbaum announced a 13 percent rise in the minimum wage — and 5 percent for the border zone— set to begin in January 2026.

Despite these increases and the competitiveness of wages in the aerospace sector, researchers agree that a significant wage gap persists between Mexican workers and their US and Canadian counterparts.

“The wage gap is definitely abysmal,” said Javier Salinas, a scholar at the UAQ Labor Center, specialising in labour relations in the aerospace industry. “The [aerospace] industry average is between 402 [Mexican pesos] and 606, with the highest daily wage being 815. [But] 815, converted to US dollars, is less than $40 for a single workday.”

By contrast, Salinas estimates that a worker in the US earns an average of about 5,500 pesos, or $300, per day.

‘Protection unions’

The USMCA required Mexico to end “protection unions”, a longstanding practice where companies sign agreements with corrupt union leaders — known as “sindicatos charros” — without the workers’ knowledge. This system has been used to prevent authentic union organising, as these sindicatos often serve the interests of the company and government authorities rather than the workers.

Salinas argues that despite the 2019 labour reform, it remains difficult for independent unions to emerge. Meanwhile, “protection unions” continue to keep wages low to maintain competitiveness.

“But imagine, a competitiveness based on precarious or impoverished working conditions. I don’t think that’s the way forward,” Salinas said.

Even with new labour courts and laws mandating collective bargaining, organising in Mexico remains dangerous. Workers attempting to create independent unions frequently face firing, threats, or being blacklisted by companies.

Humberto Huitron, a lawyer specialising in collective labour law and trade unionism, explains that Mexican workers, including in the aerospace sector, often lack effective representation. “There’s discrimination during hiring or recruitment. They don’t hire workers who are dismissed for union activism,” he said.

Beyond demanding that Mexico enforce its labour reform, the IAM is calling for the expansion and strengthening of the Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM), which allows the US to take action against factories if they fail to uphold freedom of association and collective bargaining rights.

While not in the aerospace sector, the US recently invoked the RRM against a wine producer in Queretaro. Previous such actions in the state had been limited to the automotive sector.

“No one knows exactly what is going on in all of the factories in Mexico,” Greenberg said.

According to FEMIA, there are 386 aerospace companies operating in 19 states. These include 370 specialised plants that generate 50,000 direct jobs and 190,000 indirect jobs.

Del Prete, however, assured Al Jazeera that, in Queretaro, unions are independent and “they have their own organisation.”

Salinas points out that in Queretaro, there has not been a strike in decades, adding, “Imagine the control of the workforce: 29, 30 years without a single strike in the private sector.”

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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.

Russia carried out a second round of strikes on Odesa later in the evening which damaged the port infrastructure facility, according to the region’s head of administration.

“[This] emphasises the deliberate nature of enemy strikes on the civilian infrastructure of the region,” Oleg Kiper wrote in a Telegram post.

Friday’s strikes knocked out electricity for thousands of homes in Odesa.

This comes as US President Donald Trump appears to have grown frustrated by the slow progress his administration is making in securing a deal to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Despite Washington’s recent diplomatic push, Kyiv and Moscow have rejected key parts of the Trump administration’s proposal.

While Ukraine is adamant that there should be security guarantees from the US and Europe in place before agreeing to an end to the war, Russia is continuing to demand territorial concessions – which Kyiv has resisted.

Russia has been making slow gains on the ground recently.

But claims it is in control of key hubs, such as the key town of Pokrovsk – a strategic point on a big road and rail artery in the eastern Donetsk region – are being denied by the Ukrainians.

And in a show of defiance on Friday, President Zelensky posted a video of himself in Kupyansk – which Moscow claimed to have captured last month.

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Democrats in the US House of Representatives released a trove of photos on Friday that show disgraced financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in the company of high-profile figures like former US President Bill Clinton and current US President Donald Trump.

The photos were released by Democrats of the House Oversight Committee, the entity that has been investigating the Epstein files.

Jeffrey Epstein’s estate handed the 19 photos for release, which include images of Trump, Clinton, far-right personality and former Trump advisor Steve Bannon, former Treasury secretary Larry Summers, film director Woody Allen, former British prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Virgin Group’s Richard Branson.

The photos also show sex toys and even a “Trump condom” featuring a drawn picture of his face and the words “I’m HUUUUGE!” 

“This is about truth and justice—for victims and survivors,” said Democratic congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, member of the Oversight committee. 

“These subpoenaed photos from the Epstein estate are deeply disturbing and raise serious questions about who knew what, and when—which is exactly why the files need to be released,” she added, renewing calls for the Trump administration to release the Epstein files that the Justice Department holds and which congress voted to authoritze.

White House decries ‘cherry picking’ photos

A toal of three photos of Trump were released. In one of the photos Trump is seen posing with six women, whose faces have been redacted. The women are wearing what appear to be traditional Hawaiian leis around their necks.

In another one, Trump is seen talking to a blonde woman with Epstein in the background.

The White House responded to the release, accusing Democrats of releasing “cherry-picked” photos from the Epstein estate “to try and create a false narrative.”

“The Democrat hoax against President Trump has been repeatedly debunked,” said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman. 

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar

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As part of fighting a lawsuit seeking to force the White House to bring back sign language interpreters at press conferences, the Justice Department has argued such a step would harm Trump’s powers over how he presents his “image” to the public.

In a June filing, the administration warned that the suit from the National Association of the Deaf would “severely intrude on the President’s prerogative to control the image he presents to the public” and force him to “share his platform” with an ASL interpreter.

Speaking to Politico this week, Brittany Shrader, director of legal services at the National Association of the Deaf Law and Advocacy Center, said she didn’t want to speculate about the “image” arguments, but said the administration’s failure to regularly feature interpreters at briefings from Trump and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is itself a violation of disability law.

“The disability laws don’t require a showing of animus or ill will toward people with disabilities to prove discrimination,” she said. “The laws require that the White House provide access and the failure to provide that access is itself discrimination.”

In November, a federal judge largely sided with this position, ordering the Trump administration to bring back interpreters at White House briefings, which had been a regular feature of the Biden administration, shooting down what it says was “puzzling” and “coded language about wanting to present their ‘message and image in a particular way.’”

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In the face of a lawsuit, the Trump administration has argued against having to ‘share his platform’ with a sign language interpreter, calling it a major intrusion on his ability to control his ‘image’ (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

The White House, which insists it is in compliance with the order, has nonetheless appealed it to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

The administration argues, in addition to its image concerns, that the White House makes information available in a variety of accessible formats like transcripts and closed captioning on videos, and that additional requirements would intrude on the president’s ability to provide real-time information to the public.

Deaf advocates sued the first Trump administration over a lack of interpreters at briefings regarding the Covid pandemic.

The Trump administration has a checkered record on disability issues more broadly, according to critics.

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Sign language interpreters were a regular feature at Biden administration press briefings (White House / YouTube)

This fall, the president and his health secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. promoted the scientifically unfounded claim that mothers taking Tylenol during pregnancy causes autism, which scores of health organizations disagreed with and called dangerous.

Kennedy is also a longstanding vaccine skeptic who has promoted the discredited claim that vaccines cause autism.

Elsewhere, the Trump administration’s changing priorities and funding cuts at the Department of Education have hampered its longstanding role in protecting special needs students at schools, according to advocates.

During his 2016 presidential campaign, Trump was roundly criticized for appearing to mock a journalist’s physical disability on-stage at an event, though he insisted he was unaware of what the individual looked like.

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NEED TO KNOW

• A 39-year-old woman suffered stab wounds to her back while changing her baby inside at a Macy’s
• Kerri Aherne is accused of going into the bathroom and stabbing her in what police say was an unprovoked incident
• Aherne, from Massachusetts, was arrested on charges of attempted murder, child endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon

A tourist was stabbed several times at the Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan amid the shopping rush of the busy holiday season.

Law enforcement officers with the New York Police Department responded to Macy’s Herald Square on Thursday, Dec. 11, after a report of an assault, the NYPD confirms in a statement to PEOPLE.

The victim is a 39-year-old woman, whose name has not been publicly announced. She suffered multiple stab wounds to her back and a laceration to her left arm, the NYPD said. She was taken to a nearby hospital in stable condition.

Authorities arrested 43-year-old Kerri Aherne in connection with the assault.

The victim, who is visiting from California, was reportedly changing her baby in a bathroom when Aherne allegedly went inside and began stabbing her, FOX 5 NY reported, citing unnamed law enforcement sources. The attack was allegedly unprovoked, the sources reportedly said.

It wasn’t immediately clear if the baby was harmed.

The NYPD did not respond to PEOPLE’s request for further information.

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.

Aherne, of Tewksbury, Mass., was charged with attempted murder, assault, criminal possession of a weapon and child endangerment, per the NYPD.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Aherne has retained an attorney to speak on her behalf. Online court dockets did not show her records as of Friday afternoon.

In a statement to PEOPLE, Macy’s said they are “deeply saddened about the incident that took place yesterday as the safety of our customers and colleagues is our top priority.”

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A woke Vermont school district has been deluged with racist threats after it flew a Somali flag in response to President Donald Trump referring to the country’s immigrants as ‘garbage’.

Winooski School District leadership hoisted the flag above a building housing K-12 classrooms and administrative offices on December 5.

It was flown alongside the Vermont state flag and beneath the United States flag in an attempt to show solidarity with the district’s diverse student body, nine percent of whom are of Somali descent.

Somali students cheered and clapped at the sight, telling administrators the flag flying meant a great deal to them, district Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria said.

But just days later the district was inundated with more than 200 harassing calls and messages according to Chavarria, a US citizen who was born at a refugee camp in Nicaragua.

Police are investigating the ‘racist and hateful’ communications, with investigators telling WPTZ that it ‘appears to be part of a coordinated national campaign’.

School officials have taken additional precautions to ensure staff and student safety while the investigation is underway, including stationing police officers at buildings and temporarily shutting down the district website.

Chavarria, whose own family self-deported earlier this year after receiving a worrying notice from immigration authorities, intends to continue celebrating the district’s diversity.

Winooski School District in Vermont has received racist threats after it erected a Somali flag (far right) on top of a building in response to President Donald Trump referring to the country’s immigrants as ‘garbage’

Winooski School District Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria  said the Somali flag was flown alongside the Vermont state flag and beneath the US flag in an attempt to show solidarity with the district’s diverse student body – 9 percent of whom are of Somali descent

Chavarria has said his position as superintendent gave him authority to fly the flag for up to a week without the school board’s explicit approval.

The superintendent said district leadership ‘felt really good about it until the ugliness came knocking Monday morning’.

The district erected the flag of Somalia last Friday during an event with catered Somali food. 

Videos of the gathering were shared widely on social media, resulting in a flood of hostile calls, voicemails and social media posts aimed at district workers and students. 

A district spokesperson told the news outlet that it received ‘significant number of racist and hateful messages’ and that many of them ‘specifically referenced the Somali flag and Somali community members’.

‘Our staff members, our administrators and our community are overwhelmed right now, and they are being viciously attacked,’ Chavarria said Tuesday.

‘The content of those attacks is extremely, extremely deplorable. I don’t know what other word to use.’ 

Chavarria also said the footage circulating online did not show the US and Vermont flags were still up in their proper location, with the American flag at the highest point, which he notes was important context.

The flag was flown on the district building’s third flag mast. The US and Vermont flags were still up in their proper location, with the American flag at the highest point

School officials have taken additional precautions to ensure staff and student safety while the investigation is underway, including stationing police officers at buildings

The Winooski School District is helping law enforcement investigate the continued threats. Vermont State Police have said that ‘none of the messages reviewed so far had presented a credible threat of violence.’ 

Federal authorities last week began an immigration enforcement operation in Minnesota to focus on Somali immigrants living unlawfully in the US.

Trump claimed ‘they contribute nothing’ and said ‘I don’t want them in our country’.

The Minneapolis mayor has defended the newcomers, saying they have started businesses, created jobs and added to the city’s cultural fabric. Most are American citizens and more than half of all Somali people in Minnesota were born in the US.

The Somalian cultural event held in Winooski last Friday was a direct response to Trump’s latest immigration crackdown. 

‘School officials raised the Somali flag as a gesture of support for our Somali students and families,’ Chavarria said in a statement on the district’s Facebook page. 

‘We chose to raise the Somali flag to acknowledge and support our Somali students during a time when many in their community are feeling particularly vulnerable. 

‘This action reflects our commitment to ensuring all students feel seen, valued, and supported in our schools.’

Chavarria is a US citizen who was born at a refugee camp in Nicaragua. His family (pictured) self-deported earlier this year after receiving a worrying notices immigration authorities

Chavarria also admitted he ‘felt sorrow for the students, the families, the little kids that are my responsibility to keep safe’.

Mukhtar Abdullahi, an immigrant who serves as a multilingual liaison for families in the district who speak Somali and a related dialect, said ‘no one, no human being, regardless of where they come from, is garbage’.

Students have asked if their immigrant parents are safe, he added. ‘Regardless of what happens, I know we have a strong community. And I’m very, very, very thankful to be part of it.’

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson has described the threats directed at the school as ‘actions of individuals who have nothing to do with’ Trump.

‘Aliens who come to our country, complain about how much they hate America, fail to contribute to our economy, and refuse to assimilate into our society should not be here,’ Jackson said in a statement late Thursday.

‘And American schools should fly American flags.’

Winooski School District (WSD) appears to take pride in its diverse student body and regularly promotes inclusivity on its social media pages.

The district has an antiracism steering committee, which aims to support staff and administrators in making WSD an ‘antiracist school district’.

District leadership also highlight students’ ‘diverse and unique’ communities in its newsletters and celebrates holidays valued by these cultures. 

President Donald Trump raged against Somali immigrants last week, saying they ‘do nothing but b***h’ about America and should ‘go back to where they came from’. Pictured: Trump stands up to depart after holding a meeting with his Cabinet on December 2

Demonstrators rally in protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement on December 8 amid an immigration operation targeting the Somali community in Minneapolis, Minnesota

Chavarria also appeared before lawmakers in Washington DC on Tuesday to testify against what he and other activists have called ‘unconstitutional detentions’ by ICE.

‘I do not feel like I am free to visit my mother without being afraid that I will be detained or disappeared at any time for any reason,’ Chavarria told the public forum. ‘I don’t think any American should be deprived of the right to visit their mother.’ 

The superintendent was invited to participate in the forum after having been detained by customs agents at a Houston airport in July as he returned home after visiting his family in Nicaragua, WPTZ reported.

He said he was separated from his husband and ‘subjected to abusive interrogation’. 

Comparing the detainment as being ‘abducted by a gang of aggressive, violent people’, he argued that he was ‘treated in a manner that is deeply disturbing and unacceptable’.

His detainment came just three months after his brother, sister-in-law and two nieces self-deported back to Nicaragua, the news outlet reported.

Chavarria’s family reportedly received a notice from Homeland Security ordering them to leave the country or face deportation. 

Immigration authorities sent the notice in April to 532,000 immigrants in the CHNV Parole Program, a Joe Biden initiative which allowed hundreds of thousands of nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to enter the US.

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The bodies of two elderly men were found by enforcement agents who were repossessing a funeral parlour in Gosport, Hampshire, which was run by Richard Elkin and Hayley Bell

20:15, 12 Dec 2025Updated 20:24, 12 Dec 2025

Hayley Bell (left) and Richard Elkin face jail(Image: Solent News)

Two funeral directors have been warned to prepare for jail by a judge after a decomposing body was found in their mortuary room.

Richard Elkin, 49, and Hayley Bell, 42, ran Elkin and Bell Funerals in Gosport, Hampshire, and they were convicted of preventing the decent burial of a body and fraud offences following a trial at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Lesley Bates KC, prosecuting, told the trial that the bodies of two elderly men were found by High Court enforcement agents who had been tasked with repossessing the premises because of unpaid rent and debts.

She said that the room was not refrigerated and water was coming in through a leak in the roof of the mortuary room and the body of one of the men, 87-year-old William Mitchell “showed obvious signs of decomposition”.

READ MORE: Screaming mum finds funeral director ‘watching cartoons’ with two dead babiesREAD MORE: Funeral home director ‘handed fake ashes to thousands of pet owners – while actual remains went to landfill’Two bodies were found at Elkin & Bell Funerals in Gosport(Image: Solent News)

The prosecutor said that the defendants had said the body of Mr Mitchell had remained because the cremation fees had not been paid – when the costs had actually been covered by a funeral payment plan. Mr Mitchell’s family “were incredulous” when told by police that his body had not been cremated in the planned private cremation and had even placed a wreath at Portchester Crematorium in the “mistaken belief that his body had been cremated there”, the court heard.

Ms Bates told the jury that there had been five other known cases of “badly decomposed” bodies kept in the mortuary room of Elkin and Bell. There were more than 40 other bodies stored at the funeral directors between June 28, 2022 and December 10, 2023 which were not seen separately at hospital.

She said: “Bearing in mind the condition of the bodies they did see, what happened to these others?” Ms Bates said that the funeral directors was previously investigated by the Gosport Environmental Health Partnership in August 2021 and issued with improvement notices which the defendants responded to by buying a refrigeration unit on eBay which was unsuitable because of the size of the room.

The pair were found guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court(Image: PA)

They were both found guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court of intentionally causing public nuisance between June 27, 2022 and December 11, 2023, preventing lawful burial of a body between November 3, 2023 and December 11, 2023 and carrying on a business fraudulently between August 10, 2022 and December 11, 2023. Along with this Elkin was convicted of the forgery of a certificate of funeral directing and using it as a false certificate on or before December 10, 2023. He had previously pleaded guilty to illegal possession of pepper spray.

Judge James Newton-Price KC adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports to be prepared on the two defendants who will be sentenced on February 19. Releasing them on conditional bail, he told them: “I am going to adjourn sentencing in this case for pre-sentence reports on both defendants because I need to know more about each of you.

“Neither of you gave evidence in this trial and I need to know a little more about your circumstances and the circumstances surrounding these offences. You should prepare yourselves for an immediate custodial sentence.”

Rachel Robertson, of CPS Wessex, said that Elkin and Bell “showed a grave disregard for the dignity owed to the deceased in their care”. She added: “Their conduct caused serious harm to those coming into contact with their business and the families who had placed the care of deceased loved ones in their trust.”

Assistant Chief Constable Paul Bartolomeo, of Hampshire Constabulary, called for new legislation following similar cases elsewhere in the country. He said that the defendants had betrayed the trust of the families “in the worst way possible”.

He added: “We need new legislation rather than relying on common law. We also need better regulation. Combined, this can help ensure that all funeral directors act, as the majority do, with professionalism and compassion.”

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The Belgian prime minister said he is “sceptical” about giving Ukraine a loan using frozen Russian assets, and tells Sky News that it would need to be done with European partners.

Bart De Wever met Sir Keir Starmer at Downing Street on Friday for talks on using frozen Russian assets, the majority of which are held in Belgium, to fund Ukraine.

European Council president Antonio Costa said this week that members were close to greenlighting the proposal, but the Belgian prime minister has not ruled out taking legal action against the EU if the bloc decides to confiscate the assets.

Asked by Sky News’ people and politics correspondent Nick Martin if Belgium holds the key to Ukraine’s future defence, Mr De Wever said “that’s a bit of a cynical question”.

“I don’t think we hold the key, but we do hold a lot of Russian assets,” he said. “Will we do it with a European solution or with the reparation loan? I’m sceptical about a loan. I’m not going to lie.

“That’s because I’m heavily exposed to the liabilities of such an operation. But I’m a loyal European. I’m loyally pro Ukraine.”

Image:
‘I’m not the only one who holds immobilised assets, there are other countries’. Pic: Reuters

The Belgian prime minister then said “if you want to go through with this, we could,” but said there would need to be “the mutualisation of the risk of it being a liquidity safety net”.

“The idea that we do this all together,” he said. “But I’m not the only one who holds immobilised assets, there are other countries like the UK, like France.

“If you go together, then you’re under a big umbrella and you’re not the only one that is exposed to all the risks.”

Russian assets worth €190bn are held in Belgium, De Wever said outside Number 10, compared with €8bn worth in the UK.

When asked if he received assurances on shared liability from Sir Keir, Mr De Wever added: “I’m not sure that I’m at liberty to say what the Prime Minister has told me… but it was a constructive meeting”.

Image:
Pics: Reuters

‘It’s something historic’

Mr De Wever also said that the meeting was timely and noted “I’ve even been described as a Russian asset” for his stance on the proposal.

“It worries me a lot, of course. The exposure risk is huge. €190bn plus damages, and litigation that could go on, go on for two decades.

“It’s a tall order, because until two months ago, we considered this to be an operation that we would never do… It’s not a detail. It’s something historic.

“So to get that all in the right wording, with the right reassurances, it’s quite something.”

A Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement that Mr De Wever and Sir Keir “discussed ongoing work, together with European partners, on addressing Ukraine’s financial needs, including through the use of the value of immobilised Russian Sovereign Assets”.

“They agreed to continue to work together closely to make progress on this complex issue,” they added.

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EU indefinitely freezes assets

It comes as Russia’s central bank said on Friday that the plan was “illegal” and that it reserved the right to take any means necessary to protect its interests.

Meanwhile, the EU has indefinitely frozen Russia’s assets in Europe using a special procedure meant for economic emergencies to prevent the billions of euros from being used to support Ukraine.

Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban – who has friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin – accused the European Commission, which prepared the decision, “of systematically raping European law.”

“It is doing this in order to continue the war in Ukraine, a war that clearly isn’t winnable,” he added on social media.

Slovakian prime minister Robert Fico has also said that he would refuse to support any move that “would include covering Ukraine’s military expenses for the coming years”.

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49:17

Michael Clarke answers your Ukraine questions

Zelenskyy to visit Ukraine, Sky News learns

It comes as Sky News learnt from a source that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is planning to visit Berlin on Monday.

He is set to meet German chancellor Friedrich Merz and also speak with representatives of Britain and France, it’s understood.

It also comes as Ukraine’s deputy energy minister said that Russia has launched 1,800 missiles, 50,000 drones and attacked energy facilities 4,500 times since the start of the year.

Roman Andarak told a briefing: “There are no examples in recent history of an energy system existing under such conditions – such large-scale, targeted terror.

“Unfortunately, this terror is intensifying every day.”

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Kilmar Abrego Garcia walked out of a US courthouse without being arrested by immigration authorities, relieving fears ICE may attempt to take him back into custody the day after he was released.

Published On 12 Dec 202512 Dec 2025

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