Liverpool parade attacker Paul Doyle told a web of lies when he was first interviewed by police. And they will likely come back to haunt him in prison, experts have warned

14:00, 20 Dec 2025Updated 14:04, 20 Dec 2025

The ex-marine who used his car “as a weapon” to plough into a helpless crowd of Liverpool FC fans while “in a rage” will endure a bleak existence in prison, experts have revealed

Paul Doyle, 54, initially told police that he acted in “panic” on that fateful day, even blaming his actions on fans for making him “fear for his life”, but his lies soon unravelled when investigators discovered harrowing dashcam footage that told a different story.

The haunting video showed Doyle shouting angrily, swearing and beeping his horn as the car rammed into pedestrians in the crowd. Victims were thrown onto his bonnet and trapped under his vehicle, but he continued to mow through the sea of terrified fans. Gasps of horror were heard in the courtroom, packed full of victims and their families, as the footage was shown.

READ MORE: Paul Doyle’s wife ‘burst into tears’ as true toll of horror rampage became clearREAD MORE: Paul Doyle’s dark criminal past and real reason he was kicked out of MarinesDoyle injured more than 100 people in the rampage(Image: Police Handout)

The court heard how Doyle’s police interviews were littered with fake claims and outright lies, blaming the fans for his actions. He claimed a bottle had been thrown, that he’d seen someone with a knife and even claimed he stopped as soon as he realised he had struck someone down. It was all lies.

The senseless attacker has now been sentenced to 21 years and six months in prison after 134 Liverpool parade attendees were hurt in the attack, some who have been left with serious injuries, PTSD and ongoing trauma. After learning his fate, there was no reaction from Doyle as he was taken down from the dock by prison officers at Liverpool Crown Court.

With the widespread agony he has caused to more than 100 victims, and having tried to pin the blame on the helpless fans whose day of celebrations turned into life-changing horror, experts have warned that Doyle’s prison experience will be anything but comfortable. Here we look at what his life inside will really look like…

Prison conditions

Before sentencing, Doyle was treated as an Category A inmate in prison. Category A prisoners are regarded as the most dangerous, who if they were to escape, would pose the most threat to the public. He was reportedly being checked around the clock due to fears of reprisals from other inmates. A source said: “A lot of inmates, especially at northern prisons, will have had friends or relatives at the parade so it’s not hard to see why he might be targeted.”

Speaking with the Mirror this week, Nusrit Mehtab, former MET super and senior lecturer in policing and criminal justice revealed that Doyle will likely be put in category B to live out his sentence, rather than category A. Ms Mehtab explained: “He could start off on a category A and then go to category B, but I think it will probably be category B. And in a category pre-prison, he will be held in a closed prison regime with locked wings, controlled movement and regular head counts.”

The father-of-three sobbed in court this week(Image: PA)

She continued: “He’ll have interaction with other prisoners but it’s structured through regulated associated periods, so when they can go out. Staff will monitor his behaviour, intelligence, his risk, his interaction. They’ll keep a good eye on him and do regular reports.”

Considering what Doyle’s day-to-day routine might look like on the inside, the crime expert revealed: “Prisoners do get an education, they get exercise. Whether he’ll be kept away from other prisoners is yet to be seen, I don’t think he’ll immediately go into isolation. That doesn’t happen. But they will keep a close eye on him to make sure that he doesn’t get attacked.”

‘Tough time’ inside

Doyle initially denied all charges but tearfully changed his plea at the 11th hour, just before trial. His oldest victim, 77-year-old Susan Passey, suffered multiple fractures after being trapped under Doyle’s car with an 11-year-old boy and two other pedestrians. The youngest was six-month-old Teddy Eveson, who was thrown about 15 feet down the road in his pram when the crash happened.

Commenting on the last-minute plea change, criminologist and psychologist Alex Izsatt told The Mirror: “His lawyers may have persuaded him to change the plea on the evidence presented as the chances of acquittal or even a more favourable verdict were very slim. A late guilty plea can limit the reduction in sentence, the court will have to weigh the number of victims, severity of injuries, and the scale of risk.

Police also shared footage of Doyle being processed in Liverpool

She added: “As it’s a high profile case, Paul may start in a high security prison, and be moved at a later date, depending on good behaviour. If he’s prone to emotional breakdowns, they may provide segregation or protective custody initially. It’s likely he will face a tough time from other inmates due to the range of victims as well as the fact he drove into football fans.”

Ms Mehtab agrees that Doyle likely won’t have “an easy ride behind bars”, noting: “The nature of his crime means he’s [become] quite notorious, and prisoners will know that. I don’t think he’ll get an easy ride behind bars, certainly. He’s unlikely to receive any kind of easy passage through the prison system, simply because of who he is or because he might be harmed.”

A prison truck arriving at Liverpool Crown Court ahead of the sentencing (Image: PA)

“I think there’ll be a heavy stigma amongst inmates. Unlike gang-related, one-to-one violence, this was an act where innocent people were injured all at once. And so that will place him low in the informal prisoner hierarchy. They won’t look upon him as favourably. Attacking ordinary people who pose no threat to him [will] be viewed as cowardly and indiscriminate violence.

“Prisoners also have their own hierarchy. And prison culture can be brutal in terms of its judgement and offences that resemble attack on innocent members of the public. I don’t think he’ll get an easy ride. He’s got huge national publicity. And so it won’t be easy for him initially.”

Doyle’s criminal past

Many questions emerged about the ex-marine’s career and home life before his sentencing, and now his previous criminal convictions have been revealed for the first time. Paul Greaney KC, prosecuting, told the court that Doyle enlisted in the Royal Marines at age 19, after a short stint in the Royal Engineers. He signed up for 22 years’ service but was discharged in January 1993, just 22 months after enlisting.

Doyle did not see active service and was discharged on a basis that his services were no longer required, the court heard. Mr Greaney also revealed that Doyle had both civilian and service convictions. When Doyle was in the Royal Engineers in 1989, he committed a military offence equated to common assault and was give seven days’ detention, he said. In March the following year, aged 18, Doyle was fined for a minor offence of dishonesty.

And in October 1991, at the end of Paul Doyle’s 32-week training period for the Royal Marines at the Commando Training Centre in Lympstone, Devon, he had what he later described as a “scuffle” with men in a nightclub. He said after he was thrown out, the men were waiting for him and he “got the better of them”.

Doyle has three teenage sons

He punched another person in the face several times and was convicted of a section 20 assault and fined by Exeter Magistrates’ Court. In February 1992, he was convicted of two military offences – one of using violence to a superior officer and one of conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline – and in July that year he was convicted of a military offence equivalent to criminal damage, the court heard.

Doyle also has a previous conviction for biting someone’s ear off. The prosecutor said Doyle was jailed for 12 months in November 1994 for causing grievous bodily harm after biting off the ear of another man in a fight in July the previous year. When he was interviewed by police earlier this year after the parade incident, he said he had become involved in a drunken fight with sailors.

The final previous offences he was convicted of before his guilty pleas last month were a minor offence of dishonesty and breach of the peace in Scotland in December 1993, the court heard. Mr Greaney said between the ages of 18 and 22 Doyle was convicted of offences, including serious violence.

Photos shared on social media saw him enjoying holidays before the attack

He said: “The prosecution recognises that in the 30 years between his release from prison in May 1995 and his dreadful actions on May 26 2025, the defendant had taken steps to live a positive and productive life. During that period, he was convicted of no offences. He went to university. He worked, including in positions of responsibility. He had a family. Those efforts to rehabilitate himself after a difficult early adulthood only serve to make more shocking and tragic what he did in Liverpool that day this May.”

The senseless Liverpool attack left the city in complete shock, as well as those who know Doyle. In his local community, he was known as a man who attended church, consoled those struggling with grief with gifts, and offered to help out with jobs. One neighbour, who asked not to be named, told the Liverpool Echo how he was seen as “Mr Healthy Dude.” He said: “He meditates, doesn’t drink and he would go out on the grass outside in his bare feet to ground himself. He was a fit guy. He hasn’t drunk for as long as I have known him.”

Photos shared on social media depict Doyle enjoying various holidays overseas, including trips to Disneyland, Florida, Dubai and beach getaways, the ECHO reports. Online accounts show Doyle to be an extensive traveller, having visited several Asian nations, including Japan, Fiji and India, and Australia. Photographs uploaded online also capture the keen runner partaking in triathlons and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

Doyle appears to have used the FarOut Caps Twitter/X account as his own personal page, where he would post about popular shooter video game Fortnite and cryptocurrency, a topic of particular fascination for him.

Doyle followed just 11 accounts, but this short list includes several controversial figures, including Reform leader Nigel Farage, Elon Musk, and ‘manosphere’ influencer Andrew Tate. Doyle regularly links out to a YouTube account, fis30, which contains 645 videos. Most of these cover Fortnite, while some videos discuss the SafeMoon cryptocurrency scheme.

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Khan and his wife have denied accusations that they misrepresented the value of state gifts, including jewellery, and profited from them.

Published On 20 Dec 202520 Dec 2025

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Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife Bushra Bibi have been sentenced to 17 years in prison after a Pakistani court found them guilty of illegally retaining and selling valuable state gifts.

The sentence, handed down on Saturday, capped a years-long saga that saw the duo accused of selling various gifts – including jewellery from the Saudi Arabian government – at far below market value. They have denied all charges.

In order to keep gifts from foreign dignitaries, Pakistani law requires officials to purchase them at market value and to declare profits from any sales.

But prosecutors claimed that the couple profited from the items after purchasing them at an artificially low price of $10,000, compared with their market rate of $285,521.

Khan’s supporters were quick to denounce the ruling, with his spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari saying that “criminal liability was imposed without proof of intent, gain, or loss, relying instead on a retrospective reinterpretation of rules”.

His party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, wrote on social media that the proceedings were a “sham” and criticised international media coverage of the case.

The 73-year-old former leader served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 until April 2022, when he was ousted in a no-confidence vote.

He was imprisoned starting in August 2023 on various charges of corruption and revealing state secrets, all of which he has denied and claimed to be politically motivated. He has been acquitted of some charges.

An internationally famous cricket player in the heyday of his sporting career, Khan remains popular in Pakistan, with his imprisonment leading to protests throughout the last two years.

The former leader is now confined to a prison in the city of Rawalpindi and “kept inside all the time”, his sister, Uzma Khanum, told journalists earlier this month.

Khanum, a doctor who was the first family member allowed to visit Khan in weeks, described him as “very angry” about the isolation, saying that he considered the “mental torture” of imprisonment to be “worse than physical abuse”.

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Analysis: trickle release on a Friday signals move to bury Trump ties

Sam Levine

The justice department’s partial release of the Epstein files on Friday signaled how the agency is using a variety of tactics to try to bury and obfuscate Donald Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, writes Sam Levine.

The release underscores how the Trump administration is trying to balance both the demand to release the files – something encouraged in large part by the Maga base – while also obfuscating with a slow trickle of document dumps to prevent any embarrassment to Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years before they had a falling out.

Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche has said the department will continue to produce documents on a rolling basis in the coming weeks – a holiday period – a bet that Americans will simply tune out the story as it drags on.

Read Sam’s full analysis here:

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Updated at 13.37 CET

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‘What are we hiding here?’ asks Virginia Giuffre’s brother after limited files released

Virginia Giuffre’s brother Sky Roberts tells Reuters he has “mixed feelings” after the partial release of the Epstein files. “What are we hiding here?” he asks.

Democrat Robert Garcia, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, estimated the tranche of documents released yesterday included only about 10 per cent of the material in the department’s possession.

Giuffre’s sister-in-law Amanda Roberts adds that “nothing the Department of Justice does comes as a surprise”. She claims it has used the case as a “political toy”.

“When there were rumours that potentially the president could be named in there, all of a sudden the story changed,” she says. Then it was “hoax” and there was “nothing to see”, she adds.

Trump is scantly mentioned in the files released yesterday and has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Despite this, Sky Roberts tells Reuters his sister would have felt an “overwhelming amount of joy for her survivor sisters” on Friday.

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Updated at 14.14 CET

Democrats criticize partial Epstein files release

Since the release of the first tranche of heavily-redacted Epstein files yesterday, Democrats have lined up to criticize the Trump administration and justice department, saying the partial release violates the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

In a post on X last night, Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said: “Now the coverup is out in the open. This is far from over. Everyone involved will have to answer for this. Pam Bondi, Kash Patel, whole admin. Protecting a bunch of rapists and pedophiles because they have money, power, and connections. Bondi should resign tonight.”

Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer accused the Trump administration of breaking the law: “Simply releasing a mountain of blacked out pages violates the spirit of transparency and the letter of the law … We need answers as to why,” he said in a post on X.

Co-author of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Ro Khanna, posted a video on X arguing the DOJ release “does not comply” with the law.

“Our law requires them to explain redactions. There is not a single explanation,” Khanna said, adding he would look at options like impeachment, contempt or referral to prosecution.

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Analysis: trickle release on a Friday signals move to bury Trump ties

Sam Levine

The justice department’s partial release of the Epstein files on Friday signaled how the agency is using a variety of tactics to try to bury and obfuscate Donald Trump’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein, writes Sam Levine.

The release underscores how the Trump administration is trying to balance both the demand to release the files – something encouraged in large part by the Maga base – while also obfuscating with a slow trickle of document dumps to prevent any embarrassment to Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years before they had a falling out.

Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche has said the department will continue to produce documents on a rolling basis in the coming weeks – a holiday period – a bet that Americans will simply tune out the story as it drags on.

Read Sam’s full analysis here:

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Updated at 13.37 CET

Here are some of the photos released in the first tranche of files released by the US Department of Justice.

A number of famous faces feature, including former US President Bill Clinton, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, billionaire Richard Branson, and musicians Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson.

Billionaire Richard Branson and Jeffrey Epstein in a partially redacted photo. Photograph: US Department of Justice/PABill Clinton, Mick Jagger and Ghislaine Maxwell. Photograph: US Justice Department/ReutersFormer US president Bill Clinton in a partially redacted photo. Photograph: Department Of Justice/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock

Angel Ureña, a spokesperson for Bill Clinton, said that the Epstein investigation wasn’t about the former president.

“There are two types of people here,” he said. “The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships after that. We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.”

See more of the images at the link below:

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Updated at 13.16 CET

Survivors of Epstein’s abuse condemn justice department for partial release of files

Survivors of the late Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged sexual abuse have expressed disappointment over a document dump that was heavily redacted and only partially released.

Survivors Sharlene Rochard, Jess Michaels, and Annie Farmer react as Sky Roberts, brother of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s late victim Virginia Giuffre, speaks during a press conference on the Epstein Files Transparency Act on 18 November 2025. Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/Reuters

Epstein survivor Liz Stein told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that she thinks the Department for Justice is “really brazenly going against the Epstein Files Transparency Act” – the law which required all documents to be released by Friday.

She says survivors are worried about the possibility of a “slow rollout of incomplete information without any context”. The fight for justice has spanned decades, continents and political administrations, Stein says, adding: “We just want all of the evidence of these crimes out there”.

While the release of documents comes at a “great cost” to victims, Stein is hoping it will be a “path to justice”.

Lisa Phillips was in her 20s when she met the disgraced financier and says she suffered years of abuse from him and people linked to him.

She told CNN that she believes the Department of Justice was “protecting themselves, not the victims,” after Trump officials released only partial files that were heavily redacted.

“I feel like they have so much information to start connecting the dots and for survivors to get justice. But as you’re seeing, we just keep stalling,” she added.

Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer who represents the Epstein survivor Maria Farmer in her lawsuit against the federal government, told our colleague Victoria Bekiempis that one newly released document was important: an FBI report from 1996, documenting Farmer’s effort to report her abuse by Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Maria Farmer reported Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes in 1996,” Freeman said. “Had the government done their job, and properly investigated Maria’s report, over 1,000 victims could have been spared and 30 years of trauma avoided.”

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Updated at 12.56 CET

Opening Summary

Hello. We are resuming our live coverage of the Department of Justice’s long-awaited release of documents from the federal investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, the late sex offender who socialized with Donald Trump for more than 15 years.

The first cache of ‘Epstein Files’ were released on Friday evening after months of delay and stalling from the Trump administration. Deputy attorney general Todd Blanche told Fox News that he expected the department to release several hundred thousand more files in the coming weeks.

However, significant portions of the files have been heavily redacted. The photos lack crucial context, including dates and locations. Moreover, the justice department appears to be in violation of the law that required the release of all of the Epstein files by a Friday deadline, according to the two congressmen who drafted the legislation, Ro Khanna, a California Democrat, and Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican.

Missing documents & ‘over-redactions’:

• Khanna said that the partial “document dump this afternoon does not comply” with the Epstein Files Transparency Act, and told CNN, adding: “The most important documents are missing.” Those documents are a draft 60-count federal indictment outlining charges against Epstein, and a detailed memorandum summarizing the evidence that was disregarded by the US attorney, Alex Acosta, who chose instead to offer Epstein an extraordinarily lenient plea deal.

• According to a Fox News report, the justice department redacted the names and identifiers of victims and “the same redaction standards were applied to politically exposed individuals and government officials”. Massie wrote on social media that the attorney general, Pam Bondi, could be convicted by a future justice department of obstruction of justice if she violated a provision of the law by redacting the names of government officials. Massie noted that the law explicitly states that no documents may be “withheld, delayed, or redacted on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity, including to any government official”. Blanche later called Fox News to insist that the justice department is “not redacting the names of any politicians”.

• Instead, the justice department said it may have “over-redacted” the Epstein files in order to “protect victims”. Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in court on Friday that it had blacked out the faces of almost every woman photographed with Jeffrey Epstein, citing issues determining who was a victim of the paedophile. Mr Clayton reportedly noted the approach could be “over-redaction”, but blamed it on the 30-day timeframe Congress set for releasing the documents.

Who is in the Epstein files?

• The files that were viewable included images of Epstein socialising with an array of prominent figures, including entertainers like Michael Jackson, Chris Tucker and Diana Ross, and the entrepreneur Richard Branson. The images also show former British royal Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.

• Peter Mandelson, who was sacked from his job as the UK’s ambassador to the US earlier this year, could be seen in a picture with Epstein who is being presented with a giant birthday cake.

• There were many images of Bill Clinton, but very little about president Trump in the portion of the files released on Friday. But one seemingly innocuous snapshot of Epstein’s bookcase did include a reminder that he and Trump were once close. The image showed Epstein’s copy of Trump’s 1997 book, Trump: The Art of the Comeback, which the New York Times reported in July included an inscription from Trump reading: “To Jeff – You are the greatest!”

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Watch: Images, cassettes and high-profile figures – What’s in the latest Epstein files?

The US justice department has released an initial tranche of documents related to Jeffrey Epstein.

The documents, which include photos, videos and investigative documents, were highly anticipated after Congress passed a law mandating the files be released in their entirety by Friday.

However, Democrats and some Republicans accused the Department of Justice (DOJ) of violating its legal obligations after it said it would not be able to release all the documents by the deadline. Many details in the thousands of files have also been heavily redacted.

A number of famous faces are included in the first batch of files, including former US President Bill Clinton, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and musicians Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson.

Being named or pictured in the files is not an indication of wrongdoing. Many of those identified in the files or in previous releases related to Epstein have denied any wrongdoing.

Bill Clinton pictured in pool and hot tub

US Department of Justice

Several of the images released include former US President Bill Clinton.

One picture shows him swimming in a pool, and another shows him lying on his back with his hands behind his head in what appears to be a hot tub.

Clinton was photographed with Epstein several times over the 1990s and early 2000s, before the disgraced financier was first arrested. He has never been accused of wrongdoing by survivors of Epstein’s abuse, and has denied knowledge of his sex offending.

A spokesperson for Clinton commented on the new photos, saying they were decades old.

“They can release as many grainy 20-plus-year-old photos as they want, but this isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be,” Angel Ureña wrote on social media.

“There are two types of people here. The first group knew nothing and cut Epstein off before his crimes came to light. The second group continued relationships with him after.

“We’re in the first. No amount of stalling by people in the second group will change that.

“Everyone, especially MAGA, expects answers, not scapegoats.”

US Department of JusticeUS Department of Justice

Epstein allegedly introduced Trump to 14-year-old girl

The US president is also mentioned in the tranche of files released by the justice department.

Court documents detail that Epstein allegedly introduced a 14-year-old girl to Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

During the alleged encounter in the 1990s, Epstein elbowed Trump and “playfully asked him”, in reference to the girl, “this is a good one, right?”, the document says.

Trump smiled and nodded in agreement, according to the lawsuit filed against Epstein’s estate and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2020.

The document says that “they both chuckled” and the girl felt uncomfortable, but “at the time, was too young to understand why”.

The victim alleges she was groomed and abused by Epstein over many years.

In the court filing, she makes no accusations against Trump.

The BBC has contacted the White House for comment.

The alleged episode is one of very few mentions of the president in the thousands of files released on Friday. He can be seen in several photos but his inclusion is minimal at best.

The Trump War Room, the official X account for the president’s political operation, instead posted photographs of Clinton after the release.

Trump’s press secretary also re-posted images of Clinton, saying “Oh my!”

However, there are still pages to be released.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that “several hundred thousand” pages of documents are still being reviewed and have yet to be made public.

The US president has previously said he was a friend of Epstein’s for years, but said they fell out in about 2004, years before Epstein was first arrested.

Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Photo appears to show Andrew lying across laps

US Department of Justice

A photo in the released files appears to show Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor lying across five people, whose faces are redacted.

Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell is seen in the image standing behind them.

Andrew has faced years of scrutiny over his past friendship with Epstein, who does not appear in the photo.

He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and said he did not “see, witness or suspect any behaviour of the sort that subsequently led to his arrest and conviction”.

Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Chris Tucker and Mick Jagger

US Department of Justice

Epstein poses with Michael Jackson

The newly released documents include the widest assortment of celebrities we’ve seen in an Epstein file release so far.

The former financier was known for having connections across entertainment, politics and business.

Some images released by the DOJ show him with stars that include Michael Jackson, Mick Jagger and Diana Ross.

It is unclear where or when any of the photos were taken, or in what context. It’s also unclear if Epstein was associated with all of these figures or whether he attended these events. Previously released photos from Epstein’s estate have included photos that he did not take, from events where he was not in attendance.

In one of the newly released photos, Epstein is photographed with Michael Jackson. The pop idol is wearing a suit and Epstein is seen in a zip-up hoodie.

US Department of Justice

Rolling Stones legend Mick Jagger is seen here posing with Clinton

Another image of Jackson shows him with former US President Bill Clinton and Diana Ross. They are posing together in a small area and multiple other faces are redacted from the image.

Another photo in the thousands of files shows Rolling Stones legend Jagger posing for a photo with Clinton and a woman whose face is redacted. They are all in cocktail attire.

Several photos include the actor Chris Tucker. One shows him posing and seated next to Clinton at a dining table. Another shows him on aeroplane tarmac with Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted associate of Epstein.

The BBC has contacted Jagger, Tucker and Ross for comment. Clinton has previously denied knowledge of Epstein’s sex offending and a spokesperson on Friday said they were decades-old photos.

“This isn’t about Bill Clinton. Never has, never will be,” the spokesperson said.

US Department of Justice

Michael Jackson and Diana Ross are photographed with Clinton

US Department of Justice

Actor Chris Tucker seen posing with convicted Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell

Maxwell at Downing Street

Another photo included in yesterday’s document release shows Ghislaine Maxwell posing in front of 10 Downing Street.

She is alone, and there is no context provided with the photo about why she is there or when the image was taken.

We do not know who was prime minister at the time the photo was taken, or in what capacity Maxwell was visiting Downing Street.

US Department of Justice

No context is provided about when the photo is from or why Maxwell was at Downing Street

Epstein threatened to burn down house, accuser says

One of the first people to report Epstein is included in the files.

Maria Farmer, an artist who worked for Epstein, told the FBI in a 1996 report that he had stolen personal photos she took of her 12-year-old and 16-year-old sisters.

She said in a complaint that she believed he sold the photos to potential buyers, and said he threatened to burn her house down if she told anyone about it.

Her name is redacted in the files but Farmer confirmed the account was hers.

She notes in the report that Epstein had allegedly asked her to take pictures for him of young girls at swimming pools.

“Epstein is now threatening [redacted] that if she tells anyone about the photos he will burn her house down,” the report states.

Farmer said she feels vindicated after nearly 30 years.

“I feel redeemed,” she said.

Several hundred thousand pages still have not been released

Among the documents released on Friday are many that are redacted, including police statements, investigative reports and photos.

More than 550 pages of the files released on Friday were fully redacted, according to CBS, the BBC’s US partner. These include a document related to a grand jury investigation where 100 pages were entirely blacked out.

Officials, as outlined in the law, were allowed to redact materials to protect the identity of victims, or anything related to an active criminal investigation, but they were required by law to explain such redactions, which has not yet been done.

US Department of Justice

More than 100 pages in one PDF file have been blacked out

US Department of Justice

Some files are partially redacted, for example to withhold personal data such as addresses would be expected

US Department of Justice

In this instance no information has been withheld, despite the inclusion of an address for Epstein

The thousands of pages released on Friday are only a share of what is to come, according to the justice department.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing “several hundred thousand pages” on Friday and that he expected “several hundred thousand more” to be released over the coming weeks.

He told Fox & Friends that the department was heavily vetting each page of material to ensure “every victim – their name, their identity, their story, to the extent that it needs to be protected – is completely protected”. That is a process, he argued, that takes time.

The timing of when additional materials will be released is unclear, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have expressed frustration.

Democrats including Congressman Ro Khanna have threatened action against members of the justice department, including impeachment or possible prosecution over the delay.

Khanna led with Republican Congressman Thomas Massie to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act, defying US President Donald Trump who at first urged his party to vote against the measure.

“The DOJ’s document dump of hundreds of thousands of pages failed to comply with the law,” he said on social media, adding in a video that all options were on the table and were being mulled over by him and Massie.

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While the festive season’s most famous workers are the elves of the North Pole and their sleigh-riding courier, there are many more that keep things running over the final weeks of the year.

For some living in Europe, the blessings come in the form of paid public holidays. Others might be graced with additional holidays throughout the year in return for fewer days off during the festive period. 

Of course, there are still those who need to keep the wheels turning, with important roles required across the region. 

These include emergency services, as well as hospitality and retail workers, many of which experience their most demanding times of the year.

Logistics workers are also needed to get Christmas cards and gifts to their destinations.

Who’s putting their feet up over Christmas?

Europeans tend to have between two and five public holidays throughout this time of year, ranging from Christmas Eve on December 24 up until Epiphany on January 6.

Malta, for example, has 14 national holidays during the year, two of which are in the Christmas-New Year period.

Compare that to Cyprus, Slovakia and Romania, which have 15 national holidays, a third of which happen during this festive period. 

Without doubt it’s the Lithuanians who have the most generous public holidays — 16 in total, including four between Christmas Eve and New Year’s Day.

Of course, it’s not always that simple

A study by the Hans Böckler Foundation in Germany found nearly 1 in 10 German workers will working their tools after 2:00pm on Christmas Eve, which is not a public holiday in Germany. 

There are also regional differences — eastern Germans were more likely to be called to duty during this period of the year, and often it’s the same workers each year working beyond 2:00pm.

For states where doors are required to shut at 2:00pm on December 24, residents need to scramble to ensure they have all their supplies until December 27. 

A Christmas sweetener

Some workers will be opening their bank balances to find a “thirteenth month” of pay added to their bank balance.

Usually calculated relative to the number of hours an employee works, southern European countries like Portugal, Spain, Greece and Italy tend to receive a statutory bonus, depending on their industry and employer.

Other European nations may offer bonuses as a custom, rather than a legal requirement. 

While some nations offer these added sweeteners, others have recently considered scrooging the public. For Germansand the France, the time off at Christmas might become even more valuable, with their governments have recently flagged reductions in public holidays, in the hope that this will boost their flagging economies.

Could fewer public holidays boost Germany’s economy?

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Edited by: Andreas Illmer

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FIRST ON FOX: From a distance, Margarita Island looks like a Caribbean escape. Palm-lined beaches, duty-free shops, and resort towns sell the image of a tropical playground just off Venezuela’s northeastern coast. But U.S. officials say the Venezuelan outpost has become something else entirely: Hezbollah’s most important base of operations in the Western Hemisphere, strengthened by Iran’s growing footprint and the Maduro regime’s protection.

That threat, U.S. officials warn, reflects a broader security challenge emerging from the region. “The single most serious threat to the United States from the Western Hemisphere is from transnational terrorist criminal groups primarily focused on narcotrafficking,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at an end-of-year press conference at the State Department on Friday.

“Margarita Island might be of significance to the U.S. because of its location and the security dynamics around it,” Melissa Ford Maldonado, director of the Western Hemisphere Initiative at the America First Policy Institute, told Fox News Digital. “It is close to Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada, in an oil-rich part of the Caribbean along key maritime routes, and it has long had a reputation for being a major drug-trafficking hub, possibly because it’s off the mainland and there’s not a lot of law enforcement there.”

The island’s isolation, she said, has made it attractive to “irregular armed groups, foreign intelligence actors and criminal networks that use it as a departure point for boats carrying illicit shipments out of Venezuela.”

CARTEL CONNECTION: HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN EXPLOIT MADURO’S VENEZUELA FOR COCAINE CASH

In this Sept. 13, 2016 photo, beach chairs sit stacked on empty Playa El Agua beach on Margarita Island, Venezuela. Flights into the island are down 50 percent. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo) (Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

CARTEL CONNECTION: HEZBOLLAH AND IRAN EXPLOIT MADURO’S VENEZUELA FOR COCAINE CASH

Marshall Billingslea, the former assistant secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes in the U.S. Treasury Department, said Margarita Island now serves as Hezbollah’s key foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

“From what I have seen and what I have been told, there is a wide range of activities that Hezbollah and to some extent Hamas are engaged in,” Billingslea told Fox News Digital. “Margarita Island is really the center of gravity for their activities.”

Hezbollah terrorists are taking part in cross-border raids, part of a large-scale military exercise, in Aaramta, bordering Israel, on May 21, 2023. (Fadel Itani/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

In written testimony submitted to the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control for an Oct. 21 hearing, Billingslea traced the island’s transformation back more than two decades. Under Hugo Chávez, he wrote, Venezuela “opened its doors to Hezbollah, allowing the group to establish a major footprint, including a paramilitary training site, on Margarita Island.”

“When Nicolás Maduro seized power,” Billingslea added, “the breadth and depth of Hezbollah’s presence in Venezuela dramatically expanded, as did their ties to the narco-terrorist regime and the Cartel de los Soles.”

WHY THE US COULD SNATCH A VENEZUELAN TANKER — AND NOT UNDER ‘WARTIME’ AUTHORITY USED IN CARTEL STRIKES

People walk on main island at El Yaque Beach in Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

“The relationship is very close with the Cartel de los Soles, and it has been so for many, many years,” Billingslea said, referring to the network of senior Venezuelan officials accused by the United States of drug trafficking.

Billingslea said Hezbollah has embedded itself into Margarita Island’s economy, exploiting the island’s duty-free status and cross-border access to Colombia to generate revenue through smuggling and drug importation. He said the group operates a wide range of companies on the island and also maintains several training camps there.

His testimony also detailed how Venezuela’s state apparatus helped embed Hezbollah inside the country. He wrote that former senior official Tareck El Aissami, while overseeing Venezuela’s passport and naturalization agency, “was instrumental in furnishing passports and citizenship documents to Hezbollah operatives as well as a large number of people from Lebanon, Syria, and Iran.” Between 2010 and 2019, Venezuelan authorities issued more than 10,400 passports to individuals from those countries, according to the testimony.

TRUMP SAYS US SEIZES MASSIVE VENEZUELAN OIL TANKER AS SHOWDOWN WITH MADURO ERUPTS INTO NEW PHASE

Attendees take part in the 17th Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Porlamar, Venezuela’s Margarita Island, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2016. President Nicolas Maduro had touted the Non-Aligned Movement’s 17th summit as an opportunity to increase international solidarity for his government as the oil-dependent economy reels from widespread food shortages and triple digit inflation. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)  (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)

A May 27, 2020, Justice Department announcement alleged that Diosdado Cabello directed Venezuelan lawmaker Adel El Zabayar to travel to the Middle East to obtain weapons and recruit members of Hezbollah and Hamas for training at clandestine camps inside Venezuela. The filing also describes a subsequent weapons delivery at a hangar controlled by Maduro at the country’s main international airport.

Recent developments in the Middle East have only increased Margarita Island’s importance, Billingslea said. Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon has damaged the group’s military leadership and financial infrastructure, forcing it to rely more heavily on overseas networks.

“Israeli successes against Hezbollah in Lebanon in particular, including their strikes on the financial infrastructure Al-Qard al-Hassan that operates in Lebanon, are going to have two effects,” he said. “The first is that it is making the fundraising and the revenue generation that comes out of Latin America even more important to the terrorist group. Secondly, we have seen indications that Hezbollah actually has been relocating fighters from Lebanon, several hundred from Lebanon to Venezuela in particular.”

US DEPLOYS FIGHTER JETS TO GULF OF VENEZUELA IN CLOSEST KNOWN APPROACH YET, AMID RISING TENSION

Hezbollah members salute and raise the group’s yellow flags during the funeral of their fallen comrades Ismail Baz and Mohamad Hussein Shohury, who were killed in an Israeli strike on their vehicles, in Shehabiya in south Lebanon on April 17, 2024.  (AFP via Getty Images)

Asked whether that shift moves the threat closer to the United States, Billingslea said Hezbollah is now operating “close to the U.S. and further away from the Israelis.”

He said Iran’s role in Venezuela has deepened alongside Hezbollah’s. “There is a substantial Iranian footprint in Venezuela related to the trade of weapons and drones, in particular, for gold,” he said. After suffering losses in the Middle East, he added, “the Iranians find themselves even more dependent on that supply of gold in exchange for drones and weapons.”

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A multilingual road sign is pictured in Margarita Island, Nueva Esparta State, Venezuela, on Nov. 26, 2024. Margarita, Venezuela’s main island, is a Caribbean paradise in decline after years of devaluations, inflation, a pandemic, and the collapse of public services.  (Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)

He said Washington faces a strategic choice. “I think the United States has positioned sufficient forces in the Caribbean at this time to take care of the Hezbollah threat,” he said. “But obviously, when you have a terrorist group that has merged into the local population, highly precise intelligence is needed. I believe the Venezuelan opposition possesses a great deal of that intelligence, though it is not clear to me that the United States government is making the best use of that access.”

For Billingslea, the conclusion is cleaner — eliminating Venezuela’s narco-terrorist regime would significantly strengthen U.S. national security.

Efrat Lachter is an investigative reporter and war correspondent. Her work has taken her to 40 countries, including Ukraine, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Afghanistan. She is a recipient of the 2024 Knight-Wallace Fellowship for Journalism. Lachter can be followed on X @efratlachter.

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Captured and sentenced to death by Russia, tortured and a witness to war crimes, a young man from Nottingham spent months waiting for the executioner in a Russian prison, unable to cry.

“I so desperately wanted to, I was trying to force myself to let some emotion out,” he recalls. “But because I was too terrified in that place, I wasn’t able to cry. In five-and-a-half months of captivity, I never cried once. There was moments where I wanted to, but I just physically couldn’t.”

This is Aiden Aslin, a survivor of Russian war crimes himself, speaking to The Independent’s World of Trouble podcast.

His extraordinary life has taken him from working as a carer in Newark, Notts, to fighting with Kurdish militia against militants from the so-called Islamic State in Syria, to vicious street fighting under air attack in Ukraine’s besieged Mariupol.

Post captivity, he is now back in Zaporizhzhia in eastern Ukraine and back in the Ukrainian army, which he joined before Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022.

Reflecting on his adopted country’s chances of triumphing in Vladimir Putin’s brutal war, which has ground on for nearly four years, he is optimistic.

“I think Russia can be beaten,” he says quietly. “I think we have got the means to exhaust their economy. Obviously, it is not an overnight thing. At some point, it is going to give.

“People in Russia are saying that you should end this… The grasp is weakening. There are a lot of things showing that Russia is becoming a lot more destabilised.”

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Aiden Aslin in a courtroom cage in Donetsk, Ukraine, in June 2022 (Supreme Court of Donetsk People’s Republic)

Aslin is not alone in taking up in arms for a country not his own. Thousands of foreign volunteers joined Ukraine’s fight after the Kremlin ordered troops to topple the democratically elected government in Kyiv and try to return Ukraine to the status of a Russian colony.

But few were part of Ukraine’s forces before Putin’s full-scale invasion. Aslin, now 31, was among those who had already answered a call that came from within to fight what they saw as injustice.

He was first prompted to leave the UK to fight abroad when he saw on television the massacres of Yazidis by Isis extremists in Syria in 2014, who went on to attempt genocide against the community and enslave hundreds of women.

“I never had any interest in going to Syria. But this was a defining moment in my journey where I decided I could continue to stay at home or stand by my beliefs and morals and actually do something when other people won’t.

“I felt there was a sense of injustice that the West wasn’t doing enough to try and prevent the atrocities that were being committed.”

He joined the Kurdish Peshmerga; a ruthlessly efficient militia supported by the US, UK, France and others with special forces troops, and bombers, in the fight against Isis.

After three years, Aslin, a combat veteran at the age of 23, returned to the UK but, by 2018, the sense of injustice that propelled him to Syria drove him to Kyiv, and a recruiting office where officers were “bewildered” by the arrival of a British volunteer.

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Aslin said the Ukrainians were ‘bewildered’ when he turned up at the army recruitment office (The Independent)

After passing training, he joined Ukraine’s marines and got his marine parachute wings. By February 2022, he was manning a frontline position with Russian forces outside the Ukrainian-held city of Mariupol on the Black Sea coast when word came that a full-scale invasion had started. It was, he says, a “relief” after the waiting.

But the sheer scale of the Putin advance meant his unit was forced back into the Ilych steelworks, close to the famed Avostal works where other Ukrainian units were making their last stand in the face of a Russian ground and air onslaught.

“You lived like mice, you stay underground as much as you can,” he says. “You try to avoid going above ground because of the aviation and artillery. But I remember in the first initial weeks of the encirclement we had a lot of artillery that we were shooting back at the Russians.”

Soon the Ukrainians and Aslin’s marine unit were surrounded.

“The territory was getting smaller; it got to the point where we didn’t have anything to shoot back with. By the first week of April, one of the neighbouring units ended up surrendering, without telling us anything. And it just exposed our entire right flank.”

Surrender became inevitable, and when Aslin became a prisoner of war, he expected to be shot on the spot.

There were times when that may have felt like a release from what was to follow: a British citizen accused by Russia of fighting as a mercenary. On his capture, he was beaten, and he knew worse would follow.

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Aiden Aslin served in the Ukrainian army before the full-scale invasion of February 2022 (cossackgundi)

Taken to the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, he was confronted by a Russian in a blue uniform.

“He said something to me in Russian, and he had the thickest accent and stank of alcohol,” he recalls. “Me being me, I politely asked him if he could repeat what he said because I didn’t understand.

“As soon as I said that he beat me with a police baton. Initially I got hit across the forehead and then I fell to the floor, hit a few more times, and then I felt myself getting hit on my left shoulder.

“At the time I thought it hit me on my left shoulder, but it turned out it actually stabbed me.”

Weeks and then months of torture followed. At one point a Russian interrogator stopped his attacks and lit a cigarette.

“He asked me, do I know who he is? And I was like, no. And he says, ‘I’m your death’. He asked ‘do you want a beautiful death or do you want a quick death?’ And obviously I wanted a quick death.

“And he said, ‘no, you’re going to have a beautiful death’. I was fully expecting to be murdered at that point. [But then] this Russian came in and said, ‘stop, stop, you’re going to kill him’. I knew it must have been bad if his superior had to stop him.”

Accused of terrorism at a Russian court martial, Aslin faced a death penalty if convicted, alongside fellow British volunteer Shaun Pinner and Moroccan Saadoune Brahim. They were assigned a lawyer but knew they would not get anything close to a fair trial.

And in the run-up to the case being heard, Aslin began to crack.

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Captive Aiden Aslin was shown on Russian state television in April 2022 (Russian state TV)

Held in a pre-trial facility, beatings became routine. On one occasion, Russian officials put bags over the heads of the prisoners who they then forced to crawl, roll and slither along the corridors while they were thrashed.

Starved and kept in overcrowded cells, Aslin was forced to learn the Russian national anthem and sing it every morning word perfect. When the guards shouted Putin’s name, they had to stand up in their cells and shout: “President of the world!”

At one stage during his incarceration, Aslin heard a man in the next-door cell being dragged out, beaten and tortured. As his body weakened, the man’s screams faded. And when he was dragged back into his cell, the whipping continued but the victim fell silent.

Prisoners sharing the cell screamed for help and shouted that the man was not breathing. It took 10 minutes for a guard to look in before he then went away. Another 10 minutes went by, and no doctor or medic was summoned until it was too late. The prisoner was dead.

After a three-day sham trial, Aslin was found guilty, and the death sentence was passed. Even then, depressed and bereft of hope, having been sent back to prison, he still could not summon the emotional power to cry. He was too afraid.

Unknown to him, Russia had realised there was value in keeping this foreign prisoner alive. He was paraded for interviews with collaborators working for the Moscow media, including the British propagandist Graham Phillips, now being investigated by the Met Police over alleged war crimes.

But this propaganda kept him partly protected. On film, Aslin could not appear too badly bruised.

The months went by, and he had no idea that he would end up on a list for PoWs to exchange. He, and others, were swapped for Russian prisoners in a deal brokered by the intelligence services of both sides, and with the help of Saudi Arabia, he was flown to the kingdom in September 2022.

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Aslin returns to his home in Newark in September 2022 (Tom Maddick/SWNS)

But it was not until he saw British officials and knew he was safe that he could finally shed a tear.

“I was able to cry, and there was no fear of being beaten,” he says. “It was such a relief, emotionally and physically, because it’s something I had been wanting to do for such a long time.”

Aslin returned to the UK, but his home and his heart remained in Ukraine.

He travelled to eastern Ukraine in November 2023 and signed back up with the military in January 2024. He continues to serve in Ukraine’s armed forces, where he will stay until the war is over.

Looking at history, he finds comfort for Ukraine in the examples of Afghanistan, the Soviet Union and even Napoleon: “On previous occasions throughout history, the defender has, most of the time, ended up winning.”

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NEED TO KNOW

• Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte fast-tracked their wedding plans after Arianna’s father, Ed Lacerte, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of leukemia. They wed on Nov. 24 in Ed’s hospital room at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts
• The newlyweds are now working to raise awareness for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)’s registry to help Ed and other patients battling blood cancer find blood stem cell matches
• The Boston Celtics, NBA and USA Basketball have partnered with the NMDP on a campaign to register as many people as they can, encouraging fans ages 18-35 in attendance at home games on Dec. 15, Dec. 19 and Dec. 22 to join the blood stem cell donor registry by getting their cheeks swabbed

A couple planned their wedding in just hours so that the bride’s father could witness the ceremony. Now, the pair is starting newlywed life with a mission to save his life.

Josh Kipnis, 34, and Arianna Lacerte, 36, initially envisioned getting married in April 2026. However, after Arianna’s father, Ed Lacerte, 65, was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive form of Acute Monocytic Leukemia and given a heartbreaking prognosis that made it unclear if he would be able to attend the original wedding date, the couple knew what they had to do. They decided to fast-track wedding planning and not leave anything up to chance, saying “I do” in Ed’s hospital room just three days after he was diagnosed.

“We’ll both never forget the look on Ed’s face when we told him we were going to get married in the hospital,” Josh and Arianna tell PEOPLE. “His eyes shot wide open, and as he was holding both of our hands, he just said, ‘That would be so wonderful.’ ”

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte’s wedding ceremony.

The Lacerte Family

Ed was diagnosed on Friday, Nov. 21. The next day, Josh and Arianna began discussing alternative wedding plans. With Ed’s blessing, the couple put their idea in motion on Sunday. They planned their intimate ceremony in just 10 hours, which included sprinting around town to hire an officiant, searching for white outfits and gold wedding bands, and writing their vows.

Josh and Arianna tied the knot on Monday, Nov. 24, at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. They were joined by Ed, Arianna’s entire immediate family, and Josh’s parents, the latter of whom traveled from Charlotte, North Carolina.

“We couldn’t imagine expressing our love in a more powerful way,” Josh and Arianna share.

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte on their wedding day.

The Lacerte Family

The interfaith ceremony was officiated by Arianna’s childhood priest, Father Peter, who was “so overcome with emotion that he actually began to cry” during the vows. A few Jewish wedding traditions were incorporated to honor the groom’s faith, including the seven blessings and breaking the glass followed by a communal “Mazel tov!”

Josh and Arianna’s most cherished wedding detail is their matching wedding bands. The couple says they scrambled to Costco and Kay Jewelers to purchase the rings, then happened to stumble upon a random jewelry kiosk — the name of which translates to “angels” — at a mall just minutes from the hospital. They had the inside of the rings inscribed with their favorite favorite phrase of Ed’s: “We can never do enough for family.”

“After the ceremony, when we told him about the rings and the engravings on the inside, he grabbed both of our hands and pulled them up to his face to kiss the rings,” Josh and Arianna remember. “He’s continued to do that just about every day since when we come to the hospital to visit with him.”

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte kissing on their wedding day.

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte’s wedding bands.

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte kissing on their wedding day.
Credit:

The Lacerte Family

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte’s wedding bands.
Credit:

The Lacerte Family

After the ceremony, Josh and Arianna got smashburgers from their local Shake Shack to enjoy with their loved ones in the family room on the hospital floor.

Following Ed’s words of wisdom, Josh and Arianna are helping him find a blood stem cell match because undergoing a blood stem cell transplant could save his life.

The newlyweds are working to raise awareness for the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP)’s donor match campaign. They encourage more people to join the registry because it not only has the potential to help Ed, but can also impact thousands of other lives.

Josh Kipnis and Arianna Lacerte on their wedding day.

The Lacerte Family

“You have the power to save a life,” the NMDP website states. “If you’re between 18-35, join the registry to become a blood stem cell donor. Your cells could cure or treat a patient with a blood cancer or disorder. And because of your unique genetics, you might be someone’s only hope, their MVP.”

After signing up, the participant will be sent a free cheek swab testing kit to their home. After the kit is mailed back, the NMDP will process the samples and contact the participant if they are a match.

“The amount of time it takes for donors to match with patients can vary. If you have a common HLA (human leukocyte antigen) type, you could match within a few months or years. If your type is rarer, it could take longer,” according to the NMDP. “Some registry members will never get matched.”

The Lacerte family at the Boston Celtics game on Dec. 15, 2025.

The Lacerte Family

If matched with a patient, the donor will complete a health check then donate in one of two ways chosen by the patient’s doctor: peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) donation or bone marrow donation. Recovery time varies by person and which donation method was used. NMDP covers all donation and travel costs.

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Ed’s community has supported him as he undergoes chemotherapy treatment in Boston while waiting on a match.

Ed has been a familiar face on the NBA sidelines for over 30 years, having been the former head trainer and physical therapist of the Boston Celtics. Since learning that their longest tenured athletic trainer in the team’s history is battling cancer, the Boston Celtics, NBA and USA Basketball have rallied behind him.

Detroit Pistons vs Boston Celtics game on Dec. 15, 2025.

The Lacerte Family

They started a national campaign, spearheaded by Arianna, with the NMDP to register as many blood stem cell donors as they can, kicking off the initiative on Monday, Dec. 15, with the Boston Celtics basketball players honoring Ed by wearing special shooting shirts with his last name on the back. The front of the shirts features the tagline “20 seconds could save a life,” which is approximately how long it takes to complete the cheek swab test required to register as a donor.

The team plans to wear the shirts during warmups and throughout the game for their next two home games — Dec. 19 versus the Miami Heat, and Dec. 22 versus the Indiana Pacers. There will be cheek swabbing stations on-site in the arena for fans to join the national registry.

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As Putin drags out peace talks with the US and Ukraine, an intelligence boss as warned Mad Vlad could start WW3 in a matter of months

An intelligence chief has warned Putin could start a world war(Image: Getty Images)

A shocking new forecast has revealed how dictator Vladimir Putin could launch World War Three in little over a year.

A Ukrainian military intelligence chief has claimed to have inside knowledge of chilling Russian battle plans that could devastate the world. Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov alleged that evil Putin intends to occupy three NATO and EU states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania in 2027. The Ukrainian intelligence boss added that the Russian despot also has plans to allegedly attack Poland – striking the country, but not immediately intending to invade it.

This comes amid the increasingly long and painful talks between the US, Ukraine and Russia to bring an end to Putin’s devastating illegal invasion.

Lt-Gen Kyrylo Budanov (right) has claimed Putin could strike in 2027(Image: AP)READ MORE: Russia massing 100s of thousands of troops near NATO border as Putin ‘plans next move’READ MORE: Vladimir Putin claims EU leaders are ‘burglars’ in astonishing rant

Budanov, whose forces are behind many Ukrainian strikes on Putin territory, warned: “According to the main plan, the Russian Federation was supposed to be ready to start operations in 2030. Now the plans have been adjusted, revised towards reducing the deadlines to 2027.”

Russian military action to invade or strike NATO countries would trigger the alliance’s Article 5 stating that an attack on one member is an attack on all, obligating others to assist, potentially with armed force, to restore security. In this case it would be seen as the trigger for full scale war.

Budanov claimed Putin saw Russia as an “empire” which needed to expand, with the country’s “worldview” afflicted by “deep historical and psychological traumas”, presumably including the fall of the USSR.

Russia has continued to pummel Ukraine with more missile strikes despite the ongoing peace process(Image: AP)

The intelligence chief added: “In order for an empire – and they see themselves as an empire – to develop, you always have to move somewhere to expand your influence and territory.”

On other sides, Putin was hemmed in by the US in the Pacific, and elsewhere by China and the Arctic. “Only the West remains,” he said, saying Putin constantly portrayed Europe as “hungry”, “sick”, “weak” and “indecisive”.

The three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all ex-Soviet republics – would come “under occupation”, according to the alleged battle plans. He added: “Poland is now, according to the plans that we know, considered purely for strikes, for a military campaign without capture.”

Putin refused to rule out new military action when he was asked about it by the BBC at his annual Q&A on Friday. His stipulation was that West should bow to his demands.

He growled: “There will be no operations if you treat us with respect, if you take our interests into account, just as we always tried to respect yours. And if you do not deceive us, as it happened with NATO’s eastward expansion.”

The dictator claimed Western leaders “created this situation themselves and continue fanning the flames by saying they are preparing for war with Russia”.

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Doctors Without Borders, known by its French initials MSF, has warned that babies and children in the Gaza Strip are dying from harsh winter weather, calling on Israel to ease its aid blockade as the military continues to violate the ceasefire and press on with its genocidal war.

Citing the death of a 29-day-old premature baby, Said Asad Abedin, from severe hypothermia in southern Gaza’s Khan Younis, MSF said on Friday that winter storms “combined with the already dire living conditions [are] increasing health risks”.

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The death toll from extreme weather stood at 13 as of Thursday, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. Another two-week-old baby, Mohammed Khalil Abu al-Khair, froze to death without access to proper shelter or clothing earlier this week.

Ahmed al-Farra, head of the maternity paediatric department at Nasser Medical Complex, said in a video update that “hypothermia is very dangerous” for babies. “If nothing is offered for these families in the tents, for warming, for mobile homes, for caravans, unfortunately, we will see more and more” deaths, al-Farra said.

Children are “losing their lives because they lack the most basic items for survival,” Bilal Abu Saada, a nursing team supervisor at Nasser Hospital, told MSF. “Babies are arriving to the hospital cold, with near-death vital signs.”

In addition to the growing number of deaths, MSF said its staff has recorded high rates of respiratory infections that it expects to increase throughout the winter, posing a particular danger to children under five.

“As Gaza is battered by heavy rains and storms, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians continue to struggle in flooded and broken makeshift tents,” the organisation added. “MSF calls on Israeli authorities to urgently allow a massive scale up of aid into the Strip.”

No letup in Israeli attacks

Palestinian news agency Wafa, meanwhile, reported that Israeli forces demolished buildings, carried out artillery shelling and shot guns in areas east of Gaza City on Saturday morning, with more gunfire reported east of Khan Younis.

On Friday, an Israeli strike on a shelter for displaced Palestinians killed at least six people. The Israeli military claimed to be firing on “suspects”.

Graphic videos from the scene showed body parts and terrified civilians trying to carry wounded people out of danger.

Military vehicles also descended upon the town of az-Zawiya, located west of Salfit in the occupied West Bank, where forces severely beat and injured a number of citizens and stormed homes, the agency said.

‘I can still hear his tiny cries’

Heavy rain, high winds and freezing temperatures have battered Gaza in recent weeks, flooding or blowing away more than 53,000 tents that have served as makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians.

With huge swaths of buildings and infrastructure destroyed, streets are quick to flood and sewage overflows. Displaced families have sought refuge in the shells of partially fallen-down buildings despite the risk of collapse, with 13 buildings caving in across Gaza last week.

The winter weather and Israel’s blocking of vital aid and mobile homes for shelter have proven deadly for children and babies.

Late in the evening of December 13, Eman Abu al-Khair, a 34-year-old displaced Palestinian living in al-Mawasi west of Khan Younis, found her sleeping baby Mohammed “cold as ice”, his hands and feet frozen and “his face stiff and yellowish”, she told Al Jazeera.

She and her husband couldn’t find transportation to get to hospital, and intense rain made it impossible to make the trek by foot.

After rushing Mohammed by animal-drawn cart to Red Crescent Hospital in Khan Younis at dawn, he was admitted to intensive care with a blue face and convulsions. He died two days later.

“I can still hear his tiny cries in my ears,” Eman said. “I sleep and drift off, unable to believe that his crying and waking me at night will never happen again.”

Mohammed “had no medical problems,” she added. “His tiny body simply couldn’t withstand the extreme cold inside the tents.”

Since the October 10 ceasefire took effect, Israel has continued to block the entry of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip despite calls from a host of United Nations agencies, international organisations and other states for it to stop.

The UN has said that Israel has prevented tents and blankets from reaching Palestinians, even as an estimated 55,000 families have seen their belongings and shelters damaged or destroyed in the storm.

Dozens of child-friendly spaces have also been damaged, affecting 30,000 children, according to the UN.

Natasha Hall, a senior advocate for Refugees International, told Al Jazeera that aid is entering Gaza in a “trickle” in part due to its opaque list of “controlled dual-use items” that has included nappies, bandages, tools, tents and other essentials.

“It’s unclear how those could be used as weapons or any kind of dual use,” Hall said.

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