Israeli forces have shot dead two Palestinians, including a teenage boy, during separate raids in the Jenin governorate in the occupied West Bank, officials say, with security camera footage showing soldiers shooting the victim at a “point-blank” range.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health announced late on Saturday that Rayyan Abdel Qader, 16, had been fatally shot by Israeli forces after storming the town of Qabatiya, while the second victim, 22-year-old Ahmad Zayoud, was killed in Silat al-Harithiya, west of Jenin.

Recommended Stories

list of 4 itemsend of list

Witnesses said Israeli troops had opened fire directly at Abdel Qader, the Wafa news agency reported on Sunday, blocking emergency crews from reaching him, leaving him to bleed until he died. His body was held by Israeli forces, the Palestinian agency reported.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said Zayoud was shot in the chest. A 15-year-old Palestinian boy sustained injuries to his hand during the incident, the ministry said.

Zayoud’s killing comes about a week after Israeli forces killed a 16-year-old in the town.

Reporting from Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera’s Nida Ibrahim said surveillance footage showed Abdel Qader walking towards what locals said was his home when Israeli forces shot him “point-blank”.

“We don’t often have video surveillance to show how many of these killings have been done under what Palestinians call extrajudicial killings, which is Israeli forces killing Palestinians point-blank or under excuses that they say they’ve been doing something that is seen as resisting Israeli forces,” she said.

“Not only that, they refused to let anyone come close to the body for 40 minutes, a practice we’ve been seeing a lot in the occupied West Bank where Israeli forces kind of wait for the person to die,” Ibrahim said.

Al Jazeera spoke to Abdel Qader’s family, who said they had no idea what had happened.

“It’s really part of the pain that the families have to endure, seeing videos like that showing how little regard the Israeli army has for Palestinian lives,” Ibrahim said.

Over 200 children killed since 2023

On the other hand, the Israeli military said the deaths occurred after the victims hurled a block and an explosive at their forces – claims that have turned out to be false most of the time. It claimed that Abdel Qader had been shot after hurling a block towards its soldiers, who responded with fire, while Zayoud had thrown an explosive.

No Israeli troops were injured in the incidents, it said.

The latest deaths bring the death toll from Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank to 1,101, including 229 children, since October 7, 2023 – the day of the Hamas-led attack that led to a brutal Israeli response against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Nearly 21,000 Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli authorities during that period. As of December 1, some 9,300 Palestinian prisoners were in Israeli jails, more than a third of them detained without charges.

Palestinian prisoners have routinely been tortured, sexually abused and even killed in custody, while attacks by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank have surged amid the mainstreaming of the far-right in the country. Israel has confirmed the identities of 86 Palestinian prisoners who died in its custody. On Sunday, the Israeli government approved the construction of 19 new settlements in the occupied West Bank in violation of international laws.

Numerous rights organisations have dubbed Israeli action in Gaza as an act of genocide, and the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes.

The violence has played out in tandem with ongoing deadly Israeli attacks in Gaza, in violation of the ceasefire signed in October, prompting warnings that they could jeopardise diplomatic efforts to advance to the second phase of the United States-brokered agreement. Israel has killed at least 400 Palestinians since the ceasefire pushed by US President Donald Trump came into effect on October 10.

Two killed in Gaza City

Meanwhile, a medical source at Gaza City’s al-Ahli Arab Hospital said two Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire on Sunday in the Shujayea neighbourhood in the east of the city.

The source said the killings took place near the so-called yellow line, demarcating territory under Israeli military control.

An Al Jazeera team on the ground reported that Israeli artillery shelling and helicopter gunfire were also targeting areas near Israeli positions east of Khan Younis, in the south of the Strip.

The latest killings in Gaza came a day after Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Turkish state news agency Anadolu that Israel’s repeated violations of the ceasefire agreement are “creating major risks for transitioning to the second phase”.

Fidan’s comments came as he joined diplomats from the US, Egypt and Qatar in the US city of Miami to review the first phase of the agreement reached in October.

Meanwhile, Gaza’s Ministry of Interior and National Security said four people were killed when a three-storey house collapsed in Gaza City’s Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood on Saturday night.

The latest deaths brought the total number of people killed in such circumstances to 18 since the ceasefire came into effect in October.

The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said on Sunday it had successfully rescued five people, including a child and two women, from the building.

SOURCE PAGE

Allie Wharf’s career unfolded amid conflict. As a senior foreign producer for Newsnight, she reported on Iraq and Afghanistan. Just two years ago, she was filming mass graves in Ukraine.

But burnt out by wars, and after a detour farming ducks in Tanzania, Wharf has now settled on the quiet north Norfolk coast. Here, alongside her life and business partner, Willie Athill, she has embarked on a different kind of mission: the creation of Europe’s largest natural oyster reef.

The Luna Oyster Project, a collaboration between Norfolk Seaweed and Oyster Heaven, aims to restore 4 million oysters to the North Sea, using the first-ever mass deployment of mother reef bricks.

These fired clay structures provide the skeleton of a lost world. Centuries of bottom trawling and human impact have stripped historical oyster reefs bare, leaving only scattered fragments of what was once a teeming underwater landscape across Britain and Europe. These reefs, long absent, are now poised to anchor a new era of marine life along the coast.

The project rebuilds reefs with fired clay bricks, giving oysters structures to cling to. Photograph: Michael Leckie/PA Media Assignments

Luna’s new mother reefs have recently been installed 2 miles out to sea. In April, millions of baby oysters from Morecambe Bay will be rehoused in their nooks and crannies, slowly forming their own natural reefs that could one day connect with smaller restoration projects to the north and south, forming a living lattice of biodiversity along England’s North Sea coastline.

“It’s been very expensive and time-consuming,” Wharf admitted. “Our licence application was 280 pages and cost six figures.” Securing the licence took more than three years. George Birch from Oyster Heaven said: “None of the licences care that you’re restoring biodiversity. We had to jump through the same hoops as oil and gas platforms.”

Beyond the paperwork, the job itself demands delicate attention. “You have to tend to oysters like babies,” Wharf said. “It’s like a sweet nursery. We’re even considering whether to play the music of the sea to them; it has to be recorded locally because they’re very sensitive to different sea sounds.” Birch called the reefs “living soil”, sparks of life on an otherwise barren seabed.

Oysters are astonishingly fecund. Across multiple spawning seasons, over a lifespan of 10 years or more, a single female can release tens of millions of eggs, even though the vast majority perish before they ever find a surface to cling to.

The oysters are not for eating, but the restoration is more than a purely ecological exercise. It is also a community endeavour. The project has employed local ecologists, project managers and crew, reviving skills and livelihoods that once thrived around oyster and mussel farming.

Birch said: “Historically, the North Sea was crystal-clear, unrecognisable compared to today’s muted waters, because trillions of oysters were filtering the waves, each little creature cleansing 200 litres of water every day.”

Native oyster reefs also act as natural wave breaks, stabilising coastlines, fostering biodiversity and transforming flat seabeds into complex, three-dimensional ecosystems teeming with life.

“A reef will create an entire ecosystem out of a barren seabed,” said Birch. “We did a trial run on a virtually bare seabed in the Netherlands and after one year, there were 12.7 million brand-new crabs, worms, fish, microbes and fungi on the reefs.”

That is why the project is largely funded by Purina, the pet food company. “What they are buying from us is supply-chain resilience,” said Birch. “Purina source fish from the North Sea for their products and need to know that resource is going to be sustainable and high-quality. By improving the marine environment, that’s what our oysters are doing for them.”

Oysters themselves are exquisitely sensitive, responding to light, pressure and sound. Not only can they change sex but Birch described realising that his hatchery female oysters were only spawning eggs on Mondays.

“We were, like, ‘How do they know it’s Monday?’” he said. “Then we realised that Mondays come after the two quiet weekend days, showing they were aware of the peacefulness in the room around them at the weekend and so felt safe enough to mature their eggs. How awesome is that?”

From the chaos of war zones to the meticulous care of microscopic life, Wharf, Athill and Birch are cultivating tiny, perceptive lives that will quietly transform the seabed into vibrant ecosystems – hopefully reshaping the North Sea.

“One of the most beautiful things that I’ve discovered about oysters is how sensitive they are,” said Birch. “They can sense pressure changes in the air outside the water: if you open a door into the hatchery room, they’ll all shut their shells. They know you’ve come in.”

SOURCE PAGE

The result came as a surprise to researchers at the Icaro Lab in Italy. They set out to examine whether different language styles — in this case prompts in the form of poems — influence AI models’ ability to recognize banned or harmful content. And the answer was a resounding yes. 

Using poetry, researchers were able to get around safety guardrails — and it’s not entirely clear why. 

For their study titled “Adversarial Poetry as a Universal Single-Turn Jailbreak Mechanism in Large Language Models,” the researchers took 1,200 potentially harmful prompts from a database normally used to test the security of AI language models and rewrote them as poems.

Known as “adversarial prompts” — generally written in prose and not rhyme form — these are queries deliberately formulated to cause AI models to output harmful or undesirable content that they would normally block, such as specific instructions for an illegal act.

Poetry as a jailbreak technique: Johann Wolfgang von Goethe probably would have approvedImage: akg-images/picture alliance

In poetic form, the manipulative inputs had a surprisingly high success rate, Federico Pierucci, one of the authors of the study, told DW. However, why poetry is so effective as a “jailbreak” technique — i.e. as an way to circumvent the protective mechanisms of AI — remains unclear and is undergoing further research, he says.

Poetry as a security weakness

What prompted the Icaro Lab’s research was the observation that AI models get confused when a manipulative, mathematically-calculated piece of text is appended to a prompt — known as an “adversarial suffix,” a kind of interference signal that can cause the AI to circumvent its own security rules. These are created using complex mathematical procedures. Major AI developers regularly test their models using precisely these types of attack methods to train and protect their models.

The lead researchers of the study: Piercosma Bisconti, Federico Pierucci and Matteo Prandi from Icaro Lab (from left to right)Image: Flavia Ostili

“We asked ourselves, what happens if we give the AI a text or prompt that is deliberately manipulated, like an adversarial suffix?” says Federico Pierucci. But not with the help of complex mathematics, but quite simply with poetry — to “surprise” the AI, he continues. He explains the thinking behind this: “Perhaps an adversarial suffix is a bit like the poetry of AI. It surprises the AI in the same way that poetry — especially very experimental poetry — surprises us,” says Pierucci.

The researchers personally crafted the first 20 prompts into poems, says Pierucci, who also has a background in philosophy. These were the most effective, he adds. They wrote the rest with the help of AI. The AI-generated poems were also quite successful at circumventing the safety guardrails, but not as much as the first batch. Humans are apparently still better at writing poetry, says Pierucci.

“We had no specialized author writing the prompts. It was just us — with our limited literary ability. Maybe we were terrible poets. Maybe if we had been better poets, we would have achieved a 100% jailbreak success,” he says.

For security reasons, the study did not publish specific examples.

Generative AI videos: Can you tell real from fake?

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

Challenge for AI systems: The diversity of human forms of expression

The big surprise coming out of this study is that it identified a thus-far unknown weakness in AI models that allows relatively straightforward jailbreaks.

It also raises questions that beg further research: What exactly is it about poetry that circumvents the safety mechanisms?

Pierucci and his colleagues have various theories, but they can’t say for certain yet. “We are conducting this type of very, very precise scientific study to try to understand: Is it the verse, the rhyme, or the metaphor that really does all the heavy lifting in this process?” explains Pierucci.

A major field of research: How do AI models determine the content they deliver?Image: Google DeepMind/Unsplash

They also aim to find out if other forms of expression would yield similar results. “We have now covered one type of linguistic variation — namely poetic variation. The question is whether there are any other literary forms, such as fairy tales that work. Perhaps an attack based on fairy tales could also be systematized,” says Pierucci.

Generally speaking, the range of human expression is extremely diverse and creative, which could make it more difficult to train the machines’ responses. “You take a text and rewrite it in infinitely many ways and not all rewritten versions will be as alarming as the original,” says the researcher. “This means that, in principle, one could create countless variations of a harmful prompt or request that might not trigger an AI system’s safety mechanisms.”

The cultural sector is also involved in AI research

The study also highlights the fact that many disciplines are cooperating in research into artificial intelligence — like at the Icaro Lab, where teams work together with scholars from the University of Rome on topics such as the security and behavior of AI systems. The project brings together researchers from the fields of engineering and computer science, linguistics and philosophy. Poets haven’t been part of the team so far, but who knows what the future will bring.

Federico Pierucci is definitely very keen to pursue his research. “What we showed, at least in this study, is that there are forms of cultural expressions, forms of human expressions, which are incredibly powerful, surprisingly powerful as jailbreak techniques, and maybe we discovered just one of them,” he says.

Incidentally, the name of the lab is a nod to the story of Icarus: a figure from Greek mythology who dons wings made of wax and feathers and, despite all warnings, flies too close to the Sun. When the wax melts, Icarus plunges into the sea and drowns — a symbol of overconfidence and the transgression of natural boundaries.

The researchers therefore see themselves as a warning that we should exercise more caution when it comes to trying to fully understand the risks and limitations of AI.

Paul McCartney & Rosalía: Strategies for surviving AI music

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

This article was originally written in German.

SOURCE PAGE

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

In the wake of the mass shooting attack at Bondi Beach during a Hanukkah celebration, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced a national gun buyback program and proposed new hate speech laws.

While the legislation has not yet been drafted, it is already causing controversy as fears that the laws could be wielded as political weapons emerge. Critics have also said that neither the gun buyback nor the hate speech laws are addressing the root of what led to the terror attack.

“Well, it’s a bit hard for them to actually strengthen the laws. It’s not clear what they’re proposing to do,” Dr. Reuben Kirkham, one of the directors of the Free Speech Union of Australia, told Fox News Digital. “What they’re probably going to try and do is widen it to include a bunch of things that are not to do with hate speech, necessarily.”

Albanese told reporters on Friday that the government was working to “get the laws right” and acknowledged the complexities surrounding the issue. He said that “there are issues of free speech involved in this as well — we want to make sure that these laws don’t get passed and then get knocked over.”

SENATORS TED CRUZ AND JOHN FETTERMAN AGREE ON HATING ONE ‘EVIL’ DURING BIPARTISAN INTERVIEW

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets police officers during a visit to the NSW Police headquarters, following a deadly shooting incident during a Jewish holiday celebration at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Australia, Dec. 16, 2025.  (Hollie Adams/Reuters)

The proposed changes include federal offenses for “aggravated hate speech,” aimed at preachers who promote violence and “serious vilification” based on race, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. The outlet noted that just 10 months ago, the government strengthened federal hate speech laws with the goal of curbing antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Simultaneously, New South Wales (NSW), where the terror attack took place, is considering banning chants of the phrase “globalize the intifada,” which many consider to be an antisemitic call for violence against Jews. The ban would also apply to public displays of ISIS flags and extremist symbols.

Additionally, NSW Premier Chris Minns said, under the ban, police would be given more powers to demand that protesters remove face coverings during demonstrations, according to The Associated Press.

People add to a floral tribute outside Bondi Pavilion at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025.  (AP Photo/Steve Markham)

THOUSANDS GATHER AS BONDI BEACH REOPENS, COMMEMORATING VICTIMS OF HANUKKAH ATTACK

Kirkham told Fox News Digital that existing anti-vilification laws have already been used to shut down speech that opposes government views. He believes that if these laws are strengthened in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting, they would be used as political weapons, rather than protections for everyday people. Additionally, Kirkham said that he sees this as the government using the attack as an opportunity to pass laws that fit its views.

Furthermore, Kirkham argues that Albanese’s proposal could actually increase antisemitism rather than put an end to it.

“What they’re basically saying is, ‘Well, we need more censorship laws. Why? Well, apparently to protect Jewish people.’ So what they’re saying to these communities is, ‘We’re censoring you to protect the Jews.’ I mean, how is that going to go down? Is that going to improve the issue of antisemitism, or is it going to make it worse?”

While the Australian government has focused its response on hate speech and gun laws, critics, such as Kirkham, say the Bondi Beach attack revealed intelligence failures.

Albanese said Friday that intelligence indicated that the attack at Bondi Beach was in fact inspired by ISIS.

“We’ve been informed that the Office of National Intelligence has identified a regular online video feed from ISIS that reinforces that this was an ISIS-inspired attack. Further work has been done by the security agencies around motivation, and we’ll continue to meet and provide them with whatever support they need at this difficult time,” Albanese told reporters.

Fox News Digital reached out to Albanese’s office for comment.

Bystanders were seen confronting one of the gunmen behind the deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Australia’s Bondi Beach. (Jenny/Reuters)

FAMILIES MOURN LOVED ONES LOST IN BONDI BEACH TERROR ATTACK: ‘NO WORDS CAN DESCRIBE THE PAIN’

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox News Digital that governments in the West have routinely failed to tackle the problems behind Islamic extremism-inspired attacks.

“The problem here is there’s this radical Islamist ideology that spans a spectrum from political Islam, the Muslim Brotherhood, to Hamas and Palestinian terrorist groups, to al-Qaeda and Islamic State, and we in the West refuse to, and have from the very beginning since 9/11, refuse to actually take that on,” Roggio said. “We don’t want to admit that there is an actual problem within Islam, not with Islam, but within Islam.”

As authorities investigate the shooting attack, a focal point has become the father-son gunmen’s trip to the Philippines just before the shooting at Bondi Beach.

The GV Hotel in Davao City said that the men booked their stay through a third party and were initially scheduled to arrive on Nov. 15 but instead arrived on Nov. 1, according to Reuters. An employee told Reuters the two booked the room for seven days but extended their stay three times and paid in cash. The hotel worker also said that the men barely interacted with staff and that they had no visitors.

Philippine National Police Brig. Gen. Leon Victor Rosete, the Davao region’s police director, told the Guardian that the older gunman was interested in firearms. He also spoke of the gunmen’s “jog walk” that was captured on CCTV, adding that the two appeared to be doing “physical conditioning” exercises.

“The father has shown interest in firearms. He entered a firearms shop,” Rosete told the Guardian. He later said that they did not visit any firing ranges in Davao.

A split image shows an ISIS flag held by masked men, left, and a police-secured crime scene at Bondi Beach in Australia following a shooting. (Tauseef Mustafa/David Gray/AFP via Getty Images)

BYSTANDERS SEEN CONFRONTING AUSTRALIAN GUNMAN DURING ISIS-INSPIRED DEADLY RAMPAGE

Davao City is located on the island of Mindanao, which has been under a “Level 3: Reconsider Travel” advisory since May. However, the State Department said Davao City, in addition to a few other locations, is an exception to the advisory.

Roggio told Fox News Digital that Mindanao is a “known hotbed for Islamist groups.”

“If they weren’t at actual camps to get training, they could have been getting advice on how to plot the attack, where to plot the attack, what the target should be,” Roggio told Fox News Digital. He said the two could have also received additional “indoctrination” while in the Philippines.

People visit a floral tribute outside the Bondi Pavilion following Sunday’s shooting at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, Friday, Dec. 19, 2025.  (Steve Markham/AP Photo)

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

“Three weeks-plus isn’t enough to become a highly efficient two-man fire team, but they clearly got enough training to make that happen,” Roggio said.

As authorities work to piece together how and why the Bondi Beach attack occurred, the debate over the government’s response continues, with critics warning that a band-aid solution will fail to address the root of the problem.

Rachel Wolf is a breaking news writer for Fox News Digital and FOX Business.

SOURCE PAGE

In Brooke Shields’ denim recommendations I trust.

I spoke to the 60-year-old supermodel earlier this month to pick her brain about the best holiday gifts for the season. She highlighted several giftable goodies, but one pick stood out to me in particular: Her “favorite” jeans. Shields exclusively told PEOPLE that her current go-to denim style is a “vintage Levi’s straight-leg [that’s] not too high-waisted but not low-rise.” 

She dubbed the cut as “old school” and ’70s-inspired, which led me to find the Levi’s Classic Straight-Leg Jeans. They check all of the boxes that Shields laid out — and you can snag them on sale for just $35 at Amazon right now.

Levi’s Classic Straight-Leg Jeans

Amazon

The jeans are aptly named for their timelessly cool look, complete with a mid-rise waistline that multiple reviewers find “flattering,” plus straight legs that are far from restrictive. If you’re looking for a “just-right” pair on the denim spectrum — á la Goldilocks — this straight-leg design is a happy medium between the baggy trend and skinny jeans. 

Another perk? They don’t have the stiff and scratchy feel that often comes with rigid denim. One reviewer wrote, “They feel relatively soft (as jeans go) and stretchy against my skin, but the fabric feels sturdy and durable.” They added, “They are insanely flattering and make my butt look so good.”

The jeans are available in seven washes that are great for everyday wear — no matter if you’re dressing them up with a luxurious sweater or a blouse for a night out, or keeping them casual with a tee during the day. They also come in regular, long, and short lengths.

Take a style note from Brooke Shields and pick up the Levi’s Classic Straight-Leg Jeans while they’re marked down at Amazon now. Below, you’ll find even more pairs of straight-leg jeans on sale, including styles from high-end brands like Lucky Brand and Madewell.

More Brooke Shields-Inspired Straight-Leg Jeans

Levi Strauss Signature Gold Heritage Loose Straight-Leg Jeans

Amazon

Levi’s Ribcage Straight-Leg Jeans

Amazon

Lucky Brand Mid-Rise Sweet Straight-Leg Jeans

Amazon

Madewell Dean Easy Straight-Leg Jeans

Amazon

SOURCE PAGE

By DARREN BOYLE, DATA JOURNALIST

Published: 05:30 EST, 21 December 2025 | Updated: 07:50 EST, 21 December 2025

Share or comment on this article:
Ripped from their seats and left to plunge 31,000ft out of the night’s sky after a bomb smuggled onboard inside a radio detonated over Lockerbie. The haunting final moments of flight Pan-Am 103 – Britain’s deadliest terror attack

SOURCE PAGE

Pictures of Donald Trump are included among at least 16 documents that have disappeared from the Epstein files released by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Democrats from the House Oversight Committee drew attention to the apparent removal of an image showing two printed pictures of Mr Trump in a desk draw.

One picture has Mr Trump standing surrounded by women in bathing suits, while the second appears to be an already known picture – partly obscured – of him, his wife Melania, Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein.

After the Democrats flagged the missing image on Saturday, Sky News went back to the files online and confirmed that it did appear to be missing, despite the fact they downloaded it when the files were initially released on Friday.

Image:
List of documents online now shows a gap where the file ending ‘468’ was on Friday

Image:
The file ending ‘468’ seen in Sky News’s downloads from Friday

The other photos removed from the trove of documents were almost all nude paintings of women in Epstein’s home.

Mr Trump has not commented on the release of the files and has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein’s case.

Sky News has contacted the DOJ for comment.

Questions over heavy redactions

Image:
Pic: New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services/Handout via Reuters

Thousands of documents relating to the dead paedophile financier were made public by the DOJ on Friday – hours before a legal deadline following the passing of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Many of the pages were either partially or fully redacted, which the DOJ says is to protect the more than 1,200 victims and their families identified in them.

Some of Epstein’s victims, legal experts and members of the public have questioned whether this is the sole reason for the redactions, while the Oversight Democrats have claimed: “This is a White House cover-up.”

Ashley Rubright, who was abused for several years after meeting Epstein in Palm Beach when she was 15, told Sky News: “Seeing […] completely redacted pages, there’s no way that that’s just to protect the victims’ identities, and there better be a good reason. I just don’t know if we’ll ever know what that is.”

Share

Epstein ‘was a monster’: Survivors speak to Sky News

Gloria Allred, a lawyer who has represented some of Epstein’s victims, says she has been told that despite the heavy redactions, some compromising pictures of survivors and their names were left in the files released on Friday.

“We have had to notify the Department of Justice about names that should have been redacted that weren’t redacted,” she told Sky News.

“So this is further trauma to survivors, and apparently also some of the images of some of the survivors appear not to have been redacted, and they are nude or not completely dressed.

“This is a major concern because the law clearly indicates, and the judges have indicated, that the names and any identifying information of the survivors must be redacted.”

Read more:
Epstein victims react to partial release of files
Links between Epstein and the UK revealed in new files

In a letter to the judges overseeing the Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, US attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton acknowledged that a review “of this size and scope is vulnerable to machine error [or] instances of human error”.

He also said the DOJ had opted to redact the faces of women in photographs with Epstein “even where not all the women are known to be victims,” as it was not viewed as practical for the DOJ to identify every person in all the photos.

The methodology has led to some confusion and misled speculation online.

Image:
Epstein died in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges

Many celebrities and public figures appear with Epstein in the photos published by the DOJ, often included without context.

There is no suggestion that these pictures imply anyone has done anything wrong, and many of those featured in them have denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

Through its release, the Trump administration has claimed to be the most transparent in history, despite the fact Congress forced their hand by voting to make the files public by 19 December.

But some have been held back, with Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general and a former personal lawyer for Donald Trump, saying more would follow in the coming weeks.

Many Democrats and some Republicans have criticised the partial release as failing to “comply with law,” as have lawyers including Ms Allred.

“So clearly, the law has been violated. And it’s the Department of Justice letting down the survivors once again,” she said.

She labelled the incomplete release of the files a “distraction”, adding: “This is not over, and it won’t be over until we get the truth and transparency for the survivors.”

SOURCE PAGE

“These peace negotiations are a farce.”



SOURCE PAGE

The “shadow fleet” used by Russia, Iran and Venezuela to avoid western sanctions and ship cargo to customers including China and India is “exploding” in its scale and scope, and there are concerns that efforts to counter it are drawing closer to dangerous military confrontations.

Complicating the issue is that Russia has begun putting its own flag on some former shadow fleet tankers, in an open challenge to Europe.

The constellation of ageing oil tankers – under opaque ownership and questionable flagging – has become the focus of rising international attention this year. There have been maritime interdictions to enforce sanctions, and the recently announced US blockade of sanctions-busting ships in Venezuela.

Earlier this month US special forces rappelled from helicopters to board the Skipper, a tanker off Venezuela that the US treasury had placed under sanctions in 2022 amid allegations it had been smuggling oil on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.

Loop of US special forces boarding a tanker off VenezuelaFootage shows US special forces boarding a tanker off VenezuelaMap of tankers around Venezuela

On Saturday US forces apprehended a second merchant vessel carrying oil off the coast of Venezuela in international waters, even though it does not appear to be on the list of vessels under US sanctions.

A US military helicopter flies over a Panama-flagged ship. Photograph: Department of Homeland Security/Reuters

The US seizures follow incidents this year where Estonia and France interdicted vessels suspected of belonging to Russia’s shadow fleet, and recent attacks by Ukrainian air and sea drones on Russian shadow tankers accused of being involved in sanctions evasion.

The increasingly aggressive efforts to police the shadow fleet and evidence that Russia is willing to use military assets to protect tankers, has led experts to warn of the risk of confrontation.

That was dramatically underlined on Friday when Ukraine announced it had struck a Russian tanker with aerial drones in neutral waters off the coast of Libya, after previous similar attacks in the Black Sea.

A source in the Security Service of Ukraine said it was a “new, unprecedented special operation”, Kyiv’s first attack on a Russian tanker in the Mediterranean, carried out 1,200 miles (2,000km) from Ukraine’s borders.

“The shadow fleet itself is not a new threat,” said Gonzalo Saiz Erausquin, a research fellow at the finance and security centre at the Royal United Services Institute. “But [it] has expanded drastically after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That saw what we call the shadow fleet explode to some 900-1,200 vessels globally.

“It is not highly structured or homogeneous. These are vessels that Russian interests are able to purchase secondhand, opaquely owned tankers or owned by companies prepared to engage in illicit activity.”

Map of ‘shadow fleet’ tankers attacked by Ukraine

The shadow fleet has spawned a whole illicit network to support it, including a recent proliferation of fake flag registration websites, unscrupulous brokers and a cast of opaque companies that will facilitate the trade.

The vessel Boracay, off the coast of Saint-Nazaire in France. Photograph: Stéphane Mahé/Reuters

The tanker Boracay, which was interdicted by Estonia and France earlier this year, is a case in point.

It was acquired in 2020 by a so-called brass plate company – meaning one that exists in name only – in Seychelles called Baaj Shipping. It was blacklisted by both the UK and EU for its suspected links to transporting Russian oil products, “irregular and high-risk shipping practices” and allegations of operating under a fraudulent Benin flag listing, following several other false flag listings in Gambia and Malawi.

According to Lloyd’s List, the ship – a “textbook example of deceptive shipping practices” – had also been investigated by Denmark’s intelligence services over its possible use to launch drones against Copenhagen’s airport, while operating under a different name. The ship had itself allegedly been targeted at one point with a limpet mine.

Map of Boracay’s sailing route

Countries that have sought to counter the shadow fleet are forced to rely on international laws and conventions over seaworthiness, insurance and safe navigation practises to put pressure on the vessels.

But an increasing international appetite for enforcement – including the Trump administration’s announcement in December that it would enforce a blockade against ships under sanctions visiting Venezuela – has brought it own risks.

It is not only Washington that has indicated it is prepared to intercept shadow fleet tankers. In October, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, signalled a greater willingness from Europeans to tackle vessels in its waters.

“We have decided to take a step forward by adopting policies to impede suspicious ships,” said Macron at a meeting in Copenhagen.

The risks implied in such a policy were underlined by an incident involving an oil tanker known in quick succession as Jaguar, Blint and then finally as the Russian-flagged Nasledie. An attempt by the Estonian navy to intercept the vessel in the Gulf of Finland in May prompted an incursion by a Russian Su-35 jet into Estonian airspace.

For Erausquin that suggests a more direct interest from the Kremlin in the shadow fleet, as demonstrated by Russia’s willingness to protect it.

As Chris Kremidas-Courtney, a senior fellow at the European Policy Centre argued in November, the shadow fleet poses greater threats than its key role in economically sustaining Russia’s war effort in Ukraine.

Kremidas-Courtney said: “Recent incidents underscore this threat. Russia-linked vessels have been implicated in drone incursions, cable disruptions and reconnaissance of critical infrastructure. The Eagle S [a suspected shadow tanker] severed undersea cables after cycling through multiple flags, and Estonia’s attempted interdiction of the Jaguar crude oil tanker prompted the scrambling of Russian fighter jets – proof that Moscow sees this fleet as a strategic asset and is willing to protect it. Europe cannot afford to let these incidents pass unanswered.”

Despite the tougher language from Europe, including discussion of seeking permission to board suspect tankers, some analysts do not detect a huge appetite for maritime confrontation with Russia.

“It is one thing for the US to board a sanctioned and stateless tanker off Venezuela because what is Venezuela going to do?” said one. “It feels like a very different calculation for the Europeans with Russia. It risks upping the stakes in what has become a game of chicken.”

If the shadow fleet, in particular the Russian element of it, has flourished in the past three years, it is partly due to US resistance to imposing sanctions on the major Russian oil producers, Rosneft and Lukoil, and through the continued reliance of China and India on Russian oil.

Russia has moved quickly to try and evade the new US sanctions, with several new companies emerging who are suspected of exporting Rosneft and Lukoil crude.

Despite the recent US sanctions, one of Russia’s most important markets for its crude appears to have been largely unaffected, despite pressure from Trump: Indian imports of Russian crude have increased since October.

In part that has been because of both Russia’s adaptability to sanctions over the past three years and the complex structuring of its shadow fleet operations, mirrored by similar activities over the years by Iran and Venezuela.

How Russia has operated in recent years was made clear this month in new EU sanctions announced against nine businessmen and entities, including shipping companies based in the UAE and Vietnam as well as Russia, accused of involvement in the shadow fleet.

Map of UAE-owned tankers named in EU sanction as ‘shadow fleet’ vessels

Tomer Raanan, a specialist reporter for Lloyd’s List who closely follows developments in the shadow fleet both in the trade in Iranian energy products and Russia, believes it remains attractive to ship owners because of the potential profits that can be earned operating the sometimes dilapidated ships.

“Earlier this year, we noticed several sanctioned tankers suddenly began broadcasting AIS messages indicating that they are registered with Malawi.

“We found a website purporting to be the Malawi Maritime Administration which did not have a Malawi government domain and was later confirmed by Malawi officials as fraudulent. Since then, Lloyd’s List has uncovered an elaborate fraudulent flag operation linking over 20 separate fake registry websites, many of which using the same holding text.”

Such “scam” registrations were being used by ships in the shadow fleet, he said.

Raanan also believes the proliferation of fraudulent flags and falsely flagged ships highlights a critical problem with the shipping industry’s registry system.

In the meantime, he expects the sanction-busting trade in oil to continue despite the efforts to police it.

“Sanctioned oil is often sold at a discount, while shipowners moving these cargoes typically earn premiums for taking on the risk. I think that as long as market participants view the economic incentives as outweighing the risks, sanctions evasion will likely continue.”

SOURCE PAGE

Katy Watson,Australia correspondentand

Tiffanie Turnbull,Bondi Beach

Reuters

Mourners in Australia have fallen silent in honour of the victims of the Bondi Beach attack.

The memorial was part of a national day of reflection to mark a week since the shooting in which two gunmen opened fire on an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hannukah.

A 10-year-old girl, a British-born rabbi and a Holocaust survivor were among the 15 people killed during the attack.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was booed when he arrived at the memorial event – an expression of anger by Australia’s Jewish community against his government after a rise of antisemitic attacks over the past few months.

As the sun set over Sydney on Sunday evening, a minute’s silence was observed at 18:47 (07:47 GMT) – exactly one week since the first reports of gunfire at the famous beach.

There was heavy security at the memorial event. Some cordoned-off areas were guarded by armed riot squad officers who had their faces covered, while a police patrol boat was visible off the coast of Bondi Beach.

For many Australians, this level of security is an unfamiliar sight.

A large crowd – many wearing kippas [the Jewish skullcap] or draped in Australian flags – gathered to listen to speeches after the observing the silence.

Bee balloons floated in the wind in honour of the youngest victim of the attack, Matilda – a reference to her nickname, “Matilda Bee”.

And later in the ceremony, the crowd sang Waltzing Matilda, the song for which the 10-year-old was named.

Soon, they were chanting the name of another child – Chaya, a 14-year-old who put herself in the firing line to protect a stranger’s children. Shot in the leg, she used crutches to take to the stage and urge the nation to be brave and kind.

“If you guys get inspired by one thing, one thing on all this, be the light in that field of darkness,” she said.

The event ended with the lighting of the menorah – something the crowds gathered for Hannukah last week couldn’t do.

Sunday’s memorial was not limited to Bondi Beach – or the state of New South Wales. In a nation-wide gesture of “light over darkness”, the windowsills of countless homes were lined with candles.

Watch: Moment Australian PM Anthony Albanese booed at Bondi memorial

As Albanese arrived for the ceremony, one person in the crowd shouted: “Blood on your hands.”

The prime minister looked startled at the hostility, his wife Jodie Haydon grasping his arm in support.

At least one member of the crowd was tackled by police after moving towards the prime minister.

The Jewish community in Australia has repeatedly said this attack was a shock, not a surprise after a rise in antisemitic attacks in Australia since the 7 October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent military retaliation war launched by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The overwhelming view is that more could and should have been done to prevent the Sydney attack from happening.

Albanese has acknowledged the criticism, saying “I accept my responsibility for the part in that as prime minister of Australia.”

More widely, Albanese has been accused by some of siding with the Palestinians over supporting Israel and the relationship worsened when he moved to recognise the state of Palestine earlier this year.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused him – as well as the leaders of other countries that have recognised a Palestinian state – of rewarding Hamas.

After the Bondi beach attack last Sunday, Netanyahu said Albanese’s government “did nothing to stop the spread of antisemitism in Australia”.

In contrast to the reception for the Australian prime minister, Chris Minns, the Premier of New South Wales, was praised at the Sydney memorial service as an exemplary leader, partly for the speed with which he admitted government errors in the lead-up to the attack.

He also attended the funerals of several victims this week. Albanese was not invited to some.

“We are deeply sorry.” Minns said at the event. “We grieve with you, and with humility, I acknowledge that the government’s highest duty is to protect its citizens. And we did not do that one week ago.”

The shooting had “highlighted a deep vein of antisemitic hate in our community”, Minns said, adding: “This must be confronted.”

The president of the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies, David Ossip, was hailed with loud cheers as he called for a “Royal Commission which goes beyond New South Wales, to get to the bottom of how this catastrophe took place”.

Naveed Akram, 24, has been charged with 59 offences, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. His father Sajid was killed during the attack.

Days after the attack, Prime Minister Albanese announced a raft of measures to crack down on hate speech and incitement to violence.

Before Sunday’s ceremony, he announced a review into the police and national intelligence agencies.

“The ISIS-inspired atrocity last Sunday reinforces the rapidly changing security environment in our nation,” Albanese said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

He has also said he will reform gun laws and the government has launched a gun buyback scheme – the largest since the Port Arthur massacre in 1996, which left 35 people dead and prompted Australia to introduce world-leading gun control measures.

SOURCE PAGE