Disturbing images have emerged showing the aftermath of a possible suicide attempt by Jeffrey Epstein as part of the latest release of files on the disgraced financier. 

The new tranche of documents released Tuesday also feature photographs of young girls posing on beds and in long white dresses, and a white cap with the words ‘Trump Princess’ written across the top. 

The partially-redacted photographs do not appear to show any famous figures, and the identities of those pictured are all obscured. 

Beside the photos, documents from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York where Epstein was being held denote a ‘possible suicide attempt’ in the early hours of July 23, 2019 – six months before his death on August 10, 2019. 

The report gives little more information, but includes a photograph of Epstein looking dazed and disheveled.  He is laid on his back with his eyes closed in several images. An apparent suicide note by Epstein mentioning Trump is also included in the files. 

Documents unearthed in September revealed that Epstein told prison staff that his cellmate, Nicholas Tartaglione, attacked him on the night of July 23, 2019 – the date of the ‘possible suicide attempt’ outlined in Tuesday’s documents. 

The photographs are the latest documents to be published by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after Congress passed a law mandating their release. 

Several famous faces have appeared in the drop so far, including former President Bill Clinton, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and musicians Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. Nobody is identifiable in the latest tranche. 

Jeffrey Epstein is pictured after an apparent suicide attempt in July 2019 

Epstein is shown in the documents detailing a ‘potential suicide attempt’ in his cell July 2019

The above image shows Epstein’s arms and hands, which appear to be red and swollen after what police believe was a suicide attempt in his cell in July 2019 

Beside the photographs, documents from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York where Epstein was being held denote a ‘possible suicide attempt’ in the early hours of July 23, 2019, as shown above – six months before his death on August 10, 2019

 A photograph of Epstein’s feet in his cell attached to the document about the ‘possible suicide attempt’

Epstein’s neck and the back of his head after what police believe was a suicide attempt 

Newly released Epstein files from the Department of Justice have revealed the disgraced financier’s last correspondence before he was found dead in his cell

The new tranche of documents released Tuesday also feature photographs of young girls 

Another image in the Epstein files shows a hat reading ‘Trump Princess’ in an apparent reference to President Donald Trump, who has been pictured with Epstein several times 

The images also show some young boys with a man. Nobody can be identified 

An image of two young girls with an elephant was also included in the latest Epstein files drop 

More disturbing images featuring young girls have emerged in the last drop of the Epstein files

Each person’s identity is obscured by a black rectangle over their face

One image shows a small child standing beside a goat, with a man’s hand on their shoulder

The photographs are the latest documents to be published by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) after Congress passed a law mandating their release

The partially-redacted photographs do not appear to show any famous figures

They show young girls posing on beds and in long white dresses, like the image above 

Another tranche of images in the Epstein files was released by the DOJ on Tuesday 

The faces of the young women pictured in the latest file release are all redacted 

Two men appear in the image above. It’s unclear who they are or when it was taken 

Several famous faces have appeared in the drop so far, including President Bill Clinton, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and musicians Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson. Nobody is identifiable in the latest tranche

The files include a photograph of the above portraits of a young girl in a vest top, with a note to Epstein reading: ‘Jeffrey – thanks for rocking my world! you’re the best’ written in black marker

None of the young girls can be identified in the images released by the DOJ on Tuesday 

Many of the photographs are heavily redacted. Only the shoulders and part of the chest of one unidentified woman is visible in the image above which was released by the DOJ on Tuesday

The image above shows a torso of an unidentified young woman in the latest Epstein file drop

One woman’s legs can be seen as she stands in the ocean in one image from the Epstein files

The images are heavily redacted in the latest Epstein file release by the DOJ on Tuesday

Part of a woman’s legs can be seen as she stands in the ocean in one image from the files

Several more images show young women in the latest Epstein files drop from the DOJ 

A woman’s torso is shown in the above image from the release of heavily-redacted photos

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Cops have said they are hunting a potential seventh suspect in a case in which six men have already been charged with sexual offences against the same woman



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A police officer injured in the Bondi terror attack has woken from a coma.

Scott Dyson was one of two officers wounded when gunmen opened fire on a crowd at Sydney’s Archer Park on 14 December.

The alleged perpetrators of the attack, which killed 15 people and injured dozens more, were Sajid Akram, 50 – killed by police at the scene – and his 24 year-old son Naveed who was charged with 59 offences.

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The pair allegedly threw homemade bombs at the crowd gathering near the beach but these did not detonate.

In a statement, the family of PC Dyson said he had been in a medically-induced coma and undergone surgery “almost daily”.

“Our family would like to share that Scott has been getting stronger each day, and today, he was woken up for the first time,” they said.

“There is still a long way to go in his recovery, but this is a positive sign.

“We would like to thank the public for the support, messages and well wishes shown to Scott and our family during this difficult time.”

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22-year-old Probationary Constable Jack Hibbert
Pic:State of NSW/PA

Also injured was probationary constable Jack Hibbert, who was just four months into the job when he was shot in the head and shoulder.

He has now been discharged from hospital, his family said.

Read more:
‘Utter panic and chaos’: Site of celebration now a memorial
Timeline of Bondi Beach shooting: How the attack unfolded

“While he is home, he is still recovering and will need space, support, and continued positive thoughts during this time,” they said in a statement.

“As a family, we couldn’t ask for anything more – having our Jack home, especially for Christmas, truly feels like a miracle.”

Image:
24-year-old Naveed Akram.

Health bosses said on Tuesday that 12 patients remained in hospital receiving care in the aftermath of the attack.

Four are in a critical but stable condition.

Naveed Akram was transferred from hospital to prison on Monday.

His charges include 40 counts of attempted murder, discharging a firearm intending to cause grievous bodily harm, a public display of a prohibited terrorist organisation symbol, and placing an explosive in or near a building with intent to cause harm.

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Israel Katz says military units will be established inside the Palestinian enclave, in contravention of the truce agreement.

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Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz has said the Israeli military will never fully withdraw from the Gaza Strip and that an army unit will be established inside the Palestinian enclave.

Speaking on Tuesday, Katz said Israeli forces would remain deployed throughout Gaza, despite a United States-backed peace plan signed by Israel and Hamas in October that calls for a full Israeli military withdrawal and rules out the re-establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the territory.

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“We are located deep inside Gaza, and we will never leave all of Gaza,” Katz said. “We are there to protect.”

“In due course, we will establish Nahal [an Israeli infantry brigade] outposts in northern Gaza in place of the settlements that were uprooted,” Katz added, according to Israeli media.

Hours later, he issued a statement in English to the Reuters news agency, saying Nahal units would be stationed in Gaza “only for security reasons”. The Israeli media reported that US officials were displeased with Katz’s initial comments and demanded clarification.

Nahal units are military formations that combine civilian service with army enlistment and have historically played a role in the creation of Israeli communities.

Katz was speaking at a ceremony in the occupied West Bank marking the approval of 1,200 housing units in the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El.

Addressing settlement expansion in the West Bank, Katz said: “Netanyahu’s government is a settlements government … it strives for action. If we can get sovereignty, we will bring about sovereignty. We are in the practical sovereignty era.”

“There are opportunities here that haven’t been here for a long time,” he added.

Israel is expected to head into an election year in 2026, with illegal settlement expansion a key political issue. Far-right and ultranationalist members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have repeatedly said they intend to reoccupy Gaza and expand illegal settlements in the West Bank.

Under international law, all Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal. The transfer of an occupying power’s civilian population into occupied territory is considered a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Meanwhile, violence by Israeli forces and settlers has continued across the West Bank, while killings continue in Gaza despite the ceasefire. Palestinian officials say more than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed, about 11,000 wounded and more than 21,000 arrested.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said that since a ceasefire began on October 11, at least 406 Palestinians have been killed and 1,118 injured. Since the start of Israel’s war on October 7, 2023, the ministry said, 70,942 Palestinians have been killed and 171,195 wounded.

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Torrential rains set off “exceptional flooding” near the French city of Montpellier, local authorities said on Wednesday.

The floodwaters appear to be receding, but weather alerts are to remain in place until December 24.

No casualties have been reported so far.

What we know about the flooding in southern France

Almost 1,000 homes were left without electricity on Monday evening in the department of Hérault on the south coast, including 520 in Montpellier where parks, gardens, cemeteries, the local zoo and the Christmas market remain closed.

Public transport routes were partly closed off, too, and the prefect of Hérault, Chantal Mauchet, said getting around the region remained difficult.

The highest water levels in the region were recorded just to the south of Montpellier in the coastal town of Agde, where the River Hérault reached more than 11 feet, leading to what forecasters said was likely the worst flooding the region had experienced since November 1994.

Local residents posted footage of flooded promenades along the banks of the river – but no major damage or human casualties were reported.

The French flood warning service Vigicrues reported “exceptional flooding” and issued a red flood warning for the Hérault department – plus orange warnings for the surrounding departments of Aveyron, Lozère and Tarn.

Edited by: Roshni Majumdar

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‘Modern’ nativity sparks outrage in Belgium

An art installation by German artist Victoria-Maria featuring the Christmas nativity scene with faceless characters. The faceless figures dubbed “zombies” has fueled backlash, vandalism and debate over faith and tradition. (EFE via Reuters Connect.)

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Across Europe, a growing number of local governments, schools and publicly funded institutions are facing backlash over changes to how Christmas is presented, as officials promote what they describe as more “inclusive” approaches to the holiday season.

In Belgium, controversy erupted this month after Brussels unveiled a modern reinterpretation of a traditional nativity scene in the city’s Grand Place. The installation features faceless figures and was promoted as a contemporary and inclusive artistic display. The scene has since been vandalized and sharply criticized by local politicians and residents, according to the Catholic News Agency.

The installation also drew immediate reaction online. Belgian national soccer team player Thomas Meunier sparked widespread reaction on X when he wrote, “We’ve hit rock bottom… and we keep digging,” a post that was shared thousands of times.

TEXAS CHURCH DEPICTS HOLY FAMILY IN CAGE WRAPPED IN BARBED WIRE IN NATIVITY DISPLAY

An artwork by German artist Victoria-Maria featuring the Christmas nativity scene with faceless characters is displayed on the Grand-Place in Brussels on November 28, 2025. (Nicolas TUCAT / AFP via Getty Images)

Brussels Mayor Philippe Close, a member of the Socialist Party, defended the decision at a Friday press conference, arguing that the city was trying to strike a balance during the holiday season. “In this Christmas period, we need to tone it down,” Close said, adding that while Brussels chose to maintain a nativity display, other cities had removed theirs entirely.

“The old Nativity scene had been in use for 25 years and was showing many defects,” Close said. “It was time to take a new direction. We are very happy with Victoria-Maria’s creation, and we want to make sure the artist is not attacked personally.”

The Brussels dispute reflects a broader pattern emerging across Europe as institutions rethink traditional Christmas symbols and language.

Decolonizing Santa

In the United Kingdom, a publicly funded museum sparked outrage after publishing a blog suggesting that Father Christmas should be “decolonized,” according to The Sun. The blog post, which was originally published two years ago, was written by Simone LaCorbinière, the museum’s Joint Head of Culture Change at Brighton and Hove Museums. She argued that the traditional image of Santa Claus was “too white and too male” and criticized the idea of a single figure judging children through a “naughty or nice” list.

CHURCH SPARKS CONTROVERSY WITH EMPTY NATIVITY SCENE AND ICE ENFORCEMENT MESSAGE: ‘POLITICIZING CHRISTMAS’

People take part during the unveiling ceremony of the crib in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican, on Dec. 24, 2011. (Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images)

LaCorbinière urged parents to imagine Santa as a more diverse figure who “celebrates cultural exchange.” “Have Santa learn about different cultures rather than judge them,” she wrote, suggesting stories could show him experiencing different traditions. She also proposed including “Mother Christmases,” arguing that “patriarchy and colonialism went hand in hand.”

The comments drew condemnation from politicians. Senior Conservative Party MP Sir Alec Shelbrooke said the initiative was misguided, stating: “At a time of goodwill and festive cheer, it seems woke do-gooders would rather everybody was miserable. This is the worst possible use of taxpayer funds.”

No more Christmas sweaters

Elsewhere in Britain, schools have also faced scrutiny for restricting Christmas-themed clothing or renaming holiday events, according to GB News. Several schools reportedly replaced Christmas sweater days with more generic “winter” or “seasonal” attire to avoid religious references.

People take part in an Ugly Christmas Sweater Run on Dec. 16, 2017 in The Vondelpark in Amsterdam. (Koen Van Weel/ANP/AFP via Getty Images)

Christmas music at risk

Debates have also extended to holiday music. According to The Telegraph, Labour’s controversial Employment Rights Bill, which became law last week, places a legal duty on employers to prevent harassment by third parties related to protected characteristics such as religion. Critics argue the law could affect workplace Christmas music, including songs such as “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and “Jingle Bells,” all of which have faced renewed criticism in recent years.

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In a statement on X, the head of the U.K.’s Free Speech Union, Lord Young, was quoted as saying, “The Government didn’t listen, insisting we were being alarmist, but a ban on Christmas music and carol singing will be the least of it. Prepare to live in a country in which every hospitality venue is a micromanaged ‘safe space’, overseen by lanyard-wearing banter bouncers. Welcome to Starmer’s Britain.”

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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NEED TO KNOW

• Kate Hudson tells PEOPLE about leading Song Sung Blue, a biopic about a real-life Neil Diamond tribute band
• Performing and getting to know Diamond’s music was new for Hudson, who says he “wasn’t someone that I grew up with”
• “Having Neil Diamond’s music as the backdrop to play these real-life people, who just were such fans,” says the Golden Globe nominee, was “wonderful”

Kate Hudson’s musical tastes have expanded thanks to none other than Neil Diamond.

The legendary songwriter “wasn’t someone that I grew up with,” the Golden Globe-nominated star of Song Sung Blue admits to PEOPLE in this week’s issue. “So it was a nice discovery for me to get to know his music.”

Hudson got to know the rocker’s music and then some as Claire Sardina, half of the real-life husband-and-wife duo who paid tribute to the “Sweet Caroline” singer by forming a tribute band in the late 1980s.

Starring Hugh Jackman and Hudson, 46, as Mike and Claire Sardina, a.k.a. Milwaukee’s Lightning & Thunder, Song Sung Blue showcases the two actors performing many of Diamond’s hit songs.

“Having Neil Diamond’s music as the backdrop to play these real-life people, who just were such fans,” says Hudson, was “wonderful. And then, watching the movie was just such a joy… I felt like it has a little bit of everything in it. It’s entertaining, but you walk away feeling inspired.”

Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman in ‘Song Sung Blue’.

Courtesy of Focus Features 

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“I love that it lacks cynicism. There’s something really pure about this movie,” says Hudson. “It delivers something unexpected to an audience.”

Spoilers for Song Sung Blue‘s true story follow: Written and directed by Craig Brewer and based on Greg Kohs’ documentary of the same name, the biopic chronicles the rise of Lightning & Thunder amid the duo’s romance and hardships. That includes Claire losing part of her leg in a freak car accident and Mike dying in 2006 at age 55 from cardiac issues. 

The actress-musician has become close with the real-life Sardina family, including Claire and her kids Rachel and Dayna Cartwright (played onscreen by Ella Anderson and Hudson Hensley). Thanks to Song Sung Blue, she has since met the man behind the music; in August, the star visited Diamond, 84, at his Colorado home. 

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson in ‘Song Sung Blue’.

Courtesy of Focus Features

“Just sitting on the porch with @neildiamond sharing all kinds of stories,” Hudson wrote in an October Instagram post showing the two of them smiling and talking together. “Sweet Neil, we love you! Thank you for sharing your music with us and for supporting our film.” 

Song Sung Blue is in theaters Dec. 25.

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Jeffrey Epstein claimed that ‘our president’ loves ‘young, nubile girls’ in a chilling 2019 postcard he wrote to serial child molester Larry Nassar just days before his suicide. 

While he was not explicitly named in the note, Donald Trump was serving his first term in the White House at the time.

A newly released Epstein file from the Department of Justice has revealed one of the disgraced financier’s last correspondences before he was found dead in his cell at New York’s Metropolitan Correction Center on August 10, 2019. 

The letter was mailed to Nassar, a former USA Olympic doctor and convicted sex offender, days after Epstein’s death. 

‘As you know by now, I have taken the “short route” home,’ Epstein penned in the handwritten note. 

He continued: ‘Good luck! We shared one thing . . . our love & caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential.

‘Our president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to “grab snatch,” whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system. Life is unfair.’  

The postcard was signed ‘Yours, J. Epstein’ and written to ‘L.N.’, which are Nassar’s initials. 

Trump has not been accused of wrongdoing in Epstein’s child sex trafficking scandal. 

Newly released Epstein files from the Department of Justice have revealed the disgraced financier’s last correspondence before he was found dead in his cell

Pictured from left to right: Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2000

Larry Nassar is a former USA Olympic doctor who was found guilty of sexual assault in 2017

The Daily Mail has contacted the White House for comment on the postcard, which was released last night without any further context. 

Nassar pleaded guilty to obtaining and possessing child pornography and destroying evidence and was sentenced to 60 years in prison in December 2017. 

He abused about 300 athletes under the guise of medical care – the biggest sexual abuse scandal in the history of American sport. 

Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles and McKayla Maroney were among his many young victims. 

While this is the first time the letter was shared with the public amid the DOJ’s sweeping release of Epstein-related evidence, the Associated Press reported on its existence in 2023. 

According to the outlet, Epstein’s letter to Nassar, postmarked August 13, 2019, was found returned to sender in the New York prison’s mailroom weeks later. 

‘It appeared he mailed it out and it was returned back to him,’ the investigator who discovered the postcard told a prison official at the time, per AP. 

‘I am not sure if I should open it or should we hand it over to anyone?’ 

Trump has repeatedly shot down accusations of being involved in Epstein’s criminal activities. 

Epstein killed himself in prison in August 2019, days before the letter to Nassar was postmarked 

Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in Epstein’s child sex trafficking scandal

But a trove of evidence has alleged that Trump flew on the pedophile’s private jet ‘many more times than has been previously reported,’ including one journey with a 20-year-old woman.

Among the roughly 8,000 new documents is an email from a New York assistant US attorney, which states that Trump was listed as a passenger on eight flights between 1993 and 1996.

On at least four of these trips, Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell was also present.

The email reads: ‘For your situational awareness, wanted to let you know that the flight records we received yesterday reflect that Donald Trump travelled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware), including during the period we would expect to charge in a Maxwell case.

‘On one flight in 1993, he and Epstein are the only two listed passengers; on another, the only three passengers are Epstein, Trump and then-20-year-old [redacted].’

On Friday, the initially set deadline for the government to share the Epstein files, the DOJ released about 300,000 documents.  

Epstein survivors and lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle have criticized the Trump administration for its handling of the files. 

Skeptics have also called out how heavily redacted and context-lacking the pieces of evidence have been. 

The DOJ has released hundreds of thousands of files of investigative evidence from Epstein’s estate 

Congress voted to share the files with the public. Trump, who initially opposed the release, signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act on November 19 and gave the Department of Justice a 30-day timeline for the release.

The mandate was supposed to be carried out by Friday, December 19. 

But top brass at Trump’s DOJ admit that they were not able to meet the deadline, and that there are still hundreds of thousands of documents to come.

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Epstein files: What to know about ‘inappropriate friends’ Balmoral email signed ‘A’ – The Mirror

Need to know

An email to sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell sent from someone who signs off as ‘A’ and claims they were at ‘Balmoral Summer Camp’ when the email was sent has emerged in the latest release

The email was sent to Ghislaine Maxwell from soneone referred to as ‘The Invisible Man’(Image: US District Court for the Southe)

What you need to know about Epstein files email signed ‘A’ asking for ‘inappropriate friends’

1. A new batch of Epstein files have been released by the US Justice Department, including a series of emails between Ghislaine Maxwell and a person referred to as ‘The Invisible Man’ who signed their messages ‘A xxx’ under the email address ‘abx17@dial.pipex.com’.
2. One email, dated August 16, 2001, asks Maxwell if she had “found me some new inappropriate friends?” The sender informed the convicted sex trafficker they were “up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family”, where “activities take place all day” leaving them “totally exhausted”. There is no indication the email was sent to Maxwell by anyone in the Royal Family.
3. The sender then asks Maxwell to “let me know when you are coming over” before giving dates during August that they are free. They add that they “want to go somewhere hot and sunny with some fun people before having to put my nose firmly to the grindstone for the Fall”.
4. Maxwell responded to the email by saying: “So sorry to disappoint you, however the truth must be told. I have only been able to find appropriate friends.” To which ‘A’ responds: “Distraught!”
5. ‘A’ then adds they have left the “RN”, continuing: “…now my whole life is in turmoil as I have no one to look after me. He was a real rock and almost a part of the family […] If you have any good ideas as to how to get my mind back on track I’d be grateful for advice. See you real soon… I hope if you are coming over. A xxx”
6. The Department of Justice had been legally required to publish all of the Epstein files by the end of Friday, December 19, after Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act in November. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said on the day of the deadline that not all the files would be made available immediately as they were working to ensure all victims or potential victims were completely anonymised.

READ THE FULL STORY: Epstein files show email from Balmoral asking for ‘inappropriate friends’ – and signed ‘A’

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Police arrest three people outside insurer of Israeli arms maker Elbit, including Thunberg for holding placard.

British police have arrested Swedish activist Greta Thunberg and two other people at a pro-Palestine protest in central London, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries.

The group said Thunberg was arrested on Tuesday at the Prisoners for Palestine protest held in the heart of London’s Square Mile financial district outside the offices of Aspen Insurance, which provides coverage for Israeli defence contractor Elbit Systems.

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The group said Thunberg had arrived after the protest began, and it shared video footage of the activist holding a sign reading, “I support the Palestine Action prisoners. I oppose genocide.” Thunberg has called Israel’s war in Gaza a genocide and has twice joined flotilla campaigns to try to break Israel’s siege of Gaza.

The City of London Police, which polices the financial district, confirmed that a 22-year-old woman, a description corresponding to Thunberg, was arrested for displaying a placard “in support of a proscribed organisation (in this case Palestine Action) contrary to Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000”.

This is the latest protest in solidarity with activists from the Palestine Action group, six of whom are currently on hunger strike in British prisons with two now hospitalised. The direct action group has been proscribed as a “terrorist organisation” by the United Kingdom’s government.

Defend Our Juries said Tuesday’s protest was held to draw attention to Aspen Insurance’s “complicity in genocide” and to express solidarity with prisoners affiliated with Palestine Action.

Thunberg is seen after her arrest for holding a placard expressing support for Palestinian Action prisoners and condemnation of Israel’s genocide [Handout/Defend Our Juries]

Two others, a man and a woman, were also arrested at the protest although they had “glued themselves nearby”, according to the City of London Police, which described damage with “hammers and red paint” to “a building on Fenchurch Street”, where the offices of Aspen Insurance are located.

Defend Our Juries confirmed the damage, saying in a news release that two activists “covered the front of the building with symbolic blood-red paint, using re-purposed fire extinguishers” before attaching themselves to the front of the building in the aim of “drawing attention to Aspen’s complicity in Genocide, disrupting their business, and closing down the building”.

The group said Aspen Insurance, a global insurer and reinsurer, was targeted because of its affiliation with Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of Elbit Systems, which is Israel’s largest arms producer. It describes its drones as “the backbone” of the Israeli military.

Palestine Action protesters had targeted one of the UK subsidiary’s operations in Bristol last year. Among their five key demands, the group’s hunger strikers want the manufacturer, which has several UK factories, to be shut down.

Defend Our Juries said in its news release that Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Minister David Lammy has “refused to speak to legal representatives of the hunger-strikers, or their families”.

A few days earlier, Thunberg had voiced solidarity with the hunger strikers on Instagram, saying: “It is up to the state to intervene, and put an end to this by meeting these reasonable demands that pave the way for the freedom of all those who choose to use their rights trying to stop a genocide, something the British state has failed to do themselves.”

A Palestine Action spokesperson said in relation to her arrest that it was not clear whether police had “made another one of their mistakes in interpreting the crazy ban on Palestine Action” or whether they had “turned anyone expressing support for prisoners locked up beyond the legal time limit for taking action to stop a genocide into alleged terrorists”.

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The category of non-crime hate incidents is no longer fit for purpose and could be scrapped under plans to be presented to the home secretary.

A review by police leaders will call for non-crime hate incidents to be replaced with a new “commonsense” system, the Telegraph reports. Under the new scheme, only the most serious incidents would be recorded as antisocial behaviour.

Non-crime hate incidents are those perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards people because of certain characteristics, such as race or gender, but that do not meet the threshold of a criminal offence.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing will publish their review next month, which will then be given to the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood.

The review was announced after the Metropolitan police said in October that they would no longer investigate non-crime hate incidents.

It also followed the Father Ted creator Graham Linehan discovering he would face no further action over social media posts he had made about transgender issues, after he was arrested at Heathrow airport in September. Linehan was arrested over a potential criminal offence but the case was later downgraded to an investigation into a non-crime hate incident, it is understood.

Nick Herbert, the chair of the College of Policing, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The home secretary has already indicated that she wants to ensure that the police are focused on the right things and not on the trivial.

“It was quite clear that the whole regime needed looking at, that there was a perception that the police were being drawn into matters that they shouldn’t have been. I don’t think the police service wanted to be drawn into them. They don’t want to be policing tweets.”

Rather than logging hate incidents on a crime database, the plan would be to treat them as intelligence reports, with officers given a “commonsense” checklist, it was reported.

Earlier this year, Andy Cooke, who leads HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services, said: “I’m a firm believer that non-crime hate incidents are no longer required and that intelligence can be gathered in a different way, which would cause less concern to the public and would make recording of such issues much easier for policing.”

Chief constable Rachel Swann, the vice-chair of the NPCC, said: “We are continuing to work with the College of Policing on finalising our review of non-crime hate incidents before its submission to ministers early in the new year.

“It is not for policing to referee online debates on cultural issues. Protecting free speech and ensuring officers focus on real-world threat and risk is an important part of our considerations.

“But equally important is ensuring policing can continue to keep our communities safe, such as by spotting risks to vulnerable people, monitoring community tensions or identifying potential precursors to violence and other criminal behaviour.

“Our review will make recommendations for how policing can best do this in the future and it will be for ministers to decide on future policy.”

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Alex Smithand

Mohamed Madi,Kyiv

Watch: BBC correspondent at the scene of Kyiv drone attack

Russia carried out a “massive” overnight attack on several Ukrainian cities, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said, a day after he warned of strikes over the Christmas period.

At least three people were killed, according to Ukrainian officials, including a four-year-old child, while energy infrastructure was also targeted, leaving several regions without power.

Russia launched 635 drones and 38 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said, adding that 621 of them were downed.

Zelensky said “people simply want to be with their families, at home, and safe” in the run-up to Christmas, and said the strikes sent “an extremely clear signal about Russia’s priorities” despite ongoing peace talks.

He added that Russian President Vladimir Putin “still cannot accept that he must stop killing. And that means that the world is not putting enough pressure on Russia”.

Zelensky had previously warned it was in the Kremlin’s “nature” to “carry out massive attacks” during the festive period.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Moscow currently controls about 20% of Ukrainian territory.

Local authorities in the central Zhytomyr region confirmed a child’s death.

Regional head Vitaly Bunechko said the child “was taken to hospital, doctors fought for (the child’s) life but could not save (the child) in the end”. Five others were injured in the strike, he added.

Meanwhile, a 76-year-old woman was killed and three people injured when a house in the Kyiv region was struck, according to Ukraine’s state emergencies service.

An attack in Khmelnytskyy, western Ukraine, killed a 72-year-old, regional administration head Serhiy Tyurin said.

Polish fighter jets were scrambled in response to missiles and drones targeting west Ukraine.

The Russian defence ministry said it had targeted Ukrainian “military-industrial complex plants and supporting energy facilities”. It added that all the designated targets had been hit.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reportedly struck a petrochemical plant in Stravropol, southern Russia.

Videos shared by Russian media channels online showed large flames rising from the direction of the plant.

The region’s governor, Vladimir Vladimirov, said a Ukrainian drone hit the plant and sparked a fire. No casualties were reported and residential buildings were left undamaged.

Reuters

Emergency responders work at the site of a Russian drone strike on an apartment building in the Ukrainian capital

With temperatures expected to fall to as low as -7C on Wednesday, Ukraine’s energy operator warned of emergency power shutdowns “in all regions” and urged people to use energy “sparingly”.

Acting energy minister Artem Nekrasov said it was the ninth large attack on Ukraine’s energy system this year, and that supply in the Rivne, Ternopil and Khmelnytsky regions has been “almost completely” lost.

Ukrainian MP Oleksandr Merezhko told the BBC World Service that some areas could be without power “for days”.

The main focus of Russian attacks in recent days has been the southern port city of Odesa, which comes after Vladimir Putin threatened to sever Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea.

The Russian president made the threat in retaliation for Ukrainian drone attacks on tankers belonging to Russia’s “shadow fleet”, vessels used to move goods including oil which are under Western sanctions.

In the Ukrainian capital, many suspect the overnight attack is linked to Monday’s killing of a top Russian general after a car bomb exploded in Moscow.

Lt Gen Fanil Sarvarov – the head of the armed forces’ operational training department – died in the blast, which Russia has blamed on Ukraine. Kyiv has not commented.

It also comes after the latest round of US-led diplomatic talks in Miami, where envoys from Washington and Kyiv have been drafting detailed proposals to end the war.

According to Zelensky, the US had proposed a Christmas truce but Russia rejected the idea.

Zelensky said he received a progress report on the talks on Tuesday morning, and that “several draft documents have now been prepared”, including a basic framework to end the war, future security guarantees for Ukraine, and on the country’s post-war recovery.

Putin was also due to be briefed by his envoy Kirill Dmitriev on Tuesday on the latest discussions with Washington.

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In mid-December, Evelyn Palla, the newly appointed chief executive of Deutsche Bahn (DB), unveiled a sweeping restructuring plan for Germany’s state-owned rail operator, set to take effect in 2026.

After receiving approval from DB’s supervisory board on December 10, Palla said the company would eliminate around 30% of its executive positions as part of an effort to streamline management, decentralize decision-making, and improve punctuality and efficiency by making the organization more agile.

The overhaul comes at a low point for Deutsche Bahn’s performance. This autumn, punctuality fell to a new record low, with just 55% of long-distance trains arriving less than six minutes late — the company’s official definition of “on time.”

How to travel by train in Germany

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Punctuality has been deteriorating for years, turning DB into one of Europe’s weakest performers. For commuters, delays and cancellations have become a daily experience, particularly in densely populated regions, where passengers now consider themselves fortunate if every second train arrives on schedule.

A cross-border embarrassment

The crisis took on an international dimension in the summer of 2024, when Switzerland barred Deutsche Bahn trains from its rail network, citing concerns that chronic delays would disrupt Swiss timetables.

The decision exposed, in stark terms, Germany’s decadeslong failure to invest adequately in its rail system and halt the deterioration of its transport infrastructure.

According to the German transport ministry, roughly half of the country’s rail tracks are in mediocre, poor, or deficient condition. About one-fifth of the infrastructure will need to be replaced in the medium term, while some elements — including signal boxes that are more than 100 years old — require immediate attention.

Three decades of decay

For the past 30 years, Germany has spent only a fraction of what neighboring countries such as Switzerland and Austria have invested in maintaining and upgrading their rail networks.

At the same time, the German rail system has shrunk even as demand has grown, with more people commuting longer distances for work. The result is a network carrying more traffic on fewer tracks — many of them in disrepair — a combination that lies at the heart of Deutsche Bahn’s problems.

Jens Kaminski, a veteran train driver who has worked for DB since 1994, remembers a very different era. Back then, the German phrase “Pünktlich wie die Bahn” (“punctual as a train”) was still commonly used in Germany.

“In those days, when you walked through the village, people greeted you like a firefighter — like a hero,” Kaminski told DW. “Today it’s more like: Oh, he’s a train driver. You’re nothing.”

Among railway workers, another saying once prevailed: the timetable is law. Kaminski recalled why things were “different” during those years.

“We had 12 people on standby at the depot. If something went wrong — a breakdown, anything — they would step in and fix it. No problem. Today, standby crews are gone. Too expensive.”

Train driver Jens Kaminski: “You’d be greeted like a fireman, like a hero.”Image: Andreas Becker/Nicolas Martin

From reform to retrenchment

Kaminski’s career closely mirrors the modern history of Deutsche Bahn. He began work in 1994, the same year East and West Germany’s rail operators merged to form Deutsche Bahn AG, just four years after reunification.

The new company was meant to embody market-oriented reform. As a stock corporation wholly owned by the state, DB was tasked with becoming competitive and profitable, with a long-term goal of listing shares on the stock market.

What followed was aggressive cost-cutting. Investment in both infrastructure and staff was scaled back to make the company more attractive to investors.

“That’s when the real job cuts began,” Kaminski said. “Tracks were closed — even passing tracks that were essential. It was radical.”

The initial public offering never materialized, and the German government remains DB’s sole shareholder.

Auditors sound the alarm

Germany’s Federal Court of Audit has repeatedly criticized Berlin for failing to fulfill its responsibilities as owner of the rail operator.

In their most recent report, the auditors wrote “for three decades, the federal government has failed to address key railway policy issues.”

Further down they said: “Deutsche Bahn has long failed to meet customer expectations for punctuality and reliability. The company is in a constant state of crisis and in need of reform.”

The court also pointed to the government’s constitutional obligation to maintain rail infrastructure as a public good and ensure reliable train services.

A Swiss counterexample

Switzerland faced similar challenges in the 1990s but took a different approach. Like Germany, it converted its rail operator into a corporation with the state as sole shareholder.

Unlike Germany, it made clear that the rail system’s primary purpose was public service, not profit.

Peter Füglistaler, a former supervisor of Swiss rail operator SBB, says rail infrastructure shouldn’t be meant to “generate profit,” 

“Its goal is to provide capacity and punctuality — benefits for everyone,” he told German regional broadcaster WDR, adding that running a railway required a management philosophy focused on reliability rather than financial returns.

“Germany invests much less in its railways than Switzerland. If you invest much less, you cannot expect the same quality,” said Füglistaler.

Swiss trains are more than 90% on time besides difficult weather and geographical conditionsImage: Yanik Buerkli/KEYSTONE/dpa/picture alliance

Data shows that 90% of Swiss trains now run on time — a standard the country enforces strictly, as illustrated by its ban on German trains delayed by more than 15 minutes.

A long road ahead

Germany’s neglect of rail is often linked to its strong car culture. Over the past three decades, successive governments have invested roughly twice as much in roads and autobahns as in rail infrastructure.

Still, signs of change are emerging. Palla is Deutsche Bahn’s first female CEO and its first chief executive to hold a train driver’s license. Major investments are already underway.

Of the €500 billion ($585 billion) in new debt that’s been taken on by Germany’s new government to modernize the military and public infrastructure, around €150 billion is earmarked for the rail system.

For passengers, however, the turnaround will not come quickly. Construction and repairs are expected to cause additional disruptions in the near term — meaning that before trains run more reliably, delays are likely to get worse.

Edited by: Uwe Hessler

Want the full story? Listen to DW’s new podcast series: Delayland: Germany and the Missing Magic 

Also on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Youtube or wherever else you get your podcasts.

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The Department of Justice has published thousands of documents in another batch of files from investigations into Jeffrey Epstein, marking the largest release yet, with many references to President Donald Trump.

Tuesday’s newly released documents include hundreds of emails as well as jail and court correspondences from prosecutors investigating Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein in the wake of his death in prison in 2019, which was ruled a suicide.

In one message from January 2020, a federal prosecutor in Manhattan claimed that flight records showed Trump “traveled on Epstein’s private jet many more times than previously has been reported (or that we were aware),” including during the period in which prosecutors were preparing to charge in the case against Maxwell.

There were at least eight flights between 1993 and 1996 in which Trump was a passenger, according to the message. Maxwell was also present on at least four of those flights, according to the assistant U.S. attorney, whose name is redacted.

“We’ve just finished reviewing the full records (more than 100 pages of very small script) and didn’t want any of this to be a surprise down the road,” the prosecutor added.

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Newly released documents and images from investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell include a prosecutor’s claim that Trump may have flown on the sex offender’s jet ‘many more times’ than previously known (via REUTERS)

In a statement accompanying the agency’s announcement of the latest batch of 30,000 pages, the Justice Department said that “some of these documents contain untrue and sensationalist claims made against President Trump that were submitted to the FBI right before the 2020 election.”

“To be clear: the claims are unfounded and false, and if they had a shred of credibility, they certainly would have been weaponized against President Trump already,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, out of our commitment to the law and transparency, the DOJ is releasing these documents with the legally required protections for Epstein’s victims.”

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An email from 2020 discussing Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet flight records mentioned Donald Trump (Department of Justice)

The documents also include several tips collected by the FBI about Trump’s involvement with Epstein and parties at their properties in the early 2000s.

The messages do not state whether any follow-up investigations were pursued or if the allegations are corroborated.

Federal prosecutors subpoenaed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2021 for employment records as they prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, documents show

A subpoena request from October 2021 seeks “any and all employment records” related to a person whose name has been redacted.

Trump, who had a yearslong relationship with Epstein until the early 2000s, is not accused of wrongdoing in connection with his crimes, and one’s appearance within the files does not suggest otherwise.

Speaking from Mar-a-Lago in his first public remarks about the documents Monday night, the president said Epstein was “all over Palm Beach” and many people crossed paths with him.

“You probably have pictures being exposed of other people that innocently met Jeffrey Epstein years ago,” Trump said. “A lot of people are very angry that pictures are being released of other people that really had nothing to do with Epstein, but they’re in a picture with him because he was at a party, and you ruin the reputation of somebody.”

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Federal prosecutors subpoenaed Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in 2021 for employment records as they prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, documents show (Department of Justice)

Another document that mentions Trump in the latest batch of files appears to be a letter sent from “J. Epstein” from “Manhattan Correctional” to Larry Nassar, the former women’s gymnastics team doctor convicted of exploiting and and sexually assaulting hundreds of young athletes.

The letter is postmarked August 13, 2019, three days after Epstein’s death. It was marked “return to sender” and discovered in a mailroom more than a month later.

The existence of the letter was previously reported, and additional documents in the files showed investigators trying to authenticate it. It is unclear whether they reached a conclusion.

“As you know by now, I have taken the ‘short route’ home. Good luck!” the postcard reads.

It continues: “We shared one thing . . . our love [and] caring for young ladies at the hope they’d reach their full potential. Our president shares our love of young, nubile girls. When a young beauty walked by he loved to ‘grab snatch,’ whereas we ended up snatching grub in the mess halls of the system.”

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An email discussing a purported photo of Jeffrey Epstein and Donald Trump on Steve Bannon’s phone is shown in this image released by the Department of Justice (Department of Justice)

The Justice Department failed to release all of the files related to Epstein’s cases in its possession despite federal law signed by Trump requiring the administration to publicly disclose everything it has by Friday, December 19.

An initial round of long-awaited documents, including photographs of Epstein with high-profile figures, failed to advance the public’s understanding of the scope of his alleged crimes and connections to an alleged sex trafficking ring accused of exploiting and abusing young girls.

There were heavy redactions, including dozens of pages of grand jury testimony and previously sealed court filings that were nearly entirely blacked out.

The law requires the release of potentially thousands of documents that are typically shielded from public view, including grand jury testimony, settlements, investigative notes and internal records related to the Epstein and Maxwell cases

It also requires the release of documents related to Epstein’s jailhouse death. Maxwell was convicted of sex trafficking in 2021 and is serving a 20-year prison sentence.

After an initial release of documents under the Epstein Files Transparency Act , the Justice Department removed more than 20 files — including an image of a credenza inside Epstein’s home, where a photograph of Trump with bikini-clad women was sitting in an open drawer.

Those images were later restored, but the Justice Department’s violation of the legal deadline and the apparent removal of images only fueled outrage and demand for the full release of the files.

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An image of a credenza inside Epstein’s home, where a photograph of Trump was sitting in an open drawer, was removed from the Justice Department’s database hours after an initial release. It was later restored (AP)

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the Justice Department needed time to make necessary redactions to protect survivors.

“You’re talking about a million or so pages of documents — virtually all of them contain victim information,” he told NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday.

He said officials were not removing any mentions of Trump in the documents, more of which are expected to be rolled out over the coming weeks.

Members of Congress have suggested Attorney General Pam Bondi could be held in contempt for failing to release documents on deadline.

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NEED TO KNOW

Melora Hardin opened up about being cut from Back to the Future when Michael J. Fox joined the cast

She was eight inches taller than Fox, and director Robert Zemeckis was ultimately convinced audiences wouldn’t buy her as a love interest

Hardin, who was just 17 at the time, said she ‘burst into tears’ when she got the news

Melora Hardin was heartbroken when she was cut from 1985’s Back to the Future after Michael J. Fox was cast.

Hardin, 58, opened up about her experience in a Dec. 22 interview with Entertainment Weekly. As Fox, 64, wrote about in his 2025 book Future Boy, which detailed how he filmed Back to the Future and his sitcom Family Ties at the same time, he was not the first person cast as Marty McFly in the film. Instead, that was Eric Stoltz. 

Director Robert Zemeckis had originally wanted to cast Fox, but was told he couldn’t balance it with Family Ties. After a few weeks of filming, he decided Stoltz, now 64, was not working, and he was let go. Fox was called in and was able to do the movie after all.

But that became an issue for Hardin’s role. She had been cast as Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer Parker, but she was taller than Fox by eight inches. They ultimately decided to recast her role, too. 

Michael J. Fox in ‘Back to the Future’.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

“Back to the Future was a huge disappointment. I was 17, you know. I burst into tears,” she told EW. “It was very sad. There were quite a few of those that I remember, you know, things that never really got made. But that I remember being very tough.”

At the time, Hardin had been working since she was about 10 years old. She had led an NBC kids series and appeared on Little House on the Prairie. She had signed a two-picture deal for Back to the Future, which meant she would also appear in any sequel.  

Fox also wrote about Hardin’s recasting in his book. “My height worked in my favor when I was a teenage actor playing a younger kid, but it turned against me as an adult, when I went up for romantic leads opposite taller actresses,” he wrote. Noting that Hollywood is “heightist,” he wrote, “I regret that this prejudice inadvertently affected another cast member in Back to the Future —  Melora Hardin, the talented actress who had played Marty’s girlfriend, Jennifer, opposite the perfectly tall Eric Stoltz.”

Melora Hardin (left) and Steve Carell in ‘The Office’.

Justin Lubin/NBCU Photo Bank

Fox said that Zemeckis initially thought the audience could get past but height different but “when he quickly surveyed the female members of the crew, they assured him that the tall pretty girl in high school rarely picks the cute short guy.”

Fox added, “No one asked for my opinion, but I would have risen to Melora’s defense.” He also wrote that he didn’t feel any need to seem taller than his costars. “The only thing I was interested in elevating was the quality of my work.”

Claudia Wells took over as Jennifer Parker, but she was also recast for the sequels. Elisabeth Shue played the role for 1989’s Back to the Future Part II and 1990’s Back to the Future Part III.

Hardin told EW that she’s learned failure comes with being an actress. “To be where I am, you have to have failed more than you’ve succeeded,” she said. “I think people don’t realize that when they look at it from the outside — you have to really be somebody who’s comfortable with failure, and with putting yourself on the line all the time. That failure doesn’t mean anything about you. You just have to fail better, and keep failing better … to be able to really weather this career choice.” 

Despite her Back to the Future disappointment, Hardin has continued to work steadily and in 2005 was cast in one of her most iconic role, as Jan Levinson on The Office.

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