Kenya Insights

Category: Americas

  • Trump’s Full Speech on US Attack on Iran

    Trump’s Full Speech on US Attack on Iran

    US President Donald Trump announced the start ofcombat operations against Iran on Saturday in a video address posted to his Truth Social platform.

    Here is the full transcript:

    “A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.

    “Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.

    “For 47 years, the Iranian regime has chanted ‘Death to America’ and waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder, targeting the United States, our troops, and the innocent people in many, many countries.

    “Among the regime’s very first acts was to back a violent takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, holding dozens of American hostages for 444 days.

    “In 1983, Iran’s proxies carried out the marine barracks bombing in Beirut that killed 241 American military personnel.

    “In 2000, they knew and were probably involved with the attack on the USS Cole. Many died. Iranian forces killed and maimed hundreds of American service members in Iraq.

    “The regime’s proxies have continued to launch countless attacks against American forces stationed in the Middle East in recent years, as well as US naval and commercial vessels and international shipping lanes.

    “It’s been mass terror, and we’re not going to put up with it any longer. From Lebanon to Yemen and Syria to Iraq, the regime has armed, trained, and funded terrorist militias that have soaked the earth with blood and guts.

    “And it was Iran’s proxy Hamas that launched the monstrous October 7th attacks on Israel, slaughtering more than 1,000 innocent people, including 46 Americans, while taking 12 of our citizens hostage. It was brutal, something like the world has never seen before.

    “Iran is the world’s number one state sponsor of terror and just recently killed tens of thousands of its own citizens on the street as they protested.

    “It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again — can never have a nuclear weapon.

    “That is why in Operation Midnight Hammer last June, we obliterated the regime’s nuclear program at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.

    “After that attack, we warned them never to resume their malicious pursuit of nuclear weapons, and we sought repeatedly to make a deal.

    “We tried. They wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. Again, they wanted to do it. They didn’t want to do it. They didn’t know what was happening. They just wanted to practice evil.

    “But Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions. And we can’t take it anymore.

    “Instead, they attempted to rebuild their nuclear program and to continue developing long range missiles that can now threaten our very good friends and allies in Europe, our troops stationed overseas and could soon reach the American homeland.

    “Just imagine how emboldened this regime would be if they ever had and actually were armed with nuclear weapons as a means to deliver their message.

    “For these reasons, the United States military is undertaking a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.

    “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally — again — obliterated. We are going to annihilate their Navy.

    “We’re going to ensure that the region’s terrorist terrorist proxies can no longer destabilise the region or the world and attack our forces and no longer use their IEDs or roadside bombs, as they are sometimes called, to so gravely wound and kill thousands and thousands of people, including many Americans.

    “And we will ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon.

    “It’s a very simple message: they will never have a nuclear weapon. This regime will soon learn that no one should challenge the strength and might of the United States armed forces. I built and rebuilt our military in my first administration.

    This illustration image shows a person looking at a smartphone displaying US President Donald Trump making a statement regarding combat operations on Iran, alongside a computer screen featuring the same message posted on X on February 28, 2026. US President Donald Trump announced February 28 that “major combat” is underway to destroy Iran’s missile forces and “annihilate” the country’s navy. “The United States’ military began major combat operations in Iran,” Trump said in a video message posted on his social media site while he spent the weekend at his Florida golf club. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” (Photo by Chris DELMAS / AFP)

    “There is no military on earth, even close to its power, strength, or sophistication. My administration has taken every possible step to minimize the risk to US personnel in the region. Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill.

    “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties. That often happens in war, but we’re doing this not for now. We’re doing this for the future. And it is a noble mission.

    “We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran.

    “We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm’s way, and we trust that with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail. We have the greatest in the world. And they will prevail.

    “To the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the armed forces, and all of the police, I say tonight that you must lay down your weapons and have complete immunity or in the alternative face certain death.

    “So lay down your arms, you will be treated fairly with total immunity, or you will face certain death.

    “Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand.

    “Stay sheltered. Don’t leave your home. It’s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government.

    “It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations. For many years you have asked for America’s help, but you never got it.

    “No president was willing to do what I am willing to do tonight. Now you have a president who is giving you what you want.

    “So let’s see how you respond. America is backing you with overwhelming strength and devastating force. Now is the time to seize control of your destiny and to unleash the prosperous and glorious future that is close within your reach.

    “This is the moment for action. Do not let it pass. May God bless the brave men and women of America’s armed forces. May God bless the United States of America. May God bless you all. Thank you.”

  • Trump Says US Carrying Out ‘Major Combat Operations’ In Iran

    Trump Says US Carrying Out ‘Major Combat Operations’ In Iran

    WASHINGTON, Feb 28 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States had begun “major combat operations” in Iran, warning that there may be U.S. casualties.

    The strikes, which Trump said were aimed at destroying Iranian missiles and annihilating its navy, follow repeated U.S.-Israeli warnings that they would strike Iran again if it pressed ahead with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

    “I do not make this statement lightly. The Iranian regime seeks to kill,” Trump said in a video shared on Truth Social.

    “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties that often happens in war, but we’re doing this, not for now. We’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

    Trump told the members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s armed forces, to lay down their weapons, promising that they would be granted immunity.

    The other option, according to Trump, is “certain death.”

    Washington and Tehran held a series of talks in recent weeks about Iran’s nuclear ambition. The most recent one was held on Thursday with no deal.

    “Iran refused, just as it has for decades and decades. They rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said.

  • Israel Strikes Iran, Declares State of Emergency

    Israel Strikes Iran, Declares State of Emergency

    Israel has confirmed it carried out what it described as a “pre-emptive strike” on Iran, significantly heightening tensions in an already volatile regional landscape.

    Defence Minister Israel Katz said the operation was launched in response to what he termed serious national security threats, marking one of the most direct confrontations between the two long-standing adversaries in recent years.

    In an official statement, Katz announced: “The State of Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran.” He further declared “a special and immediate state of emergency throughout the country,” signalling the gravity of the situation and the expectation of possible retaliation. Citizens were urged to strictly follow instructions issued by Israel’s Home Front Command.

    Shortly after the announcement, the Israeli military activated air raid sirens across parts of the country as a precautionary measure, warning of potential incoming missile threats. Authorities also imposed sweeping domestic restrictions, including a “prohibition on educational activities, gatherings, and workplaces.”

    However, the military clarified that “essential sectors” would remain operational to maintain critical services.

    Daily Iranian newspapers are fronted with the image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other headlines, displayed at a kiosk in Tehran on February 18, 2026. Iran said February 17, 2026, it had agreed with the United States in talks in Geneva on “guiding principles” for a deal to avoid conflict, but the US Vice President said Tehran had not yet acknowledged all of Washington’s red lines. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

    Meanwhile, witnesses in Tehran reported a powerful explosion in the city centre, with thick smoke seen rising into the sky. Iranian officials had not issued an immediate response at the time of reporting, leaving questions about the scale of the damage and Tehran’s potential next move.

    The strike comes against the backdrop of escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme, particularly as diplomatic discussions with the United States continue.

    Analysts warn that the development risks derailing fragile negotiations and could trigger a broader regional confrontation if retaliatory measures follow.

  • Bill Gates Admits To Past ‘Affairs,’ Apologises Over Epstein Ties

    Bill Gates Admits To Past ‘Affairs,’ Apologises Over Epstein Ties

    Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has openly acknowledged having had two extramarital affairs with Russian women and apologised to staff at the Gates Foundation for his past association with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, describing that connection as a “huge mistake.

    Gates addressed his foundation’s employees at a town hall meeting on February 24, shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice released a large trove of files linked to investigations into Epstein’s crimes.

    In remarks reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, he said he deeply regretted his relationship with Epstein and the impact it had on the foundation’s work.

    “I apologise to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made,” Gates said, while insisting that he “did nothing illicit” and had not witnessed any illegal conduct related to Epstein’s criminal activities.

    In his comments, Gates confirmed that he had two affairs with women — one described as a Russian bridge player and another as a Russian nuclear physicist — but stressed that these relationships were unrelated to any victims of Epstein and had been separate from his philanthropic work.

    Gates also addressed photos and documents included in the recently released files, saying some images showing him with unidentified women were taken at the request of Epstein’s associates after meetings, not during any wrongdoing. He emphasised that he had never spent time with Epstein’s victims.

    The billionaire acknowledged he first met Epstein in 2011, years after the financier’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution, and admitted he continued the association into 2014 despite concerns raised by others. Gates said at the time he did not conduct a thorough background check and now views the relationship with regret.

    His remarks reflect Gates’s effort to confront renewed scrutiny after the release of millions of pages of Justice Department files related to the Epstein case, which had earlier prompted controversy and raised questions about the links between powerful figures and the disgraced financier.

    In discussing his personal conduct, Gates acknowledged that learning more about Epstein’s crimes made his own interactions seem “a hundred times worse” and stressed that the foundation’s reputation is highly sensitive to how its leaders engage with others.

    Gates’s comments come as the Gates Foundation continues its global health and philanthropic initiatives, but the disclosed ties have underscored the challenges high-profile organisations face when past associations resurface in public scrutiny.

  • Former UK Ambassador to The US Mandelson Arrested After Epstein Revelations

    Former UK Ambassador to The US Mandelson Arrested After Epstein Revelations

    LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) – Former British ambassador to the U.S. Peter Mandelson has been arrested by London police on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following revelations over his ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

    Mandelson, 72, was fired from the most prestigious posting in Britain’s diplomatic service in September, when the depth of his friendship with Epstein started to become clear.

    Police earlier this month began a criminal investigation into Mandelson after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government passed on communications between the former ambassador and Epstein.

    “Officers have arrested a 72-year-old man on suspicion of misconduct in public office,” London’s Metropolitan Police said in a statement relating to an investigation into a former government minister.

    Emails between Mandelson and Epstein, released by the U.S. Department of Justice in late January, showed the two men had a closer relationship than had been publicly known, and Mandelson had shared information with the financier when he was a minister in former Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s government.

    Mandelson, who this month resigned from Starmer’s Labour Party and quit his position in parliament’s upper chamber, has previously said he “very deeply” regretted his past association with Epstein. But he has not commented publicly or responded to messages seeking comment on the latest revelations.

    Last week, King Charles’ younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was also arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to Epstein. He has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein.

  • ‪Somaliland Offers Minerals, Military Bases To US‬

    ‪Somaliland Offers Minerals, Military Bases To US‬

    Somaliland is willing to give the United States access to its minerals and military bases, a minister has told AFP, as the breakaway region of Somalia seeks international recognition.

    Israel became the only country in the world to recognise Somaliland’s independence in December — something the territory has been seeking since declaring its autonomy from Somalia in 1991.

    The government in Mogadishu still considers Somaliland an integral part of Somalia even though the territory has run its own affairs since 1991, with its own passport, currency, army and police force.

    “We are willing to give exclusive (access to our minerals) to the United States. Also, we are open to offer military bases to the United States,” Khadar Hussein Abdi, minister of the presidency, told AFP in an interview on Saturday.

    “We believe that we will agree on something with the United States.”

    Somaliland president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi already suggested in recent weeks granting Israel privileged access to its mineral resources.

    And Khadar Hussein Abdi said he could not rule out the possibility of also allowing Israel to set up a military presence.

    Somaliland lies across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, where Houthi rebels have often attacked Israeli assets to show solidarity with Palestinians.

    Somaliland officials have said natural resources include lithium, coltan and other sought-after materials, though independent studies are lacking.

  • How Mexico Killed The Powerful Drug Kingpin ‘El Mencho’ and What It Means

    How Mexico Killed The Powerful Drug Kingpin ‘El Mencho’ and What It Means

    The Mexican army killed the country’s most powerful cartel leader and one of the United States’ most wanted fugitives on Sunday, notching a major victory while cartel members responded with a wave of violence across the country.

    The killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes during an attempt to capture him in Jalisco state was the highest-profile blow against cartels since the recapture of former Sinaloa cartel boss Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman a decade ago.

    Following Oseguera Cervantes’ death, gunmen unleashed violence across the country. Cars burned out by cartel members blocked roads in 20 Mexican states and left smoke billowing into the air. People locked themselves in their homes in Guadalajara, Mexico’s second-largest city and Jalisco’s capital, and school was canceled Monday in several states as security forces were placed on alert all over the country. Even Guatemala reinforced security on its border with Mexico.

    The killing could give the government a leg up in its dealings with the US Trump administration, which has been threatening tariffs or unilateral military action if Mexico does not show results in the fight against the cartels.

    But the long-term effect on Mexico’s security landscape remains unclear.

    Here’s what to know:

    Oseguera Cervantes, better known as “El Mencho,” was 59 years old and originally from the western state of Michoacan. His ties to organised crime went back at least three decades.

    In 1994, he was tried for trafficking heroin in the US and sent to prison for three years. Upon returning to Mexico, he quickly rose through Mexico’s drug trafficking underworld.

    Around 2009, he founded the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which became Mexico’s fastest-growing criminal organisation, moving cocaine, methamphetamines, fentanyl and migrants to the United States, and innovating in violence with the use of drones and improvised explosive devices.

    The cartel earned a reputation for brazen attacks on Mexican security forces, including downing a military helicopter in Jalisco in 2015 and attempting a spectacular, but unsuccessful, assassination of Mexico City Police Chief Omar Garcia Harfuch, who is now Mexico’s federal security secretary.

    It recruited aggressively, experimenting with new ways to reach potential members online, and generated revenue through fuel theft, extortion and timeshare fraud, among other activities.

    Oseguera Cervantes was killed during an attempt to capture him, as his followers attempted to fight off Mexican troops.

    Mexico’s Defense Department said in a statement that the army launched an operation in the southern part of Jalisco state to capture Oseguera Cervantes, involving the Mexican Air Force and special forces.

    The cartel counterattacked, and in the ensuing confrontation, federal forces killed four members of the criminal group, and wounded three others, including its leader, who died later during transfer by air to Mexico City, according to the statement.

    Three soldiers were injured and two people were detained in the action. Rocket launchers capable of shooting down aircraft and destroying armored vehicles were seized at the scene.

    Oseguera Cervantes’ will help Mexico’s government show results to the US, which is pressuring its neighbour to pursue drug cartels more aggressively. Both countries said intelligence collaboration helped lead to Sunday’s operation.

    Oseguera Cervantes was facing multiple indictments in the United States and the US State Department had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest. The Trump administration designated his cartel and others foreign terrorist organisations a year ago.

    US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, who was US ambassador to Mexico during the first Trump administration, applauded the operation via X, writing “The good guys are stronger than the bad guys. Congratulations to the forces of law and order in the great Mexican nation.”

    Mike Vigil, former chief of international operations for the DEA, said Mexico had sent a “a strong message to Donald Trump’s administration that they are fighting aggressively and effectively” against the most powerful cartels. He added that “the majority of the information came from the Mexican armed forces and all credit goes to Mexico”.

    It’s not clear who will succeed Oseguera Cervantes, or if any one person can.

    The Jalisco cartel has a presence in at least 21 of Mexico’s 32 states and is active in almost all of the United States, according to the US Drug Enforcement Administration. But it is also a global organisation and the loss of its leader could be felt well beyond Mexico.

    “El Mencho controlled everything, he was like a country’s dictator,” Vigil said.

    His absence could slow the cartel’s rapid growth and expansion and leave it initially weakened against the Sinaloa cartel on several fronts where they or their proxies are fighting. The Sinaloa is locked in its own internal power struggle, however, between the sons of “El Chapo” and the faction loyal to Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, who is in US custody.

    Vigil said Mexico should seize the moment to launch “an effective frontal assault based on intelligence”.

    “This is a big opportunity for Mexico and the United States if they work together,” he said.

    Security analyst David Saucedo said that if relatives of Oseguera Cervantes take control of the cartel, the violence seen Sunday could continue. If others take power, they could be more willing to turn the page and continue operations.

    The greatest fear would be that the cartel turns to indiscriminate violence. They could decide to “launch narcoterrorism attacks … and generate a scenario similar to what Colombia lived in the 1990s”, a full-on attack against the government “car bombs, assassinations and attacks on aircraft”.

    (FRANCE 24 with AP)

  • Trump Hikes US Global Tariff Rate To 15%

    Trump Hikes US Global Tariff Rate To 15%

    President Donald Trump raised the global duty on imports into the United States to 15 percent on Saturday, doubling down on his promise to maintain his aggressive tariff policy a day after the Supreme Court ruled much of it illegal.

    Trump said on his Truth Social platform that after a thorough review of Friday’s “extraordinarily anti-American decision” by the court to rein in his tariff program, the administration was hiking the import levies “to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level.”

    The US leader had announced an initial 10 percent duty in the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court ruling.

    And Trump added that over the next few months, his administration would seek further alternative ways to impose “legally permissible” tariffs.

    Saturday’s announcement is the latest in a careening process that has seen a multitude of tariff levels for countries sending goods into the United States set and then altered or revoked by Trump’s team over the past year.

    It also appears on its face to be an attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court’s latest ruling, which offered perhaps the firmest rebuke yet of the Republican leader’s sweeping and often arbitrary duties, his signature international trade policy.

    The new duty by law is only temporary — allowable for 150 days. According to a White House fact sheet, exemptions remain for sectors that are under separate probes, including pharma, and goods entering the US under the US-Mexico-Canada agreement.

    Trump spent much of the past year imposing various rates to cajole and punish countries, both friend and foe.

    On Friday, the White House said US trading partners that reached separate tariff deals with Trump’s administration would also face the new global tariff.

    The conservative-majority high court ruled six to three on Friday that a 1977 law Trump has relied on to slap sudden rates on individual countries, upending global trade, “does not authorize the President to impose tariffs.”

    Trump, who had nominated two of the justices who repudiated him, responded furiously, alleging without evidence that the court was influenced by foreign interests.

    “I’m ashamed of certain members of the court, absolutely ashamed, for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump told reporters.

  • Trump Orders Pentagon, Other US Agencies To Release Files On UFOs and Aliens

    Trump Orders Pentagon, Other US Agencies To Release Files On UFOs and Aliens

    US President Donald Trump said Thursday he is ordering federal agencies to begin “identifying and releasing” government files related to UFOs and aliens, a move sought for decades by some Americans.

    “Based on the tremendous interest shown, I will be directing the Secretary of War, and other relevant Departments and Agencies, to begin the process of identifying and releasing Government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life, unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), and unidentified flying objects (UFOs),” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

    While he did not specify whether classified documents would be released to the public, Trump added that the files should include “any and all other information connected to these highly complex, but extremely interesting and important, matters”.

    Earlier in the day the Republican president claimed that one of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama, had revealed “classified” information in his recent viral podcast remarks about the existence of extraterrestrial life.

    “They’re real, but I haven’t seen them and they’re not being kept in… Area 51,” Obama told host Brian Tyler Cohen, referring to the top-secret US military facility in Nevada at the heart of many UFO conspiracy theories.

    “There’s no underground facility. Unless, there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

    Asked on Thursday about the comments, Trump told reporters that Obama “gave classified information, he is not supposed to be doing that”.

    The president did not specify what part of Obama’s remarks were classified, but claimed “he made a big mistake”.

    For his own beliefs about aliens, Trump, 79, said “I don’t know if they are real or not.”

    No evidence has been produced of intelligent life beyond Earth.

    Interest in UFOs and UAP has been renewed in recent years as the US government probed numerous reports of seemingly supernatural aircraft, amid worries that adversaries could be testing highly advanced technologies.

    In March 2024, the Pentagon released a report saying it had no proof that UAP were alien technology, with many suspicious sightings turning out to be merely weather balloons, spy planes, satellites and other normal activity.

    (FRANCE 24 with AFP)

  • ‪Trump Sets Iran Nuclear Deal Deadline, Tehran Threatens Retaliation Against US Bases‬

    ‪Trump Sets Iran Nuclear Deal Deadline, Tehran Threatens Retaliation Against US Bases‬

    President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen, and set a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against US bases in the region if attacked.

    Amid a massive US military buildup in the Middle East that has fueled fears of a wider war, Trump said negotiations with Iran to end the tense standoff were ​going well but demanded that Tehran ‌reach a “meaningful” agreement.

    “Otherwise bad things happen,” Trump, who has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran, told the first meeting of his Board of Peace in Washington.

    Trump spoke of the ⁠US airstrikes carried out in June, saying Iran’s nuclear potential had been “decimated,” adding “we may have to take it a step further or we may not.”

    “You’ll be finding out over the next probably 10 days,” he said. Asked later to elaborate, he told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I would think that would be ‌enough time, 10, 15 days, pretty much maximum.”

    But he declined to be specific, except to warn again of “really bad things” and insist that Iran would have ⁠to make a deal one way or another.

    In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Tehran said it would not start any war but that “in the event that it is subjected to military aggression, Iran will respond decisively and proportionately” in its exercise of the right of self-defense.

    “All bases, facilities, and assets of the hostile force in the region would constitute legitimate targets,” the letter said. “The ​United States would bear full and direct responsibility for any unpredictable and uncontrolled consequences.”

    ‘GOOD TALKS’: TRUMP

    Trump’s threats to bomb Iran, with the two sides far apart in talks ‌on Tehran’s nuclear program, have pushed up oil prices, and a Russian corvette warship on Thursday joined planned Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, a vital sea route for global energy.

    Iranian and US negotiators met on Tuesday and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said they had agreed on “guiding principles.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday, however, that the two sides remained apart on some issues.

    Trump said “good talks are being had,” and a senior US official said ‌Iran would make a written proposal on how to address US concerns.

    Trump called on Tehran to join the US on the “path to peace.”

    “They can’t have a nuclear weapon, it’s very simple,” he said. “You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon.”

    Iran has resisted making major concessions on ​its nuclear program, though insisting it is for peaceful purposes.

    The US and Israel in the past have accused Tehran of trying to develop a nuclear bomb.

    Trump’s latest saber-rattling came as he talked himself up as a man of peace in a long, meandering speech while hosting world leaders at the launch of his Board of Peace.

    He proposed the body in September when he announced his plan to end ​Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.

    He later expanded the board’s remit to tackle conflicts worldwide, prompting many key Western allies to stay away.

    Earlier on Thursday, Russia warned against an “unprecedentedescalation of tension” around Iran on Thursday ​and urged restraint amid the US military buildup in the region, which a senior American official said should be complete by mid-March.

    THREAT OF WAR

    Trump has ​sent aircraft carriers, warships and jets to the region, raising the prospect of another attack on the Islamic Republic. The United States and Israel bombed Iran’s nuclear facilities and some military sites last June.

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss Iran on February 28, the senior ​US official said.

    Washington wants Iran to entirely give up uranium enrichment, a process used to create fuel for atomic power plants but that can also provide material for a warhead.

    The US and ally Israel also want Iran to give up long-range ballistic missiles, stop supporting groups around the Middle East and stop using force to quell internal protests.

    Iran says it refuses to discuss issues beyond the atomic file, calling efforts to limit its missile arsenal a red line.

    Satellite pictures have tracked both Iranian work to repair and fortify sites since last summer, showing work at both nuclear and missile sites, as well as preparations at US bases across the Middle East over the ⁠past month.

    Iran’s joint exercise with Russia came days into an extended series of Iranian naval drills in the Gulf of Oman, with Iranian state television showing special forces units deployed on helicopters and ships.

    In a sign of growing concern over the increased tensions, Poland on ⁠Thursday became the latest European country to ​urge its citizens to leave Iran, with Prime Minister Donald Tusk saying Poles may only have hours to evacuate.

    Trump began threatening strikes on Iran again in January as Iranian authorities crushed widespread protests with deadly violence that left thousands dead across the country.

    (FRANCE 24 with Reuters)

  • Bill Gates Pulls Out of India AI Summit Amid Renewed Scrutiny Over Epstein Ties

    Bill Gates Pulls Out of India AI Summit Amid Renewed Scrutiny Over Epstein Ties

    Bill Gates withdrew from an artificial intelligence summit in India on Thursday, hours before he was scheduled to deliver a keynote address, as renewed scrutiny over his past ties to Jeffrey Epstein resurfaced.

    “After careful consideration, and to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities, Mr. Gates will not be delivering his keynote address,” the Gates Foundation said in a statement.

    The foundation said it will instead be represented by Ankur Vora, president of its Africa and India offices, who is scheduled to speak later in the day.

    It added that the foundation “remains fully committed” to its health and development work in India.

    The decision follows the release of thousands of documents under the US Epstein Files Transparency Act.

    Earlier this month, the Microsoft co-founder described it as “foolish” to have spent time with Epstein, who was found dead in his New York City jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

    Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida in 2008 and was convicted of procuring a minor for prostitution. Critics have described the sentence he received at the time as a “sweetheart deal.”

    In an interview with 9News Australia, Gates, 70, denied wrongdoing and said he never visited Epstein’s private island, where child abuse and human trafficking were alleged to have taken place.

    “It’s factually true that I was only at dinners. I never went to the island, I never met any women,” Gates said.

    “It just reminds me that every minute I spent with him, I regret, and I apologize I did that,” he added.

    The weeklong summit in New Delhi, inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has drawn representatives from more than 100 countries and is being promoted as the first major global AI gathering in the Global South.

    Technology leaders including Sundar Pichai, Sam Altman and Dario Amodei attended, along with French President Emmanuel Macron, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

  • US Military Prepared To Strike Iran As Early As This Weekend, But Trump has yet to make A Final Call, Sources Say

    US Military Prepared To Strike Iran As Early As This Weekend, But Trump has yet to make A Final Call, Sources Say

    The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend, though President Donald Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether he’ll authorize such actions, sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

    The White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend, after a significant buildup in recent days of air and naval assets in the Middle East, the sources said.

    But one source cautioned that Trump has privately argued both for and against military action and polled advisers and allies on what the best course of action is.

    Top administration national security officials met Wednesday in the White House Situation Room to discuss the situation in Iran, a person familiar with the meeting said.

    Trump was also briefed Wednesday by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, about their indirect talks with Iran that occurred a day earlier. It was not clear if Trump would make a decision by the weekend.

    “He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” one source said.

    The US’s readiness to strike by the weekend was first reported by CBS News.

    Iranian and US negotiators passed notes for three-and-a-half hours Tuesday during indirect talks in Geneva, though they departed with no clear resolution.

    Iran’s top negotiator said both sides had agreed upon a “set of guiding principles,” though an American official said “there are still a lot of details to discuss.”

    White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that Iran was expected to provide more details on its negotiating position “in the next couple of weeks,” but she wouldn’t say whether Trump would hold off on military action within that timespan.

    US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Israel on February 28 to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and update him on the Iran talks, a State Department official told CNN Wednesday.

    “I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the president of the United States,” Leavitt said.

    She added that while “diplomacy is always his first option,” military action remains on the table.

    “There’s many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” she said, adding Trump was relying on counsel from his national security team “first and foremost.”

    The opaque statements have fueled increasing fears of military conflict between the two nations — even as officials ostensibly hold out hope for diplomacy.

    The USS Gerald Ford — the most advanced carrier group in the US arsenal — could arrive in the region as soon as this weekend, after a flurry of other military buildup.

    US Air Force assets based in the United Kingdom, including refueling tankers and fighter jets, are being repositioned closer to the Middle East, according to sources familiar with the movements.

    For its part, Iran is fortifying several of its nuclear facilities, using concrete and large amounts of soil to bury key sites amid US military pressure, according to new satellite imagery and analysis from the Institute for Science and International Security.

    A number of calendar events could play a role in the timing of an attack. The Winter Olympics — traditionally a moment of global unity — conclude on Sunday; some European officials said they believed no strike would occur before then. Meanwhile, Ramadan began Wednesday; some officials from US allies in the Middle East — which have lobbied against an attack, fearing regional destabilization — said an attack during the Muslim holy month would convey American disrespect.

    And Trump is delivering his annual State of the Union address on Tuesday; aides have said it was likely to act as a kickoff for Trump’s midterm year message on domestic issues. It wasn’t clear whether the president was taking any of those events into account as he weighs his options.

    Trump, in his statements on Iran over the past weeks, has done little to gain buy-in from the American public or Congress for a large military operation in the country. He has hinted at a desire for regime change, and insisted Iran not obtain a nuclear weapon, but has not said what precisely his objectives would be in ordering an attack.

  • Israel Prepares For Possible US Green Light To Strike Iran’s Ballistic Missile System: Public Broadcaster

    Israel Prepares For Possible US Green Light To Strike Iran’s Ballistic Missile System: Public Broadcaster

    Israel is preparing for the possibility of receiving a green light from the US to launch an attack on Iran’s ballistic missile system, the Israeli public broadcaster KAN said late Wednesday.

    KAN noted that the scenario of Israel striking Iran’s ballistic missiles comes amid widespread focus on whether US President Donald Trump will order the attack on Iran.

    Israeli security establishment assessments over the past 24 hours indicate a rising likelihood of a US attack on Iran, following the latest round of talks between Washington and Tehran, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

    The daily added that “according to assessments by the security establishment and contrary to Iran’s public statements at the conclusion of the Geneva talks, significant gaps remain that the US is unable to bridge, particularly the demand that Iran abandon uranium enrichment on its own territory.”

    “Given that the negotiations have reached a dead end, Israel expects Trump to resort to the military option within a shorter timeframe than anticipated in recent days,” it said.

    It said that “in Israel, the possibility of the Israeli army taking an active role in fighting Iran is not being ruled out in the event of a US attack.”

    The report noted that there is close coordination between the two countries in the fields of intelligence, information technology, military communications and air defense.

    Oman mediated a round of negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program in Geneva on Tuesday, following a previous round hosted in Muscat on Feb. 6.

    Israeli preparations come as US military deployments in the Middle East continue to increase amid US media reports that the Trump administration is nearing a major military confrontation with Iran, despite ongoing talks between Washington and Tehran.

    According to information circulated by social media accounts that track and analyze flight data, the US has sent a large number of fighter jets, aerial refueling aircraft and Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS)​​ aircraft over the past 48 hours to its bases in Europe and the Middle East.

  • Jesse Jackson, US Civil Rights Leader Dies at 84

    Jesse Jackson, US Civil Rights Leader Dies at 84

    Washington, Feb 17 (Reuters) – Charismatic U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister raised in the segregated South who became a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, has died at age 84, his family said in a statement on Tuesday.

    “Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said.

    Jackson, an inspirational orator and long-time Chicagoan, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2017.

    His death comes at a time when the administration of Donald Trump has targeted U.S. institutions, from museums to monuments to national parks, to remove what the president calls “anti-American” ideology, leading to the dismantling of slavery exhibits, the restoration of Confederate statues and other moves that civil rights advocates say could reverse decades of social progress.

    The media-savvy Jackson advocated for the rights of Black Americans and other marginalized communities dating back to the turbulent civil rights movement of the 1960s spearheaded by his mentor King, a Baptist minister and towering social activist.

    Jackson weathered a spate of controversies but remained America’s preeminent civil rights figure for decades.

    He ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984 and 1988, attracting Black voters and many white liberals in mounting unexpectedly strong campaigns but fell short of becoming the first Black major party White House nominee. Ultimately, he never held elective office.

    Jackson founded the Chicago-based civil rights groups Operation PUSH and the National Rainbow Coalition and served as Democratic President Bill Clinton’s special envoy to Africa in the 1990s. Jackson also was instrumental in securing the release of a number of Americans and others held overseas in places including Syria, Cuba, Iraq and Serbia.

    MESMERIZING ORATORY

    Jackson pursued his political ambitions in the 1980s, relying on his mesmerizing oratory. It was not until fellow Chicagoan Barack Obama’s election as president in 2008 that a Black candidate came as close to securing a major party presidential nomination as Jackson.

    In 1984, Jackson won 3.3 million votes in Democratic nominating contests, about 18% of those cast, and finished third behind eventual nominee Walter Mondale and Gary Hart in the race for the right to face Republican incumbent Ronald Reagan. His candidacy lost momentum after it became public that Jackson had privately called Jewish people “Hymies” and New York “Hymietown.”

    In 1988, Jackson was a more polished and mainstream candidate, coming in a close second in the Democratic race to face Republican George H.W. Bush. Jackson gave eventual Democratic nominee Michael Dukakis a run for his money, winning 11 state primaries and caucuses, including several in the South, and amassing 6.8 million votes in nominating contests, or 29%.

    Jackson cast himself as a barrier-breaker for people of color, the impoverished and the powerless. He electrified the 1988 Democratic convention with a speech telling his life story and calling on Americans to find common ground.

    “America is not a blanket woven from one thread, one color, one cloth,” Jackson told the delegates in Atlanta.

    “Wherever you are tonight, you can make it. Hold your head high, stick your chest out. You can make it. It gets dark sometimes, but the morning comes. Don’t you surrender. Suffering breeds character, character breeds faith. In the end, faith will not disappoint,” Jackson added.

    Jackson announced in 2017 at age 76 that he had been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, a movement disorder marked by trembling, stiffness and poor balance and coordination, after experiencing symptoms for three years.

    SOUTHERN ROOTS

    Born on Oct. 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina, his mother was a 16-year-old high school student and his father was a 33-year-old married man who lived next door. His mother later married another man who adopted Jackson. He grew up amid the Jim Crow era in the United States, the often brutally enforced web of racist laws and practices born in the South to subjugate Black Americans.

    Jackson earned a football scholarship at the University of Illinois, but transferred to a historically Black college because he said he experienced discrimination. He began his civil rights activism while a student at North Carolina Agricultural & Technical College, and was arrested when he sought to enter a “whites-only” public library in South Carolina.

    He attended Chicago Theological Seminary and was ordained a Baptist minister in 1968 despite failing to graduate.

    Jackson became a lieutenant to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr and sometimes traveled with him. On the day King was assassinated by a white man named James Earl Ray on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Jackson was just a floor below. Jackson infuriated some of King’s other associates when he told reporters he had cradled the dying King in his arms and was the last person to whom King spoke, an account they disputed.

    King, who headed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, had installed the energetic Jackson in a leadership role to help create economic opportunities in Black communities.

    Jackson later broke with King’s successor at the SCLC, Ralph Abernathy, and set up his own civil rights organization in Chicago, Operation PUSH, in the early 1970s. In 1984, Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition, whose broader civil rights mission also included women’s rights and gay rights, and the two organizations merged in 1996. He stepped down as the president of Rainbow-PUSH Coalition in 2023 after more than five decades of leadership and activism.

    He met his wife, Jacqueline Brown, during college. They married in 1962 and had five children. His son Jesse Jackson Jr. was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives but resigned and served prison time on a fraud conviction. Jackson also had a daughter out of wedlock in 1999 with a woman who worked at his civil rights groups, which became a scandal.

    Jackson was known for personal diplomacy. After he secured the 1984 release by Syria of U.S. naval aviator Robert Goodman Jr., President Ronald Reagan invited Jackson to the White House and expressed gratitude for the “mission of mercy.” Jackson met in 1990 with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein to gain the release of hundreds of Americans and others after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. He won the 1984 release of dozens of Cuban and American prisoners from Cuban jails and the release of three U.S. airmen held in Serbia in 1999.

    He hosted a weekly show on CNN from 1992 to 2000, pressed corporations for Black economic empowerment, and received the highest U.S. civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Clinton in 2000.

    Jackson continued his activism later in life, condemning the police killing of George Floyd and other Black Americans in 2020 amid the global racial justice movement.

  • The Epstein ‘Switchboard’: New Document Trove Reveals a Financier Who Routed Secrets, Money and Influence Far Beyond His Crimes

    The Epstein ‘Switchboard’: New Document Trove Reveals a Financier Who Routed Secrets, Money and Influence Far Beyond His Crimes

    The Epstein ‘Switchboard’: A New Document Trove Recasts a Disgraced Financier as a Broker of Power

    In death, as in life, Jeffrey Epstein refuses to recede.

    A vast new tranche of federal records released in January has widened the aperture on the financier’s world, revealing not simply a serial sexual predator but a man who, years after his 2008 conviction in Florida, continued to circulate among titans of banking, philanthropy and politics with a fluency that defied public disgrace.

    The files do not allege new crimes.

    Instead, they illuminate the infrastructure of access: donor-advised funds and pandemic-themed investment vehicles conceived long before Covid-19; email exchanges with billionaires and cabinet-level figures; and proposals that straddled the fault lines between public health, financial engineering and political influence.

    Read together, the documents suggest that Epstein functioned less as a solitary deviant than as a kind of switchboard operator for elite networks, routing information, introductions and capital across borders and sectors.

    Among the most striking records is a December 2014 email chain in which Epstein, six years after his plea deal for soliciting a minor, hosted a breakfast for wealthy donors and corresponded with Bill Gates about the meeting’s substance.

    Gates, who has previously described his interactions with Epstein as limited and a matter of regret, shared impressions from the gathering.

    Epstein responded with pointed critiques of philanthropic strategy and offered to help shape subsequent events, even suggesting that Gates and his family visit Little St. James, Epstein’s private island. He referenced Kathryn Ruemmler, then White House counsel, as someone familiar with the setting.

    The tone was not deferential. It was advisory. The world’s most prominent philanthropist appeared to be receiving strategic feedback from a registered sex offender who had retained entrée into rooms where multibillion-dollar giving vehicles were conceived.

    The records also revisit Epstein’s long relationship with JPMorgan Chase, which continued to bank him for years after his conviction.

    Senate inquiries and prior reporting established that the bank processed more than $1 billion in transactions tied to Epstein, even as internal compliance officers raised concerns about suspicious cash withdrawals and transfers that bore the hallmarks of trafficking.

    Newly surfaced planning documents reference a proposal known internally as “Project Molecule,” outlining financing and reinsurance strategies linked to biological events — an eerie echo of pandemic-era financial engineering that would later define global markets.

    The bank has previously said it regrets its association with Epstein and has settled civil litigation related to the relationship.

    Across the Atlantic, the files deepen scrutiny of political intermediaries. Correspondence and contemporaneous reporting detail instances in which sensitive British Treasury materials — including notes on the Volcker Rule and Dodd-Frank deliberations — were forwarded to Epstein shortly after receipt.

    Among those drawn into renewed controversy is Peter Mandelson, a former cabinet minister whose contacts with Epstein have been examined by British authorities.

    Mandelson has denied wrongdoing, but questions have persisted about why a convicted sex offender remained a conduit for high-level policy intelligence.

    The name of Keir Starmer, now Britain’s prime minister, surfaces in the political fallout rather than the emails themselves.

    Starmer has condemned Epstein’s crimes and expressed sympathy for victims, yet his past proximity to figures who interacted with the financier has become fodder for opponents demanding fuller transparency.

    To be clear, federal investigators have repeatedly stated that while evidence of Epstein’s sexual abuse of underage girls was overwhelming, they found little proof that he operated a blackmail ring on behalf of powerful clients.

    No additional high-profile figures have been charged in connection with his trafficking offenses. Epstein’s 2019 death at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan was ruled a suicide, though public skepticism has never fully abated.

    That skepticism has been amplified by lingering questions about Epstein’s apparent immunity from social exile.

    After serving 13 months in a work-release arrangement widely criticized as lenient, he rebuilt his Rolodex with astonishing speed. He met scientists, economists and political strategists. He seeded academic projects.

    He positioned himself as an interlocutor between billionaires and policymakers. Even as civil suits mounted and investigative reporters documented allegations of abuse, doors remained open.

    The newly released records do not prove that Epstein orchestrated global crises or controlled governments. They do, however, reveal how porous the boundaries were between disgrace and influence.

    A man whose name had become synonymous with exploitation was still exchanging policy views, advising on philanthropic architecture and cultivating relationships at the highest levels of finance.

    This is the enduring disquiet of the Epstein affair. It is not only about who flew on which plane or attended which dinner. It is about the mechanics of power: how donor-advised funds can obscure capital flows; how private briefings migrate into private inboxes; how reputational risk can be outweighed by access to wealth and connections.

    Epstein once presented himself as a financial savant with an eye for macroeconomic inflection points. The documents instead depict a social engineer who understood that proximity is currency.

    He trafficked in introductions as much as in money. He recognized that crises — financial, epidemiological, political — create demand for intermediaries who claim to see around corners.

    Six years after his death, the switchboard he manned is gone.

    But the circuitry — the quiet pathways between philanthropy, finance and governance — remains intact.

    The January release does not close the Epstein chapter. It reframes it, shifting the focus from a single criminal to the ecosystem that sustained him long after the world knew who he was.

  • Obama Slams Trump Over “Racist” Post

    Obama Slams Trump Over “Racist” Post

    Former President Barack Obama has broken his silence on the current state of American politics, sharply criticising a “loss of shame” and decorum in the nation’s discourse.

    In a wide-ranging podcast interview with Brian Tyler Cohen, Obama responded to a recent controversy involving a video shared on Donald Trump’s Truth Social account.

    The video, which promoted election conspiracies, featured a racist depiction of the former president and First Lady Michelle Obama with their faces placed on the bodies of monkeys.

    Obama described the current political environment as a “clown show” driven by social media and television, lamenting that the sense of propriety once expected of public officials has evaporated.

    While the Trump campaign eventually removed the video and blamed a staff error, Obama noted that the “devolution of discourse” into such levels of cruelty is deeply troubling to the majority of Americans.

    He predicted that this shift toward inflammatory messaging would ultimately hurt the Republican Party at the ballot box during the upcoming midterm elections.

    The interview also touched on the Trump administration’s recent immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

    Obama did not hold back, comparing the tactics used by federal agents to those found in authoritarian dictatorships.

    He specifically referenced “rogue behaviour” and two fatal shootings that occurred during the weeks-long operation, which involved thousands of ICE agents.

    Obama stated that such systematic aggression by the federal government against residents is dangerous and contradicts American values.

    Despite his grim assessment of the political climate, Obama expressed hope in the resilience of ordinary citizens.

    He praised the demonstrators in Minnesota who stood in sub-zero temperatures to peacefully oppose the raids, calling their organised resistance a “heroic” defence of the America they believe in.

    These comments come at a time of intense legislative gridlock, as a partial government shutdown continues over a funding dispute regarding the Department of Homeland Security’s enforcement methods.

  • FBI Investigates Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Husband’s Sh3.8 Billion Businesses in Kenya, Somalia and Dubai

    FBI Investigates Congresswoman Ilhan Omar’s Husband’s Sh3.8 Billion Businesses in Kenya, Somalia and Dubai

    Washington DC | Friday February 14 2026

    A congressional investigation into US Representative Ilhan Omar’s husband has taken a dramatic international turn, with American lawmakers demanding documents related to mysterious business dealings spanning Kenya, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates.

    House Oversight Chairman James Comer has written to Tim Mynett, the Somalia-born congresswoman’s husband, demanding he surrender all records of travel and business communications linked to the three countries by February 19.

    The probe has intensified following revelations that Omar’s family wealth exploded from a modest Sh6.6 million to a staggering Sh3.9 billion in just one year, according to federal financial disclosure documents filed in 2024.

    At the centre of the controversy is Rose Lake Capital, an investment firm co-owned by Mynett that claims to specialise in global opportunities. The firm had explored ambitious plans to build solar panel installations across Africa, with particular interest in Somalia and Kenya, according to documents obtained by investigators.

    Business records show that Mynett’s partner, William Hailer, received a Sh1.4 million airline ticket to Dubai for discussions about a potential deal in the Emirates. The nature of that deal remains unclear, as Rose Lake Capital has recently scrubbed its website of key information, including the names of its officers and advisors.

    The international scope of the investigation marks a significant escalation in what began as scrutiny of Mynett’s domestic business ventures. Comer’s February 5 letter specifically requests documentation of all travel to Kenya, Somalia and the United Arab Emirates, including dates, travellers and stated purposes.

    “She needs to explain to the American people how her net worth went from zero to Sh1.3 billion in one year, and explain why the Biden Department of Justice was investigating her husband’s financial activities over the course of that year, where her net worth ballooned up,” Comer said in a television interview Wednesday night.

    The probe extends beyond Rose Lake Capital to include eStCru, a California winery that Mynett co-owns with Hailer. That business has become the subject of intense scrutiny after its reported valuation skyrocketed from Sh2 million to Sh650 million in 12 months, despite having no visible operations, no active telephone lines and virtually no online presence.

    Multiple investors have already sued Mynett and Hailer over the winery venture. In one case, a Washington DC restaurant owner named Naeem Mohd claims he invested Sh39 million after being promised a 200 per cent return within 18 months. The lawsuit alleges the pair fraudulently misrepresented the winery as a legitimate business.

    Another lawsuit involving a cannabis investment saw Hailer settle for Sh156 million in August 2024 after investors claimed he promised to raise Sh975 million but instead allegedly misappropriated their Sh460 million investment.

    House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband Tim Mynett (r) hand over any information about his company Rose Lake Capital LLC’s business in Nigeria, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates.
    House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) demanded Rep. Ilhan Omar’s husband Tim Mynett (r) hand over any information about his company Rose Lake Capital LLC’s business in Nigeria, Somalia, and the United Arab Emirates.

    The connection to East Africa is particularly sensitive given Omar’s Somali heritage and her district’s large Somali-American population in Minnesota. That same district has been rocked by what authorities describe as a multi-billion shilling social services fraud scandal involving members of the Somali community.

    Former political operatives who worked with Mynett and Hailer describe them as well-connected Democratic Party insiders who previously ran E Street Group, a political consulting firm that received nearly Sh390 million from Omar’s congressional campaigns alone.

    The FBI and Department of Justice opened their own investigation into Omar’s finances in 2024, examining her campaign spending and interactions with foreign citizens, though that probe appears to have stalled without charges being filed.

    Omar’s spokesperson, Jackie Rogers, has dismissed the congressional investigation as a “political stunt” and “smear campaign,” insisting the reported valuations reflect full company assessments rather than Mynett’s individual stake.

    Comer has now referred the matter to the House Ethics Committee, whose members say they are better positioned to investigate sitting members of Congress. Republican lawmakers have vowed to pursue subpoenas if Mynett fails to comply with document requests.

    The deadline for Mynett’s response passed on Wednesday with no public indication he has turned over the requested materials. His attorneys have not responded to requests for comment.

    President Donald Trump has publicly called for Omar to face criminal charges, claiming without evidence that she is connected to what he alleges is Sh2.5 trillion in Minnesota welfare fraud, though he has provided no proof to support the astronomical figure.

    As investigators piece together the puzzle of how a struggling political consultant amassed a fortune seemingly overnight, the trail now leads from California vineyards to solar ventures in the Horn of Africa, and onwards to the gleaming towers of Dubai.

    Whether that trail reveals legitimate business success or something more sinister remains to be seen, but lawmakers have made clear they intend to follow the money wherever it leads.

  • Steve Bannon Courted Epstein In His Efforts To ‘Take Down’ Pope Francis

    Steve Bannon Courted Epstein In His Efforts To ‘Take Down’ Pope Francis

    Steve Bannon, a former White House adviser to US President Donald Trump, discussed opposition strategies with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein against Pope Francis, with Bannon saying he hoped to “take down” the pontiff, according to newly released files from the US Department of Justice.

    Messages sent between the pair in 2019, released in the massive document dump last month, reveal Bannon courted the late financier in his attempts to undermine the former pontiff after leaving the first Trump administration.

    Bannon had been highly critical of Francis whom he saw as an opponent to his “sovereigntist” vision, a brand of nationalist populism which swept through Europe in 2018 and 2019. The released documents from the DOJ appear to show that Epstein had been helping Bannon to build his movement.

    “Will take down (Pope) Francis,” Bannon wrote to Epstein in June 2019. “The Clintons, Xi, Francis, EU – come on brother.”

    Pope Francis was a significant obstacle to Bannon’s brand of nationalist populism. In 2018, the former Trump aide described Francis to The Spectator as “beneath contempt,” accusing him of siding with “globalist elites” and, according to “SourceMaterial,” urged Matteo Salvini, now Italy’s deputy prime minister, to “attack” the pontiff. For his part, Salvini has used Christian iconography and language when pursuing his anti-immigrant agenda.

    Rome and the Vatican have been important for Bannon. He set up a Rome bureau when he ran Breitbart News and has been involved in trying to establish a political training “gladiator school” to defend Judaeo-Christian values not far from the Eternal City.

    Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon talks with Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, before speaking at Atreju 2018, a conference of right wing activists, as aids block cameras from viewing through the bushes behind on September 22, 2018 in Rome, Italy. Meloni, known for her conservative ideals, is now prime minister of Italy. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
    Former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon talks with Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy, before speaking at Atreju 2018, a conference of right wing activists, as aids block cameras from viewing through the bushes behind on September 22, 2018 in Rome, Italy. Meloni, known for her conservative ideals, is now prime minister of Italy. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images

    Francis, meanwhile, was a counterweight to the Trumpian worldview, strongly critiquing nationalism and making advocacy for migrants a hallmark of his pontificate.

    The recently released DOJ files reveal Bannon messaged Epstein on several occasions in his efforts to undermine the late pope.

    In his messages with Epstein, Bannon references “In the Closet of the Vatican,” a 2019 book by French journalist Frédéric Martel that lifted a lid on secrecy and hypocrisy at high levels of the church. Martel created a storm with his book by claiming 80% of the clergy working in the Vatican are gay, while exploring how they keep their sexuality secret.

    The whole question of homosexuality in the church has been a lightning rod for some conservatives, who see it as evidence of a deeper, systemic crisis in the church, with some linking it to the wider sexual abuse scandals. Most experts and researchers view any conflating of sexual orientation with abuse as scientifically inaccurate.

    Bannon showed an interest in turning Martel’s book into a film after meeting the author in Paris at a five-star hotel. In the messages, Bannon appears to suggest that Epstein could be the film’s executive producer. “You are now exec producer of ‘ITCOTV’ (In the closet of the Vatican),” Bannon wrote.

    It is not clear how serious the proposal from Bannon to Epstein was, and, in the exchange, Epstein doesn’t mention the offer and asks about Bannon filming Noam Chomsky, the philosopher and public intellectual. Martel said when he met Bannon at the Hotel Le Bristol he told him that he could not agree to any film deal as his publishers controlled the film rights and had already signed a deal with another corporation. He told CNN that he thinks Bannon wanted to “instrumentalize” the book in his efforts against Pope Francis.

    The Epstein files show Epstein, on April 1, 2019, emailed himself “in the closet of the vatican,” and later sent Bannon an article titled “Pope Francis or Steve Bannon? Catholics must choose” to which Bannon replies “easy choice.”

    Austen Ivereigh, a biographer of the late pope, said Bannon thought he could use Martel’s book to embarrass and damage Pope Francis, while claiming to “purify” the church. “I think he badly misjudged the nature of the book – and Pope Francis,” Ivereigh told CNN.

    Yet, as it now turns out, it appears that Bannon was messaging Epstein several years after his 2008 conviction for child sex offenses and just before he was arrested for the sex trafficking of minors.

    Rev. Antonio Spadaro, a Vatican official who collaborated closely with Pope Francis, told CNN Bannon’s messages show a desire to fuse “spiritual authority with political power for strategic ends.”

    The late pope, Spadaro explains, resisted such a link: “What those messages reveal is not merely hostility toward a pontiff, but a deeper attempt to instrumentalize faith as a weapon – precisely the temptation he sought to disarm.”

    The period of 2018 to 2019 saw intense opposition to Francis, which culminated in an August 2018 dossier released by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the former papal ambassador to the US, accusing him of failing to deal with abuse committed by Cardinal Theodore McCarrick. A Vatican inquiry later cleared Francis.

    But Bannon’s desire to make a film out of Martel’s book saw him lose an ally in the Vatican. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a prominent conservative critic of Francis, said: “I am not at all of the mind that the book should be made into a film.”

    Burke was also portrayed in an unflattering way in Martel’s book. Burke’s split with Bannon came when he cut ties with Dignitatis Humanae, a conservative institute founded by Benjamin Harnwell, a British political adviser and a close associate of Bannon’s based in Italy.

    Harnwell had been working with Bannon to set up an academy to train nationalist-populist leaders in an 800-year-old former monastery called “Certosa di Trisulti” in the province of Frosinone, 47 miles south-east of Rome. Harnwell is engaged in an ongoing legal battle with Italy’s culture ministry over the monastery’s conversion, with a hearing taking place on February 11.

    In 2019, the Italian government revoked a lease given to Harnwell’s institute for the monastery, stating irregularities, non-payments and misrepresentations by Harnwell. In 2024, however, a Roman court cleared him, and he is seeking to win back the lease.

    The Epstein files also reveal that Bannon forwarded an email to Epstein in July 2018 with an article from Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” headlined “Bannon the European: He’s opening the populist fort in Brussels.” Bannon was forwarding an English translation of the article, which had originally been sent by Harnwell.

    Harnwell told CNN that Epstein was “not involved in Trisulti.”

    Elsewhere in the files, Epstein jokes with his brother, Mark, about inviting Pope Francis to his residence for a “massage” during the US papal visit in 2015. Three years later, he messages Bannon to say he’s trying to “organize a trip for the pope to the Midde East,” adding “headline – tolerance.”

    When Bannon shares with Epstein an article about the Vatican condemning “populist nationalism,” Epstein quotes John Milton’s biblical poem “Paradise Lost,” when Satan has been cast out of heaven.

    “Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven,” Epstein tells Bannon.

    CNN has contacted a representative of Bannon for comment. Trump has consistently denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein or any allegation of sexual misconduct.

  • US Used Anthropic’s Claude During The Venezuela Raid, WSJ Reports

    US Used Anthropic’s Claude During The Venezuela Raid, WSJ Reports

    Feb 13 (Reuters) – Anthropic’s artificial-intelligence model Claude was used in the U.S. military’s operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

    Claude’s deployment came via Anthropic’s partnership with data firm Palantir Technologies, whose platforms are widely used by the Defense Department and federal law enforcement, the report added.

    Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The U.S. Defense Department, the White House, Anthropic and Palantir did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.

    The Pentagon is pushing top AI companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, to make their artificial-intelligence tools available on classified networkswithout many of the standard restrictions that the firms apply to users, Reuters exclusively reported on Wednesday.

    Many AI companies are building custom tools for the U.S. military, most of which are available only on unclassified networks typically used for military administration. Anthropic is the only one that is available in classified settings through third parties, but the government is still bound by the company’s usage policies.

    The usage policies of Anthropic, which raised $30 billion in its latest funding round and is now valued at $380 billion, forbid using Claude to support violence, design weapons or carry out surveillance.

    The United States captured President Nicolas Maduro in an audacious raid and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges early in January.

  • Ghislaine Maxwell Won’t Answer Questions During Congressional Deposition, Lawmaker Says

    Ghislaine Maxwell Won’t Answer Questions During Congressional Deposition, Lawmaker Says

    Feb 8 (Reuters) – Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell intends to refuse to answer questions at a Monday deposition before the House’s Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to a

    Sunday letter, opens new tabfrom U.S. Representative Ro Khanna.

    Maxwell, who was found guilty in 2021 for her role in helping Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence, plans to invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination and decline to answer all substantive questions, according to Khanna’s letter to Representative James Comer, the committee chair.

    Maxwell’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Sunday.

    Instead of answering individual questions, Maxwell plans to read a prepared statement at the beginning of her deposition, Khanna, who serves on the committee, said without detailing the source of his information.

    “This position appears inconsistent with Ms. Maxwell’s prior conduct, as she did not invoke the Fifth Amendment when she previously met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche to discuss substantially similar subject matter,” Khana, a California Democrat, wrote in his letter seeking clarification on her testimony.

    Maxwell’s deposition comes as the U.S. Department of Justice has released of millions of internal documents related to Epstein.