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Black has repeatedly denied wrongdoing and said he did not know of Epstein’s criminal activitiesMore than a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse praised the House oversight committee for unanimously voting to recommend that billionaire investor Leon Black be held in contempt for refusing to comply with subpoenas by the panel seeking his testimony and nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) as part of its investigation into Epstein.“We commend Chairman Comer for showing real resolve in pursuing accountability in the Epstein investigation,” the survivors said in a statement. They said that the 41-0 vote sends a “clear message that wealth and influence do not put anyone beyond the reach of congressional oversight”. Continue reading...

Democrats are targeting Trump’s relationship with Epstein as part of strategy ahead of midterm electionsJames Talarico, the Democratic candidate for Senate in Texas, accused his rival Ken Paxton of “ignoring” survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual abuse, as Democrats seek to increase pressure on Republicans ahead of November’s midterm elections.Speaking in Dallas, where Republicans are holding a midterm convention this week, Talarico appeared alongside one of Epstein’s victims at an exhibit that featured about 3.5m pages of Department of Justice’s files related to Epstein. Continue reading...

Indigenous Australians forcibly removed under government policies more likely to have severe or profound disability, report findsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe tens of thousands of Indigenous Australians and their descendents who were forcibly removed under government assimilation policies have far greater physical and health challenges when compared to the wider Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, according to a new report.The report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) was commissioned by peak advocacy body the Healing Foundation, which supports Stolen Generations survivors and their families, and builds on existing data released in 2023. Continue reading...

Wildfire victims rebuilt their homes in Lahaina only to find USPS had ‘eliminated’ their addresses – while houses that didn’t burn receive mail as normalTwo months after a devastating wildfire whipped through Lahaina in August 2023, Pam Reader was allowed back to see what was left of her home. With a heavy heart, she returned to the Hawaiian oceanside town now filled with endless blocks of burned houses. As she rounded her corner, she saw the only thing remaining was her bright turquoise mailbox.“It was an old crappy mailbox,” Reader said. “It was metal, though, which is why I think it survived.” Continue reading...

Helen Paterson’s work on advancing how police and courts understand memory is recognised in prestigious Eureka prizesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMemory is an imperfect thing: research shows that recollections of single events – a purse being snatched, say – differ to those about repeated or ongoing events, such as incidents of domestic and family violence.“What our research shows is that compared to a single-event witness, a repeated-event witness tends to report more gist-like details, the overall details of what typically would happen, and the things that remain constant between the episodes,” said Helen Paterson, an associate professor in forensic psychology at the University of Sydney. Continue reading...

Black called on to comply with subpoenas and appear as required to clarify connections to convicted sex offenderMore than a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have called on the billionaire Leon Black to appear before the House oversight committee in order to clarify his connections to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.In a letter released on Wednesday, the survivors urged Black to comply with congressional subpoenas ahead of Thursday’s deposition before the House oversight committee. Continue reading...

The walls of a teaching hospital are filled with pictures of unidentified victims as authorities collect DNA samples and plan burials before morgues fill upFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastSome of them are young, some old; most of them appear to be men. Some of them could be sleeping, except for the mud that covers their bodies. Some, it seems, would be impossible to recognise even if you knew them well.Every few hours Nepalese authorities hang pictures of the deceased, who have not been identified, on a wall at the back of a teaching hospital in Kathmandu. Continue reading...

Family members pin photos of Nepal’s missing to hospital wall as people try not to give up hope on loved onesNepal-Tibet flash flood – latest updatesPosters of the missing line the wall of the hospital, the glue still fresh beneath. A schoolgirl smiling in her uniform; a beaming, chubby-cheeked baby; a couple smiling on their wedding day; a young man, hands on hips, atop a mountain peak; a young girl with flowing hair, peaking out from behind a door.These are faces of Nepal’s missing, just a fraction of the thousands who have not been seen since deadly flash floods coursed through the Himalayas and wiped away entire villages. By Saturday morning, the toll of the missing had risen to almost 3,000, in both Nepal and Tibet. Continue reading...

Nearly 600 days after the devastating 2025 fires, thousands of Los Angeles residents are still waiting for more than $15bn in federal funds to rebuild their communities As thousands of residents in Spokane, Washington begin to grapple with a long recovery after a destructive set of blazes that consumed hundreds of homes in the state’s second most populated city this month, victims of the Los Angeles firestorm broke a grim record – they have faced the longest delay in modern history for federal aid.Nearly 600 days since a historic firestorm roared into communities across Los Angeles, reducing more than 16,000 structures to ash and toxic debris, the Trump administration has failed to appropriate more than $15bn in long-term recovery funds that are crucial to rebuilding. The delay in supplying the badly needed funds is months longer than the last record set when victims of the Maui fires had to wait 500 days to receive the support, LAist noted this week. Continue reading...

The catastrophic flash flood has killed at least 389 people and left more than 1,300 missing, with hundreds of tourists unaccounted forNearly 1,400 missing, mostly tourists, and hundreds killedVisual guide: how the deadly flooding unfoldedTell us: have you been affected by the flash floods?Chinese authorities have warned that an artificial lake formed after a catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday faces a “high risk of breaching and sending flood waters downstream”, according to state media.“According to forecasts, inflows into the lake could reach about 3 million cubic meters over the next three days amid continued rainfall, increasing the risk of a breach that could send flood waters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream”, state news agency Xinhua reported late Thursday.Rescue teams and military helicopters are searching for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-Tibet border after a huge torrent of water and mud swept through communities following a glacier collapse on Wednesday.More than 390 people were killed, authorities in Nepal and China said, and more than 1,400 were missing, including hundreds of foreign citizens and pilgrims.More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism ⁠officials said. Among those unaccounted for were 177 from India, 90 from the US, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals.UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he ordered the release of $2m from the UN’s central emergency response fund to help with medical care, shelter and water.US president Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, describing how “strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks”.Nepalese officials said dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 40km of roads damaged, complicating search efforts.The Nepalese army had rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, an army spokesperson said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he said.Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.Rescuers found bodies in Nepal’s Chitwan district, hundreds of kilometres downstream from the hardest-hit areas.The Nepal Red Cross Society said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations in the flood-hit districts.China’s premier, Li Qiang, arrived on Thursday in Gyirong to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel. Continue reading...

Campaigners accuse ministers of trying to grab headlines with announcement before a working system is readySurvivors of violent crime and families of victims have criticised the UK government for announcing “world first” plans to introduce restriction zones for serious offenders freed from prison within a few weeks without spelling out how they would work.Key campaigners who have championed the idea of the zones, designed to “lock” offenders into specific areas, accused the government of seeking to grab headlines rather than providing the detail that would reassure survivors and families. Continue reading...

Girl who was shot four times in shooting spree that left six dead, including gunman, called 911 to say she had been shotA 13-year-old girl in Michigan survived being shot four times in a shooting spree that left six people dead – including the suspected attacker – and called emergency help herself shortly before investigators identified the gunman, according to a state police official and her family.Those actions made the teen a “hero”, said a relative of hers as well as two of the dead victims.The Associated Press contributed Continue reading...

Searchers dig through collapsed buildings and debris after 7.7 magnitude quake killed at least 47 peopleRescue crews dug through collapsed buildings and landslide debris in eastern Indonesia on Sunday as they searched for bodies and possible survivors a day after a powerful earthquake killed at least 47 people, injured more than 100 and displaced thousands.At least 24 people died in Manggarai regency and 17 in neighbouring East Manggarai, with additional fatalities reported in Sikka, Ngada and Ende regencies, the national disaster management agency said. Rescuers were still searching for people feared buried beneath landslides triggered by the quake across six regencies on Flores, a predominantly Catholic island in Muslim-majority Indonesia. Continue reading...

• German politicians and campaigners are calling for stronger legal protections for cancer survivors to prevent discrimination in critical life areas. • Survivors report facing systemic barriers when attempting to secure bank loans, apply for child adoption, and obtain insurance policies. • Susanne Weg-Remers of the German Cancer Research Centre in Heidelberg noted that the risk of developing new tumors in other organs is not significantly higher than in the general population.

Campaigners say people who have had cancer face discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insuranceGerman politicians who have survived cancer have spearheaded proposals to protect people long in remission from what they call rampant discrimination in areas including bank loans, adoption of children and insurance.The policy known as “the right to be forgotten” (RTBF) is a central demand of a community estimated to number 5.5 million people in Germany: former cancer patients who have been given a clean bill of health by their doctors. Continue reading...

Decision comes after group of survivors claimed ex-Harrods owner’s associates must have helped facilitate his crimesAt least five victims of the former Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed have been confirmed by the Home Office as victims of human trafficking.A group of survivors of abuse by the deceased businessman had called for the Metropolitan police to make trafficking the main focus of its investigation, arguing that Fayed could not have committed his offences without a steady stream of women sent to him by associates. Continue reading...

Committee apologises for not concealing email addresses when alerting witnesses to final reportGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA Victorian parliamentary committee investigating the harmful impact of cults accidentally sent the email addresses of anonymous survivors who made submissions to current members of such groups and to journalists.The committee, which had its report into “cults and organised fringe groups” tabled in parliament on Wednesday, emailed hundreds of recipients shortly after midday to inform them it had been published, but erroneously left their addresses visible. Continue reading...

Emergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake ‘Race against time’: Japan earthquake death toll rises as rescue teams search for missingEmergency workers are continuing their search for survivors in southern Japan after yesterday’s powerful earthquake left widespread devastation, with buildings collapsed, roads severely damaged and emergency teams digging through rubble.At least 13 people have been killed and many reported missing after the earthquake struck the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu with a magnitude of 7.1, according to the Japan meteorological agency. The US Geological Survey measured it at magnitude 6.8. Continue reading...

Lawyers predict ‘more suppression and no active investigations’ but victims’ groups determined to continue fightAs Donald Trump’s former defense lawyer Todd Blanche appears poised for confirmation as attorney general, numerous Jeffrey Epstein survivors have sounded the alarm that a US justice department helmed by him would derail their pursuit of justice.In a letter urging Republican senators Thom Tillis and John Cornyn to reject his nomination, these survivors said that Blanche’s handling of the Epstein case as acting attorney general was characterized by misstep after misstep. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Report from LNP-convened panel heavily criticises police responses to family violence and calls for civilian oversightGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe Queensland government has buried the findings of its own working group of domestic violence victim-survivors, after their report was heavily critical of police responses and called for a “civilian review mechanism” to escalate complaints about police.The Liberal National government has repeatedly said it would “put victims at the heart” of the state’s justice policies. Continue reading...

George Foster tells royal commission Australia’s democratic institutions fundamentally different ‘but I can’t ignore certain disturbing parallels in the social atmosphere’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA rise in antisemitism across Australia has “disturbing parallels” with the social climate of Nazi Germany, the president of the Australian Holocaust survivors association says.George Foster, the president of Australian Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, told the antisemitism royal commission that he did not believe Australia was “becoming another Germany in the 1930s”. Continue reading...

Catholic order with a record of child abuse could be subject to hundreds of redress claims worth up to $65mFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAustralian taxpayers could be forced to cover up to $65m in payouts to hundreds of abuse victims when a failing arm of the Catholic church disappears, new court documents reveal.Last month, the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order with a shocking record of child abuse, informed a court it was going broke and would not be able to afford to pay out survivors. Continue reading...

Lillard, of Oklahoma, contracted polio when she was five and slept inside cylindrical metal device to help her breatheThe last known US person living with polio and relying on an iron lung has died aged 78.Martha Lillard, who contracted polio at age five and spent most of her life dependent on an iron lung machine that helped her breathe, died on 26 June in Oklahoma, according to an online obituary. Continue reading...

Zoe Watts and Amanda Stanhope launched network after being repeatedly assaulted by partners while unconsciousTwo women who were drugged and raped by their partners while they were unconscious have said hundreds of people – including about 80 in the UK alone – have come forward to a support group for victims of the crime.Zoe Watts and Amanda Stanhope, who were both repeatedly assaulted by their partners while unconscious, are calling for tighter laws to stop men sharing images and videos of sexual assaults and rape online. Continue reading...

‘Obviously disturbing’ if Catholic order’s historical sales of millions in property for $1 results in lack of money for victims, NSW supreme court hearsFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastLawyers for the federal government say they are concerned at the “disturbing” potential that the Christian Brothers Catholic order may have inappropriately transferred property to another entity years before claiming it was broke and couldn’t afford to pay abuse survivors’ civil claims.The New South Wales supreme court on Thursday ordered a moratorium on all abuse claims against the Christian Brothers, a Catholic order that played a significant role in the church’s child sexual abuse scandal. Continue reading...

Order wants to set up its own scheme outside of court to pay survivors, who have been told they will not get what they are owed in fullGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastAn abuse survivor feels as if he has been stabbed with a “sharp, long, bladed knife to the back” after his trial was aborted at the 11th hour due to an unprecedented legal tactic by the Christian Brothers.Last week, the Christian Brothers sought a permanent halt to hundreds of cases lodged by survivors of abuse at its schools and orphanages, arguing it was about to go broke and could not afford to meet them. Continue reading...

At least 1,450 are known to have died but the number is expected to riseThe president of Venezuela’s National Assembly has warned time is running out to rescue survivors trapped under the rubble.The death toll from the earthquakes has risen to at least 1,450 people, with 3,150 injured and 12,721 others displaced, Jorge Rodríguez said yesterday in a televised address. Continue reading...

• Descendants of civil rights activists, including Cassie Schwerner of the Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility, are warning that the U.S. is regressing in its commitment to voting rights. • The concern centers on the erosion of protections for voters, specifically citing a 2013 Supreme Court decision that removed the requirement for certain jurisdictions to seek Department of Justice approval before changing voting laws. • This shift is viewed as a betrayal of the sacrifices made by those who died fighting for the landmark Voting Rights Act as the nation nears its 250th anniversary.