‘Moscow has girls’: Inside Epstein’s network from Palm Beach to the Kremlin

In his quest to build out an elite global network and satisfy his insatiable desire to procure women and girls to sexually abuse, Jeffrey Epstein often turned to Russia and its neighboring countries.

He built relationships with leading political and business figures from the region, including a top Russian diplomat, a Russian deputy minister and businessmen who built their fortunes in post-Soviet Eurasia, according to millions of pages of records related to the disgraced financier released recently by the U.S. Justice Department.

The records don’t show that any of the business people from the region that Epstein tried to cozy up to engaged in any of the financier’s illicit activities.

At the same time, he lured women and girls from Eastern Europe and Central Asia into his trafficking network. He thought little of his victims beyond sexual objects to be traded across borders, once characterizing them as the “best export” of those countries. “Saudi has oil,” Epstein wrote. “Moscow has girls.”

—Miami Herald

Pentagon believes US struck Iran girls elementary school, killing 150

Pentagon investigators believe U.S. forces carried out a devastating airstrike that destroyed a Iranian girls elementary school last Saturday, killing more than 150 people in the deadliest single attack of the weeklong war, according to a new published report.

An initial assessment suggests U.S. forces were to blame for the deadly strike in the southern Iran town of Minab, echoing the previous claims of Iranian officials, Reuters reported, citing two Pentagon officials.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brushed off questions about the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls school, saying the incident is still under investigation, without offering a time frame for completing the probe.

He said the U.S. does not deliberately target schools or other civilian targets. “All I can say is we’re investigating that,” Hegseth said Thursday. “We, of course, never target civilian targets, but we’re taking a look and investigating that.”

—New York Daily News

Washington ‘millionaires tax’ headed for passage as Gov. Bob Ferguson says he’ll sign it

SEATTLE — Washington’s proposed new income tax for people earning more than $1 million a year appears headed for passage, with Gov. Bob Ferguson saying he’ll sign the latest version of the measure proposed by legislative Democrats.

Ferguson and Democratic leaders had been haggling over details of the proposal, with disagreements over how much of the tax should be given back to people in tax breaks.

In a statement Friday, Ferguson praised changes in the proposal — which supporters have dubbed a “millionaires tax” — that would expand tax breaks for some families and businesses.

The new version of the bill, made public by House Democrats on Friday morning, also says the Legislature will use some of the roughly $4 billion a year the tax is projected to bring in to pay for free school breakfast and lunch for all children in K-12 schools.

—The Seattle Times

Pakistan rules out talks with Afghanistan as clashes continue

Pakistan won’t begin talks to end clashes with Afghanistan until Kabul stops supporting and harboring militant groups that launch cross-border attacks from its territory, a spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said.

“There won’t be any talks,” Sharif’s spokesperson for foreign media Mosharraf Zaidi told state-run Pakistan Television on Thursday night. “Terrorism from Afghanistan has to end.”

Mosharraf reiterated a stance taken by Pakistan’s top leaders including the powerful army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, in the past week when a new wave of attacks killed dozens of soldiers from both sides. Kabul, which denies hosting or supporting militants, called for talks last week to end clashes.

The violence risks further destabilizing a region where the U.S., China and India all have significant interests, now compounded by fallout from the U.S. attack on Iran.

—Bloomberg News