WASHINGTON: The US Justice Department has begun releasing a long-awaited cache of records from its investigations into the politically explosive case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — though much of the material remained heavily redacted.

Among the trove released Friday are numerous photographs depicting former Democratic president Bill Clinton and other luminaries, including Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson, in Epstein’s social circle.

The sweeping blackouts across many of the documents – combined with tight control over the release by officials in President Donald Trump’s administration – stoked skepticism over whether this disclosure will silence conspiracy theories of a high-level cover-up.

In one example, a 119-page document labeled “Grand Jury-NY” is entirely redacted. Also, seven pages listing 254 masseuses have every name buried beneath thick black bars alongside the note, “redacted to protect potential victim information.”

Even so, the files shed some light on the disgraced financier’s intimate ties to the rich, famous and powerful – Trump, once a close friend, among them.

At least one file contains dozens of censored images of naked or scantily clad figures. Others show Epstein and companions, their faces obscured, posing with firearms.

Previously unseen photographs include Maxwell with disgraced former prince Andrew, pictured lying across the legs of five people.

Another photo shows a youthful-looking Clinton lounging in a hot tub, part of the image blacked out.

In another, Clinton swims alongside a dark-haired woman who appears to be Epstein’s accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

A ‘fraction’ of the evidence 

The White House wasted no time seizing on Clinton’s appearances.

“Slick Willy! @BillClinton just chillin, without a care in the world. Little did he know…” Communications Director Steven Cheung posted on X.

Clinton’s spokesman Angel Urena responded to the newly released files by saying the country “expects answers, not scapegoats.”

“The White House hasn’t been hiding these files for months only to dump them late on a Friday to protect Bill Clinton. This is about shielding themselves,” Urena wrote on X.

Democrats – and a handful of Republicans – voiced frustration that the release fell far short of what was mandated by the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Republican congressman Thomas Massie, who has long pushed for the release, said it “grossly fails to comply with both the spirit and the letter of the law.”

That law required the government’s entire case file to be posted publicly by Friday, constrained only by legal and victim privacy concerns.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would “pursue every option to make sure the truth comes out.”

Trump spent months trying to block the disclosure of the files linked to Epstein, who died in a New York jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges.

The Republican president ultimately bowed to mounting pressure from Congress – including members of his own party – and last month signed the law compelling publication of the materials by Friday.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledged in a letter to Congress that the Friday release was incomplete, and that the Justice Department would complete production of files in the coming weeks.

Prosecutors retain discretion to withhold material tied to active investigations, and Blanche said files had also been redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s hundreds of victims.

‘Democrat hoax’ 

Trump once moved in the same Palm Beach and New York party scene as Epstein, appearing with him at events throughout the 1990s. He severed ties years before Epstein’s 2019 arrest and faces no accusations of wrongdoing in the case.

But his right-wing base has long fixated on the Epstein saga and conspiracy theories alleging the financier ran a sex trafficking ring for the global elite.

On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to release all the files. Yet after returning to office, he dismissed the transparency push as a “Democrat hoax.”

Trump’s Justice Department ignited a political firestorm in July with a memo declaring there would be no further disclosures from the Epstein probe and his fabled “client list” did not exist before the president bowed to pressure.

Maxwell, Epstein’s former girlfriend, remains the only person convicted in connection with his crimes, and is serving a 20-year sentence for recruiting underage girls for the former teacher and banker, whose death was ruled a suicide.

• Interim leader says Hadi will remain in heart as long as country exist.
• Amnesty International urges impartial inquiry of Hadi’s killing.
• Hadi’s death triggers widespread protest, unrest across country.
  

Tens of thousands of mourners gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka on Saturday for the funeral of a student leader, after two days of violent protests over his killing.

Huge crowds accompanied the funeral procession of Sharif Osman Hadi, a key figure in last year’s pro-democracy uprising who died in a hospital in Singapore on Thursday after being shot by masked gunmen while leaving a Dhaka Mosque.

Police wearing body cameras were deployed in front of the parliament building where the funeral prayers were held.

Hadi’s body, which was brought to the capital on Friday, was buried at the central mosque of Dhaka University.

“We have not come here to say goodbye,” interim leader Muhammad Yunus said in an emotional speech.

“You are in our hearts and you will remain in the heart of all Bangladeshis as long as the country exists.”

Hadi, 32, was an outspoken critic of India and was set to contest the general elections in February.

Iqbal Hossain Saikot, a government employee who travelled from afar to attend the prayers, said Hadi was killed because he staunchly opposed India.

He will continue to live “among the millions of Bangladeshi people who love the land and its sovereign territory”, Saikot, 34, told AFP.

Hadi’s death has triggered widespread unrest, with protesters across the South Asian nation demanding the arrest of those responsible.

Late Thursday, people set fire to several buildings in Dhaka including the offices of leading newspapers Prothom Alo and the Daily Star.

Critics accuse the publications of favouring neighbouring India, where Bangladesh’s ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina has taken refuge since fleeing Dhaka in the wake of the 2024 uprising.

Rights group Amnesty International on Saturday urged Bangladesh’s interim government to carry out “prompt, thorough, independent and impartial” investigations into Hadi’s killing and the violence that followed.

It also expressed alarm over the lynching of Hindu garment worker Dipu Chandra Das following allegations of blasphemy.

Yunus said seven suspects had been arrested in connection with Das’s killing in the central district of Mymensingh on Thursday.

• Australian team probes if Sajid, Naveed met extremists in Mindanao.
• Davao hotel staff said men stayed mostly in their room for 28 days.
• CCTVs being reviewed to trace other places they visited or people met.

MANILA: One of the two alleged Bondi Beach shooters visited a gun store during their stay in the Philippines, police said on Saturday as they attempted to retrace the pair’s movements.

An Australian counter-terrorism team is investigating whether Sajid Akram and his son Naveed met with extremists during a nearly month-long visit to the southern island of Mindanao before the mass shooting that killed 15 people in Sydney six days ago.

The staff of Davao City’s GV Hotel told AFP this week that the two men had stayed holed up in their small room for most of their 28-day stay, leaving only briefly each morning.

“What we’ve seen is one of them visiting a gun shop,” Davao regional police spokeswoman Catherine Dela Rey said on Saturday, adding later that it was 50-year-old Sajid Akram who had been seen.

“Our reviewing of CCTVs is ongoing, so we can see the other places they visited and the people they could have spoken with,” she said.

While little has been made public at this stage of the investigation, National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano told reporters on Friday there was “no way” the men could have left the city to conduct training.

“They would go out and come back after two or three hours, the longest was eight hours, but still … that time window (would) not suffice for them to get out of Davao,” he said.

Police inquiries had also revealed that neither of the men had visited any of the city´s seven gun ranges, he said.

President Ferdinand Marcos has criticised media reports that he said misleadingly portrayed the Philippines “as a training hotspot for terrorism”.

“For years, we have acted decisively to dismantle terrorist networks, to secure communities, and to sustain our hard-earned peace,” he said in a speech celebrating the 90th anniversary of the country´s armed forces on Friday.

“To dismiss these gains with unfounded speculation is not acceptable.”