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Epstein had huge cache of child sex pics; victims sue to find out who's in them

16 September 2026 at 22:42

On Tuesday, two survivors of child sex abuse accused the Justice Department of failing to notify dozens of victims found in Jeffrey Epstein’s massive collection of child sex images.

In a proposed class action, survivors explained that Epstein apparently started collecting child sex images in the 1990s, many of which the DOJ recovered after his arrest. In 2025, the FBI started reviewing β€œtens of thousands of videos” containing illegal child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and issued a memo confirming that β€œa large volume of images” seized depicted likely minors.

Some of these victims may have had contact with Epstein, as the disgraced financier kept a "modelbook" of nude photos of young girls roped into his ring. However, the FBI also identified hundreds of CSAM images in cache, which include approximately 15–20 images of known CSAM dating back to the 1990s. And so far, the DOJ has largely ignored those victims, who likely never met Epstein and have no way of knowing if he possessed, transported, or traded their images, survivors alleged.

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The US government is failing Americans on AI | Shakeel Hashim

16 September 2026 at 11:00

Trump and Republicans want companies to regulate themselves. It’s a dereliction of duty that will make AI less safe

It is hard to get Sam Altman, Elon Musk and Dario Amodei to agree on much. But over the weekend, all three AI company CEOs called for AI development to slow down in the face of growing, alarming risks. Their employees are sounding the siren too, with one researcher publicly quitting and accusing OpenAI and Anthropic of β€œgambling with our lives”.

The combination of dire warnings from insiders and growing real-world evidence of rogue AIs should, in a sane world, lead to government action. Instead, Donald Trump and the Republican leadership have their heads in the sand.

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Β© Composite: Getty Images

Β© Composite: Getty Images

Β© Composite: Getty Images

Why Africa is Against Mercator, Why America is For Him

15 September 2026 at 19:00

The UN resolution to junk the Mercator projection of the globe – which makes Africa look small and Canada big – is nakedly political, says Professor James Alexander. No wonder the US opposed it.

The post Why Africa is Against Mercator, Why America is For Him appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

US ends limits on coal and gas plant emissions, removing key tool to fight climate crisis

14 September 2026 at 22:17

Trump’s EPA strips itself of regulating ability, gutting Clean Air Act in what experts say is a gift to planet polluters

On the heels of the hottest summer ever recorded in the US, the Trump administration has said it will erase any limits on emissions from coal and gas plants that are dangerously heating up our planet.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said it will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions coming from power plants under the Clean Air Act, removing a key tool to address the climate crisis.

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Β© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Β© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

The American emperor’s new clothes? | Brief letters

13 September 2026 at 16:52

Trump’s toga | Reform UK donations | Ben Delo | Word watch | Andy Burnham | The name game

Octavian (later Emperor Augustus), following his victorious battles of Illyricum and Actium, announced he would give 400 sesterces to adult male citizens. Will we see the US president wearing an emperor’s purple and gold toga soon (Trump promise of $5,000 for US citizens after midterms decried as β€˜bribery’, 10 September)?
David Shannon
Ashton under Hill, Worcestershire

β€’ Can we assume that the donations to Reform UK from the billionaires Christopher Harborne and BenΒ Delo (Report,Β 12Β September) will be followed by some sort of cash offer for every adult in the UK should MrΒ Farage win the nextΒ election?
Phil Thomas
Frodsham, Cheshire

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Β© Photograph: Alamy/Allstar

Β© Photograph: Alamy/Allstar

Β© Photograph: Alamy/Allstar

Kimmel's ABC show won't air interview with Democrat because of Trump FCC threats

10 September 2026 at 18:30

ABC's Jimmy Kimmel said he will be interviewing a Democratic candidate for Senate tonight, but the interview will be on YouTube only and not broadcast on TV because of threats made by the Federal Communications Commission.

Kimmel has been a prime target in the Trump FCC's attacks on ABC and its owner, Disney. In his monologue last night, Kimmel said he'll be interviewing Democrat James Talarico, a state representative who is running against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for a seat in the US Senate.

In previous years, such an interview would have aired on the broadcast show via local stations throughout the country, Kimmel said. This time, it will only be on the Jimmy Kimmel Live YouTube channel in order to prevent further trouble for individual stations that hold FCC licenses, he said.

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Β© Getty Images | Disney

Six Chinese AI firms accused of aggressively copying US frontier models

9 September 2026 at 21:06

The United States has now named six Chinese AI firms accused of waging industrial-scale attacks distilling US frontier AI model capabilities and perhaps sparing billions in Chinese development costs.

In a joint release Tuesday, the National Security Agency (NSA), Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleged that DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, Alibaba, MiniMax, StepFun, and Z.AI have been attacking US models since at least late 2024. The firms β€œlikely” acted with β€œChinese government awareness” when extracting capabilities from US models, including variants of Claude, GPT, Gemini, and Grok, agencies said.

β€œChina-based AI companies that conduct industrial-scale distillation against US AI models see significantly shorter AI development timelines and reduced financial expenditures in training a frontier model,” agencies said.

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Β© Bloomberg / Contributor | Bloomberg

Trump administration to confront Australia over Labor’s social media algorithm plan

9 September 2026 at 07:51

White House warns trading partners against β€˜imposing digital services taxes, fines, and other forms of extortion’ on US tech sector

The Trump administration will confront Australia over its plan to force digital platforms to take down harmful content and let users opt out of algorithm-generated β€œfor you” feeds.

Big tech companies would be fined more than $100m for breaching the proposed laws and the Australian government is under pressure to raise those fines even further.

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Β© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/EPA

Β© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/EPA

Β© Photograph: Annabelle Gordon/EPA

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