Delcy Rodríguez also plans to close notorious El Helicoide prison as opposition figures remain wary over new leadership
Venezuela’s acting president announced on Friday a proposal for mass amnesty in the country, in her latest significant reform since the US toppling of Nicolás Maduro just weeks ago.
In a speech at the Venezuelan supreme court attended by top government officials, Delcy Rodríguez said she would propose a “general amnesty law covering the entire period of political violence from 1999 to the present”.
Newly released documents reveal Lutnick sent email to ‘Jeff’ and floated plan for ‘Sunday evening for dinner’
Howard Lutnick, currently serving as Trump’s US secretary of commerce, arranged to visit Jeffrey Epstein’s island in 2012, according to Epstein-related files released by the Department of Justice on Friday.
According to the newly released documents, on 20 November 2012, Epstein’s longtime assistant emailed Lutnick saying that “Jeffrey Epstein understands you will be down in St Thomas some over the holidays” and that “Jeffrey requested I please pass along some phone numbers to you so the two of you can possibly get together.”
Apparent pause in Russia-Ukraine hostilities comes amid concern that peace talks set for Sunday in Abu Dhabi will be delayed. What we know on day 1,438
Rising tensions over possible US strikes on Iran have injected fresh uncertainty into the plans for senior Ukrainian and Russian officials to meet in Abu Dhabi this weekend for another round of talks. “The date or the location may change,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “From our point of view, something is happening in the situation between the United States and Iran, and those developments could affect the timing.”
“It is very important for us that everyone we agreed with be present at the meeting, because everyone is expecting feedback,” Zelenskyy told reporters in remarks released by his office on Friday. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, had said on Wednesday that President Donald Trump’s top envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who attended the previous round of talks, would not participate in the weekend meeting in Abu Dhabi. In Moscow, two sources told Reuters that Kirill Dmitriev, Putin’s special envoy, would travel to Miami on Saturday for meetings with members of Trump’s administration.
Ahead of the possible talks, there has been anotable reduction in attacks by Russia and Ukraine against each other as Ukraine continues to experience one of its coldest winters in decades, with many people living without electricity and heating. The Ukrainian capital is bracing for an especially cold spell from Sunday, with temperatures forecast to fall as low as -26C. Zelenskyy said he was waiting to see if Russia would observe a proposed pause in strikes on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure, saying on Friday there was no formal ceasefire agreement between Ukraine and Russia, Pjotr Sauer writes. But Zelenskyy said Kyiv would halt such strikes if Moscow did the same. Donald Trump on Thursday claimed that Vladimir Putin had agreed to halt strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for a week. The Kremlin has acknowledged the request but declined to say whether the Russian president had agreed to it. Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov indicated the measure would end on Sunday.
Zelenskky noted on Friday that in all regions, “there were indeed no strikes on energy facilities from Thursday night to Friday”. “Ukraine is ready in reciprocal terms to refrain from strikes and today we did not strike at Russian energy facilities,” he said.
Incoming Dutch prime minister Rob Jetten – whose D66 party struck a minority coalition deal to form a government this week – said he opposed the suggestion by some European Union leaders that the EU should reopen diplomatic channels with Russia so that Donald Trump could not set the tone for talks with Moscow. Jetten pledged that his new government would continue to support Kyiv and said he would not speak to Moscow because there were currently “no indications” Russia wanted to end the war in Ukraine. “And as long as the aggression continues, we will continue our support for the Ukrainian people.” He also said Europeans should have “a much stronger debate about what can Europe do for itself,” and stop looking at the US under Trump.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán has stepped up his opposition to Ukraine joining the EU, claiming the bloc was looking to admit the country in 2027 to help it benefit from the next seven-year financial budget. His comments come after Zelenskyy repeated his target to join the EU in 2027, despite some scepticism in the bloc about the accelerated process that would be required. Orbán’s comments will probably be seen as part of an increasingly fierce campaign ahead of this April’s critical parliamentary election in Hungary, which could see him ousted after 16 years in office.
A cool change this weekend is expected to bring an end to eight consecutive days of blistering temperatures above 40C in Australia’s south-east.
But before it does, the heat continued on Saturday. Heatwave warnings remained in place for parts of every state and territory excluding Tasmania, with Canberra forecast to reach a top of 41C and parts of inland New South Wales, including Broken Hill, expected to climb higher than 45C.
University researchers say growth of the hidden fast food industry may pose risks to public health
One in seven food businesses on major delivery platforms, including Deliveroo and Just Eat, is now a “dark kitchen”, a university study shows.
The findings, which shine a light on the scale of the hidden takeaway industry, found that 15% of all online food retailers in England were dark kitchens.
Partial shutdown of government still expected to begin after midnight Friday, lasting at least through weekend
The US Senate approved a major government funding package on Friday, after the killings of two US citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis upended spending talks and gave the out-of-power party rare leverage over Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
In a 71-29 tally, the Senate overcame opposition from a handful of Republicans to rally behind a deal the president struck with Democrats, an unusual display of bipartisanship as tensions rise nationally over the presence of Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents in US cities.
New York Giants chairman and co-owner Steve Tisch appeared throughout a newly released trove of emails related to Jeffrey Epstein, including communications in which Epstein arranged for Tisch to meet specific women.
The emails, which were sent in 2013, were released Friday by the Department of Justice among 3.5 million documents related to Epstein’s sex trafficking case and were first reported on by the Athletic.
Paul W Brown reportedly voiced concerns about the FBI’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in Fulton county
The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta field office was reportedlyremoved from his post after questioning the Trump administration’s renewed interest in investigating the role of Fulton county, Georgia, in the 2020 election.
The agent, Paul W Brown, had expressed concerns around the unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in Fulton county, which have been perpetuated by Donald Trump since he was defeated by Joe Biden in the 2020 election, according to an MS NOW report on Friday. Citing sources, MS NOW also reported that Brown refused to carry out searches and seizures of records connected to the election that Trump lost four years before winning a second presidency in 2024.
World No 1 is on the verge of a fifth grand slam title, but former Wimbledon champion has proved she can cause problems
At the end of yet another semi-final in Melbourne on Thursday night, Aryna Sabalenka slammed the door shut on Elina Svitolina with a searing forehand winner, her 29th of the night. It was another near flawless performance from the Belarusian, another match she dominated from start to finish without any response, reinforcing her status as the leading hard court player of her generation.
Six matches in, Sabalenka’s fourth consecutive run to the Australian Open final has proved one of her most impressive. She is yet to drop a set and has shown how much her game has evolved by also dominating the net and peppering opponents with an array of drop shots. The few times she has been pushed, such as in her third round match against Anastasia Potapova, the world No 1 has produced her best tennis in the decisive moments and been in control of the baseline throughout.
Rubaya mine produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum, used in mobile phones
More than 200 people were killed this week in a collapse at the Rubaya coltan mine in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Lumumba Kambere Muyisa, a spokesperson for the rebel-appointed governor of the province where the mine is located, told Reuters on Friday.
Rubaya produces about 15% of the world’s coltan, which is processed into tantalum – a heat-resistant metal that is in high demand by makers of mobile phones, computers, aerospace components and gas turbines. The site, where local people dig manually for a few dollars a day, has been under the control of the M23 rebel group since 2024.
George Zinn, 71, further admitted to possessing child sexual abuse material and pleaded no contest to allegations
A man accused of trying to thwart authorities investigating Charlie Kirk’s killing by falsely confessing to the deadly shooting faces up to 15 years in prison after pleading no contest to the allegation – and separately admitting to possessing child sexual abuse material.
The case centering on George Zinn, 71, all but concluded at a court hearing on Thursday in Provo, Utah, about 5 miles away from the college campus where the Turning Point USA executive director was fatally shot on 10 September 2025.
Sundance film festival: a once-in-a-lifetime dinner party from 1972 is transformed into a thrilling and inspiring hang-out movie
In August 1972, the experimental film-maker William Greaves convened a once-in-a-lifetime dinner party at Duke Ellington’s townhouse in Harlem. The occasion was a celebration and reconsideration of the Harlem Renaissance, the watershed African American cultural movement of the 1920s. The guest list included its still-living luminaries, some of the 20th century’s most influential – and still underappreciated – musicians, performers, artists, writers, historians and political leaders, all in their sunset years. Over four hours and untold glasses of wine, talk wheeled freely from vivid recollections to consternation, lively anecdotes to contemplations of ongoing struggle. Greaves, by then niche renowned for his innovatively meta documentary Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, lightly directed the conversation but otherwise let the energy flow. He considered it the most important footage he ever recorded.
You could probably release that remarkable footage in full, completely unedited and unstructured, and still have a good documentary; every piece is now, 50 years later – the same distance to us as the Harlem Renaissance was to them – a bridge to a time no living person can remember, each face and gesture informed by decades of aftermath no straightforward nonfiction film on the period could capture. But Once Upon a Time in Harlem, directed by Greaves’s son David, who was one of four cameramen that day, manages to seamlessly clip and contextualize the party into 100 mesmerizing minutes. It’s both a sublime hang-out of a film and a celebration of individual achievements, a fascinating map of a long-ago scene and a referendum on legacy.
Once Upon a Time in Harlem is screening at the Sundance film festival and is seeking distribution
Thursday’s arrests of Lemon and independent journalist Georgia Fort demonstrate the administration’s lawless crusade against routine journalism
Two federal courts reviewed the government’s evidence against journalist Don Lemon and declined to approve his arrest last week. But nevertheless, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, persisted, desperate to please her authoritarian boss no matter what the constitution and law say or what her ethical obligations as an attorney require.
Thursday’s arrests of Lemon and Georgia Fort, an independent journalist – like the recent raid on Hannah Natanson, the Washington Post reporter – demonstrate the administration’s lawless crusade against routine journalism. In normal times the expectation is that even when a journalist’s conduct might technically fit the legal elements of a crime – jaywalking to get footage of a protest, for example – prosecutors will exercise their discretion and judgment to not apply the law in a manner that chills the free press.
Seth Stern is the director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation and a first amendment lawyer
Retired Nascar driver Greg Biffle was not flying his own jet when it crashed last month, killing him and six others, according to a Friday report from federal safety officials who also concluded that while an experienced pilot was at the controls, no one else on board was qualified to be the required copilot.
The preliminary report from the National Transportation Safety Board said that Biffle and the retired airline pilot at the controls, Dennis Dutton, and his son Jack, who were all licensed pilots, noticed problems with gauges malfunctioning on the Cessna C550 before it crashed while trying to return to the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina.
Newly released files from DoJ show the pair making plans in 2012 and 2013 for the Tesla CEO to visit Epstein’s island
Elon Musk had more extensive – and more friendly – communications with the financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein than previously publicly known, according to documents released on Friday by the Department of Justice. Emails in the files appear to show the two cordially messaging each other on two separate occasions to make plans for Musk to visit Epstein’s island.
The documents include Musk and Epstein emailing in both 2012 and 2013 to determine when Musk should make the trip to Little St James. Neither exchanges appear to have resulted in Musk visiting the island, due to logistical issues.
The death of the 71-year-old actor and comedian leaves behind a long line of unforgettably original comic creations, from Beetlejuice to Schitt’s Creek
One of the later and less beloved Christopher Guest comedies featuring his troupe of peerless, often SCTV-related improvisers is For Your Consideration, a medium-funny savaging of Hollywood’s feverish awards-season prestige campaigning.
The film’s unquestionable highlight is Catherine O’Hara, playing an actor who gets a whisper of awards buzz for a schlocky, still-filming drama called Home for Purim, and slowly loses her mind with the knowledge that she could maybe, possibly be recognized by her peers. O’Hara, known for her distinctively brassy yet malleable trill of her voice and her frequently red hair, peels back her performer’s bravado to expose the frenzied need beneath it. She somehow plays the outsized beneath the regular-sized, as her Marilyn Hack goes from plugging-away workhorse to desperate striver. Unsurprisingly, O’Hara briefly generated awards buzz of her own for playing this part; even less surprisingly, an Oscar nomination was not forthcoming. It couldn’t be; otherwise, it might have marred O’Hara’s masterclass in how certain actors, especially those specializing in comedy, are destined to go under-recognized in their lifetimes.
ICE in Minneapolis, Russian airstrikes in Kyiv, Alex Honnold climbing a Taipei skyscraper and Sabalenka at the Australian Open – the past seven days as captured by the world’s leading photojournalists
A robotic team fuelled by data and scrutinised relentlessly in a climate of angst and rage feels like a digital-age metaphor
Like most people who have no talent for business ideas, I have a huge number of highly promising business ideas always on the go, ideas that are available for investment from any passing billionaire or Dragons’ Den rainmaker type.
Not one of the A-listers, obviously. I’m not insane. Not a Meaden or a Paphitis. But perhaps one of the minor ones, some strangely groomed South African retail magnate called Dork van Frotwangle who looks as if he keeps a bag of human fingers in his freezer and will mysteriously disappear mid-series and never be mentioned again.
White-ball captain claims he was protecting teammates
Bethell and Tongue investigated over drinking session
Harry Brook, the England white-ball captain, has admitted teammates were present on the night he clashed with a nightclub bouncer in New Zealand last year.
Speaking at the start of England’s tour of Sri Lanka, Brook said that he was on his own when he was punched by a bouncer on the eve of the third one-day international against New Zealand in Wellington.
Deputy attorney general makes announcement over fatal shooting in Minneapolis as fierce protests there continue
The US deputy attorney general announced on Friday that the justice department has opened a federal civil rights investigation into the fatal shooting of the Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti last Saturday by immigration officers, as fierce protests continued on the streets there.
“We’re looking at everything that would shed light on that day,” Todd Blanche, deputy to the attorney general, Pam Bondi, said at a press conference on Friday morning in Washington DC.
Groups say arrests of ex-CNN anchor and Georgia Fort are ‘extremely alarming’ and an ‘attack on the first amendment’
Press freedom groups are warning that the arrests of two independent journalists, including the veteran former CNN anchor Don Lemon, signal a chilling new crackdown on US media by the Trump administration.
Lemon was taken into custody on Thursday night by federal agents in Los Angeles, despite a magistrate judge declining to sign off on charges against him a week ago in connection with a protest at a Minnesota church against violent government immigration enforcement actions.
Madonna labelled it ‘heaven’ on a recent visit, but the cost of living in the seaside resort is hitting many residents hard
Not many chefs working in small, family-run restaurants expect global megastars to turn up for dinner and to design them a menu from scratch.
But that’s what happened to Simona Di Dio last weekend, when she cooked dishes inspired by her Italian grandmother’s recipes for Madonna, who sat on the single wooden dining table in Di Dio’s cosy, candlelit Italian restaurant in Margate’s old town.
Famous figures including Woody Allen were invited to party with disgraced financier and Mountbatten-Windsor, documents indicate
Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor attended an intimate party with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein months after he was released from prison, files suggest.
The US justice department released another cache of documents relating to the disgraced financier on Friday.
Child sex offender sent thousands of pounds to Reinaldo Avila da Silva, according to documents published by US justice department
Jeffrey Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, according to emails published by the US Department of Justice on Friday.
The latest documents raise fresh questions about Epstein’s relationship with Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details of his support for the disgraced financier emerged in September.
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