Category World News

A planned news conference by Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado has been cancelled, a day before the Nobel award ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

The Norwegian Nobel Institute cancelled the event, as it was unclear whether the Venezuelan opposition leader – whose whereabouts remain unclear – would be able to collect her award in person.

Originally scheduled for 1pm local time (12:00 GMT) on Tuesday, the press conference with Machado was first postponed before finally being cancelled hours later.

The Nobel Committee awarded the prize to Machado for her fight against what it described as the dictatorial rule of Nicolas Maduro, who has been president of Venezuela since 2013.

Fifty-eight-year-old Machado has been subject to a decade-long travel ban imposed by Maduro’s government, and went into hiding in her country in August 2024.

“Maria Corina Machado has herself stated in interviews how challenging the journey to Oslo, Norway, will be,” said the Nobel Institute in an email to the Associated Press news agency.

“We therefore cannot at this point provide any further information about when and how she will arrive for the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.”

The institute did not specify whether the news conference would take place at a later point.

Machado’s spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about her location and planned attendance at the award ceremony, which will take place on Wednesday at 1pm local time (12:00 GMT) at Oslo’s City Hall.

In attendance will be Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja and at least four Latin American heads of state, including Argentina’s Javier Milei and Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa.

Several members of Machado’s family, including her mother, her three sisters and three children, were already in Oslo for the event. None of them have disclosed her location.

Machado last appeared in public at a demonstration in Caracas on January 9, protesting against Maduro’s inauguration for his third term.

She has accused Maduro of stealing the July 2024 election she was banned from standing in, despite having won the opposition’s primary by a landslide, a claim backed by much of the international community.

Venezuela’s attorney general, Tarek William Saab, said last month that the opposition leader would be considered a “fugitive” if she travelled to Norway to accept the prize.

“By being outside Venezuela and having numerous criminal investigations, she is considered a fugitive,” Saab told the AFP news agency, adding that Machado is accused of “acts of conspiracy, incitement of hatred, [and] terrorism”.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Monday that he did not know if Machado would travel to Oslo.

While she has been hailed by many for her efforts to bring democracy to Venezuela, she has also been criticised by others for aligning herself with United States President Donald Trump, to whom she dedicated her Nobel Prize.

The Oslo ceremony coincides with a large US military build-up in the Caribbean in recent weeks, and several deadly strikes on what Washington says are drug smuggling boats in the region.

A United States federal judge has ruled that the Department of Justice can release grand jury documents from the sex trafficking case of Ghislaine Maxwell, the former girlfriend of disgraced sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

District Judge Paul Engelmayer said on Tuesday that he would allow the publication of the documents but cautioned that there is little new information in them.

“They do not discuss or identify any client of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s,” Engelmayer wrote. “They do not reveal any heretofore unknown means or methods of Epstein’s or Maxwell’s crimes.”

Grand jury materials often contain court transcripts: They do not represent the full investigative file the Department of Justice may have.

Generally, they are sealed to protect witness testimony and ensure the fair administration of justice, since grand juries often decide whether or not a case proceeds to trial.

But a new law has allowed Epstein-related files — even secret grand jury materials — to be released to the public.

In November, the US Congress passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which creates an exemption to the secrecy surrounding grand jury materials.

That law was signed by US President Donald Trump, who has faced scrutiny over his own relationship with the late Epstein, a financier who died by suicide in 2019.

Trump initially urged Republican lawmakers to reject the law, despite growing calls for greater transparency.

But in mid-November, he reversed course, calling on congressional Republicans to vote in favour of the act. “We have nothing to hide,” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time.

The Trump administration had previously petitioned to unseal grand jury documents related to Epstein in July, but those requests were denied.

Some legal experts at the time called Trump’s petitions a “distraction” and warned that the grand jury transcripts were unlikely to reveal the full breadth of the government’s investigation into Epstein.

Engelmayer appeared to echo that assessment in Tuesday’s ruling. He noted that the grand jury materials “do not identify any person other than Epstein and Maxwell as having had sexual contact with a minor”.

He is the second judge to allow the publication of Epstein-related grand jury materials following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

His ruling follows a similar decision by a judge in Florida last Friday allowing for the release of grand jury transcripts.

Earlier this year, Engelmayer had rejected a Trump administration request to publish grand jury materials, citing the strict legal protections surrounding grand jury proceedings.

But some survivors of Epstein’s crimes have said full transparency is necessary.

Speaking to The Associated Press through her lawyer Sigrid S McCawley, one of Epstein’s accusers, Annie Farmer, said she is “is wary of the possibility that any denial of the motions may be used by others as a pretext or excuse for continuing to withhold crucial information concerning Epstein’s crimes”.

Some officials have expressed reluctance about releasing unfiltered Epstein files, citing the risks to victims.

In Tuesday’s decision, Engelmayer addressed that concern and required US Attorney Jay Clayton to review all grand jury materials before their release, to ensure no victims would have their privacy violated.

Maxwell’s legal team, meanwhile, has argued that releasing the grand jury transcripts would be prejudicial to their client. She is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in Epstein’s sex-trafficking operation.

A November Reuters/Ipsos poll found that just 20 percent of people in the US approve of Trump’s handling of matters related to Epstein, with whom he enjoyed a close relationship for years.

The poll found that 70 percent of people believe that the government is covering up information about Epstein’s alleged “client list”, detailing his relationships with powerful figures.

The case has become a stand-in for the belief that political and economic elites enjoy a sense of impunity and suffer few consequences for their crimes.

Tony Blair has been dropped from consideration for a role on a proposed US-led “board of peace” for Gaza after objections from Arab and Muslim governments, the Financial Times (FT) newspaper has reported.

Blair was the only figure named for the board when Donald Trump announced a 20-point plan to end Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza in September, with the US president describing the former UK prime minister as a “very good man”.

Blair praised the plan as “bold and intelligent” and signalled he was willing to serve on the board, which would be chaired by Trump himself.

But diplomats from several Arab and Muslim states objected to Blair’s involvement, the FT reported on Monday.

As British Prime Minister, Blair strongly supported the US-led so-called “war on terror” and sent tens of thousands of British troops to join the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which was launched based on false claims that Iraq’s then leader, Saddam Hussein, had developed weapons of mass destruction.

In the Middle East region, Blair remains widely viewed as partially responsible for the war’s devastation.

Since leaving office in 2007, he has set up the Tony Blair Institute (TBI), which has worked with governments accused of repression to help improve their image.

His institute was also involved with a project, led by Israeli business figures, developing “day-after” plans for Gaza alongside Israeli business figures.

The project included proposals for a coastal resort dubbed the “Trump Riviera” and a manufacturing hub named after Elon Musk – ideas critics said ignore human rights and threaten Palestinians with displacement.

There was no immediate comment from Blair’s office. An ally quoted by the FT rejected claims that opposition from regional governments had forced him out of Trump’s planned “peace board”, insisting discussions were ongoing.

Another source said Blair could still return in “a different capacity”, noting he is favoured by both Washington and Tel Aviv.

The United Kingdom’s domestic intelligence agency MI5 protected an IRA double agent who committed murders during Northern Ireland’s Troubles and later avoided prosecution, a major investigation has found.

The findings are from Operation Kenova, a nearly decade-long police probe into “Stakeknife” – the codename for a senior IRA figure who also worked as an informant for British security services.

He operated during The Troubles, the conflict in Northern Ireland between Irish republicans seeking a united Ireland and British forces and unionist paramilitaries who wanted to remain in the UK.

About 3,500 people were killed in the violence before it ended with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

Stakeknife led the IRA’s internal security unit, which abducted, interrogated and killed people suspected of informing – while secretly passing intelligence to the British.

Investigators said MI5 allowed the agent to continue committing serious crimes, blaming a “perverse sense of loyalty” that meant he was never held to account.

The report said MI5 even twice removed the agent from Northern Ireland on “holidays” despite knowing he was wanted by police for conspiracy to murder and false imprisonment.

Stakeknife has never been formally identified, but he is widely believed to have been Belfast man Freddie Scappaticci.

He has been linked to 14 murders and 15 abductions. Scappaticci died in 2023. He admitted being in the IRA but denied working for British intelligence.

Operation Kenova also criticised MI5 for delaying the release of key documents, saying several incidents could be seen as attempts to “restrict the investigation, run down the clock, avoid any prosecutions … and conceal the truth”.

MI5 Director General Ken McCallum apologised for the late disclosure and offered sympathies to victims and their families.

The report said there is a “compelling ethical case” to publicly name Stakeknife and called on the UK government to apologise to bereaved families and survivors.

The 40-million-pound ($53m) investigation examined 101 murders and abductions linked to the unit.