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New Mexico Investigators Search Epstein’s Former Ranch

A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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New Mexico Investigators Search Epstein’s Former Ranch

A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)
A drone view shows Zorro Ranch, a property formerly owned by Jeffrey Epstein, near Stanley, New Mexico, US, March 8, 2026. (Reuters)

Investigators in New Mexico began searching on Monday the former high-plains ranch of Jeffrey Epstein where the late financier and his acquaintances are accused of sexually abusing women and girls, state authorities said.

Democratic-run New Mexico is acting on new information in documents released in January by the US Department of Justice, including an accusation that Epstein ordered the bodies of two foreign girls buried in hills near the secluded property.

The search follows New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez's decision last month to reopen the investigation ‌into the late sex ‌offender's alleged criminal activities at the ranch ‌30 ⁠miles (48 km) south ⁠of the state's capital of Santa Fe.

"The New Mexico Department of Justice will continue to keep the public appropriately informed, support the survivors, and follow the facts wherever they lead," it said in a statement.

On Monday, a Reuters witness heard dogs barking and saw a government vehicle bearing a paw-print symbol, ⁠suggesting it was carrying animals, leave the ranch. ‌State police and a county fire ‌and rescue vehicle were also spotted.

The Epstein files have become a ‌persistent political problem for President Donald Trump.

New Mexico closed its ‌previous Epstein investigation in 2019 at the request of federal authorities. There has never been a full investigation of the alleged assaults by Epstein, his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and ranch visitors.

Last month, New Mexico became ‌the first US state to launch a legislative "truth commission" to uncover possible public corruption that allowed ⁠Epstein to ⁠operate in secrecy at the ranch for 26 years before his death in 2019.

Epstein's estate sold the property in 2023 to Texas businessman Don Huffines who renamed it San Rafael Ranch.

The new owners are cooperating with the investigation and granted access for the search, the department said.

The January 30 release of millions more files exposed Epstein's social connections with politicians, business people and scientists who he invited to the ranch.

Reuters/Ipsos polling shows most Americans view the Epstein case as an example of wealthy and powerful people rarely being held accountable.

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World

NATO and China: A Slow Alliance Confronts a Fast-Rising Rival

People visit the BYD booth at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 30, 2026. (Photo by Adek BERRY / AFP)
People visit the BYD booth at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 30, 2026. (Photo by Adek BERRY / AFP)
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NATO and China: A Slow Alliance Confronts a Fast-Rising Rival

People visit the BYD booth at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 30, 2026. (Photo by Adek BERRY / AFP)
People visit the BYD booth at the Beijing Auto Show in Beijing on April 30, 2026. (Photo by Adek BERRY / AFP)

NATO was established in 1949 to provide collective defense against the Soviet Union, based on the principle that an attack on one member is an attack on all. At the time, US President Harry Truman also sought to anchor an American presence in war-ravaged Europe to ensure security and prevent a strategic vacuum.

The collapse of the Soviet Union, along with the socialist bloc, brought the Cold War to an end and forced NATO to adapt. The alliance expanded its operations beyond Europe, intervening in the Balkans during the Bosnia and Kosovo wars, then in Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. It also undertook maritime missions to combat piracy, including off the Horn of Africa, alongside intelligence-sharing and counterterrorism cooperation.

NATO has since built partnerships with countries beyond its traditional scope and broadened its definition of threats to include cybersecurity, hybrid warfare, and energy security, as well as, more recently, the challenge posed by China.

In sum, NATO has evolved from a purely European defensive alliance into a broader global security actor, largely driven by the United States, while still maintaining a central focus on deterring threats within Europe.

In recent years, the Brussels-based alliance has expanded its attention toward the Indo-Pacific region for strategic reasons that extend beyond Europe. Chief among these are the interconnected nature of global security, particularly in cyberspace, the need to ensure resilient and unobstructed supply chains, and the rapid spread of advanced technologies that increasingly diminish the importance of geographic boundaries.

FILED - 03 April 2025, Belgium, Brussels: A NATO flag flies in the wind in front of the NATO headquarters in Brussels. Photo: Anna Ross/dpa

China’s Rise

Another key factor is the view of China’s rise as a strategic challenge reshaping the global balance of power. For NATO’s 32 member states, up from 12 at its founding, safeguarding trade routes is a priority, especially maritime corridors in the Indo-Pacific that are critical to the global economy.

These include the Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and Indonesia, the world’s most important shipping lane, linking the Indian Ocean to the South China Sea and carrying roughly 25 percent of global trade annually. It is also a vital artery for oil and energy flows to major Asian economies such as China, Japan, and South Korea.

NATO member states express “strategic concern” over China for several core reasons. First, China is rapidly modernizing its military, particularly in areas such as missile systems, space capabilities, and cyber operations, developments that are shifting the global balance of power.

Second, and closely linked, is China’s economic rise, reflected in initiatives such as the Belt and Road, which provide Beijing with avenues to expand its economic and political influence across Asia, Africa, and Europe. This expansion risks creating dependencies among countries in or near NATO’s strategic periphery.

Concerns are also fueled by growing ties between China and Russia, particularly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which could signal coordination between two major powers against the West.

At the same time, an indirect competition is underway over leadership in fields such as artificial intelligence, telecommunications networks, and semiconductors. NATO sees technological superiority as a core component of security.

The alliance has concluded partnership and cooperation agreements with Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand, encompassing joint military exercises, intelligence sharing, and political coordination. However, NATO does not appear to be planning an expansion of membership into the Indo-Pacific, instead favoring flexible partnerships over a permanent military presence.

World

Iran Delivered New Proposal for US Talks via Pakistan

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Iran Delivered New Proposal for US Talks via Pakistan

US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
US and Iran flags are seen in this illustration taken June 18, 2025. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

Iran has delivered a new proposal for talks with the United States via mediator Pakistan, state media reported on Friday.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran delivered the text of its latest negotiating proposal to Pakistan, as the mediator in talks with the United States, on Thursday evening," the official IRNA news agency reported, without elaborating.

This came as President Donald Trump's administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.

The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate on Thursday, when he said the ceasefire effectively paused the war. Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.

While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea.

World

US Navy Turns to AI Firm Domino for Options to Counter Iranian Mines

Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
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US Navy Turns to AI Firm Domino for Options to Counter Iranian Mines

Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer
Ships and boats in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 1, 2026. REUTERS/Stringer

The US Navy is ramping up its AI capabilities to hunt for Iranian mines in the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical shipping lanes, a recently awarded contract shows.

President Donald Trump has said the US Navy is clearing Iranian mines from the strait, a vital sea route for oil shipments, whose disruption is increasingly threatening the global economy.

Sweeping for underwater explosives could take months despite a tenuous ceasefire between the US and ⁠Iran in their weeks-long ⁠war.

The up to $100 million contract for the San Francisco artificial intelligence company Domino Data Lab could quicken this process with software that can teach underwater drones to identify new types of mines in a matter of days.

"Mine-hunting used to be a job for ships," Thomas Robinson, Domino's chief operating officer, said in an interview with Reuters. "It's becoming a job for AI.

⁠The Navy is paying for the platform that lets it train, govern, and field that AI at a speed required for contested waters that block global trade and imperil sailors."

Last week, the US Navy awarded the up to $99.7 million contract to expand Domino's role as the AI backbone of the Navy's Project AMMO - Accelerated Machine Learning for Maritime Operations - a program to make underwater mine detection faster, more accurate, and less dependent on human sailors.

The software integrates data from multiple sensor types, including side-scan sonar and visual imaging systems, and allows the Navy to monitor how well various AI ⁠detection models ⁠are performing in the field, identify failures, and push corrections to improve performance.

The core of Domino's pitch - and the Navy's wager - is speed. Before the company's involvement, updating the AI models that power the Navy's unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to recognize new or previously unseen mines could take up to six months. Domino says it has cut that cycle to days.

Robinson illustrated the relevance to the Middle East crisis: "If there were UUVs in the Baltic Sea trained on Russian mines, and then they needed to be deployed to the Strait of Hormuz to detect Iranian mines, with Domino's technology, the Navy could be ready in a week rather than a year."

A Navy spokesman was not immediately able to provide comment.