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Bill Gates ‘Took Responsibility for His Actions’ Over Epstein Links, Foundation Says 

This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 18, 2025 shows US businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates (L) posing with a woman whose face has been redacted. Democratic lawmakers released a new cache of photos and documents on December 18 from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (House Oversight Democrats / AFP / Handout)
This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 18, 2025 shows US businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates (L) posing with a woman whose face has been redacted. Democratic lawmakers released a new cache of photos and documents on December 18 from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (House Oversight Democrats / AFP / Handout)
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Bill Gates ‘Took Responsibility for His Actions’ Over Epstein Links, Foundation Says 

This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 18, 2025 shows US businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates (L) posing with a woman whose face has been redacted. Democratic lawmakers released a new cache of photos and documents on December 18 from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (House Oversight Democrats / AFP / Handout)
This undated and unlocated handout image released by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee on December 18, 2025 shows US businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates (L) posing with a woman whose face has been redacted. Democratic lawmakers released a new cache of photos and documents on December 18 from the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. (House Oversight Democrats / AFP / Handout)

Bill Gates "took responsibility for his actions" over ties ‌to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in a town hall meeting with employees of the Gates Foundation, a spokesperson for the philanthropic group told Reuters in a written statement on Tuesday.

The spokesperson's comments came in response to a Wall Street Journal report, which said that Gates had apologized to staff during the town hall over his ties with Epstein.

Documents released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) have indicated that Gates and Epstein met repeatedly after Epstein's prison term to discuss expanding the Microsoft founder's philanthropic efforts.

According to the Journal report, Gates told staff that it was a huge mistake to spend time with Epstein and ‌bring Gates Foundation ‌executives into meetings with the sex offender. The report cited ‌a ⁠recording of the ⁠comments Gates made in the town hall.

"I apologize to other people who are drawn into this because of the mistake that I made," he said, according to the newspaper.

The Journal added that Gates also acknowledged that he had two affairs with Russian women that Epstein later discovered, but that they did not involve Epstein's victims.

"I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit," Gates told the staff, according ⁠to the report.

Documents released by the DOJ also included ‌pictures of the Microsoft founder posing with women ‌whose faces are redacted. Gates has previously said the relationship with Epstein was confined to ‌philanthropy-related discussions and has said it was a mistake to meet with ‌him.

According to the Journal, Gates told the foundation's staff that the images were pictures that Epstein asked him to take with Epstein's assistants after their meetings.

"To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around him," Gates added, according to ‌the report.

A spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told Reuters that Gates held a scheduled town hall with the employees ⁠and answered questions on ⁠a range of issues, including the release of the Epstein files.

"In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions."

The spokesperson also said the Gates Foundation statement acknowledged what was shared by the billionaire during the town hall, and the statement is all that the foundation would say about the report.

Earlier this month, the Gates Foundation said it did not make any financial payments to Epstein or employ him at any time.

The billionaire also pulled out of India's AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote last week.

The Gates Foundation, chaired by Bill Gates and started by him and his then-wife in 2000, is one of the world's biggest funders of global health initiatives.

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World

World Leaders Need to See Rising Oceans in Pacific, Says UN Official

View of a rock formation at the Pacific Ocean in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. AFP
View of a rock formation at the Pacific Ocean in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. AFP
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World Leaders Need to See Rising Oceans in Pacific, Says UN Official

View of a rock formation at the Pacific Ocean in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. AFP
View of a rock formation at the Pacific Ocean in Cabo San Lucas, Baja California state, Mexico on August 4, 2023. AFP

Leaders from the world's top economies should stand on a Pacific atoll to see the reality of record sea level rise, a top UN official said in Palau on Monday.

Noting last week's deadly floods in Nepal, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed said rising seas in the Pacific were the "other side of that story".

"We do already know that a warming climate is changing the world's ice at extraordinary speeds, not only threatening the communities below glaciers but adding more water to our oceans," she told reporters.

Mohammed was speaking in Palau, where Pacific leaders have gathered for an annual summit to discuss challenges including climate change, crime and regional security.

The United Nations is pushing for G20 leaders to attend and make commitments at a meeting hosted by the tiny nation of Tuvalu in October, ahead of the upcoming UN climate summit in Türkiye, according to Mohammed.

"We think they should turn up and really engage with the world on what they need to do," she said, even though there are concerns few leaders outside the Pacific will make the trip.

Tuvalu, which is among the most vulnerable countries in the climate crisis, is preparing to relocate its population after scientists predicted most of its land may become inundated.

Palau's minister for the environment Steven Victor said the Pacific was "not begging for any handouts" but had fewer resources to deal with rising seas that threaten its communities the most.

"We need them to come and see," he said.

A UN report published Monday showed a record pace of sea level rise driven by warming oceans and glacier melt.

Up to 1.2 billion people could be displaced by 2050, with Pacific island countries experiencing sea level rise at twice the global average, it said.

It also highlighted a financing gap, with developing countries needing $310-$365 billion to adapt, yet having only $26 billion in adaptation finance available in 2023.

- Coral reefs under pressure -

Coral reefs are facing a "staircase of decline", with global hard coral cover declining 9.5 percent due to climate change over 40 years, another report released Monday in Palau by scientists found.

The Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network analyzed data from 37,000 reefs in 120 countries, finding a narrowing window between major bleaching events.

Although reefs can recover after bleaching if they have enough time, the frequency of marine heatwaves means only partial progress is made.

The study found a major bleaching event every five to six years since 2010.

"We are steadily eroding the conditions they need to recover," said the study's lead author Manuel Gonzalez Rivero.

"Climate change is driving more frequent and severe marine heatwaves, but local pressures such as poor water quality, overfishing and coastal development are making reefs even less able to withstand them," he added.

Among the worst affected are reefs in Australia, the Pacific and Caribbean.

Around 100 million people live within five kilometers (3.1 miles) of a coral reef, a 46 percent increase over two decades.

The ocean was a highway for Pacific nations, connecting its people, but was in crisis, Palau's President Surangel Whipps said on Sunday.

World

Iran FM Accuses ‘Serpent’ Netanyahu of Tricking US into War

16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. (dpa)
16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. (dpa)
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Iran FM Accuses ‘Serpent’ Netanyahu of Tricking US into War

16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. (dpa)
16 March 2018, Austria, Vienna: Abbas Araghchi, Deputy Foreign Minister of Iran, gives an interview in Vienna. (dpa)

Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "serpent", accusing him of tricking Washington into going to war with the country.

"In Hebrew, Netanyahu openly crows that he suckered the US Administration into a war on Iran on behalf of Israel. Netanyahu explicitly laughs about how he 'influenced' America through 1,000 hours of airtime on US networks," Araghchi said in a post on X.

"In English, he praises POTUS' leadership. Serpent," he added.

War broke out between Iran and the United States on February 28 with US-Israeli strikes killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei along with senior military officials.

Iran retaliated with attacks across the region as the conflict continued to spread.

An April ceasefire put an end to the most intense fighting, but sporadic attacks mainly near the Strait of Hormuz have dimmed prospects for a final peace agreement, and the US recently shifted toward a campaign of what it calls "economic asphyxiation" of Iran.

The US struck the Iranian island of Larak late Sunday, its first such attack in a month.

In response, Iran says it launched attacks on Jordan and the UAE.

Last week, Netanyahu dismissed any prospect of an Iran-US deal and called Iran's leaders "savages".

World

'We are Standing Firm,' Maduro Says in Photo Posts from Detention

(FILES) A motorcyclist rides past a mural of ousted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro flashing the V sign, in Caracas, on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)
(FILES) A motorcyclist rides past a mural of ousted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro flashing the V sign, in Caracas, on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)
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'We are Standing Firm,' Maduro Says in Photo Posts from Detention

(FILES) A motorcyclist rides past a mural of ousted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro flashing the V sign, in Caracas, on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)
(FILES) A motorcyclist rides past a mural of ousted Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro flashing the V sign, in Caracas, on May 14, 2026. (Photo by Federico PARRA / AFP)

Venezuela's deposed leader Nicolas Maduro said on social media Sunday that he was "standing firm" with photographs that appear to show him in the detention center where he has been held since his capture by US forces.

Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were seized in Caracas during a US military operation in January. They are being detained in a facility in Brooklyn, New York, on drug trafficking and firearms possession charges, which they deny, said AFP.

"I am sending these photos as a small gift to all my grandchildren, to the boys and girls, and to all the good people who love us," he wrote on the Telegram messaging service.

"I want you to know that we are standing firm, with our hearts full of your love," he added.

In the two photographs, Maduro is wearing a gray tracksuit and making peace signs with his hands. He appears to have lost considerable weight since his capture.

Although the photographs emerged Sunday, camera data indicates they were taken on June 25, a day after twin deadly earthquakes killed more than 6,500 people and caused widespread destruction in northern Venezuela.

"We will remain strong, calm and confident: God is with us. God will provide. Venezuela will rise again," he concluded.

The authenticity of the photos could not be verified by AFP.

AFP attempted to contact the detention center to find out if the photos were authentic and had been authorized, but did not receive a response immediately.

The message was posted two days after his successor, interim President Delcy Rodriguez, announced a "historic" oil agreement allowing the United States to operate oil fields in Venezuela.

Rodriguez is governing under intense pressure from Washington and says she has "chosen the path of diplomacy" with the United States because she wants Venezuela to become an "energy powerhouse."

Maduro does not have access to newspapers or the internet in prison, but he is allowed to speak by telephone with his family and lawyers for approximately 300 minutes a month, with a maximum of 15 minutes per call, according to a source close to the former leader.

His son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, says his father is in good shape and spends his time studying the Bible.

Maduro and his wife's trial in the United States will begin on June 1, 2027, a federal court in New York announced in late July.