World

Financial giant Bank of America has agreed to pay $72.5 million (€62.8 million) to settle a class action lawsuit accusing it of facilitating Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking operations, according to court filings on Friday. The lawsuit alleged that the bank ignored "red flags" and suspicious transactions linked to Epstein to continue providing him financial services, prioritizing profit over protecting victims.

A six-year-old girl, Nargis Jaber, and her aunt were killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 2 in the village of Mayfadun in southern Lebanon. According to The Guardian, this incident was among the first child fatalities in Lebanon during Israel's military campaign, which began after Hezbollah launched rocket attacks on Israel. Since then, Israeli forces have killed 120 other children in the country, accounting for nearly 10% of total deaths.

Spain delivered a commanding 3-0 win against Serbia in a friendly match ahead of the World Cup, with striker Mikel Oyarzabal scoring two superb first-half goals to set the tone early in the game.

The Mexican Navy and the United States Coast Guard have confirmed that search efforts are ongoing for two missing sailboats that were part of a humanitarian convoy bound for Cuba this week. The vessels, carrying nine people in total, departed from Isla Mujeres, Mexico, on March 20 and were initially expected to arrive in Cuba on Tuesday or Wednesday. Search operations are currently being led by Cuba and Mexico, with the US Coast Guard telling Reuters it remains prepared to provide support if requested, after retracting an earlier statement to AFP that the boats had been located.

Heavily armed state forces maintain control on the streets of Iran's capital Tehran, while the United States and Israel continue to launch new strikes and prepare for a potential ground attack. The nearly month-long war proceeds with no clear end point in sight, with city residents living under constant military presence.

US House Republicans on Friday rejected a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at ending the weeks-long partial government shutdown, which has forced thousands of airport security officers to work without pay, exacerbating the ongoing crisis. Republican Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed the Senate bill, passed unanimously early Friday, as a "joke" and stated that Republicans would introduce their own legislation to fully fund the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

A car crash occurred on Friday in Martin County, Florida, near Jupiter Island, involving golf legend Tiger Woods. According to the Martin County Sheriff's Office, the 50-year-old Woods was arrested at the scene on suspicion of driving under the influence. His Land Rover rolled over on a two-lane road after he attempted to pass a pressure cleaner truck but clipped the back end of the truck’s trailer.

United States law enforcement agencies have announced the foiling of a plot against prominent Palestinian activist Nerdeen Kiswani in New York City, detaining a suspect for allegedly planning to throw Molotov cocktails at her home. The suspect, 26-year-old Andrew Heifler, was arrested as part of an undercover operation. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informed Kiswani late on Thursday of a threat against her life.

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered extensive remarks following the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers' meeting in France, denouncing Iran's continued chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz and addressing settler violence in the occupied West Bank. Speaking to journalists on an airport tarmac on Friday, Rubio responded to reports that Iran plans to implement a tolling system in the vital waterway, which handles approximately 20% of the world's liquid petroleum supply.

The personal email account of FBI Director Kash Patel has been compromised by a group linked to Iran, the agency has confirmed. A group known as the Handala Hack Team shared Patel's purported resume and photos on its website on Friday along with a statement declaring, "This is just our beginning."

Amid global energy supply disruptions, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has indicated that it may be necessary to keep the country’s coal-fired power plants operational for longer than planned. Speaking at an event organized by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in Frankfurt, Merz stated, “We may need to keep our coal plants online for longer.” Germany has relied on coal as a primary energy source for decades, but its share has dropped to less than 22% by 2024, with renewable energy sources nearing 60%. The country is in the process of phasing out coal to minimize pollution, with the last coal-fired plants scheduled to be shut down by 2038. Merz emphasized on Friday, “I am not ready to gamble with the core of our energy supply just because we agreed on some deadlines years ago.”

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk has called on the United States to conclude its investigation and publish findings into a deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, Iran, which occurred on the first day of the war last month. At an urgent UN Human Rights Council debate, he stated that the bombing "evoked a visceral horror" and that "there must be justice for the terrible harm done".