By Sarah Ferris, Paula Reid, Camila DeChalus, CNN

(CNN) — Former Attorney General Pam Bondi offered a robust defense of the Justice Department’s handling of the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files as she arrived on Capitol Hill Friday morning for a long-sought interview with the GOP-led House Oversight Committee.

“To the best of my knowledge, the Department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act,” Bondi said in a statement released just ahead of her closed-door interview with the panel. Bondi argued DOJ “demonstrated an unprecedented commitment to transparency” in its release of the case documents in recent months.

Roughly two months after her firing and just days after making public her cancer diagnosis, Bondi is speaking to Hill lawmakers about the department’s handling of the Epstein probe under her watch — a major source of contention inside Donald Trump’s White House during her tenure.

Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, stressed to reporters Friday morning that his committee is “taking this investigation seriously” as it holds the 13th interview in its probe into the late convicted sex offender.

“We want to get the truth to the American people, we wanted to try to provide justice for the survivors,” he told reporters.

But ahead of the sitdown with Bondi, Comer’s Democratic counterpart on the panel, Rep. Robert Garcia, lashed out at Republicans for not requiring the former attorney general to speak on camera or to take a formal oath before speaking to the panel.

While Bondi’s interview will be transcribed and made public, Garcia said it “should have been under oath, and it should be videotaped.”

Just ahead of Bondi’s appearance, a group of Epstein survivors spoke to reporters about the significance of her interview — and what they saw as a clear need for more information.

Marina Lacerda, one of those survivors, said she believes Bondi knows details about the investigation that the public doesn’t. “We all hope that today Pam Bondi will be as clear as possible and hopefully bring accountability to the table,” she said.

Some 2.5 million documents in the Justice Department’s investigative files related to the late convicted sex offender have not been publicly released and many of the 3.5 million pages that have been published are heavily redacted, prompting questions about what’s being kept from the public.

During her time as the top US law enforcement official, Bondi faced criticism from both parties over her lack of transparency on the Epstein investigation.

She’s also faced scrutiny over redaction errors that, in some cases, exposed private personal information about the survivors in the documents.

Another survivor who spoke to reporters Friday, Liz Stein, said she wants Bondi to answer for those redaction errors — and to disclose if anyone has been held accountable for revealing survivor names “while protecting the names of perpetrators.”

“I would certainly hope that as a career attorney and as the former head of the Department of Justice for the United States of America that she will have some kind of moral reckoning with her conscience and remember why she was put in the job she was in, and what her responsibilities in that job are to the American people and not necessarily any particular administration,” Stein said.

In March, the oversight panel, with several GOP lawmakers joining Democrats, voted to subpoena Bondi. Looking to boost members’ confidence in how the investigation was being handled, she then voluntarily appeared for an informal meet

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By Sam Peters, CNN

(CNN) — Pictures of a napping polar bear, the remnants of a rain shower in the Namib desert and a bustling dumpling stall in Seoul are among this year’s winners of the National Geographic Traveller (UK) Photography Competition, capturing both extraordinary moments and daily life around the world.

Returning for its 15th year, the competition was divided into eight categories – Urban, People, Landscape, Wildlife, Food, Portfolio, Aerial and Rising Star.

Edward Hasler’s aerial photograph of the Namib desert was selected as the Grand Prize winner, earning him an 11-day photography expedition to British Columbia, Canada.

Ben Rowe, senior picture editor for National Geographic Traveller (UK) and one of the judges, said in a press release on Thursday: “The winning images make up a stunning group of photographs, offering unique perspectives on life around the world, from abstract landscapes and street food to busy city life and quiet, intimate moments. It’s a collection that inspires a desire to travel.”

Whilst some of the winners photographed high alpine peaks and arid deserts, others focused on scenes of daily life.

Zaeem Jafri won the Food category with his image of steaming dumplings and hungry customers at a food stall in Seoul. While Fred Forse’s highly commended image captured passengers aboard a cruise ship traveling from Southampton, UK, to Skjolden, Norway.

Other entries gave a new perspective on often photographed subjects.

Using a drone and a telephoto lens, Felix Belloin’s winning image in the Wildlife category captured a polar bear tucked into a crack in the ice, asleep.

Meanwhile, Lucas James Leal Martin’s highly commended image shows a nocturnal owl in Scotland during the day.

The winning images will be shown at an exhibition at London’s King’s Cross station between May 28 and July 12.

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Por Equipo CNN

A medida que las negociaciones entre Estados Unidos e Irán se acercan a un posible acuerdo, Teherán señala cada vez con mayor insistencia que cualquier regreso a la guerra sería muy diferente al último conflicto.

Funcionarios estadounidenses declararon el jueves que se había alcanzado un acuerdo tentativo en las conversaciones entre Teherán y Washington, y que estaba a la espera de la aprobación del presidente Donald Trump. Sin embargo, aun cuando los negociadores informaban de avances, la confrontación militar mostraba escasos signos de desaparecer. Esta semana, Estados Unidos lanzó su segunda ronda de ataques contra Irán en cuestión de días, mientras que el jueves por la noche continuaron las escaramuzas en el estrecho de Ormuz.

Las autoridades iraníes han utilizado las negociaciones para proyectar confianza, dando a entender que conservan importantes opciones militares en caso de que la diplomacia fracase. La Guardia Revolucionaria afirmó que cualquier nuevo conflicto se extenderá “mucho más allá de la región”, amenazando con infligir “golpes demoledores” en lugares que sus adversarios “ni siquiera pueden imaginar”.

Estas advertencias surgen tras una guerra en la que Irán atacó bases estadounidenses, ciudades israelíes e infraestructuras críticas en los estados árabes del Golfo, al tiempo que bloqueaba de hecho el tráfico marítimo a través del estrecho de Ormuz y desencadenaba una crisis energética mundial.

La semana pasada, el ministro de Asuntos Exteriores iraní, Abbas Araghchi, advirtió que cualquier represalia futura “incluiría muchas más sorpresas”, mientras que el ejército de Irán amenazó con abrir “nuevos frentes” utilizando “nuevas herramientas”. Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, el principal negociador de Irán, declaró que las fuerzas armadas habían aprovechado el periodo de alto el fuego para reconstruir sus capacidades “al más alto nivel”.

Los expertos señalan que gran parte de esta retórica tiene por objeto disuadir de realizar nuevos ataques. No obstante, también advierten que Teherán conserva importantes opciones de escalada en caso de que la vía diplomática colapse.

Si la guerra se reanudara, estas son algunas de las formas en que Irán podría responder:

Irán no puede imponerse a Estados Unidos e Israel por medios militares convencionales; por ello, ha optado por la disuasión infligiendo un perjuicio económico a escala mundial mediante el bloqueo del estrecho de Ormuz, un punto de estrangulamiento marítimo de vital importancia. Envalentonado por su éxito, Teherán podría intentar ahora perturbar otro corredor marítimo fundamental.

Activando su fuerza regional —con los hutíes de Yemen—, Irán podría orquestar el cierre del estrecho de Bab el-Mandeb, bloqueando así otra arteria vital que conecta las principales rutas comerciales entre Europa, Asia y el mundo árabe. Una medida de este tipo intensificaría aún más la presión económica a nivel mundial.

En 2023, más del 10 % del comercio mundial de petróleo por vía marítima transitó por el estrecho de Bab al-Mandeb. Después de que los hutíes generaran inseguridad marítima en la región cercana a Yemen en 2024, esa cuota se redujo casi a la mitad en el caso del petróleo y cayó a valores cercanos a cero para el gas natural licuado, según la Administración de Información Energética de Estados Unidos.

“Una crisis simultánea en Bab al-Mandeb y en el estrecho de Ormuz sería mucho más grave, ya que podría afectar tanto al comercio del mar Rojo como a los flujos energéticos del golfo Pérsico; esto elevaría los precios del petróleo, las tarifas de flete y la presión inflacionaria a nivel mundial”, declaró a la CNN Umud Shokri, estratega energético e investigador visitante sénior de la Universidad George Mason.

En los últimos años, los hutíes han demostrado su ca

By Devan Cole, CNN

(CNN) — A federal judge in Virginia has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from moving ahead with plans to create a nearly $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who it says were wrongly targeted by the government in the past.

The brief order from US District Judge Leonie Brinkema says the administration cannot take any action “pursuant to the creation or operation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund, which includes the transferring of money to the Fund; the consideration of any claims submitted to the Fund; and the disbursing of any funds from the Fund.”

She set a hearing for June 12 to hear arguments over whether she should issue a more lasting pause on the government’s efforts to set up the fund, which is being challenged by a diverse coalition of people and entities who say they would be ineligible to receive money from it.

CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.

This story is breaking and will be updated.

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