Serbian police remove street blockades in Belgrade and make new arrests as tensions persist
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbian police removed street blockades in the capital Belgrade early Monday that were set up as part of a protest over a spate of arrests of anti-government protesters after a massive rally demanding an early parliamentary election.
Thousands of demonstrators placed metal fences and garbage containers at various locations in Belgrade and elsewhere throughout the country Sunday evening, including a key bridge over the Sava River in the capital. Protesters say they plan to return Monday.
Police said in a statement that a number of people have been detained without specifying how many. Video posted on social media showed police vehicles driving at high speed through a blockade in one Belgrade street and people fleeing in panic.
The blockades are part of persistent dissent against the government of populist President Aleksandar Vucic that started after a train station canopy crashed in the country's north, killing 16 people.
Protesters have demanded justice for the victims of the canopy collapse in Novi Sad on Nov. 1, which many in Serbia blame on corruption-fueled negligence in state infrastructure projects.
Tens of thousands of people gathered Saturday at a student-led protest in Belgrade to call for the snap vote they hope will oust Vucic's right-wing government. Groups of protesters clashed with police after the official part of the rally ended. Dozens were later detained.
Vucic has refused to call the election, which is scheduled to be held in 2027. University students and professors are a key force behind nearly eight months of almost daily protests and Vucic has accused them of 'terror' and attempts to destroy the country.
Nearly 50 officers and 22 protesters were injured in clashes late Saturday. Riot police used batons, pepper spray and shields to charge at demonstrators who threw rocks and other objects at police cordons. Nearly 40 people face criminal charges over the clashes, police said.
Authorities also have detained at least eight university students for alleged acts against constitutional order and security, accusing them of planning attacks on state institutions. Protesters have demanded their immediate release.
Critics say Vucic has become increasingly authoritarian since coming to power over a decade ago, stifling democratic freedoms while allowing corruption and organized crime to flourish, which he has denied.
Serbia is formally seeking entry to the European Union, but Vucic's government has nourished relations with Russia and China.
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Toronto Sun
21 minutes ago
- Toronto Sun
Mystery surrounds the Jeffrey Epstein files after Bondi claims 'tens of thousands' of videos
Published Jul 01, 2025 • 7 minute read Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to the media, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the briefing room of the White House in Washington. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin / AP WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a surprising statement from Attorney General Pam Bondi as the Trump administration promises to release more files from its sex trafficking investigation of Jeffrey Epstein: The FBI, she said, was reviewing 'tens of thousands of videos' of the wealthy financier 'with children or child porn.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The comment, made to reporters at the White House days after a similar remark to a stranger with a hidden camera, raised the stakes for President Donald Trump's administration to prove it has in its possession previously unseen compelling evidence. That task is all the more pressing after an earlier document dump that Bondi hyped angered elements of Trump's base by failing to deliver new bombshells and as administration officials who had promised to unlock supposed secrets of the so-called government 'deep state' struggle to fulfill that pledge. Yet weeks after Bondi's remarks, it remains unclear what she was referring to. The Associated Press spoke with people involved as lawyers or law enforcement officials in criminal cases of Epstein and socialite former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell who said they hadn't seen and didn't know of a trove of recordings like what Bondi described. Indictments and detention memos do not reference the existence of videos of Epstein with children, and neither was charged with possession of child sex abuse material even though that offense would have been much easier to prove than the sex trafficking counts they faced. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. One potential clue may lie in a little-noticed 2023 court filing — among hundreds of documents reviewed by the AP — in which Epstein's estate was revealed to have located an unspecified number of videos and photos that it said might contain child sex abuse material. But even that remains shrouded in secrecy with lawyers involved in that civil case saying a protective order prevents them from discussing it. The filing suggests a discovery of recordings after the criminal cases had concluded, but if that's what Bondi was referencing, the Justice Department has not said. The department declined repeated requests from the AP to speak with officials overseeing the Epstein review. Spokespeople did not answer a list of questions about Bondi's comments, including when and where the recordings were procured, what they depict and whether they were newly discovered as authorities dug through their evidence collection or were known for some time to have been in the government's possession. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Outside sources who make assertions about materials included in the DOJ's review cannot speak to what materials are included in the DOJ's review,' spokesperson Chad Gilmartin said in a statement. Bondi has faced pressure after first release fell short of expectations Epstein's crimes, high-profile connections and jailhouse suicide have made the case a magnet for conspiracy theorists and online sleuths seeking proof of a coverup. Elon Musk entered the frenzy during his acrimonious fallout with Trump when he said without evidence in a since-deleted social media post that the reason the Epstein files have yet to be released is that the Republican president is featured in them. During a Fox News Channel interview in February, Bondi suggested an alleged Epstein 'client list' was sitting on her desk. The next day, the Justice Department distributed binders marked 'declassified' to far-right influencers at the White House, but it quickly became clear much of the information had long been in the public domain. No 'client list' was disclosed, and there's no evidence such a document exists. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The flop left conservatives fuming and failed to extinguish conspiracy theories that for years have spiraled around Epstein's case. Right wing-personality Laura Loomer called on Bondi to resign, branding her a 'total liar.' Afterward, Bondi said an FBI 'source' informed her of the existence of thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents and ordered the bureau to provide the 'full and complete Epstein files,' including any videos. Employees since then have logged hours reviewing records to prepare them for release. It's unclear when that might happen. In April, Bondi was approached in a restaurant by a woman with a hidden camera who asked about the status of the Epstein files release. Bondi replied that there were tens of thousands of videos 'and it's all with little kids,' so she said the FBI had to go through each one. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. After conservative activist James O'Keefe, who obtained and later publicized the hidden-camera video, alerted the Justice Department to the encounter, Bondi told reporters at the White House: 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn.' The comments tapped into long-held suspicions that, despite the release over the years of thousands of records documenting Epstein's activities, damaging details about him or other prominent figures remain concealed. The situation was further muddied by recent comments from FBI Director Kash Patel to podcaster Joe Rogan that did not repeat Bondi's account about tens of thousands of videos. Though not asked explicitly about Bondi, Patel dismissed the possibility of incriminating videos of powerful Epstein friends, saying, 'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' Asked whether the narrative 'might not be accurate that there's video of these guys doing this,' he replied, 'Exactly.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Epstein's suicide in August 2019, weeks after his arrest, prevented a trial in New York and cut short the discovery process in which evidence is shared among lawyers. But even in a subsequent prosecution of Maxwell, in which such evidence would presumably have been relevant given the nature of the accusations against an alleged co-conspirator, salacious videos of Epstein with children never surfaced nor were part of the case, said one of her lawyers. 'We were never provided with any of those materials. I suspect if they existed, we would have seen them, and I've never seen them, so I have no idea what she's talking about,' said Jeffrey Pagliuca, who represented Maxwell in a 2021 trial in which she was convicted of luring teenage girls to be molested by Epstein. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. To be sure, photographs of nude or seminude girls have long been known to be part of the case. Investigators recovered possibly thousands of such pictures while searching his Manhattan mansion, and a videorecorded walk-through by law enforcement of his Palm Beach, Florida, home revealed sexually suggestive photographs displayed inside, court records show. Accounts from more than one accuser of feeling watched or seeing cameras or surveillance equipment in Epstein's properties have contributed to public expectations of sexual recordings. A 2020 Justice Department Office of Professional Responsibility report on the handling of an earlier Epstein investigation hinted at that possibility, saying police who searched his Palm Beach home in 2005 found computer keyboards, monitors and disconnected surveillance cameras, but the equipment — including video recordings and other electronic items — was missing. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. There's no indication prosecutors obtained any missing equipment during the later federal investigation, and the indictment against him included no recording allegations. An AP review of hundreds of documents in the Maxwell and Epstein criminal cases identified no reference to tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with underage girls. 'I don't recall personally ever having that kind of discussion,' said one Epstein lawyer, Marc Fernich, who couldn't rule out such evidence wasn't located later. 'It's not something I ever heard about.' In one non-specific reference to video evidence, prosecutors said in a 2020 filing that they would produce to Maxwell's lawyers thousands of images and videos from Epstein's electronic devices in response to a warrant. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But Pagliuca said his recollection was those videos consisted largely of recordings in which Epstein was 'musing' into a recording device — 'Epstein talking to Epstein,' he said. A revelation from the Epstein estate Complicating efforts to assess the Epstein evidence is the volume of accusers, court cases and districts where legal wrangling has occurred, including after Epstein's suicide and Maxwell's conviction. The cases include 2022 lawsuits in Manhattan's federal court from an accuser identified as Jane Doe 1 and in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein had a home, alleging that financial services giant JPMorgan Chase failed to heed red flags about him being a 'high-risk' customer. Lawyers issued a subpoena for any video recordings or photos that could bolster their case. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. They told a judge months later the Epstein estate had alerted them that it had found content that 'might contain child sex abuse imagery' while responding to the subpoena and requested a protocol for handling 'videorecorded material and photographs.' The judge ordered representatives of Epstein's estate to review the materials before producing them to lawyers and to alert the FBI to possible child sexual abuse imagery. Court filings don't detail the evidence or say how many videos or images were found, and it's unclear whether the recordings Bondi referenced were the same ones. The estate's disclosure was later included by a plaintiffs' lawyer, Jennifer Freeman, in a complaint to the FBI and the Justice Department asserting that investigators had failed over the years to adequately collect potential evidence of child sex abuse material. Freeman cited Bondi's comments in a new lawsuit on behalf of an Epstein accuser who alleges he assaulted her in 1996. In an interview, Freeman said she had not seen recordings and had no direct knowledge but wanted to understand what Bondi meant. 'I want to know what she's addressing, what is she talking about — I'd like to know that,' she said. Read More Toronto Blue Jays Sunshine Girls Toronto Maple Leafs World World
Winnipeg Free Press
21 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Takeaways from AP's report on Attorney General Bondi's comments about evidence in Epstein case
WASHINGTON (AP) — Attorney General Pam Bondi's recent comments about evidence the Justice Department is reviewing from its Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation has fueled anticipation about the expected release of more files related to the wealthy financier. But weeks after Bondi's claim about 'tens of thousands' of Epstein videos in the government's possession, it remains unclear what she was referring to. Here's a look at some of the takeaways from an Associated Press report about the Epstein case and Bondi's recent remarks: Who are Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell? A New York financier with ties to politicians and other famous and powerful people, Epstein was arrested in 2019 as he arrived in the U.S. from Paris aboard his private jet and charged with sexually abusing dozens of teenage girls during the early 2000s. The case was brought more than a decade after a secret plea deal with federal prosecutors in Florida disposed of nearly identical allegations. Weeks after his arrest, Epstein took his own life inside a high-security unit at a New York jail. Since then, Epstein's crimes, high-profile connections and death have made him a subject of public fascination, intense media scrutiny and conspiracy theories. Maxwell, Epstein's British socialite girlfriend, was separately charged and later convicted of helping Epstein sexually abuse underage girls. Many of the scores of women who accused Epstein of abusing them have characterized Maxwell as the madam who recruited them. Maxwell, who laid blame for the abuse on Epstein, was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in prison. A hidden camera and reporters at the White House Bondi first mentioned the videos in April when she was approached in a restaurant by a woman with a hidden camera who asked about the status of the release of the Epstein files. Bondi replied there were tens of thousands of videos 'and it's all with little kids so they have to go through every one,' referring to the FBI. Then in May, after conservative activist James O'Keefe — who obtained and later publicized the hidden camera video — alerted the Justice Department press office to the encounter, Bondi appeared at the White House, where she said: 'There are tens of thousands of videos of Epstein with children or child porn.' The comments tapped into long-held suspicions and theories that, despite the release over the years of thousands of records documenting his activities, embarrassing and incriminating details about him or other powerful figures remain suppressed by the government. Her statements appeared meant to explain the delay in releasing more files, even though the government would presumably never release footage depicting children. What the AP found through its reporting The Associated Press spoke with lawyers and law enforcement officials in criminal and civil cases concerning Epstein and Maxwell who said they had not seen and did not know of a trove of recordings like what Bondi described. Indictments and detention memos in the cases do not reference sexually suggestive videos, and neither was charged with possession of child sexual abuse material even though that offense would have been easier for prosecutors to prove than the sex trafficking counts they faced. An AP review of hundreds of court documents in the case found non-specific mentions of the existence of video evidence but no references to tens of thousands of recordings showing Epstein with children or child sex abuse material. FBI Director Kash Patel, who has refuted conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered, did not advance the suggestion of thousands of recordings with Epstein during a recent interview on Joe Rogan's podcast. Though not asked explicitly about Bondi's comments, he dismissed the possibility of incriminating videos involving powerful Epstein friends, saying 'If there was a video of some guy or gal committing felonies on an island and I'm in charge, don't you think you'd see it?' Asked whether the narrative 'might not be accurate that there's video of these guys doing this,' Patel replied, 'Exactly.' One potential clue, however, may lie in a little-noticed 2023 court filing — among the documents the AP reviewed — in which Epstein's estate was revealed to have located an unspecified number of videos and photos that it said might contain child sex abuse material. Even that remains shrouded in secrecy with lawyers involved in that civil case saying they are bound by a protective order and cannot discuss it. The judge ordered representatives of Epstein's estate to review the content before handing anything over to the lawyers and alert the FBI if the estate found anything that could be considered child sexual abuse imagery. The department declined repeated requests from the AP to speak with officials overseeing the Epstein review. What are the stakes for Bondi? Bondi's statements matter because she's already facing intense pressure from conservatives to prove the government has in its possession previously unseen compelling evidence after an earlier document dump she hyped failed to satisfy online sleuths, conspiracy theorists and members of President Donald Trump's base. During a Fox News Channel interview in February, Bondi said an alleged Epstein 'client list' was sitting on her desk for review. The next day, the Justice Department distributed binders marked 'declassified' to far-right influencers at the White House, but it later became clear much of the information had been in the public domain for years. No 'client list' was disclosed, and there's no evidence such a document exists. The flop left conservatives fuming and did little to tamp down conspiracy theories that for years have spiraled around the financier's case thanks to his ties to politicians and other famous and powerful people. Right wing-personality Laura Loomer called on Bondi to resign, branding her a 'total liar,' while conservative legal group Judicial Watch sued the Justice Department to try to obtain more Epstein records. Afterward, Bondi said a 'source' in the FBI's New York field office informed her that thousands of pages of previously undisclosed documents exist and ordered the bureau to provide the 'full and complete Epstein files,' including all 'records, documents, audio and video recordings, and materials' concerning Epstein and his clients. Employees have logged hours reviewing records to prepare them for release. It's unclear when that might happen.
Toronto Star
27 minutes ago
- Toronto Star
3 leaders at English hospital where a nurse was convicted of murdering babies are arrested
LONDON (AP) — Three senior leaders at the English hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was convicted of murdering seven babies and trying to kill seven others were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, police said Tuesday. The unnamed suspects being investigated for gross negligence manslaughter were arrested after a corporate manslaughter probe was expanded following Letby's 2023 convictions for the infant deaths at the Countess of Chester Hospital in northwestern England, said Detective Superintendent Paul Hughes of the Cheshire Constabulary. The three were released on bail.
