The Justice Department asked a judge for permission Wednesday to publicly release financial records, travel documents, and notes of victim interviews obtained during the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell to comply with a new law. In a letter to federal Judge Paul Engelmayer, who is overseeing the Maxwell case in the Southern District of New York, prosecutors asked the court to lift a protective order that previously prevented the public dissemination of evidence turned over to Maxwell ahead of her trial. read more
The US Navy's beleaguered shipbuilding program took a major hit on Tuesday as Navy Secretary John Phelan announced he was cancelling plans to buy Constellation-class frigates, once heralded as a key part of US strategy to keep up with China's rapidly expanding naval fleet. Phelan said the multibillion-dollar program for the surface combatants wasn't delivering any bang for the buck. read more
Senator Jim Justice, a Republican and former governor of West Virginia, has agreed to pay over $5m in long-overdue taxes, just hours after being sued by US tax authorities. The first-term senator and his wife reached the settlement following a lawsuit accusing the couple of having "neglected or refused to make full payment" on taxes from 2009. read more
Foreign tourists visiting popular US national parks like the Grand Canyon and Yosemite will need to pay an extra fee, the Trump administration says. The Department of the Interior, which runs the country's national parks, said each international visitor will need to pay $100 per person on top of existing fees to access 11 of the most popular sites. read more
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that a proposed plan to end the Ukraine war, which has been widely viewed as favourable to Russia, was "authored by the US". It comes after a group of senators said they had been told by Rubio that the draft - which one said he described as a Russian "wish list" - did not reflect Washington's position. read more
Short term perhaps.
That's the only way Lewzer thinks.