Welcome, readers, to Afternoon Update.
Donald Trump has threatened to sue Rupert Murdoch over what he calls a “false, malicious, defamatory story”, as the US president seeks to tamp down controversy over a story run in the Wall Street Journal that he allegedly contributed a “bawdy” birthday note for Jeffrey Epstein in 2003, replete with a sketch of a naked woman’s silhouette. Trump said in a post to Truth Social that he had personally told the Journal’s owner, Murdoch, and editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, that the letter was fake and that he would sue if a story about the letter was published.
“Mr Murdoch stated that he would take care of it but obviously did not have the power to do so,” Trump wrote. “Instead they are going with a false, malicious, defamatory story anyway. President Trump will be suing the Wall Street Journal, News Corp and Mr Murdoch shortly.”
Trump’s comments come as he said separately that he had directed his attorney general, Pam Bondi, to seek the release of grand jury testimony related to Epstein’s sex-trafficking case, citing “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
Bondi, who has weathered days of accusations by Trump’s far-right supporters that she had mismanaged and failed to deliver on promises to release previously secret documents about the Epstein case, vowed to comply with the directive.
The latest episode of Full Story explores the tricky situation the president finds himself in as he goes to war with some of his most faithful followers.
Top news
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In pictures
From microscopic images inside a human kidney to self-portraits of enduring epilepsy and endometriosis, this year’s selection for the Wellcome photography prize 2025 is as moving as it is dazzling.
What they said …
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“They can look like little blobs of dirt, but it’s the big neck that gives them away. I’m pretty chuffed. It’s crazy.”
The Kangaroo Island assassin spider was feared extinct after bushfires swept across the west of the island in the black summer of 2019 and 2020. Scientists were the only ones to find surviving specimens, at least until the discovery last week, not by a scientist, but an enthusiastic 17-year-old volunteer called Jack Wilson who was filling his time during school holidays.
In numbers
Host Stephen Colbert, who took over presenting the talkshow in 2015 from David Letterman, announced the news during Thursday night’s taping. CBS said the cancellation after 33 years on the network was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night”. “It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” it added.
Before bed read
Eureka moments, just like the one Archimedes had, don’t usually happen when you’re trying: they happen when you’re not. There’s a scientific name for this wandering mind magic: the Default Mode Network (DMN) and one of its greatest allies? Boredom. So why can’t we stop bringing our phones into the bathroom?
Daily word game
Today’s starter word is: BONE. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply.
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