Top Stories — Friday, April 24, 2026
What is trending in the USA today? Here is Breaking News:
- Epstein files: DOJ watchdog reviewing release of documents on sex offender — CNBC
- World’s Biggest Condom Maker Raises Prices as Iran War Rattles Supply Chains — nyt News
- Afghans Who Helped U.S. Forces Say They’re Being Pushed Back to the Taliban — nyt News
Epstein files: DOJ watchdog reviewing release of documents on sex offender
Source: CNBC • Published: 4/24/2026, 12:06:21 AM
The Department of Justice's internal watchdog said on Thursday that it is investigating the DOJ's compliance with a law requiring that it fully disclose department files about the notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The audit by the Office of the Inspector General comes after months of complaints that the DOJ has failed to comply with the Epstein Files Transparency Act by withholding many files in its possession about Epstein and his convicted accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Deputy Inspector General William Blier, in a statement, said, "Our preliminary objective is to evaluate the DOJ's processes for identifying, redacting, and releasing records in its possession as required by the Act."
"If circumstances warrant, the OIG will consider addressing other issues that may arise during the course of the audit," Blier said.
The OIG "will issue a public report with the audit's results when our work is complete," he said.
Brittany Henderson, an attorney who represents more than 100 Epstein victims with her partner Brad Edwards, told MS Now in a statement, "It should not have taken this long to begin holding the U.S. Department of Justice accountable, but this audit will bring a long-awaited sense of temporary relief to many victims of Epstein."
"We can only hope this audit is conducted in a meaningful way--one that leads to real accountability and, ultimately, reparations for the victims who were re-victimized and harmed by these failures," Henderson said.
Another attorney, Arick Fudali, who represents a group of 10 Epstein survivors, told MS Nows, "With the hopes that this is not just another partisan performance for this administration to pretend they care about Epstein's survivors, I look forward to reviewing what the audit recovers from this clear attempt at thwarting transparency and accountability."
Congress passed the Epstein files law in November, months after then-Attorney General Pam Bondi reneged on her promise to release the DOJ's investigatory file on Epstein.
Epstein, a former friend of President Donald Trump, killed himself in a federal jail in New York City in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on child sex trafficking charges.
Trump fired Bondi on April 2, reportedly after being unhappy with the way the attorney general had handled issues relating to the Epstein files.
World’s Biggest Condom Maker Raises Prices as Iran War Rattles Supply Chains
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/24/2026, 12:05:03 AM
The world’s largest condom maker is raising prices of its products by up to 30 percent, warning that shortages of raw materials and chemicals because of the Iran war could disrupt production.
The Malaysian condom company, Karex, which produces about five billion condoms a year, blamed a surge in raw material prices, global shipping disruptions and higher freight costs for the price increases.
The de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz has led to a surge in the price of oil and gas, disrupting supply chains and driving up costs for a wide range of materials that companies like Karex depends on, including nitrile and synthetic rubber, packaging materials, silicone oil and aluminum foil.
“Some raw material prices have increased by 100 percent. We have no choice but to make adjustments now,” Goh Miah Kiat, the chief executive of Karex, said in an interview with The New York Times on Thursday.
The company says that it makes about a fifth of the world’s condoms and uses more than a hundred chemicals and raw materials in its production. If the war persists, Mr. Goh said, a shortage of even a single item could ripple through its factories and bring production to a halt.
“There will be jobs that will be at stake, ” Mr. Goh warned.
Karex supplies some of the world’s best-known contraceptive brands, including Durex and Trojan. The company employs around 3,000 people in its factories in Malaysia and Thailand, and sources materials from countries across Asia and Europe. It sells its One brand of condoms for an average retail price of 9 ringgit for a pack of three, or over $2, in the Malaysian market.
The company has long supplied condoms to government-funded programs for AIDS prevention and family planning. That segment of the business took a hit last year after the Trump administration cut funding to the U.S. Agency for International Development, which supported condom distribution initiatives in foreign countries.
Still, Mr. Goh, who has been the company chief executive for more than a decade, said that the company has seen demand for condoms rise this year, including in developing countries, and he warned of possible panic buying among consumers if supplies run low and the Iran war drags on.
“Everyone hopes that this ends fast and swiftly,” he said.
Read the full story at nyt News.
Afghans Who Helped U.S. Forces Say They’re Being Pushed Back to the Taliban
Source: nyt News • Published: 4/24/2026, 12:01:39 AM
Afghan refugees who once helped U.S. forces and have been stranded for years at a former U.S. military base in Qatar, say they are being forced to choose between returning to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan or resettling in a third country that some have never heard of.
The New York Times reported this week that the Trump administration has been in talks with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo to send as many as 1,100 Afghans to the Central African country.
Camp officials deny that any decision has been made, even as they have, for months, pushed Afghans to return to Afghanistan by offering free airfare and a stipend, according to camp residents and screenshots of messages from camp officials seen by the Times.
Officials at the facility, Camp As Sayliyah in Qatar, told residents on Wednesday that no deal had been finalized.
“Please be aware NO third country has been confirmed or officially announced for resettlement,” read a message sent to a WhatsApp group that officials have used to communicate with residents. “The U.S. government continues discussions to identify and secure voluntary resettlement opportunities.”
For months, the Afghans had lived under a cloud, hearing from camp officials and aid workers that they might be relocated to either an African or Asian country.
“Now we are stuck between bad and worse options,” said Arash Pahlavi, a camp resident.
Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban government spokesman, said Afghan authorities would welcome the return of camp residents.
“Now they have realized how much importance the Americans give them, and how much value they place on those who worked with them,” Mr. Mujahid said.
He did not respond to questions about reports of human rights abuses — including extrajudicial killings, imprisonment, and torture — against members of the former Afghan administration and allies of U.S. forces.
If implemented, the relocation would be the latest measure taken by the Trump administration to prevent Afghan refugees who helped U.S. forces in Afghanistan from reaching the United States. In November, the Trump administration froze a special visa program for Afghans, and in January, said it would close the camp in March.
Mr. Pahlavi has family in the United States, but his plans to join them fell apart when President Trump suspended a refugee admission program last year.
Since U.S. officials running the camp began offering free plane tickets and stipends late last year, over 200 people have gone back, according to Shawn VanDiver, the president of the aid group AfghanEvac, who was briefed on the State Department’s plan to relocate camp residents to Congo. Six residents confirmed that dozens of families have left.
Those still at the camp include former interpreters for the U.S. military, Afghan special operations forces, and relatives of American service members, many of whom would be at risk of human rights abuses if repatriated.
The U.S. plan adds to a growing list of coercive measures implemented by countries across the world to send Afghan refugees back home. Iran and Pakistan forced nearly three million Afghans back home last year. The European Union is in talks with the Taliban government to repatriate undocumented Afghans. A notable exception has been Brazil, which has received hundreds of Afghan refugees since last year.
It is unclear whether the deal with the Congolese government would include some or all of the 1,100 residents. More than half of them are women and children.
Aid workers and U.S. politicians opposing the plan say relocation to Congo would be anything but secure and voluntary. Congo is in the grip of one of the world’s most severe displacement crises and is in conflict with its neighbor, Rwanda.
“The option to be deported to the Taliban or to move to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo is not a choice,” said Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Democrat of California, who is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee that oversees Afghanistan issues.
The State Department and the Congolese government did not respond to a request for comment.
Residents of As Sayliyah went through at least one round of preliminary vetting, according to Jon Finer, a former deputy national security adviser under the Biden administration. Some have had English and driving lessons and taken courses on American culture, residents said.
However, not all had been cleared for U.S. relocation before Mr. Trump suspended the program.
Some residents said they would be ready to go back to Afghanistan if Congo were the only other option, or would accept resettlement to Congo.
“I will choose Congo over Afghanistan because I don’t feel safe there in Afghanistan,” said Salem, a former Afghan Air Force pilot.
But Zarah, 15, would be unable to go to school or travel long distances without a male companion, under restrictions imposed on women and girls by the Taliban government.
She and Salem spoke on condition that her first name be used only to avoid retaliation if they were sent back to Afghanistan.
“Afghanistan is my homeland — I respect it,” Zarah said. “But I’m not ready to go back.”
Safiullah Padshah and Yaqoob Akbary contributed reporting.
Elian Peltier is The Times’s bureau chief for Pakistan and Afghanistan, based in Islamabad.
Read the full story at nyt News.
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