The Department of Justice is facing questions about why a statement about Jeffrey Epstein's death was dated before his apparent suicide.

The press release was dated August 9, 2019, when Epstein was found dead on August 10.

It was subsequently released in the Epstein files release.

READ MORE: Trump told police in mid-2000s 'everyone has known' about Epstein

"Earlier this morning, the Manhattan Correctional Centre confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein, who faced charges brought by this Office of engaging in the sex trafficking of minors, had been found unresponsive in his cell and pronounced dead shortly thereafter," the draft statement from Southern District of New York US Attorney Geoffrey Berman read.

The Southern District of New York covers Manhattan, where Epstein was being held at the time of his death.

The department told the BBC the date was merely a typo.

The statement officially released on the day of Epstein's death was very similar to the draft.

"Today's events are disturbing, and we are deeply aware of their potential to present yet another hurdle to giving Epstein's many victims their day in Court," Berman's statement read. 

"To those brave young women who have already come forward and to the many others who have yet to do so, let me reiterate that we remain committed to standing for you, and our investigation of the conduct charged in the indictment – which included a conspiracy count – remains ongoing."

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Berman had been appointed to the position by the Trump administration but sacked at Trump's request in 2020.

Officials say Epstein committed suicide in his cell overnight before his body was found at 6.30am on August 10 by a corrections officer delivering his breakfast.

No time of death has been determined.

The findings of suicide from the New York City Chief Medical Examiner have been highly scrutinised and criticised.

But despite countless claims of foul play, no evidence has disproven the conclusion that Epstein took his own life.

Millions of documents have been released in recent weeks connected to the investigation of the notorious sex trafficker.

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If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. In the event of an emergency dial Triple Zero (000).

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Two men are set to appear in court in Italy following a dramatic armed robbery on an armoured security truck on a highway on Monday.

A masked gang attacked the vehicle with Kalashnikov rifles and robbed a student of her car as they tried to escape in a heist attempt that concluded in a firefight with the Carabinieri, the Italian police.

The group, composed of at least six people, fired several shots at the Carabinieri, with one officer sustaining an injury.

READ MORE: Trump told police in mid-2000s 'everyone has known' about Epstein's misconduct

Italy's Defence Minister Guido Crosetto described the event as "a bloody incident, with an exchange of fire, and an absolute priority: protecting the community endangered by the madness of criminals."

The gang stopped a vehicle in the road in front of the armoured truck belonging to security company Battistolli, before setting it on fire, forcing traffic to stop.

The security company described the widely shared footage of the incident as shocking, adding, "We express our closeness and solidarity to our colleagues, the bystanders involved, and their families."

It highlighted a surge in incidents of this nature, and called for more to be done to improve security.

"In the last two years, the Battistolli Group has suffered 14 attacks, a situation that requires attention and concrete action," it said.

The suspects, two men aged 38 and 62, will be charged with a range of offences including attempted murder, aggravated robbery and possession of war weapons, according to Italy's public broadcaster RAI.

The injured officer is still being treated in hospital, it added.

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While all football fans want their team to win every game, one Manchester United fan had extra reason to be hoping for a win this morning.

Frank Ilett, better known by his social media moniker The United Strand, has gained fame in football circles for refusing to give himself a haircut until his beloved Red Devils win five games in a row.

Illet made the pledge on October 5, 2024, but Manchester United's failure to live up to their end of the bargain means it has been nearly 500 days since he has been able to get a trim.

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He has gained a large following and notoriety on social media in the last year and a half, garnering 1.3 million followers on Instagram as he shares regular updates about his hair growth.

His unruly locks, a significant change from his previous hairstyle, has now become famous, but it could soon be a thing of the past.

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Manchester United have finally found some good form, four games in a row in all competitions.

That meant there was a massive chance Illet's wait would end if they could beat relegation battlers West Ham United this morning.

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Such was the anticipation of the drought potentially breaking, Ilett even live streamed a watch along for the game.

However, the drought was not broken, as Manchester United could only salvage a 1-1 draw late on thanks to a stoppage time goal from Benjamin Sesko, having been trailing for much of the second half at the London Stadium.

This means the clock resets, and Ilett's wait for a trim will extend well over 500 days. Given Manchester United's inconsistencies, it could even span into the two year mark.

Ilett has said when the time finally comes to shave off his iconic hair do, he will donate the hair to charity.

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Shortly after the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein became public in the mid-2000s, Donald Trump called the Palm Beach Police Department to express gratitude, according to a newly released document.

"Thank goodness you're stopping him," Trump said.

"Everyone has known he's been doing this."

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The document — a written record of an FBI interview that a former Palm Beach County police chief told the Miami Herald he gave in 2019 — is likely to fuel more questions about when and what specifically Trump knew about Epstein and his crimes.

President Trump and the White House have said repeatedly that Trump broke ties with Epstein in the early 2000s, believing Epstein to be a "creep".

The Miami Herald reported the interview memorialised in the document was with Michael Reiter, whose name is redacted.

He was the Palm Beach police chief at the time of the call, which appears to have occurred around 2006, according to the Herald. According to the FBI document, Trump told him on the call that people in New York knew Epstein was disgusting.

And he said Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell was "Epstein's operative," adding of her, "she is evil and to focus on her".

Trump also said he was around Epstein once when teenagers were present and "got the hell out of there," the document says.

Trump was one of the "very first people" to call the Palm Beach Police Department when people found they were investigating Epstein, according to the document, which was among millions released by the Justice Department under a new law passed by Congress.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday said she could not confirm whether the call happened, but argued that if it did, it "corroborates" Trump's account that he had a falling out with Epstein in the early 2000s and cut ties with the financier.

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"It was a phone call that may or may not have happened in 2006. I don't know the answer to that question," she said during a press briefing.

"What I'm telling you is what President Trump has always said, is that he kicked Jeffrey Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club because Jeffrey Epstein was a creep, and that remains true."

A Justice Department official said, "We are not aware of any corroborating evidence that the President contacted law enforcement 20 years ago." Reiter's private security company said in response to an email requesting comment, "Michael Reiter is not participating in interviews at this time."

The question of what Trump knew about Epstein and his crimes has clouded the president's second term amid renewed interest in the story and the release of millions of pages of documents related to the late convicted sex offender. Trump has said the two men were friends in the 1990s, and socialised in the same circles in Palm Beach, before having a falling out in the early 2000s that resulted in Trump kicking Epstein out of his Mar-a-Lago club.

Trump has said the falling-out was motivated by Epstein's attempts to steal his employees but has denied having any knowledge of his crimes.

"The concept of people taking people that worked for me is bad," Trump told reporters in July. "People were taken out of the spa, hired by him, in other words, gone."

"When I heard about it, I told him, we don't want you taking our people – whether it was spa or not spa. I don't want him taking people, and he was fine and then not too long after that he did it again and I said 'outta here,'" Trump said.

Trump said he believed one of the people taken was Virginia Giuffre, one of the most prominent Epstein survivors who later died by suicide. But Trump later that week told reporters he didn't really know why the women were poached from his club.

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Trump's description of Maxwell as "evil" in the document contrasts with how he reacted to her arrest in 2020. He said at the time "I just wish her well." Maxwell is serving a lengthy prison sentence for sex trafficking.

While Maxwell pleaded the fifth during her latest deposition to the House Oversight Committee, her attorney said that she would be willing to "speak fully and honestly if granted clemency by President Trump." In a prior interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, Maxwell said she "absolutely never" heard Epstein or anyone say Trump had done anything inappropriate.

Trump told CNN in July that he hasn't thought about giving a pardon or commutation to Maxwell, although he didn't rule it out.

"It's something I haven't thought about," he said. "I'm allowed to do it, but it's something I have not thought about."

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Young Aussies have become the most committed savers in the country, a new study claims.

Nearly 90 per cent of Generation Z Australians aged between 18 and 29 years-old are actively putting money away, according to new data released by NAB this morning.

The survey claims 89 per cent of young women and 85 per cent of young men are committed to growing their savings accounts despite being hit by cost-of-living pressures and uncertainty around interest rates.

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Sacrifices have to be made, however, with three-quarters of all Australians forced to cut back on spending according to the survey.

NAB Retail Executive Belionda Mamet said younger Aussies have understood the importance of saving even from an early age.

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"Young Aussies should give themselves credit for how much they've already done," she said.

"Cutting back and saving can feel boring, but our younger customers are managing their savings well."

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She encouraged Aussies looking to save to use the New Year period as a natural reset and to start small in their budgeting goals.

"Pause, reset, and make a couple of small changes that help you feel back in control after a busy summer of celebrations and higher than usual spending," she said.

"If you're exhausted with cut back fatigue, don't cut more, just don't quit what you're already doing. Small, repeatable actions can make a big difference."

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Pictures of a masked man on the doorstep of US TV anchor Savannah Guthrie's missing mother Nancy have been released for the first time, as the urgent search for her continues.

FBI Director Kash Patel posted the images online early this morning (Australia time), saying they had been recovered "from residual data located in backend systems".

"Over the last eight days, the FBI and Pima County Sheriff's Department have been working closely with our private sector partners to continue to recover any images or video footage from Nancy Guthrie's home that may have been lost, corrupted, or inaccessible due to a variety of factors – including the removal of recording devices," Patel wrote on X.

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https://x.com/FBIDirectorKash/status/2021281103454072983

"Working with our partners – as of this morning, law enforcement has uncovered these previously inaccessible new images showing an armed individual appearing to have tampered with the camera at Nancy Guthrie's front door the morning of her disappearance."

The images and video show a man wearing gloves, long sleeves, pants, and with a balaclava over his face, apparently attempting to block the door camera at the home, including by holding up a handful of plants.

Nancy Guthrie, 84, is believed to have been abducted from her home in Tuscon, Arizona, on January 31, and was reported missing when she failed to attend church the next day.

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Her daughter, journalist and long-term co-anchor of the US Today television news program Savannah Guthrie, has issued repeated pleas for information and even appealed to the presumed kidnappers, offering to pay a ransom.

Law enforcement investigating Nancy's disappearance have confirmed they had received some demands for ransom from different sources, but have not said if any of them are considered credible.

In a number of video messages released in the days since their mothers' disappearance, Nancy Guthrie's children, including Savannah, appear to have addressed the kidnappers, including one video in which Savannah says, "We have received your message" before pleading for her mother's return.

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However, law enforcement say they are unaware of any ongoing communication between the Guthries and any purported kidnappers.

Nor have investigators identified any persons of interest in the case.

In her latest message yesterday, Savannah Guthrie, this time speaking alone, appealed to the public for the first time, asking anybody who noticed anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement immediately.

"We are at an hour of desperation," she said.

"We need your help."

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Exclusive: Australians say the soaring cost of living, including groceries, schooling and housing, is holding them back from having a second child or starting a family at all.

The national median house price is $1.28 million, median rent is $650 per week, and the price of groceries, food, energy and insurance is through the roof.

Casey Gardiner, a 36-year-old who owns a home in Queensland, tells nine.com.au that she and her partner can't afford children.

READ MORE: 'Australians aren't choosing careers over children, they're choosing financial survival'

Both work odd hours that most childcare doesn't cover, so they'd have to fork out thousands for private childcare services in their child's first few years.

That's on top of a mortgage, bills and groceries.

"The maths didn't work," Gardiner told nine.com.au.

"I'm sure we could have made it work, like so many people have done before, but that's a lot to ask without a village."

Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at our breaking newsletter here

One Nation is on the rise after decades as a fringe political party and has enjoyed a surge in popularity on the back of criticising the federal government's policies on just about everything from immigration to abortion.

Pauline Hanson began One Nation in Queensland in 1997 after being elected as Oxley MP the previous year.

In her controversial and divisive maiden speech to parliament she said she believed Australia was in danger of being "swamped by Asians".

Hanson's opposition to immigration and multiculturalism has remained one of the key pillars of One Nation's electoral campaigns over the past three decades – and it's also among her more controversial policies.

READ MORE: 'Reputation' test looming for Hanson as One Nation surges in popularity

Voter support has quickly skyrocketed too – according to the The Australian Financial Review/Redbridge Group/Accent Research survey, One Nation is up from nine per cent to 26 per cent, making it the country's second most popular political party.

One Nation also claims its membership has exploded by 500 per cent since the 2025 federal election.

"We are establishing branches in every federal electorate. High-profile leaders like Barnaby Joyce and Cory Bernardi bring additional strength to the party," a One Nation spokesperson told nine.com.au.

"Australians know exactly where Pauline Hanson stands on the issues which matter most to them, and they're looking for leadership they're not getting from Anthony Albanese or Sussan Ley."

But what exactly does One Nation stand for and what is its plan for Australia?

Immigration

Hanson claims on her website that Australia's immigration system is "broken".

Hanson has called on Australia to cut immigration by 570,000 people, to deport visa holders who break the law, to withdraw from the UN Refugee Convention and to deport 75,000 "illegal immigrants".

The One Nation leader has frequently blamed immigration for house prices and wage stagnation.

In 2016, Hanson told the chamber she believed Australia was "in danger of being swamped by Muslims who bear a culture and ideology that is incompatible with our own".

Her views have landed her in water in the past; last year, a federal court found Hanson racially discriminated against Pakistani-born senator Mehreen Faruqi after telling her to "p– off back to Pakistan".

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Hanson was also banned from the chamber for seven sitting days after she appeared in the Senate wearing a burqa, repeating a stunt she pulled in 2017.

Hanson has also voted against several motions for letting families return home from immigration detention, most notably the Biloela family.

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Housing

Hanson has proposed an urgent reform of the country's foreign ownership and investment rules.

This would involve banning all foreign purchases of Australian homes and forcing current foreign owners to sell their homes, along with banning the sale of freehold farmland to foreign investors.

The party also claims that slashing immigration by 130,000 visa holders would reduce housing demand.

"With a crucial shortage of housing stock in Australia, we must stop the sale of property to non-residents and non-citizens," Hanson states on her website.

The party has called for a five-year GST moratorium on building materials for new homes valued up to $1 million.

One Nation said it is also committed to "removing mandatory disability compliance requirements for all new homes".

Hanson has previously blamed immigration levels and foreign students as the root cause of Australia's skyrocketing house prices.

At the same time, Hanson has repeatedly voted against measures to increase housing affordability, including the Help to Buy Bill in 2023.

Free speech

Hanson has warned Labor's hate speech laws, passed in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack, are "dangerous" and claimed the legislation threatens the right to freedom of expression.

One Nation states that it wants to enshrine "open debate, free expression, and the rights of all Australians to speak their minds without fear" in the constitution.

"We will push for constitutional protection of free speech and work to repeal any laws or government bodies that restrict it," the party states on its website.

"Censorship, speech regulations, and bureaucratic overreach that silence Australians will be dismantled."

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Cost of living and tax

Hanson's cost-of-living proposals are mostly targeted at immediate, short-term relief for households.

This includes electricity bill reductions, fuel price relief and permanently scrapping the excise tax on beer and spirits in pubs.

"One Nation continues to develop and update policies on the issues which matter, releasing our signature energy policy to dismantle net zero and reduce energy prices in December last year– rising energy costs are the single biggest factor in the rising cost of living," a One Nation spokesperson said.

One Nation has also claimed Medicare is being "rorted" by billions of dollars and wants to crack down on fraud.

The party has previously spoken about its plan to simplify income tax and lower the corporate tax rate in Australia.

One proposed tax cut is to help out families with children to allow couples to split their income across two tax returns, thereby reducing their tax bill.

This proposal was swiftly criticised for only targeting high-income earners.

Climate

Hanson has called for Australia to pull out of the Paris Agreement, claiming carbon emission cuts are "economic suicide".

The One Nation leader has also denied climate change is man-made, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence.

The One Nation senator claims to back a scientific approach to climate change, but at the same time denies there is evidence to prove that global warming is the catastrophe that the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says it is.

Hanson has generally voted against climate change mitigation strategies.

Abortion

One Nation describes itself as "pro-life".

Hanson said her party wants to roll back abortion laws in Australia, including reducing the gestational limit for abortions.

She also wants to reinstate a doctor's right to a "full conscientious objection" to abortion.

Gun ownership

New England MP Barnaby Joyce, who joined Hanson's One Nation party in December, opposed the new gun laws introduced by the federal government in the wake of the Bondi shooting.

Hanson was not in the Senate chamber for the vote due to her ban.

"We won't allow Labor to scapegoat lawful firearm owners for Anthony Albanese's failure to allow radical Islam and antisemitism to go unchecked and unchallenged in Australia," a One Nation spokesperson said.

The party says it supports "responsible gun ownership".

"We do not believe that further stringent measures or regulations are required regarding licensing," One Nation's website reads.

"One Nation calls for stricter border security and tougher sentencing for gun crimes and traffickers."

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Former Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on Angus Taylor to resign from shadow cabinet and officially step forward to challenge Sussan Ley's leadership of the party, as rumours of a spill continue to grow.

Murmurs of a challenge to Ley's position have grown in recent days, despite the Coalition successfully re-forming last weekend.

Taylor, the current shadow defence spokesperson and former shadow treasurer, has emerged as the frontrunner to replace Ley in the event of a spill after fellow conservative Andrew Hastie withdrew from contention late last month.

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With the current parliamentary sitting week the last for the month, there is speculation a spill could be called in the next three days.

The Liberals held a partyroom meeting this morning, but with senators missing the meeting due to estimates sittings, a spill was not called.

However, Turnbull, who resigned from the frontbench in 2015 to successfully challenge then-prime minister Tony Abbott for the Liberal leadership, called on Taylor to do the same this week.

"I do think he should [challenge]", Turnbull said in a press conference at the Senate courtyard, where he issued his challenge to Abbott.

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"I think it is important to stand up and be counted.

"This is a place where you vote in public, so if Angus wants to be leader of the Liberal Party, he should stand up and say so, and say why."

Ley's position has become less secure as the Liberal Party flounders in the polls.

The latest Newspoll released on Monday saw the Coalition's primary vote slide to 18 per cent, now behind Labor at 33 per cent and One Nation on 27 per cent.

The Liberal primary vote is just 15 per cent.

Turnbull didn't say Ley – who has been opposition leader for less than a year – had been denied a fair go, saying it was part and parcel of politics.

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He admitted it was difficult to see a viable road back for the party.

"I sympathise with all of my former colleagues, but they are in a terrible state," he said.

"This is the Liberal Party facing an existential crisis.

"It's a long road ahead… they should be worried, these polls are terrible." 

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NSW detectives have charged six men and flagged 145 suspects worldwide.