Britain arrested a royal. Norway charged a former prime minister. Poland formed an investigation team. The United States released a list with Elvis Presley on it.
At least five countries launched criminal investigations after the Department of Justice released 3.5 million pages of Jeffrey Epstein files January 30. British police arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor February 19 on suspicion of misconduct in public office — the first royal arrested in 379 years. Four days later they arrested Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the United States, on the same charge.
Norway charged former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland with aggravated corruption. Jagland chaired the Nobel Peace Prize committee and led the Council of Europe. Norwegian diplomats Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen, architects of the Oslo Accords, were both charged with corruption after files revealed Epstein left $10 million to their children in his will.
Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office formed Investigation Team No. 5 to investigate Epstein’s network recruiting Polish minors. The operation began in 2005. It continued through 2018. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek requested access to all classified materials from US authorities.
The DOJ has not shared the files with any nation. The US holds six million pages of evidence. Zero arrests. Zero charges. Zero new prosecutions.
Pakistan bombed Afghanistan’s capital Kabul early Friday and declared open war on its Taliban-run neighbor after cross-border strikes killed twelve Pakistani soldiers. Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said Pakistan’s patience has run out. Pakistan claims its airstrikes killed 274 Taliban fighters. The strikes destroyed 83 military posts.
Afghanistan claims 19 civilians died, most of them women and children. The Pakistani Taliban has doubled its attacks since Afghanistan’s Taliban seized power in 2021. The group carried out more than 1,000 violent incidents across Pakistan. That happened in 2025.
Sweden confirmed Russia violated its airspace when a drone launched from Russian intelligence vessel Zhigulevsk approached French nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle during NATO exercises. Swedish naval forces jammed the drone February 25 after detecting it flying seven nautical miles toward the carrier docked in Malmö. The incident fits a documented pattern of Russian disruption operations targeting NATO infrastructure. An Associated Press database has tracked over 100 such incidents across Europe since Russia’s 2022 Ukraine invasion.
Argentina’s Senate passed President Javier Milei’s labor reform Friday with 42 votes in favor. The law eliminates traditional overtime payments and replaces them with a time bank system where employers decide when accumulated hours can be taken as time off. Companies can negotiate wages directly with individual workers, bypassing sector-wide union agreements. Thousands protested outside Congress as lawmakers debated.
A mud volcano erupted Wednesday in San Juan de Urabá, Colombia, shooting flames and dense columns of gas into the sky and killing livestock. No humans died. The Colombian Geological Service clarified that mud volcanoes expel pressurized mud, brine, and methane from faulted marine sediments rather than molten rock. Authorities evacuated four homes near the blast site.
Pope Leo XIV thanked Norwegian Bishop Erik Varden Friday for leading his first Lenten retreat as pontiff, describing the week-long spiritual exercises as “a profound experience” that deeply moved him. The retreat concluded in the Vatican’s Pauline Chapel with the Pope urging participants to “walk in a manner worthy of the Gospel of Christ.”
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