President Biden has told people in Florida affected by two major hurricanes in recent weeks he knows “how devastating it is to lose your home”.
He told reporters his home was struck by lightning “several years ago” and the things he missed most were “my daughter’s drawings… All the family photographs, all the albums, all the things that really matter.
“The fact is that when you lose your wedding ring, the old photos, your children’s and family’s keepsakes, things that can’t be replaced… sometimes, in my own experience, that’s the part that hurts the most,” said the president.
He was in Florida to survey the damage done by Hurricane Milton, a huge storm that swept into the state on Wednesday evening.
It was the second major storm to hit Florida in recent weeks, and the state is suffering millions of dollars of damage.
The president took an aerial tour of affected areas in a helicopter, on his way to the Florida city of St Petersburg.
Image: A helicopter takes President Biden for an aerial tour of areas devastated by Hurricanes Milton and Helene in recent weeks. Pic: Reuters
At least 17 people died during Hurricane Milton which came just two weeks after Hurricane Helene killed 236 people across six states, including in Florida.
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People are still struggling to get access to electricity and fuel in some parts of Florida, where flooding continues.
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Florida before and after Hurricane Milton
River waters are continuing to rise around Tampa Bay and some parts of Orlando, according to the National Weather Service’s website, which warned that more flooding is on the way.
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President Biden urged Congress to approve additional emergency disaster funding.
He has been pressing House Speaker Mike Johnson to approve more aid money before the US election on 5 November, but Mr Johnson maintains the issue will be dealt with after the vote.
Image: The aftermath of Hurricane Milton. Pic: NBC
The president used his Florida trip to announce $612m (£468m) in funding for state energy projects to try to improve the region’s electricity grid to make it more resilient.
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The science behind Hurricane Milton
The devastating hurricanes have turned into a political campaigning point for both parties, with less than four weeks to go until the hotly contested US election.
Donald Trump said the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene was lacking while President Biden and Kamala Harris criticised Mr Trump for spreading misinformation.
Image: A property damaged after Hurricane Milton made landfall in St Lucie County, Florida. Pic: Reuters
Meteorologists have reportedly facing death threats after misinformation was spread online about Hurricane Milton.
Some, including Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, spread lies suggesting meteorologists and those in power could control hurricanes and had created Milton on purpose.
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“Murdering meteorologists won’t stop hurricanes. I can’t believe I just had to type that,” wrote meteorologist Katie Nickolaou on X after someone used her social media page to call for the death of meteorologists.
Donald Trump told his supporters at a rally that the Democrats had stolen disaster relief funds meant for hurricane victims “so they could give it to their illegal immigrants”.
Democrats have shared more pictures from Jeffrey Epstein’s estate, a day before the government’s deadline for the full release.
The 68 photos published on Thursday are among more than 95,000 images that the House Oversight Committee Democrats said they were reviewing.
They said the images were “selected to provide the public with transparency into a representative sample of the photos” and to “provide insights into Epstein’s network and his extremely disturbing activities”.
Image: Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
But the Democrats added that they are still analysing thousands more images that are “both graphic and mundane”.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing on the part of those pictured in the images – and the context surrounding the photos is not known.
Mystery text quotes price for ‘girl’
The latest cache includes a text message appearing to discuss the price for a girl.
It isn’t clear who sent the messages and to whom, but the screenshot shows some details on an unidentified girl, described as a teenager here.
“I will send u girls now,” one of the texts read.
Image: Pic: @OversightDems
Writing on body
Several pictures show handwritten messages on a person’s body.
One appears to be quoting the opening paragraph of the book Lolita – which can be seen in the background of the picture.
The book was written by Vladimir Nabokov and tells the story of a girl groomed by a middle-aged literature professor.
Another shows writing on a foot, which reads: “She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock.”
Image: The writing appears to be quoting the opening paragraph of the book Lolita. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Another handwritten message. Pic: @OversightDems
Other messages can be seen on the neck, hip, back and chest, with the latter reading: “The tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down”.
In a different image, Epstein is pictured with three girls in his house in New York. One appears to be touching Epstein’s chest, one is holding her wrist up and another is looking at a laptop.
The identity of the women has been hidden.
Image: Epstein with three women whose faces have been redacted. Pic: @OversightDems
Epstein with high-profile figures
Some high-profile figures also appear in the newly released images, with one showing Epstein sitting alongside Sheikh Jabor Bin Yousef Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani.
He is the chairman and director of several privately established companies and is a member of the Qatari royal family.
Image: Epstein with Sheikh Jabor Bin Yousef Bin Jassim Bin Jabor al Thani. Pic: @OversightDems
Another image shows Epstein with the former president of the UN General Assembly, Miroslav Lajcak, who held the role between 2017 and 2018. He is also a former Slovakian foreign affairs minister.
Last month, he told TASR news agency: “The reopening of the Epstein case occurred after I left New York, and the full extent of his inexcusable actions, which I strongly condemn, only came to light after his arrest.”
Image: Miroslav Lajcak, former president of the UN General Assembly, next to Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Shaher Abdulhak, a deceased Yemeni billionaire businessman whose son is a suspect in the murder of a Norwegian woman in Mayfair, was also pictured with Epstein.
His son, Farouk Abdulhak, fled to Yemen after the rape and death of Martine Vik Magnussen in March 2008 and has been wanted for questioning ever since.
Ms Magnussen was found dead among rubble in a basement in Great Portland Street.
She and her friends had been celebrating finishing their end-of-term exams at the Maddox nightclub before she vanished. Her body was found two days later.
Image: Deceased Yemeni billionaire Shaher Abdulhak with Epstein. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Epstein and Steve Bannon. Pic: @OversightDems
Also featured in the newly released images were former Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak, magician David Blaine, businessman Tom Pritzker, billionaire Bill Gates, director Woody Allen, talk show host Dick Cavett, Trump ally Steve Bannon, and Kuwait’s former information minister Anas al Rasheed.
Photos of identity documents with redacted names were also published, including one with text saying that “the bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor”, which could belong to convicted sex offender Epstein.
Also among the identification documents is a heavily redacted Russian passport. It belongs to a female, but other information has been blocked out.
The release also includes ID documents from the Czech Republic, South Africa, Ukraine, and Lithuania.
Image: One passport appeared to belong to someone ‘convicted of a sex offense against a minor’. Pic: @OversightDems
Image: Epstein’s passport. Pic: @OversightDems
Deadline looming
The picture drop came a day before the deadline set by a bipartisan bill that compels the US Justice Department to release the Epstein files within 30 days, which was signed into law by US President Donald Trump last month.
Mr Trump had promised to release the Epstein files during his ultimately successful presidential campaign, but he later made a U-turn, even going as far as calling the Epstein files a Democratic “hoax”, before eventually changing path again to sign the bill.
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said ahead of the deadline that he believes the Department of Justice will release the files in time, and warned that there will be “strong bipartisan pushback” if they don’t.
“Based on my conversations with some of the top Democrats who’ve been working on this matter, related to full and complete disclosure of the Epstein files, we do expect compliance,” he told reporters on Thursday.
Full release going ‘down to the wire’
National security lawyers inside the Department of Justice are “working down to the wire” as Friday’s deadline for the full release of the Epstein files edges closer, according to Sky News’ US correspondent James Matthews.
Lawyers are working ‘down to the wire’ to finalise Epstein files
He said those lawyers are mulling “how much is actually divulged in these documents”.
“There will be redactions… the question is, how far short of everything? How far short of the full story will the release fall?” Matthews said.
“The issue at the heart of it… where does Donald Trump feature? Remember, he emphatically denies all knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activities and any involvement in them.”
Meanwhile, frustration is building at the justice department ahead of the release, according to CNN.
A source has told the US broadcaster that there could be up to 1,000 redactions needed from each attorney.
Lawyers reportedly believe they aren’t getting clear or comprehensive direction on how to make the most information available under the law.
A previous batch of images featured more high-profile figures, including Donald Trump, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Bill Clinton, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, Emirati businessman Ahmed bin Sulayem, and singer Jimmy Buffett.
Several images of a sexual nature have also been released, including a picture of a bowl of novelty condoms with a caricature of Mr Trump’s face, and various sex toys.
TikTok’s Chinese owner has signed a deal to sell the company’s US arm to American investors – ensuring the video platform can continue operating in the United States.
The deal is expected to close on 22 January 2026, according to an internal memo seen by Sky News’ US partner, NBC News.
It will end years of uncertainty over the app’s future in the States, after Joe Biden signed a law last year that required TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell up – or else it would be blocked.
The law was introduced amid concerns from some US politicians that ByteDance might share user data with the Chinese government, despite repeated assurances from the firm that it would not.
Critics also expressed fears that Chinese authorities may be able to manipulate TikTok’s algorithms and shape what content users see and are influenced by. This claim was also denied.
The internal memo sent to employees on Thursday said the deal allows “over 170 million Americans to continue discovering a world of endless possibilities as part of a vital global community.”
TikTok owner ByteDance will sell just over 80% of the company’s US assets to three major investors, Reuters news agency reports.
The investors – Oracle, Silver Lake and MGX – will form a new venture, named TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC.
The venture will be 50% held by the consortium of US investors, Reuters added, with affiliates of certain existing ByteDance investors holding 30.1% and ByteDance itself retaining 19.9%.
It will have a new, seven-member majority-American board of directors and be subject to terms that “protect Americans’ data and US national security”, the memo said.
The suspect in the deadly shooting at Brown University in the US has been found dead.
Two students were killed and at least eight were injured during the shooting inside a classroom building at the Ivy League university in Providence, Rhode Island, on Saturday.
Speaking at a news conference on Thursday night in Providence, police said the suspect had been found dead. He is a 48-year-old Portuguese man.
Sources told Sky News’ US partner network NBC News that the suspect had been found dead in a storage facility in Salem, New Hampshire, seemingly from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
“He may have been dead for a bit of time,” said one senior official.
Rhode Island’s attorney general Peter Neronha said: “He was found dead, with a satchel, with two firearms and evidence in the car that matches exactly what we see at the scene here in Providence.”
It comes as police are investigating a possible link to the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor Nuno Loureiro, 47, two days later in Boston, according to a Reuters source familiar with the matter.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.