Reuters World News - Epstein, Coast Guard tanker chase, Aussie gun laws and US growth

Episode Date: December 24, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jet eight time in the 1990s, according to a document in the latest file release. The Coast Guard requests backup in pursuit of a third Venezuelan-linked oil tanker. Australia's New South Wales passes tougher gun laws after the Bondi Beach shooting. And consumer spending and exports fuel U.S. economic growth in the third quarter. Plus, Thailand and Cambodia hold talks to try and restart their Trump-brokered truce.   Listen to Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Find the Recommended Read here. Visit the Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, I'm Christopher Walgesper in Chicago. It's Wednesday, December 24th. Today. 30,000 more pages of the Epstein files are released. The Supreme Court blocks Trump's military deployment in Chicago. New South Wales in Australia passes sweeping new gun laws in the wake of the Bondi Beach shooting. And consumer spending and exports fueled strong U.S. third quarter GDP. This is Reuters World News, bringing you everything you need to know from the front lines in 10 minutes, seven days a week.

The Justice Department has dropped nearly 30,000 pages of new records from the Epstein case. Among them, an email from a New York prosecutor claiming flight logs show President Donald Trump flew on Epstein's private jet eight times in the 1990s. Jazein Maxwell was reportedly on board for four of those flights. Donald Trump has long denied ever being on Epstein's plane. In a 2024 social media post, he wrote that he was, quote, never on Epstein's plane or at his, quote, stupid island. And to be clear, the prosecutor's email does not allege Trump's committed any crime.

The White House has not commented. The DOJ says it's still reviewing more files, but says some of the newly released material contains false claims. That includes a card allegedly sent by Epstein to Larry Nassar, the former U.S. gymnastics doctor, convicted of abusing girls. A grainy image of the card references Trump without naming him. The DOJ called the letter fake in the statement, saying it serves as a reminder that just because a document is released by the Department of Justice does not make the allegations or claims

within the document factual. Reuters could not verify the document. authenticity, the envelope was postmarked in Virginia, not New York, where Epstein was in jail at the time, and it lacked Epstein's inmate number typically required on outgoing mail. The U.S. Supreme Court has blocked Donald Trump's plan to deploy National Guard troops to the Chicago area, at least for now. The justices are upholding a lower court ruling that found no legal reason for using the military to enforce laws in Illinois. That's despite Trump's of violent protests. Chicago insists the protests are tied to Trump's immigration crackdown

and are largely peaceful and that the deployments are a political show of force. It's a rare setback for the president who has leaned heavily on broad executive powers since returning to office. Some breaking news now out of Moscow, where three people have been killed by a bomb. Two police officers approached a man who was acting suspiciously near the site where a senior general was killed two days ago by a car bomb. Both police officers and one other person were killed. Russia says the car bomb that killed the general was planted by Ukrainian intelligence. There's been no official comment from Keev.

Just that, this is important changes, important legislation. It's unusual that we're back here on Christmas Eve the day before nearly everybody breaks for a bit of time with family and friends, but we couldn't wait. This was urgent. That's Chris Minns, the premier of Australia's most populous state, New South Wales, announcing tougher gun laws. The new laws passed in an emergency sitting following the mass shooting at Bondi Beach, and the changes come after police say one of the shooters legally owned six firearms.

Our reporter, Kirstie Needham, has more. Firstly, the legislation will place limits on the number of guns that an individual can own in New South Wales. That'll be a limit of four, or if someone is a farmer or a sporting shooter, they can have up to 10 guns. There'll also be restrictions on the type of guns that people can own.

High-powered and rapid-fire guns and rapid-reload guns won't be available to general licence holders. These will only be available to people with a particular need, such as farmers. So unlike the United States, there's no right to bear arms in Australia, and it's not widely seen in the community,

as a right. So with these new restrictions on the type of guns that can be owned, a restriction on rapid fire guns, they would argue it could go a long way to preventing the sheer number of deaths and casualties at Bondi. There were 15 people killed. 40 people were injured, many of them hospitalized in a matter of minutes. The emergency measures also include a ban on the display of terrorist symbols and curbing protests. One of the key issues has been that Australia is a multicultural society. So there are large communities of migrants from the Middle East and through Sydney since 2023, almost every week, there's been an authorised protest for people wanting to express their anger against Israel's war in Gaza. Under these new laws, if there is

a terrorism incident, such as the incident in Bondi, the government is able to ban protests and ban mass assemblies. And they're saying they really need to be able to bring the temperature down when something like this happens. Two men in the UK have been convicted of plotting an Islamic state-inspired gun attack aimed at killing hundreds in the Jewish community. You are suspected of preparing for a terrorist attack in the UK. Walid Saddawi and Amar Hussein were arrested in May. Police say the men had planned to smuggle assault rifles and ammunition into Britain for what would have been potentially the deadliest terrorist attack in UK history. Now to a Reuters exclusive on the third Venezuela-linked oil tanker being targeted by the U.S. The U.S. Coast Guard is waiting for additional forces to show up before potentially trying to seize the vessel that it's been chasing since Sunday.

That's according to a U.S. official and another sort. It's been identified as the Bella 1, and the Coast Guard has refused to board it. That means the job will likely fall to an elite Coast Guard unit who can board these vessels, including by repelling from helicopters. We'll have more on Reuters.com as the story unfolds. The U.S. economy has grown at its fastest rate in two years, at 4.3%. That's according to the latest GDP report. strong consumer spending and a smaller trade deficit are driving the jump.

Economists say what lies ahead is murkier with inflation picking up, retail sales stalling in October, as well as the effects of the recent government shutdown. U.S. economics editor Dan Burns breaks down what to expect as we look ahead. It was far stronger than expected at 4.3 percent, but was again emblematic a lot of the noise, the messiness of the data that we've gotten about the economy this year, particularly around some of the big policy actions from Trump on tariffs, right? We saw additions and subtractions and additions in alternating fashion around net trade, around inventories.

But underneath that, there's been a pretty consistent trend in underlying spending and growth, this, what a lot of people look at, which is final sales to private domestic purchasers, was up by 3%, which was the most in about a year. And, you know, that's a pretty solid indicator of ongoing momentum for the economy that most people, most economists, see persisting for the next several quarters. Thai and Cambodian officials are meeting today to discuss. us a ceasefire after the worst outbreak of violence between the two nations in decades. Dozens of people have been killed in the fighting and more than a million people displaced.

Here's our reporter Josh Smith in Bangkok. Over the summer, we had the first flare-up in several years caused by some casualties along the border. And both sides throughout this have accused the other of instigating this, either firing first or in the case of Thailand's accusations against Cambodia, has said that Cambodia has laid landmines along the border that it says has injured or killed Thai soldiers. That flare-up over the summer was ended in a ceasefire that was brokered by U.S. President Donald Trump,

as well as the head of ASEAN at the moment, which is Malaysia. However, in recent weeks, that flared up again. The ceasefire collapsed. And for today's recommended read, Kinsingerer parties, their cultural coming-of-age celebrations for 15-year-old Latinas, and they're being marked belatedly by transgender women for whom transitioning was nearly impossible in the past. A link to that story and a collection of photos is in the show notes. Plus a recommended listen for you. Check out our podcast MorningBid. Host Mike Dolan and Amanda Cooper are running through the three big

trends that shaped finance and markets in 2025. Take a listen wherever you get podcasts. For more on any of the stories from today, check out reuters.com or the Reuters app. Don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player. If you're listening on a smart speaker, just ask for the latest news from Reuters seven days a week. We'll be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.