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For two decades, global energy demand was static and efficiency gains, economic shifts, and renewable growth created an illusion of control.

The narrative was one of managed transition — a straight line from fossil fuels to a cleaner, perhaps simpler, energy system.

Energy companies believe that narrative is over.

Addition, not substitution

It’s unusual to see that many security personnel lining the road to Qatar’s convention centre. Enter LNG 2026, and the vast conference centre in Doha is hosting the people who shape the global energy system. Seated on the same stage were Saad Sherida al-Kaabi of QatarEnergy, Wael Sawan of Shell, Darren Woods of ExxonMobil, Patrick Pouyanne of TotalEnergies, and Ryan Lance of ConocoPhillips — leaders of companies that collectively sit at the centre of global energy supply.

Their estimation: The era of demand is here, and the age of gas is accelerating, not fading.

Everything from artificial intelligence, data centres, electrification and population growth are all pulling the energy system to a new scale. The executives say that demand is rising faster than grids, infrastructure, and policy frameworks can adapt.

From oil to energy

Perhaps that is why the industry is changing how it describes itself. These companies no longer frame their future narrowly like “international oil companies” or oil producers. They now talk about being “international energy companies” – a deliberate shift reflecting a broader ambition: to manage molecules, systems, and supply chains in a world with increasing energy demands.

Executives outlined projections that underline how deeply the market is changing. Global LNG demand, currently about 400 million tonnes a year, is expected to reach 600 million tonnes by 2030 and approach 800 million tonnes by 2050, according to the energy executives, and LNG is growing at more than 3 percent annually, making it the fastest-growing fuel among non-renewables, according to their data.

Building for a bigger world

The confidence in Doha was backed by construction on a vast scale. QatarEnergy, under Saad al-Kaabi, is expanding LNG production and assembling a fleet expected to reach about 200 LNG carriers, one of the largest shipping expansions in energy history.

In the United States, ExxonMobil and QatarEnergy are partnering on a new 18 million MMBtu LNG facility, part of a wider North American build-out. Canadian LNG is entering the market, while new supply is emerging from Africa and South America.

These are substantial investments.

As al-Kaabi put it during the discussion: “The world cannot live without energy. People need to be prosperous, and nearly a billion people still do not have basic electricity. We cannot deprive them of growth.”

It is a framing shared across the panel. This is no longer a conversation about replacement, as one executive summed it up, “we are in a world of energy addition, not energy substitution.”

Europe and energy security

The Russia–Ukraine war remains a defining reference point. Europe’s sudden loss of Russian pipeline gas forced a dramatic pivot to LNG. Imports jumped from roughly 50 million tonnes a year to approximately 120 million tonnes, transforming Europe into a major LNG market almost overnight.

What began as crisis management has reshaped global gas flows. LNG delivered flexibility, security, and scale, and for investors, that restored confidence that LNG infrastructure could be strategic.

As new supply comes online, executives expect prices to ease. When that happens, Asian demand, currently constrained by cost, is expected to rebound sharply. Several Asian economies are also shifting from exporters to net importers as domestic reserves decline.

Oil’s quiet re-entry

Two years ago, oil was widely predicted to disappear from the energy mix by 2030. That narrative, too, has faded.

Oil demand has proven resilient, and even gas-focused producers are expanding oil portfolios. Qatar is actively seeking new oil opportunities and remains one of the world’s largest holders of exploration blocks.

The shift is pragmatic. The industry is no longer debating whether oil and gas will be needed, but how they can be supplied at the lowest possible cost and emissions intensity. Several executives noted that many former oil sceptics have quietly reversed course.

AI and the end of low demand

The most urgent driver of change is not geopolitics — it is artificial intelligence.

For nearly 20 years, global energy demand was relatively stable. That period has ended. AI-driven data centres are consuming electricity at a scale planners failed to anticipate. Individual facilities can require thousands of megawatts of constant power, running 24 hours a day, with no tolerance for interruption.

Executives described this moment as a decisive break with the past. After decades of flat demand, the system has entered what they call hyper-scaling mode.

This demand, they say, is inflexible. Data centres cannot wait for weather conditions. They require power that is reliable, dispatchable, and immediate.

When renewables need backup

No one on stage dismissed renewables. Shell’s Wael Sawan and TotalEnergies’ Patrick Pouyanne both stressed their central role in the future mix. But they were clear about limitations.

The executives viewed wind and solar as intermittent and argued that grids built for predictable generation are under growing stress. Recent blackouts and near-misses in highly renewable systems have exposed the consequences of imbalance.

“When the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining,” one executive noted, “gas fills the gap.”

Gas turbines remain essential for grid stability. Nuclear takes decades to scale. Batteries are improving but remain limited. Hydrogen is promising, but not yet deployable at the pace required.

Gas, the industry argues, is the only option that can be built fast enough to meet the contemporary surge in demand.

AI: The friction points

But behind the power-hungry AI-driven confidence are real snag lines. Building energy infrastructure has become slower and more complex.

The executives pointed to permitting delays that stretch projects more than a decade. Water and grid connections are major bottlenecks. Skilled labour is in short supply. Community resistance is growing, driven by cost concerns and environmental pressure.

Executives were openly critical of policy frameworks they see as detached from operational reality. Overlapping and conflicting regulations, they argued, raise costs and delay supply.

“The market dictates what can be delivered,” one leader said, warning that governments risk choking the arteries of energy flow.

Sustainability, emissions and the social contract

The industry acknowledges that its future depends on emissions performance. Methane leakage, efficiency, manufacturing footprints, and transport emissions remain under scrutiny. Gas offers immediate reductions where it replaces coal – about 40 percent in power generation and 20 percent in marine fuels. Carbon capture and sequestration is increasingly integrated into new projects.

ExxonMobil’s Darren Woods emphasised the company’s push to be seen as a technology player — working on hydrogen, carbon capture, and new uses for hydrocarbons beyond combustion. They describe this approach as responsible energy addition.

Yet the tension remains. The current demand surge has pushed environmental scrutiny to the background, but executives know that window is temporary. The sustainability of gas in this new role is under intense scrutiny.

While it burns cleaner than coal, its emissions of CO2 and methane, along with the transport footprint of LNG, remain central to the climate debate. Industry leaders acknowledge that gas must evolve to maintain its social licence. The CEO of QatarEnergy emphasised delivering energy “in the most environmentally responsible manner”.

There is awareness that the current surge in demand has sidelined environmental concerns, but these questions will resurface forcefully once the immediate capacity crisis abates. The gas industry risks a fate similar to coal if it fails to accelerate its decarbonisation efforts through carbon capture, utilisation, and storage (CCUS), and the integration of low-carbon gases, such as hydrogen.

Inclusive not mutually exclusive

The dynamic with renewables and emerging technologies adds another layer of complexity. Executives recognise that, for many regions, building new infrastructure, renewables are the cheapest and easiest option.

The role of gas, therefore, is evolving from a baseload provider to a “complementary load-following role,” essential for balancing grids increasingly saturated with variable wind and solar power.

The advancement of battery storage technology also looms as a potential competitor for this grid-balancing role. The future energy mix is envisioned as abundant, accessible, reliable, and clean, but the path is uncertain.

Investments in hydrogen and ammonia are continuing, though with fluctuating levels of hype, indicating a sector in search of the next breakthrough.

The human connection

Strip away politics and technology, and the core driver is human. Roughly five billion people still consume far less energy than developed economies. To paraphrase QatarEnergy’s al-Kaabi: Prosperity requires power.

Removing energy poverty means adding supply – reliable, affordable supply – at unprecedented scale. That is the context in which the energy company executives are positioning gas: not as a bridge, but as a stabiliser. Energy producers are betting that global demand – supercharged by AI and economic ambition – will outpace the ability of renewables alone to carry the load.

They are building for a world that they say cannot afford shortages, blackouts, or theoretical purity. Gas, they believe, is not a bridge, but the foundation to weather the storm of demand.

And its future will be defined by a simple metric: Can the system deliver abundant, accessible, reliable, and progressively cleaner energy?

Bad Bunny is constantly making history. Last Sunday he broke a new record by winning album of the year at the Grammys for his 2025 album, “Debí Tirar Más Fotos,” which was the first fully Spanish-language album to claim the title; and come Feb. 8, a.k.a. Super Bowl Sunday, he’ll be the headlining act at the Super Bowl halftime show.

Yet he is also teaching history. Bad Bunny’s latest record is not only a celebration of Puerto Rico and its people, but it offers a window into some of the challenges the embattled territory is currently facing — including massive migration, displacement and an infrastructure on the brink of collapse. In a moment when education is under attack, both in the United States and Puerto Rico, Bad Bunny is using pop culture’s biggest stage to offer the world a history lesson. And in this political context, that matters greatly.

In December 2024, I was contacted by Bad Bunny’s team to produce 17 pages outlining Puerto Rican history, to pair with each song’s YouTube visualizer for “DTMF.” Altogether, they have been viewed more than 775 million times.

I later produced 40 slides jam-packed with historical and cultural facts about Puerto Rico, which were screened at Bad Bunny’s 31-show residency in San Juan. These ranged from facts about the history of women’s suffrage to the founding of Puerto Rico’s oldest punk band, La Experiencia de Toñito Cabanillas.

When Bad Bunny was announced as the NFL’s choice to headline the halftime show, I was hardly surprised by the backlash from conservatives — including multiple Fox News hosts, podcasters and even President Trump, who said, “I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why they’re doing it … [It’s] crazy.”

As communities of color celebrated on social media, critics raised two questions: Why would a Spanish-speaking artist — even if he is the most-streamed artist on Earth — be chosen for that stage? And why wouldn’t they choose a more patriotic, Anglo-American artist?

While undoubtedly xenophobic in nature, these questions highlight their acute ignorance about the place that birthed Bad Bunny, and its ongoing entanglement with the United States.

Puerto Rico was first colonized by the Spanish from 1493 until 1898, the year that the United States occupied the country as part of the Spanish-American War. Later, in 1917, Puerto Ricans became U.S. citizens through the Jones Law. Eventually, we drafted a constitution and became a Commonwealth of the United States in 1952. But there is never one single historical narrative.

What these facts occlude, however, is that Puerto Ricans are second-class citizens who cannot vote for the president — and those in the archipelago are not fully protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights. According to the U.S. Supreme Court’s early-20th century Insular Cases, we belong to the United States, but we are not part of it.

Put simply: We are a colony of the United States in the 21st century.

When drafting the historical narratives for “DTMF,” Bad Bunny understood that Puerto Rican history is often unknown, even to our own people. He was interested in making history available for those who don’t have access to higher education. He wanted me to write these narratives in a candid manner to be read by people in the barriadas y caserios (working-class neighborhoods and the projects). These were the places where I came of age in Puerto Rico.

With the success of “DTMF,” Puerto Rican history was amplified to the world. I’ve had countless conversations with journalists from around the globe, who marveled at how little they knew about Puerto Rico’s history or its relationship to the United States. This is precisely what I think drives those debates about language and who gets the right to claim Americanness — a lack of information.

And even though Bad Bunny is a U.S. citizen, conservatives have organized an alternative “All-American Halftime Show,” which reveals how “Americanness” is policed through language and race. This is the product of willful ignorance.

Puerto Rico’s history is also that of Latin American, Caribbean, United States and Latinx communities. I believe Bad Bunny’s performance will invite people to understand the beauty and complexity of our people’s history, even if it makes outsiders uncomfortable. That he will also be doing so entirely in Spanish in a moment when Latinx people in the United States are being arrested or interrogated by federal agents for speaking in Spanish — or simply for having an accent? That matters.

Of course, artists alone will not save us from the perils of racism and xenophobia — I learned that from my time in the punk community. We cannot just wait on anyone, especially not celebrities, to change institutions without some people power to back them up.

Yet given his enormous reach — just this week his latest album hit No. 1 on Apple Music in China — Bad Bunny has the power to move the cultural needle. And if there’s one thing to take from the Grammys ceremony last Sunday, it’s that he’s not alone — other artists have taken a stand on anti-immigrant violence. They are living up to the moment. That matters too.

So while conservatives organize their bland counter to the Super Bowl halftime show — with none other than Kid Rock as headliner — Bad Bunny will be offering the world a much more valuable history lesson, full of sazón, batería y reggaetón.

Jorell Meléndez-Badillo is the author of “Puerto Rico: A National History” and associate professor of Latin American and Caribbean History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Feb. 5 (Asia Today) — Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant prospect. It is rapidly advancing into areas once considered uniquely human, including translation, medical diagnosis, law and content creation. With the possibility of human-level general AI now openly discussed, its impact is widely viewed as greater than any previous technological breakthrough.

Optimists foresee a long-awaited utopia. Self-driving cars dominate roads, AI assistants handle household chores and administrative work, doctors deliver more precise care with AI support, and teachers focus on personalized education. Like electricity or the internet, AI is expected to function as a general-purpose technology that raises productivity across the entire economy. Some forecasts suggest it could add about one percentage point to annual productivity growth over the next decade, potentially accelerating research and development and sustaining long-term economic expansion.

History, however, offers a more complex picture. General-purpose technologies often depress productivity in their early stages because firms and workers need time to adapt and reorganize. This so-called productivity J-curve may also apply to AI, as high implementation costs and training requirements delay gains and concentrate benefits among a limited number of firms and industries.

More immediate concerns are emerging in labor markets. Automation is already replacing clerical and repetitive tasks, while mid-skilled jobs are shrinking. As AI evolves from generative models to autonomous agents and physical systems, even highly educated workers may struggle to find stable employment. A small group with advanced AI skills may enjoy rising wages, while many others face job insecurity, raising fears of a society where algorithms dominate and humans are treated as expendable.

The debate over whether AI leads to utopia or dystopia ultimately centers on a single question: will AI replace humans. The answer lies in understanding the fundamental differences between artificial and human intelligence. AI excels at processing vast data and making predictions, but humans interpret context, make judgments under uncertainty and weigh ethics and values. Humans also build trust through empathy, communication and responsibility.

What matters most in the AI era is not intelligence itself but wisdom – the capacity to reflect on purpose, distinguish right from wrong and respect others. Rather than competing with AI, humans must cultivate complementary abilities that guide technology in constructive directions.

The future shaped by the AI revolution remains open. Its outcome depends on whether individuals and societies can develop the knowledge, skills and wisdom suited to this era. Continuous learning is essential, as is education that moves beyond test scores to nurture curiosity, critical thinking, ethics and responsibility.

At the societal level, education systems must shift away from standardized knowledge delivery. As AI handles information retrieval and analysis, priorities should include creativity, problem definition, collaboration and lifelong learning. Universities need closer alignment with labor market needs, while labor systems must become more flexible and competency-based.

Vocational training and retraining are equally urgent. In an age of rapid job transformation, a single education cannot last a lifetime. Governments, businesses and schools must cooperate to support mid-career workers and vulnerable groups. At the same time, governance frameworks ensuring transparency, accountability and fairness in AI use are essential for building public trust.

Artificial intelligence can expand human capabilities rather than replace them. True competitiveness in the AI era will come not from algorithms alone, but from the intellectual synergy created when humans and AI work together. What is needed now is not abstract optimism or fear, but deliberate investment in people.

Lee Jong-hwa is a chair professor of economics at Korea University. The views expressed are the author’s own.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

Original Korean report: https://www.asiatoday.co.kr/kn/view.php?key=20260205010002059

Macaulay Culkin paid tribute to his “Home Alone” co-star Catherine O’Hara following her death at age 71.

O’Hara died Friday at her home in Los Angeles after a brief illness, her agency CAA confirmed. Following the news, Culkin mourned his movie mom on social media.

“Mama. I thought we had time,” the actor wrote. “I wanted more. I wanted to sit in a chair next to you.”

“I heard you. But I had so much more to say,” he continued. “I love you. I’ll see you later.”

O’Hara played the frazzled yet fierce Kate McCallister, mother to quick-witted troublemaker Kevin McCallister, in the iconic “Home Alone” (1990) and its sequel “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992). The films launched Culkin to fame and have become bona fide Christmas classics, whose emotional core lies in the palpable chemistry between Culkin and O’Hara.

The pair reunited in 2023, when O’Hara honored Culkin at the latter’s Hollywood Walk of Fame induction ceremony, praising the “sweet, yet twisted, yet totally relatable sense of humor” that helped him survive his early launch into the spotlight.

“The reason families all over the world can’t let a year go by without watching and loving ‘Home Alone’ together is because of Macaulay Culkin,” O’Hara said in her speech.

“Thank you for including me — your fake mom who left you home alone not once, but twice — to share in this happy occasion,” she said. “I’m so proud of you.”

News of O’Hara’s death brought tributes from the actor’s film and TV industry peers, including her collaborators from over the years.

Dan Levy, who co-created and co-starred in “Schitt’s Creek” with his father, Eugene Levy, said his TV mom was “extended family before she ever played my family.”

“What a gift to have gotten to dance in the warm glow of Catherine O’Hara’s brilliance for all those years. Having spent over fifty years collaborating with my Dad, Catherine was extended family before she ever played my family,” he wrote on Instagram. “It’s hard to imagine a world without her in it. I will cherish every funny memory I was fortunate enough to make with her.”

Eugene Levy reflected on his five-decade-long relationship with O’Hara.

“Words seem inadequate to express the loss I feel today. I had the honor of knowing and working with the great Catherine O’Hara for over fifty years,” Levy said in a statement. “From our beginnings on the Second City stage, to ‘SCTV,’ to the movies we did with Chris Guest, to our six glorious years on ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ I cherished our working relationship, but most of all our friendship. And I will miss her. My heart goes out to Bo, Matthew, Luke, and the entire O’Hara family.”

Seth Rogen, who recently teamed up with O’Hara on the Emmy-winning comedy “The Studio,” said in an Instagram post that she was among his earliest inspirations.

“I told O’Hara when I first met her I thought she was the funniest person I’d ever had the pleasure of watching on screen,” Rogen said, citing “Home Alone” as “the movie that made me want to make movies.”

“Getting to work with her was a true honour,” the actor, who co-created, directed and stars in the series, continued. “She was hysterical, kind, intuitive, generous… she made me want to make our show good enough to be worthy of her presence in it.”

Other members of “The Studio” crew also honored their late co-star.

Ike Barinholtz, who plays chaotic executive Sal Saperstein in “The Studio,” captioned an Instagram photo of him and O’Hara: “I never in a million years thought I would get to work with Catherine O’Hara let alone become friends with her.”

“So profoundly sad she’s somewhere else now,” Barinholtz added. “So incredibly grateful I got to spend the time I did with her.”

Ron Howard, who made a guest appearance as himself in the show, called O’Hara “a wonderful person, artist and collaborator.”

“I was lucky enough to direct, produce and act in projects with her and she was simply growing more brilliant with each year,” the filmmaker wrote Friday on X. O’Hara appeared in Howard’s 1992 dramedy “The Paper.”

O’Hara’s “Beetlejuice” co-star Michael Keaton also mourned the late actor, tracing their relationship back to well before the beloved Tim Burton movie.

“She’s been my pretend wife, my pretend nemesis and my real life, true friend,” Keaton wrote on Instagram. “This one hurts. Man am I gonna miss her.”

Justin Theroux, who joined O’Hara in 2024’s “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” also wrote on Instagram, “Oh Catherine. You will be so missed.”

Burton himself memorialized O’Hara with a cast photo from the “Beetlejuice” sequel.

“Catherine, I love you. This picture shows how much light you gave to all of us. You were a special part of my life and after life,” the venerated director captioned the shot on Instagram.

Martin Scorsese, who directed O’Hara in “After Hours,” said in a statement to IndieWire that her loss feels “impossible.”

“Catherine was a true comic genius, a true artist and a wonderful human being. I was blessed to be able to work with her on ‘After Hours,’ and I’m going to miss her presence and her artistry. We all are,” he said.

“Home Alone” director Chris Columbus said in a statement to the Hollywood Reporter that he was “heartbroken, along with the rest of the world,” upon learning O’Hara had died.

“I was an obsessive fan of Catherine’s brilliant comedic work on ‘SCTV’ and was thrilled when she agreed to play Kevin’s mom in ‘Home Alone,’ ” Columbus said.

“What most people don’t realize is that Catherine carries the weight of 50% of that film. The movie simply would not work without her extraordinary performance. Catherine grounds the picture with a profound emotional depth,” he added. “I will miss her greatly. Yet there is a small sense of comfort, realizing that two of the finest human beings I’ve ever known, Catherine and John Candy, are together again, brilliantly improvising, making each other laugh.”

Meryl Streep, who acted with O’Hara in the romantic comedy “Heartburn,” said in a statement to the Associated Press that O’Hara “brought love and light to our world, through whipsmart compassion for the collection of eccentrics she portrayed.”

Andrea Martin told the outlet that her fellow “SCTV” cast member “is and will always be the greatest. It is an honor to have called her my friend.”

Pedro Pascal, who worked with O’Hara on the sophomore season of “The Last of Us,” said on Instagram that he was thankful the two crossed paths.

“Oh, genius to be near you. Eternally grateful,” Pascal said. “There is less light in my world, this lucky world that had you, will keep you, always.”

Melanie Lynskey, who featured in the first season of “The Last of Us,” called O’Hara “the pinnacle of greatness” in her own social media salute.

“So grateful I got to tell her what she meant to me- how she inspired me, shaped my sense of humour and understanding of the work we do,” Lynskey wrote.

“I’m sure every actor she met told her similar things. She did not behave as though she’d heard it a million times, she listened and accepted it with grace and wit and tremendous kindness,” the Emmy nominee added.

Lynskey recalled interacting with O’Hara at a 2013 Live Read of “Glengarry Glen Ross” and while filming Sam Mendes’ 2009 romantic comedy “Away We Go.”

During both stints, Lynskey said, “I saw [O’Hara] be nothing short of wonderful to every single person she encountered, from the director to the PAs.”

“When people say someone ‘lit up a room,’ this is what they mean,” she said.

“The Last of Us” showrunner Craig Mazin said on Instagram, “I think [O’Hara] would prefer that we keep laughing somehow, or at the very least not cry. Not possible at the moment.”

Others in the industry hailed O’Hara as a generational actor who shined in everything she touched.

“Catherine O’Hara changed how so many of us understand comedy and humanity. From the chaos and heart of ‘Home Alone’ to the unforgettable precision of Moira Rose in ‘Schitt’s Creek,’ she created characters we’ll rewatch again and again,” Kevin Nealon, who, alongside O’Hara, led the claymation sitcom “Glenn Martin, DDS,” wrote on X.

Josh Gad, who worked with O’Hara on the animated comedy series “Central Park,” expressed his disbelief at her death on Instagram.

“Why is the world such a heart breaking place right now? I truly cannot process how to say goodbye to someone so full of life who seemed to just be hitting her prime,” Gad said.

“Goodbye legend. Thank you for making us laugh until we hurt… which is why right now we are all hurting so damned much knowing we will never again get those laughs,” the “Frozen” voice actor added.

“Only one Catherine O’Hara, and now none. Heartbreaking,” echoed actor-comedian Michael McKean, who worked with the late actor on the mockumentaries “Best in Show,” “For Your Consideration,” “Waiting for Guffman” and “A Mighty Wind.”

O’Hara’s fellow “Bartok the Magnificent” voice actor Hank Azaria called her death “a profound loss.”

“Comedy will never be the same without Catherine O’Hara. An inspiration to us all, especially little Bartok,” Azaria captioned a social media clip featuring O’Hara’s character, Ludmilla, in the animated film.

Rita Wilson in an Instagram tribute called her “a woman who was authentic and truthful in all she did.”

“You saw it in her work, if you knew her you saw it in her life, and you saw it in her family,” the actor and singer said, offering condolences to O’Hara’s husband, Bo Welch, and their two children.

As Ellen DeGeneres put it on Instagram, “Sending love to all who adored her, which might just be everyone.”

Actor and professional wrestler Paul Walter Hauser called O’Hara “my Meryl Streep.”

“I could watch her in anything. Didn’t matter how good or bad the film or show was. I wanted to see what she would do,” Hauser wrote on Instagram, citing the actor’s work in “After Hours,” “Waiting for Guffman” and “Best in Show,” among other projects.

“A freaking angel just went home to Heaven. And she’s not home alone,” he wrote.

NEW YORK — The Justice Department on Friday released many more records from its investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, resuming disclosures under a law intended to reveal what the government knew about the millionaire financier’s sexual abuse of young girls and his interactions with the rich and powerful.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department was releasing more than 3 million pages of documents in the latest Epstein disclosure, as well as more than 2,000 videos and 180,000 images. The files, posted to the department’s website, include some of the several million pages of records that officials said were withheld from an initial release of documents in December.

They were disclosed under the Epstein Files Transparency Act, the law enacted after months of public and political pressure that requires the government to open its files on the late financier and his accomplice, confidant and longtime girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell.

“Today’s release marks the end of a very comprehensive document identification and review process to ensure transparency to the American people and compliance with the act,” Blanche said at a news conference announcing the disclosure.

After missing a Dec. 19 deadline set by Congress to release all of the files, the Justice Department said it tasked hundreds of lawyers with reviewing the records to determine what needs to be redacted, or blacked out, to protect the identities of victims of sexual abuse.

Among the materials being withheld is information that could jeopardize any ongoing investigation or expose the identities of personal details about potential victims. All women other than Maxwell have been redacted from videos and images being released Friday, Blanche said.

The number of documents subject to review has ballooned to roughly six million, including duplicates, the department said.

The Justice Department released tens of thousands of pages of documents just before Christmas, including photographs, interview transcripts, call logs and court records. Many of them were either already public or heavily blacked out.

Those records included previously released flight logs showing that President Trump flew on Epstein’s private jet in the 1990s, before they had a falling out, and several photographs of former President Clinton. Neither Trump, a Republican, nor Clinton, a Democrat, has been publicly accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein, and both have said they had no knowledge he was abusing underage girls.

Also released last month were transcripts of grand jury testimony from FBI agents who described interviews they had with several girls and young women who said they were paid to perform sex acts for Epstein.

Epstein killed himself in a New York jail cell in August 2019, a month after he was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges.

In 2008 and 2009, Epstein served jail time in Florida after pleading guilty to soliciting prostitution from someone under the age of 18. At the time, investigators had gathered evidence that Epstein had sexually abused underage girls at his home in Palm Beach, but the U.S. attorney’s office agreed not to prosecute him in exchange for his guilty plea to lesser state charges.

In 2021, a federal jury in New York convicted Maxwell, a British socialite, of sex trafficking for helping recruit some of his underage victims. She is serving a 20-year prison sentence at a prison camp in Texas, after being moved there from a higher-security federal prison in Florida. She denies any wrongdoing.

U.S. prosecutors never charged anyone else in connection with Epstein’s abuse of girls, but one of his victims, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, accused him in lawsuits of having arranged for her to have sexual encounters at age 17 and 18 with numerous politicians, business titans, noted academics and others, all of whom denied her allegations.

Among the people she accused was Britain’s Prince Andrew, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor after the scandal led to him being stripped of his royal titles. Andrew denied having sex with Giuffre but settled her lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Giuffre died by suicide at her farm in Western Australia last year at age 41.

Tucker, Sisak and Richer write for the Associated Press. Tucker and Richer reported from Washington.

Renee Good and Alex Pretti were shot and killed this month in Minnesota. Silverio Villegas González was shot and killed in September in a Chicago suburb. Keith Porter Jr. was gunned down on New Year’s Eve in front of the Northridge apartment building where he lived.

All of them were slain by ICE agents.

In the past few months alone, America has repeatedly witnessed — from multiple angles and at varying playback speeds — groups of aggressive, twitchy, masked men conduct immigration sweeps on the order of President Trump and his Department of Homeland Security. The scenes are the stuff of nightmares, and even villainy.

After agent Jonathan Ross shot legal observer Good three times, including once in the head, he mumbled the expletives “f— b—” as her SUV drifted into a light post. Two weeks later, at least one ICE agent was seen clapping after Pretti was shot multiple times as he lay pinned on the ground.

If the intention of the Stephen Miller-run White House was to crush the resistance with violence, it has backfired. The number of protests in cities around the nation has grown in size and frequency. And local networks that offer instruction and training for how to legally observe ICE raids are proliferating by the day. In short, as ICE has ramped up its operations, so too has the resistance.

Now, a consortium of various civil rights and advocacy groups is calling for the largest anti-ICE demonstration to date, a national shutdown. “The people of the Twin Cities have shown the way for the whole country — to stop ICE’s reign of terror, we need to SHUT IT DOWN,” reads nationalshutdown.org. “On Friday, January 30, join a nationwide day of no school, no work and no shopping.”

Given the sense of urgency triggered by the invasive and deadly tactics of federal officers over the past few months, Friday’s planned shutdown could be huge. But unlike other major demonstrations, like the “No Kings” marches, it asks folks to take off work, school and stop shopping (yes, even online) in the name of democracy.

Taking time off work is not economically feasible for many Americans, especially given today’s affordability crisis (a concept that Trump believes was invented by Democrats). With that in mind, it may not be the most effective way to show solidarity with Minneapolis, Chicago, L.A. and other cities where a trip to Home Depot might include getting caught in an immigration raid. But it might be the safest option in an otherwise dangerously heated time, when peaceful protests are ending in violent killings.

We’ve been here before, even if the current images of killer goons in mismatched military gear might seem foreign and dystopian. Peaceful Civil Rights-era marches and protests often turned into bloody, brutal and murderous affairs, fueled by inhumane law enforcement tactics and vigilantes operating with impunity. But the majority of Americans — i.e. those who weren’t Black — didn’t see folks who looked like them slain by government agents who also looked like them. The naive notion that America protects its own has remained largely intact, until the current administration declared that anyone who’s not with them is against them.

Today, Washington’s on-high interpretation of Us and Them equals those who are pro-Trump (Us) and those who are not (Them). There are, of course, plenty of racist and bigoted caveats within that lunk-headed quotient, but generally, one side is dispensable while the other is not.

The Trump administration has characterized Pretti, who was carrying a concealed, permitted weapon at the time of his killing, as a domestic terrorist who essentially got what he deserved: “You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you want. It is that simple,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.

But when then-17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse shot three #BLM protesters, killing two, at a 2020 Kenosha, Wis., demonstration decrying police brutality, he was — and still is —canonized as a hero by Trump and the right.

Historical data shows that when 3.5% of a population is actively involved in peaceful, sustained resistance, they can influence significant political shifts. Those numbers likely don’t differentiate between who makes it out of the peaceful protest alive and who emerges as a martyr for the cause. But one shouldn’t have to choose between exercising their 1st Amendment rights and making it home alive.