Business

SEOUL, April 1 (UPI) — South Korean discount chain Home Plus said Tuesday that a court has begun to review the sale of its neighborhood grocery store chain, Home Plus Express.

Home Plus, which is under receivership, said the court started the procedure of selecting a preferred bidder after receiving reports from its sales adviser, Samil PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“Prior to the March 31 deadline, multiple companies were confirmed to have participated in the bidding process to acquire Home Plus Express,” the firm said in a statement.

Home Plus did not disclose further details, including the number of bidders and their identities.

However, Mega MGC Coffee has reportedly presented a bid for Home Plus Express. The budget coffee chain, which is owned by MGC Global, operates nearly 4,000 stores across South Korea.

Both MGC Global and Home Plus declined to confirm the reports.

Following unsuccessful attempts to sell Home Plus as a single entity, the divestment of Home Plus Express has emerged as a key pillar of its rehabilitation plan. The unit generated $730 million in revenue in 2024.

The Express division has a network of almost 300 stores and most of them are located in high-density urban areas. Home Plus also runs more than 100 large-format outlets.

In 2015, South Korea’s leading private equity fund, MBK Partners, purchased Home Plus from Tesco in a landmark $5 billion deal. In recent years, the retailer has struggled amid pandemic-related disruptions and the rise of e-commerce giants.

Since early last year, MBK Partners has tried to dispose of Home Plus to little avail. As a result, the company has shifted its focus to the sale of Home Plus Express.

March 30 (UPI) — The founder of the orgasm-based wellness company OneTaste, Nicole Daedone, was sentenced on Monday to nine years in jail for forced labor conspiracy.

Daedone was sentenced after being found guilty last year for grooming vulnerable women into working under the guise of helping women heal from various traumas, the New York Daily News reported.

Along with her director of sales, Rachel Cherwitz, who was sentenced to six and 1/2 years in prison on Monday, Daedone recruited women to purchase sexual wellness therapy programs — which included “orgasmic meditation” — and then turned them into “handlers” who would recruit “marks” into the program, ex-employees testified during trial.

Over the course of the decade-long sex abuse scheme, Daedone forced ex-employees to engage in sex acts under the guise of meditation sessions, often forcing them to work for free, the New York Post reported.

Daedone, and her attorneys, have maintained that the company is “rooted 100% in consent.”

“If I talk to you about the practice … you can say yes or no, and no is a perfectly acceptable answer throughout the practice itself,” she told NBC News last year. “It’s all based in consent. We had an ethics committee. This is the antithesis of what this company was.”

Although Daedone was not sentenced to the 20 years in prison that prosecutors sought, she will have to forfeit the $12 million she sold OneTaste for and pay $900,000 to ex-employees who were not paid for their work.

“Ms. Daedone exploited certain women in a calculated way and made money off of that exploitation,” Federal Court Judge Diane Gujarati said at the sentencing.

“What she was doing was not about enlightenment or operating on a different dimension,” Gujarati said. “It wasn’t a game or a show. It wasn’t ‘Harry Potter‘ or ‘The Matrix.’ It was criminal.”

OneTaste operated centers in cities across the United States that offered it’s orgasmic meditation practice, which involved sessions where one person performed a sex act on another for 15 minutes “with no goal except to feel.”

Former employees who testified during the trial called the company a sex cult that was ruled through fear and intimidation, The New York Times reported.

The women said that they were tasked with offering sexual services to clients and investors, as well as care for the company’s communal homes.

One woman testified that she was forced to receive a meditation session and prosecutors alleged that Daedone used the practice as a “means of encouraging productivity,” The Times reported.

After Daedone and Cherwitz were convicted, the Department of Justice said the jury had revealed the duo as “grifters who preyed on vulnerable victims by making empty promises of of sexual empowerment and wellness only to manipulate them into performing labor and services for the defendants’ benefit.”

People who continue to support the company, which has attempted to re-brand itself, have said the trial is prosecuting consenting adults who have chosen to participate in its programs.

While women who testified during the trial said they fell into Daedone’s trap as vulnerable targets — who were referred to internally as marks, according to trial testimony — the company’s current CEO, Anjuli Ayer, called the sentence “a terrifying day for freedom.”

“Once persuasion becomes a crime, anyone can be a defendant, and anyone can be a victim,” Ayer said. “We must correct the record or everyone will suffer.”

Attorney Alan Dershowitz told NBC News earlier this month that he considers the conviction to be “a miscarriage of Justice” based on his reading of the trial materials and plans to help both Daedone and Cherwitz request a presidential pardon.

“With a few changes of words, this indictment could have been directed against Mormon groups, against Hasidic groups, against various Protestant or Catholic sects,” he said. “There’s so many people who join ideological or religious groups, volunteer their time and later become disillusioned.”

US Department of Defense demands retraction of report alleging broker sought multimillion-dollar investment for Hegseth.

The United States Department of Defense has demanded the retraction of a newspaper report alleging that a broker for defence chief Pete Hegseth attempted to make a large investment in weapons companies in the run-up to the war on Iran.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell demanded the “immediate” retraction on Monday after The Financial Times reported that a wealth manager for the defence secretary contacted BlackRock about making a multimillion-dollar investment in a defence-related fund in the weeks leading up to the war.

Hegseth’s broker at Morgan Stanley ultimately did not go ahead with the investment in the exchange-traded fund, whose holdings include Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, because it was not yet available for purchase at the time, The Financial Times reported, citing three unnamed sources.

“This allegation is entirely false and fabricated. Neither Secretary Hegseth nor any of his representatives approached BlackRock about any such investment,” Parnell said in a post on social media.

“This is yet another baseless, dishonest smear designed to mislead the public.”

Hegseth and his department “remain unwavering in their commitment to the highest standards of ethics and strict adherence to all applicable laws and regulations,” Parnell said.

Al Jazeera could not independently confirm the Financial Times report.

The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside of usual business hours.

The Financial Times and Morgan Stanley also did not immediately respond to inquiries.

BlackRock declined to comment.

The report comes amid scrutiny of well-timed trades in financial and prediction markets that have fuelled speculation that figures with insider knowledge may be profiting off of US President Donald Trump’s war plans.

While The Financial Times reported that the attempted investment by Hesgeth’s broker did not go ahead, the defence chief would not have made money on such a purchase in the month since the war began.

While the iShares Defense Industrials Active ETF has risen more than 25 percent over the past year, it has fallen nearly 13 percent since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

March 29 (UPI) — Egypt is ordering stores and malls to close early, asking people to work from home and dimming street lights as energy costs have skyrocketed since since January.

The North African country put energy saving efforts into effect because the U.S. and Israeli war in Iran has sent the cost of importing oil and natural gas — which is how Africa gets the vast majority of its energy supplies — through the roof, The BBC and Anadolu Agency reported.

Many nations globally have seen the cost of fuel and natural gas increase, and several African and Asian nations have enacted efforts similar to Egypt, because Iran has blocked the Strait of Hormuz to attempt to get the two nations to end the airstrikes aimed at regime change there.

Roughly 20% of the world’s oil and natural gas supply moves through the Strait and choking it off has had a significant effect on Egypt.

Egypt imports liquefied natural gas from the United States and Qatar, among others, and recently signed a deal with Israel for gas that will be delivered via a pipeline, the Financial Times reported.

Although Egypt, with Pakistan and Turkey, are involved with talks to end the war, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that because “there is no clarity about the duration of this war,” the energy reduction measures, which go into effect .

“These measures aim to mitigate the effects of energy import costs due to high global oil prices,” Madbouly said during a press conference.

Since January, Madbouly said that natural gas imports tripped from $560 million per month in January to $1.65 billion per month in March and that its petroleum bill more than doubled in the same time period from $1.2 billion per month to $2.5 billion per month.

Among the “exceptional measures” that will go into effect include stores, restaurants, cinemas and gathering places closing by 9:00 p.m. five nights per week; most employees being told to work from one or two days per week; street lighting and street advertisement lighting will be dimmed by 50% and government vehicles will see be required to use 30% less gas.

Despite talks starting to end the war, the price of Brent crude oil on Friday surpassed $111 per barrel as Iran continued to block most ships from passing through the Strait of Hormuz.

Although Iran allowed a handful of oil tankers through the Strait last week, which U.S. President Donald Trump called a show of good faith, global markets have been hit hard, even beyond energy, as a result of limited traffic transiting the passage.,

March 28 (UPI) — Bank of America reached a settlement with a survivor of deceased sex predator Jeffrey Epstein that will distribute $72.5 million to his victims.

The survivor, named in the case as “BOA Jane Doe,” and her attorneys told a federal judge on Friday that a settlement had been reached with the bank on a proposed class-action suit over Epstein’s decades of abuse and trafficking of women and teenage girls, The Charlotte Observer reported.

The suit alleged that the bank ignored signals of Epstein’s crimes by continuing to do business with him while he was committing his crimes.

Doe’s attorneys said they are aware of at least 60 women who were abused or trafficked by Epstein, however the settlement covers all women who experienced either at Epstein’s hands or those “connected to or otherwise associated” with him between June 30, 2008, and July 6, 2019, NBC News reported.

Bank of America, which is the largest bank in the United States, denied liability or wrongdoing in providing Epstein banking services but settled in order to avoid a trial.

“While we stand by our prior statements made in the filings in this case, including that Bank of America did not facilitate sex trafficking crimes, this resolution allows us to put this matter behind us and provides further closure for the plaintiffs,” the bank told The Observer and NBC in a statement.

With the settlement filed, a judge will still have to approve it at a hearing, which is scheduled for April 2.

Bank of America now joins JPMorgan, which settled for $290 million, and Deutsche Bank, which settled for $75 million, in paying what is thought to be more than 1,000 women that Epstein abused in his years-long scheme.

March 28 (UPI) — Law enforcement in Paris arrested one person and is pursuing another after they allegedly tried to detonate an explosive device outside a bank there.

The two suspected attackers attempted to detonate the device near Bank of America’s headquarters in France’s capitol, French officials confirmed on Saturday afternoon.

“Bravo for the swift intervention of a prefecture of of police crew that made it possible to thwart a violent action of a terrorist nature last night in Paris,” France’s minister of the interior, Laurent Nunez, said in a post on X.

“The investigation continues … Vigilance remains more than ever at a high level,” he said.

Around 3:30 a.m. early Saturday morning, officers in the area saw two people carrying a shopping bag, out of which came a container of some type of fuel taped to a tube that the duo attempted to light, the French radio station RTL reported.

The suspect who was caught by police told them he had been recruited online and was paid about $700 for the attempted attack.

Attacks have been committed at synagogues, Jewish schools and facilities, and near businesses associated with the United States and Israel in a handful of countries since the start of the war in Iran.

France, in particular, has ramped up security on the lookout for terrorist attacks.

The Iran-linked group Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiyya posted video on Telegram of a bank in France last week which included a push to attack Bank of America in Paris because it “is not just a bank, but a shadowy Zionist force,” The Telegraph reported.

“This bank sends vast investments to Israel, while simultaneously strengthening Jewish economy, culture and politics in France,” the group said in the video. “Through its support for Zionist schools, associations, companies and urban development projects, Bank of America has become a ‘financial and strategic force’ in the European Zionist arena.”

March 27 (UPI) — Argentina’s government praised a U.S. court decision Friday that overturned a ruling ordering the country to pay more than $16.1 billion in a lawsuit tied to the 2012 expropriation of oil company YPF.

“We won the case,” President Javier Milei wrote on X, noting the amount at stake was comparable to key financial obligations, including recent loans from the International Monetary Fund.

According to a statement from the presidential office, the Court of Appeals for the Second U.S. Circuit reversed a lower court’s decision that had ordered Argentina to pay billions in damages over how the state renationalized the company.

“The court fully overturned the ruling against the Argentine state in what represents the best possible outcome, with less than a 15% probability of occurrence, and avoided an estimated payment of approximately $18 billion,” the statement said.

The case stems from Argentina’s 2012 expropriation of a 51% stake in YPF, which was owned by Spanish energy company Repsol, during the second presidential term of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The dispute arose because Argentina did not launch a tender offer to purchase shares held by minority investors, as required under the company’s bylaws.

Following that omission, litigation fund Burford Capital acquired the rights to pursue the claim and sued Argentina in New York, securing a record $16.1 billion judgment in 2023 that has now been overturned.

Argentina’s legal defense, maintained across multiple administrations, including those of Mauricio Macri, Alberto Fernández and Milei, argued that the appropriate jurisdiction for the case was Argentine courts, not U.S. tribunals, local newspaper Ámbito reported.

The country had also appealed a June 2025 order requiring it to transfer YPF shares as partial payment of the judgment. With the ruling now vacated, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit also nullified that order.

The removal of the ruling and its associated payment could improve Argentina’s country risk outlook, ease pressure on international reserves and send a positive signal to investors regarding international litigation, local outlet Perfil reported.

Burford Capital can petition the U.S. Supreme Court for review. If the court takes up an appeal, the final outcome could be moths or years away.

FORMER glamour model Katie Price has sparked mystery as her new travel business venture has been shut down just two weeks after its launch amid backlash.

The 47-year-old had created a “Katie Price Travels” Instagram page, trying to recruit agents for InteleTravel under the brand Travel Smarter Group.

She set up the part-time venture alongside her pal TV personality Danielle Lloyd.

Travel Smarter Group “co-founded” by Danielle, promises travel perks, training and financial protection but does not include clear details of its host agency.

One advert on her feed encouraged people to: “Join Katie Price and Danielle Lloyd.

“Hear how you can earn more from travel around your other commitments. Work flexibly. Travel more. Earn extra income.”

WHY SO SERIOUS?

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The podcast host received a slew of backlash from the travel industry, who branded the venture a “gimmick” and a “slap in the face.”

Katie was most notably called out by Inspire Europe chief executive Lisa Henning.

She criticised the star’s move and accused her of bringing down the industry name amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Lisa wrote, as reported by Travel Weekly: “I very rarely comment publicly on things like this. But seeing this today is a step too far.

“For the past 12 days I have worked non-stop, 24/7, supporting our clients and our agents through the disruption affecting Dubai and other destinations.

“I’ve seen agents in tears because they care so much about their clients and are genuinely worried about what’s happening.

“To see promotions suggesting that you can simply ‘earn money from travel’ with a glossy campaign featuring Katie Price and Danielle Lloyd — positioning the role of a travel agent as something you do casually around other commitments — honestly feels like a huge mockery of our industry.

“This isn’t a side hustle. This isn’t a gimmick. And it certainly isn’t ‘easy money while you travel’.”

Lisa continued: ” Seeing this kind of messaging feels like a real slap in the face to the thousands of dedicated agents who work tirelessly behind the scenes every single day.

“Well done and thank you to all of those who continue to give our industry a good name by doing this job ‘properly’. Always book with a ‘real travel agent’.”

Following the negative response, the model appears to have now deleted her travel page on Instagram.

Katie’s PA has responded to the remarks, according to Travel Gossip.

“Katie has never stated that she personally books travel. She is simply sharing this platform with others to help people become independent travel agents and create an additional income – whether that be part-time or full-time.

“All agents within the community receive full training and are committed to supporting their clients.”

She added: “Katie was simply advertising an opportunity call.”

March 25 (UPI) — A 2023 Justice Department disclosure to Congress revealed that President Donald Trump had documents so secretive that only six people had received copies among classified documents he kept at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office.

The disclosure was part of former special counsel Jack Smith’s report on his investigation into Trump, which has not been made public. Elements of the report, though, were distributed to the House and Senate judiciary committees and subsequently made public this week as part of their own probes.

The disclosure detailed the types of documents Trump took with him to his home in Palm Beach after leaving office in 2020. Smith was appointed by former President Joe Biden to investigate the mishandled classified documents, resulting in 41 criminal counts against Trump. Trump-appointed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the case in 2024 and recently ruled that Smith’s full report can’t be released publicly.

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday questioning why the Justice Department is “fighting tooth and nail to gag Special Counsel Jack Smith and bury his report.” He said the Justice Department’s disclosure sent to the committee earlier this month included “cherry-picked” documents related to the investigation.

“You have, quite amazingly, missed the fact that some of the documents you provided include damning evidence about your boss’s conduct and may well violate the gag order your DOJ and Donald Trump demanded from Judge Aileen Cannon,” the letter read.

Raskin’s letter said that the Justice Department disclosure included information that Trump held documents at Mar-a-Lago that only six people in the government had access to and that other documents related to his business interests.

The disclosure also indicated that White House chief of staff Susie Wiles — then the CEO of Trump’s super PAC — said she observed Trump showing off a classified map to fellow passengers on his private plane.

“This glimpse into the trove of evidence behind the coverup release a president of the United States who may have sold out our national security to enrich himself,” Raskin wrote.

SK hynix Inc. said Wednesday it has begun taking steps for listing on the U.S. stock market as the chipmaker aims to improve access to global investors amid its artificial intelligence (AI) drive.

The South Korean chipmaker filed a “confidential submission” to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) the previous day, with a goal to have its American depositary receipts (ADRs) listed on the U.S. stock exchange within the year, it said in a regulatory filing.

“We are preparing with the goal of listing in the second half,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Kwak Noh-jung said during a general shareholders meeting in Icheon, some 50 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

“As the issuance size and method have not yet been finalized and the listing review process has begun, I cannot disclose specific details in accordance with domestic and international laws and regulations,” he said. “We plan to proceed in a way that helps enhance shareholder value.”

ADRs refer to securities issued in the U.S. stock market that allow the trading of shares in foreign firms. They allow companies to attract U.S.-based investors without a full listing of common shares.

The size, schedule and other details of the process have not yet been confirmed and will largely be determined by market environments, the company noted, adding the final decision will be made by the SEC.

SK hynix’s move is expected to help the chipmaker broaden its funding base in overseas markets, industry watchers said.

The chipmaker said it plans to make another related regulatory filing within six months or earlier if there are further updates.

Separately, Kwak outlined plans to secure more than 100 trillion won (US$66.8 billion) in net cash to support long-term strategic investment for further growth.

“Financial soundness that enables stable investment is essential to respond to structural demand growth and maintain competitiveness,” Kwak said. “We will secure world-class financial strength to lay the foundation for long-term growth.”

According to an annual report, SK hynix maintained net cash of 12.7 trillion won as of end-2025.

Kwak added the company will continue shipments of its high bandwidth memory (HBM) chips as planned this year and aims to release samples of the next-generation HBM4E product later this year.

“HBM3E chips remain the mainstay, and shipments of HBM4 will increase in the second half. Our overall shipment schedule remains largely unchanged,” he said. “We plan to present samples of HBM4E within the year.”

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As the United States-Israeli war with Iran sends tremors through the global economy, the poorest members of the Global South are the most exposed to the fallout.

In Asia, Africa and the Middle East, developing economies are bearing the brunt of surging energy costs prompted by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and attacks on oil and gas facilities across the Gulf.

From Pakistan to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, through to Jordan, Egypt and Ethiopia, policymakers are facing the double whammy of being both heavily dependent on imported energy and having limited financial firepower to absorb the shock of spiking prices.

In Pakistan, which imports about 80 percent of its energy from the Gulf and has lurched between economic crises for years, authorities have scrambled to roll out measures to conserve fuel.

Facing the depletion of the country’s petrol and diesel reserves within weeks, officials have closed schools, introduced a four-day working week for government offices, ordered half of the country’s public sector employees to work from home, and slashed fuel allowances for official business.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said last week that he had decided against a proposed hike in petrol and diesel prices before the Eid Al-Fitr celebration, saying the government would “bear the burden” of rising costs.

Sharif’s announcement came after the government had earlier this month approved a 55 rupee ($0.20) rise in the price of a litre (0.26 gallons) of petrol or diesel.

While government subsidies have helped cushion the blow for the public, there are fears that petroleum prices will surge and bring economic activity to a halt if the war drags on, said S Akbar Zaidi, the executive director of the Institute of Business Administration in Karachi.

“The overall shock is quite severe, although it has not been fully passed on to consumers and to industry,” Zaidi said.

“I expect the next few weeks to make things far worse once the disruption and price factors pass through.”

In Bangladesh, which imports about 95 percent of its oil and is expected to run through its fuel reserves within days, petrol pumps in some districts have run dry despite the introduction of fuel rationing.

Sri Lanka, which imports about 60 percent of its energy needs and is still reeling from an economic meltdown that began in 2019, has declared every Wednesday a public holiday and introduced a mandatory fuel pass for vehicle owners to conserve petrol and diesel, stockpiles of which are projected to run dry within weeks.

In Egypt, one of the biggest energy importers and among the most indebted economies in the Middle East, the government has ordered malls, shops and cafes to close by 9pm on weekdays and 10pm during weekends, and cut back on public lighting.

Facing growing pressure on public finances due to the government’s heavy subsidisation of fuel prices, Egyptian officials on March 10 announced price hikes of between 15 and 22 percent for petrol, diesel and cooking gas.

While acknowledging the burden on the public, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi said the move was necessary to avoid “harsher and more dangerous outcomes”.

“For a majority of developing economies, especially those already grappling with debt and high import dependence, they are facing a potent mix of inflation, currency pressures and fiscal strains,” said Yeah Kim Leng, a professor of economics at the Jeffrey Cheah Institute on Southeast Asia at Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

“The hardest hit are net energy and food importers, especially those with fragile macroeconomic foundations and pre-existing vulnerabilities that typified countries with low per capita income and high poverty rates,” Yeah added.

Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Jordan, Senegal, Egypt, Angola, Ethiopia and Zambia are among the most at risk, according to a recent analysis by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, which looked at factors including dependence on fuel imports, public debt levels and foreign exchange reserve/import ratios.

Currency depreciation

The weakening of many developing countries’ currencies against the US dollar – the result of investors buying the greenback amid heightened geopolitical uncertainty – has compounded the situation by further driving up costs.

“Countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines have already seen their currencies at near record lows even before the start of the conflict, making imports, including oil, much more expensive,” said Azizul Amiludin, a non-resident senior fellow at the Malaysia Institute of Economic Research in Kuala Lumpur.

Much as the fallout of the war poses particular challenges for governments in developing countries, the effect on citizens is disproportionate, too.

In less advanced economies, citizens spend much more of their pay cheques on fuel and food, leaving them more exposed to rising living costs.

At the same time, governments in developing countries have less capacity to provide a safety net for those at risk of falling through the cracks.

“In vulnerable economies, governments often attempt to shield their populations from price hikes by subsidising fuel and food,” said Yeah, the Jeffrey Cheah Institute professor.

“However, with depleted fiscal buffers and shrinking revenues, this becomes unsustainable. The ensuing austerity, combined with hyperinflation, can trigger widespread social unrest and a full-blown fiscal crisis.”

With the US and Israel barely a month into their war and no clear timetable for its end in sight, many analysts expect things to get worse before they get better.

Khalid Waleed, a research fellow at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute in Islamabad, said rising transport costs would soon be felt at supermarket checkouts.

“Diesel is the backbone of Pakistan’s freight and agricultural economy,” Waleed said.

“Trucking costs have started climbing, and that will feed into everything from flour to fertiliser in the weeks ahead.”

Once Pakistan’s wheat harvest gets under way in April, food prices could spike well beyond their current levels, Waleed said.

“Combine harvesters, threshers, tractors for haulage from field to market, and the trucks that move grain from fields to flour mills and storage facilities all run on high-speed diesel,” he said.

“For a country where wheat flour is the single largest item in the food basket of the bottom two income quintiles, this is not a marginal concern,” Waleed added.

“If diesel prices stay elevated through April and May, Pakistan will harvest its wheat at the most expensive input cost in years, and that cost will transmit directly into food inflation at a time when households have almost no capacity left to absorb further price shocks.”

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 20 (UPI) — Mining companies BHP and U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan submitted two copper projects worth more than $12.5 billion combined to Chile’s Environmental Impact Assessment System, marking one of the clearest signs of a revival in mining investment in the country.

BHP, through Minera Escondida, the world’s largest copper producer, submitted the “Nueva Concentradora Escondida” project valued at $5 billion, which would allow it to continue operations by replacing the Los Colorados plant. That plant is at the end of its useful life.

The project includes an ore processing capacity of 460 thousands of tons per day in the Antofagasta region. If approved, it would begin operations between 2031 and 2032.

Minera El Abra, the Chilean subsidiary of Freeport-McMoRan, is seeking to invest $7.5 billion to extend its operations by 40 years and increase its production by more than 300,000 metric tons of copper annually starting in 2033, once it becomes operational.

The initiative includes the construction of a concentrator plant, a desalination facility, among other projects.

Analysts say these investments respond to sustained growth in global copper demand, driven by electrification, power grids and the energy transition, although they also note that they are being accelerated by a shift in the local political environment after the arrival of a government led by José Antonio Kast.

As one of its first measures, the administration introduced the National Reconstruction Bill, which includes initiatives to reduce bureaucracy and streamline permitting.

The proposal includes lowering the corporate tax rate from to 23% from 27% to align it with countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Finance Minister Jorge Quiroz told local media this week that the government aims to offer clear rules, legal certainty and an agile, non-discriminatory process that respects the environment.

“This investment will move forward smoothly,” he said, referring to the Escondida project.

The president of the Chilean Mining Chamber, Manuel Viera, said about $18 billion in projects are stalled due to bureaucratic hurdles in the permitting process.

“And in just one week, the president of the republic has indicated that they should be unlocked. That is a sign that signal has been well received by investors, and we expect news like those of Escondida and El Abra to continue in the coming months because Chile also needs more and better mining,” he said.

Cristian Cifuentes, senior leader of studies and content at the Center for Copper and Mining Studies, or Cesco, told UPI that the announcements represent a clear indication of a revival in mining investment, although the trend already had been emerging without such concrete evidence.

“It is a validation of Chile as a competitive jurisdiction in a highly capital-intensive global context,” he said.

He added that while investment decisions respond to global copper demand, their execution depends “critically on local conditions: permitting, institutional stability and political signals.”

“Any improvement in regulatory certainty or pro-investment narrative accelerates decisions that, in many cases, were already in the pipeline. At the same time, these filings show that, despite recent regulatory tensions, the country maintains baseline conditions that allow investment decisions to move forward,” he said.

Víctor Frangi, managing director of Delivery & Transformation at KPMG Chile, said the country is creating more favorable conditions to activate projects, in an environment in which copper demand is projected to increase by about 40% by 2040.

“Chile approved the Framework Law on Sectoral Authorizations, which seeks to reduce permitting times by between 30% and 70%, along with the modernization of the Environmental Impact Assessment System regulations to focus evaluations on projects with significant impact,” he said.

Frangi said that Chile now offers greater business certainty and a more limited level of risk, which facilitates large-scale investment decisions.

Analysts warn, though that growing regional competition to attract mining investment exists.

“Countries such as Argentina have improved their macroeconomic environment and promoted initiatives such as the Incentive Regime for Large Investments, positioning themselves to attract large-scale projects, such as Vicuña, a joint venture between Lundin Mining and BHP, with an estimated investment of $18 billion,” Frangi said.

He added that Peru and even the Democratic Republic of Congo also show dynamism.

“Chile faces the challenge of remaining competitive against other destinations that are also capturing investment. There are replacement and efficiency projects, such as the new Escondida concentrator, and changes in the operating model, such as the advance of desalination as a standard in water use,” Frangi said.

Viera said mining companies are seeking more copper deposits amid growing global demand.

He added that armed conflicts between the United States and Iran, as well as between Russia and Ukraine, have disrupted the balance between supply and demand.

“They have broken the balance of supply and demand. As armed conflicts increase, demand rises for critical minerals used in weapons manufacturing. These are factors driving the search for copper, iron and other minerals, in addition to demand linked to the development of technologies associated with climate change,” he said.

March 20 (UPI) — The White House released a new legislative framework for artificial intelligence creating a federal policy to prevent states from making their own laws about it.

“The Administration recognizes that some Americans feel uncertain about how this transformative technology will affect issues they care about, like their children’s wellbeing or their monthly electricity bill,” a White House press release said. “These issues, along with other emerging AI policy considerations, require strong federal leadership to ensure the public’s trust in how AI is developed and used in their daily lives.”

The framework lists six areas where legislation is needed: protecting children and empowering parents, “to give parents tools such as account controls to protect their children’s privacy and manage their device use”; safeguarding and strengthening American communities, “through economic growth and energy dominance”; respecting intellectual property rights and supporting creators, by “enabling AI to thrive while ensuring creativity continues propelling our country’s greatness”; preventing censorship and protecting free speech, “AI cannot become a vehicle for government to dictate right and wrong-think”; enabling innovation and ensuring American AI dominance, by “calling on Congress to take steps to remove outdated or unnecessary barriers to innovation”; and educating Americans and developing an AI-ready workforce, by “encouraging Congress to further workforce development and skills training programs.”

President Donald Trump‘s administration has embraced AI. But in December, he signed an executive order for a single national regulatory standard on the industry.

He posted on Truth Social in early December: “There must be only One Rulebook if we are going to continue to lead in AI. We are beating ALL COUNTRIES at this point in the race, but that won’t last long if we are going to have 50 States, many of them bad actors, involved in RULES and the APPROVAL PROCESS.”

He then described the consequences if states all create laws.

“THERE CAN BE NO DOUBT ABOUT THIS! AI WILL BE DESTROYED IN ITS INFANCY! I will be doing a ONE RULE Executive Order this week,” he wrote. “You can’t expect a company to get 50 Approvals every time they want to do something. THAT WILL NEVER WORK!”

The press release said the administration wants to work with Congress to create a bill in the coming months that follows the framework.

Lawmakers in New York, California and other states have worked to enact their own state-level regulations, which AI industry leaders oppose.

They argue that a “patchwork” of laws would stifle innovation and give other competitors like China an advantage.

Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, in a Friday press release, said, ″The White House’s national AI legislative framework will unleash American ingenuity to win the global AI race, delivering breakthroughs that create jobs, lower costs, and improve lives for Americans across the country.”

It does so while reining in challenges, he added.

“At the same time, it tackles real concerns head-on — protecting our children online, shielding families from higher energy costs, respecting creators’ rights, and supporting American workers — so every citizen can trust and benefit from this incredible technology,” Kratsios said.

SEOUL, March 20 (UPI) — Korea Zinc’s incumbent management and its major shareholder, Young Poong, are locked in a fierce showdown ahead of a regular shareholders’ meeting Tuesday.

The world’s largest non-ferrous metal producer said Friday that it posted record sales and profits last year, which led to high dividends and other shareholder-friendly policies.

Citing the strong performance, Korea Zinc has called for the leadership continuity, as the 2026 shareholders’ meeting would select at least five board members out of 15 seats. The term of Chairman Yun B. Choi is also set to expire.

“We believe that our continued efforts to improve corporate governance and expand shareholder returns have laid the foundation to steadily grow our business and operate our organization in a stable manner,” the firm said in a statement.

But, Young Poong argued that proxy advisers and the National Pension Service, another key Korea Zinc shareholder, have effectively supported its position by opposing the reappointment of Choi as an inside director.

According to Young Poong, such decisions suggest that “this is no longer merely a management control dispute, but judgment over potential structural flaws in corporate governance and failures of oversight.”

Since early 2025, Korea Zinc has been fighting to repel an aggressive takeover bid from Young Poong, which has teamed up with the country’s leading private equity firm, MBK Partners.

The battle came to a head at the March 2025 shareholders’ meeting, and another high-stakes clash is looming at this month’s gathering.

Each side reportedly controls roughly 40% of the voting shares, while NPS holds a 5.2% stake.

Meanwhile, the labor union at Korea Zinc expressed strong support for the current board, urging the NPS to immediately reverse its decision.

“We will fight to the end to prevent the dark hand of speculative capital from tainting our sacred workplace at this shareholders’ meeting,” the union said in a statement.

“If our warning is ignored and the company is undermined, we will mobilize all possible means, including a general strike, to wage an all-out struggle,” it said.

March 18 (UPI) — The Federal Reserve announced that it is leaving its benchmark interest rate untouched Wednesday in its first Federal Open Market Committee statement since the start of the war with Iran.

The Fed’s benchmark interest rate remains at a 3.5% and 3.75% range as the committee held on to its projection of at least one rate cut coming this year.

“Available indicators suggest that economic activity has been expanding at a solid pace,” the FOMC statement said. “Job gains have remained low and the unemployment rate has been little changed in recent months. Inflation remains somewhat elevated.”

As for the war in Iran, the statement said its impact on the U.S. economy is “uncertain.”

The Fed continues to pursue monetary policies it believes will bring the rate of inflation down to 2%. In its statement it said it is “committed to supporting maximum employment,” in pursuit of its target.

Economic reports that inform the Fed’s decision have indicated pressures from inflation remain and economic growth has slowed.

Wednesday’s announcement comes on the heels of a producer price index report earlier in the day that showed the largest increase to the index for final demand goods since August 2023.

Last week, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls fell by 92,000 in February. The unemployment rate increased to 4.4%.

These reports have economists and traders cooling on the potential for interest rate cuts. Eugenio Aleman, chief economist at Raymond James, said in a statement that the wholesale inflation report on Wednesday, “likely reinforces a hold decision.”

Data from the producer price index report predates the beginning of the war with Iran.

SANTIAGO, Chile, March 18 (UPI) — The United States is continuing efforts to secure supplies of critical minerals deemed vital to national security. Alongside copper, lithium and silver, one lesser-known metal is drawing increased attention: rhenium.

Used primarily in the aerospace, energy and petrochemical industries, rhenium plays a key role in high-performance applications. Experts say it also holds potential in the global energy transition because it can act as a catalyst in producing green hydrogen.

Chile is the world’s largest rhenium producer, accounting for about 50% of global output. The metal is atomic No. 75 on the Periodic Table of Elements.

Since Friday, Chilean officials have held consultations on critical minerals and rare earth elements with the administration of President Donald Trump, seeking a bilateral agreement to strengthen supply chains and promote strategic investment.

“Chile controls nearly half of a mineral that the United States and China cannot produce in sufficient quantities. Washington reinstated rhenium to its critical minerals list in 2025 and explicitly included it in the bilateral mining agreement with Chile. That makes it a genuine geopolitical asset, not just a mining one,” mining market specialist Víctor Pérez, an engineering professor at Adolfo Ibáñez University, told UPI.

Manuel Reyes, a mining engineering professor at Andrés Bello University, said the United States considers rhenium a national security priority because of its critical role and a lack of substitutes in aerospace and defense.

“Although rhenium does not carry the financial weight of copper or lithium, it functions as a reputational asset that keeps Chile on global strategic radars. More as a necessary logistics partner than as a decision-making power,” he said.

Pérez said Chile’s rhenium exports are expected to range between $100 million and $200 million this year, compared with an estimated $60 billion in copper exports. Still, he said its strategic importance is unique “because it has no real substitute in aerospace and defense applications.”

Chile holds the world’s largest reserves at 1,300 metric tons, followed by the United States with 400 metric tons, Russia with 310 metric tons and Kazakhstan with 190 metric tons, according to Reyes.

Rhenium trades at about $2,000 per kilogram, though prices have climbed in 2026 to roughly $6,000 per kilogram, he said.

About 70% to 80% of global rhenium is used in superalloys for aviation and defense turbines. “It is the metal that allows aircraft engines and military turbines to withstand extreme temperatures without deforming,” Pérez said.

Rhenium is known as a by-product mineral because it is not found alone, but rather extracted from copper-related ores, which makes production complex. Chile’s large-scale copper mining operations enable its recovery, as processing captures gases released during molybdenum concentrate roasting and chemically extracts the metal.

Reyes said Chile remains highly dependent on external demand.

“Reserve management and supply continuity depend on the technical and national security requirements of powers such as the United States, which ultimately drive demand,” he said.

March 18 (UPI) — Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said Wednesday that new CEO Kim Hoe-chun has officially taken office to lead the state-run company over the next three years.

The chief executive said that he would establish a dual-track strategy of focusing on large-scale nuclear reactors and small modular reactors, or SMRs, at the same time to gain a stronger foothold in the global market.

SMRs refer to next-generation nuclear power plants, which are smaller but considered safer than traditional massive reactors. Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, or KHNP, has worked on its own models, known as “innovative SMRs.”

“We will successfully carry out already secured overseas projects while pursuing tailored bidding strategies to enter new markets,” Kim said during an inauguration ceremony at the firm’s head office in Gyeongju, around 180 miles southeast of Seoul.

“We will develop the KHNP-style integrated management model as an export product and take a leading position in the international nuclear power market through innovative SMR technologies,” he said.

In June 2025, KHNP signed a contract to build two nuclear reactors in the Dukovany region of the Czech Republic. The agreement is estimated to be worth about $18 billion.

The company also has been competing with global players to win nuclear contracts in other countries.

Before taking the helm at KHNP, Kim spent decades at Korea Electric Power Corp., where he held a series of key positions after joining it in 1985. Between 2021 and 2024, he served as CEO of Korea South-East Power, an affiliate of KEPCO.

South Korean stocks surged more than 5 percent Wednesday, on a semiconductor rally boosted by the ongoing U.S. chip giant Nvidia’s global artificial intelligence (AI) conference. The Korean won strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) closed up 284.55 points, or 5.04 percent, to 5,925.03.

The index came under strong buying pressure from foreigners and institutional investors, triggering the Korea Exchange (KRX), the country’s main bourse operator, to issue a buy-side sidecar near the closing bell.

Program trading for the KOSPI was suspended for five minutes at 2:34 p.m., according to the KRX.

Offshore and institutional investors snapped up a combined net 4 trillion won (US$2.7 billion) worth of equities. Retail investors, on the other hand, offloaded 3.9 trillion won.

Trade volume was heavy at 1.1 billion shares worth 26.1 trillion won, with winners far outnumbering losers 614 to 278.

Investors’ appetite for semiconductors increased, following remarks from Nvidia’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jensen Huang on Samsung Electronics, Lee Kyoung-min, an analyst at Daishin Securities, said.

During the ongoing four-day event in California, Huang said on Monday he wants to “thank Samsung, who manufactures the Groq LP30 chip” for the company, adding that the chips are in production and would be shipped in the second half of this year.

“The stock market’s sensitivity to geopolitical issues in the Middle East is markedly declining,” Lee added.

Most large cap shares ended bullish.

Top-cap Samsung Electronics jumped 7.53 percent to 208,500 won, while its chipmaking rival SK hynix climbed 8.87 percent to 1,056,000 won.

Nuclear power plant builder Doosan Enerbility rose 2.78 percent to 107,300 won, on anticipations alternative energy sources would benefit from the recent spike in oil prices.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, has remained at the US$100 per barrel level for the past five sessions.

In contrast, defense shares lost ground as investors went to lock in profits. Hanwha Aerospace inched down 0.43 percent to 1,390,000 won, and LIG Nex1 retreated 2.27 percent to 689,000 won.

The Korean won was quoted at 1,483.1 won against the U.S. dollar as of 3:30 p.m., up 10.5 won from the previous session.

Bond prices, which move inversely to yields, closed higher. The yield on three-year Treasurys fell 6.3 basis points to 3.261 percent, and the return on the benchmark five-year government bonds retreated 6.7 basis points to 3.511 percent.

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The national power grid comes back on after Cuba’s 10 million people were plunged into darkness overnight.

Cuba has reconnected its power grid and brought online its largest oil-fired power plant, energy officials said, putting an end to a nationwide blackout that lasted more than 29 hours amid a United States move to choke off the island’s fuel supply.

After the country’s 10 million people had been plunged into darkness overnight, the Caribbean island’s national power grid had fully come back online by 6:11pm (22:11 GMT) on Tuesday. However, officials said power shortages may continue because not enough electricity is being generated.

In addition to cutting off oil sales to Cuba, US President Donald Trump has escalated his rhetoric against the Communist-run island, saying on Monday he could do anything he wanted with the country.

A US State Department official blamed the Cuban government for the grid collapse, calling blackouts a “symptom of the failing regime’s incompetence”.

Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel fired back at Washington, criticising its “almost daily public threats against Cuba”.

“They intend to and announce plans to take over the country, its resources, its properties, and even the very economy they seek to suffocate in order to force us to surrender,” Diaz-Canel wrote on social media on Tuesday night, shortly after power returned nationwide.

Cuba has yet to say what caused Monday’s nationwide grid failure, the first such collapse since the US cut off the island’s oil supply from Venezuela and threatened to slap tariffs on countries that ship fuel to the nation.

By midday on Tuesday, grid workers successfully fired up the Antonio Guiteras power plant, a decades-old behemoth that underpins the country’s power grid.

Daily blackouts

Electricity generation, hampered by dire fuel shortages and antiquated power plants, is still far below what is necessary to meet demand, providing scarce relief for Cubans already exhausted from months of blackouts.

Most Cubans, including those in the capital, Havana, were seeing 16 or more hours of blackout daily even before the latest grid collapse.

“It affects every aspect of our lives,” said Havana resident Carlos Montes de Oca, noting that the outages had thrown simple necessities such as food and water supply into disarray. “All we can do is sit, wait, read a book… otherwise the stress gets to you.”

Much of Cuba was overcast through the afternoon on Monday as a cold front neared the island, casting shadows on the solar parks that account for a third or more of daytime generation.

Cuba has received only two small vessels carrying oil imports this year, according to LSEG ship tracking data seen by Reuters on Monday. On Tuesday, a Hong Kong-flagged tanker that could be carrying fuel to Cuba resumed navigation after suspending its course weeks ago in the Atlantic Ocean, the data showed.

Cuba and the US have opened talks aimed at defusing the crisis, among the most acute since 1959, when Fidel Castro forced a US ally from power on the island.

Neither side has provided details of the ongoing negotiations, although Trump has portrayed Cuba as desperate to make a deal.

Cubans, no strangers to hardship, saw little choice but to stay calm.

“We still don’t have power at my house,” said Havana resident Juana Perez. “But we’ll take it in stride, as we Cubans always do.”

March 17 (UPI) — U.S. gasoline prices have surged by 27% and diesel by 34% since the start of U.S. attacks on Iran last month, fuel costs reported Tuesday indicate.

AAA reported that the national average cost for a gallon of gas in the United States was $3.79 Tuesday morning. Diesel was $5.044 per gallon, topping the $5 threshold for the first time in three years, CNBC reported.

A year ago, those prices were $3.078 and $3.592, respectively. A month ago, they were $2.917 and $3.651.

Fuel prices have been on the rise globally since the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran on Feb. 28 amid negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. The attacks, which killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, prompted Tehran to effectively close down the Strait of Hormuz by banning ships linked to the United States or Israel. About 20% of the world’s oil runs through the waterway that separates Iran and Oman.

Brent Crude, the benchmark price for oil worldwide, rose about 2% to $102 a barrel Tuesday, The New York Times reported. The West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose to $95 a barrel.

Diesel prices are particularly tied to the U.S. economy, which depends on it for the transportation of goods via trucks, trains and barges. Recent surges in prices could have a cascading effect.

Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said Tuesday that trucking and rail companies have begun increasing their fuel surcharges in response to the fuel hikes.

“One should really be worried about higher diesel prices,” he said in a note published by CNBC.

President Donald Trump this week put pressure on other nations that rely on oil shipped through the Strait of Hormuz to join a coalition to police the transit route and reopen traffic.

Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said the United States doesn’t need to be involved in reopening the Strait of Hormuz because little of its oil passes through the waterway. About 7% of the United States’ crude oil and condensate imports passed through the strait in the first half of last year, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

He said the United States was protecting it “almost like we do it for habit” and to help “some very good allies that we have in the Middle East.”

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said Monday, “until we see a meaningful resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, upward pressure on fuel prices is likely to persist.”

South Korea had 81 products that led global exports in 2024, including memory chips, solid state drives (SSDs) and face masks, a report showed Tuesday.

The report published by the Korea International Trade Association (KITA) showed that the value of 81 Korea-produced items accounted for the largest share of global export value in their respective categories.

China was at the top with 2,087 items with the largest export market share, followed by Germany at 520 items, the United States at 505, Italy at 199 and India at 156.

South Korea had 19 items ranked between second to 10th in terms of export market share, KITA said, noting the country is likely to increase its number of globally leading products in the future.

The country’s top selling items included memory chips, electrical transformers, SSDs, lead-acid starter batteries for automobiles, rubber for automotive components and sheet masks.

Notably, Korea reclaimed the top spot for memory chips from China for the first time in five years in 2024, thanks to strong demand for high bandwidth memory (HBM) and other advanced products made by Korean companies, KITA said.

In the tanker segment, Korea lost the top spot to China on the latter’s strategy of securing large volumes of low-value vessels but is expected to retake the position in 2025 on the back of the recent boom in Seoul’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) ship orders, it added.

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Jeffrey Epstein urged Canadian-American media and real estate mogul Mortimer Zuckerman to relinquish control of his financial affairs over what he claimed was the magnate’s “potentially dangerous” cognitive impairment, according to files released by the United States Department of Justice.

While Epstein’s business ties with Zuckerman, now 88 years old, have been a matter of public record for over two decades, the files suggest that the late sex offender also served as a confidant with access to the most intimate details of the billionaire mogul’s personal life.

After a meeting with Zuckerman and the Norwegian diplomat Terje Rod-Larsen in October 2015, Epstein wrote an email urging the tycoon to enter a guardianship or conservatorship for his own protection.

Epstein told Zuckerman, the owner and publisher of US News & World Report, that the mogul had requested his help during their meeting several days earlier, but that he “might not remember”.

“Your friends including me are very concerned that your cognitive impairment has now reached a serious and potentially dangerous level. There is serious concern for your financail, emotional physical and psychological safety,” Epstein wrote, using his typically idiosyncratic approach to spelling, punctuation and grammar.

Epstein suggested that Zuckerman grant Rod-Larsen, Zuckerman’s nephews, and “anyone else you trust” authority to manage his affairs, warning that his “remarkable abilities” were no longer enough to protect him.

“I am aware that your condition makes you prone to suspicion but that being said, the future predictable decline will be an ever increasing danger,” Epstein wrote.

“Admittting you have a problem will take courage and determination.”

Zuckerman, who previously owned The Atlantic and the New York Daily News, appeared to take Epstein’s advice seriously, thanking him for his “thoughtfulness and friendship” and asking for recommendations for a lawyer with “experience in such matters”.

Zuckerman suggested the two men meet after he returned from an upcoming trip to San Francisco, but Epstein advised him to cancel the trip and said the mogul had told him about his travel plans on four separate occasions.

“I know you dont remember each time. . MORT , you need a Guardian,” Epstein wrote. “you should choose one now, while your judgment peeks through the haze. waiting too long. will mean most likely a court imposed solution. NOT FUN.”

Epstein also discussed Zuckerman’s health with his nephew, Eric Gertler, advising the relative to oversee the sale of the businessman’s stocks, art collection, helicopter and plane.

“my expertise is the financial . take any other suggestion as merely transmitting from others skilled in this terrible situation,” Epstein wrote to Gertler, who is the current executive chairman of US News & World Report, in one email.

It is not clear if Zuckerman followed Epstein’s advice to pass over control of his affairs.

Zuckerman announced that he would step down as chairman of Boston Properties, one of the largest real estate investment trusts in the US, about six months after his correspondence with Epstein.

Zuckerman did not cite any health concerns at the time and kept the title of chairman emeritus at the company, which he cofounded in 1970.

His philanthropic organisations – the Zuckerman Institute and Zuckerman STEM Leadership Program – and Gertler did not reply to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.

Zuckerman’s relationship with Epstein, who died in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, occasionally made headlines during the early 2000s, before Epstein’s 2008 conviction for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

In 2003, Zuckerman partnered with Epstein and several other prominent businessmen, including the disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, in an unsuccessful bid to buy New York Magazine.

The two men teamed up again the following year to invest $25m in the short-lived relaunch of the entertainment and gossip magazine Radar.

Investigative files released by the US Department of Justice in January showed that the late financier viewed Zuckerman as a client and close associate, as well as a business partner.

In 2013, Epstein drew up a $21m proposal to provide Zuckerman with “analysing, evaluating, planning and other services” related to the passing on of his estate, according to emails in the files.

It is unclear whether Zuckerman accepted Epstein’s proposal or otherwise employed him to manage his estate planning.

Epstein also pressured Zuckerman to alter coverage of his alleged sexual abuse of girls in the New York Daily News, suggesting a “proposed answer” to questions put to him by the newspaper in 2009. Zuckerman owned the New York Daily News at the time.