US shoots Iranian drone as Iran’s president seeks ‘fair and equitable negotiations’

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s president said Tuesday he instructed the country’s foreign minister to “pursue fair and equitable negotiations” with the United States, the first clear sign from Tehran it wants to try to negotiate as tensions remain high with Washington after the Mideast country’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month. The announcement marked a major turn for reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian, who had broadly warned Iranians for weeks that the turmoil in his country had gone beyond his control. It also signals that the president received support from Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei for talks that the 86-year-old cleric previously had dismissed.

UK police open criminal investigation into Mandelson over alleged leaks to Epstein

LONDON (AP) — British police have opened a criminal investigation into politician Peter Mandelson over alleged misconduct in public office related to his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The British government says newly released Epstein files include documents that suggest Mandelson may have shared market-sensitive information with the convicted sex offender while Mandelson was a member of the British government a decade and a half ago. The Metropolitan Police force said detectives had reviewed reports of misconduct and decided they met the threshold for a full investigation. Misconduct in public office carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Mandelson said Tuesday he was resigning from the House of Lords, Parliament’s upper chamber, to which he was appointed for life in 2008.

Russia bombards Ukraine with drones and missiles a day before planned peace talks

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia breached its commitment to hold off on energy infrastructure attacks for a week when it launched a major assault on Ukraine overnight. The strikes reported Tuesday came as NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte visited Kyiv and a day before U.S.-brokered talks between Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Zelenskyy said Russia targeted the power grid in five regions of Ukraine in what he said was a bid to deny civilians light, heating and water during a harsh winter. He urged allies to send more air defense supplies and increase pressure on Russia. Talks between Moscow and Kyiv have been described as constructive, but a comprehensive settlement remains distant.

Paris prosecutors raid X offices as part of investigation into child abuse images

PARIS (AP) — French prosecutors have raided the offices of social media platform X as part of an investigation into allegations of spreading child sexual abuse images and deepfakes. They have also summoned owner Elon Musk for questioning. The investigation, which began in January last year, is looking into alleged complicity in possessing and spreading pornographic images of minors, among other charges. X and Musk’s AI company xAI face scrutiny from Britain’s data privacy regulator over their handling of personal data. The chatbot Grok, developed by xAI, sparked outrage after generating sexualized deepfake images.