The Department of Justice's Dec. 19 deadline to release the Jeffrey Epstein case files is approaching. CBS News' Jake Rosen reports.

New York

The Justice Department is preparing to release new documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation, following a bill signed by President Trump. Survivors and Senate Democrats have requested an independent review by the Justice Department Inspector General to ensure that the files are complete and untampered, with concerns about missing or redacted information.

In a separate development, a judge ordered the release of Kilmar Obrego Garcia from ICE custody after finding that authorities had misled the court regarding his deportation status. Obrego Garcia faces criminal charges in Tennessee, and his trial is scheduled for late next month.

Deadline for Epstein files release approaches after Trump signs bill

Jeffrey Epstein survivors and a group of Senate Democrats are asking for an independent review of the Epstein case files. That's because they want to know if any of the records have been tampered with ahead of their release next week. CBS News Justice reporter Jake Rosen is live in Washington DC for us today. Jake what more can you tell us about this? Well December 19th Mugo is the day a week from tomorrow when the Justice Department according to this bill that President Trump signed before the Thanksgiving break to force the Justice Department to take any additional steps it need to take to bring out tend to light new documents pertaining to the multiple investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and also his co-conspirator and friend Ghazain Maxwell. At the same time these groups of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein and Maxwell's crimes and as well as Senate Democrats are asking the Justice Department Inspector General independent body that oversees the Justice Department issues independent reports to review whatever is going to be published and it has to be in some kind of searchable form so our viewers at home and reporters and anybody else who wants to take a look at it can look through these tens if not hundreds of thousands of pages of court documents evidence filings in addition to potentially witness interviews all you know victims names will obviously be redacted but at the same time they want to make sure that there aren't additional steps that potentially the Justice Department has not already taken to either conceal information or potentially just leave things out potentially find a missing page number or something along those lines as you know there's been so much pressure on this space in the Justice Department the Justice Department has successfully moved to have three federal judges it just in the last week to release a lot of information from these criminal trials things that would not usually become public like grand jury evidence grand jury witness interviews in addition to thousands and of pages of quote voluminous reports as one judge put it we'll see how this unfolds but it does cast doubt on what we're going to see because we just don't quite know yet some information judges who have reviewed this information said is not going to bring anything to light that we don't already know however there are a lot of potential witness interviews or unindicted co-conspirator interviews that we just don't know if they exist a and what they would say about Jeffrey Epstein and Gleeson Maxwell's actions that is what they want to make sure is not tampered with so that the public can get a full view of what is in the Justice Department's hands are relating to these investigations okay and you have some information about breaking news involving Kilmar Obrego Garcia he's the man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador earlier this year a judge just ordered his release from ice custody do we know what led up to that yeah we do and it's been months of this back-and-forth since March when Obrego Garcia was removed from the United States as part of those flights to a country his home country of El Salvador in that CICOT prison the Justice Department brought him back in May to prosecute him for allegedly smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico or Latin America into the United States into Tennessee where he was criminally charged the Justice Department is trying to prosecute him there while at the same time the Department of Homeland Security in court is attempting to potentially remove him and for months Mugo they named four different countries that they were aiming to remove him to meanwhile at the same time Obrego Garcia's attorney said that they had come to an agreement with the country of Costa Rica which has said that they'd be willing to take Obrego Garcia out of the United States give him asylum in Costa Rica and the Justice Department simply just rejected all of those arguments they said that the only countries that they could potentially bring him to were the ones that they had issued all of them were in Africa which is obviously not where he's from he would not know any of the language and would not be necessarily given the same reinsurances of safety you can see on the screen that the judge Paul is in a said because respondents have no statutory authority to remove Obrego Garcia to a third country absent a removal order his removal cannot be considered reasonably foreseeable this was the big thing at hand here while his criminal trial is set to play out in Tennessee in next month late next month at the same time the Justice Department had been and ice had been keeping him in detention because they had been saying that they his deportation was imminent it was going to happen soon well this judge found that a there was no final order removal mean that they could not remove him in the first place which is why he ended up in court back in March challenging his removal to El Salvador but at the same time this judge said that the Justice Department had repeatedly lied or misled her court by saying repeatedly four different times that they were going to remove him to a country meanwhile they were never actually intending to do that they just wanted to give a reason to keep him in detention which he is now obviously released out of and he was being detained in a ICE detention center in Pennsylvania

For the first time, Amnesty International has accused Hamas and its allies of committing crimes against humanity, following an investigation into the 7 October 2023 attacks on Israel. The organization found that 1,221 people were killed and said the mass killing of civilians amounted to extermination.

Jerusalem

Middle East Conflict

Amnesty accuses Hamas of 'crimes against humanity' for Oct. 7 attack

The “Architects of AI” were named Time's person of the year Thursday, with the magazine citing 2025 as when the potential of artificial intelligence “roared into view” with no turning back.

Rise of AI

Time magazine names 'Architects of AI' as person of the year for 2025

Message board website Reddit filed a lawsuit on Friday (December 12) asking Australia's High Court to overturn the country's social media ban for people under 16 as well as its inclusion in it, calling the law an infringement of free political expression.

Council of the City of Sydney

Reddit sues to overturn Australian social media ban

As tensions rise with Venezuela, U.S. President Donald Trump said land operations could start "pretty soon." Sources tell CBS News the administration is also planning more tanker seizures.

Washington

Trump says Venezuela land operations could begin 'pretty soon'

One day after capturing an oil tanker off Venezuela's coast, the U.S. has sanctioned three of Nicolas Maduro's nephews, along with six other oil tankers.

Trump ramps up pressure on Maduro with new sanctions

The EU has decided to keep the assets of the Russian Central Bank immobilised for the foreseeable future. The ban, which is based on a provision for economic emergencies, pushes back against external attempts to release the €210 billion in assets before Ukraine is compensated.

Moscow

Ukraine Invasion

EU triggers emergency clause to indefinitely immobilise Russian assets

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said she planned to take her award back to Venezuela, but declined to say when she would return to her home country after leaving in great secrecy to receive the honor.

Caracas

Nobel peace laureate Machado vows to take award home to Venezuela

Japanese authorities are assessing damage after a 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Japan, followed by multiple aftershocks. In response, officials have issued a warning about the possibility of a megaquake, defined as a magnitude 8.0 or higher event.

Tokyo

Japan alerts citizens about possible megaquake

A Maryland judge has ordered the Trump administration to immediately release Kilmar Abrego Garcia from ICE custody. Abrego Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador and was later detained for potential deportation to another country.

Judge orders Kilmar Abrego Garcia's immediate release from ICE custody

About 500,000 people are fleeing renewed clashes on the Thailand-Cambodia border. Over a dozen were killed as fighting shatters a US-Malaysia-brokered peace deal amid a decades-old temple land dispute.

Samraong

Half a million flee as Thailand-Cambodia border clashes escalate

The U.S. has seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, ratcheting up tensions with Caracas.

Trump confirms seizing of Venezuelan oil tanker

The U.S. House has approved a bill to end all Caesar Act sanctions on Syria, sparking cautious optimism in Damascus as the measure moves closer to becoming law.

U.S. House votes to lift Caesar Act sanctions on Syria

Myanmar's military bombs a hospital in western Rakhine state, at least 31 people are killed and dozens injured.

Rakhine

Air strike in Myanmar killed at least 31 people, dozens injured

The U.S. military seized a large oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the ship had been used to violate sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Iran.

U.S. seizes oil tanker off Venezuela coast

The daughter of Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado has accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her mother's behalf in Oslo, Norway. Machado, who lives in hiding in Venezuela, is set to make an address on Thursday.

Oslo

Venezuela's Machado awarded Nobel Peace Prize in absentia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is commenting on potential elections in Ukraine under certain conditions. Former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine John Herbst joins CBS News with more on the war against Russia.

Kyiv

Zelenskyy prepared to hold elections after Trump questions motive

A renewed outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has derailed a US-brokered peace agreement, with cross-border shelling and air raids forcing more than half a million civilians to flee their homes.

Bangkok

Border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia flares up again

U.S. immigration agents used pepper spray against protesters in Minneapolis on Tuesday as residents blocked the officers’ vehicles and forced them to leave the area.

Minneapolis

Minneapolis protests erupt over ICE operation targeting Somalis

In Australia, millions of kids' social media profiles are going dark, as the country's new social media ban takes effect for anyone under 16. Jo Ling Kent reports.

Canberra

Australia's social media ban takes effect for kids under 16

President Trump, in recent months, has dismissed concerns about affordability, but this evening, in the battleground state of Pennsylvania, he is focusing on the crisis and touting his administration's efforts to lower the cost of living. Nancy Cordes has more.

Pennsylvania

Trump tries to flip the script on affordability

Dozens of protesters blocked a highway near Tel Aviv to demonstrate against moves by the Israeli government to force some ultra-Orthodox Jews into mandatory military service, something they are currently exempt from so they can study the Torah full time.

Tel Aviv-Yafo

Bill over ultra-Orthodox military conscription sparks protests in Israel

President Trump has told Politico that Nicolas Maduro's "days are numbered" in Venezuela. Political strategists Kevin Sheridan and Hyma Moore join with analysis.

Trump says Maduro’s “days are numbered”

The FBI has released a new photo of former Olympian Ryan Wedding, whom the bureau’s director has described as a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar.” The ex-skier and snowboarder remains at large as agents continue their search.

FBI releases new photo of alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Pope Leo XIV and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni in Rome on Tuesday (December 9), meanwhile voicing his refusal to surrender territory to Moscow despite pressure from Washington for territorial concessions.

Rome

Zelenskyy seeks backing from Pope Leo XIV, Italian PM Meloni

A federal judge said Tuesday (December 9) that the Department of Justice can unseal the Ghislaine Maxwell sex trafficking case records. CBS News' Scott MacFarlane has more details.

Judge says DOJ can unseal Ghislaine Maxwell trafficking case records

Prosecutors on Monday (December 8) released new evidence seized from Luigi Mangione on the day of his arrest. He is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson a year ago and has pleaded not guilty.

Manhattan

New evidence introduced in Luigi Mangione case

The EU antitrust enforcer has opened an investigation into the U.S. tech giant over its use of online content to power its AI services, a move that threatens to ratchet up transatlantic relations.

Brussels

EU Commission opens probe into Google over AI

The U.S. government said the approval, which comes in exchange for a 25% surcharge, would also be available to other chipmakers like Intel and AMD.

Trump gives Nvidia green light to sell H200 chips to China

Ukraine is set to present a revised peace plan to the United States on Tuesday following President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s talks in London with the leaders of France, Germany, and Britain.

London

Ukraine to share revised peace plan with U.S., Zelenskiy says

The International Criminal Court Tuesday handed down a sentence of 20 years to a Sudanese militia leader for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the country's civil war two decades ago.

Breakdown