PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, February 3: The British and Norwegian papers examine the fallout from the latest release of the Epstein files, which are incriminating Labour peer Peter Mandelson and the crown princess of Norway. In Italy, anarchist protesters' clashes with police make front-page news. A new social media platform is raising eyebrows because it's for AI bots only. Finally, a 91-year-old British man wins a trampolining championship in Portsmouth!

Backlash continues over the Epstein files, which are continuing to engulf European nations, from palace to parliament. Lord Mandelson, a high-ranking Labour Party member, is splashed across the front pages. He was revealed to have passed on confidential information pertaining to a €500 billion bailout of the euro to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as a cabinet minister in 2009-10. The papers focus on British MPs seeking a police probe against him. The conservative tabloid Daily Mail calls him a "dark lord".

In the Norwegian press, meanwhile, there is a lot of focus on the crown princess's connections to Epstein. Mette-Marit was mentioned 1,000 times in the latest documents, which indicate the nature of their relationship. As the daily Dagbladet notes, the tone is "flirtatious and intimate". The exchanges were clearly written by someone who didn't believe that the correspondence would ever come to light. One exchange about infidelity is "fit to make someone blush." For this paper, the revelations are damning – not least of all because it counters the palace's previous statements that the princess had met Epstein just a few times in social settings.

Elsewhere, the Italian city of Turin has been the theatre of violent protests between anarchists and police. Il Manifesto reports that Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is fast-tracking a security decree in the wake of the weekend's violence. Over 100 officers were injured in the clashes and one policeman was beaten with a hammer. Protesters were opposing the eviction of a left-wing social centre. The paper slams Meloni's security measure, saying it will not impact security but will further restrict the right to dissent. On the other hand, a conservative Italian daily applauds the government's initiative. The editors say it should be implemented "as soon as possible." 

The New York Times focuses its attention on Moltbook, which is a social network... for AI bots. Moltbook was launched much in the same vein as Facebook or Reddit – it's a social media platform, but one in which humans are not allowed. This one is only open to Moltbots – an AI assistant very common in Silicon Valley. Since its release, more than 10,000 Moltbots have had automated chats with each other on the platform. Us humans can only watch on the sidelines in "awe and dread." In any case, the bots knew that humans were eavesdropping on their conversations – as demonstrated by a screenshot of one such conversation posted on X.

Finally, a great-grandfather has won gold in a British trampolining competition. As the Daily Mail reports, Peter Quinney is 91, a former champion gymnast and a Royal Air Force veteran. He won the British Men's Trampolining Championships in 1960. Forty years after his last competition, he entered the over-40s trampolining contest and won two gold medals in the team and individual categories. He wowed judges with a 360-degree spin and a seat drop. According to the Daily Mail, he says he'll ring in his centennial birthday with 100 backflips! 

You can catch our press review every morning on France 24 at 7:20am and 9:20am (Paris time), from Monday to Friday.