Norwegian ambassador resigns as she faces scrutiny over contacts with Epstein

OSLO, Norway (AP) — A Norwegian ambassador who was involved in Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts in the 1990s and most recently served in Jordan has resigned as she faces scrutiny over her contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, the country's Foreign Ministry said.

The ministry announced Mona Juul's resignation on Sunday evening, days after she was suspended as Norway's ambassador to Jordan. That followed reports that Epstein left the children of Juul and her husband, Terje Rød-Larsen, $10 million in a will drawn up shortly before his death by suicide in a New York prison in 2019.

Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Juul's decision was “correct and necessary.” Her contact with the convicted sex offender showed a “serious lapse in judgment,” he said, adding that “the case makes it difficult to restore the trust that the role requires.”

A ministry investigation into Juul's knowledge of and contact with Epstein will continue, and Juul will continue discussions with the ministry “so that the matter can be clarified,” Eide said.

The ministry said it also launched a review of its funding of and contact with the International Peace Institute, a New York-based think tank, during the period when it was headed by Rød-Larsen. Eide said Rød-Larsen also had shown poor judgment regarding Epstein.

Rød-Larsen and Juul were among those involved in facilitating the landmark Oslo Accords aimed at resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the 1990s.

Juul acknowledged in a statement to Norwegian news agency NTB last week that it had been “imprecise” to describe her contact with Epstein as minimal, but said that the contact originated in her husband's relationship with Epstein and she had no independent social or professional relationship with him.

She wrote that her contact with Epstein had been sporadic and private, not part of her official duties, but acknowledged that she should have been much more careful.

The latest batch of Epstein files has cast an unflattering spotlight on several prominent Norwegian figures. Crown Princess Mette-Marit on Friday issued an apology “to all of you whom I have disappointed" after documents offered more details of her relationship with Epstein.

The country’s economic crimes unit has opened a corruption investigation into former Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland — who also once headed the committee that hands out the Nobel Peace Prize — over his ties with Epstein. His lawyer said Jagland would cooperate.

FILE - Norway's Ambassador to the United Nations Mona Juul address a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Friday Feb. 25, 2022 at U.N. headquarters. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy (AP) — Jacquelyn Martin is an award-winning photojournalist with the AP, based in Washington since 2006. She covers politics at the White House and Congress and has circumnavigated the globe as a pool photographer. A skier since she was 3 years old, she is pleased to be covering Women’s Alpine at her first Winter Olympics.

Here’s what she had to say about this extraordinary photo.

U.S. skier Lindsey Vonn — who has arguably been the biggest story of the Winter Olympics — crashed during her fifth Olympic Games. It ended her Olympic dream after she competed on a rebuilt right knee and a badly injured left knee. The 41-year-old skier has become an icon of the sport, especially to women like me who are also in their 40s. It was shocking to witness this crash.

Our team had scouted this position as a good location for a scenic image showing the racers among the gorgeous Dolomites. It was mainly planned as a pretty image to add to the action images being taken by my colleagues downhill. My priority was to make a strong image of Vonn and use the mountains to give the viewer a sense of place. I took three chairlifts and skied into place, then walked around the area to try to find a clean and interesting backdrop. Using telephoto lenses from across a mountain covered in waist deep snow, I used an extremely high shutter speed and put the camera on a high frame rate as I would only get a split second to capture images of her and the other athletes as they whizzed by. I was set up to capture peak action, and I was especially keen to capture a strong image of Vonn competing.

The image shows the split second in which Vonn spun irrevocably out of control. Her body language shows the viewer that something is wrong, while the beauty of the natural surroundings contrasts with the gravity of the moment. She’s surrounded by the white clouds above and snow below, spending a split second in the air before crashing to the ground.

AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics

United States' Lindsey Vonn crashes during an alpine ski women's downhill race, at the 2026 Winter Olympics, in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)