Category: World

Martin Short’s daughter, Katherine, died on Monday by an apparent suicide. She was 42.

“It is with profound grief that we confirm the passing of Katherine Hartley Short,” a rep for the “Only Murders in the Building” star confirmed to Page Six Tuesday.

“The Short family is devastated by this loss, and asks for privacy at this time. Katherine was beloved by all and will be remembered for the light and joy she brought into the world.”

The social worker was reportedly found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound at her Hollywood Hills, Calif., home on Monday around 6 p.m. local time, per TMZ.

“At 6:41 p.m., we responded to a reported shooting at that address,” the Los Angeles Fire Department told Page Six, confirming they received a call to 911.

“Death was reported of a female.”

Katherine was the adopted daughter of the actor, 75, and his late wife, Nancy Dolman, who died from cancer in 2010.

Short and Dolman, who were wed for 30 years, also adopted sons Oliver Patrick, 39, and Henry Hayter, 36, together.

Katherine, meanwhile, graduated with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and gender sexuality studies from New York University in 2006, per People.

Then, in 2010, she earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California.

The businesswoman worked as a social worker for a private practice and part-time at the Amae Health clinic, an outreach group that provides psychotherapy, leading up to her death.

Additionally, Katherine was involved with Bring Change 2 Mind, a charity that strives to reduce the stigma surrounding mental health.

For the most part, Katherine has remained out of the spotlight, but has attended a few events with her famous father over the years.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/24/celebrity-news/martin-shorts-daughter-katherine-dead-by-apparent-suicide-at-42/

Federal workplace safety regulators penalized three businesses Tuesday over their failure to protect six Colorado dairy workers who were killed by exposure to highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas after a manure pipe disconnected in an enclosed space.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced proposed fines totaling $246,609 against the dairy owner and two contractors working on a manure management system. The deaths of five men and a teenager on Aug. 20, 2025, shocked the rural communities in and around Keenesburg, 35 miles (55 kilometers) northeast of Denver.

Dairy owner Prospect Ranch LLC, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment, faces the largest fine at $132,406 for serious violations, including failures in training, planning and protecting workers from “atmospheric hazards.”

The proposed fines are large by OSHA standards in agriculture but not unprecedented, said William Field, a professor at Purdue University who compiles annual reports on deaths in confined spaces at farms. He said occupational safety fines often are reduced upon appeal, or partially waived in exchange for investments in safety improvements.

“That part of it quite frankly is peanuts compared to the civil liability” potential in situations where private lawsuits are allowed, he said.

Regulators also announced proposed fines against Colorado-based Fiske Inc. and another contractor hired to work on the system that released manure water and the hydrogen sulfide gas that led to the deaths, the government said Tuesday in a news release.

Fiske Inc.’s business High Plains Robotics services dairy equipment and employed four of those who died. Fiske faces $99,306 in penalties for failing to protect employees and provide hydrogen sulfide detection training.

“A Fiske employee and a Prospect Ranch employee attempted to stop the flow but were overcome by the gas,” OSHA said in the statement. “Subsequently, three more Fiske employees and one Prospect Ranch employee entered the pump room, which led to the loss of a total of six workers.”

The Weld County coroner’s office determined from autopsies and toxicology tests that the people who died were exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas, but provided little indication of the circumstances of the deaths, describing only an industrial accident in a confined space at a dairy farm.

Contractor HD Builders was cited for failing to have a written hazard communication program and provide training on detecting hydrogen sulfide, with a proposed $14,897 penalty. Company employees were present but unharmed after the pipe disconnected.

The companies have 15 days to comply with proposed penalties, request an informal conference with safety regulators or challenge the findings before an occupation safety review commission.

Fiske Inc. and company owner Kevin Fiske said in a statement Tuesday that “our hearts are heavy as we review OSHA’s citations.”

“We have cooperated with the investigation proceedings to date,” Fiske said. “While we disagree with the findings and are reviewing our options to determine next steps, we are focused on doing what is in our power to ensure that a tragedy like this never happens again.”

A representative for HD Builders said Tuesday that the company had no comment.

The hazards of confined spaces on farms and dairies are a well-known and persistent cause of death in agriculture across the U.S. — often from exposure to odorless and colorless noxious gases, or due to asphyxiation in closed spaces where oxygen has been depleted.

First responders from a rural fire district in Weld County were dispatched around 6 p.m. on Aug. 20 to Prospect Ranch and took their own safety precautions as they entered a confined space.

All those who died in Colorado were Latino, ranging in age from 17 to 50. Four of them, including the teenage high school student, were from the same extended family and worked for Fiske Inc.’s High Plains Robotics.

Alejandro Espinoza Cruz, of Nunn, was found dead along with his 17-year-old son Oscar Espinoza Leos and a second son, 29-year-old Carlos Espinoza Prado.

Source : https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/government-penalizes-businesses-over-6-deaths-at-colorado-dairy/articleshow/128763392.cms

New development in Nancy Guthrie’s abduction case suggests that the masked man might have visited her front door earlier than the night it is believed that she was kidnapped. Sources familiar with the probe informed ABC News that the suspect might have been surveilling the surrounding area before the suspected abduction on February 1.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released images of the suspect seen at Nancy Guthrie’s door prior to her disappearance. The investigating agency asked neighbours to review their security footage from January 1 onward as they work to identify the suspect of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother’s disappearance.

Residents were asked to identify suspicious people and vehicles on their home security systems from the date a month before the abduction for more clues and leads into the investigation.

The most recent image of the suspect released by the FBI shows the accused without a backpack at the front door of 84-year-old’s house. This image was captured by the Nest doorbell camera on a day before the suspected abduction, ABC News reported.

According to FBI officials, the images of the suspect wearing a backpack are from “the morning of her disappearance,” February 1. On Sunday morning, Guthrie failed to show up to watch a virtual church service following which her disappearance was reported.

If it is the same person, “it could indicate that the person was there surveilling the place before the abduction happened,” ABC News quoted Former FBI agent Jason Pack as saying.

He added, “The fact that there was preparation and planning, which makes it more of a sophisticated type of criminal activity than someone just showing up.”

The release of recent images contributed to the development of several theories, one of which suggests that the suspect noticed the camera when he approached the door the first time. Intimidated by the surveillance camera, he decided to return only come back later when he was seen tampering with the device and placing branches in front of the lens to obstruct view.

Source : https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-state-of-the-union-speech-in-numbers-jobs-immigration-core-inflation-food-stamps-natural-gas-venezuelan-oil-11771989118284.html

Pakistani air raids break fragile ceasefire as Islamabad faces pressure on both borders.

On February 6, a suicide bomber detonated explosives during Friday prayers at a Shia mosque in the capital, Islamabad, killing at least 36 worshippers and wounding 170 others.

Days later, an explosives-laden vehicle rammed a security post in Bajaur in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing 11 soldiers and a child. The attacker, according to Pakistani authorities, was later identified as an Afghan national.

After the Bajaur attack, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a demarche to the Taliban authorities on February 19, summoning the Afghan deputy head of mission in Islamabad.

But two days later, in the early hours of Saturday, another suicide bomber struck a security convoy in Bannu, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, killing two soldiers, including a lieutenant colonel.

Pakistan’s patience appeared to have run out, and early on Sunday, the military struck back, targeting what it described as “camps and hideouts” in Afghan border areas.

According to Pakistani authorities, air raids in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar and Paktika provinces targeted sanctuaries of Pakistan Taliban, or TTP, and its affiliates, killing at least “80 militants in intelligence-based air strikes along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border targeting seven camps”.

Kabul has rejected those claims. The Afghan Ministry of Defence said the strikes hit a religious school and residential homes, killing and wounding dozens, including women and children. Afghan sources told Al Jazeera that at least 17 people were killed in Nangarhar alone. Kabul pledged a “measured and appropriate response”.

Later on Sunday, India entered the picture, condemning the Pakistani military action and throwing in its support for Afghanistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“India strongly condemns Pakistan’s airstrikes on Afghan territory that have resulted in civilian casualties, including women and children, during the holy month of Ramadan,” Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

“It is another attempt by Pakistan to externalise its internal failures,” he said.

In many ways, the statement from New Delhi underscored the unease in Islamabad over India’s growing engagement with Taliban-ruled Afghanistan — an emerging partnership between two countries that Pakistan has repeatedly blamed in recent months for its domestic security turmoil.

Breaking point

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, in a statement issued on Sunday, said it had “conclusive evidence” that the recent attacks on its soil were carried out by fighters and suicide bombers acting on the “behest of their Afghanistan-based leadership and handlers.”

It said Islamabad had repeatedly urged Kabul to take verifiable steps to prevent armed groups from using Afghan soil, but that no substantive action had followed.

“Pakistan has always strived to maintain peace and stability in the region,” the statement read, “but the safety and security of Pakistani citizens remain its top priority.”

Pakistan’s attack shattered a fragile ceasefire brokered by Qatar and Turkiye after talks in October and November, following earlier rounds of deadly border clashes. The discussions last year had failed to produce a formal peace agreement, and calm along the frontier remained tenuous.

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has repeatedly rejected allegations that it is supporting armed groups that attack Pakistan.

But as far back as October last year, the Pakistan military’s spokesperson, Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, had warned that Islamabad’s patience was wearing thin.

“Afghanistan is being used as a base of operations against Pakistan, and there is proof and evidence of that. The necessary measures that should be taken to protect the lives and property of the people of Pakistan will be taken and will continue to be taken,” he said during a press briefing, without presenting evidence publicly.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, after a suicide bombing outside a district court in Islamabad in November, had also stressed the need for cooperation from Kabul.

“Afghanistan must understand that lasting peace can only be realised by reining in TTP and other terrorist groups operating from Afghan territory,” he said.

‘Left between bad and worse options’

The TTP, which emerged in 2007, is distinct from the Taliban in Afghanistan but shares deep ideological, social and linguistic ties with the group. Pakistan accuses the Taliban of providing sanctuary to the TTP on Afghan soil, a charge Kabul denies.

Abdul Basit, a scholar at the International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research at Singapore’s S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, said Pakistan’s attack confirms the collapse of the temporary ceasefire that followed the talks late last year.

Basit questioned the logic behind Pakistan’s bombings.

“The more Pakistan will strike in Afghanistan, the more Kabul and TTP will come closer,” he told Al Jazeera.

At the same time, Basit said, he understood Pakistan’s dilemma. “They have to retaliate after losing so many security personnel,” he said, describing Pakistan as being “left between bad and worse options”.

The losses for Pakistan in recent months have been steep. Last year was among the deadliest in nearly a decade, with 699 attacks recorded nationwide, a 34 percent increase from the previous year, according to the Pak Institute for Peace Studies.

Its 2025 security report said at least 1,034 people were killed in the renewed wave of violence, marking a 21 percent rise in “terrorism-related fatalities”. “In addition, 1,366 people were injured over the course of the year, underscoring the growing human cost of terrorism,” the report said.

Cross-border air raids are not new. A similar operation in December 2024 killed at least 46 people, most of them civilians. That episode prompted sharp warnings from Kabul, but attacks on Pakistani soil — blamed by Islamabad on the TTP — continued.

Some experts said Pakistan’s strategy needed to involve more than military pressure on the Taliban.

Fahad Nabeel, who heads the Islamabad-based research consultancy Geopolitical Insights, said Pakistan must also work to build goodwill among Afghans.

“Reopening the border and resuming bilateral trade are two possible measures that Pakistan can adopt. Pakistan also needs to share actionable intelligence with allied countries like China, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye to increase pressure on the Afghan Taliban to act against anti-Pakistan militant groups,” he told Al Jazeera.

The India question

An intriguing dimension of the crisis has been not only who Pakistan targeted, but who responded.

India, Pakistan’s nuclear-armed rival, condemned the air raids and highlighted civilian casualties in Afghanistan, while remaining silent on the attacks inside Pakistan that preceded them.

For officials in Islamabad, New Delhi’s statement reinforced a perception that India and the Taliban authorities are edging closer in ways that complicate Pakistan’s security calculus.

That shift has gathered pace over the past year. Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s six-day visit to India last October marked the first trip by a senior Taliban official since the group returned to power in 2021. India reopened its embassy in Kabul during the same period.

When a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck northern Afghanistan weeks later, India was among the first to send aid and later gifted ambulances to Kabul, gestures closely watched in Islamabad.

Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif claimed in October that India had “penetrated” the Taliban leadership and suggested that Kabul’s growing ties with New Delhi made it less willing to cut ties with the TTP. He offered no public evidence to back his claims.

Basit said while Pakistan’s attacks on Afghanistan would amount to “India’s gain” — drawing the Taliban and New Delhi closer, with a shared enemy in Islamabad — India faced limitations imposed by geography. “It can provide humanitarian support to Afghanistan, but nothing more than that,” he said.

Still, Nabeel argued, Pakistani policymakers need clarity on how to address armed groups operating from Afghan soil.

“Pakistan cannot afford to keep both borders [with Afghanistan and India] engaged at a time when the prospects of military confrontation between the US and Iran are growing with each passing day,” he said, referring to rising tensions in the Middle East.

Narrowing options

Pakistan’s eastern border with India has remained tense since the two countries had a four-day military confrontation in May last year after an attack on tourists in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, in which 26 people were killed. India blamed Pakistan, which denied any role.

To the west, the Taliban government shows little sign of acting decisively against the TTP, say Pakistani officials. At home, a surge in attacks, including in big cities, has intensified public pressure on the military to respond forcefully.

Sunday’s air raids were intended to project strength to Kabul, say experts. Whether they amount to a coherent long-term strategy is less clear, especially as the Taliban has pledged retaliation.

Source : https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/24/afghanistan-bombing-whats-pakistans-strategy-as-india-taliban-ties-grow

The U.S. will provide on-site passport services this week in a settlement in the West Bank, marking the first time American consular officials have offered such services to settlers in the occupied territory, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Most of the world considers Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel disputes that the settlements are illegal, and many on the Israeli right advocate annexing the West Bank.

Palestinians have long sought the West Bank for a future independent state, alongside Gaza and East Jerusalem.
This month, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing cabinet approved measures making it easier for settlers to seize Palestinian land.

TENS OF THOUSANDS OF AMERICAN-ISRAELIS IN WEST BANK

U.S. President Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has said he opposes Israeli annexation of the West Bank. But his administration has not taken any measures to halt settlement activity, which rights groups say has risen since he took office last year.
In a post on X, the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem said that as part of efforts to reach all Americans abroad, “consular officers will be providing routine passport services in Efrat on Friday, February 27,” referring to a settlement south of the Palestinian city of Bethlehem.

The Embassy said it would plan similar on-site services in the Palestinian West Bank city of Ramallah, in the settlement of Beitar Illit near Bethlehem, and in cities within Israel such as Haifa.
The U.S. offers passport and consular services at its Embassy in Jerusalem as well as at a Tel Aviv branch office. The number of dual American-Israeli nationals living in the West Bank is estimated to be in the tens of thousands.
Asked for comment, an embassy spokesperson said: “This is the first time we have provided consular services to a settlement in the West Bank.” The spokesperson said similar services were being offered to American-Palestinian dual nationals in the West Bank.

‘DE FACTO ANNEXATION’

Last week, Israel’s cabinet approved measures to tighten the country’s control over the West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, a move Palestinians called a “de facto annexation”.

Much of the West Bank is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority.
Netanyahu’s ruling coalition, which has a large voter base in the settlements, includes many members who want Israel to annex the West Bank, land captured in the 1967 Middle East war to which Israel cites biblical and historical ties.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-offer-passport-services-west-bank-settlement-first-time-2026-02-24/

Iran is close to a deal with China to purchase anti‑ship cruise missiles, according to six people with knowledge of the negotiations, just as the United States deploys a vast naval force near the Iranian coast ahead of possible strikes on the Islamic Republic.
The deal for the Chinese‑made CM‑302 missiles is near completion, though no delivery date has been agreed, the people said. The supersonic missiles have a range of about 290 kilometres and are designed to evade shipborne defences by flying low and fast. Their deployment would significantly enhance Iran’s strike capabilities and pose a threat to U.S. naval forces in the region, two weapons experts said.

Negotiations with China to buy the missile weapons systems, which began at least two years ago, accelerated sharply after the 12‑day war between Israel and Iran in June, according to the six people with knowledge of the talks, including three officials who were briefed by the Iranian government as well as three security officials. As talks entered their final stages last summer, senior Iranian military and government officials travelled to China, including Massoud Oraei, Iran’s deputy defence minister, according to two of the security officials. Oraei’s visit has not been previously reported.
“It’s a complete gamechanger if Iran has supersonic capability to attack ships in the area,” said Danny Citrinowicz, a former Israeli intelligence officer and now senior Iran researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies think tank. “These missiles are very difficult to intercept.”

Reuters could not determine how many missiles were involved in the potential deal, how much Iran had agreed to pay, or whether China would go through with the agreement now given heightened tensions in the region.
“Iran has military and security agreements with its allies, and now is an appropriate time to make use of these agreements,” an Iranian foreign ministry official told Reuters.
In a comment sent after publication, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it was not aware of the talks about a potential missile sale that Reuters had reported. China’s defence ministry did not respond to a request for comment.
The White House did not directly address the negotiations between Iran and China over the missile system when asked by Reuters. U.S. President Donald Trump has been clear that “either we will make a deal or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” a White House official said, referring to the current standoff with Iran.

The missiles would be among the most advanced military hardware to be transferred to Iran by China and defy a United Nations weapons embargo that was first imposed in 2006. The sanctions were suspended in 2015 as part of a nuclear deal with the U.S. and allies, and then reimposed last September.

US FORCES GATHERING NEAR IRAN

The potential sale would underscore deepening military ties between China and Iran at a moment of heightened regional tension, complicating U.S. efforts to contain Iran’s missile programme and curb its nuclear activities. It would also signal China’s growing willingness to assert itself in a region long dominated by U.S. military might.
China, Iran and Russia hold annual joint naval exercises, and last year the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned several Chinese entities for supplying chemical precursors to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for use in its ballistic missile program. China rejected those allegations, saying it was unaware of the cases cited in the sanctions and that it strictly enforces export controls on dual-use products.

While hosting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for a military parade in Beijing in September, Chinese President Xi Jinping told the Iranian leader that “China supports Iran in safeguarding sovereignty, territorial integrity and national dignity.”
China joined Russia and Iran in a joint letter on October 18 to say they believed the decision to reimpose sanctions was flawed.
“Iran has become a battlefield between the U.S.” on one side and Russia and China on the other, said one of the officials who was briefed by Iran’s government on the missile negotiations.
The deal comes as the U.S. assembles an armada within striking distance of Iran, including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group. The USS Gerald R. Ford and its escorts are also heading to the region. The two ships together can carry more than 5,000 personnel and 150 aircraft.
“China does not want to see a pro-Western regime in Iran,” said Citrinowicz, the Israeli specialist on Iran. “That would be a threat to their interests. They are hoping that this regime will stay.”
Trump said on February 19 he was giving Iran 10 days to reach an agreement over its nuclear programme or face military action. The U.S. is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if Trump orders an attack, Reuters reported on February 13.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/iran-nears-deal-buy-supersonic-anti-ship-missiles-china-2026-02-24/

Artificial intelligence lab Anthropic has no intention of easing its usage restrictions for military purposes, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday, adding talks continue after a meeting to discuss its future with the Pentagon.
The meeting between Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was scheduled to hash out a months-long dispute. The AI startup has refused to remove safeguards that would prevent its technology from being used to target weapons autonomously and conduct U.S. domestic surveillance.

Pentagon officials have argued the government should only be required to comply with U.S. law.
During the meeting, Hegseth delivered an ultimatum to Anthropic: get on board or the government would take drastic action, people familiar with the matter said. The options included labeling Anthropic as a supply-chain risk or have the Pentagon invoke a law, the Defense Production Act, that would force Anthropic to change its rules, the people said.
The government gave Anthropic until Friday at 5 p.m. to respond, according to a senior Pentagon official with knowledge of the matter.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a comment request. An Anthropic spokesperson said Tuesday’s meeting “continued good-faith conversations about our usage policy to ensure Anthropic can continue to support the government’s national security mission in line with what our models can reliably and responsibly do.”

The Pentagon has been negotiating AI contracts with multiple large language model, or LLM, providers, including Alphabet’s Google (GOOGL.O), xAI and OpenAI, that are set to shape the future of military use of artificial intelligence for battlefield applications, spanning autonomous drone swarms, robots and cyber attacks.
Until recently, Anthropic was the only LLM provider on classified networks. This week, the Pentagon announced it had reached an agreement with xAI to deploy it across classified networks. Reuters has previously reported that it plans to move all AI companies to classified networks.
The Pentagon’s fight with Anthropic reached a fever pitch earlier this month when it grew concerned that the company had asked questions about how its AI products were used during the Venezuela military raid that captured President Nicolas Maduro.

During the meeting with Hegseth, Amodei said Anthropic did not raise concerns to Palantir or the Pentagon about whether the company’s AI products were used during the Venezuela raid, the source said. Amodei also said the safeguards currently in place would not pose a problem to the Defense Department’s current operations.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/anthropic-digs-heels-dispute-with-pentagon-source-says-2026-02-24/

Ukrainian tank platoon commander Valentyn Bohdanov remembers a time earlier in Russia’s war when heavy armour fought pitched battles like boxers trading punches in the ring. Four years into the conflict, he says such showdowns are all but impossible.
Small but deadly “first-person-view” drones now dominate the skies above Ukraine’s battlefields, making it extremely risky for armoured vehicles to move, said Bohdanov, a senior sergeant in Ukraine’s 127th Separate Heavy Mechanised Kharkiv Brigade.

“They won’t enter an open field: they’ll be peppered by FPV drones and stronger ones,” said the 36-year-old, who goes by the military call sign “Bodia”.
These days, his T-72 tank, which was captured from the Russians, remains hidden beneath webbing near the snowy frontline in the northeast region of Kharkiv – reduced, effectively, to a static piece of artillery.
Bohdanov, who has served since early in Moscow’s February 2022 invasion, has seen traditional military tactics upended as technology has forced both sides to make new battlefield calculations.
Thousands of precision drones, often costing only several hundred dollars apiece, roam the skies daily across an expanding “kill zone” along the 1,200-km front. They are joined by a growing range of more powerful drones capable of flying farther and carrying heavier payloads.

The ever-present threat from the sky makes virtually any movement – from troop rotations and evacuations to tank assaults – increasingly deadly.
Drone-inflicted casualties have jumped from less than 10% of the total in 2022 to up to 80% last year, as much of the war has morphed into an “air battle of mutual denial”, according to a report by the French Institute of International Relations published this month.
It described the shift as part of “a new logic of warfare defined by speed of innovation, rapid adaptation, and seamless technological integration” that would include other technologies including artificial intelligence.

‘IN THE AIR ALL THE TIME’

Mobile drone-hunting teams, like the one Reuters recently visited near the besieged eastern city of Kostiantynivka, are now commonplace.
Patrolling roads shrouded in anti-drone netting and littered with the charred remains of vehicles, members are on constant alert for drones ranging from FPVs to larger, long-range Shaheds. They are tasked with defending supply routes critical for troops in a section of the front line where Russia is advancing.

Drone-hunter “Marine” of the 93rd Mechanised Brigade, who introduced himself by his call sign, recalled once seeing 54 drones attack a single target within one hour.
“Three would circle, another would attack while the others join,” he said. “They’re in the air like that all the time, not letting anyone get away.”
Many soldiers who have been directly under fire describe being overwhelmed by the speed and agility of FPVs. Footage of their strikes now saturate social media on both sides.
Speaking in a military hospital in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Andriy Meskov said he had been returning from an assignment when he and two comrades were attacked by drones that whizzed after them as they sought cover.
“We ran into a building, not really expecting that it would follow us,” said Meskov, 42, himself a drone pilot in the 151st Separate Reconnaissance-Strike Battalion.

“The speed of a human being doesn’t compare to the speed of an FPV drone, so I didn’t even have time to pick up my rifle to shoot at it.”

NEW BATTLEFIELD LESSONS

Meskov’s knee was shattered when a drone ricocheted off his helmet and exploded near his leg.
He was eventually evacuated for medical treatment on an unmanned ground vehicle. Such ground drones are increasingly employed for tasks ranging from logistics to evacuations, to minimise casualties.
They carried out more than 7,000 missions in January, Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said last week. Ukraine plans to boost their production and procurement this year, he said.
Longer evacuation times are another potentially fatal consequence of the expanding “kill zone”. Col. Viacheslav Kurinnyi, 45, chief doctor at the Kharkiv hospital where Meskov was being treated, said the drone threat to vehicles had pushed the average time for medical evacuation beyond three days.
That flies in the face of the so-called “golden hour” of battlefield medicine, he added, referring to the 60-minute window when intervention is critical to saving a fighter’s life.
Ukraine’s Western allies needed to learn the lessons: “Any countries that are preparing for war at home need to realise that there will be no ‘golden hour,'” Kurinnyi said. “Maybe a ‘golden day’ if they’re lucky.”
Once his hospital received a wounded soldier who had been wearing a tourniquet for more than two months.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/drones-dominate-ukraine-battlefield-four-years-into-fighting-2026-02-24/

Washington on Monday (Feb 23) accused China of dramatically swelling its nuclear arsenal, and doubled down on claims that Beijing has conducting secret nuclear tests, demanding again it be part of any future arms control treaty.

Washington said the lapsing earlier this month of New START – the last treaty between top nuclear powers, the United States and Russia – presented the possibility to achieve a “better agreement”, including Beijing.

China has publicly rejected calls to enter negotiations on a new three-way treaty.

Christopher Yeaw, the US assistant secretary of state for arms control and nonproliferation, told the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva that the New START treaty had been seriously flawed.

“Perhaps its greatest flaw was that New Start did not account for the unprecedented, deliberate, rapid and opaque nuclear weapons build-up by China,” he said.

“Despite its claims to the contrary, China has deliberately and without constraint, massively expanded its nuclear arsenal without transparency or any indication of China’s intent or end point,” he charged.

“We believe China may achieve parity within the next four or five years,” he said, without elaborating what he meant by parity.

Both Russia and the United States have more than 5,000 nuclear weapons, according to the Nobel Peace Prize-winning campaign group ICAN.

But New START, which expired on Feb 5, restricted the United States and Russia to 1,550 deployed nuclear warheads each – a number Washington says China is fast approaching.

“Beijing is on track to have the fissile material necessary for more than 1,000 nuclear warheads by 2030,” Yeaw said.

The expiration of New START marks the first time in decades that there is no treaty to curtail the positioning of the planet’s most destructive weapons, sparking fears of a fresh arms race.

Yeaw welcomed the lapsing of the treaty, insisting its numerical limits on warheads and launchers were “no longer relevant”, given Russia’s alleged violation of the treaty.

He also accused Moscow of helping “boost Beijing’s capacity to increase its arsenal size”.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/us-says-china-massively-expanded-nuclear-arsenal-5947311

Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam also emphasised the importance of racial and religious harmony in maintaining peace in Singapore.

Action will be taken against any Singaporean who fights overseas in foreign causes, Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam said on Monday (Feb 23), emphasising the importance of racial and religious harmony in maintaining peace in Singapore.

He also noted the critical role of religious and community leaders who help set the tone for harmony in Singapore.

Mr Shanmugam, who is also Minister for Home Affairs, was speaking at a fast-breaking session co-organised by Khadijah Mosque and the Religious Rehabilitation Group on Monday (Feb 23).

“We meet at a time of great stress around the world, and parts of this region. Both political stress as well as economic stress. And that is causing tremendous tensions in many societies, violence in many places, wars between countries.

“In the middle of all of this, we remain a small oasis of peace,” he said, attributing this to Singapore’s focus on a number of fundamentals, including racial and religious harmony.

“It is not the only thing that maintains the peace, but it is a key aspect of maintaining the peace. Because we get that wrong, a lot of things can go wrong. So whatever happens externally, in the world, we try not to bring those problems in here.”

Mr Shanmugam said that Singapore extends humanitarian help abroad where possible and appropriate. At the same time, the country’s laws do not allow its citizens to become involved in violence overseas.

“They are not allowed to go and fight overseas, in foreign causes, whether for countries or for organisations like ISIS, whether they fight in Ukraine or Russia or Gaza, for any side. That will be contrary to our laws and action will be taken.

“I say that because every now and then there are some, you know, suggestions of a Singaporean fighting in this cause or that cause. You know, with fake news, you never know what is true and what is not true. But when it is a Singaporean and identified, and we know, action will be taken. If they are in Singapore, ISD will detain them, and we have done so before,” he said.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Feb 19 it was aware of a foreign news report stating that two Singaporeans were among those who fought for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) during the conflict in Gaza.

“MHA does not have any substantiated information at this point that any Singaporean is/was fighting as part of the IDF,” it said.

RELIGIOUS, COMMUNITY LEADERS

In his speech, Mr Shanmugam underscored the important role of religious and community leaders.

“People listen when you as leaders reach out across faiths, you speak up for unity and compassion, and you serve those in need, regardless of their background, or race or religion,” he said.

He added that such leadership was particularly valuable in the current digital age, with many young people searching for identity, community and belonging.

Mr Shanmugam cited the recent case of a 14-year-old boy who was self-radicalised online.

The Secondary 3 student had aspired to travel overseas to fight for ISIS and die as a martyr. He is the third 14-year-old to be dealt with under the Internal Security Act for terrorism-related activities over the past two years.

“Cases such as these, involving young people, are especially troubling. They are vulnerable and they need trusted adults and mentors to guide them.

“That is what, in the large context, our religious and community leaders have done successfully, which is why Singapore is very different from many other places,” he said.

SOCIAL HARMONY

Mr Shanmugam also highlighted the important role played by the Religious Rehabilitation Group in maintaining social harmony.

“The messages of interfaith harmony and mutual respect are at the core of our efforts to rehabilitate individuals who have been radicalised by extremist ideologies.

“The RRG’s long-standing approach of ‘winning hearts and minds’ has been extremely important in rehabilitation, and in addressing the underlying conditions that make individuals vulnerable to extremist thinking in the first place,” he said.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/singaporeans-fight-overseas-foreign-causes-take-action-shanmugam-5947201

PRODUCERS of Dancing With the Stars and The Traitors will be ‘battling it out’ to snatch up this year’s biggest fan-favorite Olympians for their next TV seasons, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.

The athletes have barely stepped off the podium but Hollywood is already circling to snag the biggest names that just finished competing at the 2026 Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Italy.

Two of TV’s buzziest competition franchises, Dancing With the Stars and The Traitors, are in a full-blown casting war over five of Team USA’s biggest breakout stars from the 2026 Winter Olympics, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.

“Traitors and DWTS casting departments will both be battling it out to get their hands on the most coveted stars from the Olympic games.

“The shows don’t overlap with their filming schedules so that isn’t the problem. The problem is more so that these athletes can’t afford to step away from their training for both shows.

“Especially DWTS, that films for a big chunk of the year,” the insider explained of Traitors, which typically films for a couple of weeks at the end of Spring and DWTS, which tapes for months from Summer until late Fall.

The coveted names on producers’ list? Figure skating phenom Ilia Malinin, comeback queen Alysa Liu, fan-favorite Amber Glenn, alpine ace Breezy Johnson, and NHL hero Jack Hughes.

And while fans might dream of seeing multiple Olympians double-dip in both shows, the reality is far more complicated.

“For Jack, there’s no way he can do DWTS. It overlaps too much with his NHL schedule,” the insider said of the New Jersey Devils hockey player – whose season runs from October to April.

With the NHL season stretching deep into the spring, a grueling DWTS rehearsal and live show schedule simply isn’t realistic and a shorter, more contained shoot like The Traitors, however, is far more doable.

“He can squeeze in Traitors though, Peacock would love to get him for this next season.”

The Quad God Factor

For DWTS, the battle is especially intense among the skaters, who are all also real-life friends.

“On the upcoming DWTS season, all of the top skaters have expressed interest in joining the show.

“They all want to – but the show will only take two Olympians max for one season,” the source said. “So it’s a battle to figure out which two that will be.”

Heading into the Olympics, Ilia, 21, and Amber, 26, were seen internally as the top two contenders.

“But sadly, Alysa has bumped Amber for that top contender spot,” the source spilled.

“The show is more interested in getting Alysa on there. And Ilia. To get Ilia on their cast is the main goal. But it will be up to him to see what he more wants to do.”

Ilia, nicknamed “Quad God” for his historic technical arsenal, is viewed as DWTS’ ultimate get following the superstar amount of attention he received during the Olympic Games.

“[The producers] desperately want Quad God, he’s their number one.

“Schedule wise he can film both as the shows don’t overlap. But he can’t take that much time off of both from skating so will have to choose one.”

Meanwhile, gold medalist Alysa, 20, has a logistical edge.

“Alysa already is in LA going to school at UCLA so logistically it’s easy for her to do DWTS.

“The same way Jordan did DWTS while also going to school and competing,” they said of U.S. Olympic gymnast sensation Jordan Chiles, who was also a UCLA bruin while competing at the collegiate level and filming DWTS all at the same time.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/tv/15988979/dwts-traitors-winter-olympics-ilia-alysa-amber-jack-cast/

The masked figure suspected of kidnapping Nancy Guthrie may have been at her front door earlier than Feb. 1 — the night she is believed to have been abducted — according to breaking details from a new report.

As first reported by ABC News, a source told the outlet that one of the images released by the FBI showing the suspect at Nancy’s door may have been captured by her Nest doorbell camera on a day that fell before the suspected abduction.

The image showed the suspect not wearing a backpack, whereas other images showed him with the backpack.

According to the FBI, the images showed the suspect wearing a backpack were from Feb. 1, the day that Nancy, the 84-year-old mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie, was reported missing after failing to show up to watch a virtual church service.

Former FBI agent Jason Pack said to ABC News that if the images are of the same person, “it could indicate that the person was there surveilling the place before the abduction happened.”

“The fact that there was preparation and planning, which makes it more of a sophisticated type of criminal activity than someone just showing up,” he told the outlet.

As of now, officials haven’t identified a suspect linked to Guthrie’s disappearance. Per a statement from the Pima County Sheriff’s Department obtained by Page Six: “We are aware that doorbell images released earlier in the investigation depict a suspect in different stages of attire, including with and without a backpack. There is no date or time stamp associated with these images. Therefore, any suggestion that the photographs were taken on different days is purely speculative.”

“This remains an active and ongoing criminal investigation,” the statement continued. “As with any investigation, conclusions will be guided by verifiable evidence and established facts. Speculation, without factual support, does not advance the investigative process.”

Theories are also circulating that the suspect caught on camera may not have been working alone and another person may be part of the abduction.

While Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said earlier in the month that he believed the man in the video is the “primary suspect” and “likely perpetrator” in the kidnapping, federal authorities have kept open the possibility that more than one person was involved.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/23/celebrity-news/nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-suspect-caught-on-doorbell-camera-before-her-abduction-report/

US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose higher tariffs on countries that “play games” with recent trade deals, after the Supreme Court blocked many of the sweeping global levies.

His warning came as countries around the world said they were evaluating what tariffs and trade deals would stand following last week’s decision, which struck down the bulk of tariffs Trump imposed last year.

The European Union said on Monday that it would suspend its ratification of a deal struck over the summer.

India also said it would defer previously scheduled talks to finalise a recent agreement.

Trump warned countries against using the ruling to back away from trade commitments made in response to last year’s tariffs.

“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” he wrote on Truth Social. “Buyer beware.”

The back-and-forth is an indication of the chaos kicked off after the US Supreme Court on Friday struck down tariffs unveiled by Trump last spring under the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA).

The court said that law did not authorise the president to impose the tariffs, which are a tax on imports paid by businesses bringing goods into the country.

Trump responded by announcing a new 10% global tariff using a different law, which he quickly raised to 15%. That measure, from which some products are exempt, came into force on Tuesday.

But many countries said they remained uncertain of the status of deals negotiated in the wake of Trump’s initial tariff measures, when many countries sought lower levies on their goods in exchange for promises of investments or other concessions meant to make it easier for US firms to do business abroad.

The UK said on Monday that it was pressing US officials for answers about whether its deal – which had set tariffs at 10%, below the 15% rate Trump announced on Saturday – would hold.

“I recognise the uncertainty the latest announcement from the US has created,” UK Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle said in a statement, adding that “all options” were on the table as the UK seeks to protect businesses and the public.

Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, said the committee had suspended its approval of the deal the US and EU and approved in July while it sought clarity.

“The situation is now more uncertain than ever,” he said.

The White House has insisted that its approach to trade will not change as a result of the ruling, as it turns to other laws to impose the duties.

Trump deployed Section 122, a never-used law that allows the president to impose tariffs for 150 days without congressional approval, on Friday.

He also ordered officials to start investigations under Section 301, a separate trade law that allows the president to impose tariffs in response to specific “unfair” trade practices.

The new tariffs are expected to stand alongside separate, previously announced tariffs Trump has imposed on specific items, such as steel, aluminium and cars, which were unaffected by the court’s ruling.

“We found ways to really reconstruct what we’re doing,” US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told on ABC News on Sunday.

“The legal tool to implement it – that might change, but the policy hasn’t changed.”

In a separate interview with CBS News on Sunday, Greer said the White House would “stand by” the trade deals it had struck. “We expect our partners to stand by them,” Greer added.

Shares in the US fell on Monday, with the S&P 500 dropping about 1% – weighed down in part by the trade uncertainty, which many analysts and businesses expect to continue.

The new 15% tariffs are due to expire after the 150-day period unless Congress votes to extend them.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yvky5ldk1o

The incident occurred early Sunday when 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin breached Mar-a-Lago’s security with a shotgun and fuel can, prompting the Secret Service to respond.

A day after a gun-wielding intruder was shot dead while breaching the security perimeter of his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, US President Donald Trump said that he was unsure “how long I’ll be around.” The remarks marked his first public response to the security scare at his private club in Palm Beach, where US Secret Service agents opened fire on an armed man early Sunday. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were at the White House when the incident unfolded.

“I don’t know how long I’ll be around,” Trump said at a White House event with angel families on Monday. “I have a lot of people gunning for me, don’t I?”

Four of America’s 45 presidents have been assassinated, and several others, both sitting presidents and candidates, have faced attempts on their lives. Trump himself has survived two assassination attempts in the run-up to being the president.

On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, the then-presumptive nominee of the Republican Party, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania. Several shots were fired, and one bullet grazed past the upper part of his right ear. He was rushed out of the campaign rally by Secret Service agents.

On September 15, 2024, Trump survived a second assassination attempt while golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.

General Dan Caine has cautioned against a potential US military strike on Iran, highlighting inadequate munitions and lack of allied support that could jeopardize US personnel.

The Pentagon’s top general has cautioned the White House about the risks of a potential US military strike on Iran, as President Donald Trump publicly dismissed reports of internal opposition to such action. According to people familiar with private discussions, Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned President Trump and senior officials at a White House meeting last week that significant shortfalls in critical munitions and a lack of allied support would increase the risks of any major operation against Iran and endanger US personnel.

The meeting, which has not previously been reported, included Vice-President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and White House adviser Stephen Miller, one person told The Washington Post.

Gen Caine is said to have expressed concern that US munitions stockpiles have been depleted by Washington’s defence of Israel and support for Ukraine. In separate Pentagon meetings this month, he also raised concerns about the potential scale and complexity of an Iran campaign, as well as the possibility of US casualties, according to one person familiar with the deliberations.

In a statement, the Joint Chiefs chairman’s office said that, in his role as the President’s top military adviser, he “provides a range of military options, as well as secondary considerations and associated impacts and risks, to the civilian leaders who make America’s security decisions.” It added that he “provides these options confidentially.”

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said Trump listens to a “host of opinions on any given issue and decides based on what is best for US national security.” She described Gen Caine as a “talented and highly valued member of President Trump’s national security team.”

Canada is considering revoking the citizenship of Tahawwur Rana, a key figure in the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to India.

Canada is mulling to revoke the citizenship of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack plotter Tahawwur Rana ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s India visit, reports quoted Global Times. Rana – the mastermind of the attacks – was extradited to India in August last year, 17 years after the deadly attack. Rana was handed over to Indian officials in Los Angeles. During his interrogation upon being extradited to India, Rana revealed about his deep-rooted ties with Pakistan’s military and intelligence apparatus. He also admitted to his critical support in 26/11 Mumbai attacks.

Now, the development has come ahead of Canadian PM Mark Carney’s scheduled to travel to India on February 26, with the aim of “expanding” ties with India and building new partnerships in defence, energy and AI.

The online backlash comes against the backdrop of a rise in racial violence against Indians in Ireland last year.

A simple photograph of a queue outside an Irish food bank triggered a wave of racist attacks against Indians on social media, exposing the growing xenophobia faced by the Indian community in Ireland. The said photograph, showing students waiting outside the Speir student pantry, accompanied an article in the Irish Times about how the student-operated initiative was struggling to cope with growing demand amid the country’s deepening cost-of-living crisis.

The report noted that the food bank at the University of Galway was forced to turn away hundreds of students each week due to overwhelming demand, despite distributing almost €500,000 worth of food last year. While the report highlighted a growing cost-of-living crisis in Ireland, social media users focused on a part of the image accompanying it.

The whole photograph showed students—from different racial backgrounds, some sitting, while others standing– waiting outside the Speir student pantry at the University of Galway. However, social media users zeroed in on a part of the photo that showed students of South Asian heritage, unleashing a wave of hostile remarks, many of them targeting Indians.

Racist Hostility 

One X user wrote, “Is it my imagination, but are most, if not all, of the ‘students’ in that queue foreign? If they are mostly foreign, then perhaps that explains the numbers turning up for free food. In order to study here, aren’t foreign students supposed to be able to support themselves?”

Another user wrote, “Deport Indians. Stop universities selling places to foreigners. And Irish people who need it can get the services they require.”

A third user wrote, “How come it’s only Indian foreign students in the line and not other international student groups?”

Another X user wrote, “Immigrants are natural thieves and will take money (or food) even if they have plenty of their own.”

A user, who himself claimed to be an Irish expat, wrote, “Begin the deportation, close thy heart to ones who are not our own, as now our children suffer.”

Yet another user, without providing any evidence, claimed, “They loot every service that the country operates using any sort of trust-based system… To them, it’s a lifehack.”

What The Report Said

The Irish Times report, about the Speir student pantry, noted that it was originally designed as an environmental initiative established by Donegal student Adam Mullins, distributing surplus food from supermarkets to students. It noted that the pantry now plays an increasingly vital role in student welfare at the university.

Over the past two years, the report said that the university and its students’ union have come on board to support the pantry that’s providing subsidised meals to hundreds of students.

“The cost-of-living crisis is crazy, and it massively impacts us [students]. You see it everywhere, and it is getting worse,” Mullins told the publication.

Mullins noted several students have told him they couldn’t afford to stay in college without the pantry. “It is getting worse. Everything is expensive now,” he said.

Law student Aly told the publication that without the food back, there were times she would have had to go hungry to pay rent, adding the service “helps a lot.”

The pantry works in partnership with FoodCloud, an Irish not-for-profit social enterprise, redistributing surplus food from supermarkets. The report noted that weekly demand for the student pantry far outweighs supply. Students access the service online, with a lottery system deciding who gets a time slot.

The report did not provide any nationality-wise breakdown of students using the food bank.

Racist Attack 

The online backlash comes against the backdrop of a rise in racial violence against Indians in Ireland last year. In one of the most brutal assaults in July 2025, an Indian man was left bleeding in Tallaght, Dublin. He was stabbed, robbed and stripped of his trousers when a group of young men descended on him in the street as he was walking to the temple. He was falsely accused, both before and after the attack, of inappropriate behaviour around children. Authorities probing the incident said it was a potential hate crime.

In another attack, a 32-year-old Indian-origin man suffered a fractured cheekbone and multiple injuries after being attacked by six teenagers near his Dublin apartment.

Last month, the Embassy of India in Ireland had advised Indian nationals to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially at odd hours. In the advisory issued on X, the Embassy noted the rise in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently. The Embassy also shared its contact details, including email and mobile number, for Indian nationals.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/a-food-queue-photo-leads-to-online-racist-attacks-on-indians-in-ireland-11127738?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukrainians are exhausted after nearly four years of war but cannot concede to Russia, warning that surrender would mean losing the country entirely.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukrainians are exhausted after nearly four years of war with Russia, but made clear that conceding to Moscow’s demands is not an option, stressing that any compromise that undermines Ukraine’s sovereignty would mean losing the country entirely.

Speaking in an interview with CNN on the eve of the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Zelenskyy acknowledged the deep fatigue felt across Ukrainian society as the conflict enters its fifth year.

However, he underlined that war weariness cannot translate into surrender.

Zelenskyy repeatedly framed the conflict as a fight for survival against Russian President Vladimir Putin, warning that yielding territory or accepting imposed terms would have irreversible consequences for Ukraine and its people.

“They have to stay with a democratic country which is fighting against one person. Because this person is a war. Putin is a war. It’s all about himself. It’s all about one person. And the country, all his country is in prison,” Zelenskyy told CNN, urging continued international support, particularly from the United States.

Appealing directly to US President Donald Trump, Zelenskyy said Washington’s role remains critical in countering Russia’s aggression.

“If they really want to stop Putin, America’s so strong,” he said.

Asked whether Trump was applying enough pressure on Moscow, Zelenskyy replied, “No.”

The Ukrainian President emphasised that despite exhaustion among civilians and soldiers alike, accepting Russia’s demands would amount to capitulation.

“We can’t just give him everything he wants. Because he wants to occupy us. If we give him all he wants, we will lose everything, all of us, people will have to run away or be Russian,” he said.

SECURITY GUARANTEES AND PEACE TALKS REMAIN STUCK

Zelenskyy said ongoing diplomatic efforts involving Ukraine, Russia and the United States have yet to produce a breakthrough, largely due to disagreements over future security guarantees.

He said assurances offered so far lack clarity about how allies would respond if Russia launched another invasion.

“I want a very specific answer, what partners will be ready to do if Putin comes again. This is what Ukrainians want to hear,” he told CNN.

According to Zelenskyy, there is also disagreement over how a potential peace settlement should proceed.

While Trump favours signing a comprehensive agreement covering peace and security guarantees simultaneously, Kyiv insists that binding guarantees must first be approved by the US Congress to reassure Ukrainians that allies will stand by them in the future.

Addressing battlefield realities, Zelenskyy said Ukraine could consider freezing the war along existing front lines but firmly rejected withdrawing troops from Ukrainian-held areas in the eastern Donetsk region.

“Russia wants (us) just to withdraw our army. We can’t be such, sorry, foolish guys. We are not children. We went through this war, during all these years, and so we just, we can’t give them the country on (a) plate,” he said.

Highlighting the human dimension of territorial decisions, Zelenskyy added, “For people who live there, it’s very important what security they will have, 200,000 people live there. What do I have to say (to them), ‘Okay, bye-bye. We go away. You are Russian from this moment?'”

He also addressed criticism regarding postponed elections, noting that martial law prohibits voting during wartime.

“What do they want? Another president?” Zelenskyy said, adding that Trump had not personally told him whether he wanted a leadership change in Ukraine.

‘PUTIN HAS ALREADY STARTED WORLD WAR III’: ZELENSKYY

Separately, Zelenskyy wrote on X that he believes Russia’s invasion has effectively triggered the beginning of a wider global conflict.

“There are different views on World War III. I believe Putin has already started it,” Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukraine is acting as an “outpost” preventing the war from expanding further.

He stressed that strengthening air defence remains one of Kyiv’s most urgent priorities and expressed disappointment that international partners have not granted licences allowing Ukraine to produce advanced systems domestically.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/ukraine-president-zelenskyy-says-ukrainians-are-exhausted-of-russia-ukraine-war-says-america-can-stop-war-ws-l-9925707.html

The Arctic country had been set to hold a referendum on resuming membership talks in 2027. But according to media reports, geopolitical developments could see the vote being brought forward to this summer.

Iceland’s government is considering holding a referendum on EU relations as early as August, according to two sources cited by news publication Politico.

Reykjavik had pledged to hold the vote on restarting talks on joining the bloc by 2027. But growing geopolitical uncertainty could lead to those plans being brought forward.

US President Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Iceland and his stated desire to annex Greenland have created jitters in the country of 400,000 people.

In its report, Politico cited two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying the Icelandic Parliament was expected to announce the date of the referendum within weeks.

“I make no secret of the fact that I would like to see this process accelerated,” Icelandic Foreign Minister Thorgerdur Katrin Gunnarsdottir told the Reuters news agency last week.

“I hope that this will happen sooner rather than later,” she said, given the “completely different geopolitical environment.”

What happened to Iceland’s previous EU bid?

Iceland already applied for EU membership in 2009 after being badly hit by the 2008 financial crisis. Formal membership negotiations began in 2010. But in 2013, a newly elected center-right government suspended talks and in 2015 Reykjavik asked to withdraw its application.

Polls have shown that while the Icelandic public broadly supports the idea of a referendum on the issue, they have been less sure about the prospect of actually becoming an EU member.

There are signs that might be shifting, though. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Trump’s threat to take over Greenland, and US-EU trade tensions have led to renewed interest in joining the EU.

Iceland’s Social Democratic Alliance, which won the 2024 election, campaigned on a promise to hold a referendum by 2027, although one of its two coalition partners opposes EU accession.

EU officials have also held a number of recent meetings with Icelandic politicians. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen traveled to Iceland last year, and hosted Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrun Frostadottir in the Belgian capital last month.

Foreign Minister Katrin Gunnarsdottir also met with EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos in Brussels last month.

“The conversation on enlargement is shifting,” Kos told Politico. “It is increasingly about security, about belonging and about preserving our ability to act in a world of competing spheres of influence. This concerns all Europeans.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/iceland-may-fast-track-vote-on-joining-eu-report/a-76087702

A Palestinian award-winner’s accusation that Germany has supported genocide sparked political after the closing gala, while others criticized the festival’s attempts to remain neutral on Gaza.

This year’s Berlin International Film Festival prize winners, and their acceptance speeches, make clear the difficult tightrope along which the festival has to walk.

Closing a 10-day festival that had been marked by a social media storm surrounding jury president Wim Wenders’ comment that filmmakers should “stay out of politics,” the films that were selected to win the top awards, Ilker Catak’s “Yellow Letters” and Emin Alper’s “Salvation,” demonstrated that the Berlinale remains the most political of Europe’s three big film festivals, next to Cannes and Venice.

Despite an open letter’s accusations of “censorship” of the artists speaking out on Gaza, various award winners also used their acceptance speeches to make political statements on the issue.

Palestinian prize-winner’s comment leads to political backlash

One award winner in particular directly criticized the German government for remaining a staunch ally of Israel.

Syrian-Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib, who picked up a prize for Best First Feature Award with his film “Chronicles From the Siege,” noted upon accepting the award that as a refugee in Germany, people had warned him against crossing “red lines” in his speech. He nevertheless asked why the country accepted to be “partners of the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this, but you choose not to care.”

Environment Minister Carsten Schneider — the only member of the German government attending the ceremony — walked out of the awards ceremony during Alkhatib’s speech, later stating that the remarks were “unacceptable.”

Wolfram Weimer, Government Commissioner for Culture, rejected Alkhatib’s claim on Germany’s position: “These false claims are malicious and poison the political debate. They destroy the appreciation of film art at the Berlinale,” he told newspaper Tagespiegel.

Germany remains one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, and its second largest arms supplier. Political leaders say this position is principally based on historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust — ​a policy known as the “Staatsraison,” or “reason of state.”

Human rights experts, scholars and a United Nations inquiry say Israel’s assault on Gaza amounts to genocide, which Israel strongly denies, saying that its actions in Gaza are justified as self-defence following the October 7, 2023 terror attacks.

Festival director Tricia Tuttle: ‘We don’t get directives at all’

The German government funds 40% of the film festival. Amid significant cuts in arts and culture funding, the festival is under pressure to maintain the state’s support.

But festival director Tricia Tuttle insists that this does not constrain Berlinale in what it can say or do: “They have strategic oversight, in that I report to them about financial matters,” she told DW, but “what we do, what we say, is entirely up to us. We don’t get missives. We don’t get directives at all.”

In 2024, Berlin’s culture minister attempted to make arts funding available only to those who committed to the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism. Although the proposed “anti-discrimination clause” for arts funding was ultimately dropped, it has also contributed to the pressure felt by cultural institutions.

One argument in the 2026 open letter against the Berlinale is that the festival has in the past made “clear statements” about the “atrocities” carried out against civilians in Ukraine and Iran.

“We call on the Berlinale to fulfill its moral duty and clearly state its opposition to Israel’s genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against Palestinians, and completely end its involvement in shielding Israel from criticism and calls for accountability,” the letter reads.

Tuttles justifies the festival’s attempt to remain neutral through the fact that this particular issue “is really polarizing. Every conversation you have, you need to hold the complexity of the situation.”

Pressure from both sides of the Gaza issue

The Berlinale is also closely observed by Israeli authorities and cultural commentators.

Israeli ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, praised Carsten Schneider’s walkout from the gala: “Respect for Minister Schneider and his moral clarity,” he told the Bild newspaper on Sunday, adding that the Berlinale risked jeopardizing its good reputation if it “served as a platform for Israel-haters.”

Also reacting to the awards ceremony, a blogger from the Times of Israel claims that “Germany’s cultural elite is playing with fire,” while a commenter from the Jüdische Allgemeine Zeitung described Alkhatib’s speech as “bigotry.”

On the other side of the debate, the campaign pushing the Berlinale to take an official position on Gaza also put filmmakers and actors under pressure, as they were questioned on their political stances at news conferences throughout the week.

This not only led to Wenders’ controversial “stay out of politics” soundbite; many others were asked questions that were unrelated to their films.

“These viral moments can be really damaging for the films, if it means that all we’re writing about is the controversy, not the films,” said Tuttle, pointing out that the loaded questions are not just harmful for the festival, but for the cultural personalities who have accepted to take part in the event: “People are forced to speak, and if they don’t speak, then that is an affront to people. If they do speak and don’t say what the questioner wants to hear, that is an affront. And if they say the wrong thing, then that’s a massive problem.”

The Wim Wenders clip that went viral also led Indian author Arundhati Roy to boycott the festival. She felt that saying filmmakers should stay out of politics “is a way of shutting down a conversation about a crime against humanity even as it unfolds before us in real time — when artists, writers and film-makers should be doing everything in their power to stop it.”

“Artists are free to exercise their right of free speech in whatever way they choose,” Tuttle said in reaction to the social media storm. They “should not be expected to comment on all broader debates about a festival’s previous or current practices over which they have no control.”

Insight from Ilker Catak’s ‘Yellow Letters’

Ilker Catak, whose “Yellow Letters” won the Golden Bear for best film, provided one of the most powerful speeches of the awards ceremony. He noted that the focus of the conversation should not be social media quotes pitting filmmakers against each other: “We are not enemies. We are allies,” he said. The real threat, he added, “is the autocrats, the right-wing parties, the nihilists of our time. Let us not fight each other. Let’s fight them.”

“Yellow Letters” is about two artists who lose their position in a state theater due to their political opinions. The Turkish-language film had the German cities of Berlin and Hamburg stand in for Ankara and Istanbul. The political drama also remains purposely vague about the names of the politicians who are repressing their artistic freedom, and equally avoids detailing whatever the artists have done to face a work ban.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/berlinale-faces-difficult-balancing-act-in-polarized-gaza-debate/a-76091332

A U.S. judge permanently barred the Justice Department on Monday from releasing a prosecutor’s report on the criminal case accusing President Donald Trump of unlawfully retaining classified documents following his first term in office.
Florida-based U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon found that releasing the report would be a “manifest injustice” to the Republican president and two former associates who were charged alongside him because it would detail substantial allegations of criminal wrongdoing in a case that never reached a jury.

Cannon, who Trump appointed to the bench in 2020, dismissed all the charges in 2024.
Trump was accused in the case pursued by Special Counsel Jack Smith of illegally storing documents related to U.S. national defense, including the American nuclear program, at his Mar-a-Lago social club and obstructing U.S. government efforts to retrieve the material. Cannon found that Smith had not been lawfully appointed by the Justice Department during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Disclosure of Smith’s report “would contravene basic notions of fairness and justice in the process, where no adjudication of guilt has been reached following initiation of criminal charges,” Cannon wrote in Monday’s ruling.

The order means substantial information about one of the four criminal cases Trump faced in his years out of office may not be disclosed to the public.
Trump attorney Kendra Wharton welcomed Cannon’s order in a statement, adding that “any and all fruit of Smith’s poisonous tree” should “never see the light of day.”
Trump and his two co-defendants, personal aide Walt Nauta and Mar-a-Lago manager Carlos de Oliveira, pleaded not guilty to all charges and argued that the case was a politically motivated abuse of the U.S. legal system. They urged Cannon to bar the release of the report, which details Smith’s justification for seeking charges.
The Justice Department under Trump supported those arguments, arguing the report was a confidential document.
“Judge Cannon’s ruling continues a troubling pattern of decisions that shield the president from public scrutiny and place secrecy above the public’s right to know,” said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, a government accountability group that has sought disclosure of the report.

The Justice Department under Biden dropped an attempt to revive the case against Trump after he won the 2024 election.
Special counsels, who are appointed to lead certain politically sensitive investigations, are required to draft reports to the U.S. attorney general detailing their conclusions on whether to seek charges.
Shortly before Trump returned to the presidency 13 months ago, the Justice Department released Smith’s report detailing his other since-dismissed case against Trump, which accused Trump of plotting to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us-judge-permanently-blocks-release-report-trump-documents-case-2026-02-23/

A group of 22 U.S. Senate Democrats on Monday introduced legislation that would require President Donald Trump’s administration to fully refund within 180 days all of the revenue, with interest, collected from tariffs struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The legislation would require the Customs and Border Protection agency, which collects tariffs at U.S. ports of entry, to prioritize small businesses.

The Supreme Court did not give instructions regarding any refunds on Friday when it struck down Trump’s broad tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), instead remanding the case to a lower trade court to determine next steps.
The Democrats’ legislation would require CBP to refund all IEEPA-based tariffs unlawfully imposed by Trump, plus interest, even if the import duties were finalized, or “liquidated” by CBP.
The 22 Democrats who co-sponsored the bill included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senators Ron Wyden of Oregon, Edward Markey of Massachusetts and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrats on the Senate’s Finance, Small Business and Foreign Relations committees, respectively.

“Senate Democrats will continue fighting to rein in Donald Trump’s price-hiking trade and economic policies,” Wyden said in a statement. “A crucial first step is helping people who need it most, by putting money back into the pockets of small businesses and manufacturers as soon as possible.”
A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota declined to comment on whether the Democrats’ bill would be considered.
But given that the bill was just introduced and needs to go through committee review, a decision on consideration would likely be some ways off.
House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that the Republican-controlled House would steer clear of the question about returning tariff revenue.
“The White House is going to sort that out, and we have to give them the time and space to do it. This is an unprecedented event, of course, so there’s no playbook to follow,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said. “I think they’ve (the White House) got good arguments on their side, and we’ll see how it shakes out. That’s not something that really involves the House at this point.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the legislation.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Sunday that the administration would follow the determination of lower courts on refunds. “We will follow what they decide, but it can take weeks or months until we hear from them,” Bessent said on CNN.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-senate-democrats-introduce-bill-force-refunds-trump-tariffs-deemed-illegal-2026-02-23/

Over 3,000 people protested against the attendance of AfD politician Björn Höcke at a party event at Dortmund city hall on Sunday. An even bigger protest is expected in nearby Düsseldorf on Monday.

Around 3,300 people gathered in the western German city of Dortmund on Sunday to protest against a visit by a fascist politician from the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party — and an even bigger protest is expected in Düsseldorf on Monday.

Björn Höcke, a senior AfD figure who leads the far-right party in the eastern German state of Thuringia, attended a party event at Dortmund town hall on Sunday.

A German court ruled in 2019 that the 53-year-old, who has twice been convicted of using illegal Nazi rhetoric, may legally be described a “fascist.”

Dortmund Mayor Alexander Kalouti of the conservative CDU had attempted to have Höcke banned from speaking, but a court in nearby Gelsenkirchen dismissed the appeal.

Dortmund mayor: ‘Don’t want this man in my town hall’

“For me, it was clear that I didn’t want this man in my town hall,” Kalouti told the local Ruhr Nachrichten newspaper before joining protesters outside. “So it was also clear that I would be here.”

The protest was over five times the size local police had expected. The AfD is the joint-third largest party on the Dortmund city council with 18 seats — equal with the Greens but behind the CDU (23 seats and the mayoralty) and the Social Democrats (SPD) who have 26 seats.

Over the weekend, Höcke had also visited the Externsteine ​​rock formation in the nearby Teutoburg Forest, along with several other AfD politicians from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).

According to police, a visit to the Hermannsdenkmal (Hermann Monument) had originally been planned but was thwarted by the presence of around 350 protesters who had gathered there at short notice.

The Hermannsdenkmal, which commemorates a victory by local Germanic chieftain Arminius over the Romans in the year 9, acquired propagandistic significance during the Nazi era and continues to be considered a cult site for right-wing extremists.

Anti-AfD protest set for Monday in Düsseldorf

An even bigger protest is expected on Monday in the nearby city of Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW, where Höcke is due to speak in the district of Garath, where the AfD won 32% of the vote in local elections last autumn.

Over 5,000 people are expected to attend a protest under the mottos “No room for fascists in Düsseldorf” and “Garath is colorful, not brown” — brown being associated with the extreme-right in Germany due to the color of the uniforms worn by the paramilitary thugs from the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA) in the 1930s.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/germany-protests-against-afd-events-in-dortmund-d%C3%BCsseldorf/a-76080542

The EU and the US have very different views about the critical topic of censorship. Donald Trump’s envoy, Sarah Rogers, has attacked the EU’s new big tech laws while Europe wrestles with its far-right content problem.

Whether it’s control of Greenland, security strategy or tariffs, relations between the US and Europe are dangling by a fraying thread. In recent months, major disagreements over the control of social media platforms and legislation to combat disinformation have come to the fore.

There are, Anja Bechman, a former member of the EU Commission high-level expert group on disinformation, told DW, “radical differences in the approaches to freedom of speech” between the two parties that appear tough to resolve.

Recent revelations from news agency Reuters that the US is “developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned by their governments including hate speech and terrorist propaganda,” as a method to counter what it sees as excessive censorship in other parts of the world is troubling to the EU.

Even if the plans appear to have been delayed and detail is thin, the US position is clear. Sarah Rogers, the US undersecretary for public diplomacy, is spearheading the Trump administration’s charge on this issue and has consistently attacked EU censorship and free speech provisions.

US and Rogers weaponizing censorship?

Rogers has also courted many opposition far right parties in Europe, including Germany’s AfD and amplified a series of far-right causes on her social media accounts.

This has included referring to migrants in Germany as “barbarian rapist hordes” — before later clarifying that she was referring specifically to the migrant attacks in Cologne in 2015 — and retweeting a post stating that “European censorship poses a global threat.”

British newspaper the Financial Times quoted a senior member of the UK’s far-right Reform party in December as saying Rogers was looking to “fund European organisations to undermine government policies.” This was later labeled a “lie” by Rogers, who said last weekend that “it’s not America’s decision to govern who’s elected in Europe.”

As well as meeting with members of Reform, Rogers has met Markus Frohnmaier of the AfD, who has been criticized for his links to Russia. Rogers’ boss, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, told Hungary’s far-right leader, Viktor Orban, that “as long as you’re the prime minister and the leader of this country, it’s in our national interest that Hungary be successful.”

Bechman thinks that the US is weaponizing censorship concerns for geopolitical ends. “We are dealing with a culture war here. It’s not really about the specifics of the content, more it’s a battle of ideals and values and using these values for a larger purpose, namely to create conflict and to escalate rather than trying to negotiate,” said Bechman, who is now director of the Center for Digital Social Research at Aarhus University in Denmark.

EU Digital Services Act under fire from US

Rogers has been an outspoken critic of the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), saying on X that its two purposes are to “one, extort and extract from American businesses and two, suppress speech flagged by left-wing NGOs.”

Jacob Mchangama, the Danish founder of The Future of Free Speech think tank in the US shares Rogers’ distaste for the DSA — which the EU says was set up to “create a digital space that respects citizens and consumers’ fundamental rights” — but sees her position as hypocritical.

“I agree with her on her criticism of the DSA,” he told DW. “But the State Department has itself sought to deport people in the US for having wrong opinions, is using AI to scan the social media profiles of foreigners and has scaled back its promotion of democracy and dissenters in authoritarian states. I would be happy if this was a more consistent position and if she was critical of her own government. Of course, she can’t be because her job is to sell the Trump administration.”

‘Erosion of free speech’ in Europe

Mchangama added that the US government has “no credibility as a global champion of free speech” but is equally critical of how the EU is dealing with censoring information.

“No European democratic government should claim sovereignty to determine what kind of information people access,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think there’s this tendency, as a result of Trump’s actions, for Europeans reflexively to then say, ‘well, whatever our democratic governments do to oppose the Trump administration is at defense of the democracy.’ And I just don’t think that holds up.”

The DSA and other EU measures to restrict online content have eroded free speech within the union, according to Mchangama, who believes this is the wrong way to defend democracy amid rising authoritarianism.

Blacklisted words indicative of US censorship issues

Bechman, however, draws a distinction between what she sees as EU attempts to protect citizens from misinformation or harmful content and the US push to blacklist certain words from federal bodies. These have included “climate change” and “green” for the Department of Energy, for example.

“That to me is the most core thing about censorship, when a state is actually not allowing things to be examined. So it becomes a bit weird that the Trump administration is claiming that the EU is engaging in censorship when they themselves are doing it in such a full-blown way,” she said, before pointing to the relationship between the US government and big tech firms as another significant cause of concern.

“We see now that big tech is actually very close to power. Maybe it always has been so, but right now it’s very explicit,” she added, referring to Trump’s relationships with Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and other tech bosses.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-and-eu-battle-over-online-censorship/a-76061907

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky continues to send out a firm message of defiance.

When we met this weekend in the government headquarters in Kyiv, he said that far from losing, Ukraine would end the war victorious. He was firmly against paying the price for a ceasefire deal demanded by President Vladimir Putin, which is withdrawing from strategic ground that Russia has failed to capture despite sacrificing tens of thousands of soldiers.

Putin, Zelensky told me, has already started World War Three, and the only answer was intense military and economic pressure to force him to step back.

“I believe that Putin has already started it. The question is how much territory he will be able to seize and how to stop him… Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves.”

What about Russia’s demand for Ukraine to hand over the 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that it still holds – a line of towns Ukraine calls “fortress cities” – as well as more land in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia? Isn’t that, I asked, a reasonable request if it produces a ceasefire?

“I see this differently. I don’t look at it simply as land. I see it as abandonment – weakening our positions, abandoning hundreds of thousands of our people who live there. That is how I see it. And I am sure that this ‘withdrawal’ would divide our society.”

But isn’t it a good price to pay if that satisfies President Putin? Do you think it would satisfy him?

“It would probably satisfy him for a while… he needs a pause… but once he recovers, our European partners say it could take three to five years. In my opinion, he could recover in no more than a couple of years. Where would he go next? We do not know, but that he would want to continue [the war] is a fact.”

I met Volodymyr Zelensky in a conference room inside the heavily-guarded government enclave in a well-to-do corner of central Kyiv. In the interview he spoke mostly in Ukrainian.

You get a sense of the weight of leadership carried by Zelensky from the diligence of his security guards.

Visiting any head of state requires rigorous checks. But entering the presidential buildings in Kyiv takes the process to a level I have rarely experienced before.

It is not surprising in a country at war, with a president who has already been targeted by Russia.

Despite all that, the man who started as an entertainer, who won the Ukrainian version of Strictly Come Dancing in 2006, and played the role of an unexpected president of Ukraine in a TV comedy, before becoming the real-life president of Ukraine, seems to be remarkably resilient.

US President Donald Trump said on the eve of the most recent ceasefire talks in Geneva that “Ukraine better come to the table fast”.

He continues to default to putting more pressure on Ukraine than on Russia.

Western diplomats have indicated since last summer that Trump agrees with Putin that territorial concessions from Ukraine to Russia are the key to the ceasefire Trump wants, ideally before this coming summer.

Plenty of analysts outside the White House also judge that Ukraine cannot win the war and, without making concessions to Moscow, will lose it.

I asked Zelensky whether Trump and the others had a point.

“Where are you now?” Zelensky asked in return. “Today you are in Kyiv, you are in the capital of our homeland, you are in Ukraine. I am very grateful for this. Will we lose? Of course not, because we are fighting for Ukraine’s independence.”

Zelensky has often said that Ukraine can win, but what would victory look like?

Of course, he said, victory meant restoring normal lives for Ukrainians and ending the killing. But the wider view of victory he presented was all about a global threat that he says comes from Putin.

“I believe that stopping Putin today and preventing him from occupying Ukraine is a victory for the whole world. Because Putin will not stop at Ukraine.”

You are not saying that victory is getting all the land back, are you?

“We’ll do it. That is absolutely clear. It is only a matter of time. To do it today would mean losing a huge number of people – millions of people – because the [Russian] army is large, and we understand the cost of such steps. You would not have enough people, you would be losing them. And what is land without people? Honestly, nothing.”

“And we also don’t have enough weapons. That depends not just on us, but on our partners. So as of now that’s not possible but returning to the just borders of 1991 [the year Ukraine declared its independence, precipitating the final collapse of the Soviet Union] without a doubt, is not only a victory, it’s justice. Ukraine’s victory is the preservation of our independence, and a victory of justice for the whole world is the return of all our lands.”

A year ago, Zelensky visited the White House and received a reception one senior Western diplomat described to me as a pre-planned public “diplomatic mugging” from Donald Trump and his Vice-President, JD Vance.

Their argument, in the presence of the world’s media, was watched by millions around the world.

Trump, just inaugurated as president for the second time, was sending the strongest possible signal that the era of support Zelensky and Ukraine had relied on from President Joe Biden was over. Nato members were already on notice from the new administration. Vance had just got back from shattering Western European illusions about the strength of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Since then, reportedly coached by Britain’s National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell among others, Zelensky has avoided public confrontations with Trump.

The US president has stopped almost all shipments of military aid to Ukraine. But the US still provides vital intelligence, and European countries are spending billions buying weapons from the Americans to give to Ukraine.

I asked Ukraine’s president about Trump’s often contradictory statements, recalling that among the untruths he has uttered is the accusation that Zelensky is a dictator who started the war – a precise echo of claims made by Vladimir Putin.

Zelensky laughed.

“I am not a dictator, and I didn’t start the war, that’s it.”

But can you trust President Trump? If you extract a security guarantee from him, I asked, would he keep his word? He is after all a man who changes his mind.

“It is not only President Trump, we’re talking about America. We are all presidents for the appropriate terms. We want guarantees for 30 years for example. Political elites will change, leaders will change.”

He meant that US security guarantees needed approval from Congress in Washington DC to make them watertight.

“They will be voted on in Congress for a reason. It’s not just presidents. Congress is needed. Because the presidents change, but institutions stay.”

In other words, Donald Trump might be unreliable, but he will not be there for ever.

Zelensky says those security guarantees would have to be in place before he could consider another American demand – the US demand for Ukraine to hold a general election by the summer, echoing another Russian talking point that Zelensky is an illegitimate president. Trump has not demanded elections in Russia, where Putin became leader for the first time on the last day of the 20th Century.

Zelensky said he had not decided whether to stand again, whenever an election is held: “I might run and might not.”

Elections were due in 2024, but they could not be held under martial law that was introduced after Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Holding postponed elections, Zelensky said, was technically possible if they had time to change the law to allow them to happen. But he needed security guarantees for Ukraine first.

He went on to raise so many potential problems about holding an election with millions of Ukrainians abroad as refugees and significant tracts of the country occupied by Russia that I suggested that in reality he was against the idea.

“If this is a condition for ending the war, let’s do it. I said, ‘honestly, you constantly raise the issue of elections’. I told the partners, ‘you need to decide one thing: you want to get rid of me or you want to hold elections? If you want to hold elections, (even if you are not ready to tell me honestly even now), then hold these elections honestly. Hold them in a way that the Ukrainian people will recognise, first of all. And you yourself must recognise that these are legitimate elections'”.

Volodymyr Zelensky has opponents and harsh critics here in Ukraine.

His government was rocked last autumn by a corruption scandal that led to the departure of his closest adviser.

But Zelensky, with a new team, still commands approval ratings that most leaders in Western Europe can only dream about.

He has irritated his allies at times with constant demands for more and better equipment. One of the accusations directed at him in the Oval Office by Trump and Vance a year ago was that he was not sufficiently grateful.

The latest item on his list is permission to manufacture American weapons under licence, including Patriot air defence missiles.

“Today the issue is air defence. This is the most difficult problem. Unfortunately, our partners still do not grant licenses for us to produce systems ourselves, for example, Patriot systems, or even missiles for the systems we already have. So far, we have not achieved success in this.”

Why won’t they do that?

“I don’t know. I have no answer.”

At the end of the interview, he switched from Ukrainian to English.

Given everything he had said, I asked him whether we needed to get ready for an even longer war in Ukraine.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgj9p15y87o

North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party has again chosen Kim Jong Un to be its general secretary, state media report.

The announcement by the rubber-stamp party congress on Sunday comes as little surprise given the Kim family has ruled the dictatorship since the late 1940s.

State-run KCNA said that under Kim’s leadership North Korea “radically improved” its “war deterrence”, “with the nuclear forces as its pivot”.

Despite long-standing international sanctions, North Korea has continued to build its nuclear capabilities, regularly testing banned intercontinental missiles. But the secrecy of the regime makes it harder to evaluate how much progress the military has made.

Kim, who took over control of the regime after his father’s death in 2011, has invested heavily in the nuclear weapons programme, turning Pyongyang into a far bigger challenge for the West, and especially the US.

He is expected to announce the next phase of the country’s weapons programme during the congress, which is now in its fourth day. Before it started, North Korea unveiled what it said was a range of nuclear-capable rocket launchers.

The congress, which has been held once every five years in the last decade, began on 19 February.

With some 5,000 party members in attendance, according to KCNA, it offers a rare glimpse into the structure of political power in North Korea, which remains quite opaque even to the keenest watchers.

The meetings are considered to be the most important political event and provide insight into where the country’s priorities lie, from foreign policy to its nuclear ambitions.

While Kim has remained at the top of North Korean leadership, the party congress’ presidium, or executive committee, has been reshuffled since the last meeting in 2021. More than half of its 39 members have been replaced, according to state media.

In his opening speech last week, Kim vowed to boost the country’s economy and people’s standard of living, which he described as “heavy and urgent historic tasks”.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg18588mdko

Pakistan has carried out multiple overnight air strikes on Afghanistan, which the Taliban has said killed at least 18 people, including women and children.

Islamabad said the attacks targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that they had been launched after recent suicide bombings in Pakistan.

Afghanistan condemned the attacks, saying they targeted multiple civilian homes and a religious school.

The fresh strikes come after the two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October following deadly cross-border clashes, though subsequent fighting has taken place.

The Taliban’s defence ministry said the strikes targeted civilian areas of Nangarhar and Paktika provinces and had killed dozens of people.

In Girdi Kas village, in the Bihsud district of Nangarhar, a man named Shahabuddin told reporters while pointing at his destroyed house that of 23 members of his family, only five had survived the attack.

Local Taliban spokesman Sayed Taib Hamd said that 18 members of the family had been killed.

The BBC had earlier been told about 20 people were thought to have died.

No deaths have been reported so far in the other areas hit. A guesthouse and a religious school were targeted in the Bermal and Urgun districts of Paktika province, but they were empty at the time of the attacks, local officials and locals told the BBC.

Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said it had carried out “intelligence based selective targeting of seven terrorist camps and hideouts”.

In a statement on X, it said the targets included members of the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, which the government refers to as “Fitna al Khawarij,” along with their affiliates and the Islamic State-Khorasan Province.

The ministry described the strikes as “a retributive response” to recent suicide bombings in Pakistan by terror groups it said were sheltered by Kabul.

The recent attacks in Pakistan included one on a Shia mosque in the capital Islamabad earlier this month, as well as others that took place since the holy month of Ramadan began this week in the north-western Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Pakistan accused the Afghan Taliban of failing to take action against the militants, adding that it had “conclusive evidence” that the attacks were carried out by militants on the instructions of their leadership in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s defence ministry later posted on X condemning the attacks as a “blatant violation of Afghanistan’s territorial integrity”, adding that they were a “clear breach of international law”.

It warned that “an appropriate and measured response will be taken at a suitable time”, adding that “attacks on civilian targets and religious institutions indicate the failure of Pakistan’s army in intelligence and security.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cdxgln3gnd6o

Prince William gave insight into his mindset after his uncle, ex-Prince Andrew, was arrested last Thursday.

The Prince of Wales attended the BAFTA Awards 2026 on Sunday alongside his wife, Kate Middleton, where he was asked about the movie “Hamnet.”

“Hamnet,” which ended up winning in the best British film category of the annual awards show, centers around William Shakespeare and his wife, Agnes Hathaway, dealing with the tragic death of their 11-year-old son.

William, 43, noted that he hadn’t seen the critically acclaimed film yet because he didn’t currently have the appropriate mindset.

“I need to be in quite a calm state and I am not at the moment,” he said, per the Daily Mail. “I will save it.”

However, Kate, 44, said she had watched the emotional film and that it left her in tears.

“I thought it was a bad idea, actually,” she joked. ‘Ended up with very puffy eyes. It was so beautifully shot. The music as well. The score is fantastic.”

Despite the current royal family drama, Will and Kate made a chic appearance at the BAFTA Awards. Kate stunned in a blush-colored Gucci gown while Will looked sharp in a Giorgio Armani burgundy velvet evening jacket and black pants.

The couple smiled for photographers as they walked the pink carpet.

Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on Feb. 19 — his 66th birthday. He was questioned for 11 hours at a police station before he was released.

The disgraced royal was arrested for allegedly forwarding confidential trade documents to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Things may escalate further for the royal family, as we’re told UK police investigators could head as far as Buckingham Palace, where Andrew kept an office and a suite of rooms, and also gain access to his and his former staff’s computers and phones with a judge’s warrant.

“I think the only way this situation resolves itself — and allows the monarchy to move on — is if Andrew goes to prison,” a royal insider told us.

“Truly, things can’t move on until we get a new reign [when Prince William is King] during which we might get a honeymoon period.”

Meanwhile, Will and Kate support King Charles’ statement on Andrew’s arrest, Page Six learned.

Charles expressed his “deepest concern” over the accusations against his younger brother in a statement issued by Buckingham Palace.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/22/royal-family/prince-williams-says-hes-not-in-a-calm-state-as-he-arrives-at-bafta-awards-after-ex-prince-andrews-arrest/

Dr Estephan Salameh’s visit comes at the invitation of Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

The Palestinian Authority’s minister of finance and planning is in Singapore for a four-day official visit.

Dr Estephan Salameh is in Singapore from Sunday (Feb 22) to Wednesday at the invitation of Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan.

The visit reaffirms Singapore’s warm relations with the Palestinian Authority and continued support for its capacity-building efforts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement on Sunday.

During his visit, Dr Salameh will be hosted to separate dinners by Dr Balakrishnan and Minister of State for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Social and Family Development Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim.

He will also meet other officials such as Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Senior Minister of State for the Ministry of Home Affairs Associate Professor Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, as well as Minister of State for Health and Digital Development and Information Rahayu Mahzam.

“In addition, Minister Salameh will visit the Institute of Technical Education and receive briefings on Singapore’s education and digital development policies,” said MFA.

In November last year, Singapore announced that it would launch more courses to strengthen the Palestinian Authority’s ability to work towards sustainable peace and development.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/palestinian-authority-minister-estephan-salameh-official-visit-singapore-5945586

The Secret Service said the man was seen near the resort’s north gate carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel container, triggering an immediate armed response from security personnel.

A white man in his early 20s was shot and killed by US Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy after entering a restricted security zone at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida early Sunday, authorities said.

Officials said the armed man, who drove into the secure perimeter as another vehicle was exiting the property, was from North Carolina and had been reported missing by his family days earlier, according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi. The US President was in Washington at the time.

The agency said the man approached the north gate of the West Palm Beach estate carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can before moving into the protected perimeter around the resort.

“The individual was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can,” the Secret Service said in a statement.

Agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office deputy confronted him inside the restricted zone and opened fire during the encounter. The man was pronounced dead at the scene. The suspect was later identified as Austin Tucker Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, according to CBS News.

No Secret Service or sheriff’s personnel were injured. The FBI, the Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are jointly investigating the shooting, including the man’s background, actions and possible motive.

SUSPECT RAISED SHOTGUN BEFORE SHOOTING

In a press briefing, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the man entered the inner security perimeter of Mar-a-Lago at about 01:30 local time.

Deputies and federal agents found him carrying a shotgun and a petrol canister, Bradshaw said. Officers ordered him to drop the items. He released the container but then raised the firearm into a firing position.

“At that point, agents fired their weapons to neutralise the threat,” Bradshaw told a news briefing.

US Secret Service Special Agent Rafael Barros said two federal agents were directly involved in the shooting. Preliminary information confirmed the suspect was carrying a petrol container, he said.

FBI spokesman Brett Skiles said the investigators are collecting physical and forensic evidence.

He urged residents near the resort to review exterior security camera footage from around the time of the incident and report any unusual activity to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The incident at Trump’s Florida residence occurred only a few miles from his West Palm Beach golf course, where a man attempted to assassinate him during a round of golf in the 2024 election campaign.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/us-news/story/man-trying-to-unlawfully-enter-trumps-mar-a-lago-resort-shot-and-killed-by-us-secret-service-agents-2872583-2026-02-22

These are the key developments from day 1,459 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Fighting

• A Russian drone attack on Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region killed four people, including a 17-year-old boy, while another attack on the southeastern Zaporizhia region killed a 77-year-old man, according to Ukrainian authorities.
• Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Odesa region wounded two people and caused damage to homes, cars and an energy facility, officials said. Another Russian attack on the Dnipropetrovsk region wounded a 77-year-old man.
• In the Donetsk region, Russian shelling wounded four people in 18 attacks throughout the day, Governor Vadym Filashkin wrote on Telegram. Authorities evacuated 562 people, including 244 children, from front-line settlements.
• Russian forces also hit the facility of US snack food company Mondelez in Sumy, sparking a reaction from Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha, who wrote on X that Russia was “targeting American business interests in Europe”.
• “Moscow cannot speak of economic dialogue with the United States while attacking US-owned production facilities,” Sybiha added.
• In the front-line Kherson region, Russian shelling wounded two police officers and one civilian, Ukraine’s National Police wrote on Telegram. Three apartment buildings, 18 homes, a hospital and numerous public buildings sustained damage.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed that Ukrainian security forces “neutralised Russian mercenaries preparing assassination attempts” against “high-profile” figures, including military personnel, intelligence officers and journalists.
• Moscow’s ⁠forces ⁠took control of the village of ⁠Karpivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk ⁠region, the Russian RIA state news agency reported on Saturday, citing ‌the Ministry of Defence.
• A Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Belgorod region wounded a man and a three-year-old child, according to the Russian TASS news.
• The Ukrainian General Staff said Ukraine’s home-produced “Flamingo” cruise missiles hit a Russian ballistic missile plant in the Udmurtia region, as well as a gas plant in the Samara region.

Saudi Arabia has strongly condemned remarks made by the US ambassador to Israel suggesting that Israeli control over the entire Middle East would be acceptable, describing the comments as reckless and a violation of international law.

US envoy to Israel Mike Huckabee said it would be acceptable if Israel took control of the entire Middle East, including the West Bank, on Saturday.

In a statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “categorically denounced” the comments, rejecting what it described as irresponsible statements that contravene international law, the UN Charter and established diplomatic norms.

The ministry said the remarks represented a dangerous precedent, particularly as they came from a US official, and amounted to a disregard for relations between the US and countries across the region.

It warned that such positions carry grave consequences and threaten global peace and security by inciting hostility toward the peoples and states of the Middle East, while undermining the foundations of the international order based on respect for sovereignty and internationally recognized borders.

Saudi Arabia called on the US State Department to clarify its position on the remarks, stressing that the proposal was rejected by peaceful countries around the world.

Source : https://www.arabnews.com/node/2633933/saudi-arabia

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said India and Brazil are “two countries that are in need or in want.” He said no one is above the other country.

“The truth is that there’s a lot of similarity between Brazil and India in the attitude and in the needs. So when you sit down around a table with the business sector in India, when you have conversations with Prime Minister Modi or former Prime Minister Singh, there’s something very similar to our needs,” Lula said.

He added, “…it’s much easier for us to work and to establish an action plan, and to establish targets or goals and to build partnerships between Brazilian entrepreneurs and Indians and invite them to make investments in Brazil…”

‘We are not dealing with a coloniser’

President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, said, “What is really more important is that when we’re talking about a negotiation with a country like India, we are not dealing with a coloniser.”

“Because when you deal with rich countries, those countries that are accustomed to dealing with many other countries, it’s a sort of authoritarianism in the negotiations, not taking into account the happiness of each nation,” he said.

“With India, it’s different. It’s not the strongest force that prevails,” Lula added.

‘I was surprised…’

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Sunday he was deeply moved by the musical tributes prepared by the Indian side. He said a gesture from his hosts on Saturday left a lasting impression on him and his delegation, serving as a poignant reminder of the hospitality he once extended to the Indian leader.

Speaking at the India-Brazil Economic Forum on Sunday, Lula recalled how these gestures mirrored a similar surprise he had arranged for Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the latter’s visit to Brazil.

“I was surprised yesterday, at the state dinner and at lunch too. I don’t know if the Brazilian journalists remember this, but when Prime Minister Modi went to visit Brazil last year, we did research on the song that he preferred most,” President Lula was quoted by news agency ANI as saying while addressing the forum in New Delhi.

“We went to São Paulo to try to find a singer who could sing the song that he enjoyed most. So we did a surprise for him at the Palacio da Alvorada in Brazil, and it was visible that he was touched by the song that we chose to play for him,’ he said.

President Lula shared his delight at hearing familiar Brazilian melodies played by Indian musicians during his official engagements, bridging the geographical distance between the two nations through music.

“Yesterday, I was surprised because during lunch we started to hear a song. I saw that that song had something to do with us. Then they played other songs from the Brazilian composers. They played Asa Branca,” President Lula remarked.

The mention of Asa Branca, an iconic Brazilian folk song, underscored the growing cultural synergy between the two nations as they seek to strengthen their strategic partnership.

‘For the very first time…’

Lula da Silva on Sunday described his current visit as having a “characteristic that is very special” while recalling how his 2005 trip to India fundamentally reshaped Brazil’s economic strategy.

He highlighted the deep cultural and financial ties between the two nations, noting that India served as the inspiration for Brazil’s massive build-up of international hard currency reserves.

Reflecting on that turning point, President Lula stated, “It was in India in 2005 that, for the very first time, I perceived the importance of having international hard currency reserves.”

“I came here, my first trip, and India had accrued USD 100 billion in international hard currency reserves. I came back to Brazil convinced that we needed to build up our international reserves, and we had to have an extra buffer,” he said.

The Brazilian President, in his address to the India-Brazil Economic Forum in New Delhi, further explained the long-term impact of that policy shift, noting, “We managed to do that for the very first time.”

“We left that position of debtors of the IMF to the creditors of the IMF. We accrued reserves of international hard currencies of USD 360 billion. That was the third or fourth largest international reserve in the world in those days,” he said.

‘Reclaim the image’

Contextualising the visit within Brazil’s broader diplomatic priorities, President Lula asserted, “We are closing a cycle of international trips that was within our strategy for this third term to reclaim the image and the negotiation power that Brazil had achieved in the world. Now we decided to recover and retrieve the Image of Brazil in the world.”

Highlighting the outcomes of that strategy, President Lula stated, ”It’s with great satisfaction that I can say to all of you that in just 3 years and 2 months of my term, we did more. We created 520 new markets for Brazilian goods. It’s much more than we could have imagined such a short time.”

Source : https://www.livemint.com/news/india/tejas-fighter-jet-crash-how-many-light-combat-aircraft-have-met-with-accidents-in-the-past-what-did-iaf-say-11771817605883.html

One of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords, Nemesio Oseguera, or “El Mencho,” was killed in a military raid on Sunday, sparking widespread retaliatory violence.
President Claudia Sheinbaum has been under mounting pressure from Washington to intensify her offensive against drug cartels blamed for producing and smuggling drugs, particularly the synthetic opioid fentanyl, across the border to the U.S.

Oseguera, 60, the mastermind of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) died in custody after being injured in a military operation by Mexican special forces in the town of Tapalpa on Mexico’s Pacific coast in Jalisco state, according to Mexico’s defense ministry.

His corpse arrived in Mexico City on Sunday afternoon in a heavily guarded convoy of National Guard troops.
Reuters had reported on Sunday that a new U.S.-military-led task force played a role in the raid led and carried out by Mexican forces. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt later posted on social media that the United States provided intelligence support.
Leavitt added that the Trump administration “commends and thanks the Mexican military for their cooperation and successful execution of this operation.”
After reports of El Mencho’s death, cartel henchmen blockaded highways with burning cars and torched businesses in more than a half a dozen states, paralyzing parts of the country. No civilian deaths have been reported.

In Jalisco’s popular beach resort of Puerto Vallarta, frightened tourists on social media described a “war zone” as plumes of dark smoke rose into the sky from around the bay. Air Canada (AC.TO), United Airlines (UAL.O), Aeromexico and American Airlines (AAL.O), suspended flights in the area.

FORMER COP TO CARTEL KINGPIN

Oseguera, a former police officer, founded and oversaw the rapid rise of the CJNG, named for the western state of Jalisco that is home to one of Mexico’s biggest cities, Guadalajara.
In recent years, CJNG has expanded into one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, known for violent tactics including forced labor and forced recruitment.

Under El Mencho’s leadership, CJNG also became a highly diversified criminal enterprise, expanding from drug trafficking to fuel theft, extortion, human smuggling, and complex financial frauds. The cartel pioneered use of drones in attacks against civilians in remote regions of western Mexico as part of its rapid territorial expansion.

Sunday’s raid was one of Mexico’s highest profile blows against drug gangs responsible for smuggling billions of dollars of drugs – including fentanyl – into the U.S. In recent years, the leaders of the rival Sinaloa Cartel – Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman and Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada- were captured alive. Both are now in U.S. prisons.
President Donald Trump’s administration lauded El Mencho’s killing, but domestic violence it triggered highlighted the political balancing act Sheinbaum must strike as her government escalates its cartel offensive.
On Sunday, Sheinbaum stressed that activities in most areas of the country were proceeding as usual. Schools in various states across Mexico protectively canceled classes for Monday, according to announcements by state-level education departments.
Security experts were watching whether the raid and death of the cartel boss will fracture CJNG leadership and trigger bloody infighting.
“There will definitely be skirmishes between the various factions, and these spasms of violence could last for years,” said Carlos Olivo, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge and an expert in CJNG.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexican-drug-lord-el-mencho-killed-military-operation-government-source-2026-02-22/

Iran has indicated it is prepared to make concessions on its nuclear programme in talks with the U.S. in return for the lifting of sanctions and recognition of its right to enrich uranium, as it seeks to avert a U.S. attack.
Both sides remain sharply divided — even over the scope and sequencing of relief from crippling U.S. sanctions — following two rounds of talks, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

However, Reuters is reporting for the first time that Iran is offering fresh concessions since their talks ended last week, when the sides appeared far apart and heading closer to military conflict. Analysts say the move suggests Tehran is trying to keep diplomacy alive and stave off a major U.S. strike.
The official said Tehran would seriously consider a combination of sending half of its most highly enriched uranium abroad, diluting the rest and taking part in creating a regional enrichment consortium – an idea periodically raised in years of Iran-linked diplomacy.
Iran would do this in return for U.S. recognition of Iran’s right to “peaceful nuclear enrichment” under a deal that would also include lifting economic sanctions, the official said.

In addition, Iran has offered openings for U.S. companies to participate as contractors in Iran’s large oil and gas industries, the official said, in negotiations to resolve decades of dispute over Tehran’s nuclear activities.
“Within the economic package under negotiation, the United States has also been offered opportunities for serious investment and tangible economic interests in Iran’s oil industry,” the official said.
The White House did not respond immediately to queries on the issue.
Washington views enrichment inside Iran as a potential pathway to nuclear weapons. Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons and wants its right to enrich uranium to be recognised.
Iran and the United States resumed negotiations earlier this month as the U.S. builds up its military capability in the Middle East. Iran has threatened to strike U.S. bases in the region if it is attacked.

The Iranian official said the most recent discussions underscored the gap between the two sides, but stressed that “the possibility of reaching an interim agreement exists” as negotiations continue.

IRAN SEEKS ‘LOGICAL TIMETABLE’ FOR LIFTING SANCTIONS

“The last round of talks showed that U.S. ideas regarding the scope and mechanism of sanctions relief differ from Iran’s demands. Both sides need to reach a logical timetable for lifting sanctions,” the official said.
“This roadmap must be reasonable and based on mutual interests.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday he expects to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff in Geneva on Thursday, adding there is still “a good chance” of a diplomatic solution.
Araqchi said on Friday that he expected to have a draft counterproposal ready within days, while Trump said he was considering limited military strikes.

Citing officials on both sides and diplomats across the Gulf and Europe, Reuters reported on Friday that Tehran and Washington are sliding rapidly towards military conflict as hopes fade for a diplomatic settlement.
On Sunday, Witkoff said the president was curious as to why Iran has not yet “capitulated” and agreed to curb its nuclear programme.
“Why, under this pressure, with the amount of seapower and naval power over there, why haven’t they come to us and said, ‘We profess we don’t want a weapon, so here’s what we’re prepared to do’? And yet it’s sort of hard to get them to that place,” Witkoff said on Fox News.

READINESS TO COMPROMISE ON NUCLEAR WORK

Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Iran’s leadership is seeking to buy time via the talks.
“Iran will use that time for various reasons, including to avoid a strike and to harden nuclear, missile, and military facilities,” he said.
While rejecting a U.S. demand for “zero enrichment” – a major sticking point in past negotiations – Tehran has signalled its readiness to compromise on its nuclear work.
Washington has also demanded that Iran relinquish its stockpile of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The International Atomic Energy Agency last year estimated that stockpile at more than 440 kg of uranium enriched to up to 60% fissile purity, a small step away from the 90% that is considered weapons grade.
Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, told Al Jazeera TV that Iran was ready to allow extensive IAEA monitoring to prove it is not seeking nuclear weapons.
The agency has been calling on Iran for months to allow for inspection of three nuclear sites that were struck by the U.S. in June last year at the close of a 12-day Israeli bombing campaign. Since then, Tehran has said its uranium enrichment work has stopped.
Satellite images show that Iran has advanced work at a location reportedly bombed by Israel last year, recently building a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covering it in soil, experts say.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-us-diverge-views-sanctions-relief-senior-iranian-official-reuters-2026-02-22/

Hundreds of people marched through the streets of Verona a few hours before the Olympics closing ceremony to protest against housing costs and environmental concerns linked to the Winter Games.
The rally, “Olympics? No thanks”, was organised by university groups and associations that oppose hosting an event they say disrupts forests, pours concrete onto fragile land and deepens social inequality.

“We are here to defend our territory from speculation… and from the impossible cost of attending events,” said Giannina Dal Bosco, a 76‑year‑old activist.

Tickets for the ceremony were priced from 950 euros ($1,120) to a top level of 2,900 euros. It started at 8:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) inside Verona’s ancient Roman arena.
One banner read: “Fewer Games for the few, more homes for everyone.”
Francesca, 34, who travelled from Vicenza, about 60 km (40 miles) away, said the landscape had been “disfigured” by new Olympic structures.
“They built concrete monstrosities like the bobsleigh track, which will serve no purpose,” she said. “Public money has been wasted that could have been used for hydrogeological safety and housing plans.”
Several protesters wore keffiyeh scarves and waved Palestinian flags.

Protesters marched for around two hours outside the security perimeter, from the 16th‑century Porta Palio to the 19th‑century Arsenal Square.
They briefly stopped at the point closest to the red zone, unsuccessfully asking to be allowed inside. Before the march moved on, activists painted the words “FIVE CIRCLES, A THOUSAND DEBTS” in large letters on the road.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/sports/hundreds-protest-verona-ahead-games-closing-ceremony-2026-02-22/

The European Commission demanded on Sunday that the United States stick to the terms of an EU-U.S. trade deal reached last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s global tariffs and he responded with new levies across the board.
The Commission, which negotiates trade policy on behalf of the 27 EU member states, said Washington must provide “full clarity” on the steps it intends to take following the court ruling.

After the court struck down Trump’s global tariffs on Friday, the U.S. president announced temporary, across-the-board tariffs of 10%, which he then hiked to 15% a day later.
“The current situation is not conducive to delivering ‘fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial’ transatlantic trade and investment, as agreed to by both sides” in the joint statement setting out the terms of last year’s trade agreement, the Commission said. “A deal is a deal.”
The comments were far more strongly worded than the Commission’s initial response on Friday, which had said only that it was studying the outcome of the Supreme Court decision and keeping in contact with the U.S. administration.

Last year’s trade deal set a 15% U.S. tariff rate for most EU goods, apart from those covered by other sectoral tariffs such as on steel. It also allowed zero tariffs on some products such as aircraft and spare parts. The EU agreed to remove import duties on many U.S. goods and withdrew a threat to retaliate with higher levies.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/eu-says-it-will-accept-no-increase-us-tariffs-after-supreme-court-ruling-a-deal-2026-02-22/

The US space agency has said an issue with fuel supply is the culprit, though the source of the problem has not yet been found. The scheduled flyby is to be the first manned mission to the moon in five decades.

The US space agency NASA on Saturday announced that an issue with the flow of helium to the upper stages of its SLS rocket has left engineers with no option but to again postpone the launch of the agency’s first manned moon mission in 50 years.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said that a bad filter, valve or connector plate could have stalled helium flow, explaining that the 322-foot-tall (98-meter) rocket would have to be rolled back into the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida to allow specialists to track down the source of the problem.

“We will begin preparations for rollback, and this will take the March launch window out of consideration,” Isaacman said via X. NASA’s next opportunity will likely come in April.

Artemis moon mission delayed after rocket issue

The Artemis 2 mission had been most recently scheduled for launch on March 6. It was intended to send three US and one Canadian astronaut into lunar orbit during a 10-day flight.

“I understand people are disappointed by this development,” said Isaacman. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”

NASA says this latest issue is not related to hydrogen fuel leaks that marred a countdown dress rehearsal of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket earlier this month.

The Artemis program has completed one unmanned lunar orbiting mission to date and has been plagued by similar technical issues.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/us-technical-issues-force-nasa-to-postpone-moon-mission/a-76075479

Ecuador released 158 juveniles in the first phase of an ambitious rewilding effort at the World Heritage Site.

Nearly 150 years after giant tortoises vanished from Floreana Island in Ecuador’s Galapagos archipelago, the species has made a long‑anticipated return.

Ecuadorian authorities this week released 158 juvenile tortoises, each between 8 and 13 years old. The release is the first phase of a larger plan to reintroduce 700 animals to the island.

“For the first time in over a century, Floreana is once again home to giant tortoises, a species that plays a strategic role as ecosystem engineers: seed dispersers, vegetation regulators, and promoters of natural habitat regeneration,” the environment ministry said Friday.

Genetic link to the original species

The young tortoises carry between 40% and 80% of the genetic makeup of “Chelonoidis niger,” the species that disappeared in the 19th century due to invasive mammals, whaling, fire and human exploitation.

According to the ministry, the juveniles were bred at a Galapagos National Park facility using animals with strong genetic ties to Floreana’s lost lineage. Officials hope the long‑term resettlement effort will eventually restore the original species profile on the island.

National Geographic identifies 13 living species of Galapagos tortoises on other islands in the archipelago. Adults can weigh more than 250 kilograms (550 pounds), and the oldest known individual lived to age 175.

Returning to a changed landscape

Officials say the timing of the release is favorable, with seasonal rains creating conditions that will help the tortoises adjust to their new environment.

The tortoises will now share Floreana with a small human population and a diverse range of native wildlife. They will also face threats from invasive species, which conservationists say remain a major challenge.

Floreana resident Veronica Mora said seeing the tortoises return was deeply meaningful for the community.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/giant-tortoises-reintroduced-to-a-galapagos-island/a-76072073

The political drama by Oscar nominee Ilker Catak took the top award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

The Golden Bear, the Berlin International Film Festival’s top prize, was awarded on Saturday to the political drama “Yellow Letters,” by German director Ilker Catak. His previous film, “The Teachers’ Lounge” (2023) was nominated for an Oscar.

Starring Tansu Bicer in the role of a playwright and Ozgu Namal as a famous actress, “Yellow Letters” follows the married artists whose relationship is tested as they get caught in the state’s crosshairs.

The allegory on authoritarian oppression is set in contemporary Turkey, but was shot in Germany, with Berlin and Hamburg taking on the roles of Ankara and Istanbul.

“Yellow Letters” was decidedly the most political of all 22 works in the main competition, an apt conclusion to an event overshadowed by political debates — starting with the festival’s opening press conference, when jury president Wim Wenders said that filmmakers “have to stay out of politics.”

But presenting the award, Wenders also commended the way the film spoke up “very clearly about the political language of totalitarianism as opposed to the empathetic language cinema.”

In his acceptance speech, Catak noted that the autocrats of this world are the ones we should be opposing, not the artists with diverse political opinions: “Let’s not fight each other, let’s fight them,” he said.

A festival reflecting ‘a polarized world’

“This Berlinale took place in a world that feels raw and fractured,” said festival director Tricia Tuttle at the opening of the gala on Saturday, immediately referring to the polarized political debates that went viral during the event, including an open letter that criticized the festival’s “silence” on Gaza.

Tuttle acknowledged that criticism plays an important role in a democracy, and recognized the courage of those who voice their opinions publicly. Criticism is “good for us — even if it didn’t always feel good,” she added.

Before announcing the winners of the Golden and Silver Bears, jury president Wim Wenders also reacted to the controversy in a speech that noted the contrasting roles of social media, which has an “affective language,” and cinema’s long-form storytelling, which has the enduring power to transmit empathy.

The winners of the Silver Bears

The festival’s second top award, the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize, went to Emin Alper’s “Salvation,” another timely exploration of the mechanisms behind politically-driven mass murders and massacres.

In his acceptance speech, Alper shared words of solidarity with the people suffering in Gaza, the protesters in Iran, the Kurdish people fighting for their rights, and his fellow Turks imprisoned for their political beliefs: “You are not alone,” he said to all of them.

The Silver Bear Jury Prize recognized Lance Hammer’s “Queen at Sea,” a drama on dementia starring Juliette Binoche, as well as Tom Courtenay and Anna Calder-Marshall, whose heart-breaking performances as a husband and wife were also recognized with the Silver Bear for Best Supporting Performance.

Grant Gee took the Silver Bear for Best Director for “Everybody Digs Bill Evans,” a stylish biopic on the iconic jazz pianist.

Sandra Hüller’s stunning performance in “Rose,” as a woman passing as a man in the 17th century earned her the Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance.

Canadian director Genevieve Dulude-De Celles took the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay for “Nina Roza.”

“Yo (Love is a Rebellious Bird),” a playful documentary on a special friendship between two creative women, won the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

Palestinian director wins debut film award

The Perspectives section, introduced last year by Tricia Tuttle as she became the new director of the festival, focuses on debut features.

The GWFF Best First Feature Award went to Palestinian director Abdallah Alkhatib for “Chronicles From a Siege.”

A refugee in Germany, Alkhatib said in his acceptance speech that even though some people warned him against criticizing the German government, he nevertheless asked why the country accepted to be “partners of the genocide in Gaza by Israel. I believe you are intelligent enough to recognize this, but you choose not to care,” he said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/berlinale-yellow-letters-wins-the-golden-bear-award/a-76072428

Russian authorities say divers have recovered the bodies of seven Chinese tourists and a Russian driver who died after their mini-bus plunged under the ice to the bottom of Lake Baikal in Siberia.

Irkutsk regional Governor Igor Kobzev offered his “deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims”. He earlier said one Chinese tourist had managed to escape.

The depth at the site of Friday’s accident was 18m (59ft), and the divers had to use underwater cameras to search for the bodies.

Baikal – the world’s deepest lake with a maximum depth of 1,642m (5,387ft) – is a popular tourist destination. It often freezes during harsh winters and has seen a number of deadly accidents over the years.

The bus fell into three-metre-wide ice fissure on Friday, Kobzev said in a post on Telegram.

“I would like to remind you once again that going out onto Lake Baikal’s ice is not just prohibited right now. It’s mortally dangerous,” the governor said, urging tourists to use only official tour operators.

He added that all the Chinese tourists – including a 14-year-old child – had travelled independently.

A criminal investigation into the cause of the tragedy is now under way.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czd8y96mldyo

Bruce Mouat’s rink were unable to end a 102-year wait for a men’s Winter Olympic curling gold – and vanquish their own disappointment from 2022 – as Canada denied Team GB a fourth gold medal of this year’s Games.

Mouat, Grant Hardie, Hammy McMillan and Bobby Lammie – plus alternate Kyle Waddell – arrived in Cortina as world champions and favourites.

They arrived believing this was their time. But they will leave as silver medallists for the second successive Olympics.

Left bereft by defeat against Sweden in the final in Beijing four years ago, the Scottish quartet have come to dominate their sport since.

The past 10 days in Italy have not been straightforward, though.

They were on the brink of a shock early exit as recently as Thursday and, while they recovered to guarantee a medal, they did not get the one they really wanted as they lost 9-6. It was the second time the Canadians had beaten them in five days.

“I’m a bit in shock. I think we felt like we were the better team. I don’t know what to say,” a tear-choked Mouat told BBC Sport.

Nasa has said that its 6 March launch day for its long-awaited lunar mission is now “out of consideration”, after it spotted several last minute issues during routine checks that would prevent lift off.

On Friday, the space agency said that its Artemis II mission, which would see astronauts sent to the moon for the first time in 50 years, would likely have the green light to launch within a matter of weeks.

But NASA administrator Jared Isaacman announced on Saturday that setbacks would mean that further maintenance would have to be carried out.

Four astronauts are preparing to be sent on the 10-day trip to the far side of the Moon and back, marking humanity’s furthest ever journey into space.

Isaacman said he understood “that people are disappointed by this development”, after almost 50-hours of checks on Thursday revealed no faults.

The agency felt almost certain that its “wet rehearsal” had been a success, leading the team to announce that the launch could take place as soon as 6 March.

But overnight on Friday, engineers observed an interruption in the flow of helium required for launch operations.

Disruption to helium, which is used to pressurise fuel tanks and cool rocket systems, is treated as a serious technical issue, according to Nasa.

The test was the scientists’ second attempt at a practice run at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, having fixed earlier issues with filters and seals that had led to hydrogen leaks.

The rocket was fuelled with around 730,000 ​gallons of propellant over several hours on Thursday, with the team stating that the simulation felt like “a big step in us earning our right to fly”.

But space missions are often fraught with setbacks, Isaaman said, highlighting that Neil Armstrong’s 1966 Gemini 8 mission ended prematurely due to a technical issue, before his historic moon landing three years later.

Three US astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut, Jeremy Hanse, are due to take off in the mega Moon rocket, which will allow them several hours to study the moon’s surface up close.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c626v265zqlo

Cat Day, which is set on Feb 22 in Japan, has exploded in recent years, with companies embracing a growing market for felines, says Gearoid Reidy for Bloomberg Opinion.

Much of Asia was celebrating the Year of the Horse this week. In Japan, which does not mark Lunar New Year, attention turns to a different animal.

There is no cat in the Chinese zodiac – legend has it that the rat tricked it out of a place – but Japan has a day that more than makes up for it.

Sunday (Feb 22) is Neko no Hi, or Cat Day, with 2/22 able to be read in Japanese like a feline “meow”. Established in the late 1980s by the Japan Pet Food Association, it’s one of many commemorative days based on wordplay – such as Good Couple’s Day (Nov 22) or Mayonnaise Day (rapidly approaching on Mar 1; don’t forget the mayonnaise lover in your life).

In recent years, Cat Day has exploded, as companies embrace a growing market for felines. The ubiquitous convenience store chains compete to see who can sell the most themed desserts and merchandise, this year featuring paw-shaped puddings; while the likes of energy giant Eneos Holdings are looking to hook customers with a fully-electrified cardboard tower.

“NEKONOMICS”

The economic impact from the animals is very real. Kansai University Professor Emeritus Katsuhiro Miyamoto, who publishes an annual report on “Nekonomics” (Neko means cat in Japanese), estimates it at nearly 3 trillion yen (US$19.5 billion) annually.

I have always been a cat person, but when I arrived here nearly 25 years ago, Japan was firmly dog territory – home of the famed Hachiko, the loyal dog who waited in vain at Shibuya station for a decade hoping for his deceased master’s return. Pet stores devoted far more shelf space for dogs, and foreign-language coverage was fixated on “pampered pooches”, usually correlated with the country’s low birth rate. In reality, Japan was simply early. For example, American’s spending on their “fur babies” more than doubled from 2010 to 2023.

But when pet cats first outnumbered dogs in Japan in 2014 – a trend that has continued to accelerate – big business started to notice. The change is usually attributed to the shifting demographics: An ageing population and increased flow of people to cramped urban centres means less time and space to keep dogs that need to be walked.

A “PURR-FECT” HISTORY

It’s no surprise that Japan should become cat country. The relationship with them stretches back centuries, with the oldest written record said to date to Emperor Uda in 889. In his diary, the Kanpyo Gyoki, he raved about his pet’s lustrous fur and prowess in catching mice.

“When he curls up, he is as small as a grain of millet, but when he stretches out he is long, like a drawn bow,” he wrote, describing the creature moving silently “like a black dragon above the clouds”.

They were seemingly common in the Imperial Court. The first named cat was Myobu no Otodo, a title usually given to a lady of the Heian court, who belonged to Emperor Ichijo around the year 1000. The animal is detailed in Sei Shonagon’s The Pillow Book under the title “Adorable Things”, which relates the story of a time it ran to the Emperor’s lap for protection from a dog that was chasing it.

The creatures have been interlinked with the culture ever since, from ukiyo-e paintings to the famed manekineko beckoning cats of good fortune of Gotokuji Temple. One of the country’s most famous novels is Natsume Soseki’s I Am A Cat, published in 1906 and told from the perspective of a feline narrator.

And of course there is one of its top exports, Hello Kitty – though, let’s not get into the contentious argument over whether she is actually a feline or not.

Flash forward to the modern day and you have Maru, who once held a Guinness Record for the most viewed animal on YouTube and for whom no box was too small to squeeze into (Maru sadly passed away last year).

Tama, the country’s first cat stationmaster, is credited with saving the rural Kishigawa Line in Wakayama, which was facing the threat of closure before it became a tourist attraction. And the nation’s many cat islands, with their population of stray felines, are becoming popular with foreign visitors.

DECLINE OF THE CAT BOOM?

The next logical step is for a national cat – a counterpart of the Downing Street mouser Larry, to whom Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi recently bestowed a gift of toys and treats during the visit of UK leader Keir Starmer.

The current Emperor’s family has two rescue cats, Mimi and Seven, though the privacy afforded the Imperial household means the public rarely sees them.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/commentary/japan-cat-day-feb-22-pet-industry-5942546

No cases of the Nipah virus infection have been reported in Singapore in connection with the outbreak in West Bengal or the case in Bangladesh.

Singapore will cease Nipah virus temperature screenings at the airport and seaports from Monday (Feb 23), progressively easing some measures as the outbreak in India stabilises.

No cases of the Nipah virus have been reported in Singapore in connection with the outbreak in West Bengal or the case in Bangladesh, the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Friday.

“The Nipah virus situation in West Bengal has stabilised, with no new cases reported. No human-to-human Nipah virus transmission has been detected in Bangladesh,” CDA said, adding that it will remain vigilant against the virus even as Singapore returns to baseline surveillance levels.

Authorities will also stop disseminating Nipah virus health advisories for travellers at Singapore’s points of entry.

Measures are being eased less than a month after heightened measures were announced, including temperature screening for travellers arriving on flights from areas where Nipah virus outbreaks have been reported.

To maintain surveillance levels, however, the virus will continue to be covered by the SG Arrival health declarations and the Maritime Declaration of Health.

The Ministry of Manpower will maintain the current surveillance measures at the onboard centre for newly arrived migrant workers.

“Workers are consistently reminded to adopt precautionary measures against Nipah virus, practise good hygiene, and to seek care when unwell,” said CDA.

Doctors will be reminded to continue to be vigilant for Nipah virus infections in patients with compatible symptoms and recent travel history to affected areas. Medical practitioners and laboratories are required to notify CDA immediately of all confirmed and suspect cases.

“CDA will closely monitor the global NiV (Nipah virus infection) situation and stands ready to adjust public health measures should new information indicate an increased public health risk to Singapore,” the agency added.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapore/nipah-virus-public-health-measures-ease-cda-feb-23-5942581

The provincial livestock office in Chiang Mai said that testing detected the highly infectious canine distemper virus as well as bacteria affecting the respiratory system.

A deadly virus and bacterial infection have killed at least 72 tigers at a private animal park in Thailand’s north in recent weeks, authorities said.

The provincial livestock office in Chiang Mai said in a statement on Friday (Feb 20) that testing detected the highly infectious canine distemper virus as well as bacteria affecting the respiratory system.

“When tigers fall ill, it is more difficult to detect than in animals like cats or dogs. By the time we realised they were sick, it was already too late,” Somchuan Ratanamungklanon, director of the national livestock department, told local media.

The park where the deaths occurred, Tiger Kingdom, could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Its website advertises a chance for visitors to touch and take photos with the big cats.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/thailand-chiang-mai-tigers-dead-virus-5944276

A MAN who lived on Jeffrey Epstein’s Zorro Ranch as a teenager fears the financier could have gotten away with burying girls on the property, following a disturbing email claim in recent document dumps.

Ean Royal, 28, lived in a house away from the main mansion at the New Mexico estate with his father, who had worked as Epstein’s ranch hand for more than a decade.

Although he says they never witnessed any criminal activity, claiming some staff were “kept in the dark,” he feels the size and layout of the estate would make it an easy place to cover up a murder.

Royal recalls a “cold” interaction with the pedophile, who later banned him from bringing friends on the ranch, when he was “hiding out” at the property as he faced more scrutiny following his 2008 plea deal.

The deal allowed him to plead guilty to state prostitution charges in Florida instead of federal sex trafficking charges, resulting in just 13 months in county jail with work release.

Royal’s father eventually quit, overwhelmed by the workload, and he says they were left “sickened” when they learned the truth about his crimes.

This month, New Mexico authorities reopened a criminal investigation into Zorro Ranch, following the public release of previously sealed FBI files and other materials.

The state’s Attorney General, Raul Torrez, said investigators are reviewing documents and seeking survivor testimony to determine what illegal activity may have occurred on the sprawling property.

According to reports, key evidence and witnesses, including former ranch staff, were never fully interviewed.

The investigation comes after a disturbing claim surfaced in the Epstein files in a redacted 2019 email, which alleged that two “foreign girls” were buried on Epstein’s orders somewhere in the hills outside his Zorro Ranch after dying “by strangulation during rough, fetish sex.”

The message was sent to New Mexico radio host Eddy Aragon by someone claiming to be a former ranch employee.

Aragon believed the email was legitimate and reported it to the FBI, but the anonymous allegation has not been independently verified.

The New Mexico Department of Justice has requested an unredacted copy of the email as part of its renewed investigation into activities at the ranch.

In an exclusive interview with The U.S. Sun, Royal expressed his horror at seeing the email after living on the ranch, which consists of roughly 7,000 acres of desert and rolling hills south of Santa Fe.

The lavish estate includes a main mansion, guest houses, a private airstrip, stables, and multiple smaller residences, as well as extensive roads and trails throughout the property.

Talking about the chilling claim of victims possibly being buried, Royal said, “I don’t know if people have actually looked at this ranch to really see the size of it.

“It’s a lot of acreage, with roads running through it.

“I’ve been around on the four-wheeler and taken my time driving around and seeing its vastness. The thing is huge.

“He could, just logically speaking, if he really wanted to [bury someone], he had the space and the ability. He could have done it, no problem.

“It is very sickening. It’s ridiculous to even think about that.”

But Royal feels investigators may never know the truth about the rumor, as it’s impossible to dig up the entire property.

“It is crazy that they never searched the place. The fact that they didn’t do anything soon enough is a problem.

“All of the investigative stuff happening now is long overdue.”

“All of the investigative stuff happening now is long overdue. We’re late to the party. They didn’t do their job the first time they were there.

“Now it seems like they’re trying to backpedal and do the right thing.

“It’s almost like they’re doing it for public opinion, not for justice, and that’s a problem.

“It’s a waste of money and time without an understanding of what actually went down.

“If they’re going to spend millions of dollars looking for something, they don’t even know what they’re looking for.

NEW INVESTIGATION

“They should be putting the money into investigations, finding the people, and holding them accountable. We need the people. We don’t need the property.”

New Mexico shelved its initial investigation into the ranch in 2019 upon request from federal prosecutors in New York.

Epstein, who died by suicide in a Manhattan jail in 2019, faced no charges in the state.

Zorro Ranch is now the subject of a “truth commission” as politicians passed a law committing to a $2.5 million investigation into what went on at the paedophile’s property.

It is tasked with uncovering who knew what, and who may have taken part, in alleged abuse at the property.

But Royal feels it is not going to be easy for investigators – and they may never get the answers they’re looking for.

The so-called truth commission will talk to survivors of alleged sexual abuse at the sprawling property and is urging locals to come forward with any information.

It seeks to identify guests who stayed at the ranch who may know what happened, or who may have taken part in alleged sexual abuse there.

Epstein abused teenage girls and young women on the property for years, according to countless testimonies from victims.

The remote estate – bought in 1993 – has long been shrouded in mystery, with newly released files and photographs offering rare glimpses of life there.

Royal feels it’s important to fully interview everyone who worked at the ranch, including maids who cleaned up after guests left.

The U.S. Sun understands the main ranch managers, Brice and Karen Gordon, have returned to their native New Zealand, while other staff members have died or are hard to track down.

The Gordons worked on the ranch from around 2003 until at least 2020, when they were named in a police report following a break-in.

They have never spoken out publicly, and attempts to contact them have proved unsuccessful.

Royal says he and his father, who we have chosen not to name, were kept in the dark about the abuse that went on at the main house, but they have never been contacted by authorities.

The Gordons, along with other staff, were interviewed by the FBI in late 2006 and early 2007 as part of an investigation into allegations involving Epstein’s “masseuses.”

One document, released by the US Justice Department, shows Brice told the FBI that there were five to six full-time staff at the ranch, as well as some seasonal employees.

He claimed Epstein only spent around 50 days a year there, mostly in the summer.

The names given for the staff who sourced the masseuses are redacted, but Brice claimed, “the masseuses are all checked out and that they are professionals who are licensed massage therapists.”

FBI DENIED ACCESS

Per the notes in the document, he said the FBI would need to visit “the office” to meet another employee, whose name is also redacted, to obtain the records.

However, investigators soon hit a dead end when they drove to the ranch.

“Upon arriving at the office and greeting [redacted], [redacted] received a phone call from the ‘main office’ that told him they were no longer allowed to speak with us. The interview was immediately ended.”

Nobody has ever claimed to have seen the Gordons involved in any criminal activity.

A 2019 tip from a retired officer, featured in the Epstein files, warned that a suspicious barn on the property with a chimney might also conceal an incinerator used to destroy evidence – concerns reportedly raised to the FBI around the time of Epstein’s arrest.

Although Royal and his father are unaware of the barn, he believes Epstein, his “madam” Ghislaine Maxwell and co-conspirators could have destroyed evidence.

Various high-profile individuals were reported to have visited the ranch when Epstein owned it, including Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.

The former prince was released under investigation after 11 hours in custody on suspicion of misconduct in a public office this week.

He has always denied any wrongdoing, while King Charles vowed to wholeheartedly cooperate with cops.

An ex-housekeeper at the property, Deidre Stratton, previously said she served him and a mystery woman at the ranch.

She told the podcast, EPSTEIN: Devil in the Darkness, that the royal was kept company by the woman who asked for herbal tea to make the prince “horny.”

Royal also recalls his meeting with Epstein at the property, who questioned who he was after stumbling across him and a friend on the grounds.

He said, “I had my friend Chris with me, had him out to the ranch, behind the house that my father and I were living in.

“We’d skateboard on these concrete slabs, and we were walking to one when we bumped into him randomly. He asked who I was. I had no idea who he was at the time.

“It was like, ‘Hey, how are you? Who are you?’ just trying to figure out who I was in relation to who was on the ranch.

“His disposition was pretty cold. It wasn’t like a happy dude talking to me.

“I later had a conversation with my dad about the interaction and what was going on, and I think this was when the first things were coming out about Epstein.

“He was showing signs of being paranoid because he was like, ‘Who’s on this ranch right now?’ A lot of stuff was starting to build up on him.”

He recalls a day or so after his interaction with Epstein, his dad told him the billionaire had banned him from bringing friends onto the property.

“My dad’s like, ‘Only when he’s here, though, I don’t really care. It’s not a big deal for you to bring your friends. But when he’s here, just do it, because obviously I want to keep my job.’”

He described Epstein as intelligent and secretive, with rumors swirling locally for years about who even owned Zorro Ranch.

Royal said it was around 2012 when they moved off the ranch after his dad quit amid work pressure and the situation with Epstein facing further scrutiny.

He recalled, “Epstein was basically on the ranch for extended periods of time.

“He was basically on the ranch for, like, 30 days plus, which is not something he would ever do, right? Because of all of the things that were going on.

“So, I guess you could say, for lack of better words, maybe he was hiding out, just trying to keep his space from reporters.

“It’s an easy place to go, and you’re just in his position, ‘I need to get away from this.’

“He can’t even go out and fly away from New Mexico, because people know what’s going on. He was basically almost, in a way, trapped there.

“But during that time, my dad was actually tasked with more work than he is used to. He was getting upset.”

Royal said his dad also lived on the ranch with his partner, and they decided to leave.

“It just steamrolled into this whole thing, and then add in all of the external pressure of everything that was happening, and they just eventually said, ‘No, we’re gonna quit, we’re done with this.’

“Brice and Karen were actually afraid that my dad and [his partner] were gonna sue the ranch, even though they had no particular care about that. They just wanted to leave. They wanted to separate themselves because it was blowing up.”

The lavish property is now owned by Texas businessman Don Huffines and his family, who renamed it San Rafael Ranch.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15974772/epstein-zorro-ranch-girls-killed-buried-investigation/

ARROGANT Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor tried to talk himself out of trouble by begging, “I’m the Queen’s second son, you can’t do this to me,” as he was kicked out of Royal Lodge.

The ex-prince’s desperate plea came when he was evicted from the Windsor mansion to Sandringham.

A royal insider told The Sun on Sunday: “He refused to leave or take any responsibility.

“When he was told to get out he was so arrogant and deluded he repeatedly shouted, ‘But I’m the Queen’s second son, you can’t do this to me’.

“It is extraordinary he chose to use the Queen’s name in his defence. No one is quite sure if the reality of his dire situation has hit home even yet.”

Another insider admitted the talks were tense as Andrew made it clear he “did not want to leave”.

He was often thought to be Queen Elizabeth II’s favourite child but there are now claims he was her “blind spot”.

Talks were held for months to ease out him and ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, with the battle dubbed the Siege of Royal Lodge.

Andrew was arrested on Thursday, his 66th birthday, on suspicion of misconduct in a public office, related to his time as UK trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.

We can reveal a South London lock-up could become a focus of the police inquiry as some of his Royal Lodge possessions were taken there for storage last month.

The unit, which may also hold Andrew’s vast collection of teddy bears, is protected round-the-clock by guards and CCTV.

Yesterday it emerged an 11th police force — Hampshire Constabulary — is assessing information after the Jeffrey Epstein files revealed the paedo’s private jet flew in and out of Lasham Airfield, Farnborough.

The ex-RAF airstrip is mentioned more than 80 times in the files.

In September 2012, when asked if his jet was in London or Paris, Epstein tells his pilot Larry Visoki: “Yes London, Lasham field, by Farnborough”.

The Hampshire force said: “We take all matters of this nature seriously and will ensure any material brought to our attention is considered thoroughly and appropriately.”

Other forces are looking into allegations Epstein’s plane, dubbed the Lolita Express, landed at airports in their areas.

Yesterday a Waitrose van turned up at Wood Farm, Sandringham, where Andrew is staying before his retirement to Marsh Farm.

In King’s Lynn, two of his security men were seen carrying boxes of lager and Sainsbury’s groceries, including Soba chilli cup noodles.

It is understood the King is privately funding Andrew’s exile and home as he did not want to burden anyone else.

His younger brother has yet to comment on his eviction, or arrest by Thames Valley Police.

Some insiders say Andrew does not have the funds for his retirement after not being able to work or get Sovereign Grant money since stepping down from official duty in 2019 after his Newsnight interview.

But he is entitled to receive an annual £7,000 State Pension after turning 66 on Thursday.

The King was working at Windsor Castle on Friday but is said to be having a “private weekend”.

The Royal Family are expected to continue with planned engagements this week while Andrew remains under police investigation.

Yesterday the Princess of Wales attended the England v Ireland Six Nations game at Twickenham, as patron of the Rugby Football League — her first appearance since Andrew’s arrest.

He was questioned for up to ten hours at Aylsham police station in Norfolk, with the King saying: “The law must take its course.” Andrew was released on Thursday evening, with pictures showing him stunned and slumped in the back of a car.

He now faces losing his place as eighth in line to the throne.

The King finally forced him out of Royal Lodge in October after The Sun on Sunday revealed he had lied when claiming to have cut off contact with Epstein.

Sources deny it is a case of “Keep calm, carry on” for the royals, but point to the King’s written statement issued within hours of Andrew’s arrest.

Charles wrote: “My family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”

A public broadcast addressing the Andrew crisis has not been ruled out but one is not currently being planned, it is understood.

Aides believe it best for royals to maintain a full working diary.

A string of engagements are due amid the police investigation.

Next month the King will host the President of Nigeria at Windsor Castle, with Kate and William expected to attend.

The royals are expected out in force for an Easter Sunday service at the castle.

There will be commemorations marking what would have been Queen Elizabeth II’s 100th birthday on April 21.

That month Charles and Camilla are to fly to Washington DC to meet US President Donald Trump.

Royal expert Sandro Monetti said: “The dark shadow of Epstein looms large over the royal visit to the US honouring the 250th anniversary of American independence.”

Andrew has always denied allegations related to sex abuse accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/royals/15982188/arrogant-andrew-queens-second-son/

After siding with President Donald Trump in two dozen cases in the past year in ways that boosted his power and let him quickly transform U.S. policies on immigration, military service, federal employment and beyond, the U.S. Supreme Court finally reached its limit.
The court on Friday upended one of Trump’s top priorities in his second term as president, deciding in a blockbuster ruling, that his imposition of sweeping global tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner exceeded his powers under federal law.

The ruling, authored by conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, did not waffle in its scope or effect, or leave questions about the legality of the tariffs to another day. It unswervingly struck them down, making no mention of the consequences for refunds, trade deals or the Republican president himself.

‘LEGAL COVER’

In doing so, the court also reasserted its role as a check on the other branches of government including the president, after a year when numerous critics and legal scholars had increasingly voiced doubts.
“The court has shown it will not necessarily provide legal cover for every plank of Trump’s platform,” said Peter Shane, an expert in constitutional law and the presidency at New York University School of Law.

The justices in the 6-3 decision upheld a lower court’s ruling that Trump’s use of a 1977 law called the International Emergency Economic Powers Act – or IEEPA – did not grant him the power he claimed to impose tariffs, something no president had previously tried to do under the statute.
In no uncertain terms, Roberts wrote in the ruling that Trump’s argument that a particular phrase in the law’s text gave him power to impose tariffs was wrong.
“Our task today is to decide only whether the power to “regulate … importation,” as granted to the president in IEEPA, embraces the power to impose tariffs. It does not,” Roberts wrote.
“The decision shows that the Supreme Court is serious about policing the scope of power delegated to the president by Congress,” said Jonathan Adler, a professor at William & Mary Law School in Virginia.

“The president cannot just pour new wine out of old bottles,” Adler added. “If there are problems current statutes do not address, the president must ask Congress for a newer vintage.”
The court has a 6-3 conservative majority, but the ruling was not split along ideological lines. Roberts and fellow conservative justices Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – both appointed by Trump in his first term – joined the court’s three liberal members to strike down his tariffs. Three other conservative justices dissented.
Trump pulled no punches in rejoinder, casting the decision in extraordinarily personal terms and reserving special wrath for the Republican appointees including his own who ruled against him, calling them “fools” and “lapdogs” for Democrats.
“They’re very unpatriotic and disloyal to our Constitution,” Trump told reporters, adding, “It’s my opinion that the court has been swayed by foreign interests.”

EMERGENCY REQUESTS

For most of 2025, the Supreme Court in case after case sided with Trump’s emergency requests to lift orders by lower-court judges blocking some of his boldest policies, while litigation challenging them played out.
Those actions on the court’s so-called emergency – or “shadow” – docket are usually handled without extensive briefing or oral arguments, in contrast with the court’s regular work where cases are assessed over months before a definitive ruling is issued. The tariffs case was argued in November.
Acting in 28 cases on an emergency basis, the court has used multiple legal paths to rule in favor of Trump in 24 of them during his second term, while another was declared moot. The decisions let him fire federal employees, take control of independent agencies, ban transgender people from the military and deport migrants to countries where they have no ties, among other actions.
Those victories for Trump followed a landmark ruling in 2024 – also authored by Roberts – granting him broad immunity from criminal prosecution on his 2020 election subversion charges. That decision – and the repeated wins for Trump since – raised doubts among numerous critics and court watchers about the independence of the top U.S. judicial body and its willingness to confront a president aggressively pushing the limits of his power and apt to verbally attack judges who get in his way.
Trump, for instance, called last year for the impeachment of one judge who ruled against him in a major deportation issue, labeling him among other things a “Radical Left Lunatic” – an outburst that prompted a rebuke from Roberts.
At the same time, since early in his second term, questions have swirled over whether Trump’s administration has defied unfavorable orders by the federal judiciary, which could provoke a constitutional crisis.
The decisions in favor of Trump frustrated the court’s liberals. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson even observed in one opinion that “this administration always wins.”
Still, some experts had urged patience, noting that the court’s recent permissiveness toward Trump might change once it resolved the legality of a major policy after extensive deliberation. That happened on Friday.
The shadow docket decisions “were never evidence of the court being particularly sympathetic to or solicitous of the Trump administration,” Adler said. “This case, on the other hand, is the first time the court has considered one of the Trump administration’s policy initiatives on the merits.”
The court is due to hear arguments on April 1 over the legality of another contentious Trump policy, his directive to restrict birthright citizenship in the United States, in another case that could draw pushback from the justices.

PREVIOUS LOSSES

During Trump’s first term as president, the court handed him some significant losses in pivotal cases, including blocking his plans to add a citizenship question to the national census questionnaire and end a deportation protection for immigrants – known as “Dreamers” – who entered the United States illegally as children.
University of California, Berkeley law professor John Yoo highlighted the fact that the tariffs ruling was joined by justices appointed by both Republican and Democratic presidents.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/with-tariffs-ruling-supreme-court-reasserts-its-power-check-trump-2026-02-21/

The development comes a day after the Supreme Court struck down the Republican President’s reciprocal tariffs announced shortly after he assumed his Presidency.

US President Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on the global tariffs issue announcing that his administration would raise reciprocal tariffs to 15 per cent, 5 per cent up from his earlier announcement.

The development comes a day after the US Supreme Court struck down the Republican President’s reciprocal tariffs announced shortly after he assumed his Presidency for a second time last year.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump said his latest decision was “based on a thorough, detailed, and complete review of the ridiculous, poorly written, and extraordinarily anti-American decision on Tariffs issued yesterday, after MANY months of contemplation, by the United States Supreme Court.”

“Please let this statement serve to represent that I, as President of the United States of America, will be, effective immediately, raising the 10% Worldwide Tariff on Countries, many of which have been “ripping” the U.S. off for decades, without retribution (until I came along!), to the fully allowed, and legally tested, 15% level,” Trump said.

To be sure, Trump has invoked powers under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, which gives the US President powers to impose tariffs in order to address balance of payments problems. However, Trump now has 150 days, after which the presidential order automatically expires unless Congress votes to extend them.

“During the next short number of months, the Trump Administration will determine and issue the new and legally permissible Tariffs, which will continue our extraordinarily successful process of Making America Great Again,” his social media post added.

A Supreme Court ruling, Trump’s criticism and “counter-attacks”
On Friday, the US Supreme Court ruled that the tariffs imposed by Trump under an emergency powers law were unconstitutional, including the “reciprocal” tariffs he levied on almost every other country.

The 6-3 decision held that the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not authorise the President to impose tariffs.

Trump lashed out at the Supreme Court and said he was “absolutely ashamed” of the judged who ruled against him, calling them “disloyal to our Constitution” and “lapdogs.”

Hours later, he imposed a 10% “global tariff” on all US trading partners. White House officials later clarified that for countries, including India, that have signed trade agreements with the US, tariff levels will temporarily fall to 10 per cent before new tariffs can be levied.

Earlier in the day, Trump heaped praises for the three dissenting judges involved in the tariff verdict against his administration’s tariffs.

“My new hero is United States Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and, of course, Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that they want to, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/trump-doubles-down-on-tariffs-after-supreme-court-setback-now-raises-reciprocal-tariffs-to-15-101771690102647.html

President Donald Trump lashed out on Friday at the U.S. Supreme Court and the six justices who struck down his signature global tariffs – including two he appointed – in remarkably personal terms while hailing the three justices who backed him.
Although previous presidents have sharply criticized Supreme Court rulings against them, Trump’s lengthy tirade to reporters at the White House stood out for its contemptuous tone, as well as the personal nature of his scorn and praise.

It represented a remarkable attack by a sitting president on the top U.S. judicial body, even after Trump and other senior officials in his administration over the past year have assailed lower-court judges for rulings impeding his policies since he returned to office in January 2025.
The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, had over the past year permitted Trump’s expansive assertion of executive power, with few exceptions, in a series of decisions issued on an emergency basis.
But Friday’s ruling delivered Trump a stinging defeat. It was authored by Chief Justice John Roberts and joined by two fellow conservatives who Trump appointed during his first term in office – Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett – as well as the three liberal justices.

“The Supreme Court’s ruling on tariffs is deeply disappointing. And I’m ashamed of certain members of the court – absolutely ashamed – for not having the courage to do what’s right for our country,” Trump said at the opening of remarks lasting 45 minutes.
Speaking to reporters from behind a dimly lit lectern in the White House briefing room, Trump impugned the patriotism of some of the justices and claimed that the court “has been swayed by foreign interests,” but declined to provide any evidence.
And he heaped scorn on Gorsuch and Barrett for joining the 6-3 majority ruling that sank his tariffs – a favorite foreign policy cudgel – imposed under a law meant for national emergencies.

“I think it’s an embarrassment to their families, you wanna know the truth, the two of them,” Trump said, referring to Gorsuch and Barrett.

Trump spoke glowingly of a dissenting opinion written on Friday by his other court appointee, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, that was joined by fellow conservatives Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
“I’d like to thank and congratulate Justices Thomas, Alito, and Kavanaugh for their strength and wisdom and love of our country, which is, right now, very proud of those justices,” Trump said. “When you read the dissenting opinions, there’s no way that anyone can argue against them.”
Kavanaugh wrote that the court’s ruling against Trump did not necessarily foreclose the president “from imposing most if not all of these same sorts of tariffs under other statutory authorities,” adding that “the court’s decision is not likely to greatly restrict presidential tariff authority going forward.”
“In essence, the court today concludes that the president checked the wrong statutory box by relying on (an emergency economic powers law) rather than another statute to impose these tariffs,” Kavanaugh wrote.
Trump repeatedly mentioned Kavanaugh, who he appointed to a lifetime position on the court in 2018 and stuck with him through a bruising Senate confirmation battle in which the nominee denied allegations of sexual assault dating back decades.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/im-ashamed-trump-denounces-supreme-court-justices-after-tariffs-ruling-2026-02-20/

Australia’s centre-left government on Sunday rejected a local media report that said it was working to repatriate Australians in a Syrian camp holding families of suspected Islamic State militants.
The 34 women and children were released on Monday from the camp in northern Syria, but returned to the detention centre due to technical reasons. The group is expected to travel to Damascus before eventually returning to Australia, despite objections from ruling and opposition lawmakers.

On Sunday, Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke rejected claims made in a report in the Sunday Telegraph, asserting that official preparations were under way for the cohort’s return.
“In that report, it makes a claim that we are conducting a repatriation. We are not,” Burke told Australian Broadcasting Corp television.
“It claims we have been meeting with the states for the purposes of a repatriation. We have not,” Burke added.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who leads Australia’s Labor Party, said this week his government would not help the group return to Australia.
The return of relatives of suspected IS militants is a political issue in Australia, which has seen a surge in popularity of the right-wing, anti-immigration One Nation party led by Pauline Hanson.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/australia-rejects-report-it-is-repatriating-families-is-militants-syrian-camp-2026-02-21/

JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), told President Donald Trump and his hospitality business in February 2021 it was closing their accounts at the bank, according to new documents released Friday as part of a $5 billion lawsuit Trump has filed against the bank and CEO Jamie Dimon.
Several businesses cut ties with Trump after the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by his supporters, including two law firms that represented him and the Trump Organization, and the PGA of America, which stripped Trump’s club in Bedminster, New Jersey, of the 2022 PGA Championship.

The bank did not list any specific reason for the account closures in its Feb. 19, 2021 letters, to Trump and the Trump Organization. In one letter, the bank said it can sometimes “determine that a client’s interests are no longer served by maintaining a relationship with J.P. Morgan Private Bank.”
A spokesperson for JPMorgan did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the bank’s attorneys at Jones Day. The bank has previously said that Trump’s suit is meritless.
A spokesperson for Trump’s legal team said the disclosure of the letters are “a devastating concession that proves President Trump’s entire claim.”

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/jpmorgan-says-it-closed-trumps-bank-accounts-month-after-jan-6-attack-2026-02-21/

The U.S. men’s hockey team is one win from ending a decades-long Olympic gold-medal drought, 46 years after they delivered one of the most iconic moments in sports history at the 1980 Winter Games.

The Americans throttled Slovakia 6-2 in the Milano Cortina Olympic semi-finals on Friday to book their berth in the gold-medal game where they will clash with familiar foes Canada.

They have a chance to summon echoes of the “Miracle on Ice,” when a group of amateur and collegiate players stunned the Soviet Union juggernaut 4–3 and became instant national heroes en route to the 1980 gold.

“The rivalry with Canada is obviously a long battle and a long history,” said forward Brock Nelson, whose grandfather was on the 1960 gold medal-winning U.S. team and his uncle was on the famed 1980 championship roster.

“(These are) two countries that want to come out on top, have the bragging rights that they’re the best country in the world,” Nelson said.

Reaching the final has already guaranteed the Americans their first Olympic ice hockey medal since Vancouver 2010, a run that ended in heartbreak, when Canada snatched gold 3–2 in overtime.

Now, with gold finally within reach again, the U.S. has a shot at turning long-simmering frustration into history.

Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Zach Werenski said he watched the Netflix documentary “Miracle on Ice: The Boys of ’80” released earlier this year before travelling to Milan.

“It definitely motivated me a little bit more,” Werenski said. “And it’s something not a lot of American hockey players have ever done. I think 36 players have ever won a gold medal for the U.S. in the Olympics, so we’re aware of what’s at stake.

“We’re going to embrace it, we’re going to enjoy it, and this is why you play the game.”

With NHL stars finally back in the Olympic fold for the first time since 2014, the pressure on this U.S. team is immense, and so is the opportunity.

Team USA’s last win over Canada in a men’s gold-medal final dates all the way back to Squaw Valley in 1960.

Dylan Larkin, captain of the Detroit Red Wings and one of the five goal-scorers in the semi-final, said he had been dreaming about playing for Olympic gold for the past year.

“Not even going to go into how much I’ve thought about it as a kid, but that was just a dream up until the Four Nations, it turned into serious thoughts,” Larkin said of last year’s tournament won by Canada.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/sport/fa-wont-take-action-against-man-utd-owner-ratcliffe-over-immigration-remarks-5944311

As the country’s biggest political event held every five years, the congress sets policy and can bring changes in leadership roles beneath supreme commander Kim Jong Un.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un began reviewing the country’s progress in the past five years that brought “great transformation” during the second day of a key party congress, state media KCNA said on Saturday (Feb 21).

North Korea’s Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party opened on Thursday and is expected to last a few days. As the country’s biggest political event held every five years, it sets policy and can bring changes in leadership roles beneath supreme commander Kim.

North Korea’s ruling party hailed “remarkable successes” in fields such as politics, economy, culture, defence and diplomacy under Kim’s rule during the past five years, KCNA said.

The ruling party’s Central Committee focused on finding shortcomings first before focusing on successes, KCNA said, but did not mention what the shortcomings were.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/north-korea-kim-jong-un-party-congress-5943871

NEWLY released footage showed Vince McMahon swerving through traffic while driving over 100 mph before he smashed his Bentley into another vehicle.

In the horrifying video, which stemmed from an accident McMahon was involved in last July, the ex-WWE boss, 80, appeared dazed and confused after a state trooper told him he caught him going about 115 mph.

Dashcam footage captured the pulse-pounding seconds McMahon was seen swerving in and out of traffic before rear-ending a BMW.

McMahon’s Bentley Continental GT Speed, which sells for about $300,000, then slammed into the guardrail, sending debris scattering across the road.

Smoke is seen billowing from McMahon’s Bentley after the collision, as it continues driving down the highway before eventually pulling over.

When a Connecticut State Trooper approaches McMahon’s mangled car and asks him why he was driving over 100 mph, the former WWE head honcho said he was going to visit his granddaughter for her birthday.

“I’m trying to catch up to you and you keep taking off. You almost hit I think 115 miles an hour,” the trooper told McMahon.

McMahon, who is seen seated in the driver’s seat with the airbags deployed, reassured the trooper he was not trying to outrun him, saying, “I’m trying to drive. I haven’t been driving my car in God knows how long.”

‘THAT’S A MIRACLE’

“God damn it. Stupid f**king fool,” McMahon tells himself in an outburst as he hands the trooper his insurance and registration information.

“I haven’t driven this car in quite some time,” he said, adding that the sportscar was “too fast.”

As McMahon, who refused medical attention, exited his totaled vehicle, he asked the trooper if anyone was injured, to which the officer said no.

“Oh s**t, that’s a miracle,” McMahon said as he breathed a sigh of relief.

The horrifying crash occurred on the morning of July 24, 2025, while McMahon was driving northbound on Route 15 near exit 15 in Westport, about 30 miles south of New Haven.

An upset McMahon apologized to the woman, identified as Barbara Doran, whose BMW he rear-ended, telling her he was heading to visit his granddaughter and was only an exit away from his destination.

As deputies informed McMahon about the charges he would face, one of officers is heard telling the former CEO as he sat in the back of an Escalade, “Nice to meet you. Happy birthday to your granddaughter. Try to enjoy the rest of your day.”

Doran spoke about the accident days later in a Facebook post, saying she felt “lucky to have survived the crash.”

“McMahon hit me going 80-90 mph as I drove in the right lane of the narrow Merritt Highway,” Doran wrote.

“I was as lucky to have kept control of the car, more or less, as I shot off the road after being catapulted over 100 yards.

“McMahon saw me last minute and swerved, smashing into my left rear, but that if he had hit me full on, there might’ve been a very different ending for me.

“Oddly, Hulk Hogan, who made McMahon’s fame and fortune, died about the same time as the accident.”

McMahon was charged with reckless driving and following too closely, resulting in an accident.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/sport/15975209/wwe-vince-mcmahon-bodycam-totaled-bentley-crash/

UP to 20,000 prisoners have broken out of a Syrian ISIS detention camp the size of a city.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 detainees, including the families of jihadist fighters, are now at large after the mass breakout, according to US spies.

The sprawling Al-Hol camp held the radicalised families of terrorists, and experts had long warned that it was essentially a breeding ground for the next generation of ISIS fighters.

At its peak in 2019, the eastern Syria camp held more than 70,000 people, mainly families of jihadists.

Security at the camp collapsed completely last month after the Syrian government pushed out the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, who had guarded Al-Hol for years.

Dramatic videos showed ISIS brides setting fire to buildings and escaping as Kurdish guards and troops abandoned the site under attack by the Syrian army.

Shocking footage circulating on social media shows the camp in chaos as dozens of inmates flee, many in head-to-toe burqas.

Now US intelligence estimates that up to 20,000 inmates have broken out.

The Syrian government, led by former jihadist President Ahmed Sharaa, plans to monitor extremists and reintegrate them into society.

It blamed the chaos on SDF troops, claiming that the US-backed forces abandoned the camp during January attacks, leaving it unguarded for hours.

Sharaa’s government struggled to contain the camp because it is “limited by a lack of trained, qualified personnel”, according to US Defense Department report.

Damascus-based security analyst Alexander McKeever said: “They have some sort of very limited experience and infrastructure set up for this.

“But definitely not for 20,000 people and a significant portion of them being non-Syrian.”

Experts say the camp included ordinary civilians accidentally detained in the chaos at the end of Islamic State’s rule – up to a quarter of prisoners had no links to ISIS, according to a UN report.

But Western officials branded the detainees a “terror army in waiting”.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15976476/isis-detention-camp-escape-fears-terror-group-ranks-swell/

DONALD Trump’s bombshell call to unseal the government’s top secret alien files will be “the biggest story of all time”, according to a former Ministry of Defence chief.

Nick Pope, who led the UK government’s “UFO Desk” for three years, told The Sun: “There either is or isn’t a smoking gun in the files somewhere that will prove extraterrestrial visitation.”

“From Roswell through to Rendlesham Forest to the infamous Tic-Tac encounter, it’s binary.

“If the US government is sitting on this it’s going to be the biggest story of all time.”

And with July 4, 2026 ushering in the 250th anniversary of the United States, Pope says Trump will be looking to “cement his legacy for all time in history” in his Oval Office broadcast.

He adds: “Look back at the greatest speeches in human history, whether it’s Churchill’s ‘we shall fight them on the beaches’ or Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’.

“Can you imagine ‘my fellow Americans, we are not alone’.

“That’s immortality.”

Perhaps the most renowned case for alien life on Earth, it is Roswell which Pope believes could be the smoking gun.

In 1947, the United States military recovered what many believe to be a crash extraterrestrial spacecraft in Roswell, New Mexico.

He says the physical evidence found there will have to be black-or-white.

“You can have all the pilot testimony, all the radar data, all the forward-looking infrared films and satellite data in the world, but if you don’t have an artefact it’s just data.

“But if you have an artefact you can get into a lab and test it.

“And of course people are going to say ‘show me the money‘.

“You can part the curtain and say this is what we got 1947 Roswell and it’s clearly going to be either alien or not.

“You can’t fake something like that.

“Not least because of scientific techniques like isotopic ratio analysis that call tell if something’s been exposed to cosmic rays or space, or if it’s been protected by the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Trump’s decision to release the files came after his predecessor Barack Obama sent the media into a spin by declaring that “aliens are real” on a podcast interview with Bryan Tyler Cohen.

“Are aliens real?” Cohen asked in a quickfire round of questions.

“They’re real but I haven’t seen them,” Obama replied.

“They’re not being kept in Area 51. There’s no underground facility.

Before he joked: “Unless there’s this enormous conspiracy and they hid it from the president of the United States.”

Obama quickly rowed back on his shock claims in Instagram statement, clarifying that “the universe is so vast that the odds are good there’s life out there”.

Pope says he was shocked by the former leader’s decision to release a public statement explaining himself.

“Presidents don’t normally circle back and correct things they said on YouTube podcast.

“President Trump’s intervention is even more strange and it’s obviously set off some sort of presidential dogfight.”

After blasting Obama for disclosing “classified information” in an interview aboard Air Force One this morning, Trump was quick to explain that he had no definitive proof either.

Pope believes that decision revealed that even more could be under the surface.

“How can Obama expressing that opinion constitute a disclosure of classified information?

“I’m finding this the most bizarre situation I’ve ever come across in relation to this topic.”

“The whole thing is quite unprecedented in my time.

“There are obviously going to be further twists and turns ahead as all this continues to unfold.”

Pope has worked on some of the most high-profile cases and says the number of sightings is far higher than most people realise.

Once a report had been made, his team would then get to work assessing the potential impact on national security and aviation safety – with Pope estimating they received on average up to 300 a year but a peak of 700 or 800.

From mysterious shapes shadowed by fighter jets, soldiers encountering a landed “craft” in a British forest, and “flying triangles” seen by hundreds of witnesses – Pope was at the sharp end of the UK’s response to all things that could be alien.

Many cases he worked on could be explained away – but there are some which continue to haunt Pope.

Asked which case stands out, he confessed: “The file on the Rendlesham Forest incident still keeps me up at night.”

The infamous Rendlesham Forest encounter in 1980 – known as Britain’s Roswell, the answer the US’s infamous alleged spaceship crash in 1947 – remains unexplained.

And Pope revealed his investigation found radiation at the site after the “encounter” was unusually high.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15974998/trump-alien-files-biggest-story/

Reacting to court setback, Donald Trump said, “I can embargo. I can do anything I want, but I can’t charge $1.”

US President Donald Trump on Friday ripped into the US Supreme Court after it struck down his administration’s reciprocal tariffs, saying the ruling meant he was “not allowed to charge even $1” to other countries. Within hours of the setback, he announced a fresh 10% “global tariff” on all US trading partners.

Addressing reporters after the ruling, Trump framed the court’s decision around what he called a basic contradiction.

“To show you how ridiculous the opinion is, however, the court said that I’m not allowed to charge even $1. I can’t charge $1… Can’t charge $1 to any country under IEEPA. Not $1,” he said.

The Supreme Court had earlier invalidated the reciprocal tariffs imposed in April under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), dealing a blow to one of Trump’s key trade measures.

‘I can do anything i want, but not charge $1′

Trump argued that the decision limits his ability to levy even minimal tariffs while allowing far harsher actions.

“But I am allowed to cut off any and all trade or business with that same country. In other words, I can destroy the trade. I can destroy the country. I’m even allowed to impose a foreign country destroying embargo. I can embargo. I can do anything I want, but I can’t charge $1,” Trump said.

“I assume, [the court’s order is] to protect other countries. This must have been done to protect those other countries. Certainly not the United States of America, which they should be interested in protecting,” he said.

“But other alternatives will now be used to replace the ones that the court incorrectly rejected. We have alternatives, great alternatives, could be more money. We’ll take in more money and we’ll be a lot stronger for it,” he said.

“Nothing changes. They will be paying tariffs and we will not be paying tariffs. The deal with India is they pay the tariffs. This is a reversal from what it used to be,” he said.

Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi revealed she has stage 1 cervical cancer and may have to undergo a hysterectomy.

The “Jersey Shore” alum took to TikTok Friday to announce her adenocarcinoma diagnosis after getting the results of her recent cone biopsy, a procedure where surgeons remove a cone-shaped wedge of abnormal tissue from the cervix, per the Cleveland Clinic.

“Obviously not the news I was hoping for, but also not the worst news, just because they caught it so early. Thank freaking god,” she said. “2026 is not panning out the way I want it to but it could be worse.”

“Everything is going to be fine. I’m going to tackle this and get it done. We got some steps to do.”

Polizzi, 38, encouraged her followers to make pap smear appointments because she had been “struggling with abnormal pap smears for about three or four years now.”

“Now look at me. Instead of just putting if off because I didn’t want to go and it hurt and I was scared, no, I just went and did it and there was cancer in there and it was only stage one and it’s curable.”

She further explained that in her case, the “cancer cells did not go up into the cervix” and the doctors were able to remove the tumor by removing the “chunk of tissue” from the cone biopsy.

“Obviously it can still spread in my body,” she noted. “I’m just learning this because it’s all just happening in my body at real time.”

Polizzi’s next step is getting a PET Scan which she explained will “detect if the cancer spread.”

“After that, I’m going to probably get the hysterectomy because the oncologist said I can either do chemo radiation or the hysterectomy. Obviously I think the smart choice here is the hysterectomy,” she continued, adding that even with the procedure she will get to keep her ovaries.

“Got to get the cervix and the uterus out and then possibly lymph nodes because it can got to that,” she added.

The reality star also encouraged any women suffering from cervical cancer to share their experience in the comments section because she doesn’t want anyone to fight alone.

“We are a community of women and there’s literally no platform or anywhere where women are talking about this. A lot of women go through it silently without anyone to talk to and they’re scared by themselves.”

She concluded her emotional video by thanking other women who have spoke out about their diagnosis’s because it made her “feel seen.”

The “Snooki & Jwoww” alum first opened up about her health scares last month, revealing that her abnormal pap smear results and precancerous cells led her to undergo an “uncomfortable” colposcopy and biopsy.

“Results come back. Doctor calls me and he’s like, ‘Not looking great.’ He found cancerous cells on the top of my cervix,” she said. “I’m terrified. It’s scary, but we have to get it done because cervical cancer is nothing to joke about.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/20/celebrity-news/nicole-snooki-polizzi-reveals-cervical-cancer-diagnosis/

China replaces US as Germany’s top trading partner, reclaiming a position it held from 2016 to 2023. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to visit China next week.

China has overtaken the US as Germany’s most important trading partner, according to figures released by Germany’s Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) on Friday.

The sum of exports and imports between the two countries last year totaled €251.8 billion ($296.6 billion), a 2.1% increase, according to Destatis.

China was Germany’s most important trading partner from 2016 all the way through to 2023. In 2024, the US briefly held the title.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is also set to visit China next week, where he is set to discuss trade and other topics.

China replaces US as Germany’s top trading partner

Germany last year imported goods worth €170.6 billion from China, an 8.8% increase from the year earlier. Chinese imports to Germany were mainly data processing equipment, electrical equipment and machinery.

Meanwhile, German exports to China last year totaled €81.3 billion, down 9.7% from the year earlier.

The US was Germany’s next top business partner last year, with a foreign trade turnover of €240.5 billion, a 5% drop from the year before.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/china-overtakes-us-to-become-germanys-top-trading-partner/a-76057129

Milan-Cortina 2026 has been one of the most eventful Winter Olympics in history – in sporting and political terms – so it is appropriate that the final medal event could be the most enticing of all.

Canada and United States have been the two best teams in the men’s ice hockey competition, and they will duke it out at Milano Santagiulia Arena on Sunday at 13.10 GMT.

For two of the most storied nations in the sport, however, they have very different Olympic histories.

Canada are aiming to be the first nation to earn 10 men’s ice hockey gold medals, most recently winning the title in 2014.

USA meanwhile have not claimed the men’s title since 1980 – the ‘Miracle on Ice’ triumph over Soviet Union in Lake Placid – and have not beaten Canada in a men’s final since 1960.

Canada have beaten the American men in their past two Olympic final meetings – Salt Lake City 2002 and Vancouver 2010. But the USA are looking for a double in Milan after their women’s side defeated the Canadians on Thursday.

The two teams did not have a totally smooth skate to this point. Both needed overtime to win their quarter-finals, while Canada had to come from 2-0 down to beat Finland 3-2 in Friday’s semi-final on Friday, scoring the winner with 35 seconds on the clock.

The Canadians also have fitness issues. They could be without captain Sidney Crosby, who was forced off in their last eight win over Czech Republic with a knee injury and missed the Finland semi. Canada are hopeful to have him for Sunday, but he certainly will not be 100% fit.

The squad has also been afflicted by a sickness bug, which dramatically revealed itself in the quarter-final when Nathan MacKinnon threw up while sat on the bench.

But even when impacted by injury and illness, Canada still have the strongest team.

“In Connor McDavid you have the best player on the planet by a million miles,” ice hockey commentator Seth Bennett told BBC Sport. “He was averaging three points a game going into semi-finals.

“McKinnon is another superstar offensive player. Defensively, Cale Makar is the best defenceman in the world and a gamechanger. All will be judged against him.

“You mix them up and it’s like if you have a computer game and you put all the best players on one team.”

They also have some of the best up-and-coming talents in the game, such as 19-year-old Macklin Celebrini who has already scored the most points by a teenager in an Olympic competition.

Like many wild and wacky ideas, it all started down at the pub.

“I was literally looking out the window at that intersection and thought, ‘What if we put in a beach volleyball court and play a competition?’

“On a tar road. In the middle of a town 400km from the nearest beach,” Simon Sutherland, 51, says.

He wanted to bring the party vibe of Bali’s Kuta – a popular island holiday spot for many Australians – to his hometown of Cootamundra.

And so that night he went home and drew up plans for Australia’s own “Coota Beach” and its now famous annual volleyball tournament.

Twenty-five years on, it’s grown from a single day of play into a three-day festival – a cultural and sporting highlight in the town’s calendar, delighting locals, attracting thousands of tourists and bringing in an estimated $2m in revenue.

“In a way, I think it’s bigger than Christmas,” 86-year-old grandmother Pat Roberts, who tells the BBC she has made cheering on her children and grandchildren a summer tradition.

“I’ve loved it every year, I’ve never missed one.”

It’s Saturday afternoon and the tournament resembles a beach bash in full swing, costumed bodies heaving under the blazing sun.

“Mine!” calls out one singlet-clad player to her teammates, making it to a volleyball just in time. Loud pop and rock music blares down the entire block, punctuated by the odd cheer and whoop from spectators.

Over on one court, a team of minions – complete with yellow-painted faces, oversized googles and beach-styled overalls – are jumping excitedly much like their animated namesake.

Elsewhere, teams like Holy Blockamole and Itsy Bitsy Spiker are dropping shots like it’s hot, diving to make saves and drinking like it’s the last days of summer.

There’s plenty of laughs as teams of six serve, spike and block during the 20-minute matches, with rules that are a mix of indoor and beach volleyball.

Suncream’s being slathered on, high-fives are flowing as freely as the cold drinks. In between matches, hard-working staff are hosing down the courts to cool the sand.

It’s a stark contrast to the first Coota Beach event in 2001 – when 16 teams played a couple dozen matches on a single court in one day. This year’s event had almost 200 teams playing over three days. Demand was so high, 40 teams were turned away.

Sutherland remembers the early years clearly.

“We used to get up at 1am and start setting up on the Saturday morning, ready to go for games at 8am,” he recalls, shaking his head in mild disbelief as he glances over the ten courts at this year’s event.

These days, transforming the asphalt landscape into a sandy oasis takes about a week, with almost 900 tonnes of sand – that’s about six blue whales or 70 double-decker buses – trucked in.

James Graham, owner of the quarry where the sand is sourced from, says the town’s order is the strangest request he’s ever had: “Who am I to tell people what to do with it?,” he jokes.

Council workers then flatten the huge mounds of sand to create an inland beach, ready for the first games on Friday.

Hours after the finals wrap up on Sunday and all the eskies have been packed away, workers and volunteers try to scoop up every last grain of sand, which is either sold or donated to the community, turning up in local parks, sporting grounds or construction sites.

Within two days, the road – buffed and cleaned – returns to its usual form, lined with parked cars and locals going about their daily errands.

Costumes and camaraderie

Organiser Lee-Anne Hogan estimates the town’s usual population of 7,000 swells by about 3,000 over the weekend. “It’s enormous – the town actually books out in every way”.

While, in the early days, there were fears from some businesses that closing a street might mean fewer customers, those worries have disappeared.

A No Vacancy sign out the front of his Southern Comfort Motor Inn, Dylan O’Neill says: “It’s clear that every hospitality business in town benefits significantly from the event.”

Among those who have flocked to Cootamundra for the weekend are British couple Guy Wilkinson and Lizzie Ellison, both 30, who moved to Sydney two years ago and have driven four hours to compete.

It’s a “true rural experience,” that feels “uniquely Australian”, Ellison says.

“It’s a super fun, friendly vibe,” Wilkinson adds.

Their team – all dressed in tasselled cowboy outfits – have nabbed the prize for best-dressed, tying with another team decked out in pink nighties and platinum blonde wigs.

“We’ve had people come here from Manly in Sydney saying that these are better courts to play on than the ones at the beaches there,” Sutherland brags, “I don’t think we can get a better wrap than that.”

Whether you’re a long-time local or new to Coota, the weekend is an opportunity to cultivate a sense of community.

Sia Lesa speaks to the BBC as she is about to step onto court eight for her third and final match of the day.

She recently moved to town from her native Samoa as part of a visa scheme that has seen hundreds of Pacific Islanders relocate to Australia for jobs.

“I arrived in 2024, right on the day of the tournament,” she says. “I arrived in the early morning and I played in the afternoon, no kidding.”

For Lesa, the social aspect of the weekend is a rare chance to feel part of a community that often feels closed off to her.

“Coota is very small and [this is] something different for us, because normally we work at the abattoir and straight after we finish work, we go home and stay there.”

It’s certainly a homely affair for James Dunk, who has played every year for about a decade and always enters a team made up of three sets of neighbours.

Last year, his son joined the team as he had just turned 14 – the minimum age to participate. “It’s almost a rite of passage before they ditch you and go and have more fun with their friends,” he jokes.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrx792qk81o

Bigger, better, bolder is the message being touted about the first of this year’s London fashion weeks.

As the British capital attempts to regain its status as the hottest destination for talented designers, both established names and rising stars have been showcasing their autumn and winter looks.

Highlights so far have included Paul Costelloe’s perfectly tailored looks in neutral and brown tones and AGRO Studio’s grungy but glam collection.

And at a time where minimalism has become one of fashion’s biggest trends, Tolu Coker and Annie’s shows will have delighted those who prefer their clothes to make more of a statement.

Four people have been arrested in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand for allegedly burning to death a woman and her 10-month-old son on suspicion of practising witchcraft earlier this week.

The woman’s husband, who was also attacked, suffered severe burns and is in hospital.

Police say they are searching for more people who may be involved. The accused are in custody and haven’t commented publicly yet.

According to the National Crime Records Bureau, more than 2,500 people, mostly women, were killed in India on suspicion of witchcraft between 2000 and 2016.

Tuesday’s murder of Jyoti Sinku and her son occurred months after five members of a family in neighbouring Bihar state were brutally killed and allegedly burned alive on accusations of practising witchcraft.

Such cases are often reported from areas inhabited by disadvantaged tribal communities, where superstition is rife and a non-existent public health system leads to dependence on quacks for medical advice.

The murders in Jharkhand occurred in the Kudsai hamlet, a remote tribal settlement of around 50 mud houses located 250km (155.3 miles) from the state capital, Ranchi.

​The violence appears to have been triggered by recent incidents in the village, including rumours of sudden cattle deaths and the illness and death of a local man named Pustun Birua.

His wife Jano Birua says she consulted an informal healthcare provider – common in villages where no doctors are available – when he began suffering from anxiety and fainting spells. He told her that her husband was not suffering from any physical illness.

Asked why she did not take him to a hospital, she said: “We are poor people, so it wasn’t possible to take him that far.”

Meanwhile, rumours spread that Jyoti Sinku was practising witchcraft and was responsible for the man’s illness.

Pustun Birua died on Tuesday evening. That night, according to Jyoti’s husband Kolhan Sinku who is in hospital, a mob of about a dozen people, including five women, stormed their home and set fire to his wife and child.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98q93gdy3do

While the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday against President Donald Trump’s use of tariffs marks a clear setback for his use of trade levies as an economic weapon, analysts say it offers little immediate relief for the global economy.
Instead, they expect another bout of activity-crimping confusion combined with near-certainty that Trump will seek other means to replace the raft of global tariffs now struck down as unlawful.

In the meantime, a long list of uncertainties remains -including what new tariffs Trump will seek to impose, whether the funds from the annulled levies will have to be refunded, and whether territories that entered deals with the U.S. to mitigate their impact will see those pacts reopened for review.
Responding to the ruling, Trump announced new global tariffs of 10% for an initial 150-day period and acknowledged it was not clear if or when there would be any refunds.
“In general, I think it will just bring in a new period of high uncertainty in world trade, as everybody tries to figure out what the U.S. tariff policy will be going forward,” said Varg Folkman, analyst at the European Policy Centre think tank.

“In the end it’s going to look pretty much the same.”
Economists at ING bank agreed: “The scaffolding has come down, but the building remains under construction. No matter how today’s ruling reads, tariffs are here to stay.”
Friday’s ruling concerns only the tariffs launched by Trump on the basis of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, intended for national emergencies. So far, they are estimated to have brought in over $175 billion in funds.
By itself, the ruling chops the trade-weighted average U.S. tariff almost in half from 15.4% to 8.3%, trade policy monitor Global Trade Alert estimated.
For those countries on higher U.S. tariff levels, the change is more dramatic. For China, Brazil and India, it will mean double-digit percentage point cuts, albeit to still-high levels.

BILATERAL DEALS WITH US COULD NOW ‘UNRAVEL’

Yet no one expects this to remain the status quo: the Trump administration has served notice long before the ruling that it can and will use other legal vehicles to reimpose tariffs.
At the same time, the couple of dozen countries which entered bilateral deals with the U.S. to set tariffs and in some cases invest in the United States – will now assess whether the Supreme Court ruling gives them leverage to renegotiate.
The lawmakers who must ratify the European Union’s pact with the United States will do that as soon as Monday, said Bernd Lange, chair of the trade committee of the European Parliament.
“The era of unlimited, arbitrary tariffs … might now be coming to an end,” Lange said on X. “We must now carefully evaluate the ruling and its consequences.”
Britain meanwhile expects its privileged trading position with the United States to continue, the government said on Friday of the baseline 10% tariff it agreed with Washington.

Indeed, many countries were learning to live with Trump’s tariffs, the bulk of which were being shouldered by Americans, according to a Federal Reserve Bank of New York report released this month.
In the most recent update of its regular World Economic Outlook, the International Monetary Fund forecast global growth at a “resilient” 3.3% in 2026.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/us-supreme-court-ruling-offers-little-respite-global-economy-2026-02-20/

China may be less likely to follow through on another big purchase of U.S. soybeans that President Donald Trump has been touting for several weeks in the wake of the Supreme Court striking down Trump’s sweeping tariffs, analysts said.
Most actively traded soybeans fell slightly on Friday morning after rallying 8.49% since February 4, when Trump said on Truth Social that China would buy an additional 8 million metric tons of soybeans.

“What Trump has been doing is trying to put China’s feet to the coals, and now we’re asking — will this make China less likely to take delivery of the beans?” said Darin Fessler, senior hedge advisor at Lakefront Futures. “The U.S. is still more expensive than Brazil. Without China being forced, why would they want to buy U.S. beans?”
Even while U.S. soy was rallying, many analysts and traders had expressed skepticism that China would purchase such volumes.
China has already purchased 12 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans, fulfilling its end of a trade truce struck in October after it shunned U.S. soybeans for months last year. China’s state buyer, Sinograin, held public auctions to make room for U.S. shipments despite expectations of a bumper soybean crop in Brazil that China could purchase for less.

Without tariffs as a stick, U.S. soybeans would struggle to compete against rival Brazil, where a huge harvest currently underway has made the South American country’s soybeans far cheaper.
The justices ruled that Trump exceeded his authority by implementing tariffs under a law meant for use in national emergencies. The decision raised questions about whether or how the administration will pursue new tariffs through other legal strategies.
For the market players who closely monitor China, the world’s biggest soybean importer, the decision has added more uncertainty to an already volatile market.
Traders said they would closely follow any new twists in tariff policy as well as signs that China will bend to Trump’s will and make purchases of soybeans or continue to turn toward Brazil and Argentina, where China is not engaged in a trade war.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/analysts-say-china-less-likely-buy-us-soy-after-supreme-court-decision-2026-02-20/

U.S. investors are pulling money out of their own stock market at the fastest pace in at least 16 years as Big Tech returns fade and better-performing overseas markets look more attractive.
In the last six months, U.S.-domiciled investors have pulled some $75 billion from U.S. equity products, with $52 billion flowing out since the start of 2026 alone, the most in the first eight weeks of the year since at least 2010, according to LSEG/Lipper data.

The shift comes despite a weakening of the dollar against other currencies, which makes buying overseas assets more expensive for U.S. investors. It’s a compelling sign that the diversification away from U.S. assets by some international investors in the past year is gaining traction among U.S. investors.
Since the global financial crisis ended in 2009, the “buy America” trade has rewarded investors at home and abroad thanks to a strong economy and earnings growth and dominance in the tech sector leading to outsized gains in U.S. stocks.
More recently, the AI boom pushed the S&P 500 index (.SPX), to record highs last year, a strong buffer from U.S. President Donald Trump’s unpredictable approach to trade policy and diplomacy, as well as his attempts to undermine Federal Reserve independence.

LOOKING FURTHER AFIELD

But as concerns have grown about the possible risks from AI, as well as the costs involved, the lure of Wall Street stocks has ebbed. The surge in value in the U.S. megacap tech stocks that have led gains until now are making investors pickier and many are spotting more attractive opportunities elsewhere.
Bank of America’s February fund manager survey showed investors switched from U.S. equities to emerging market equities at the fastest rate in five years.
“I’ve had lots of conversations with our wealth business in the U.S. this year,” said UBS’s head of European equity strategy and global derivatives strategy Gerry Fowler.
“They’re all talking about investing more offshore because at the end of the year, they looked at the performance of foreign markets in dollars and they’re like, wow, I’m missing out.”

U.S. investors have poured some $26 billion into emerging-market equities so far this year, with South Korea the largest single country destination, with an inflow of $2.8 billion, followed by Brazil, with $1.2 billion, LSEG/Lipper data shows.
One of the clear results of Trump’s policies has been the 10% decline in the dollar against a basket of currencies since last January. While that is a disadvantage for U.S. investors hunting for opportunities abroad, dividends in dollar terms from better performing overseas markets will also be plumped up.
In the last 12 months, the S&P 500 (.SPX), has risen around 14%. In dollar terms, Tokyo’s Nikkei is up 43%, Europe’s STOXX 600 (.STOXX), has surged 26%, Shanghai’s CSI 300 (.CSI300), has returned 23% and Seoul’s KOSPI has doubled in value.
Investors are also re-evaluating the seemingly unstoppable rally in the shares of artificial intelligence powerhouses like Nvidia (NVDA.O), Meta (META.O), and Microsoft (MSFT.O), and the risks posed by sky-high valuations. They are seeking ‘value’ in traditional industrial companies and defensive stocks which can feature heavily in some overseas equity markets such as those in Germany, the UK, Switzerland or Japan.

VALUE AND VALUATION

Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen, said the rotation on Wall Street away from tech and other so-called growth stocks into value stocks is playing out on a global level.
“Increasingly we are seeing U.S. investors look at the global landscape from a valuation perspective,” she said, flagging the cyclical growth upswing predominantly in Europe and Japan.
European banking stocks, one example of cyclical stocks that typically benefit when economic growth picks up, surged 67% last year and are up a further 4% so far in 2026 (.SX7P).

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/buy-america-bye-america-wall-street-exodus-gathers-pace-2026-02-20/

Ukraine’s Winter Paralympics team will boycott the event’s opening ceremony next month after Russian and Belarusian athletes were invited to compete under their national flags.

International team uncovers gene mutations that cause rare and aggressive cancer in both cats and humans. Their findings could provide a path to treatments for both species.

Cat lovers have more in common with the family feline than they may realize.

New research published in the journal Science suggests cats and humans develop similar cancers due to similar tumor-causing genetic mutations.

This finding could lead to new cancer treatments for both pets and people.

The researchers created a cat “oncogenome” — a profile of gene mutations in cats that can cause cancer — using samples from nearly 500 cats in Canada, the UK, Germany, Austria and New Zealand.

Thirteen different types of cancer found in cats were analyzed for 1,000 genes known to cause cancer in humans. The oncogenome showed:

• Half of cancer samples in cats had a mutation to the FBXW7 gene, which is associated with aggressive forms of breast cancer in humans.
• Just under half of the samples had PIK3CA mutations, which is also associated with human breast cancer.
• Tumor-protein 53 — also known as TP53 or p53 — was the most common mutation in cats, and is often implicated as a driver of many human cancers.

A better model for cancer treatment?

While lab rodents have long been used to study cancers and potential drugs, cats could provide a more suitable model for scientific research.

“Here, you’ve got a model of spontaneously developing tumors, just as spontaneously as occurs in a human,” said Louise van der Weyden, the study’s senior researcher, based at the Wellcome Sanger Institute in the UK.

“These pets — cats and dogs — are in the same environment that we’re in, so they’ve got the same pollution […] something that you’re not going to get in the laboratory.”

By using a large number of non-pedigree housecats, the researchers had a genetically diverse pool in which to search for gene mutations common in cats and humans.

Van der Weyden said the pool could be expanded to include cats from other countries to offer an even broader understanding of cancer causes shared by felines and humans.

Of greatest interest is the potential for this cat oncogenome project to help identify environmental risks within the home. If, for instance, a certain genetic change triggers mammary cancer in the family cat, it could indicate similar risks for humans in the same house.

“There’s a lot of studies now that are starting to think of cats and dogs as sentinels for the environment — the canary in the coal mine — because they are in the exact same environment that we are in,” said van der Weyden. “We saw UV mutations [in cats] that were exactly the same as in humans, for example.”

What is next for the oncogenome?

Trialing potential cancer therapies on cats with potential benefits for humans was shown in 2025 in the US by a group at the University of California.

The team led by Daniel Johnson and Jennifer Grandis tested a drug used to treat squamous cell carcinomas in humans on a group of cats with an oral form of the disease. Around a third of the treated cats lived an extra half year on average.

Though they weren’t involved in the new oncogenome research, the UC team welcomed its findings.

“This is truly an exciting paper that further supports the relevance to humans, as well as pets, of studies like ours,” Johnson and Grandis wrote in an email to DW.

“It is remarkable that alterations in genes such as p53 are found in high prevalence in both humans and cats. We can now begin to use studies like this to develop personalized cancer therapies for both cats and humans.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/cat-onconome-cancer-genome-could-help-discover-new-treatments-for-humans/a-76042857

Tesla unveiled a cheaper Cybertruck variant in the U.S. on Thursday and slashed the price of its most-expensive model, Cyberbeast, as the electric-vehicle maker struggles to find buyers for its pickup trucks.

Tesla priced the new dual-motor all-wheel-drive model at $59,990, making it the company’s “most affordable” Cybertruck yet, and lowered the Cyberbeast price to $99,990 from $114,990.

With the price cut, Tesla looks to be discontinuing its “Luxe Package” for the model that included Supervised Full Self-Driving and free access to its Supercharger network.

Tesla had added the package to its lineup last August when it raised the price of the pickup truck.

Earlier this month, Tesla introduced a new all-wheel-drive variant of its bestselling Model Y SUV, priced at $41,990, sitting above the cheaper rear-wheel-drive “Standard” version.

DEMAND SLUMP

Price cuts have become a key part of Tesla’s 2026 strategy, lowering entry prices to attract more cost-conscious buyers without waiting for a new mass-market vehicle.

The broader EV market has slowed since September, when the Trump administration ended the $7,500 federal tax credits. Tesla is also facing intensifying global competition.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/tesla-unveils-cheaper-cybertruck-variant-cuts-cyberbeast-price-drive-demand-5942021

Nvidia is close to finalizing a $30 billion investment in OpenAI, as the chipmaker moves to take a stake in one of its largest customers, a person familiar with the matter said.

The investment is part of a fundraising round in which OpenAI is seeking more than $100 billion, the person said. That would value the ChatGPT maker at about $830 billion and amount to one of the largest private capital raises on record.

SoftBank Group and Amazon are also likely to participate in the round, Reuters previously reported.

The investment would highlight increasingly intertwined relationships among major technology companies racing to build advanced AI systems, as chip suppliers, cloud providers and model developers deepen financial and strategic ties.

It would replace a commitment announced in September under which Nvidia would invest up to $100 billion to support OpenAI’s use of its chips in data centers, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

Nvidia declined to comment when contacted by Reuters.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/nvidia-close-investing-30-billion-in-openais-mega-funding-round-source-says-5941796

THIS is the moment a mother and her two toddlers are mown down by an allegedly drunk driver as they leave a preschool.

Wild surveillance footage shows Patrice Pisani stepping out of Bloom Academy in Freehold Township around 3pm last Friday, flanked by her young boys.

Seconds later, a grey SUV suddenly barrels toward them.

Pisani is seen desperately yanking one boy out of the vehicle’s path just before the SUV smashes into a pillar near the front entrance.

The back of the vehicle clips her youngest son, knocking him to the ground – with the tire appearing to bounce off his leg.

The SUV continues rolling forward, slamming into Pisani and her other son, forcing them to the ground and pinning them against a metal railing.

Two women rush out of the school to help as the driver allegedly stumbles out of the wrecked vehicle.

New Jersey cops said the driver, identified as 68-year-old Angela Arrigo, of Manalapan, was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the crash.

Officers responded to 350 Pond Road for reports of pedestrians struck by a vehicle, Freehold Township Police Captain Joseph Winowski told Patch.

Once at the scene, they allegedly determined Arrigo had been operating the SUV while intoxicated.

Arrigo has been charged with driving while intoxicated, assault by auto, and endangering the welfare of a child, police said.

Pisani and her sons were rushed to a local hospital and later released.

Her youngest boy “took the brunt of the impact,” according to News12, and is being treated for a leg injury and burns from the undercarriage of the car.

Pisani suffered injuries to her back and neck, while her older son sustained minor injuries.

Pisani reportedly said the driver was there to pick up another child.

“We are deeply saddened by this incident,” school officials said.

“While we are grateful that the injury was not more severe, we remain committed to the safety and well-being of our students, families, and staff.”

It comes after an asphalt truck plunged into the ground between two massive sinkholes, prompting a state of emergency in another Jersey town.

In Phillipsburg, two sinkholes first opened Monday morning, authorities said, disrupting traffic and shutting down parts of the town.

The first hole reportedly opened near a garbage truck. A second later ensnared a car tire and ripped open a water line, forcing officials to close several streets.

The trapped car has since been removed, according to water service spokesperson Amanda Burgess.

But the chaos escalated when an asphalt dump truck rushed in to fill the craters.

Source : https://www.the-sun.com/news/15972271/mother-toddlers-hit-drunk-driver-preschool-escape-alive/

Speaking at the initial meeting of the Board of Peace in Washington, Trump repeated that tariff threats and direct calls to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shehbaz Sharif halted hostilities between India and Pakistan in May last year.

United States President Donald Trump has once again claimed that he helped defuse a military conflict between India and Pakistan in May last year by threatening both countries with steep trade penalties — this time adding an updated claim that as many as 11 “very expensive” fighter jets were shot down during the hostilities.

“I said, if you (India and Pakistan) fight, I am going to put 200 per cent tariffs on each of your countries. They both wanted to fight. But when it came to money, it’s nothing like money. When it came to losing a lot of money, they said, I guess we don’t want to fight,” the US President said while speaking at the initial meeting of the US-led Gaza Board of Peace.

Trump has, on multiple occasions, claimed that he was the one who brokered peace between India and Pakistan after New Delhi launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan’s terror infrastructure in response to the Pahalgam attack, which claimed 26 civilian lives in April last year.

In his address, Trump said that the confrontation had reached a dangerous phase, with aerial combat underway and multiple aircraft lost. He claimed that as many as 11 fighter jets were shot down during the hostilities, calling them “very expensive jets”.

“That war was raging. Planes were being shot down. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. And I got on the phone with both of them, and I knew them a little bit. I knew Prime Minister Modi very well. I called them and I said, listen, I’m not doing trade deals with you two guys if you don’t settle this up. And all of a sudden, we worked out a deal,” he said.

The President also boasted that Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif publicly credited him with saving “25 million lives” by intervening at a critical moment when tensions between the two neighbours were escalating.

“He (Pakistani PM) said in front of our Chief of Staff that President Trump saved 25 million lives when he stopped the war between us and India. That war was raging,” he said.

Trump has made similar assertions in the past, repeatedly portraying economic leverage and personal diplomacy as decisive factors in defusing the standoff between India and Pakistan.

Source : https://www.indiatoday.in/world/story/i-threatened-india-pak-with-200-tariffs-to-secure-truce-shehbaz-sharif-said-i-saved-25-million-lives-trump-2871182-2026-02-19

Actor Eric Dane has died.

The “Grey’s Anatomy” alum passed away on Thursday, 10 months after announcing his ALS diagnosis. He was 53 years old.

Dane’s family shared in a statement to People, “With heavy hearts, we share that Eric Dane passed on Thursday afternoon following a courageous battle with ALS.”

“Throughout his journey with ALS, Eric became a passionate advocate for awareness and research, determined to make a difference for others facing the same fight,” the statement continued. “He will be deeply missed, and lovingly remembered always.”

“Eric adored his fans and is forever grateful for the outpouring of love and support he’s received. The family has asked for privacy as they navigate this impossible time.”

In a statement to Page Six, I AM ALS shared they were “heartbroken” over Dane’s death.

“Eric brought humility, humor, and visibility to ALS and reminded the world that progress is possible when we refuse to remain silent,” the organization shared in part. “Eric was more than a supporter of our mission—he was part of our family. His impact will live on in the research being funded, the policies being advanced, and the community he helped grow by his honesty, his bravery, and his belief in a better future for anyone struggling with this diagnosis.”

Dane had been open about his struggles with ALS, which he shared he was diagnosed with in April 2025.

ALS “is a nervous system disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord,” leading to “loss of muscle control” and progresses over time, according to the Mayo Clinic.

There is no cure.

In an interview with “Good Morning America” back in June 2025, he revealed his first symptom.

“I started experiencing some weakness in my right hand, and I didn’t really think anything of it at the time,” the actor explained to Diane Sawyer.

“I thought maybe I had been texting too much or my hand was fatigued. But a few weeks later, I noticed it had gotten a little worse.”

In September 2025, he was seen in a wheelchair at an airport in Washington, DC, and struggled to speak to a paparazzo.

“Keep the faith, man,” Dane replied in a stilted voice when asked what he wanted to say to concerned fans.

In December 2025, he said he still wanted to continue acting despite his disease’s progression.

“I still have my brain, and I still have my speech,” he explained during a panel discussion put on by I Am ALS and “Brilliant Minds,” noting that he was “willing to do just about anything.”

Late last month. he abruptly pulled out of an ALS event due to health issues. The actor canceled “due to the physical realities of ALS” and not being “well enough to attend.”

Dane and wife Rebecca Gayheart called off their divorce in March 2025, one month before he announced his ALS diagnosis.

The former couple wed in 2004 and shared daughters Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14.

In an emotional essay for “The Cut” published in December 2025, Gayheart clarified that she and Dane “haven’t lived in the same home for eight years,” noting that their “love may not be romantic, but it’s a familial love.”

She noted that “he’s dated other people, [and she has] dated someone” — 78-year-old billionaire Peter Morton — since she filed for divorce in 2018.

“Eric knows that I am always going to want the best for him,” she also wrote. “That I’m going to do my best to do right by him. And I know he would do the same for me.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/19/celebrity-news/eric-dane-dead-at-53-after-als-battle/

Macron noted that France hopes to see the success of the Rafale deal replicated with submarines as well. “Rafale is absolutely key,” he said. “I hope we will do it on submarines. We offered additional capacities.”

French President Emmanuel Macron has a message for critics of New Delhi’s proposed move to purchase and co-produce 114 Rafale fighter jets—the deal will make India stronger. The French leader said the mega defence plan will not only deepen strategic coordination between Paris and New Delhi but also generate jobs in both countries.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Macron said, “I don’t understand why people are criticising the deal. It will make your country stronger, enhance strategic relations between the two nations, and create more jobs here.”

The French leader stressed that “Make in India” will be a “core” component of the programme, positioning the proposed deal as a cornerstone of the growing “Special Global Strategic Partnership” between the two nations.

“We are committed to having the maximum number of Indian components and critical devices made and built in India… what we want to do is expand. India confirmed a few days ago its willingness to command a new bunch of Rafales… 114… and to co-produce in India,” he said.

Macron noted that France hopes to see the success of the Rafale deal replicated with submarines as well. “Rafale is absolutely key,” he said. “I hope we will do it on submarines. We offered additional capacities.”

India’s Rafael Push

The White House said there are many “reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran” but that diplomacy is always the first option. It comes as the US rapidly builds up a military presence near Iran.

Wherever Eileen Gu goes, her fans will follow. Headlines will too.

With five medals – and the opportunity for one more on Saturday – she is the most decorated female Olympic freestyle skier in history.

But she is also someone who transcends her sport, a 22-year-old global superstar with a bank balance to make your eyes water.

China fell in love with its ‘snow princess’ at the Beijing 2022 Olympics where, as the poster girl of the Games, she duly delivered.

She became freestyle skiing’s youngest Olympic champion with her big air and halfpipe golds at the age of 18, and the first to win three medals at the same Games when she added slopestyle silver.

Later that year, she was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.

“I just like being the best. I’ve always wanted to do that,” said Gu at the Milan-Cortina Olympics, where she has added two more silver medals to her Olympic collection.

“I wanted to be the best at math when I was in kindergarten, and then I wanted to get into the best high school, and I wanted to have the highest SAT score, and then I wanted to get to the best college, and I wanted to be the best skier I could be.

“Then I wanted to do every event, and then I wanted to win them all. When you get a taste of it, it’s kind of addictive.”

On and off skis, Gu is a high achiever in every part of her world.

California-born and raised by an American father and Chinese mother, she attended private school in San Francisco and is currently taking a sabbatical from her studies at Stanford University, where she majors in international relations and previously studied quantum physics.

She is also fluent in Mandarin, and as a child would spend summers in Beijing.

“Sometimes it feels like I’m carrying the weight of two countries on my shoulders,” Gu said earlier in the 2026 Games.

In 2019, at the age of just 15, she switched her sporting allegiance from the US to China, wanting to “inspire millions of young people in Beijing – my mother’s birthplace” before the 2022 Olympics.

Whatever her reasoning, it was a decision that proved lucrative.

In December, Forbes ranked Gu as the fourth-highest paid female athlete for 2025, behind only tennis players Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek.

But unlike those three, only a tiny amount of her $23.1m (£17.1m) income last year came from prize money from her sport – around $100,000 (£74,000).

Instead, it comes through endorsements with brands such as Red Bull, Porsche and Tiffany & Co, while she has walked the runway for Louis Vuitton and Victoria’s Secret and is signed by modelling agency IMG.

It also emerged in 2025, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, external, that Gu and another athlete were set to be paid a combined $6.6m (£4.9m) by the Beijing Municipal Sports Bureau.

In total, the two athletes were said to be paid nearly $14m (£10.4m) over the past three years by the Bureau.

But her decision to compete for China was also one that drew much criticism, not just because of China and the US’ rivalry as the world’s two biggest economies, but because of China’s authoritarian Communist Party rulers and its poor record on human rights – which it denies.

While the initial furore died down, it has raised its head again at these Games.

At the start of the Olympics, American freestyle skier Hunter Hess spoke out about the actions of the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) organisation and ongoing tensions in the US.

In January, intensive care nurse Alex Pretti, 37, and fellow Minnesota resident Renee Good, 37, were both killed by ICE agents in the city, sparking widespread protests.

Asked what it means to represent the USA, Hess said: “It’s a little hard.

“Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the US.”

President Donald Trump responded to Hess’ comment by calling him a “real loser”, and Gu was one of several athletes who publicly defended Hess and others speaking out.

“As someone who’s been caught in the crossfire before, I feel sorry for the athletes,” she said.

But that enraged her critics, given Gu chose to speak out against Trump but has never criticised China.

Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom called her a “traitor”, adding she “was born in America, raised in America, lives in America and chose to compete against her own country for the worst human rights abuser on the planet – China”.

“You don’t get to enjoy the freedoms of US citizenship while acting as a global PR asset for the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote on X.

When asked about China’s human rights record by Time magazine, external, in an interview published in January, she answered: “I’m not an expert on this.

“I haven’t done the research. I don’t think it’s my business.”

King Charles’ younger brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was released from police custody on Thursday evening after being arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office over allegations he sent confidential government documents to Jeffrey Epstein.
Mountbatten-Windsor, who turned 66 on Thursday, had been questioned all day by detectives from Thames Valley Police. Earlier this month, the police force said it was looking into allegations that he had passed documents to the late convicted sex offender while working as a trade envoy.

The arrest of the senior royal, eighth in line to the throne, is unprecedented in modern times.
“I have learned with the deepest concern the news about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and suspicion of misconduct in public office,” King Charles said in a statement.
A Reuters witness saw the former prince leaving a police station in Aylsham, eastern England, where he was met by a small group of photographers and television crews, just after 1900 GMT.
A Reuters photograph taken after his release shows him seated inside a car, appearing visibly shaken.
Thames Valley Police said later on Thursday that “the arrested man” had been “released under investigation.”

‘THE LAW MUST TAKE ITS COURSE’

Although Buckingham Palace was not informed in advance about the arrest, Charles said the authorities had the family’s “full and wholehearted support and cooperation”.
“Let me state clearly: the law must take its course,” the monarch said in his statement.
“Meanwhile, my family and I will continue in our duty and service to you all.”
The king visited a fashion show in London on Thursday, making no further public comment.
Mountbatten-Windsor, the second son of the late Queen Elizabeth, has always denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein, and said he regrets their friendship.
His office did not respond to a request for comment and he has not spoken publicly since the release of more than 3 million pages of documents by the U.S. government relating to Epstein, who was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.

Those files suggested Mountbatten-Windsor had in 2010 forwarded to Epstein reports about Vietnam, Singapore and other places he had visited on official trips as the government’s Special Representative for Trade and Investment.
He was forced to step down from that role in 2011 after his close links to Epstein first emerged.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have now opened an investigation into this allegation of misconduct in public office,” Thames Valley’s Assistant Chief Constable Oliver Wright said in a statement.
“We understand the significant public interest in this case, and we will provide updates at the appropriate time.”
The arrest marks a new low for the former prince, who was forced to quit all official royal duties in 2019 over his ties with Epstein and was then stripped by his older brother of his titles and honours last October amid further revelations about their relationship.

UNMARKED POLICE CARS

Earlier, six unmarked police cars and around eight plain-clothed officers were pictured at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in eastern England where Mountbatten-Windsor now resides.
Thames Valley Police officers were also searching the mansion on the king’s Windsor estate where Mountbatten-Windsor lived until he was forced out amid anger at the Epstein revelations.
While being arrested means that police have reasonable suspicion that a crime has been committed and that the royal is suspected of involvement in an offence, it does not imply guilt.
A conviction for misconduct in a public office carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and cases must be dealt with in a Crown Court, which deal with the most serious criminal offences.
Police have previously said misconduct in public office, which is a ‘Common Law’ offence and is not covered by written statute legislation, involved “particular complexities”.

GIUFFRE LAWSUIT

In 2022, the king’s brother settled a civil lawsuit brought in the United States by the late Virginia Giuffre who accused him of sexually abusing her when she was a teenager at properties owned by Epstein or his associates.
The current police investigation is not related to this or any other allegation of sexual impropriety.
“Today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty,” the family of Giuffre, who died by suicide last year, said in a statement.
In response to Mountbatten-Windsor’s earlier arrest, U.S. President Donald Trump said it was a “shame.”
“I think it’s very sad. I think it’s so bad for the royal family,” Trump told reporters. “It’s very, very sad to me… to see what’s going on with his (King Charles’) brother.”
Were Mountbatten-Windsor to ultimately face criminal charges, he would join a very small group of senior British royals who have formally been accused of offences.
His elder sister Princess Anne was fined for speeding in 2001, and the following year became the first royal to be convicted of a criminal offence in 350 years when she appeared in court to plead guilty to failing to stop one of her dogs, named Dotty, biting two children.
King Charles I was tried for treason in 1649 towards the end of the English Civil War, found guilty and beheaded.
The misconduct investigation is not the only accusation against Mountbatten-Windsor into which police are looking.
Anti-monarchy campaign group Republic has reported him over allegations he was involved in the trafficking of a woman to Britain for sex in 2010. Thames Valley Police said it was assessing allegations that a woman had been taken to an address in Windsor, where the former prince lived until recently.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-police-arrive-home-king-charles-brother-andrew-telegraph-reports-2026-02-19/

Charles Schwab wired about $27.7 million on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein to a realtor in Morocco as the disgraced financier tried to purchase a palace in the 10 days before his 2019 arrest, including one transfer from an account which lacked sufficient funds, files released by the U.S. Department of Justice show.
Details of the transactions, reported by Reuters for the first time, show how the U.S. brokerage handled funds for Epstein over the course of several months at a time when he was under intense public scrutiny after reports in the Miami Herald in 2018.

Schwab (SCHW.N), flagged the payments in a suspicious activity report (SAR) to the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) on July 13, seven days after Epstein’s arrest, the documents show.
An examination of more than a hundred documents shows Schwab opened three accounts for Epstein’s companies in April 2019, including one for Southern Trust, a business that was attempting to buy the opulent Bin Ennakhil palace in Marrakesh, Morocco.
The Schwab corporate account listed Richard Kahn, Epstein’s accountant, as authorised individual and Epstein as Southern Trust’s president and sole beneficial owner.

Between June 26 and July 9, 2019, Southern Trust instructed Schwab to wire about $12.7 million in euros for the purchase but then reversed the order. Schwab then received another wire request, which was signed by Epstein, and sent $14.95 million to buy the same property, even though there were insufficient funds in the account pending the return of the original payment.
Schwab declined to comment on details of the accounts, saying federal regulation, privacy laws and its policies and procedures require it to maintain confidentiality.
“An associate of Epstein opened accounts in April 2019. Shortly after, our Risk team began investigating the accounts and within 60 days of starting the review, we notified the client of our decision to close and terminate the relationship. We also referred the matter to federal law enforcement,” it said in an emailed response to Reuters.

Schwab declined to provide details on exactly when its risk team began investigating.
Under the U.S. Bank Secrecy Act, financial firms must file a suspicious activity report no later than 30 days after the initial detection of facts, in addition to filing reports of cash transactions that exceed $10,000 daily to assist in detecting and preventing money laundering.
FinCEN declined to comment. A lawyer for Kahn did not respond to Reuters’ questions.
Marc Leon, the realtor in Marrakesh, told Reuters by email that Epstein first tried to buy Bin Ennakhil in 2011 and negotiations on the terms and price continued over the years.
With gold-draped walls, a hammam steam spa, 60 marble fountains and an outdoor pool and jacuzzi, Bin Ennakhil spreads across a total plot of 4.6 hectares, a property listing included in the DOJ’s file cache said. It boasts multiple gardens with hundreds of olive trees and more than 2,000 palms, the listing said, in an area bigger than New York’s Washington Square Park or around six standard soccer pitches.

Leon also defended his role in facilitating Epstein’s bid for the property.
“Epstein had been convicted of sex crimes (in 2008) and had served his sentence. There was therefore nothing to prevent him from attempting to purchase property in Morocco. We had no way of knowing that he had continued his terrible crimes,” he said.
Epstein died in jail in August 2019 while facing U.S. federal sex trafficking charges.

EPSTEIN INSTRUCTED FUNDS TO BE MOVED

Epstein turned to Schwab in 2019 as Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE), was winding down accounts held by the convicted sex offender, who had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from an underage girl and went to prison.
Schwab was among at least seven financial firms subpoenaed by the U.S. Virgin Islands in 2020 requesting documents in relation to the co-executors of Epstein’s estate. The subpoena did not name Schwab as a defendant and contained no accusations of wrongdoing against the brokerage.
Emails and wire transfer requests contained in the DOJ documents, which may not be comprehensive, show that Epstein discussed purchasing the luxury property in Marrakesh with his associates in the spring of 2019.
Southern Trust, the company owned by Epstein, agreed to buy the property through Leon in March of that year.
After considering various financial arrangements, the files show, Epstein instructed associates to move funds to Leon.
Schwab then received an order from Southern Trust to wire 11.15 million euros, roughly equivalent to $12.7 million at the time, to Leon on June 26, 2019, Schwab said in the SAR, which was seen by Reuters.
The SAR was contained in the batch the DOJ had released publicly, but has since been withdrawn for reasons Reuters could not ascertain. The DOJ declined to comment on the file.
The funds were sent to a Julius Baer account in Switzerland held by Leon, who was based in Marrakesh at the time, the SAR shows.
A file on the DOJ website also shows the request.
The next day, Schwab received a call from a person whose identity is redacted from the SAR requesting the termination of the transfer. Asked why, they told Schwab that terms on the real-estate deal had not been “agreeable”.
The person also said another payment would be made for a larger sum to a different account, the SAR shows.
Schwab was successful in reversing the order, which would be credited back on July 10, the SAR shows.
Two days before Epstein’s arrest, in a July 4 wire transfer request signed by Epstein and his co-signatory, Southern Trust instructed Schwab to send Leon $14.95 million, the SAR shows.
Schwab said the funds were sent to an account of Leon’s at Julius Baer, the SAR shows.
Yet Epstein’s Southern Trust account did not have sufficient funds because Schwab had not yet returned money from the earlier transfer, the SAR says.
While Schwab could have had a reasonable expectation that the payment would be transferred back to Epstein’s account, the bank would have been exposed to risk until the funds were returned.
Reuters could not establish when the $12.7 million ultimately landed back in Epstein’s account but the funds were due to arrive on July 10, the SAR dated July 13 shows.
Asked by Reuters about its policy at that time for processing international wire transfers when accounts had insufficient funds, Schwab declined to comment.
Reuters was not able to establish whether Julius Baer accepted the transfers. A spokesperson for Julius Baer declined to comment.
Leon said: “The anti-money laundering checks in force were carried out by the banking institutions involved in the future transaction, which ultimately never took place.”
It was not until July 9, three days after Epstein’s arrest, that Schwab cancelled the second transfer at the request of an individual acting on Epstein’s behalf whose name is redacted, the SAR shows.
An email included in the other DOJ documents shows Epstein’s accountant Kahn asked to cancel the transfer on July 9.
Kahn has been ordered to testify before Congress next week to answer questions about whether he helped to facilitate Epstein’s crimes through his management of the late sex offender’s financial affairs, House Oversight Committee member Robert Garcia said in a media statement in January.
Reuters has no evidence that Kahn is guilty of wrongdoing.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/palace-marrakesh-how-schwab-moved-277-million-payments-epstein-days-before-his-2026-02-19/

President Donald Trump has told Congress he is pursuing a civil nuclear pact with Saudi Arabia that does not include non-proliferation safeguards the U.S. has long said would ensure the kingdom does not develop nuclear weapons, according to a copy of the document sent to Congress and reviewed by Reuters.
Trump, a Republican, and former President Joe Biden, a Democrat, have worked with Saudi Arabia on paths to building the first civil nuclear power plants for the kingdom.

The development comes amid fears of a new global nuclear arms race following the expiration earlier this month of the last strategic arms limitation treaty between Russia and the United States, and China’s moves to expand its own nuclear arsenal.
Arms control groups and many Democrats and some leading Republicans – including Secretary of State Marco Rubio when he served in the Senate – have insisted that any agreement come with guardrails, including that Saudi Arabia not have the ability to enrich uranium or to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, potential pathways to weapons, demands also made by successive U.S. administrations.

They also insist that Saudi Arabia agree to the so-called Additional Protocol that grants the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency broad and more intrusive oversight of a country’s nuclear activities, such as the power to carry out snap inspections at undeclared locations.
The Trump administration sent an initial report to leaders on some congressional committees in November, a copy of which was seen by Reuters, that it is required to send if it is not pursuing the Additional Protocol, the Arms Control Association, an advocacy group, said on Thursday.
The report “raises concerns that the Trump administration has not carefully considered the proliferation risks posed by its proposed nuclear cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia or the precedent this agreement may set,” Kelsey Davenport, the head of nonproliferation policy for ACA, said in an article published on Thursday.

Trump’s report to Congress says that the draft U.S.-Saudi pact on civil nuclear, known as a 123 Agreement, puts the U.S. industry at the heart of Saudi Arabia’s civil nuclear development, ensuring nuclear-proliferation safeguards are in place.
The document, however, opens the way to Saudi Arabia also having an enrichment program as it refers to “additional safeguards and verification measures to the most sensitive areas of potential nuclear cooperation” between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, including enrichment and reprocessing.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, has said that the kingdom would seek to develop nuclear weapons if regional rival Iran did so.
“If they get one, we have to get one,” the crown prince told Fox News in 2023, saying a weapon would be necessary “for security reasons, and for balancing power in the Middle East, but we don’t want to see that.”

The White House and the State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Saudi Arabia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-removing-guardrails-proposed-saudi-nuclear-deal-document-says-2026-02-19/

Bill Gates pulled out of India’s AI Impact Summit hours before his scheduled keynote on Thursday, as scrutiny over his ties to late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein intensified following the release of U.S. Justice Department emails.
The abrupt withdrawal of Microsoft’s co-founder dealt a fresh blow to a flagship event already marred by organisational lapses, a robot row and complaints of traffic chaos.

The six-day event still notched more than $200 billion in investment pledges for AI infrastructure in India, including a $110 billion plan announced by Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), on Thursday. India’s Tata Group also signed a partnership deal with OpenAI.
Gates’ cancellation follows the release of emails last month by the DOJ that included communication between late financier and convicted sex offender Epstein and the Gates Foundation’s staff.
The foundation said the billionaire will not deliver his address “to ensure the focus remains on the AI Summit’s key priorities”. Only days ago, the foundation had dismissed rumours of his absence and insisted he was on track to attend.

The foundation’s chief strategy officer and Africa and India chief Ankur Vora spoke instead of Gates.
A representative for the philanthropic organisation, started by Gates and his then-wife in 2000, did not respond to a Reuters query on whether the withdrawal was linked to scrutiny over the Epstein files.
Gates has said the relationship was confined to philanthropy-related discussions and that it was a mistake for him to meet the sex offender.
He was among the top tech leaders due to attend the event among the likes of Google (GOOGL.O), CEO Sundar Pichai, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.
Gates’ absence followed another high-profile cancellation by Nvidia’s (NVDA.O), Jensen Huang earlier on Saturday, which added to a difficult opening for a summit billed as the first major AI forum in the Global South, where India has sought to position itself as a leading voice in worldwide AI governance.

MODI ADDRESS, AI COMMITMENTS

In his keynote address, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for maintaining children’s safety on AI platforms as he addressed the gathering on Thursday, alongside French President Emmanuel Macron.
“We must be even more vigilant about children’s safety. Just as a school syllabus is curated, the AI space should also be child- and family-guided,” Modi said, after standing on stage with top AI executives and posing for photographs with their arms raised in a show of strength.
The photoshoot produced an awkward moment when Altman and Amodei, chiefs of rival AI firms OpenAI and Anthropic, stood side by side on stage but did not hold hands although the other executives did.
The symbolic unity pose was to declare the formal launch of the New Delhi Frontier AI Commitments, a set of voluntary principles adopted by leading AI companies at the summit to advance inclusive, responsible development of frontier AI models.
“One hundred million people in India now use ChatGPT each week,” Altman told the gathering.
Despite the investment successes, India’s first major AI summit has been marred by organisational lapses that have left attendees shocked and angry over what they described as a lack of planning by the Indian government.

CHAOS AND TRAFFIC SNARLS

The summit exhibition halls were shut to the public on Thursday in a surprise move that led to more anger among participating companies that had put up stalls and pavilions. The venue compound was largely deserted after three days of large crowds at the event.
Indian university Galgotias was asked to vacate its stall after a staff member presented a commercially available robotic dog made in China as its own creation, sparking a public uproar.
Police repeatedly shut roads to give preference to VIP movement at the summit, creating chaos in the city of 20 million people. The Indian government has apologised for inconvenience caused to attendees in the initial days.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/india/bill-gates-cancels-keynote-address-india-ai-summit-2026-02-19/

Satellite images show that Iran has recently built a concrete shield over a new facility at a sensitive military site and covered it in soil, experts say, advancing work at a location reportedly bombed by Israel in 2024 amid tensions with the U.S.
Images also show that Iran has buried tunnel entrances at a nuclear site bombed by the U.S. during Israel’s 12-day war with Iran last year, fortified tunnel entrances near another, and has repaired missile bases struck in the conflict.

They offer a glimpse of Iranian activities at some of the sites at the centre of tensions with Israel and the U.S., as Washington seeks to negotiate a deal with Tehran on its nuclear programme while threatening military action if talks fail.
Here are some images showing the changes:

PARCHIN MILITARY COMPLEX

Canada introduced new immigration priority categories on Wednesday to bring in skilled workers in fields ranging from research and health care to aviation, and to include certain military recruits.
The new categories align with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s goals of broadly reducing the number of new permanent residents in Canada while recruiting skilled workers and scholars and boosting defense capabilities to lessen dependence on the United States.

The government said the shift was aimed at restoring immigration to sustainable levels while finding workers for key industries. Canada’s government in recent years has sought to reduce the number of immigrants to ease strains on housing and social services.
Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab said the 2026 changes to the Express Entry system will help to attract talent that can “contribute from day one” as Canada faces labour shortages in critical sectors.
The new categories include researchers, senior managers, transport‑sector workers such as pilots and aircraft mechanics, and foreign medical doctors with Canadian experience. They will also include highly skilled foreign military applicants recruited by the Canadian Armed Forces, including military doctors, nurses and pilots.

“Canada’s future depends on a workforce ready for a changing economy,” Diab said in a statement.
Carney, seeking to reduce reliance on the United States, announced a new defense strategy on Tuesday that aims over the next decade to lift government investment in defense-related research and development by 85%, boost defense industry revenues by more than 240%, increase defense exports by 50% and create up to 125,000 quality new jobs.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/canada-revises-express-entry-immigration-rules-adds-military-roles-2026-02-18/

Two days of peace talks in Geneva between Ukraine and Russia ended on Wednesday without a breakthrough as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he was dissatisfied with the outcome while Washington reported “meaningful progress”.
Officials from Moscow and Kyiv said the discussions in Geneva were difficult. At the conclusion, the delegations said they would meet again, without providing a date, while Zelenskiy and the White House suggested discussions could occur soon.

Ukraine has faced sustained pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to agree to a deal that could mean painful concessions, as Russian forces pound its power grid and slowly advance on the battlefield.
Zelenskiy, speaking in his nightly video address, said: “As of today, we cannot say that the result is sufficient.
“The military discussed certain issues seriously and substantively. Sensitive political matters, possible compromises and the necessary meeting of leaders have not yet been sufficiently addressed.”
He said it was important that European representatives were present in Geneva and described holding a next round of talks later this month as appropriate.

In an interview on YouTube with journalist Piers Morgan, Zelenskiy said that negotiators had moved closer to an agreement on how a ceasefire to end the war would be monitored.
“They’re closer to the result that we will have a paper where it will be written all the details, how it can or it has to be monitored after, immediately after ceasefire,” he said.
He said the “painful and difficult” issue of territory could be addressed by a meeting of the two countries’ leaders.
In Washington, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said there was “meaningful progress made” with pledges “to continue to work towards a peace deal together”.
Leavitt suggested there would be another set of talks soon. But she said Trump viewed the situation, nearly four years into the war, as “very unfair, not just for Russians and Ukrainians who have lost their lives” but also for U.S. taxpayers who have provided financial support to Ukraine.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia’s negotiating team would brief President Vladimir Putin on the talks and acknowledged the delegation’s leader had called the discussions “difficult”.
As the two sides met for a second day with mediation by U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Zelenskiy wrote on X that Russia was “trying to drag out negotiations that could already have reached the final stage.”
Moments after his statement, the delegations broke off the talks.

DIFFICULT, BUT BUSINESS-LIKE

Russia’s chief negotiator, former culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, described the talks as “difficult, but business-like”.
Medinsky spoke with the Ukrainians for nearly two hours after formal talks ended, according to a representative of Kyiv’s chief negotiator, Rustem Umerov.
A spokesperson for Zelenskiy said the formal part of the talks had addressed territory in Ukraine’s east and the fate of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, both persistent sticking points.
Moscow wants Ukraine to cede the roughly 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk that Russian forces have been unable to conquer – something Kyiv has repeatedly rejected.
Kyiv, meanwhile, wants Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear plant, to be operated by the U.S. and Ukraine, which Russia dismisses as unacceptable.
Tuesday will be the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, which has killed hundreds of thousands, driven millions from their homes and ravaged Ukrainian cities, towns and villages. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians.
Trump has twice suggested in recent days that Kyiv must make sure a deal is agreed quickly. He told reporters on Monday: “Ukraine better come to the table fast. That’s all I’m telling you.”
ZELENSKIY: UNFAIR CONCESSIONSIn an interview with the U.S. news outlet Axios, Zelenskiy was quoted as saying that it was “not fair” that Trump kept publicly demanding concessions from Ukraine, not Russia.
Zelenskiy also said any plan requiring Ukraine to give up territory that Russia had not captured in the east would be rejected if put to a referendum.
Kyiv wants strong U.S.-backed security guarantees to prevent future Russian attacks in the event of a peace deal.
The Geneva meeting follows two rounds of U.S.-brokered talks in Abu Dhabi that made no breakthrough.
Both Zelenskiy and Umerov have made a point of repeatedly thanking the U.S. for its mediation in recent weeks.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/ukraine-russia-peace-talks-enter-second-day-geneva-with-pressure-kyiv-2026-02-18/

The country has not carried out capital punishment in almost three decades, despite its courts continuing to hand down death sentences.

Park Chang-seon was once a top student in South Korea who dreamed of becoming president.

But his life fell apart in 1974 when his father, Park Gi-rae, was arrested on charges of anti-state activities and sentenced to death a year later.

“It felt like the world had turned upside down,” the younger Park told CNA.

“Before his arrest, I was a top student, won national speech contests and appeared on KBS television. But after his arrest, I became ‘the son of a spy’, ‘the son of a communist’.”

The label followed the family during the authoritarian rule of former President Park Chung-hee.

From middle school onwards, Park Chang-seon said he endured relentless abuse from teachers and other parents. Visits to his father at Seodaemun Detention Center filled him with dread, and he was forced to wait for hours in freezing weather.

“For nine years, every visit felt like attending a funeral. We never knew if it would be the last time we saw him, because we didn’t know when he would die,” he recounted.

A reprieve came in 1983 when his father’s death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment. He was paroled in 1991 after 17 years behind bars and died in 2012.

In 2023, decades after his conviction, a court declared him innocent, ruling that his confession had been obtained through torture.

Park Gi-rae’s story underscores the controversy surrounding South Korea’s capital punishment system, which has once again come under scrutiny.

Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for former President Yoon Suk Yeol on insurrection charges over his martial law declaration in December 2024, which plunged the nation into months of political turmoil.

The Seoul central district court is set to give its verdict on these charges on Thursday (Feb 19).

GAP BETWEEN LAW AND REALITY

Although South Korea’s courts continue to hand down death sentences, the country has not carried out an execution since 1997.

About 57 inmates remain on death row, leaving the country in a legal limbo where capital punishment exists on paper but not in practice.

Legal experts say this gap between law and reality must eventually be resolved.

“Because the law and reality are out of sync, the question becomes how to resolve this gap. There are essentially two options,” said Cha Jina, a law professor at Korea University.

“One is to keep the law as it is and adjust reality accordingly, meaning to resume executions. The other is to amend the law – that is, to abolish the death penalty.”

Public opinion on this remains divided across the country.

“If an innocent person were executed because of a wrongful judgment, how unfair would that be?” one member of the public in Seoul told CNA.

“These days, crimes are extremely cruel. There needs to be a clear example set – at least once – to serve as a warning,” said another.

Surveys suggest more than 60 per cent of South Koreans support capital punishment, largely driven by fears of violent crime.

“On the premise of introducing life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, abolishing the death penalty may be a way to better align the law with reality,” Cha noted.

Human rights groups warn that the death penalty carries the risk of irreversible error, pointing to cases like Park Gi-rae’s as a stark reminder.

For his son Chang-seon, the court’s apology and financial compensation have done little to ease decades of trauma.

The family was awarded about 1.33 billion won (US$921,000) in compensation after the acquittal. Two other men in the same case were executed.

“This isn’t something money can fix. Even though the presiding judge apologised, what’s needed is institutional recognition – memorials and acknowledgment – because the trauma continues into the third generation. Even my siblings are still suffering,” said Park Chang-seon.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/south-korea-death-penalty-debate-divided-yoon-suk-yeol-5937436

CNA speaks to local leaders and businesses in Indonesia’s Batam on how Nongsa Digital Park is anchoring the city’s push to become a regional digital economy hub, even as challenges around talent and sustainability remain.

Jesica Aulia Pardede moved from Medan to Batam in Indonesia’s province of Riau Islands in 2023 when she saw growing opportunities in the digital sector.

The 24-year-old, who studied Computer Science at the University of North Sumatra, began her career as a web development mentor at Infinite Learning, a digital skills academy based in Nongsa Digital Park – located about a 30-minute drive from the Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal.

Since then, she has watched the digital ecosystem in Nongsa district gain wider recognition, with the academy drawing students not only from Batam but also cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Lombok, Aceh and Papua.

“There are a lot of opportunities here in Batam, especially in Nongsa Digital Park,” she told CNA. “We are exposed to global companies, and the digital career pathway here has strong potential to grow.”

Jesica’s determination to develop her career is a direct reflection of Batam’s broader push into the digital economy sector, which seeks to position the city as a major regional data centre hub.

Batam’s information and communication sector has grown from 2.4 per cent of its gross regional domestic product in 2010 to 4.1 per cent in 2024, according to Statistics Indonesia – a government agency which conducts national statistical surveys and data collection.

Experts attribute the growth largely to the expansion of data centres, animation and digital services.

“The acceleration is evident in rising investments, the formation of a digital ecosystem (at Nongsa Digital Park) and the expansion of digital-based public services,” said Rudi Panjaitan, head of the Batam City Office of Communication and Informatics, a local government agency.

More than 500 public services across Batam’s local government agencies have been digitalised as part of its smart city initiative, spanning sectors such as business, healthcare and education, he told CNA.

Local leaders and businesses said the data centre industry and digital education – particularly training in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) – are among the most promising growth areas that could position Batam as a regional digital economy hub.

Much of this growth is concentrated in Nongsa Digital Park, a special economic zone (SEZ) that has attracted multinational firms and educational institutions.

But industry players and experts warned that a shortage of skilled workers and environmental pressures due to the proliferation of data centres could constrain Batam’s ambitions if left unaddressed.

DATA CENTRE BOOM

At a business forum on the Batam, Bintan, Karimun region in November last year, Indonesia’s ambassador to Singapore Suryo Pratomo said that the region is undergoing “a significant strategic transformation”, moving beyond traditional manufacturing into high-value sectors.

He pointed to the Nongsa Digital Park – one of the five SEZs in Batam – which he said is rapidly positioning Batam as a data centre hub in Indonesia.

The others are the Batam Aero Technic SEZ, Tanjung Sauh SEZ, Sekupang Health SEZ and Nongsa Tourism SEZ.

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto echoed this view at the forum, describing the Batam, Bintan, Karimun region as “the place for digital infrastructure” and Batam as a “digital bridge” connecting Indonesia to Singapore, a vision first highlighted by then-president Joko Widodo in 2017.

Batam is about a 50-minute to an hour’s ferry ride from Singapore.

The city’s mayor Amsakar Achmad recently told CNA that Batam offers a “dedicated and integrated ecosystem”, referring to Nongsa Digital Park as a key selling point for investors.

“Batam’s transformation is not an instantaneous shift, but a medium to long-term process,” he said.

“The presence and developments of areas such as the Nongsa Digital Park serve as positive early indicators as they demonstrate investment interest, cross-border partnerships and the growth of activities in the sector.”

Amsakar, who also chairs the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BIFZA), said the facilities in Nongsa Digital Park could serve as secure data hubs for Indonesian ministries and government institutions.

This was echoed by data centre operator BW Digital, which cited data sovereignty as a key growth driver.

“As Indonesian enterprises and government agencies look for infrastructure that supports local data hosting needs, Batam gains strategic relevance domestically as a data centre location,” said Florent Blot, chief business officer of BW Digital.

He added that Batam’s location as a comparatively “hazard-free zone” in relation to earthquakes and flooding makes it a resilient alternative to cities like Jakarta, which currently hosts about 99 data centres – the highest number in Indonesia.

Headquartered in Singapore, BW Digital sees Batam as a complement to Singapore’s established digital infrastructure system.

This is why it is building a data centre facility in Batam which is expected to begin operations this year.

“With a latency of less than two milliseconds, the location allows the campus to operate almost as an extension of Singapore,” Blot told CNA.

“That makes it practical to manage operations, support customer engagement and maintain seamless integration.”

Latency refers to the time delay it takes for data to travel from one point to another across a network. Low latency enables faster data transfers, a key requirement for many businesses.

Connectivity is another factor, said Blot, adding that Batam’s access to multiple subsea cable systems provides strong international reach and carrier diversity.

Beyond digital connectivity, operators say Batam’s physical infrastructure has also matured significantly.

“Ongoing improvements in utilities, road networks, security and campus services have made the environment increasingly suitable for large-scale digital infrastructure projects,” Blot told CNA.

Nongsa Digital Park currently hosts nine data centres including three sites that have completed construction and are in early stages of operation, BIFZA told CNA.

BW Digital’s facility is currently under construction. Meanwhile, three data centres are in preparation for development and another two are “planning to be operational”.

There are also plans to add four more facilities. BIFZA added.

ENVIRONMENT A LIMITING FACTOR?

With Batam positioning itself as a regional data centre hub, Siwage Dharma Negara – co-coordinator of the Indonesia Studies Programme at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore – told CNA that water demand and usage is of concern.

Data centres need water primarily for cooling the massive heat generated by servers. Meanwhile, Batam’s water supply depends on rainwater reservoirs and it frequently experiences shortages in certain areas, including reports of intermittent supply in some neighbourhoods.

Local media outlet Batampos had reported disruptions in areas such as Taman Baloi Mas, Tanjungsengkuang and Batuaji in September 2024, with residents staging protests over irregular water flow and ageing pipe infrastructure.

In some areas, water was reported to have run only for a few hours in the early morning.

Since 2015, available capacity has increased only marginally, from about 3,500 to 3,850 litres per second, according to Batampos, even as overall demand has risen.

Environmentalist Gari Dafit Semet, who manages a mangrove ecotourism business in Bakau Serip village in Nongsa, said that his community has not yet been directly affected by shortages, as residents there still rely on well water, which remains “clear and usable”.

However, preserving mangroves and forest cover is critical to maintaining water security on the island, he said, as these ecosystems help to recharge groundwater supplies and prevent saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources.

Siwage added that policymakers need to invest in integrated water resources, expand reservoir capacity and improve distribution networks.

“They also need to provide clear regulatory frameworks and environmental standards to ensure data centre growth does not outpace the limited water supply,” he said.

Beyond water resources, land availability may also emerge as another limiting factor, said Khoo Peck Khoon, chief operating officer of Nongsa Digital Park. According to its website, the park already spans an area of about 188 hectares – roughly the size of around 264 football fields.

“We want to grow but we are limited by the amount of land we have … we need the infrastructure to match that growth.”

Environmental considerations also pose challenges.

“The challenge is in trying to protect the environment, we want to be eco-friendly and make sure that the environment is not destroyed, especially as our data centres sit close to forest areas that we want to protect as much as possible,” he told CNA.

Gari, the environmentalist who lives in a village near Nongsa, told CNA that he has observed more forested land being cleared as the area develops.

“We are not opposed to development but the local government must carefully balance industrial expansion with environmental sustainability,” he told CNA.

LACK OF SKILLED LABOUR ANOTHER CHALLENGE

Beyond land and environmental constraints, businesses and local leaders say a shortage of skilled labour remains a long-standing challenge for Batam’s growing digital sector.

“The availability and readiness of human resources with digital and advanced technology competencies remain one of the challenges that require greater attention,” Amsakar told CNA.

Observers and investors, he said, generally highlight a gap between industry needs and the qualifications of the local workforce.

According to BIFZA, senior high school (SMA) graduates make up the largest share of the unemployed in the industrial city.

As of 2024, 26,162 SMA graduates were unemployed, making up more than half of Batam’s unemployed population.

Experts said that this suggests that many school leavers lack the technical skills sought by local employers.

Siwage told CNA that this means that the industrial parks often had to search for skilled labour outside Batam to meet industry needs.

Khoo of Nongsa Digital Park said that while semi-skilled workers are available, shortages in the number of senior personnel remain – a gap it is trying to address through its digital education institutes, which seek to train locals in areas such as cybersecurity and AI.

“As technology improves and changes very often, skillsets need to develop over time … this is an area we find challenging,” he told CNA.

Amsakar added that the issue is not just about numbers, but also the relevance of skills, certifications and work experience required by global industries.

Echoing this, Ari Nugrahanto – who is the programme director of Infinite Learning – said that companies that are coming into the SEZ “are not only local firms, but global, multinational companies”.

To support them, Batam needs talent with “global-standard skills”, Ari said, pointing to gaps also in soft skills such as language proficiency and workplace confidence.

Still, Ari, along with businesses and local leaders CNA spoke to, are optimistic that the gap can be narrowed through targeted training and tech educational programmes embedded within Batam’s growing digital ecosystem.

Infinite Learning, which offers vocational courses and collaborates with schools and universities across Indonesia, has produced about 8,000 graduates since it was established over five years ago..

Most are now working at multinational companies across the country, Ari claimed.

Jesica, the web development mentor at Infinite Learning, said that while opportunities in Batam’s digital sector are growing, the ecosystem remains “more mature” in larger cities such as Jakarta, where project values are higher and career pathways are clearer.

“Working in major cities or at national-scale companies adds value to your portfolio and opens up longer-term opportunities,” she said.

“In Batam, opportunities in the digital sector do exist but they are less diverse. So offers from overseas or bigger cities are often seen as strategic moves.”

Local news outlet Jakarta Post reported in July 2025 that wage rates in Batam are lower than in neighbouring regions.

While sector-specific wage data for the digital economy is limited, the minimum monthly wage in Batam for 2026 is about 5.36 million rupiah (US$320) according to Jakarta Post, compared to around RM1,700 (US$435) in Johor, including for foreign workers.

In Jakarta, Governor Pramono Anung announced in December last year that the capital’s 2026 provincial minimum wage is set at 5.73 million rupiah – about US$340.

“Our role is not only to educate but to bridge the talent gap, helping students from our academy, universities and vocational schools become industry-ready,” he said.

At the government level, BIFZA in December last year launched the “Batam Talent Management (MANTAB)” digital platform, designed to connect job seekers with industry players through data-driven competency matching.

BIFZA said MANTAB is the first-of-its-kind digital platform in Indonesia which integrates collaboration between educational institutions, local government and the manpower ministry.

Several major firms, including PT Volarex Batam, have already used the platform, recruiting more than 20 employees through it, local media reported.

With such initiatives in place, Amsakar said the labour shortages are no longer viewed solely as an obstacle, but as a “strategic challenge and opportunity” to build a more competitive and sustainable talent ecosystem, supporting Batam’s ambitions to become a regional hub for the digital economy and high-technology industries.

For instance, students from across Indonesia are coming to Batam to take part in programmes run by its digital learning institutes.

Among them are Adithya Firmansyah Putra, 22, and Nuraiza Hafiza Karim, 25, from Jakarta and Solo respectively. They recently graduated from a 10-month programme at the Apple Developer Academy, established in Nongsa Digital Park in collaboration with Infinite Learning.

The programme covers coding fundamentals, as well as design, marketing and project management.

“As Batam is an industrial city, there are many opportunities here, it is also strategically located, which allows for more networking with industry professionals, something I did not have back in my hometown (of Solo),” Nuraiza told CNA.

Using the skills acquired at the academy, Nuraiza and Adithya were part of a five-member team which developed an application called Wikan, which provides Bahasa Indonesia-to-Javanese translations and is available on the Apple App Store.

The app aims to preserve the cultural significance of Indonesia’s largest regional language.

Both students told CNA that the programme at Apple Developer Academy had positively shaped their professional and personal development, particularly by exposing them to industry expectations and career pathways that were not covered in their universities.

TALENT, COLLABORATION AND BATAM’S REGIONAL POSITION

While education initiatives are beginning to narrow the skills gap, industry players say Batam’s long-term success will depend on stronger coordination between government, industry and the educational institutions.

Moving forward, Ari of Infinite Learning said improving accessibility to digital education – through measures such as subsidies, scholarships or free laptops – could help more students benefit from training.

Batam’s government is also working to align curriculum with industry needs through collaborations with institutions such as Batam Polytechnic and Batam University, Amsakar told CNA.

And for data centre operators like BW Digital, a consistent long-term policy framework plays an important role.

“Continued local, national and regional support for the digital infrastructure projects help operators plan with greater certainty and accelerate regional integration,” said Blot of BW Digital.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-batam-digital-economy-nongsa-digital-park-talent-data-centres-environment-5929226

A video of multiple humanoid robots skillfully performing kung fu at the China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala was shared online. The clip immediately went viral and left netizens awestruck.

It’s China again– flaunting the impressive technological advancement they currently possess. China recently held a grand Spring Festival- China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala- and the videos that came out of that event were nothing but extraordinary and even inspiring. ‘Inspiring’, because what else do you call THIS level of control of technology and art? One of the festival videos showed multiple humanoid robots skilfully performing traditional kung fu. Donning tradition attires, the humanoid robots look like they were straight out of a sci-fi movie. The performance was held on Monday, February 16.

From well-choreographed stunts to synchronised moves– you name it, and the machines were exceptional during the performance. Apart from their smooth moves, the robots also displayed their skills of handling kung fu tools and weapons, like nunchucks, swords and more.

For those not aware, the Spring Festival is a huge and much-hailed event in China, as it basically is a Chinese New Year celebration. The Spring Festival Gala, on the other hand, is also known as ‘Chunwan’. The gala has also been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the “most-watched annual television program on the planet,” as per CGTN.

As soon as the video went viral, netizens began to share amused reactions.

The White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend.

The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend; however, President Donald Trump is yet to take a final decision whether he’ll authorise such actions, sources familiar with the matter informed CNN.

According to reports, the White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend. The development is coming after a significant military build-up was witnessed in recent days of air and naval assets in the Middle East.

While it is being reported that the US is preparing to strike Iran as early as this weekend, CNN reported that one source has cautioned that Trump has privately argued both for and against the military action. Additionally, he has also polled the advisers and allies on what the best course of action can be taken.

“He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” the source said.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the United States and Israel could be on the brink of a major military operation against Iran that might begin “very soon”. Sources, cited by Axios, said the plan would be far larger in scope than last year’s 12‑day conflict and could last for weeks if it goes ahead.

Trump has repeatedly emphasised the importance of confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In recent days, discussions with allies and advisers have underscored the potential for a military option if negotiations fail to achieve meaningful concessions from Tehran.

Will US Attack Iran?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday said that Iran was expected to provide more details on its negotiating position “in the next couple of weeks,” but she wouldn’t say whether Trump would hold off on military action within that timespan.

“I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the president of the United States,” Leavitt said, adding that diplomacy is always the President’s first option as military action remains on the table.

“There are many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” she said, adding Trump was relying on counsel from his national security team “first and foremost.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Israel on February 28 to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and update him on the Iran talks, a State Department official told CNN.

Meanwhile, it is being speculated that there are 90 percent chances of strikes on Iran. However, Trump can’t proceed without Congress.

Several US representatives have also stood in his support and said that Congress must vote on war according to our Constitution.

Taking to X, representative Thomas Massie wrote, “Ro Khanna and I will be forcing that vote to happen in the House as soon as possible. I will vote to put America first which means voting against more war in the Middle East.”

Trump Warns UK

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday warned Britain against “giving away” the strategic Diego Garcia military base, saying the facility would be crucial if Washington moves ahead with possible strikes on Iran.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said he had been pressing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, warning that a long-term lease arrangement over the strategic Diego Garcia air base would be a big mistake.

Additionally, Trump has said that if Iran doesn’t make a deal, the US may have to use its military bases located on Diego Garcia and the UK, and warns that an attack from Iran “would potentially be made on the UK, as well as other friendly Countries.”

“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime — An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease,” he added.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/us-military-prepared-to-strike-iran-this-weekend-trump-to-take-final-call-report-9916454.html