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Top News Stories for Thursday, February 19th 2026
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article Stephen Colbert claims CBS told him not to broadcast an interview with Senate candidate James Talarico Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has clapped back at Stephen Colbert after he claims CBS told him not to air an interview with a Democratic ...
Source: independent.co.uk
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
A weekslong "snow drought" in Northern California's Sierra Nevada helped set the stage for Tuesday's deadly avalanche , after several feet of new snow fell on an earlier layer that had hardened, making it unstable and easily triggered, experts said. The new snow did not have time to bond to the earlier layer before the avalanche near Lake Tahoe killed at least eight backcountry skiers, said Craig Clements, a ...
Source: apnews.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
French president rejects US criticism as António Guterres and Narendra Modi warn on child safety and AI monopolies Emmanuel Macron has hit back at US criticism of Europe's efforts to regulate AI, vowing to protect children from "digital abuse" during France's presidency of the G7. Speaking at the AI Impact summit in Delhi, the French president called for tougher safeguards after global outrage over Elon ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
President Donald Trump was able to push through many of the tax breaks he touted on the campaign trail, but experts said they may be more hype than savings for some taxpayers. Four main tax breaks were created with the passage of Trump's sweeping budget bill in July 2025: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, a deduction on qualifying new auto loans and a $6,000 senior deduction, which passed instead of no federal ...
Source: chicago.suntimes.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
King expresses his 'deepest concern' and says 'law must take its course' as former prince arrested at Sandringham estate Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor has been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office by police investigating the former prince's dealings with the convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Photographs of unmarked police cars and plainclothes officers at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
on the site of the former White House East Wing is expected to vote to advance the project when it meets Thursday. is likely to vote on the design at its monthly meeting, which is being held over Zoom. The panel is now led by appointees of the Republican president. , some of those commissioners questioned the lead architect about the "immense" design and scale of the project even as they broadly endorsed Trump's ...
Source: news.yahoo.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Behind the scenes, real journalism faces real resistance. We keep reporting anyway. Member support protects our independence and keeps tough stories in the light. Join today to help defend a free press. Already a member? AUSTIN, Texas – Seven months and $60 million later, Senate Republicans' efforts to rescue one of their caucus' leading members have proven totally ineffective, driving worries the party could ...
Source: huffpost.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Trump told the U.K. not to "give away" the Chagos Islands, which is where a joint U.S.-U.K. military base is located. The president suggested the Chagos deal was prompted by "Wokeism" after the U.K. has come under pressure to hand the islands back to Mauritius. The U.S. is due to hold talks with Mauritius on the issue next week. U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hold a press ...
Source: cnbc.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
, meaning folks looking for a great midrange smartphone option have something new to sink their teeth into. We've been looking forward to the 10a back in October 2025, as the Pixel-a series has been an ideal option for those on a budget. While Google is offering the Pixel 10a at a price that's surprising, given that 2026 is shaping up to be , there may be a reason that the price is low. It's not that hard to notice ...
Source: bgr.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
South Korea's former President Yoon Suk-yeol has been found guilty of masterminding an insurrection and sentenced to life in prison over his imposition of short-lived martial law in 2024. "The declaration of martial law resulted in enormous social costs, and it is difficult to find any indication that the defendant has expressed remorse for that," Presiding Judge Ji Gwi-yeon told the court on Thursday. "As to ...
Source: aljazeera.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Bad Bunny to make lead acting debut in film inspired by Puerto Rican revolutionary Singer Bad Bunny is to take on his first lead acting role, starring in a film alongside Javier Bardem and Edward Norton. Porto Rico, described as a love letter to the 31-year-old's home of Puerto Rico, will be directed by rapper René Pérez, known as Residente. The film, which has been in development since 2023, is ...
Source: bbc.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Users can simply describe a song or upload a photo to generate music that matches a specific mood. Google announced on Wednesday that it is adding a music-generation feature to the Gemini app. The feature is powered by DeepMind's Lyria 3 music-generation model and is currently in beta. Users describe the song they want to create via a text prompt, and the app generates a 30-second track with lyrics and cover art. ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Deal agreed to acquire British secondhand fashion resale app from Etsy as eBay attempts to fend off Amazon The online retailer eBay has agreed to buy the British secondhand fashion resale app Depop from Etsy for about $1.2bn (£890m) in cash, as eBay targets younger fashion-loving consumers. The deal comes at a time when secondhand marketplaces continue to soar in popularity , especially among gen Z shoppers ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
In a fiery speech in Los Angeles, the Vermont senator criticizes 'grotesque' levels of economic inequality Billionaires are "treading on very, very thin ice," Bernie Sanders warned on Wednesday during a fiery speech in Los Angeles, imploring California voters to fight "grotesque" levels of economic inequality by approving a proposed tax on the state's richest residents. The Vermont senator railed against the ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
The UN's independent fact-finding mission on Sudan said Thursday the paramilitary siege and capture of El-Fasher bore "the hallmarks of genocide". Its investigation concluded that the Rapid Support Forces's seizure of the Darfur city in last October had inflicted "three days of absolute horror", and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. "The scale, coordination, and public endorsement of the ...
Source: digitaljournal.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Air pollution can cause far more damage than previously believed. According to a recent study published in PLOS Medicine , the tiny particles in polluted air are way more harmful. The long-term exposure to PM2.5, which is extremely small pollution particles, is linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Scientists now believe these particles may not only affect the lungs but also reach and impact ...
Source: greenmatters.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Meta chief says it has improved identifying underage users but adds 'I always wish we could have gotten there sooner' The Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg , testified at a landmark trial of social media companies on Wednesday. Plaintiffs' lawyers grilled Zuckerberg about internal complaints that not enough was being done to verify whether children under 13 were using the platform. Zuckerberg claimed Meta had improved in ...
Source: theguardian.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Dr. Vinay Prasad is currently the FDA's top vaccine regulator. He's also one of many medical goons hand-picked by RFK Jr. to help lead his decidedly anti-vaxxer movement. In fact, the last time we discussed Prasad, it was over his selective censorship attempts at avoiding public criticism for his anti-vaxxer nonsense. If you show clips of Prasad spewing his anti-vaxxer views to critique them, he'll have your ...
Source: techdirt.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The billionaire former Victoria's Secret CEO Les Wexner testified to the House Oversight Committee on Wednesday that he was "conned" by Jeffrey Epstein but denied any wrongdoing, according to a prepared statement a representative for Wexner provided to NBC News. Wexner, 88, who has been under fire over his many appearances in the Justice Department's records on Epstein, denied allegations that he was Epstein's ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
PCWorld examines Microsoft's Project Silica breakthrough, which now uses common borosilicate glass like Pyrex for ultra-long-term data storage lasting over 10,000 years. While research is complete with improved writing methods including phase voxels, Microsoft hasn't announced production timelines for commercial deployment. Microsoft just announced a breakthrough in its push to commercialize Project Silica, its ...
Source: pcworld.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Back in January 2023, Aimen Halim bought an order of "boneless wings" at a Buffalo Wild Wings (BWW) outlet in Mount Prospect, Illinois. At the time, he claims, he assumed the product was composed of deboned chicken wing meat. But to his horror, he discovered that it was in fact made from chicken breast meat. That revelation resulted in a federal lawsuit that Halim filed against the chicken chain two months later, ...
Source: reason.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
CORTINA D'AMPEZZO, Italy — Mikaela Shiffrin's eight-year Olympic medal drought is over. The American skiing standout put in two dominant runs to win the women's slalom at the Winter Games on Wednesday by 1.50 seconds. The race isn't officially over yet, with dozens of lower-tier racers still to take the course. But Shiffrin is the leader after the fastest 30 skiers from the first run. World champion Camille ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The U.S. military said Tuesday that it carried out strikes on three boats accused of smuggling drugs in Latin American waters, killing 11 people in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration's monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers. The series of strikes conducted Monday brought the death toll to at least 145 people since the administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
NEW YORK (AP) — California regulators said on Tuesday that Tesla had stopped misleading drivers about the safety of its cars and so has decided not to suspend its license to sell in the state for 30 days. The decision by the California Department of Motor Vehicles comes after Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker was found by an administrative law judge last year to have misled drivers about the ability of Tesla ...
Source: apnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Divided Fed officials at their January meeting indicated that further interest rate cuts should be paused for now and could resume later in the year only if inflation cooperates, minutes released Wednesday showed. Some officials even entertained the notion that rate hikes could be on the table and wanted the post-meeting statement to more closely reflect "a two-sided description of the Committee's future interest ...
Source: cnbc.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The Paris prosecutor's office said it was opening two new lines of inquiry, one into alleged human trafficking and the other into possible financial wrongdoing related to Epstein. LONDON — The global fallout from the Epstein files widened Wednesday, with French authorities urging survivors to come forward and British police assessing private flights to and from London connected to the late financier and ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The Trump administration is going to bat for a hands-off approach to the explosion of gambling in America. Reading time 3 minutes Over the past year, several states have launched legal actions against some of the largest players in the booming prediction market industry, such as Kalshi and Polymarket. These cases mostly have to do with state-level gambling regulations, as there is disagreement over whether these ...
Source: gizmodo.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Users reported seeing a blank black screen with only the sidebar visible, or a "Something went wrong" message accompanied by pixel art. YouTube experienced an outage affecting thousands of users in the United States and other countries on February 17, 2026. The issue began around 8 PM Eastern Time and was reported by users in Canada, India, the Philippines, Australia, and Russia. Downdetector recorded 338,000 ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The days of tech giants buying up discrete chips are over. AI companies now need GPUs, CPUs, and everything in between. Ask anyone what Nvidia makes , and they're likely to first say "GPUs." For decades, the chipmaker has been defined by advanced parallel computing, and the emergence of generative AI and the resulting surge in demand for GPUs has been a boon for the company . But Nvidia's recent moves signal that ...
Source: wired.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
New research shows intermittent fasting is no more effective for weight loss than receiving traditional dietary advice. Intermittent fasting has become a buzzword in nutrition circles, with many people looking to it as a way to lose weight or improve their health. But new research from the Cochrane Collaboration shows intermittent fasting is no more effective for weight loss than receiving traditional dietary ...
Source: zmescience.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Christy Carlson Romano is opening up about a potential health battle. On Feb. 17, the Disney Channel alum revealed that she received positive results from a preliminary cancer screening. "I got the results back a little bit before filming down in Florida," she said in an Instagram video . "My husband's came back completely negative. Mine did not come back negative." Romano explained that her results are not an ...
Source: bustle.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Ukraine said Wednesday that its officials will not attend the Winter Paralympics next month over organizers' decision to allow a handful of Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their flags. Ukrainian athletes will still take part in the Milan Cortina Games, scheduled for March 6-15, but no officials from Ukraine will be at the opening ceremony or any events, Sports Minister Matvii Bidnyi said. In a ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Behind the scenes, real journalism faces real resistance. We keep reporting anyway. Member support protects our independence and keeps tough stories in the light. Join today to help defend a free press. Already a member? Feb 18 (Reuters) - Traffic was disrupted at Newark Liberty International Airport on Wednesday after a Florida-bound JetBlue flight suffered an engine failure on takeoff and returned to the airport, ...
Source: huffpost.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
A U.S. Capitol police officer puts on gloves as he walks the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, two days after a winter storm swept across a large swath of the United States, in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 27, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper New details emerged Tuesday afternoon after Capitol police took into custody an 18-year-old man who was running towards the Capitol with a loaded shotgun and wearing a tactical vest. ...
Source: rawstory.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Bayer, the German bio-tech giant, has proposed paying $7.25bn (£5.35bn) to definitively resolve a legal battle in the US over whether its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The possible settlement is part of a broader push to secure closure over the claims, which have weighed on the company since it bought Monsanto, the American-maker of the widely used but controversial herbicide. Bayer has already paid ...
Source: bbc.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
The Trump administration was sued over the Feb. 9 abrupt removal of the Pride rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. The monument is across from the Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 uprising that ignited the gay rights movement in the United States. The suit calls the Pride flag's removal "a textbook example of an arbitrary and capricious act." A person secures the flags during a ...
Source: cnbc.com