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NEW DELHI, Feb. 18, 2026 — Yotta Data Services today announced it will deploy 20,736 liquid-cooled NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra GPUs, forming one of Asia’s largest AI superclusters. The deployment represents an investment exceeding $2 billion and is expected to go live by August 2026, positioning India among a select group of geographies capable of hosting frontier-scale AI infrastructure.

In a significant development reflecting strengthening India–U.S. technology alignment, NVIDIA will establish one of APAC’s largest NVIDIA DGX Cloud cluster within Yotta’s HGX B300 Blackwell Ultra supercluster, leveraging Blackwell Ultra GPUs under a four-year engagement valued at over $1 billion. NVIDIA DGX Cloud has been utilizing Yotta’s GPU infrastructure over the past year, and this expanded deployment scales that relationship in line with regional and global demand growth.

The collaboration reflects a broader shift in global AI compute supply chains, where advanced AI infrastructure is increasingly distributed across trusted regions. India’s emergence as a major AI infrastructure node reinforces strategic technology collaboration between India and the United States and strengthens shared priorities around secure, high-performance AI ecosystems.

Yotta’s NVIDIA Blackwell supercluster is built on NVIDIA reference architecture and integrates 800 Gbps NVIDIA Quantum-X800 InfiniBand networking, advanced liquid-cooling systems, and over 40 petabytes of high-performance parallel file-system storage. The platform is engineered to support trillion-parameter foundation model training and high-throughput inference workloads capable of handling multi-million simultaneous prompts.

Yotta’s AI Factories are based on NVIDIA Reference Architecture to deliver fastest time to market, lowest cost per token and highest returns. Global AI model developers, enterprises, and governments are assured that the infrastructure can reliably support frontier-scale training and mission-critical inference deployments.

Beyond infrastructure scale, Yotta is augmenting its Shakti Studio AI platform with NVIDIA Nemotron open models, NVIDIA NIM microservices, and access to the full NVIDIAAI Enterprise software suite . Through Shakti Studio, developers in India gain access to the NVIDIA Nemotron family of truly open models including model weights, training datasets, and recipes enabling transparent fine-tuning, customization, and sovereign AI development at scale. The availability of open architectures alongside optimized inference microservices ensures that startups, enterprises, and public institutions can build secure, production-grade AI applications on world-class infrastructure.

Alongside the NVIDIA’s DGX Cloud deployment, Yotta is committing over 10,000 NVIDIA B300 GPUs from the AI supercluster to the IndiaAI Mission, supporting sovereign Indian foundation model development, research institutions, startups, and population-scale public AI platforms. This parallel allocation ensures that domestic AI priorities advance alongside global AI capacity expansion.

For India, the development aligns with the national vision of building AI “from India, for India, and for the world.” Access to large-scale Blackwell infrastructure within the country reduces structural dependence on offshore compute and enables Indian model builders and enterprises to scale confidently. It allows AI products conceived in India to serve both domestic and international markets from infrastructure located within India advancing India’s ambition to evolve from a technology consumer to a technology creator.

The supercluster will be deployed at Yotta’s 60 MW D2 hyperscale Data Centre within its Greater Noida DC campus, scalable to 250 MW, and supported by Yotta’s Navi Mumbai DC campus, scalable to 2 GW. With integrated extra-high-voltage substations, dedicated power distribution infrastructure, green energy sourcing, and vertically integrated engineering capabilities across data centres, cloud, managed services and GPU compute, Yotta has established a long-term platform capable of scaling beyond one million GPUs within the next three to five years as India’s AI ecosystem accelerates.

The combined capital commitments over $2 billion in Blackwell Ultra infrastructure deployment and a over $1 billion multi-year contracted engagement for DGX Cloud capacity reflect sustained demand for high-performance AI infrastructure in the region and provide meaningful long-term demand visibility.

Darshan Hiranandani, Co-Founder & Chairman, Yotta Data Services, said, “AI infrastructure is becoming foundational economic infrastructure. This NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra supercluster reinforces India’s position in the global AI value chain. Our capital strategy is focused on building scalable infrastructure that serves both national priorities and international AI demand.”

Sunil Gupta, Co-Founder, MD & CEO, Yotta Data Services, added, “India’s AI ambition requires sustained, high-performance compute at scale. By combining Blackwell Ultra infrastructure with open models like NVIDIA Nemotron and the full NVIDIA AI stack, we are enabling developers to build sovereign, globally competitive AI applications from India.”

Jensen Huang, co-founder and CEO, NVIDIA, NVIDIA, said, “India is emerging as one of the world’s most important AI markets, driven by extraordinary talent and a bold national vision. Yotta’s deployment of one of the largest NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra superclusters creates advanced AI infrastructure capable of training frontier-scale models and delivering AI at population scale. Expanding AI Factory capacity in India strengthens NVIDIA’s regional footprint while supporting India’s ambition to build secure, sovereign, and globally competitive AI.”

Yotta currently operates over 10,000 NVIDIA GPUs live in production, with another 8,000 NVIDIA GPUs going live within the next quarter, followed by the deployment of 20,736 Blackwell Ultra GPUs by August 2026. The company has outlined a roadmap to scale beyond 80,000 NVIDIA GPUs by FY27, supported by phased infrastructure expansion and long-term capacity planning.

At scale, this trajectory positions India not merely as a high-growth AI market, but as a structurally significant compute hub within the global AI ecosystem where sovereign capability, open innovation, disciplined capital deployment, and strategic international collaboration converge. India is not just participating in the AI revolution. It is building the infrastructure that will power its next phase.

More from HPCwire: Yotta Data and NVIDIA Collaborate to Boost India’s AI and HPC Landscape [Dec. 2023]

About Yotta Data Services

Yotta is a new-age Digital Transformation enabler that derives its value from end-to-end competencies in Hyperscale Data Center and Cloud Infrastructure, Managed IT, Global Connectivity, Holistic Cybersecurity, Application Modernization and a gamut of cutting-edge solutions for every enterprise need.

Source: Yotta Data Services

The post Yotta Plans $2B NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra Supercluster Deployment in India appeared first on HPCwire.

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After Cati Blauvelt, 22, was murdered in Simpsonville, South Carolina, her husband, former U.S. Army recruiter John Blauvelt, fled with his 17-year-old girlfriend Hannah Thompson. U.S. Marshals led the cross-country chase for the armed fugitive.

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• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing

• Follow us over on Bluesky | And you can email Tanya

Women’s aerials: the qualifying rounds of accelerating down a ramp and flying through the air. Hanna Huskova, gold medallist in 2018, does a triple somersault, or the “the kiss arse blaster” in the commentator’s words, but it is only enough to leave her seventh.

Women’s curling: Back to the brushes, where Rebecca Morrison posts the final stone of the sixth end into perfect position, Team GB take two and go into a 4-3 lead against the USA with four ends left.

Ring's AI-powered "Search Party" feature, which links neighborhood cameras into a networked surveillance system to find lost dogs, was never intended to stop at pets, according to an internal email from founder Jamie Siminoff obtained by 404 Media. Siminoff told employees in early October, shortly after the feature launched, that Search Party was introduced "first for finding dogs" and that the technology would eventually help "zero out crime in neighborhoods." The on-by-default feature faced intense backlash after Ring promoted it during a Super Bowl ad. Ring has since also rolled out "Familiar Faces," a facial recognition tool that identifies friends and family on a user's camera, and "Fire Watch," an AI-based fire alert system. A Ring spokesperson told the publication Search Party does not process human biometrics or track people.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Union coverage slightly increased last year even as White House tried to eliminate contracts for thousands of workers

The number of workers covered under union contracts increased to a 16-year high in 2025, despite ongoing attempts by the Trump administration to wipe out collective bargaining agreements for tens of thousands of federal workers, according to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

About 16.5 million workers were covered by a union contract in 2025, up from 16 million in 2024 and the highest level since 2009. The increase stems from workers joining unions as members – 14.7 million US workers were union members in 2025, up from 14.2 million workers in 2024.

The Trump administration is facing a new lawsuit over its decision to deregulate emissions and repeal a landmark scientific finding on climate pollution.

The restaurant can keep menu term despite claim product is ‘essentially chicken nuggets’, Illinois ruling says

A customer who sued the US restaurant chain Buffalo Wild Wings after finding out their “boneless wings” were not in fact made of wings has been told by a US judge that his claim has “has no meat on its bones”.

Buffalo Wild Wings can continue using the term “boneless wings” on its menu even though the product is “essentially chicken nuggets”, John Tharp, a district judge, ruled, dismissing a lawsuit that claimed the chain was misleading customers.

Feb. 18, 2026 — Quantum computers promise to push beyond the limits of today’s machines, accelerating progress in areas such as medicine discovery, materials science and secure computing. While classical computers and artificial intelligence-powered systems already support innovation in drug development and help manage critical infrastructure, for example, quantum computing could dramatically expand what is possible by tackling certain problems far more efficiently. However, a major challenge remains: noise — any disturbance, whether from a hardware glitch, lab mistake or even a deliberate attack — that can disrupt delicate quantum information.

Credit: Shutterstock

To address this challenge, a collaborative team at Rice University and Johns Hopkins University, backed by several U.S. National Science Foundation grants, including NSF 2339116, NSF 2243659 and NSF 2528780, developed new algorithms within a common framework that help quantum computers keep working even when noise is present. Researchers call this framework the “adversarial state corruption model“, which assumes that an attacker can tamper with part of a quantum system’s measurements. By designing algorithms with this threat model in mind, the researchers aimed to test how resilient quantum systems can be under realistic and even hostile conditions.

While these algorithms need further testing before they can be deployed at full scale, they already show strong promise for near-term, small-scale quantum systems, especially as improved algorithms are developed. As quantum technology moves from theory into real hardware, companies working with superconducting circuits, trapped ions and photonic systems could be the first to benefit. By strengthening the reliability and security of these emerging systems, the research directly supports national priorities in quantum technology, cybersecurity and advanced computing research, while also training a skilled workforce prepared to operate at the frontier of quantum innovation.

The team also identified important limits on what quantum systems can learn reliably. They found that while many useful quantum states remain stable even when some data is corrupted, extremely complex or disordered states can be disrupted by even a small amount of interference. One example is the maximally mixed state, which behaves like pure noise and is nearly impossible to learn accurately under adversarial conditions. By contrast, well-structured states, such as those used in quantum algorithms for factoring large numbers or searching large databases, can be learned robustly and efficiently. Together, these results help set realistic expectations: Quantum systems will not be perfect, but researchers can identify where they perform reliably and where they need protection.

This research carries important benefits for science and technology. Quantum computers may eventually crack today’s advanced encryption methods, so researchers must ensure that the machines themselves resist tampering. By clearly identifying the strengths and limits, the approach also builds trust, helping prevent hype and guiding investment decisions. The work also supports progress across disciplines by training students who combine skills in quantum physics and advanced statistics, creating a new generation of experts capable of carrying this field forward.

Although the work remains in its early stages, it marks an important step toward quantum systems that operate dependably, securely and in service of American needs, from national defense to health care and beyond.

More from HPCwire: NSF Launches $100M National Quantum and Nanotechnology Research Infrastructure Program

Source: NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering

The post NSF CISE: Making Quantum Computers Resilient to Adversarial Attacks appeared first on HPCwire.

Marius Borg Hoiby faces 38 charges, including raping four women while they were asleep or had passed out.

Mikaela Shiffrin, the most decorated skier of all time, last won a medal at the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang.

Unresolved ‘sensitive’ issues in peace talks are fate of occupied territories in east Ukraine and Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

The peace talks ended abruptly today after about two hours, according to reports, in contrast with yesterday’s negotiations that apparently took place over six hours.

Neither side have offered any public sign of progress, but instead said the talks were “difficult” with Russian news agencies quoting sources describing the negotiations as “very tense”.

Before you invest in any physical silver bars, it's important to know what your size and weight options are.

Billionaire retail tycoon Les Wexner is testifying before a House committee Wednesday as part of the panel's investigation into Jeffrey Epstein.

President accused Wes Moore of ‘gross mismanagement’ after federally managed sewer line ruptured last month

A month after one of the largest sewage spills in US history began soiling the Potomac River, Donald Trump and the Maryland governor, Wes Moore, are fighting over who bears responsibility for a disaster involving a federally regulated pipeline that Moore does not control.

The president used his social media platform on Monday to accuse Moore of “gross mismanagement” after a big sewer line ruptured last month, causing what researchers describe as one of the largest sewage spills in US history.

We tested popular carbon monoxide detectors in our lab to determine which models have the best response times across different CO concentrations.

Xalet del Catllaràs contains elements of architect’s naturalistic style, expressed in works such as Park Güell and Sagrada Família

An elegant modernist building in the mountains north of Barcelona, originally constructed to house engineers establishing a nearby mine, has been confirmed as a work of Antoni Gaudí, Catalonia’s most celebrated and distinctive architect.

The Xalet del Catllaràs, about 80 miles from Barcelona in the county of Berguedà, was built in 1905 and commissioned by Eusebi Güell, Gaudí’s lifelong patron. Güell was the owner of a cement company with mines in the region and he needed somewhere to house the engineers, many of them British, who would help extract the coal for his factories.

People of Note blends musical performance, rhythm and turn-based combat in one of the most creative games coming in 2026.

WordPress has started rolling out an AI assistant built into its site editor and media library that can edit and translate text, generate and edit images through Google's Nano Banana model, and make structural changes to sites like creating new pages or swapping fonts. Users can also invoke the assistant by tagging "@ai" in block notes, a commenting feature added to the site editor in December's WordPress 6.9 update. The tool is opt-in -- users need to toggle on "AI tools" in their site settings -- though sites originally created using WordPress's AI website builder, launched last year, will have it enabled by default.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

US ambassador accused of interference after labelling inquiry into suspected illegal circumcisions ‘antisemitic’

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Bill White, a staunch ally of the president like many US ambassadors, on Monday demanded Belgium drop a “ridiculous” and “antisemitic” investigation into three Jewish men suspected of performing circumcisions without medical qualifications.

We all know one – and there’s a good chance you fall into the category yourself. Here’s how to recognise if you’re a ‘walking, talking red flag’ …

Name: Finger princess.

Age: The term circulated this month, but the behaviour has been escalating across digital communication for some time.

Leadership disputes claim of political motive for ousting Jeffrey Rosen, who was praised for non-partisan approach

The first and only museum dedicated to the US constitution has been plunged into turmoil over the sudden departure of its president, a legal scholar widely respected for his commitment to non-partisanship.

The National Constitution Center (NCC) in Philadelphia announced last month that Jeffrey Rosen would step down after 12 years to be replaced by Vince Stango on an interim basis.

County has highest number of reinstated elections following decision not to delay them for 30 English councils

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The polls had expected to be postponed pending a reorganisation of local government in the county and a move to unitary authorities, but earlier this week the local government secretary, Steve Reed, scrapped plans to delay the elections, after Reform UK threatened a legal challenge.

U.S.-brokered Ukraine-Russia peace talks wrap up with little to show, and Zelenskyy accusing Moscow of playing for time

Exclusive: UK graduates in Germany, Belgium and possibly other countries informed of rises as salary threshold is cut

Britons living in some European countries face a huge rise in their student loan repayments later this year, the Guardian can reveal, in a move that threatens to trigger a fresh backlash for Rachel Reeves.

UK graduates working in Germany and Belgium – and possibly other countries – have been told that their monthly repayments will increase from April, the Guardian can reveal.

The top US diplomat’s soothing tone masked a familiar message: Europe can remain America’s ally – but at a cost

• Don’t get This Is Europe delivered to your inbox? Sign up here

“The greatness of America,” wrote the 19th-century French diplomat, political philosopher and historian Alexis de Tocqueville, “lies not in her being more enlightened than any other nation, but rather in her ability to repair her faults.”

For a brief moment at the Munich Security Conference (MSC) last weekend, European leaders half-thought that their most heartfelt wish – the return of the old US, that believed in the EU ideal and backed a rules-based world order – had been granted.

Treasury spokesperson says disability benefits would also be limited under Reform, but Bank of England would stay independent

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Reform UK would restore the two-child benefit cap in full, Robert Jenrick has announced, in a major U-turn for the party that critics said would plunge hundreds of thousands of children into poverty.

In his first speech as Reform’s Treasury spokesperson, Jenrick said the party had changed tack since Nigel Farage last year said he would scrap the two-child limit and suggested his party wanted to go “much further to encourage people to have children”.

An anonymous reader shares a report: In 2013, scientists unveiled the first lab-grown burger at a cost of $330,000. By 2023, the FDA approved cultivated chicken for sale. The price had dropped to around $10-$30 per pound, and over $3 billion in investor money had poured into more than 175 companies developing meat grown from animal cells instead of slaughtered animals. The promise is straightforward: real meat, no slaughter required. You could eat beef without killing cattle, chicken without industrial farming, steak without ethical compromise. The technology works. Federal regulators approved it as safe. And nearly a third of US states have banned it or are trying to. Not because it's dangerous -- because it threatens something deeper than food safety. Start with a small sample of animal cells -- a biopsy, not a slaughter. Place them in a bioreactor with nutrients. The cells multiply, forming muscle tissue identical to conventional meat at the cellular level. Nutritionally comparable, same protein content, but grown without raising and killing an animal. The process uses 64-90% less land than conventional meat production and drastically reduces greenhouse gas emissions. No factory farms, no slaughterhouses, no ethical compromise for people who love meat but hate industrial animal agriculture. For vegetarians who gave up meat for ethical reasons, it offers something impossible before: guilt-free steak. [...] Here's where the dream hits reality. Consumer surveys show people perceive conventional meat as tastier and healthier than lab-grown alternatives. Fewer consumers are willing to try cultivated options than expected. The words "lab-grown" and "cultivated" don't exactly make mouths water. Something about meat grown in a bioreactor triggers deep discomfort for many people, even those who claim to care about animal welfare and environmental impact. It's the same psychological barrier that made "Frankenfood" stick as a label for GMOs. Meat is supposed to come from animals, raised on farms, connected to land and tradition. Growing it in a facility feels wrong to people in ways they struggle to articulate.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

At KBIS, we got our first look at a countertop with induction burners built directly into the surface. It's an intriguing concept that raises serious safety concerns.

Four congressional Democrats are asking inspectors general to probe whether ex-lobbyists in the administration broke ethics rules to benefit former clients.

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A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by an Illinois man who alleged that Buffalo Wild Wings' use of the term "boneless wings" was deceptive.

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Did British petrochemicals billionaire and Manchester United’s controlling minority owner, Sir Jim Ratcliffe, really mean it when he proclaimed to Sky News that “the UK is being colonized by immigrants”?

Is Ratcliffe simply a gutter racist or actually making a cynical political play that may redound to his benefit down the line when Britain faces down yet another period of political upheaval as the country’s old factions continue to fracture? There’s reasonable debate to be had there.

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Wexner, who has denied misconduct related to Epstein, is one of several subpoenaed by House oversight panel

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After two hours of talks in Geneva on Wednesday, the head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, said negotiations had been “difficult but businesslike.”

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Despite the march of progress, the humble kettle remains a kitchen staple. It’s what we turn to in times of strife, when spirits are flagging, or to start our day. And when a visitor calls, one of the first things we do is put the kettle on.

While many small appliances have evolved beyond their original form, the kettle’s basic principles remain largely unchanged. Water goes in and heats up until a thermostat switches it off; the water then pours out, and we enjoy a cuppa. However, the technology that goes into a kettle has been slowly improving: better insulation to keep water hotter for longer and reduce reboils; different temperature settings to suit every drink from green tea to herbal brews; and more features such as filters and concealed elements to keep scale out of our cups.

Best kettle overall:
Bosch Sky kettle

Best budget kettle:
Kenwood Ripple kettle

By repealing the EPA’s determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health, the president is denying reality itself

The climate crisis is killing people. These deaths are measurable, documented and ongoing. Concluding otherwise is just playing pretend. Studies explain the mechanics, but lived experience supplies the truth. The people who suffer the consequences see the fire rising and water closing in. They need their government’s help.

Despite that, the president of the United States stood at a microphone last Thursday and abdicated his duty to them. “It has nothing to do with public health,” he claimed about the climate crisis while announcing that the federal government would repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s “endangerment finding”, a determination that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. “This is all a scam, a giant scam.”

Jamil Smith is a Guardian US columnist

I was detained for co-writing a op-ed about Gaza as a student at Tufts. My experience has only made me feel more connected to others facing oppression

It started off as a normal Tuesday. On 25 March 2025 I reviewed applications from university students applying for a summer research position at my lab. I told friends I would bring pastries from Harvard Square for the Friday dinner we were planning. I finalized my schedule for an upcoming child development conference. I worked on my dissertation proposal.

The day was busy but not unusual – until I left home after quickly dressing for an iftar dinner at the interfaith center. What followed was my first personal encounter with human-made trauma through state violence.

The new lower-cost Pixel looks a lot like last year's 9A, but has some quality-of-life improvements.

Google's $499 Pixel 10A comes in four colors, and goes on sale March 5.

PARIS, Feb. 18, 2026 — Viridien, an advanced technology and digital solutions company, has announced a collaboration with NVIDIA to transform seismic imaging workflows by leveraging NVIDIA HPC platforms and Viridien’s expertise in Subsurface Imaging technologies and HPC & Cloud Solutions.

Advances in subsurface imaging powered by Viridien HPC reduce exploration risk and inform better drilling decisions. Viridien continuously optimizes its hardware, software, and algorithms, working with strategic partners to deliver compute solutions for seismic imaging. Example from the Laconia Phase I 12Hz E-TLFWI dataset in the Gulf of Mexico. Image Credit: Viridien Earth Data.

The collaboration will focus on optimizing Viridien’s seismic imaging algorithms on NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms, including the integration of advanced techniques such as tensor cores and mixed-precision computing. By working closely together to leverage Viridien’s decades of experience in fully managed HPC solutions for seismic imaging with the power of NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms, the collaboration aims to deliver continued improvements in system performance, imaging accuracy, and operational efficiency for energy and geoscience clients worldwide.

John Josephakis, VP of HPC and Supercomputing, NVIDIA, said: “By combining NVIDIA accelerated computing platforms and AI with Viridien’s expertise in seismic imaging and HPC, together we are enabling subsurface teams to deliver sharper, more reliable images faster and more cost-effectively. Better imaging reduces uncertainty, improves prospect screening and well placement decisions, and ultimately lowers the cost of exploration by cutting dry hole risk and minimizing the time and compute required to reach decision-grade results.”

Anil Vattalai, SVP, HPC & Cloud Solutions, Viridien, said: “We are delighted to work with NVIDIA to accelerate the evolution of HPC for seismic imaging. Viridien is the industry leader in subsurface imaging based on our pioneering expertise in industrial and customized end-to-end HPC and over fifteen years of experience in optimizing complex scientific workflows on GPU accelerators. This agreement underscores our commitment to continuously improving our full HPC stack (hardware, software, and algorithms) to deliver advanced HPC and cloud solutions that empower our clients to achieve greater performance and higher-quality outcomes more efficiently.”

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About Viridien

Viridien is an advanced technology, digital and Earth data company that pushes the boundaries of science for a more prosperous and sustainable future. With our ingenuity, drive and deep curiosity we discover new insights, innovations, and solutions that efficiently and responsibly resolve complex natural resource, digital, energy transition and infrastructure challenges. Viridien employs around 3,200 people worldwide and is listed as VIRI on the Euronext Paris SA (ISIN: FR001400PVN6).

Source: Viridien

The post Viridien Partners with NVIDIA to Advance HPC for Seismic Imaging Workflows appeared first on HPCwire.

"The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert slammed CBS again on Tuesday night after the network issued a statement about his interview with Texas Democrat James Talarico.

Feb. 18, 2026 — At the center of the Milky Way, the galaxy our planet is in, resides a supermassive black hole (SMBH) called Sagittarius A* (pronounced A-star). While this might fill you with existential dread, Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*) is a surprisingly quiet black hole, almost dormant, so it won’t be consuming our solar system any time soon. Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U. of I.) have been using the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Delta supercomputer to run simulations of Sgr A* that would be nearly impossible to complete without the assistance of high-performance computing resources like those at NCSA.

This is a still from a visualization created by NASA to show the size of various SMBH. In this screenshot, you can see the sun at the center of the screen, and Sgr A* on the right side, dwarfing the largest object in our solar system.

Vedant Dhruv is a graduate student fellow at U. of I. working with data and images from the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT). This telescope is actually an array that links eight telescopes around the world to create one powerful virtual telescope. One of the major successes of the EHT was capturing the first image of Sgr A*, a black hole 4 million times larger than our sun.

New Data, New Models

Dhruv worked with his advisor and other collaborators on this project, and they published their findings in The Astrophysical Journal Letters. He’s been able to gain a number of insights from using this data to simulate Sgr A*.

“In recent years, the EHT has produced high-resolution images of two supermassive black holes: Sgr A* at the center of the Milky Way and the black hole in Messier 87 (M87*), a giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo constellation,” explained Dhruv. “These images provide insight into the plasma accreting onto the black hole.”

One of the images that Dhruv mentions might be one you’ve already seen. When M87* was first captured in an image, it made global news, especially because it was the first image of a black hole. Sgr A* took longer to get a clear image, but scientists have theorized for a while that it was there, even capturing a time-lapse of stars orbiting Sgr A* at the center of the Milky Way.

It’s impossible to take direct physical measurements of something as far away as the center of our galaxy, but fluid simulations of black hole accretion on machines like NCSA’s Delta can bring the sky down to the earth for researchers to study.

“The first horizon-scale image of Sgr A* revealed a bright ring surrounding a central brightness depression, the black hole ‘shadow.’ Comparison with theoretical models suggests that these observations are consistent with a hot, dilute plasma accreting onto a spinning black hole with a mass of roughly 4 million times the mass of the sun,” said Dhruv.

These theoretical models had to make some assumptions because designing and simulating highly realistic models for these phenomena is challenging. As Dhruv explains, most contemporary studies assume the gas behaves like an “ideal” fluid, where particles crash into each other constantly. But reality is more complex. “In reality, however, the hot plasma accreting onto a black hole is largely collisionless,” said Dhruv. “Charged particles can travel long distances before significantly interacting with one another through collisions.”

These older models also predicted that the black hole’s light should “flicker” in a violent and chaotic way. But in reality, the photo of the black hole indicates something different: a steadiness in the light curve.

“In our paper, we attempt to address these issues using ‘weakly collisional’ fluid models that include the leading-order corrections associated with particles having long mean free paths, namely viscosity and heat conduction,” said Dhruv. “In particular, we ask whether these ‘nonideal’ effects play a significant role in the synthetic observations produced by the model. Answering this helps determine whether such effects should be included in future modeling efforts.”

Refining the Simulation

If you wanted to simulate everything about the gas around a black hole, in a one-to-one simulation, you’d likely want to simulate every single atomic particle. As it stands currently, running a model like that would be prohibitively computationally expensive. Researchers also want their work to be reproducible, and creating a more efficient model meant that future researchers would be able to build on the team’s efforts.

To meet their requirement for an accurate model that could run on the available resources, the authors treated the plasma as a magnetized fluid rather than tracking individual particles.

“Our group has developed a fluid model for accreting plasma that includes nonideal processes such as viscosity and heat conduction,” said Dhruv. “These effects are expected to become important when the plasma is effectively collisionless. In that regime, the system is often described as weakly collisional, or, equivalently, as a dissipative fluid. We implemented this model in our group’s open source black hole accretion code, KHARMA, which is designed to run efficiently on modern GPUs and CPUs. We generated synthetic images and spectral energy distributions (SEDs) from simulations of this model by performing radiative transfer calculations and compared the results with those from an otherwise equivalent ideal model. It is worth emphasizing that this work presents the first images of Sgr A* from fluid simulations that explicitly include low-collisionality physics.”

“We found that, when viewed in a time-averaged sense, the weakly collisional fluid models are remarkably similar to the ideal models,” said Dhruv. “However, the low-collisionality physics included in our model tends to make the simulations ‘quieter,’ reducing variability and bringing them closer to observations of the galactic center.”

Using Black Hole Research to Find Your Way to Albuquerque

If black holes can capture humanity’s imagination, supermassive black holes must inspire awe. But studying these phenomena brings us more than just pretty pictures and interesting settings for science fiction cinema. The science derived from accurate modeling of fluid mechanics eventually works its way into many other domains that benefit from the research.

“The same modeling ideas we use here, namely viscosity and heat conduction, also show up in many familiar settings,” explains Dhruv. “Viscosity is what makes honey flow more ‘thickly’ than water, and heat conduction is what spreads heat through a metal spoon or a cooking pan. In a plasma, these processes control how momentum and heat are transported through a hot, magnetized gas. In this work, we ask how these effects change how the flow evolves over time, which is exactly the kind of physics that becomes increasingly important when the goal is to interpret the light curves of astronomical sources.”

Imagine you’re planning a trip to Albuquerque. You check the weather forecast, the road conditions and construction alerts. But what if you also had a “Space Weather” alert on your phone? Dhruv’s discoveries could inspire someone to approach their research into solar flares differently. There is a great deal of research that builds off the results of work in closely related fields. While Dhruv’s work doesn’t directly lead to a project that would prevent GPS satellite outages that power your map systems, every bit of science that better refines plasma physics models makes related science more accurate.

“These transport effects also show up in other important plasma environments where particle collisions are rare,” said Dhruv. “One example is the solar wind, the stream of plasma flowing out from the sun that drives space weather and can influence satellites and communications.”

Finally, because of the way Dhruv’s team designed their model, it can be used in numerous other fields of research.

“To include more realistic plasma physics, we developed a new solver within an open source GPU code,” said Dhruv. “The mathematical structure of the weakly collisional equations requires an implicit method, which iteratively solves for the fluid state at each time step. We designed the solver to be physics-agnostic, so others in the community can reuse the same framework to incorporate and evolve additional physical effects of their own.”

Continued Refinement

Researchers usually continue to innovate and refine their work. This case is no exception. While Dhruv’s team created a model that aligns more closely with observed black hole behavior, they still feel they can make it even more accurate.

There is a tiny element in this study that still requires substantial guesswork: the electron. The gas around a black hole is made up of both ions and electrons, but only one of these is accurately modeled.

“A major uncertainty in most simulations of black hole accretion is the electron physics,” Dhruv explained. “The plasma in these systems is a collisionless, ionized gas, and because ions and electrons differ largely in mass (by a factor of nearly 2,000!), they do not necessarily behave the same way or share energy in the same manner. As a result, the electrons that produce much of the observed radiation can be governed by physical processes that are distinct from those affecting the ions. This makes it important to model the electrons as accurately as possible.”

There is a reason most researchers don’t model electrons: it’s incredibly expensive and difficult to calculate electron movement in real time.

“Developing a fully relativistic, two-component model of an electron-ion plasma is theoretically challenging, and it also comes with substantial computational cost,” said Dhruv. “As a result, most simulations to date treat the plasma as a single fluid that is effectively ion-dominated because the ions carry most of the mass and inertia. The electron physics is then incorporated afterward, using physically motivated prescriptions applied in post-processing.”

Dhruv plans to address this issue by carrying out particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a small patch of the accretion disk. PIC simulations track the motion of individual charged particles – electrons and protons – and the electromagnetic fields they generate, capturing plasma behavior from first principles. Once the electron-scale behavior is understood, that physics can be folded into larger-scale simulations of the full accretion flow.

“A key challenge is that the mechanisms that heat and accelerate electrons are often not captured reliably by a fluid description. Kinetic approaches, such as PIC simulations, are needed to understand how energy is transferred and partitioned between ions and electrons, especially in a collisionless plasma. To address this, I am performing localized PIC simulations that model a small region of the accretion flow. These simulations allow me to study the particle energization mechanisms, how energy is divided between species, what sets the electron-to-ion temperature ratio and which plasma instabilities control electron evolution. The overarching goal is to use these kinetic results to build a subgrid prescription that can be incorporated into global fluid simulations, enabling them to evolve electron physics more realistically.”

Dhruv’s work benefits greatly from the resources available at NCSA. Through his allocation from the U.S. National Science Foundation’s ACCESS program, Dhruv’s team had access to NCSA’s robust portfolio of HPC resources.

“Because of the structure of the governing equations, weakly collisional simulations are, on average, about 10 times more computationally expensive than otherwise-equivalent ideal simulations,” said Dhruv. “In addition, EHT-style modeling is inherently a parameter-survey problem. To evaluate the impact of the new physics, we needed to run multiple weakly collisional simulations alongside matched ideal counterparts, and then compare both sets of results with observations. In this context, GPU resources on Delta were invaluable. A single weakly collisional simulation that takes on the order of a month on A100s would likely take more than a year on comparable CPU-only resources.”

In addition to the research paper linked above, you can find more context for this research in the following publications:

• An Extended Magnetohydrodynamics Model For Relativistic Weakly Collisional Plasmas in The Astrophysical Journal
• First Sagittarius A* Event Horizon Telescope Results. V. Testing Astrophysical Models of the Galactic Center Black Hole in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

Source: Megan Meave Johnson, NCSA

The post NCSA’s Delta Helps Smooth the Chaos at Galaxy’s Center appeared first on HPCwire.

The case against Yoon Suk Yeol marks a pivotal moment for South Korea’s democracy and could mark the second time a leader is sentenced to death for insurrection.

The Food and Drug Administration has reversed its decision on Moderna's flu vaccine and has agreed to review it for possible approval, Moderna announced on Wednesday. From a report: Last week, the agency rejected Moderna's application for review of a new flu vaccine, saying the company's research design was flawed. But in subsequent discussions the company said that the agency had relented and agreed to begin a review. Moderna said it split its application for the flu vaccine based on age, seeking a traditional approval for people 50 to 64 years old, and accelerated approval for those 65 and older. The company also said it agreed to conduct an additional study among those 65 and older once the vaccine reached the market. Moderna said on Wednesday that the F.D.A. set a deadline of August to decide whether to approve the vaccine. If it is authorized, it would be available for those older adults in the flu season that begins later this year. The vaccine uses messenger RNA technology, which Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly criticized as unsafe and ineffective. The mRNA approach, which instructs the body to produce a fragment of a virus that sets off an immune response, was widely successful in Covid vaccines and is considered generally safe by public health experts and scientists.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Feb. 18, 2026 — Qunnect today announced the first entanglement swapping demonstration of its kind over deployed metro-scale fiber using a commercial quantum networking system. The demonstration, which achieved record entanglement swapping rates, combined Qunnect’s room-temperature quantum hardware with Cisco’s quantum networking software stack. This milestone brings practical quantum networks closer to scalable deployment, validating a new spoke-and-hub model for scaling quantum networks through commercial data centers.

To validate this model, the companies conducted a landmark demonstration on Qunnect’s GothamQ testbed which runs throughout New York City, achieving several firsts. The network spanned 17.6 kilometers of deployed telecom fiber connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan through QTD Systems’ data center at 60 Hudson Street. The scientific paper is available on ArXiv.

The collaboration achieved record swapping rates of 1.7M+ pairs/hour locally and 5,400 pairs/hour over deployed fiber—nearly 10,000 times better than previous benchmarks using similar platforms. As the first demonstration of polarization entanglement swapping over deployed fiber, the system maintained >99% polarization fidelity. These results demonstrate the integrated system can operate reliably in one of the world’s most demanding urban environments, providing a deployable blueprint for distributed quantum computing and secure metro-scale quantum networks.

“Entanglement swapping is a fundamental operation in the quantum internet. Today, we not only broke the record for rate and scalability, we did so in New York City using some of the noisiest, most chaotic fiber on Earth,” said Mehdi Namazi, Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer for Qunnect. “This is a milestone the field has been waiting for, and it was proven possible by Cisco and Qunnect.”

Key Performance Milestones:

• High Throughput: Record swapping rates of 1.7M+ pairs/hour (local) and 5,400 pairs/hour (deployed).
• Signal Stability: Maintaining ultra-high quality entanglement across all nodes using a fully automated, 24/7 operational system.
• Cost-Effective Architecture: End nodes utilized room-temperature detectors, concentrating cryogenic equipment solely at the central hub to significantly reduce the cost of network scaling.
• Untethered Scalability: Independent entanglement sources require no shared lasers, allowing for modular network expansion.

At the center of this integration is Qunnect’s turnkey Carina system, a breakthrough technology capable of generating entangled photon pairs [LINK]. To maintain signal integrity, Qunnect’s Automatic Polarization Controllers (APCs) [LINK] continuously compensate for polarization drift—a persistent challenge in deployed fiber that has historically limited real-world networking.

These technologies were integrated with Cisco’s unified quantum networking software stack [LINK] for the demonstration. Functioning as a “Digital Air Traffic Controller” for the city-wide network, the software autonomously coordinates Qunnect’s turnkey Carina hardware across geographically separated nodes.

“This milestone accelerates our quantum networking vision. Our orchestration software enabled field-ready entanglement distribution and swapping—foundational capabilities for distributed quantum computing and the global quantum grid,” said Reza Nejabati, Head of Quantum Research at Cisco.

Quantum networks today are often constrained by a complex physical “tether,” relying on a shared master laser to connect all nodes. By using Qunnect’s independent atomic sources, the experiment removed the need for nodes to be physically “tethered” by shared lasers. This decoupling of nodes allows for a scalable hub-and-spoke architecture for quantum networking, enabling new endpoint nodes to be added without dedicated synchronization links to all other nodes. This achievement serves as a first proof point in our journey toward practical, entanglement-based quantum networks, laying the foundation for distributed quantum computing.

More from HPCwire

• IBM and Cisco Detail Effort to Connect Future Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems
• Qunnect and Roadrunner Venture Studios Launch ABQ-Net, New Mexico’s First Quantum Network
• Qunnect Selected by US Air Force to Advance Quantum Networking for Defense Applications
• Qunnect Closes $10M Series A Extension for Scalable Quantum Communications

About Qunnect

Qunnect builds deployable quantum networking infrastructure for provably secure, scalable connectivity over existing fiber optic cables. Based in Brooklyn Navy Yard, Qunnect commercialized the first room-temperature quantum memory in 2021. Our Carina suite—entanglement sources and stabilization tools—powers live quantum networks in NYC and Berlin, and supports use cases in finance, energy, telecom, and defense. To learn more about Qunnect, visit www.qunnect.inc.

Source: Qunnect

The post Qunnect and Cisco Demonstrate Metro-Scale, High-Speed Quantum Entanglement Swapping Over Commercial Fiber appeared first on HPCwire.

His 1972 appearance showed Americans what a beloved community could look like, integrated and full of promise

In a 1972 episode of Sesame Street, Jesse Jackson, then 31, is standing against a stoop on the soundstage modelled after an urban neighborhood block. He’s wearing a purple, white and black striped shirt, accented with a gold medallion featuring Martin Luther King Jr’s profile. The camera cuts to reveal a group of kids, the embodiment of Jackson’s Rainbow Coalition – children under the age of 10 from every ethnicity and racial group. He leads them in a call-and-response of his famous liberatory chant: “I am somebody.”

The adorable, cherub-cheeked kids light up the camera with their enthusiasm as they repeat the same words back to him. They are fidgety, giggly and powerful when they respond to Jackson in a cacophonous and slightly out-of-sync roar: I am somebody. The call-and-response is a wall of activating, energetic sound.

State regulators seek to block Kalshi from offering events contracts that would allow residents to bet on sports

Nevada gaming regulators filed a lawsuit on Tuesday seeking to block the prediction market operator Kalshi from offering events contracts that would allow its residents to bet on sports including football and basketball games.

The Nevada gaming control board filed the lawsuit as part of an escalating battle over the ability of state gaming regulators nationally to police companies like Kalshi that allow users to place financial bets through their prediction markets.

BOSTON, Feb. 18, 2026 — Aliro today announced a $15 million oversubscribed funding round to advance what is the next major technology paradigm shift in cybersecurity: moving trust from mathematical assumptions to physical law. The round was led by Gutbrain Ventures, with participation from existing investors, including Cisco Investments, as well as new investors Argon Ventures and Wonderstone Ventures, the corporate VC of Murata.

Every generational platform shift—from mainframes to PCs, landlines to mobile, on-prem servers to the cloud—shared one trait: it didn’t improve the old model; it made it obsolete.

Security is now at that same inflection point.

For decades, digital trust has been built on encryption derived from computational hurdles. These systems assume attackers are limited by time and resources. That assumption is breaking.

Aliro replaces assumption-based security with physics-based truth enforcement. Location cannot be spoofed. Keys cannot be stolen on the wire. Eavesdroppers are immediately and visibly detected.

“This isn’t about stronger encryption,” said Jim Ricotta, CEO of Aliro. “It’s about changing what trust means. Aliro is transforming digital trust from a mathematical probability into a physical certainty. The TAM for this market is conservatively estimated to be $60B and growing.”

Aliro’s platform runs on existing optical networks, transforming existing routers and switches into transport, while shifting trust to a software-driven, physics-enforced layer. There is no incremental upgrade path for legacy vendors—just as there was none from landlines to mobile or from on-prem hardware to the cloud.

“Aliro enables a fundamental upgrade to the world’s core security and connectivity architecture,” said Bob Davoli, Aliro Chairman and Founder of Gutbrain Ventures. “Our ability to deliver deterministic security to classical networks today while preparing for the quantum tomorrow makes this one of the most exciting infrastructure opportunities in tech.”

Every enterprise, bank, defense organization, telco, and cloud provider must choose between trust based on assumptions, or trust based on physics. The new funding will support expanded deployments, ecosystem partnerships, and Aliro’s mission to redefine global security infrastructure.

The investment comes as Aliro reaches significant technical milestones, recently announcing support for over 50 entanglement and classical network devices within its vendor-agnostic software stack. This interoperability allows organizations to deploy fully operational, high-assurance networks immediately using existing fiber infrastructure.

In addition to its run-time software platform, Aliro offers the world’s most capable physics-accurate entanglement network simulator. This “digital twin” allows organizations to understand the value of these new networks in great detail before making long term commitments.

“We look for visionary teams and disruptive technologies that solve immediate, tangible business problems,” added Bob Mason, Managing Partner at Argon Ventures. “As an engineer and former CTO, I see Aliro solving a most fundamental challenge: enabling irrefutably secure network infrastructure, built on a foundation that is immune to future computational threats.”

About Aliro

Aliro is commercializing the world’s first software-driven entanglement platform for physics-based security. By enforcing trust through the laws of nature, Aliro is redefining cybersecurity for the next generation of global infrastructure. Other use cases for Aliro’s entanglement platform include networking quantum computers, blind quantum computing, position verification, enhanced decision coordination, and networking distributed quantum sensors. With a vendor-agnostic approach, Aliro is building the safe, intelligent, and essential fabric for the future global economy.

Source: Aliro

The post Aliro Raises $15M to Advance Physics-Based Network Security appeared first on HPCwire.

FreePower has expanded its industry-first countertop charging capabilities to laptops and smart watches. We saw it at KBIS 2026.

Australia experienced a boom in smart-home technology at the start of the 2020s. Years on, some early adopters are experiencing buyer’s remorse

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When the smart home devices Elly Bailey was expecting in the post never showed up at her Gold Coast home, she was frustrated. As a technology reviewer, these products were crucial for her work.

When she eventually found the cause, she had to laugh. It wasn’t a sticky-fingered neighbour or a rogue delivery driver causing her to miss parcels, but her smart doorbell – the very thing she’d hoped would prevent missed deliveries, and part of exactly the range of internet-connected devices she was meant to be reviewing.

SAN ANTONIO, Feb. 18, 2026 — BUZZ High Performance Computing, the Canadian Tier-III high-performance computing (HPC) data center platform of HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd., has announced a major step forward in its AI cloud strategy, signing customer agreements representing approximately $30 million in total contract value over two-year fixed terms, subject to performance obligations and deployment milestones (all amounts in US dollars, unless otherwise indicated).

Building on four years of experience operating GPU infrastructure, BUZZ is accelerating its expansion as HIVE’s AI engine, complementing the Company’s established Tier-I hashrate services provider and reinforcing its position as a twin-engine leader in next-generation digital infrastructure.

The new contracts underpin the initial phase of BUZZ’s AI-optimized GPU deployment at its Canada West location in Manitoba, with compute capacity expected to come online during the quarter ending March 31, 2026. The first phase consists of 504 liquid-cooled Dell server-based GPUs, purpose-built for high-performance AI and HPC workloads.

Based on executed contracts, current pricing, and deployment schedules, management expects this initial phase to generate approximately $15 million in annual recurring revenue (“ARR”) to BUZZ’s cloud business once fully operational. Upon full deployment, management expects total annualized revenue attributable to HIVE’s HPC segment, driven by BUZZ, to grow from approximately $20 million currently to roughly $35 million, reflecting strong contracted demand for BUZZ’s AI cloud platform. These projections are subject to capital expenditures, operating costs, customer utilization levels, and other risk factors described herein, and actual results may vary.

To support this growth, the Company expects to incur capital expenditures related to GPU acquisition, supporting electrical and cooling infrastructure, and working capital requirements. Operating expenses are expected to include power, hosting, maintenance, staffing, and network costs. BUZZ continues to expand capacity at its Canada West site in alignment with executed customer agreements.

Frank Holmes, Executive Chairman of HIVE, commented: “We are entering 2026 with strong momentum in our HPC and GPU cloud business. HIVE has built a track record as one of the longest-standing publicly traded crypto Tier-I data center operators, performing through multiple market cycles while protecting cash flow and balance sheet strength. Now, with BUZZ, we are leveraging that foundation to build a high-growth AI cloud platform spanning Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay.

“Tier-I data centers for hashrate services typically require approximately $1 million per megawatt of infrastructure, whereas Tier-III facilities supporting advanced GPU clusters can require materially higher capital intensity due to premium GPU hardware, redundant power architecture, and advanced cooling systems. Industry benchmarks suggest that constructing and equipping a comparable fully self-funded Tier-III facility with similar GPU capacity could require approximately $70 million in capital expenditures, depending on site conditions, financing structure, vendor pricing, and market dynamics.

“Through vendor financing arrangements for GPUs and strategic Tier-III data center partnerships, we are scaling efficiently while reducing upfront capital intensity compared to a fully self-funded build. Where HIVE owns land and buildings and operates its Tier-I facilities, we are pursuing selective Tier-III conversions and colocation strategies for HPC. This showcases our vertically integrated model and diversified revenue streams from both HPC colocation and GPU AI cloud services, reinforcing HIVE’s dual-engine strategy of hashrate services and high-performance computing.”

Aydin Kilic, President and Chief Executive Officer of HIVE, added: “Our vision is to scale our HPC GPU AI cloud business toward approximately $140 million in ARR over the next year, subject to market conditions and successful infrastructure deployment. As we execute, this growth will be supported by continued investment in infrastructure and operations. In our previous earnings webcast, we outlined a target deployment of 2,000 AI-optimized GPUs at our Canada West facility this year. The initial 504-GPU deployment is already backed by executed customer agreements representing approximately $30 million in total contract value over two years, subject to performance obligations and deployment milestones.

“This is just the beginning. Demand for long-term access to high-performance, power-efficient AI compute continues to expand globally, and we are excited to further scale our GPU cloud business throughout 2026.”

Craig Tavares, President and Chief Operating Officer of BUZZ HPC, commented: “Canada requires more sovereign AI compute capacity, both to serve domestic workloads and to support global AI companies from a secure Canadian base. With Dell and Bell Canada as key partners, we are scaling GPU capacity with the infrastructure, connectivity, and resiliency needed to compete on a global stage.

“BUZZ was recently recognized by SemiAnalysis for having one of the fastest data center networks globally and earned a Bronze rating in their ClusterMAX report, validating our technical architecture and execution capabilities.

“Launching this cluster in Canada West marks a significant milestone. It expands BUZZ’s national footprint and advances our vision of coast-to-coast AI infrastructure, with commercial-grade clusters operating at scale to serve both sovereign workloads and international demand. Under HIVE’s dual-engine model, BUZZ is positioned to be a powerful growth catalyst as we accelerate into the global AI supercycle.”

About HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd.

Founded in 2017, HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd. is the first publicly listed company to mine digital assets powered by green energy. Today, HIVE builds and operates next-generation Tier-I and Tier-III data centers across Canada, Sweden, and Paraguay, serving both Bitcoin and high-performance computing clients. HIVE’s twin-turbo engine infrastructure-driven by hashrate services and GPU-accelerated AI computing-delivers scalable, environmentally responsible solutions for the digital economy.

About BUZZ High Performance Computing

BUZZ, a wholly owned subsidiary of HIVE, specializes in AI Cloud and HPC data center services. With facilities in North America and Europe, BUZZ is engineered to support Canada’s ambition in the global AI economy.

Source: HIVE Digital Technologies Ltd.

The post BUZZ HPC Launches 504-GPU AI Cluster Backed by $30M in Contracts appeared first on HPCwire.

I tested dozens of smartwatches from Apple, Google and Garmin. Here are my top picks for every budget and category.

An anonymous reader shares a report: An Indian university has been asked to vacate its stall at the country's flagship AI summit after a staff member was caught presenting a commercially available robotic dog made in China as its own creation, two government sources said. "You need to meet Orion. This has been developed by the Centre of Excellence at Galgotias University," Neha Singh, a professor of communications, told state-run broadcaster DD News this week in remarks that have since gone viral. But social media users quickly identified the robot as the Unitree Go2, sold by China's Unitree Robotics for about $2,800 and widely used in research and education globally. The episode has drawn sharp criticism and has cast an uncomfortable spotlight on India's artificial intelligence ambitions.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• American wins third gold overall and first since 2018

• Shiffrin over a second ahead of Rast in silver spot

With one last chance to break an Olympic hoodoo stretching back a remarkable eight years, Mikaela Shiffrin delivered in style. The 30-year-old American surged to victory in the women’s slalom on a sun-splashed Wednesday in the Dolomites with a two-run time of 1min 39.10sec, becoming the first US skier to win three Olympic gold medals.

Switzerland’s Camille Rast, the reigning world champion and only woman to have beaten Shiffrin in her signature discipline this season, came in a yawning 1.50sec behind for the silver – the largest winning margin in any Olympic alpine skiing event since 1998 – while Anna Swenn-Larsson of Sweden took the bronze. After fourth-placed Wendy Holdener of Switzerland, the rest of the field trailed by at least two seconds in the final race of the alpine skiing program of the Milano Cortina Games.

Consultancy’s prediction comes after Rachel Reeves said green subsidy costs would be removed from domestic bills

Household energy costs in Great Britain are expected to tumble by an average of £117 a year from April after Rachel Reeves announced in November’s budget that the cost of green subsidies would be removed from domestic bills.

The government’s quarterly cap on energy bills is forecast to fall after the chancellor’s decision to shift the levies used to support renewable energy projects into general taxation, and scrap a bill payer-funded energy efficiency scheme, according to Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy.

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has announced party’s plans to cut welfare spending

Robert Jenrick, Reform UK’s Treasury spokesperson, is giving his speech now.

He has announced, or confirmed, three measures to cut welfare spending.

The number claiming disability benefits for an attention disorder has more than doubled since Covid. We all know a significant number of these claims are spurious …

We will stop those with mild anxiety, depression, and similar conditions from claiming disability benefits and instead encourage them into the dignity of work.

We will end the abuse of the Motability scheme, where expensive cars are handed out for conditions like tennis elbow, and paid for by working people who can’t afford them themselves.

The far-left France Unbowed party says it evacuated its Paris office due to a bomb threat as 2 more people were detained over the killing of a far-right activist.

AI slop is an oil spill in our digital oceans. The cleanup depends on all of us doing our part.

Social Circle, a mostly Maga town, builds strange bedfellow coalition against plans to convert warehouse

On a recent morning Eric Taylor, city manager for a small Georgia town of about 5,000 residents called Social Circle, was contacted by a staffer from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“They asked me to turn on the water,” he said of a 1m sq ft warehouse nearby that the federal government recently purchased for $128m, with plans to use it for locking up as many as 10,000 detainees as part of the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: In 1987, economist and Nobel laureate Robert Solow made a stark observation about the stalling evolution of the Information Age: Following the advent of transistors, microprocessors, integrated circuits, and memory chips of the 1960s, economists and companies expected these new technologies to disrupt workplaces and result in a surge of productivity. Instead, productivity growth slowed, dropping from 2.9% from 1948 to 1973, to 1.1% after 1973. Newfangled computers were actually at times producing too much information, generating agonizingly detailed reports and printing them on reams of paper. What had promised to be a boom to workplace productivity was for several years a bust. This unexpected outcome became known as Solow's productivity paradox, thanks to the economist's observation of the phenomenon. "You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics," Solow wrote in a New York Times Book Review article in 1987. New data on how C-suite executives are -- or aren't -- using AI shows history is repeating itself, complicating the similar promises economists and Big Tech founders made about the technology's impact on the workplace and economy. Despite 374 companies in the S&P 500 mentioning AI in earnings calls -- most of which said the technology's implementation in the firm was entirely positive -- according to a Financial Times analysis from September 2024 to 2025, those positive adoptions aren't being reflected in broader productivity gains. A study published this month by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that among 6,000 CEOs, chief financial officers, and other executives from firms who responded to various business outlook surveys in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Australia, the vast majority see little impact from AI on their operations. While about two-thirds of executives reported using AI, that usage amounted to only about 1.5 hours per week, and 25% of respondents reported not using AI in the workplace at all. Nearly 90% of firms said AI has had no impact on employment or productivity over the last three years, the research noted. However, firms' expectations of AI's workplace and economic impact remained substantial: Executives also forecast AI will increase productivity by 1.4% and increase output by 0.8% over the next three years. While firms expected a 0.7% cut to employment over this time period, individual employees surveyed saw a 0.5% increase in employment.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Business leaders tout AI as a path to shorter weeks and better balance. But without power, workers are unlikely to share the gains

The front-page headline in a recent Washington Post was breathless: “These companies say AI is key to their four-day workweeks.” The subhead was euphoric: “Some companies are giving workers back more time as artificial intelligence takes over more tasks.”

As the Post explained: “more companies may move toward a shortened workweek, several executives and researchers predict, as workers, especially those in younger generations, continue to push for better work-life balance.”

Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is a professor of public policy emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a Guardian US columnist and his newsletter is at robertreich.substack.com. His new book, Coming Up Short: A Memoir of My America, is out now

Apple, Garmin, Samsung, Google or Amazfit? I compared each one against a chest strap for heart rate accuracy and found a clear winner.

The lower-cost Galaxy phone runs Android 16 with One UI, bringing several of Samsung's features and six years of software updates.

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón was hospitalized with eight skull fractures after being arrested by ICE agents in January

Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating the alleged beating of a Mexican citizen by immigration officers last month, seeking to identify what caused the eight skull fractures that landed the man in the intensive care unit of a Minneapolis hospital.

Investigators from the St Paul police department and FBI last week canvassed the shopping center parking lot where Alberto Castañeda Mondragón says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents wrested him from a vehicle, threw him to the ground and repeatedly struck him in the head with a steel baton.

Milano Cortina​ has cutting‑edge replays, chase‑cam drones and exuberant commentary ​bringing a wave of unexpected nostalgia for anyone who grew up on 90s extreme‑sports games

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As someone whose childhood holidays consisted of narrowboating along the Grand Union canal or wandering the harbour-side at Whitby looking for vampires, I have never been on a skiing break. The idea of plummeting down a hill on anything but a plastic sledge is totally alien to me. And yet, my wife and I have been gripped by the Winter Olympics, especially the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events. And I think I know why. Those events are really channelling the look and feel of the wintery sports sims I’ve always loved – especially those that arrived during a golden period in the mid-1990s.

This was the era in which snowboarding was exploding in popularity, especially among twentysomethings with disposable incomes and no responsibilities – which coincidentally was the games industry’s target market at the time. Perhaps the first title to take advantage of this trend was Namco’s 1996 arcade game Alpine Surfer, which challenged players to stand on a snowboard-shaped controller and swoop as quickly as possible down a mountainside – it was one of the most physically exhausting coin-ops I ever played. Later that year came the self-consciously hip PlayStation sim Cool Boarders, and then in 1998, my absolute favourite, 1080° Snowboarding on the N64, with it’s intuitive analog controls and incredibly authentic sound effects of boards cutting through deep, crisp snow.

William tells radio panel that talking about emotions and mental health should become ‘second nature to us all’

Prince William has called the prevalence of male suicide in the UK a “national catastrophe” in a radio appearance in which he opened up about his approaches to dealing with difficult emotions.

William told a special episode of Radio 1’s Life Hacks that “we need more male role models” to talk about their mental health publicly, to help other men do the same and make open discussions “second nature to us all”.

Assistant to hard-left parliamentarian among those held over fatal attack on 23-year-old Quentin Deranque during protest in Lyon

French authorities have arrested 11 suspects over the killing last week of a far-right activist, including an assistant to a hard-left member of parliament, a prosecutor and an informed source said.

Quentin Deranque, 23, died after sustaining a severe brain injury when he was attacked by at least six people on the sidelines of a far-right protest against a leftwing politician speaking at a university in the south-eastern city of Lyon.

Government considering delay to equalising national minimum wage after jump in youth unemployment

• UK politics live – latest updates

Ministers are considering a slower rise in the minimum wage for younger workers, amid fears over rising youth unemployment.

Labour had promised in its manifesto to equalise national minimum wage rates by the time of the next election, saying it was unfair younger workers were paid less. Government sources said equalisation remained the aim but the rise could come more slowly.

South Lakes Islamic Centre, which has been targeted by far right, will host nightly prayers before official opening in July

It is a cold night before Ramadan, and a group of men are completing health and safety checks inside Cumbria’s partly completed South Lakes Islamic Centre (SLIC).

The building is a mere shell, with exposed bricks, hanging wires and no fitted lights or heaters, but a large area has been cleared of construction materials to host nightly congregational prayers.

Lawsuit from health and environmental justice groups challenges the EPA’s rollback of the ‘endangerment finding’

More than a dozen health and environmental justice non-profits have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over its revocation of the legal determination that underpins US federal climate regulations.

Filed in Washington DC circuit court, the lawsuit challenges the EPA’s rollback of the “endangerment finding”, which states that the buildup of heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere endangers public health and welfare and has allowed the EPA to limit those emissions from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources since 2009. The rollback was widely seen as a major setback to US efforts to combat the climate crisis.

The magic of magnets tucked into your joysticks can put an end to drift. But which technology is superior?

Starting next year, MLS will align itself with big European leagues and become a summer-to-spring operation. Executives see the change as an opportunity

Few constants have endured from MLS’s 1996 debut to now. It’s still an operational soccer league, for one thing. There’s the name itself, although its initial logo was shelved in 2015 for its current shield-and-kickstand. Eight of the 10 teams that launched the league remain involved, though each one has changed their name, crest, or both over time.

Another rare constant will soon fade into the rearview: the league’s schedule. MLS has run spring-to-fall/winter since its launch, more specifically from late February to early December in recent years. Preseason kicks off at the start of each new year, three weeks or so after the previous season’s championship bout. It’s a pretty well-ironed routine, even as ancillary competitions like the Leagues Cup and Club World Cup shuffle the middle bits each year.

Kimberly Prost and Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza vow US reprisals will not affect work of international criminal court

When the Canadian Kimberly Prost learned Donald Trump’s administration had imposed sanctions on her, it came as a shock.

For years, she has sat as a judge at the international criminal court, weighing accusations of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity; now she is on the same list as terrorists and those involved in organised crime. “It really was a moment of a bit of disbelief,” she said.

Exclusive: 15 Congress members write to Marco Rubio about nine-month detention of Mohammed Ibrahim

Fifteen members of Congress have written to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, demanding to know what steps the United States has taken in response to the mistreatment of a Palestinian-American teenager who spent nine months in Israeli detention.

The letter, led by Senator Peter Welch and first seen by the Guardian, is centered around the case of Mohammed Ibrahim, a Florida resident who was 15 when Israeli soldiers arrested him during a raid on his family’s West Bank home in February 2025. He was charged with throwing objects at moving vehicles before being released on 27 November following a guilty plea and suspended sentence, and was taken directly to hospital upon his return.

These "exercise snacks" are all you need daily to boost your heart health.

Chatham House partners with African Mining Indaba 2026    News release jon.wallace 18 February 2026

Chatham House staff and associate fellows engaged with national and industry leaders throughout Indaba 2026, the African mining event. 

Chatham House was a strategic partner for the Investing in African Mining Indaba 2026 Conference, held from 9–12 February in Cape Town, South Africa.

Throughout the Indaba week, Chatham House staff and associate fellows engaged with national and industry leaders and participated on panels and side events, adding value to discussions about how Africa should respond to the global critical minerals race and harness potential benefits for national development. 

Chatham House was also a knowledge partner for a ministerial symposium held on 8 February, which saw mining ministers from across the continent join CEOs, industry and political leaders to discuss the key challenges facing the sector and its relationship with impacted societies. 

Chatham House and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) facilitated a roundtable as part of the symposium that generated new thinking on permitting, industrialization and infrastructure linkages. 

The Chatham House engagement marked a new collaboration between the Institute’s Critical Minerals Initiative (CMI) and Africa Programme. 

Christopher Vandome, head of the CMI, said:

‘The inclusion of global think tanks and development organizations as partners for the Mining Indaba highlights the growing geopolitical relevance of the industry, and political influence and intervention in minerals supply chains in ways we have not seen for decades.

‘Nations are securing the supply chains of mined material that build our modern world, across manufacturing, digitization, energy and security. The steps taken by the US and other global actors in response to China’s domination of mineral supply chains will reshape the global economy. 

‘We have moved beyond discussions of resource nationalism, to acknowledging that state equity in mining and processing companies is the new norm and countries without a stake will be left behind. How this is managed, and how governments engage, will determine who reaps the biggest rewards.’

Tighisti Amare, Africa Programme director, said: 

‘From the panels we spoke on, meetings we held and extensive engagements that we had across the week it is clear that mining has moved up the global political agenda. 

‘Yet deep-rooted challenges persist across the sector in Africa, including how international demand for minerals can contribute to regional development across the continent. Chatham House has an important role as a trusted and independent convenor and thought leader to work with partners in finding solutions to these challenges.’

A program dubbed "the Lost Navy" is underway to identify the large number of Swedish naval shipwrecks lying on the bottom of the Baltic.

The series of strikes brought the death toll to at least 145 people since the administration began targeting the small vessels since September.

Exclusive: Research uncovers programme to make centuries-old records legible to detect people’s ancestry

Large numbers of paper restorers and bookbinders were recruited by the Nazis and “contributed directly to genocide” during the second world war, according to research.

A British historian has uncovered a Europe-wide programme in the 1930s and 1940s in which restorers repaired and cleaned historic church and civil records, making them legible so that the Nazis could detect anyone with Jewish ancestry.

Democratic former presidents and Donald Trump respond to the death of the civil rights leader at the age of 84. Plus, how worried should we be about China’s dancing robots?

Good morning.

Three Democratic former presidents led a wealth of tributes to Jesse Jackson, a “titan” of the civil rights movement and “one of America’s greatest patriots”, who has died at the age of 84.

What did Donald Trump say? In a post to social media, the current US president called Jackson “a good man” and a “friend” but then attacked the “scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left” who, he said, “falsely and consistently” called him a racist.

What was on the T-shirt? Civil rights movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm, as well as images of protests from that time.

If you ever wished you could access your iPhone or Android device directly on a Windows PC, Phone Link lets you do that. But it's not for everyone.

Trying to make the most out of a small space? Here are our picks for the best 43-inch TVs, perfect for the smallest of rooms.

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Sharif Street is something of an anomaly. A Democratic state senator running for Congress, he’s angling to replace retiring Rep. Dwight Evans in a deep-blue Philadelphia seat. He’s Black, Muslim, and relatively moderate. He would not necessarily be a vocal critic of Israel in the House.

Street is walking a fine line on Israel policy, articulating views that range from moderate to evasive. That has rankled some of Philadelphia’s progressive Muslim organizers, but it may well reflect an effort to appease the city’s diverse voting blocs. Philadelphia’s large Muslim and Jewish populations don’t fall neatly on either side of issues related to Israel and Gaza. If elected, Street would be the first Muslim congressman from Pennsylvania, but his supporters and detractors alike argue that they don’t want identity politics to overshadow substantive policy debates.

Many Muslim Philadelphians “may like Street personally,” said Yusuf Abdul Hameed, a supporter of the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, “but they’re upset because of his lack of courage to really condemn Israel for what clearly was a genocide.” Hameed counted himself among those who like Street, but he said he’s backing his opponent, Pennsylvania state Rep. Chris Rabb, a progressive who has carved out a lane on the left by being openly critical of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. 

Their competition now stands to turn Philadelphia into a testing ground, where voters have a chance to signal how much Israel and Palestine still matter to them as the Trump administration’s barrage of constant scandals, crackdowns, and excesses dominates the midterms cycle.

Street doesn’t have Israel policies on his campaign website. His stance on the issue has largely come to light through public statements he made in his former role as chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party after the October 7, 2023, attacks and over the course of the campaign. His current vagueness has raised questions about whether he would accept campaign funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee or other factions of the pro-Israel lobby.

“I recognize that there won’t be peace for the state of Israel without peace for the Palestinian people, but there won’t be peace for the Palestinian people unless there’s peace for the state of Israel at some point,” Street told the Philadelphia Inquirer last month.

Related

She Lost Her Job for Speaking Out About Gaza. Can It Power Her to Congress?

Street supporter Salima Suswell, an organizer in Philadelphia’s Black Muslim community, said Street had been a leader for Muslims in the city and in the district and also spoke out on Gaza. She said Street and other Black Muslim officials can face a greater pressure to choose sides between Israel and Gaza but that she was confident in Street’s ability to listen to and act on the needs of residents in the district. 

“That said, the Black Muslim community stands in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Gaza. I fully trust that Senator Street will be a force for good in Congress, and he will fight for our communities both domestically and abroad,” she said. 

Home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the country, Philadelphia has a sizable community of Black residents who converted to Islam in the 1960s, during the rise of Malcolm X and the Nation of Islam. The city is also home to many Jewish voters, including younger ones who are more likely to be critical of Israel than the older generation, as well as moderate, pro-Israel Jewish Democrats who make up a large portion of the voting bloc.  

The political complexities of Philadelphia’s religious electorate could make things difficult for AIPAC, which has been searching for ways to shape midterm races this cycle without drawing too much negative attention to itself. 

AIPAC has not publicly endorsed in the 3rd Congressional District race. But Street was the beneficiary of a short-lived, secret fundraising page hosted by a little-known pro-Israel group — one that AIPAC has used to direct donors to at least one other candidate this cycle. 

The fundraising page, hosted by the Pro-Israel Network, urged donors to contribute to Street’s campaign. The page was live until late last year, when it came to the attention of Philadelphia’s progressive circles and suddenly vanished. The Pro-Israel Network is not officially affiliated with AIPAC. But as AIPAC has adopted a quieter role in elections this cycle, the Pro-Israel Network is one of several proxies the more prominent group has used to highlight preferred candidates for its donors. 

Street’s campaign said in a statement to The Intercept that they weren’t aware of the page until it was brought to their attention and that they didn’t seek the group’s endorsement or receive any campaign contributions through the page. 

“Sharif is not seeking AIPAC’s endorsement, and we weren’t aware of the Pro-Israel Network page until folks showed it to us. We didn’t coordinate with that group and haven’t received any funding from it,” Street’s campaign spokesperson Anthony Campisi said. 

Beth Miller, the political director for Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said she hopes the Street campaign will keep it that way.

“Pro-genocide groups like AIPAC are directly at odds with what Democratic voters want. The overwhelming majority of Democratic voters have made it clear that they want the U.S. to stop funding Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians,” Miller said. “No Democratic candidate should be taking a dollar — or any other kind of support — from groups that are so at odds with the party’s own base.”

According to Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu, the executive director of CAIR-Philadelphia, many in the Philadelphia community view the issue of Israel and Palestine as a window into broader debates, and they see reason to be wary of politicians who waver from moral stances. 

“The Israel–Palestine issue is not only important as a foreign policy matter, but also as an issue that intersects with rights, with freedoms, with how we stand up for oppressed people in our own communities in the U.S.,” Tekelioglu said. He said Philadelphians “are now asking for more, and are coming closer to an accountability politics point of view.”

As a nonprofit, CAIR-Philadelphia cannot endorse a candidate, but Tekelioglu said he’s volunteering for Rabb in his personal capacity. The national political arm, CAIR Action, plans to endorse in the race but has not yet announced its pick.

Hameed, who has been a member of the Nation of Islam since the 1980s, said it would be nice to have a Muslim representative in Congress, but sharing race or religion with a candidate wasn’t enough to earn his vote. He criticized attempts to make excuses for Black Democrats who have taken support from AIPAC, like Reps. Hakeem Jeffries and Ritchie Torres of New York and Glenn Ivey of Maryland. 

“These people support Israel, and they’re getting money from AIPAC, and they’re complicit with genocide,” Hameed said. “They would turn on them in a dime.”

During a candidate forum in December, Street was asked whether he would support legislation to block arms sales to Israel. He said peace and security relied on getting humanitarian aid into Gaza and rebuilding, but that his allotted response time wasn’t enough to answer the question or address such a complicated issue. 

“If we’re gonna do this topic justice, talking about peace in the Middle East is not really a one-minute answer,” Street said. “Catchy soundbites sound good, but they don’t save lives.” 

While several candidates criticized Israel’s destruction in Gaza, Rabb was the only one of the five candidates present to state specifically that he would support such legislation. During another forum in January, Rabb was also clear on his stance on the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, saying, “Fuck AIPAC.” 

Street and Rabb are running in a crowded field of more than 10 candidates vying to replace Evans in the May 19 primary. Among them are state Rep. Morgan Cephas, Dr. David Oxman, Dr. Ala Stanford, climate adviser under former President Joe Biden Pablo McConnie-Saad, and real estate developer and nonprofit leader Isaiah Martin. Street is leading the pack in fundraising, with more than $700,000 raised so far. Oxman has raised $497,000 — including $175,000 he gave to his own campaign. Stanford has raised $467,000, and Rabb has raised $384,000, ahead of Cephas, who’s raised $241,000. 

Muslims United PAC, a national political action committee that has endorsed candidates including Reps. Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Summer Lee, endorsed Rabb over Street, mainly because of Rabb’s explicit criticism of the genocide in Gaza. The group declined to comment on the race.

In a statement to The Intercept, Rabb said he couldn’t speculate on who was backing his opponents but that he would never take money from AIPAC. “I have not nor would I even consider meeting with AIPAC because I view them as a racist, extremist organization,” Rabb said. 

“Israel and Gaza — and Palestine, more broadly — deserve the opportunity to engage in peaceful self-determination without U.S. military domination preempting that fundamental right. I support a permanent and immediate ceasefire including release of hostages, recognition that a genocide has occurred in Gaza, and oppose export or use of U.S. weapons in ways that violate U.S. or international law,” he said. Rabb is also running on rejecting corporate PAC money, fighting the influence of billionaires in politics, and abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Related

AIPAC Is Retreating From Endorsements and Election Spending. It Won’t Give Up Its Influence.

The Pro-Israel network funding page, a sign that the lobby has its eyes on the race, is a point of contention among critics who say AIPAC shouldn’t be getting involved in races at all, let alone one in a district which Democrats are largely to the group’s left on policy toward Israel and Gaza. 

“AIPAC is a red line,” said Saleem Holbrook, executive director of Straight Ahead, an abolitionist activist group in Philadelphia. The group’s affiliated public interest law firm, the Abolitionist Law Center, advocates for criminal justice reform has worked with Street on state reform efforts in Pennsylvania and cannot endorse in the race due to its nonprofit status. 

“There’s no way that our organization or many progressive organizations are going to back any candidate that takes AIPAC support,” Holbrook said. “Because when you look at AIPAC’s track record, all AIPAC has done has taken out Black progressive politicians or candidates that had the interest of the Black community in their heart.”

Suswell, the Street supporter, agreed that the race should be about policies that support the community, pointing to affordable housing, quality education, and public safety. “This should not be about identity politics,” she said. “This is about track record. Senator Street has an impeccable track record in his district and across the Muslim community.”

Progressive groups have been slowly endorsing Rabb, and two sources with knowledge of the race said it’s only a matter of time before they consolidate behind him. Rabb has been endorsed by Philadelphia’s chapter of Democratic Socialists of America, Sunrise Movement’s national and Philadelphia chapters, One PA, and Mt. Airy Democrats.

Both Street and Rabb are actively seeking the endorsement from the Working Families Party, which is planning to announce its pick in the next few weeks. So are CAIR Action and A New Policy.

While Street may not have the backing of leading progressive groups in Pennsylvania, he does have good relationships with their members. That dynamic is one reason progressive groups have taken their time to make endorsements in a race pitting their allies against one another, according to one source close to the race.

Street is endorsed by the Philadelphia Democratic Party, the Muslim League of Voters of the Delaware Valley, and several of Philadelphia’s powerful labor unions including Philadelphia’s powerful Building and Construction Trades Council, which encompasses several local shops. He’s also backed by former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal, advocates for gun violence prevention and several prominent leaders for LGBTQ rights.

Street’s campaign pointed to his work advancing religious rights for Muslims in the district, helping to expand healthcare for Pennsylvanians, leading the fight to legalize recreational cannabis and reform the criminal justice system, and protect voting rights. “He’s going to bring that same drive to Washington, where he will be relentlessly focused on lowering costs, expanding health care access, reforming our criminal justice system, and holding Trump accountable,” said Campisi, his spokesperson. 

Update: February 18, 2026, 11:54 a.m. ET

This story has been updated to note that as a nonprofit, the Abolitionist Law Center cannot endorse in the race.

The post Philadelphia Could Elect Its First Muslim Congressman. He’s Not Sure Where He Stands on Israel. appeared first on The Intercept.

I am somebody because the reverend told me I was. And I believed him.

Death of Briton along with Polish citizen near La Grave comes four days after fatal avalanche at Val d’Isère

A third British man has been killed in an avalanche in the French Alps.

The man had been skiing with a group of four others when the avalanche struck near the resort town of La Grave on Tuesday morning, local media reported.

Lindsey Vonn's devastating injury when her skis didn't come off has put a spotlight on bindings, which hold boots to skis and are some of the oldest technology in the sport.

For months, President Donald Trump has railed against Latin American narcoterrorists flooding the United States with “lethal poison.” He has used the scourge of drug trafficking as a rationale for dozens of military strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean, which have left more than 140 people dead.

Last month, Trump cheered a military assault by U.S. forces that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and brought them to the U.S. to face charges related to cocaine trafficking. Maduro, Trump said, led a “vicious cartel” that “flooded our nation with lethal poison responsible for the deaths of countless Americans.”

But when it comes to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was tried and convicted in the U.S. in 2024 and sentenced to 45 years in prison for taking bribes and allowing traffickers to export more than 400 tons of cocaine to the U.S., Trump has taken a decidedly softer tone.

Hernández, he said, has been “treated very harshly and unfairly” — so unfairly that on Dec. 1, Trump pardoned the former president after he served less than four of those 45 years.

But the federal government’s magnanimity did not end there. On the day he was to be released, records show, Hernández had an immigration detainer — a request for law enforcement agencies to hold noncitizens for pickup by Immigration and Customs Enforcement — in place.  

Here, too, the Trump’s administration’s treatment of Hernández differed from its public objectives. Other noncitizens caught up in recent immigration sweeps — the vast majority of whom do not have criminal records — have faced swift efforts to deport them, even to countries where they may face threats. But in Hernández’s case, the Federal Bureau of Prisons scrambled to get his detainer removed so he could walk free.

And Hernández did not just walk out of the prison. Despite persistent budget and staffing shortages, prison officials paid a specialized tactical team overtime to drive Hernández from a high-security facility in West Virginia to the famed five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York City, according to records and three people familiar with the situation. Before he left, Hernández was allowed to use the captain’s government phone to talk to the federal prison system’s deputy director, Joshua Smith, who was convicted in a drug trafficking conspiracy before Trump pardoned him in 2021. 

“The [prisons bureau] administration rolled out the red carpet for him,” said Joe Rojas, a retired prison worker and former union leader who has been speaking to the media on behalf of staff who fear reprisals for doing so since bureau leaders stopped recognizing the union last year. “The staff are disgusted.” 

Renato Stabile, the court-appointed lawyer representing Hernández — who has long maintained his innocence — said his client’s treatment was appropriate. 

“It would be particularly cruel to grant somebody a pardon and have them released from prison — only to have them immediately shipped back to a place like Honduras where they would’ve immediately arrested him or he would’ve been killed on sight by criminal elements that wanted to do him harm,” Stabile told ProPublica. Through his attorney, Hernández declined to comment.

ICE referred all questions to the White House, which responded with a link to a November social media post announcing the President’s intent to pardon Hernández. Smith didn’t respond to an emailed request for comment. A BOP spokesperson said in an emailed statement that the bureau does not discuss conditions of confinement or security procedures and that employee standards of conduct prohibit staff from giving any prisoners preferential treatment. “Violators may be subject to disciplinary actions, including removal from federal service and criminal prosecution,” the statement said. 

The investigation that ultimately ensnared Hernández stretched across several U.S. presidencies. Despite looming legal trouble stateside and widespread allegations of corruption in his country, Hernández — often known by his initials, JOH — was seen as a key U.S. ally under the Obama and first Trump administrations, ostensibly because of his apparent willingness to help tackle drug trafficking and migration issues. 

In 2012, as president of Honduras’ National Congress, he famously pushed through a legal change allowing for the extradition of accused criminals to the U.S. — a reform that his attorney pointed out was ironically later used to extradite him. 

But in 2018, less than halfway through Hernández’s second term as president, the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested his younger brother, former Honduran congressman Tony Hernández, in Miami for a series of weapons and drug trafficking charges. A jury found him guilty the following year at a Manhattan federal trial in which Emil Bove — the federal prosecutor who would later become Trump’s personal defense lawyer — gave a closing argument replete with allegations implicating the Honduran president in criminal schemes. (Bove could not be reached for comment.)

Although the sprawling criminal case focused on narcotrafficking concerns, Juan Orlando Hernández’s political career was fraught in other ways. Dana Frank, a University of California, Santa Cruz history professor who studies Honduras, described him as a “repressive criminal on multiple fronts.”

While in congress in 2012, he led a “technical coup” in overthrowing the supreme court, she said. Then, he ran for reelection to the presidency in 2017 “in complete violation of the constitution,” she said. Amid the resulting protests, security forces shot and killed at least 16 people, including two children, among other human rights abuses, a United Nations report found. Hernández has said little publicly, but his government told the U.N. it would look into those cases. His party has tweeted that it has an “unwavering commitment to democracy and freedom.”

Weeks after Hernández left office in 2022, he was arrested at his home in Honduras and extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking and weapons charges. Prosecutors said he funded his political career with millions of dollars he received from “violent drug-trafficking organizations” in exchange for allowing them to “move mountains of cocaine” out of the country.  

Stabile told ProPublica the case against his client was always a weak one, relying heavily on the word of unreliable drug traffickers with outlandish stories and little in the way of hard evidence.

Still, the government’s case was enough to convince a jury to convict Hernández after just over eight hours of deliberations, and in June 2024 he was sentenced to 45 years in federal prison. Afterward, Stabile and his client began working on an appeal, which at that point appeared to be Hernández’s only shot at freedom.

Early last year, prison officials transferred Hernández out of the federal detention center in Brooklyn, which largely holds pretrial detainees, and sent him to the high-security Hazelton penitentiary in West Virginia. Dubbed “Misery Mountain,” the notoriously violent prison is the same facility where mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger was beaten to death in his cell hours after his arrival in 2018.

Yet prison sources said Hernández seemed to do his time quietly, eventually landing in the coveted housing unit set aside for a therapeutic program used to treat drug addiction, mental illness and “criminal thinking errors.” 

But after Trump returned to office last year, a much quicker route to freedom suddenly seemed possible: a pardon.

Like Trump, Hernández was a member of his country’s right-wing party. And, like Trump, he believed he’d been targeted by leftist forces. He also had other reasons to be hopeful. 

During his time in office, Hernández had championed the creation of special economic zones that could set their own taxes and regulations, a move that benefitted the Trump-aligned Silicon Valley titans who invested in them, including Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen. But the law was repealed by his successor, center-left party Libre member Xiomara Castro, putting plans for the zones in jeopardy. (Andreessen responded to a request for comment with a link to a social media post disavowing any involvement in the pardon. Thiel could not be reached for comment, though he has previously said he was not involved either.)

Longtime political operative Roger Stone also suggested in a blog post co-authored with conservative activist Shane Trejo in January 2025 that pardoning Hernández could have political benefits for Trump. In the post, Trejo and Stone — who was pardoned by Trump five years ago after he was convicted of obstructing a congressional investigation into Russian election interference — urged the president to “crush socialism and save a freedom city in Honduras” with a “well-timed pardon” that “could be the final death blow to [Xiomara] Castro” in the 2025 elections.

Eventually, Stone took on a more direct role in advocating for clemency when he gave Trump a four-page letter Hernández had written to the U.S. president, asking for a pardon and making the case that his conviction was a “political persecution” by the Biden administration. In a text message with ProPublica, Stone said he had received the letter from a journalist who’d gotten it from the family. He emphasized repeatedly that he was not compensated for his involvement.

“I read the letter and then did my own research and elected to send the letter to President Trump,” Stone wrote. “I actually had no contact with JOH or anyone in his family until after the pardon.”

On Nov. 28, two days before the Honduran presidential election, Trump announced his intent to pardon Hernández. Stabile said he didn’t learn the news until Ana García Carías, the former president’s wife, called him in tears:

“He’s letting him out! Trump’s pardoning Juan Orlando!” 

She sent Stabile a screenshot from Truth Social, where Trump had written that he would grant him a “Full and Complete Pardon.” 

The decision met with bipartisan backlash from lawmakers. Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia, called the unexpected reprieve “disgusting and incomprehensible,” while Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, described it as “horrible optics.”

In his post, Trump also urged Hondurans to vote for the National Party candidate, Nasry “Tito” Asfura, who was trailing in multiple polls, adding what to observers of Latin American politics was a thinly veiled threat: If Asfura did not win, Trump said, the U.S. would “not be throwing good money after bad” in support of Honduras.

The message was obvious, experts said. “That pardon was a clear green light for the National Party to manipulate the vote,” one former high-ranking U.S. diplomat told ProPublica. 

In the end, Asfura narrowly edged out center-right candidate Salvador Nasralla and handily defeated the incumbent Libre party. But the count was plagued by delays, reports of voter intimidation and allegations of fraud, and Nasralla later formally challenged the outcome. 

On Dec. 1 — while the votes were still being counted in Honduras — Trump posted again on Truth Social in support of Asfura. “Looks like Honduras is trying to change the results of their Presidential Election. If they do, there will be hell to pay!” The former president’s pardon officially went through that same day. 

That evening at Hazelton, after the prisoners had already been fed dinner, corrections officers showed up at the housing unit to get Hernández. Smith, the bureau’s deputy director, wanted to speak with him. The newly pardoned inmate was escorted to the captain’s office, where he used the captain’s phone to talk to Smith, his fellow pardon recipient, according to a source familiar with the situation. The move shocked current and former prison staff. 

Hernández was also allowed to talk with his family, who then phoned Stabile and told him the good news. Within the hour, Stabile said, he got a call from Smith, inquiring about a release plan. 

“I’m in Manhattan and he’s in West Virginia,” Stabile told Smith. “It would take me six hours to come pick him up. Can you transport him?”

Because most inmate releases are done during the daytime, prison staff had to be called back in to handle the paperwork and logistics of freeing an inmate. But there was a problem: Hernández had an immigration hold. 

When noncitizens are convicted of crimes in the U.S., immigration officials routinely sign detainers asking prisons and jails to turn them over to ICE for possible deportation proceedings  following their release date. In Hernández’s case, records show immigration agents sent the prison notice of a detainer in February 2025, two months after he was sentenced in court.

For several hours on the night of his release, prison officials scrambled to get the detainer removed so he could walk free, according to several sources familiar with the situation.      

“It’s definitely special treatment. That’s not normally the way it goes,” said Lena Graber, a senior staff attorney at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center. “Most people with drug convictions would never get their ICE detainer removed just because the conviction was pardoned.”

Records show immigration officials lifted the detainer on Hernández just after 11 p.m. 

Typically, according to a source familiar with the situation, prisoners who are released from Hazelton when there’s inclement weather or when it’s too late in the day to catch a plane or bus home are put up at the Microtel Inn and Suites at the bottom of the hill. It’s a two-star hotel where a room costs $69 per night. In the morning, they’re given a ticket and sent on their way. 

But for Hernández, prison officials activated a four-man tactical team, paying at least three of them overtime to drive him to the luxury hotel in Manhattan, according to government records and law enforcement sources. A standard room there costs more than $1,000 per night. Stabile declined to comment on where Hernández stayed but said the government did not pay for it.

It was another move that stunned prisons bureau staff. One official called it “absolutely fucking nuts,” adding, “I don’t even think that’s ever been done, not just for a pardoned inmate but for anyone who’s been released.” Another agreed that it was unprecedented: “Usually, they get a shitty bus ride or a cheap plane ticket. They don’t get the carpet rolled out for them.”

As of now, the former president’s whereabouts are unknown. A few days after his release, Hernández said in Spanish in a social media post that he had “no intention of returning to Honduras” immediately because he and his family would be in “grave danger given the evident persecution and the weaponization of justice against me.” 

If Hernández is in the U.S., it’s unclear what his immigration status is.

Meanwhile, Honduran officials have issued a warrant for Hernández’s arrest over years-old fraud allegations and, in a social media post, asked Interpol and other international allies to honor it. But a law enforcement official familiar with the situation told ProPublica there is currently no pending Interpol red notice asking for law enforcement to detain him. The only request the network received to issue such a notice, the official said, was declined while Hernández was still in prison.

The post Amid Mass ICE Arrests, Trump Pardon Recipient Juan Orlando Hernández Given Special Treatment appeared first on ProPublica.

The warning on the government website was stark. Some products and remedies claiming to treat or cure autism are being marketed deceptively and can be harmful. Among them: chelating agents, hyperbaric oxygen therapies, chlorine dioxide and raw camel milk. 

Now that advisory is gone.

The Food and Drug Administration pulled the page down late last year. The federal Department of Health and Human Services told ProPublica in a statement that it retired the webpage “during a routine clean up of dated content at the end of 2025,” noting the page had not been updated since 2019. (An archived version of the page is still available online.) 

Some advocates for people with autism don’t understand that decision. “It may be an older page, but those warnings are still necessary,” said Zoe Gross, a director at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit policy organization run by and for autistic people. “People are still being preyed on by these alternative treatments like chelation and chlorine dioxide. Those can both kill people.” 

Chlorine dioxide is a chemical compound that has been used as an industrial disinfectant, a bleaching agent and an ingredient in mouthwash, though with the warning it shouldn’t be swallowed. A ProPublica story examined Sen. Ron Johnson’s endorsement of a new book by Dr. Pierre Kory, which describes the chemical as a “remarkable molecule” that, when diluted and ingested, “works to treat everything from cancer and malaria to autism and COVID.”

Johnson, a Wisconsin Republican who has amplified anti-scientific claims around COVID-19, supplied a blurb for the cover of the book, “The War on Chlorine Dioxide.” He called it “a gripping tale of corruption and courage that will open eyes and prompt serious questions.”

The lack of clear warning from the government on questionable autism treatments is in line with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rejection of conventional science on autism and vaccine safety. Last spring, Kennedy brought into the agency a vaccine critic who’d promoted treating autistic children with the puberty-blocking drug Lupron. And in January, Kennedy recast an advisory panel on autism, appointing people who have championed the use of pressurized chambers to deliver pure oxygen to children, as well as some who support infusions to draw out heavy metals, a process known as chelation.

Kennedy has embraced various unconventional measures in his fight against what he views as a government system corrupted by special interests. In October 2024, shortly before Donald Trump won the presidency again, Kennedy vowed on social media that the FDA’s “war on public health” was about to end. 

“This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma,” he wrote.

At his confirmation hearing, Kennedy praised Trump for his wide search for a COVID-19 remedy in his first term, which Kennedy said included vaccines, various drugs and “even chlorine dioxide.”

The FDA, dating back to at least 2010, has urged consumers not to purchase or drink chlorine dioxide, frequently marketed as a Miracle Mineral Solution, because “the solution, when mixed, develops into a dangerous bleach which has caused serious and potentially life-threatening side effects.”

The BMJ (formerly the British Medical Journal) has previously reported on the removal of the FDA warnings page. The lack of a warning has also received attention in the Telegram channel Chlorine Dioxide Testimonies.

“Don’t forget the FDA quietly removed warnings about Chlorine Dioxide on their website earlier this year,” read a forwarded post in late December, to which over 100 people reacted with an applauding emoji.

The contributor added a wish for the future: that Kennedy and the FDA commissioner undertake official studies exploring chlorine dioxide’s effects in battling cancer. There currently are no warnings about chlorine dioxide on a consumer page on the FDA website. And HHS did not answer ProPublica’s questions about whether the agency endorses chlorine dioxide as a treatment for autism. 

In his book, Kory also expresses optimism about what Kennedy will do. “What I really want is for the FDA to lift its restrictions on studying chlorine dioxide as a therapeutic,” he wrote. “That’s something I’m hoping might finally be possible under this new administration, especially with RFK Jr. as head of Health and Human Services.”

Many autism researchers and advocates have been wary of Kennedy due to his long-held stance that vaccines cause autism. Peer-reviewed studies conducted worldwide, published over decades in leading scientific journals, have rejected such a link.

Under Kennedy, however, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention overhauled its website on vaccines and autism to assert that studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.

The CDC page retained the headline “Vaccines do not cause Autism” but added an asterisk noting that the phrase remained “due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee.” In order to win confirmation to his post, Kennedy had promised Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician, that he would not remove the statement. 

Kennedy’s replacement of 21 members who were part of an interagency coordinating committee on autism provides another glimpse into where he wants to take federal policy. 

The committee provides advice and recommendations on policies, research and services. It now includes people who have promoted unproven remedies for autism, including suramin, a drug developed to treat sleeping sickness in Africa caused by bites from a tsetse fly; hyperbaric oxygen therapy, typically used for decompression sickness and tissue damage; controversial language techniques; and chelation therapy.

A 5-year-old autistic boy died in Pennsylvania in 2005 after a chelation session. Another 5-year-old boy died in Michigan last year in a hyperbaric chamber fire; his parents wanted him treated for an attention disorder.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network published a statement on its website saying that the newly reconfigured HHS autism panel is now “overwhelmingly made up of anti-vaccine advocates and peddlers of dangerous quack autism ‘treatments.’”

HHS told ProPublica in an emailed statement that such claims are “false” and that the new members are experienced in research and clinical care. “They are committed to advancing innovation in autism research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention to align federal policy with current gold-standard science,” HHS said. 

Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ProPublica that Kennedy’s removal of committee members with solid expertise in favor of people who support alternative medicine shows that the secretary is “perfectly willing to embrace bogus therapies.”

Another leading expert, Yale University professor emeritus Dr. Fred Volkmar, who edited the “Handbook of Autism and Pervasive Developmental Disorders,” a definitive guide, said early diagnosis and proven treatments have led to dramatic improvements for people with autism. “These days, probably 70% to 75% of children on the autism spectrum will grow up to be fully independent or semi-independent adults.” 

Sadly, however, he said, some parents fall prey to promises of easy and fast cures, when there are none. One of the dangers, he said, is that children are drawn away from treatments that are shown to be beneficial.

“It’s a shame that the federal government is not being more helpful to parents in understanding what does and doesn’t work,” Volkmar said.

The post Chlorine Dioxide, Raw Camel Milk: The FDA No Longer Warns Against These and Other Ineffective Autism Treatments appeared first on ProPublica.

Despite President Donald Trump’s opposition to annexation, Israel has taken steps to expand control over the West Bank that experts say may lead to seizure of territory.

In New York, Philadelphia and elsewhere, elected Democrats are taking steps to try to limit immigration crackdowns like the one winding down in Minneapolis.

In a small double-blind clinical trial, a single intravenous dose of DMT produced rapid and clinically meaningful reductions in symptoms of major depressive disorder within a week, with effects lasting up to three months in some patients. "Unlike psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide ( LSD), whose effects can last for hours, intravenous DMT has a half-life of around five minutes," notes ScienceAlert. "Its psychedelic effects are correspondingly brief, potentially making it more practical to administer in clinical settings." From the report: "A single dose of DMT with psychotherapeutic support produced a rapid, significant reduction in depressive symptoms, sustained up to three months," writes a team led by neuroscientists David Erritzoe and Tommaso Barba of Imperial College London. [...] They recruited 34 participants with major depression and divided them into two groups of 17 for a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. In the first stage of the trial, one group received an intravenous dose of DMT, while the other received an active placebo. Neither the researchers nor the participants were informed which participants received the DMT. The doses took around 10 minutes to administer, and a therapist sat with each participant to ensure comfort and safety while the psychedelic effects were active, remaining silent throughout the treatment. The treatment was generally well tolerated. Most side effects were mild to moderate, and included nausea, temporary anxiety, and pain at the injection site. No serious adverse events related to the treatment were reported, although brief increases in heart rate and blood pressure were observed immediately after dosing. In the second, open-label stage, two weeks after the first dose, all participants were given the opportunity to receive a dose of DMT. Participants were assessed before and at intervals after each dose using the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. Just a week after the first dose, participants who had received DMT had improved scores compared to the placebo group, and improvements were sustained during follow-up assessments. Two weeks after the first dose, the participants who received DMT scored about seven points lower, on average, than those who received a placebo. On this commonly used clinical scale, a drop of that size is generally considered a meaningful reduction in symptom severity. There was no significant difference between patients who received one or two doses of DMT, suggesting a single dose may be sufficient. These effects persisted for up to three months, and some patients remained in remission for at least six months following the treatment. The findings have been published in Nature Medicine.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Why Should Delaware Care?
In December, the Delaware’s education secretary announced that she was placing the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence under formal review due to enrollment concerns. It marked marking the second time in two years that the charter school had been placed under formal review. On Tuesday, state officials was recommended that the school’s charter be revoked. 

Delaware education officials on Tuesday recommended that the state close a Georgetown charter school due to its persistent struggles with low enrollment. 

If approved, the closure of the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence (BASSE) would be the first for a Delaware charter school in seven years and the first to be closed by state regulators in a decade. It would also leave Sussex County with just two charter schools, compared to six in Kent County and 15 in New Castle County.

In 2016, the state Board of Education revoked the charter of the Delaware STEM Academy. In recent years though, most shuttered charter schools have voluntarily closed due to enrollment or finance concerns, although they have often come under pressure from regulators.

Charter schools are publicly funded but independently operated by their own board of directors. They are not eligible to receive taxpayer dollars for facilities and capital projects, but do receive state funding for each enrolled student.

The tuition-free schools feature specialized missions or academic curriculums that differ from traditional public schools, and that requires them to maintain certain enrollment levels and reporting duties to the state Department of Education, which issues their founding charters.

The closure recommendation from the Charter School Accountability Committee now goes before Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten, who will announce a final decision about whether to revoke BASSE’s charter of the on March 19. 

If she does revoke the charter, the school – which in recent months has served about 120 sixth through ninth graders – would close by the end of this academic year. 

On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Marten said the secretary will make her decision after considering “the full record, which will include public input collected at the upcoming public hearing,” on March 9. 

Get Involved
The public hearing about the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence is scheduled for 5 p.m. on March 9 at the William A. Carter Partnership Center at DelTech in Georgetown.

In a statement to Spotlight Delaware, the school said it did not agree with Tuesday’s decision and is committed to remaining open.

But “​​we understand it was the decision (the committee) felt they needed to make with the information they had,” the school stated.

Named after the prominent civil rights attorney who was born in nearby Milton, the Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence was founded in 2018.

The school’s inaugural academic year did not start until the fall of 2024, in part because it had struggled to attract enough students, according to a 2023 report from Delaware Public Media. 

Among the founders of the school was Delaware lawmaker Rep. Alonna Berry (D-Milton). She declined to comment on Tuesday about the charter school committee’s recommendation. In an interview in 2021 with Delmarva Life, Berry said the school carried a service-learning mission, in which students would learn by going out into their communities. 

She also noted then that the school had received a $1 million grant from the du Pont family’s Longwood Foundation to help finance the construction of their facility in Georgetown, west of U.S. Route 113.  

Editor’s note: The Longwood Foundation has also funded Spotlight Delaware.

‘Enrollment has decreased’

During the tense, three-hour-long meeting on Tuesday, charter school accountability committee members expressed particular concern about the school’s ability to grow, or even maintain enrollment levels. 

Speaking to school staff directly, committee member Brook Hughes noted that “every single snapshot that we’ve taken of your enrollment has decreased.” 

The committee members also discussed a recent survey of existing students’ families that showed about half of them were not certain they would return to the school for the next academic year. 

In response, school staff explained that they struggled to convince families to respond to the survey. They argued that an announcement from Marten in December that the school would be placed under a formal review caused some parents to feel uncertain about their kids’ future at the school.  

The state describes the formal review process as a “lawful investigation of a charter school” that could include on-site visits, records inspections and interviews of parents, and staff.   

The subsequent review involved public meetings that included Tuesday’s gathering, where frustration was expressed by both members of the committee by school staff who were in attendance. 

Toward the end of the meeting, Charter Schools Network Executive Director Kendall Massett spoke openly about the visible frustration while noting that authorizing and regulating charter schools “is not easy.”

“It’s not supposed to be because we have children that we are responsible for as authorizers,” said Massett, who serves as a non-voting member of the Charter School Accountability Committee.

The post State committee recommends closure of Bryan Allen Stevenson School of Excellence appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Why Should Delaware Care?
After State Senator Dave Lawson (R-Marydel) announced last month that he would not seek re-election later this fall, two first-time candidates have tossed their hats in the ring to succeed the long-serving Kent County Republican. The upcoming matchup will be the first contested election for the seat since Lawson first won in 2010.

The brewing political battle to replace a long-serving senator from Kent County could become a political barometer that shows where voters in rural Delaware stand today.  

State Sen. Dave Lawson’s (R-Marydel) announcement last month that he will not seek re-election later this fall opened up Delaware’s 15th Senate District to new representation in the General Assembly for the first time in more than 15 years.

In a video announcing his retirement, the 80-year-old lawmaker threw his support behind Republican newcomer Emily Thompson, calling her an “awesome lady,” and a “true servant.” 

Lawson’s endorsement will likely carry Thompson, a program administrator for the state’s Division of Public Health, far in the western Kent County district – long a Republican stronghold. Since unseating a Democratic incumbent in 2010, Lawson ran unopposed in each of his two re-election campaigns. 

But a Democratic challenger with institutional connections – Nisha Lodhavia – has already tossed her hat in the ring, setting up a contested election in the district for the first time in more than 15 years. 

Lodhavia, a member of the University of Delaware’s Board of Trustees, announced her candidacy on the steps of Legislative Hall in January. She was joined by a slew of Kent County Democrats.

Senate District 15, which spans the length of western Kent County, covers towns including Felton, Marydel and Harrington. With both a Democrat and a Republican now in the race, this year’s election could be the first real litmus test of the district’s political leaning since boundaries were redrawn following the 2020 census.

As of this month, the district is home to nearly 40,000 registered voters. Of those voters, just less than 29% are registered Democrats. Nearly 36% are registered Republicans, and the rest are not affiliated with a political party.

Lodhavia starts with strong financials, eye on affordability

Lodhavia, a retired Delaware Technical Community College professor, has already raked in more than $16,000 in donations, according to her most recent campaign finance report. 

The report includes campaign contributions from Nov. 10, 2025, through the end of last year. Although Lodhavia did not formally file to run for office until January, she was required to submit a report because she created a candidate committee last November in anticipation of her run, said a spokesperson for the Delaware Department of Elections. 

In comparison, Lawson raised nearly $25,500 between April and October of 2010 when he first ran for the SD 15 seat – or more than $38,000 when accounting for inflation. 

Unless she faces a primary race, Thompson’s finances will likely not be publicly available until mid-October, when candidates across the state are required to submit their 30-day general election reports.

In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Lodhavia said her vision for the future of the 15th District includes investments in education, health care, small business, and making agriculture a “top priority.” 

“And woven throughout all of that,” Lodhavia said, “is affordability.”

Though she has not sought elected office before, Lodhavia said she realized recently that her resume – from board service to volunteer work – has prepared her for it.

A self-described moderate Democrat, Lodhavia said her party affiliation was not a deterrent from choosing to run for State Senate. The issues at the heart of her campaign, she said, are not partisan. And making them so, she added, would only act as a roadblock to finding solutions.

“I feel like the time is now because my district needs change,” she said. “And I’m here for it.”

Lodhavia said she plans to embark on a listening tour across the district in the coming weeks to ensure she gets face time with as many voters as possible across all pockets of the district.

Thompson looks to support education, agriculture

When Lawson announced his plans to retire at the end of this year’s legislative session, he said it was important to “step out of the way” for the next generation of political leaders. 

One of those people, Lawson said in his announcement video, is Thompson. 

“I think she will carry on, or work even harder, and be more successful in the 15th senatorial district than I,” Lawson said. 

The praise was not lost on Thompson. In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, she said Lawson has been “an incredible mentor.” 

She explained that she had met the senator about six months before she officially filed to run in January. She expressed her interest in being his successor, and the pair began attending community events together so she could better “understand the political landscape.”

Through that work, Thompson said she has homed in on improving education and preserving the district’s agricultural community as two of her top priorities. 

Thompson previously worked in child welfare, and now she oversees Delaware’s home visiting programs for young families through the state’s Division of Public Health. That work, she said, showed her just how few resources are available to children and their families. 

If elected, Thompson said she wants to ensure families in Delaware schools understand what resources are available to them, and ensure that taxpayer dollars are being used effectively and transparently to do so.

Along with education, Thompson, who grew up on her family’s horse farm, said she is passionate about preserving the agricultural footprint of the 15th district. If farmers are not supported, she said, more farmland will inevitably become housing developments or solar farms. 

“If we don’t have policies and legislation in place, that financially supports farmers and makes it advantageous for them to continue farming … they obviously have to look at other avenues,” she said.

While Thompson and Lodhavia are currently the only two candidates running to succeed Lawson, the possibility of either woman facing a primary election challenge is still on the table. The deadline for all prospective candidates to officially file to run for office is July 14.

The post Political newcomers vie to succeed Lawson in State Senate appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

A large shark was caught on camera for the first time in Antarctica's waters, surprising researchers. "There's a general rule of thumb that you don't get sharks in Antarctica," one said.

FTSE 100 company reports 6% fall in annual profits weeks after collapse of $260bn merger with Rio Tinto

Glencore is to give $2bn (£1.47bn) to shareholders after a turbulent year in which profits slumped and talks collapsed over a blockbuster $260bn merger with the fellow mining company Rio Tinto.

The FTSE 100 company announced the payout on Wednesday despite reporting that annual profits slipped 6% on the previous year to $13.5bn.

Companies including Mazda and Nissan face multimillion-dollar hit unless they improve carbon efficiency

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Major auto brands including Mazda, Nissan and Subaru face the possibility of millions of dollars in penalties after failing to meet climate targets for new vehicles in Australia.

The first six months of data since the Albanese government introduced a new vehicle efficiency standard shows 40 companies – 68% of the total – beat their initial target for the average emissions efficiency of the new cars they sold.

Do AI summits work? Expert comment jon.wallace 18 February 2026

The AI Impact Summit in New Delhi is ambitious – but little progress on international governance is expected. Smaller and regional gatherings are a better prospect to develop the solutions the world needs.

This week, AI policymakers, experts and developers descend on New Delhi for the world’s biggest ever gathering dedicated to the technology – the AI Impact Summit. Indian government officials estimate a quarter of a million people will join the conference and expo to discuss how to build and govern AI – Chatham House’s Digital Society Programme among them.

The summit has sky-high ambitions, and potentially great value, bringing together high-level decision-makers alongside ground-up tech builders and experts under one roof (or ten). Useful, important conversations will be had.

But it will likely fall short of producing any meaningful international governance agreement. It is too crowded a platform, with too many agendas. 

To really make progress on AI governance, policymakers, developers, scientists and civil society actors interested in better governance should throw their weight behind developing solutions in smaller settings – with the opportunity to scale up them using major gatherings later.  

Stormy seas for global governance

The AI Impact Summit takes place at a crucial moment. Institutions of global governance are under significant strain, as commitments to shared principles and the rule of international law give way to transactionalism.  

All the while, a global AI struggle is intensifying. The US and China have the world’s most powerful tech and without their buy-in, any ambitions to reach a global agreement on AI governance are a non-starter. But US and Chinese labs are racing to the frontiers, intent on maintaining an advantage. That means AI capabilities are advancing rapidly, as is the magnitude of risk. 

Recently, global scientists cautioned that real-world evidence for severe AI risks is on the rise – ranging from potential cyberattacks to biological weapons development. 

Related work

How middle powers can weather US and Chinese AI dominance

In this context, other countries feel compelled to explore alternative partnerships, seeking to develop AI in way that promotes their safety and sovereignty – an approach underscored by calls for middle power solidarity like those made by Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum last month. 

There has never been a harder time for global cooperation on AI governance. Nor has there ever been such urgency to figure it out. Recent years have seen valiant efforts from the UN, the G20, G7, the OECD and EU. In 2023, the UK convened the first AI summit at Bletchley Park. 

Each subsequent international gathering has pushed the needle forward. But the limited, non-binding, principles-based efforts at governance made so far shrink in the face of accelerating technology and growing tensions. A global treaty on AI is a distant dream.

All roads lead to New Delhi

In this environment, international summitology might look like a dying art. But India is an enthusiastic host. New Delhi is primed for the arrival of tech CEOs and heads of state, joining closed-door high-level events later in the week. 

Every few hundred meters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face adorns bright posters, alongside catchy quotes (‘India has the power of double AI: Artificial Intelligence and Aspirational India’, one reads). The conference venue is huge, with queues for events and some delegates flagging down buggies to travel across the site.

The summit is a monument to India’s AI ambitions, drumming up business and showcasing tech from India and partner countries. India is anxious to maintain the resilience of its tech sector – long globally competitive but potentially threatened by labour displacement triggered by automation in key industries like manufacturing and business process outsourcing. 

India is also keen to maintain sovereign control of AI – in line with its hope for strategic autonomy over foundational tech despite deep reliance on the US or China. The summit showcases sovereign and government-backed models: trained on Indian data, and hosted on an Indian cloud, an important proof of concept for a more sovereign solution.

In that respect, the summit can be seen as the latest diplomatic attempt to position India as an alternative to the US and China on tech cooperation – emphasizing equitable development and distribution of AI and the deployment of AI in developing countries. The summit may see announcements for improving Global South coordination on issues like safety. Emphasizing real-life use cases – in healthcare, energy and education – is a priority.

India also hosts the BRICS summit later in the year, and may host visits from the US and Chinese leaders – requiring a careful balancing act as it seeks to build its AI autonomy, broker Global South cooperation, and navigate the great powers. Many middle powers will face similar challenges and will hope to learn from India’s approach.  

Splinter for success?

This year’s summit has already been criticized by technical experts and advocates for its content and design. The conference has incredibly broad aims rooted in seven AI chakras, including science and human capital. The summit’s main day convenes tech executives and state representatives. There are also concerns that the summit sidelines voices from civil society. Some will head to fringe events instead.

Since 2023, summit membership has bloated to include more countries, companies and organizations than ever before. Safety and security once defined the agenda. Now those issues vie for attention with promises to accelerate and diffuse ever-more-powerful AI. Such overcrowding will prevent this summit’s main track from tangibly advancing international AI governance.

This is unfortunate, but not world-ending. As AI governance experts have argued, an imperfect summit is better than no summit at all. 

But policy solutions on AI governance puzzles will not come from a crowded conference room. They will come from smaller expert or regional gatherings designed to capture global, diverse inputs and operationalize them. Smaller conventions offer an opportunity to garner support for tested, trusted governance solutions, which can be scaled later in bigger gatherings. 

For example, Chatham House has argued that scientist-led venues (like the International AI Safety Report, and hopefully the future UN Scientific Panel on AI) can generate a strong depoliticizing effect, building trust in scientific outputs across geopolitical chasms. 

That kind of ‘splintering to scale’ is possible and, in this fragmented geopolitical environment, preferable. 

Next week will see the reconvening of the independent International Association of Safe and Ethical AI’s annual conference. This is a smaller gathering, free of attachment to national prestige, with attendance from a diversity of global scientists (including from China), promising to platform technical research and regulatory solutions. 

In the meantime, efforts are underway to build agreement over digital technical standards for AI safety. Civil society groups are convening scientists and experts to seek agreement on a set of ‘red lines’ for unacceptable AI risks, like bioterrorism. Governance labs and academics in India and globally are exchanging ideas on participatory governance solutions to long-standing tech policy problems. 

The value of these smaller efforts is their potential to produce globally scalable outputs with expert buy-in – championed by consensus-building states, like Singapore, Brazil or Switzerland. They can create trust in mechanisms and process, laying the groundwork for consensus on principles for AI governance (an optimistic objective) and implementing pragmatic governance solutions (a more likely aim).

But they must also be wary of replicating power asymmetries that are so often a stumbling block to effective AI governance. 

Nightmares of inaction

AI governance hopefuls face a steep hill. The question is not whether to scale trusted solutions, but how. Political appetite for global cooperation on AI is waning. The US did not back the AI Safety Report and has sought to remove guardrails on AI development, as it competes bitterly with China for influence over global AI.

In the 2010s it described an insurgent rhetorical style; in the 2020s it is inadequate to account for the wildly diverging fates of the left and right

“Populism” may well have been the defining word of the previous decade: a shorthand for the insurgent parties that came to prominence in the 2010s, challenging the dominance of the liberal centre. But no sooner had it become the main rubric for discussing both the far left and far right than commentators began to question its validity: worrying that it was too vague, or too pejorative, or fuelling the forces to which it referred.

Now, with the fortunes of the two political poles heading in different directions – the right gaining ground across the west while much of the left struggles to rebound from serial defeats – the notion that this word could encompass such different players seems even less plausible. For a lucid account of these forces, we might have to shift our focus elsewhere: finding terms that can explain their unequal balance of power, so that we can in turn find the proper remedy.

Oliver Eagleton is managing editor at Phenomenal World

Environment minister says Alcoa cleared known habitat of protected species to enable bauxite mining

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The environment minister, Murray Watt, has handed a $55m penalty to the US mining giant Alcoa for unlawful land clearing for bauxite mining in Western Australia’s northern jarrah forests, south of Perth.

As Watt announced the “unprecedented” remediation order, he said he had also granted the company an exemption to clear further habitat for 18 months while the government considered a proposal for an extension of the company’s mining operations to 2045.

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Feb. 18.

Sara Duterte, daughter of a former president who is facing charges of crimes against humanity at the Hague, pledged to offer her ‘life, strength and future’ in service of the Philippines

Philippine vice-president Sara Duterte, daughter of the imprisoned former leader Rodridgo Duterte, has announced she will run for president in the country’s 2028 election.

Sara Duterte, 47, said she would offer her “life, strength and future” in service of the Philippines, in a speech on Wednesday that accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, of presiding over a period marked by rampant corruption.

Substances include chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems and the feminisation of males

You wear them at work, you wear them at play, you wear them to relax. You may even get sweaty in them at the gym.

But an investigation into headphones has found every single pair tested contained substances hazardous to human health, including chemicals that can cause cancer, neurodevelopmental problems and the feminisation of males.

Longtime Slashdot reader walterbyrd shares a report from ABC News: In a study of nearly 28 million older Americans, long-term exposure to fine particle air pollution raised the risk of Alzheimer's disease. That link held even after researchers accounted for common conditions like high blood pressure, stroke and depression. Fine particle air pollution, known as PM2.5, consists of tiny particles in the air that come from car exhaust, power plants, wildfires, and burning fuels, according to the American Lung Association. They are small enough to travel deep into the lungs and even reach the bloodstream. The research, conducted at Emory University and published in PLOS Medicine, tracked health data over nearly two decades to explore whether air pollution harms the brain indirectly by causing high blood pressure or heart disease, which, in turn, leads to dementia. However, these "middleman" conditions accounted for less than 5% of the connection between pollution and Alzheimer's, the research found. The researchers say this suggests that over 95% of the Alzheimer's risk comes from the direct impact of breathing in dirty air, likely through inflammation or damage to brain cells. "The relationship between PM2.5 and AD [Alzheimer's disease] has been shown to be pretty much linear," said Kyle Steenland, a professor in the departments of environmental health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University, and senior author of the study. "The reason this is particularly important is that PM2.5 is known to be associated with high blood pressure, stroke and depression -- all of which are associated with AD. So, from a prevention standpoint, simply treating these diseases will not get rid of the problem. We have to address exposure to PM2.5."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Feb. 18, No. 513.

Donald Trump says deals ‘end our foolish dependence on foreign sources’, while Japanese PM hails enhanced economic security

Japan has drawn up plans for investments in US oil, gas and critical mineral projects worth about $36bn under the first wave of a deal with Donald Trump.

The US president and Sanae Takaichi, Japan’s prime minister, announced a trio of projects including a power plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, billed by the Trump administration as the largest natural gas-fired generating facility in US history.

Eye-catching martial arts performance at China gala had viewers and experts wondering what else humanoids can do

Dancing humanoid robots took centre stage on Monday during the annual China Media Group’s Spring Festival Gala, China’s most-watched official television broadcast. They lunged and backflipped (landing on their knees), they spun around and jumped. Not one fell over.

The display was impressive, but prompted some to wonder: if robots can now dance and perform martial arts, what else can they do?

Google, Anthropic and OpenAI bosses to mingle with global south leaders wrestling for control over technology

Silicon Valley tech billionaires will land in Delhi this week for an AI summit hosted by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, where leaders of the global south will wrestle for control over the fast-developing technology.

During the week-long AI Impact Summit, attended by thousands of tech executives, government officials and AI safety experts, tech companies valued at trillions of dollars will rub along with leaders of countries such as Kenya and Indonesia, where average wages dip well below $1,000 a month.

Latin America’s warning for U.S. democracy.

CEO said services have restarted after termination of grants led to criticism that US was ceding ground to China

Radio Free Asia has resumed broadcasts to people in China, its chief executive said on Tuesday, after Trump administration cuts last year largely forced the US-funded outlet to cease operations.

For years, RFA and its sister outlets, including Voice of America (VOA), had been financed with funding approved by the US Congress and overseen by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM).

More than a million people around the world reported the popular video site had gone dark. Just in time for Olympics coverage!

The "signal sniffer" being used in the Nancy Guthrie investigation was mounted on a helicopter on Monday.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: Agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25 billion settlement Tuesday to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer. The proposed settlement comes as the U.S. Supreme Court is preparing to hear arguments in April on Bayer's assertion that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts. That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement. But the settlement would eliminate some of the risk from an eventual Supreme Court ruling. Patients would be assured of receiving settlement money even if the Supreme Court rules in Bayer's favor. And Bayer would be protected from potentially larger costs if the high court rules against it. Germany-based Bayer, which acquired Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018, disputes the assertion that Roundup's key ingredient, glyphosate, can cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But the company has warned that mounting legal costs are threatening its ability to continue selling the product in U.S. agricultural markets. "Litigation uncertainly has plagued the company for years, and this settlement gives the company a road to closure," Bayer CEO Bill Anderson said Tuesday. The proposed settlement could total up to $7.25 billion over 21 years and resolve most of the remaining U.S. lawsuits surrounding the cancer-related harms of Roundup. The report notes that more than 125,000 claims have been filed since 2015, and while many have already been settled, this deal aims to cover most outstanding and future claims tied to past exposure. Individual payouts would vary widely based on exposure type, age at diagnosis, and cancer severity. Bayer can also cancel the deal if too many plaintiffs opt out.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

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A Texas-sized showdown is brewing deep in the heart of the largest red state in the US. As early voting begins on Tuesday for the Lone Star state’s 3 March primaries, Republicans and Democrats alike face a high-stakes choice that could set the stage for one of the fiercest Senate races of the 2026 midterm cycle.

At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between the party’s old guard and a Maga culture warrior, with four-term incumbent John Cornyn, a conservative fixture of Senate leadership locked in the fight of his political career against the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton.

The clash over an investigation into suspected unlicensed ritual circumcisions underscores heightened tensions between the U.S. and Europe under President Trump.

Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito, collectively known as the "Blade Angels," began their Olympic medal campaigns in women's figure skating on Tuesday.

I tested every smartwatch that Apple sells, and here are the best ones to buy based on health features, battery life and your budget.

National Park Service also sued for removing rainbow Pride flag from Stonewall national monument in New York

Conservation and historical organizations sued the Trump administration on Tuesday over National Park Service policies that the groups say erase history and science from America’s national parks.

A lawsuit filed in Boston says orders by Donald Trump and the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, have forced park service staff to remove or censor exhibits that share factually accurate and relevant US history and scientific knowledge, including about slavery and climate change.

US family who were 100th to be granted residency under investor scheme say they want to give back to ‘amazing’ New Zealand

Wealthy Americans are dominating applications for New Zealand’s “golden visa”, driven by a love for the country’s natural beauty and entrepreneurial spirit, as well a desire to escape Trump’s administration.

New rules for the Active Investor Plus visa came into effect in April 2025, lowering investment thresholds, removing English-language requirements and cutting the amount of time applicants must spend in the country to establish residency from three years to three weeks. Successful applicants can only purchase homes in New Zealand worth more than $5m.

Anthropic has released Claude Sonnet 4.6, the first upgrade to its mid-tier AI model since version 4.5 arrived in September 2025. The new model features a "1M token context window" and delivers a "full upgrade of the model's skills across coding, computer use, long-context reasoning, agent planning, knowledge work, and design." From Anthropic: Sonnet 4.6 brings much-improved coding skills to more of our users. Improvements in consistency, instruction following, and more have made developers with early access prefer Sonnet 4.6 to its predecessor by a wide margin. They often even prefer it to our smartest model from November 2025, Claude Opus 4.5. Performance that would have previously required reaching for an Opus-class model -- including on real-world, economically valuable office tasks -- is now available with Sonnet 4.6. The model also shows a major improvement in computer use skills compared to prior Sonnet models. The free tier now uses Sonnet 4.6 by default and with "file creation, connectors, skills, and compaction" included.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

‘We have nothing to hide,’ former secretary of state says ahead of her and Bill Clinton’s depositions next week – key US politics stories from Tuesday 17 February

Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before Congress to deflect scrutiny from Donald Trump.

In an interview with the BBC, Clinton said the US Department of Justice was “slow-walking” the release of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s catalogue of crimes and urged the administration to “get the files out”. Despite periodic document dumps of the files since Congress mandated their release late last year, the justice department is still withholding about 3m files.

Part 5 of the Delaware Civics 101 Series:
Understanding How Delaware Organizes, Spends, and Balances Its Money

These are the facts of modern life: Populations keep rising. People’s needs keep growing. Costs keep heading higher. The big question facing Delaware’s lawmakers is this: How fast should state spending be rising to meet these realities?

Since 2020, Delawareans have watched state budgets begin a sharp, steep climb: Over the past five years, state spending skyrocketed by about 53%. Meanwhile, the population was up by just 7.6%.

Many in the state are closely (and warily) watching these diverging trajectories, and posing some questions: Could the gap between population growth and budget growth get wider in the years ahead? Just how much more are we willing (or able) to pay? And where will all that money come from?

A distinctly 21st Century trend

Since the start of the century, Delaware’s operating budget has more than tripled, jumping from about $2.1 billion in 2000 to $6.5 billion in FY2026 – an increase of nearly 210%. In the same time frame, Delaware’s population grew from 786,000 to about 1.05 million – a 33% rise.

The wide discrepancy is mainly a result of rising costs – especially in education and healthcare – but it’s also seen as a corollary of having plentiful revenue. Delaware has enjoyed some boom years in its corporate franchise business, which collects taxes and fees from companies across the world, and fuels a good portion of the rising budget.

Increased spending isn’t necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, as the thousands of Delawareans who receive services from the state might attest. Higher spending can mean better classrooms, more teachers, nicer roads, safer streets.

But the people guiding the process know they need to be mindful of realities as well, and in this case, those realities come in the form of revenue — and the up-and-down fortunes of finding it. The past 25 years saw Delaware’s overall revenue benefit from broader economic gains, and recent action from the legislature successfully avoided a big hit to revenue from federal tax changes.

It’s also important to realize that a good portion of Delaware’s recent revenue windfalls came from the federal government during the COVID 19 pandemic – and those funds have just about dried up. That’s one of the reasons Gov. Matt Meyer’s recent FY2027 state budget proposal keeps spending growth below 5%, for the first time in years. The budget grew by more than 7% in the current fiscal year and 9% in FY 2025.

Part of that growth was needed just to keep up with inflation. But looking ahead, it seems clear that cost pressures will only rise, for Delaware and every other state. An aging population demands more Medicare, and schools say they need increasing financial support to attract good teachers, and to care for special needs students. Some of the spending that began under COVID has become “sticky” – federal funds may be dried up, but there is pressure to maintain the programs it once paid for.

Faster and faster

There was a time when budget growth was a little more closely aligned with population growth in the state – but those were not very good times for many people. From 2000-2010, the state’s population grew by 14.6%, while the General Fund grew by roughly 55%, or at a rate of 3 times population growth. Those “slow growth” years of the Delaware budget were a time of budget cuts and freezes on spending, driven by the 2001 dot-com collapse and the Great Recession in 2008.

Spending growth resumed as financial turbulence receded, powered in part by a boom in corporate franchise‑tax revenues and that avalanche of COVID funds. But the cost pressures have only gotten more cumbersome for states.

In recent times, the pressures driving increased spending have been particularly people-centered. Spending had to be hiked to help resolve staffing shortages for key positions like police and teachers, who often have their choice of better offers elsewhere.

There’s also growing concern that Delaware and other states pay so much more these days to cover unfunded pension liabilities for retired workers — an unpaid bill that has been growing for some time, but is hitting harder now as more workers retire.

With federal COVID aid gone and corporate receipts softening, FY2026–27 marks a reset of sorts for Delaware — one that raises questions about how to sustain core services if costs keep outrunning revenue, population, and gross domestic product.

Economic and Demographic Comparison (FY2000 vs. FY2026)

Looking at the numbers a different way, Delaware’s general fund spends far more per resident than in 2000: $6,136 per resident today, but only $2,671 in the year 2000. That’s a 136% jump, but factoring in inflation, it’s the equivalent of a 23% rise.

A 53% surge in just 5 years

Delaware’s budget has been growing much faster in the past five years than it did over the prior two decades. From 2000 to 2020, the operating budget rose from about $2.1 billion to $4.5 billion — a +114% increase, or roughly 3.9% a year — driven by steady growth in Medicaid, education, and personnel costs. But from 2020 to 2025, the budget jumped again to $6.9 billion, a +53% surge in just five years — about 8.8% a year, more than double the long-term pace. Part of the increase was needed just to keep pace with rising costs: Inflation-adjusted budget growth was just. The rise was also fueled by federal COVID relief, a corporate franchise-tax boom (peaking in 2023), and higher Medicaid and education spending.

The implication is clear: Delaware’s budget grew faster in 2020–25 than in the entire 20 years before COVID, and much of that acceleration was temporary and federally fueled. With those one-time funds gone and corporate receipts softening, the FY2026–27 pullback represents a reset, even as underlying pressures in health care and education remain. And the impact of inflation still lingers.

Schools: More investment, more cost per student

• Operating support for K–12 rose from under $1B in 2000 to $2.3B+ today—about one‑third of the operating budget.
• Per‑student spending has risen sharply from ~$17,650 per pupil in 2022 and ~$20,502 in 2024.
• Growth Drivers: staffing/benefits, special‑education services, school construction in growth districts, and temporary federal infusions (ARRA; ESSER/ARPA) that funded ventilation, technology, tutoring, and learning recovery. Inflation is also a factor here.
• States have faced intense pressure to increase per-pupil spending to address pandemic-era “learning loss” and to cover the rising costs of special education and school security.

Health Care: The fastest grower

Delaware Health Care Spending (operating budget; approx.):

• 2000: ~$500M (~24%)
• 2010: ~$1.1B (~31%)
• 2015: ~$1.5B (~33%) — ACA expansion
• 2020: ~$2.0B (~34%) — COVID surge, higher federal match
• 2025: ~$2.6B (~37%)
• Drivers: Medicaid enrollment growth (post‑ACA), hospital and drug inflation, aging demographics, and federal policy shifts. Even as post‑COVID “unwinding” trims rolls, per‑member costs continue to rise; growth has often exceeded Delaware’s 3% benchmark, running 6–10% in recent years.

The franchise‑tax tailwind (and exposure)

Delaware’s role as corporations’ favorite home fueled a long rise in franchise‑tax receipts — crossing $1B in 2018 and peaking near $1.6B in 2023. It’s now about 25-30% of General Fund revenue. Policy changes and a growing incorporation base enabled bigger K‑12 and health budgets without a sales tax and with low property taxes. But this leaves the state exposed to federal tax changes and corporate activity cycles; receipts have eased since 2023.

Here’s the side-by-side bar chart showing the growth in Delaware’s major revenue sources from 2019 to 2025, including the Corporate Franchise Tax front and center:

🟦 2019 vs. 🟥 2025 (est.)

The chart above shows how Delaware’s revenue mix has shifted:

• The Franchise Tax remains a powerhouse.
• Realty Transfer Tax and Gaming surged during the pandemic and remain elevated.
• Corporate Income Tax is the only major source that declined, due to federal deductibility changes.

The risk ahead: costs vs. capacity

• Education: Per‑student spending is structurally higher (salaries/benefits, special ed, facilities).
• Health care: Medicaid and medical inflation outpace general growth.
• Revenues: Franchise‑tax softening post‑peak; federal one‑time funds gone
• Bottom line: If education and health care keep growing faster than revenue, population, and GDP, Delaware faces a structural gap that will require productivity gains, program tradeoffs, or revenue‑mix adjustments to protect classrooms and core services.

Who pays what share?

Delaware’s General Fund relies on two pillars: residents’ personal income tax (PIT) and business-centric revenues (franchise/entity fees, gross receipts, corporate income tax).

Residents (personal income tax)

• Under $100K: majority of households, smaller share of PIT due to progressive rates.
• $100K–$200K: about a quarter of households, outsized share of PIT.
• Over $200K: a small slice of households, but they contribute a disproportionately large share of PIT.

Illustrative split of PIT burden:

• Under $100K: ~40%
• $100K–$200K: ~32.5%
• Over $200K: ~27.5%
  

Changes in 2026 further increase their share

This year, Delaware will add higher brackets under the John Kowalko, Jr. Fairness in Taxation Act (HS 1 for HB 13), effective for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2025. Income between $60,000 and $125,000 remains at 6.6%, while income over $125,000 is taxed at 6.75%, and income over $250,000 at 6.95%—a shift aimed at increasing progressivity so top earners pay a slightly larger share. Sponsors and fiscal analyses indicate well over 90% of taxpayers won’t see an increase (some estimates put it around 94%), concentrating new revenue at the top. 

Why it matters now: The changes bolster revenue as federal one-time funds fade and healthcare and education costs keep rising, while limiting impacts on middle- and lower-income families.  However, increasing pressure on high-income taxpayers can reduce total income if they elect to move their primary residence to another state. 

Businesses (collectively)

• Franchise & entity taxes (~20–25% of the General Fund), gross receipts, corporate income, and bank franchise taxes together contribute a business share comparable to the resident PIT slice.
• Other notable sources (e.g., unclaimed property, lottery) add mid-single-digit shares and can be volatile.

Bottom line on tax burdens:

• High-income families already carry a significantly larger share of the income-tax load than middle- and lower-income families.
• Businesses collections central to Delaware’s “no sales tax/low property tax” model.

The risk ahead: When needs grow too fast:

• Education and health care are on long-term cost paths that tend to outpace inflation and general growth.
• Revenue sensitivity has increased as franchise-tax receipts cool and one-time federal funds disappear.
• If costs keep outrunning revenue, population, and GDP, Delaware faces a widening structural gap — forcing choices among productivity gains, program tradeoffs, or revenue-mix adjustments to preserve classrooms and core services.

Fact Box

• Budget growth (2000→2025):
  • ~$2.1B → $6.9B (+228%).
• Population:
  • +34%; GDP: +142% (current dollars).
• Education:
  • ~One third of the operating budget
  • Per-student;
    • ~$17,650 (2022)
    • ~$20,502 (2024)
• Health care:
  • ~37% of operating budget
  • ~$0.5B in 2000 → ~$2.6B in 2025).
• Franchise tax:
  • Exceeded $1B by 2018
  • Near $1.6B peak in 2023; softened since.
• Who pays: High-income households contribute a disproportionate share of PIT; businesses contribute a comparable share via franchise/entity and other business taxes.

About the Civics 101 Series: Civics 101 is a continuing explanatory series by Delaware LIVE and the Spotlight Delaware content marketing team designed to help readers understand how state government works and how budget decisions affect everyday life in Delaware. To read other stories in the series, visit the Civics 101 home page.

The post Civics 101: Delaware’s population is rising. But nowhere near as fast as the budget. appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Minnesota and federal authorities are investigating claims that immigration officers shattered a Mexican man's skull while taking him into custody last month.

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman (paywalled), Apple is reportedly developing AI-powered smart glasses, a wearable pendant, and camera-equipped AirPods that connect to the iPhone and use "visual context" to let Siri perform real-world actions. The Verge reports: Apple is reportedly aiming to start production of its smart glasses in December, ahead of a 2027 launch. The new device will compete directly with Meta's lineup of smart glasses and is rumored to feature speakers, microphones, and a high-resolution camera for taking photos and videos, in addition to another lens designed to enable AI-powered features. The glasses won't have a built-in display, but they will allow users to make phone calls, interact with Siri, play music, and "take actions based on surroundings," such as asking about the ingredients in a meal, according to Bloomberg. Apple's smart glasses could also help users identify what they're seeing, reference landmarks when offering directions, and remind wearers to complete a task in specific situations, Bloomberg reports. The company is reportedly planning to develop the frames for the smart glasses in-house, instead of partnering with a third-party company like Meta does with Ray-Ban and Oakley. Prototypes of the glasses use a cable to connect to a battery pack and an iPhone, but Bloomberg reports that "newer versions have the components embedded in the frame." Apple reportedly wants to make its smart glasses stand out by offering a high-quality build and advanced camera technology. The company is still working on AI-powered smart glasses with a display, though their launch "remains many years away," Bloomberg says. Apple's plans for AI hardware don't end there, as the company is expected to build upon its Google Gemini-powered Siri upgrade with an AirTag-sized AI pendant that people can either wear as a necklace or a pin. This device would "essentially serve as an always-on camera" for the iPhone and has a microphone for prompting Siri, Bloomberg reports. The pendant, which The Information first reported on last month, is rumored to come with a built-in chip, but will mainly rely on the iPhone's processing power. The device could arrive as early as next year, according to Bloomberg.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Following backlash over Discord's global rollout of strict age-verification checks, users are flocking to rival platform TeamSpeak and overwhelming its servers. According to PC Gamer, the Discord alternative said its hosting capacity has been maxed out in a number of regions including the U.S. From the report: [A]s I saw for myself while testing out free Discord alternatives, it's hard to deny the appeal of TeamSpeak. It's quick and easy to make an account, join or start a group chat, or join a massive, game-based community voice server, and at no point does TeamSpeak cheekily ask if it can scan your wizened visage. During my testing, I was able to dive into 18+ group chats without tripping over an age gate. However, there's no guarantee TeamSpeak won't have to deploy its own age verification mechanism in the future. In the UK at least, the Online Safety Act makes those sorts of checks a legal obligation, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently stating "No social media platform should get a free pass when it comes to protecting our kids." Besides all of that, if you'd rather not chat to randoms who also happen to have an unhealthy obsession with Arc Raiders, you'll likely need to pay an admittedly small subscription fee to rent your own ten-person community voice server. By that point, you're handing over card details and essentially fulfilling an age assurance check anyway. If you'd rather limit how much info your chat platform of choice has about you, there are arguably better options out there.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

We asked registered dietitians for their top healthy air fryer recipes. Their picks are perfect for easy meals.

Lawyer for defendants accused of terrorism at ICE protest decried by Trump appointee over shirt’s potential for ‘bias’

A federal judge in Texas declared a mistrial on Tuesday after a defense lawyer wore a shirt in court with images from the civil rights movement, delaying a closely watched case in which the Trump administration is accusing a group of protesters of being terrorists and says they are part of a “North-Texas antifa cell”.

US district judge Mark Pittman, an appointee of Donald Trump, declared a mistrial only hours after jury selection began at the federal courthouse in downtown Fort Worth. He abruptly halted the proceedings after MarQuetta Clayton, an attorney for one of the defendants, had been questioning potential jurors for about 20 minutes, taking issue with a shirt she was wearing underneath a black blazer. The shirt contained images of civil rights movement leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr and Shirley Chisholm, as well as images of protests from that time.

Europe may trail its North American and Asian counterparts in several areas of computing, which makes the continent dependent on outside suppliers. But it’s looking to plant a flag in the ground in one critical category: sovereign, large-scale AI models.

That’s the takeaway from recent news from the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking, which announced that it’s holding a continent-wide competition called the Frontier AI Grand Challenge to develop a sovereign frontier AI model that can compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini, and Anthropic’s Claude.

The Frontier AI Grand Challenge calls for AI developers to propose their ideas for the creation of a large mixture-of-experts (MoE) model consisting of at least 400 billion parameters. A panel will judge the proposals across several criteria, including the presence of “innovative enhancements” and “novel approaches addressing current model limitations.”

The winning proposal will be trained upon EuroHPC’s collection of supercomputers, including JUPITER, EuroHPC’s first exascale supercomputer, which operates at the Jülich Supercomputing Centre (JSC) Germany, and Alice Recoque, EuroHPC’s second exascale system, which will be installed at France GENCI. Participants have until April 13 to submit their proposal for the Frontier AI Challenge competition, and the winner will be announced in May.

The stakes for the competition are high: European AI sovereignty.

“While several promising European initiatives are emerging, no frontier-level models are currently being operated at a scale comparable to the leading global actors. This strategic gap must be addressed, as Frontier AI holds transformative potential across manufacturing, healthcare, autonomous systems, and other key EU strategic sectors,” EuroHPC states in its description of the competition.

“Mastering these advanced models is therefore strategically critical for the EU to reduce dependencies on non-EU companies, foster innovation, and ensure technological sovereignty and industrial competitiveness,” it concludes.

The winning AI model will be shared with others across Europe, including with government entities, the scientific community, and businesses. The challenge will reward innovative European leading AI actors and lead to the development of “large-scale AI models that will provide a competitive edge for Europe,” EuroHPC said.

Source: Gartner (February 2026)

The Frontier AI Grand Challenge is the just the latest example of the European push for sovereignty in computing, data, and AI. The people of Europe signaled their dissatisfaction with global trends with the passage of restrictive laws, such as the General Data Protection Regulation and AI Act. In many categories of computing, personal data is forbidden to leave the constituent.

These restrictive policies have caused a boom in sovereign cloud infrastructure. Gartner recently predicted  that European spending on sovereign cloud infrastructure would more than triple through 2027, going from $6.9 billion in 2025 to $23.1 billion in 2027. That’s significantly faster than the 43% growth in sovereign cloud infrastructure Gartner sees globally during that time.

“As geopolitical tensions rise, organizations outside the U.S. and China are investing more in sovereign cloud IaaS to gain digital and technological independence,” said Rene Buest, senior director analyst at Gartner. “The goal is to keep wealth generation within their own borders to strengthen the local economy.”

In the case of the EuroHPC’s Frontier AI Grand Challenge, the goal is also to keep the spoils of AI-powered science and engineering within the boundaries of Europe.

Editor’s note: The feature image for this story was updated to reflect the current map of EuroHPC countries. 

The post Frontier AI Grand Challenge Puts European HPC Sovereignty in the Spotlight appeared first on HPCwire.

KDE Plasma 6.6 has been released, and brings with a whole slew of new features. You can save any combination of themes as a global theme, and there’s a new feature allowing you to increase or decrease the contrast of frames and outlines. If your device has a camera, you can now scan Wi-F settings from QR codes, which is quite nice if you spend a lot of time on the road.

There’s a new colour filter for people who are colour blind, allowing you to set the entire UI to grayscale, as well as a brand new virtual keyboard. Other new accessibility features include tracking the mouse cursor when using the zoom feature, a reduced motion setting, and more. Spectacle gets a text extraction feature and a feature to exclude windows from screen recordings. There’s also a new optional login manager, optimised for Wayland, a new first-run setup wizard, and much more.

As always, KDE 6.6 will find its way to your distribution’s repositories soon enough.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Washington Post: David Greene had never heard of NotebookLM, Google's buzzy artificial intelligence tool that spins up podcasts on demand, until a former colleague emailed him to ask if he'd lent it his voice. "So... I'm probably the 148th person to ask this, but did you license your voice to Google?" the former co-worker asked in a fall 2024 email. "It sounds very much like you!" Greene, a public radio veteran who has hosted NPR's "Morning Edition" and KCRW's political podcast "Left, Right & Center," looked up the tool, listening to the two virtual co-hosts -- one male and one female -- engage in light banter. "I was, like, completely freaked out," Greene said. "It's this eerie moment where you feel like you're listening to yourself." Greene felt the male voice sounded just like him -- from the cadence and intonation to the occasional "uhhs" and "likes" that Greene had worked over the years to minimize but never eliminated. He said he played it for his wife and her eyes popped. As emails and texts rolled in from friends, family members and co-workers, asking if the AI podcast voice was his, Greene became convinced he'd been ripped off. Now he's suing Google, alleging that it violated his rights by building a product that replicated his voice without payment or permission, giving users the power to make it say things Greene would never say. Google told The Washington Post in a statement on Thursday that NotebookLM's male podcast voice has nothing to do with Greene. Now a Santa Clara County, California, court may be asked to determine whether the resemblance is uncanny enough that ordinary people hearing the voice would assume it's his -- and if so, what to do about it. Greene's lawsuit cites an unnamed AI forensic firm that used its software to compare the artificial voice to Greene's. It gave a confidence rating of 53-60% that Greene's voice was used to train the model, which it considers "relatively high" confidence. "If I was David Greene I would be upset, not just because they stole my voice," but because they used it to make the podcasting equivalent of AI "slop," said Mike Pesca, host of "The Gist" podcast and a former colleague of Greene's at NPR. "They have banter, but it's very surface-level, un-insightful banter, and they're always saying, 'Yeah, that's so interesting.' It's really bad, because what do we as show hosts have except our taste in commentary and pointing our audience to that which is interesting?"

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Local workers can be difficult to attract because of poor pay and conditions, say researchers

Keir Starmer’s plan to force employers to be less reliant on overseas staff and instead train UK-based workers may not lower net migration, researchers have found.

Skill shortages are just one of the factors contributing to employers’ demand for migrant workers, according to the University of Oxford’s Migration Observatory.

Figures from Aviva also show number of homes being built in risky areas is rising

One in nine new homes in England built between 2022 and 2024 were constructed in areas that could now be at risk of flooding, according to new data.

The figures show the number of homes being built in risky areas is on the rise – a previous analysis showed that between 2013 and 2022, one in 13 new homes were in potential flooding zones.

Lack of regulation leading to procedures being carried out in sheds, hotel rooms and public toilets, committee finds

Brazilian butt lifts should be banned in the UK, MPs have said, as a report found a lack of regulation had led to a “wild west” of cosmetic procedures being carried out in garden sheds, hotel rooms and public toilets.

The women and equalities committee (WEC) said high risk procedures such as non-surgical buttock augmentation should be outlawed immediately, and a licensing system for lower risk treatments was urgently needed. People with no training can carry out potentially harmful procedures, putting the public at risk, the group of MPs added.

Many products contain substances banned because of serious and sometimes irreversible health risks, says CTSI

Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in an increasingly wide range of UK outlets, including butchers, specialist food shops and small grocery stores, trading standards officers have warned.

The Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) is warning that many of the products contain substances that are banned because of the serious risks they pose to health, including skin damage, infections and pregnancy complications.

Japan’s skaters stole the spotlight as the Americans largely struggled in their attempts to end a two-decade medal drought

Japanese teenager Ami Nakai was the surprise leader after the short program of the Olympic women’s figure skating competition on a night when her country’s skaters largely stole the spotlight from Team USA’s Blade Angels in their bid to end America’s two-decade medal drought.

Nakai delivered a clean, commanding skate on Tuesday, highlighted by a soaring triple axel for a personal-best score of 78.71, edging three-time world champion Kaori Sakamoto (77.23) into second. Only Alysa Liu of the United States was able to break the Japanese hold on the top spots, scoring 76.59 to come in ahead of fourth-placed Mone Choba (74.00).

Apple has glasses, AirPods and an AI pin in the works, according to the latest report from Bloomberg. And they'll all likely work with Apple's next wave of Google-infused AI.

Two amazing games will be available soon for Xbox Game Pass subscribers.

Moves come after Gordon Brown’s claim that files show that US sex offender used Stansted airport in Essex to ‘fly in girls’

British police have expanded their interest in the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s links to Britain, by admitting for the first time they are looking at claims he used dozens of private flights into UK airports to traffic women.

It comes after former prime minister Gordon Brown said that documents about Epstein released in the US showed in “graphic detail” how the disgraced financier, with links to high-profile people including the former Prince Andrew, was able to use Stansted airport in Essex to “fly in girls from Latvia, Lithuania and Russia”.

Feb. 17, 2026 — Understanding what complex chemical measurements reveal about materials and reactions can take weeks or months of analysis. But now, an AI-powered platform developed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) could reduce this interpretation cycle to minutes, enabling much faster insight into chemical processes relevant to energy storage, catalysis, and manufacturing.

A closeup view of the Digital Twin for Chemical Science platform at the Advanced Light Source. Credit: Marilyn Sargent, Berkeley Lab.

The new platform, called “Digital Twin for Chemical Science” (DTCS), allows researchers to observe chemical reactions, adjust experimental parameters, and validate hypotheses simultaneously during a single experiment. Traditional approaches require researchers to first develop a hypothesis, and then design an experiment to collect data and develop theoretical models to analyze that data before they can finally conduct follow-up experiments to validate the model.

“A common challenge that many researchers face during complex experiments is that although we have sophisticated tools that collect data, interpreting that data is another beast,” said Jin Qian, a computational chemist and staff scientist in Berkeley Lab’s Chemical Sciences Division who designed the DTCS platform. “Traditionally, we collect as much data as possible, then run simulations to analyze it offline. This back-and-forth process often takes months before theory and experiment reach consensus. DTCS could help overcome this bottleneck.”

The advance is a significant step toward autonomous chemical characterization, where AI-guided experiments could accelerate the timeline for discovering and characterizing new materials and chemical processes for useful applications.

“The Digital Twin for Chemical Science platform represents a new capability for Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) and DOE’s scientific user facilities,” said Ethan Crumlin, a staff scientist at the ALS and program lead specializing in interface chemistry and characterization. “The idea of partnering with a computational, machine-learning construct will be the future for how science is done.”

Crumlin and Qian are co-lead authors of a study and research briefing on DTCS published in the journal Nature Computational Science. 

Digital Twins for the Win

Chemistry is entering a new digital era, from automated synthesis labs to voice-activated quantum calculations, Qian explained. And yet chemical characterization — which guides everything from material design to performance optimization — has been left behind. The DTCS platform is changing this by enabling chemical insight with digital twins.

Ethan Crumlin preparing a sample for observation at the Digital Twin for Chemical Science (DTCS) platform housed in Beamline 9.3.2 at the Advanced Light Source. Credit: Marilyn Sargent, Berkeley Lab.

Broadly defined, digital twins are virtual replicas that use real-time data from physical systems to model a complex system’s performance and predict future behavior.

While digital twins have been used for decades in aerospace, healthcare, and manufacturing, DTCS is one of the first digital twins designed specifically for chemical research, and one of the first digital twins to augment the characterization of chemical reactions at interfaces. DTCS is one of several digital twin technologies that the Department of Energy is developing to accelerate innovation across various sectors, including nuclear energy, smart grids, and the chemical sciences.

DTCS could bring new insights into interface science and catalysis — chemical processes critical to batteries, fuel cells, and chemical manufacturing. By pairing DTCS with state-of-the-art spectroscopy instruments, researchers can now understand step-by-step reaction mechanisms in real time.

Building on Decades of Innovation

For the study, the Berkeley Lab team created a digital replica of ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (APXPS) techniques at the ALS, Berkeley Lab’s synchrotron X-ray user facility, available to scientists around the world. Synchrotrons are specialized particle accelerators that produce ultrabright X-ray light for scientific research.

To develop the DTCS code, Qian used computing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC), the mission computing facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science at Berkeley Lab. “NERSC, especially NERSC’s JupyterHub, has been instrumental in hosting the DTCS platform to rapidly connect supercomputer-generated theoretical data and facility-specific experimental data,” she said.

Over the past two decades, the ALS has advanced the field of surface science by innovating APXPS instruments that have been adopted by synchrotron facilities worldwide and commercialized for energy applications. APXPS is one of the best ways to study interfacial chemistry because it shows how chemical species evolve during reactions. It identifies molecular compounds by their unique chemical “fingerprints” or spectra as they form on the solid surface of an operating device such as a battery. APXPS advances at the ALS have enabled powerful techniques for characterizing a wide array of interfaces — including solid/gas, solid/liquid, solid/solid, and liquid/vapor interfaces — under real-world operating conditions.

However, with conventional APXPS, researchers cannot practically use experimental spectra in real time to gain insights into how different chemical species are physically interacting at the atomic level on a surface. DTCS offers a powerful yet approachable alternative: By comparing experimental spectra and theoretical modeling, the DTCS platform gains insights about the dynamics of the reaction overall, the concentration of each species, the chemical potentials driving the reaction, and even the real-world likelihood of different molecules being in proximity to one another, representing an enormous leap in the power of interpreting APXPS spectra in real time.

Putting DTCS to the Test

By optimizing experiments on the fly with real-time simulations of the interface, DTCS works through two connected pathways: The “forward loop” matches simulated spectra with experimental observations, while the “inverse loop” takes experimental data and solves for the underlying chemical mechanisms.

Data collected by an APXPS instrument teaches DTCS’s AI algorithms which chemical reaction mechanisms and kinetic parameters led to the current observation. The platform’s physics-based simulations provide real-time snapshots of a reaction and predict which experimental parameters within this “chemical reaction network” will be explored next.

To test the platform, the researchers studied a fundamental catalytic system — a silver/water interface relevant to batteries, catalysis, and corrosion prevention. The results were striking: DTCS’s predictions matched established experiments and theory, and the platform could predict how, when, and where oxygen-containing species would appear on the silver surface within minutes.

“This lets you see how the concentration profiles within the reaction network and spectra will evolve over time, and then you can compare that with what you’re observing at the instrument,” Qian said. “Instead of waiting weeks or months to analyze results, researchers can validate hypotheses and change experimental plans based on new findings in real time.”

Looking Ahead to DTCS 2.0

The research team is already developing DTCS 2.0, preparing it for broader community use and training its AI algorithms with new data. They’re also building digital twins for other analytical techniques including Raman and infrared spectroscopy, which complement APXPS by providing information about chemical bonds.

The researchers expect to make DTCS available to other scientific institutions and user facilities within the next few years, potentially transforming how chemistry research is conducted worldwide.

The work was supported by the DOE Office of Science, including funding from an Early Career Award in the Condensed Phase and Interfacial Molecular Science Program, and Berkeley Lab’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program.

The researchers used computing resources at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) to develop the DTCS code.

The Advanced Light Source and NERSC are DOE Office of Science user facilities at Berkeley Lab.

Source: Theresa Duque, Berkeley Lab

The post Berkeley Lab Demonstrates AI-Guided Digital Twin for Chemical Science Experiments appeared first on HPCwire.

Police in Pawtucket, Rhode Island said they are still searching for motive following Monday's deadly mass shooting at a high school hockey game, but said it was an attack targeting family members.

The actor was charged with two counts after allegedly punching two men and causing chaos at bars

The actor Shia LaBeouf was arrested early on Tuesday for alleged battery in New Orleans after apparently spending the long weekend partying across the city during Mardi Gras.

The New Orleans police department confirmed that at approximately 12.45am on Tuesday officers were called to Faubourg Marigny, located next to the French Quarter, the heart of the revelry, where LaBeouf was allegedly becoming increasingly aggressive at Royal Street Inn and Bar.

SvarDOS is an open-source project that is meant to integrate the best out of the currently available DOS tools, drivers and games. DOS development has been abandoned by commercial players a long time ago, mostly during early nineties. Nowadays it survives solely through the efforts of hobbyists and retro-enthusiasts, but this is a highly sparse and unorganized ecosystem. SvarDOS aims to collect available DOS software and make it easy to find and install applications using a network-enabled package manager (like apt-get, but for DOS and able to run on a 8086 PC).

↫ SvarDOS website

SvarDOS is built around a fork of the Enhanced DR-DOS kernel, which is available in a dedicated GitHub repository. The project’s base installation is extremely minimal, containing only the kernel, a command interpreter, and some basic system administration tools, and this basic installation is compatible down to the 8086. You are then free to add whatever packages you want, either from local storage or from the online repository using the included package manager. SvarDOS is a rolling release, and you can use the package manager to keep it updated.

Aside from a set of regular installation images for a variety of floppy sizes, there’s also a dedicated “talking” build that uses the PROVOX screen reader and Braille ‘n Speak synthesizer at the COM1 port. It’s rare for a smaller project like this to have the resources to dedicate to accessibility, so this is a rather pleasant surprise.

Team USA's Alysa Liu, Amber Glenn and Isabeau Levito​ competed in the women's short program at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Tuesday and qualified for the free skate on Thursday.

A proposal within the Fedora Linux community suggests improving the kernel's DRM Panic screen to a more user-friendly, BSOD-style experience. Phoronix reports: Open-source developer Jose Exposito proposed today a nicer experience for DRM Panic integration on Fedora. Rather than using DRM Panic with just the kernel log contents being encoded in the QR code displayed when a kernel panic occurs, the proposal is to have a customized Fedora web-page with the encoded QR contents to be shown on that web page. Besides having a more pleasant UI/UX, from this web page the intent would also be to make it easier to report this error to the Fedora BugZilla. Being able to easily pass the kernel log to the Fedora bug tracker could help in making upstream aware of the problem(s) and seeing if other users are also encountering similar panics. Right now this idea was just raised earlier today as a "request for comments" on the Fedora mailing list. While a prototype at this point, Exposito already developed a basic web interface for demoing the solution.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security's top spokeswoman, is leaving her post next week.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the electric vehicle maker plans this year to greatly expand its self-driving taxi business.

Thousands of lawsuits accuse the agrochemical maker of failing to warn people that its weedkiller could cause cancer

The agrochemical maker Bayer and attorneys for cancer patients announced a proposed $7.25bn settlement on Tuesday to resolve thousands of US lawsuits alleging the company failed to warn people that its popular weedkiller Roundup could cause cancer.

The proposed settlement comes as the US supreme court is preparing to hear arguments on Bayer’s assertion that the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of Roundup without a cancer warning should invalidate claims filed in state courts. That case would not be affected by the proposed settlement.

Mahdawi, arrested last year during US citizenship interview, says he is ‘grateful to the court for honoring the rule of law’

An immigration judge has blocked the Trump administration from deporting Mohsen Mahdawi, a 34-year-old Columbia University student and pro-Palestinian activist who was arrested by federal agents last year during a US citizenship interview in Vermont.

Lawyers for Mahdawi gave details of the decision in a court filing on Tuesday with a federal appeals court in New York, which had been reviewing a ruling that led to his release from immigration custody in April.

Mehdi Mahmoudian released 17 days after arrest for signing a statement condemning Iran’s supreme leader and regime’s protest crackdown

Mehdi Mahmoudian, the Oscar-nominated co-writer of It Was Just an Accident, has been released from an Iranian prison 17 days after his arrest, according to local media reports.

Mahmoudian was arrested in Tehran shortly after signing a statement condemning Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the regime’s violent crackdown on demonstrators. On Tuesday, he was released from the Nowshahr prison, along with two other signatories of the statement, Vida Rabbani and Abdollah Momeni.

Longtime Slashdot reader jrepin writes: KDE Plasma is a popular desktop (and mobile too) environment for GNU/Linux and other UNIX-like operating systems. Among other things, it also powers the desktop mode of the Steam Deck gaming handheld. The KDE community today announced the latest release: Plasma 6.6. In this new major release, Spectacle can recognize texts from screenshots, a new on-screen keyboard and new login manager are available for testing, and a first-time wizard Plasma Setup was added. Your current theme can be saved as a new global theme, which can also be used for the day and night theme-switching feature. Emoji selector got a new easier way to select skin tone. If your computer has a camera available, you can now connect to a Wi-Fi network by scanning a QR code. Application sound volume can now be changed by scrolling over an application taskbar button via mouse wheel. When screencasting and sharing your desktop, you can now filter windows so they are not shared. A setting was added to enable having virtual desktops only on the primary screen. If your device has an ambient light sensor, you can enable automatic screen brightness adjustment. Game controllers can now be used as regular input devices. For complete list of new features and changes, check out the KDE Plasma 6.6 release announcement and the complete changelog.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

It’s been a while since we’ve talked about AsteroidOS, the Linux distribution designed specifically to run on smartwatches, providing a smartwatch interface and applications built with Qt and QML. The project has just released version 2.0, and it comes with a ton of improvements.

AsteroidOS 2.0 has arrived, bringing major features and improvements gathered during its journey through community space. Always-on-Display, expanded support for more watches, new launcher styles, customizable quick settings, significant performance increases in parts of the User Interface, and enhancements to our synchronization clients are just some highlights of what to expect.

↫ AsteroidOS 2.0 release announcement

I’m pleasantly surprised by how many watches are actually fully supported by AsteroidOS 2.0; especially watches from Fossil and Ticwatch are a safe buy if you want to run proper Linux on your wrist. There are also synchronisation applications for Android, desktop Limux, Sailfish OS, and UBports Ubuntu Touch. iOS is obviously missing from this list, but considering Apple’s stranglehold on iOS, that’s not unexpected. Then again, if you bought into the Apple ecosystem, you knew what you were getting into.

As for the future of the project, they hope to add a web-based flashing tool and an application store, among other things. I’m definitely intrigued, and am now contemplating if I should get my hands on a (used) supported watch to try this out. Anything I can move to Linux is a win.

While some Hollywood icons are feeling doom and gloom over the AI-generated clip, labor unions are fighting back with legal threats.

Team GB were disappointed in a men’s curling match against Canada while Tormod Frostad’s big air win was one for the ages

Heinis of France is in the air, it feels hein just looking at him, and he jumps 129, giving him 133.8 points; he moves above Karhumaa and into the lead.

I’ve also got the curling on and, if you’ll excuse my parochialism, I’m not watching pool leaders Switzerland monstering defending champions Sweden, rather USA v China, for reasons of relevance to GB. The Americans now lead 2-1 playing the fifth.

Skiers are reported missing after an avalanche in the Sierra Nevadas while other areas see heavy rain and flooding

California is being blanketed by a winter storm that has brought the coldest air mass in three years to the state – along with heavy snowfall, road closures and power outages.

The University of California Berkeley’s Central Sierra Snow Lab, near Donner Pass, reported 28in of snow on Tuesday, with another 3ft expected in the next two days. I-80 is closed from Colfax to the Nevada state line due to snow.

Every modern iOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS application uses Asset Catalogs to manage images, colors, icons, and other resources. When you build an app with Xcode, your .xcassets folders are compiled into binary .car files that ship with your application. Despite being a fundamental part of every Apple app, there is little to none official documentation about this file format.

In this post, I’ll walk through the process of reverse engineering the .car file format, explain its internal structures, and show how to parse these files programmatically. This knowledge could be useful for security research and building developer tools that does not rely on Xcode or Apple’s proprietary tools.

↫ ordinal0 at dbg.re

Not only did ordinal0 reverse-engineer the file format, they also developed their own unique custom parser and compiler for .car files that don’t require any of Apple’s tools.

Host claims lawyers barred him from discussing decision to drop Texas Democrat segment amid FCC rules scrutiny

Talkshow host Stephen Colbert has accused the Trump administration and CBS of censorship after he said the network told him not to air a television interview with a Texas Democrat running for Senate.

On his show, Colbert told viewers of the Late Show that network lawyers told him he was also prohibited from talking about their refusal to air his interview with James Talarico, a Texas state representative seeking his party’s nomination to challenge the Republican incumbent, John Cornyn, for a Senate seat in November.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: More than two years after Broadcom took over VMware, the virtualization company's customers are still grappling with higher prices, uncertainty, and the challenges of reducing vendor lock-in. Today, CloudBolt Software released a report, "The Mass Exodus That Never Was: The Squeeze Is Just Beginning," that provides insight into those struggles. CloudBolt is a hybrid cloud management platform provider that aims to identify VMware customers' pain points so it can sell them relevant solutions. In the report, CloudBolt said it surveyed 302 IT decision-makers (director-level or higher) at North American companies with at least 1,000 employees in January. The survey is far from comprehensive, but it offers a look at the obstacles these users face. Broadcom closed its VMware acquisition in November 2023, and last month, 88 percent of survey respondents still described the change as "disruptive." Per the survey, the most cited drivers of disruption were price increases (named by 89 percent of respondents), followed by uncertainty about Broadcom's plans (85 percent), support quality concerns (78 percent), Broadcom shifting VMware from perpetual licenses to subscriptions (72 percent), changes to VMware's partner program (68 percent), and the forced bundling of products (65 percent). When Broadcom bought VMware, some customers shared horror stories about receiving quotes that showed prices increasing by as much as 1,000 percent. CloudBolt's survey paints a more modest picture. Fourteen percent of respondents said their VMware costs have at least doubled, while 12 percent reported increases of 50-99 percent, 33 percent reported increases of 24-49 percent, and 31 percent reported increases of less than 25 percent. Despite survey participants suggesting smaller price hikes than originally anticipated under Broadcom, companies are still struggling with the pricing changes. Eighty-five percent are concerned that VMware will become even more expensive, according to CloudBolt's survey. [...] CloudBolt's survey also examined how respondents are migrating workloads off of VMware. Currently, 36 percent of participants said they migrated 1-24 percent of their environment off of VMware. Another 32 percent said that they have migrated 25-49 percent; 10 percent said that they've migrated 50-74 percent of workloads; and 2 percent have migrated 75 percent or more of workloads. Five percent of respondents said that they have not migrated from VMware at all. Among migrated workloads, 72 percent moved to public cloud infrastructure as a service, followed by Microsoft's Hyper-V/Azure stack (43 percent of respondents). Overall, 86 percent of respondents "are actively reducing their VMware footprint," CloudBolt's report said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The company's latest Android application packages, spotted by a leaker online, include references to animations for the rumored phone.

If you're looking for an elevated sound experience, these are CNET's current picks, including a few budget options, for earbuds that deliver the best sound quality.

Three boats targeted in eastern Pacific and Caribbean as Trump continues pursuit of alleged ‘narco-terrorists’

US military officials have said American forces launched assaults on three alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing 11 in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration’s months-long campaign against alleged traffickers.

The military action on Monday brought the number of fatalities caused by US strikes to 145 since September, when Donald Trump called on American armed forces to attack people deemed “narco-terrorists” on small vessels. There have been 42 known strikes in notorious drug-trafficking routes such as the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, according to the Associated Press reported.

Feb. 17, 2026 — What happens inside a material that powers lasers, heals bodies, and locks away waste — when no one is looking?

Phosphate-based glass materials find wide applications in high tech areas from biomedical devices and high power lasers to waste storage and specialty coatings, but what exactly happens inside them at the atomic level and how they change the properties remains a mystery.

Navid Marchin, a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of North Texas (left) with Professor Jincheng Du, Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNT (right).

Unlocking this hidden world could help scientists discover valuable new glass materials with improved properties that are stronger, safer, more durable, and even more versatile than ever before.

Unlike crystalline materials, glasses do not have a regular, repeating structure. Instead, their atoms form complex, disordered networks that are hard to capture accurately by experimental methods alone.

Together, these challenges have limited scientists’ ability to reliably design and optimize them, highlighting the need for more advanced and accurate modeling approaches.

More advanced models demand greater computing power, and matching those results with real-world experimental data remains challenging, particularly for phosphorus-rich glasses. This makes computer simulations a necessity to understand their complex structures and behaviors.

Navid Marchin, a PhD candidate in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of North Texas (UNT), is the lead author on a a paper in the Journal of the American Ceramic Society from October 2025.

Marchin is trying to answer the question: How can HPC based atomistic simulations help scientists better understand the atomic structure of sodium aluminophosphate glasses?

“Improving the ability to model the atomic structure would help accelerate the design of safer, more durable, and more efficient glass materials without relying solely on costly trial-and-error experiments,” he said.

Stepping into Supercomputing

Marchin was first introduced to supercomputing resources in 2023 in Professor Jincheng Du’s Computational Materials Science course at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at UNT.

“Introducing our students to the world of high performance computing, or generally the computational material science methods, is critical for them to understand how these powerful tools can help to understand materials behaviors and to design new materials in addition to traditional experimental based materials research approaches,” said Du, who is a University Distinguished Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

In Du’s Functional Glasses and Materials Modeling Laboratory, the students utilize atomistic simulation methods to elucidate complex structural issues of glasses, nano, and other materials for applications including communications, biomedicine, and nuclear waste disposal.

“We access TACC’s systems such as Lonestar6 or Stampede3 through projects funded by the UNT Research Computing Servies. TACC is critical to our daily and federally funded research projects,” Du said.

Now, Marchin regularly relies on TACC resources, specifically Lonestar6, for his research. “The system’s massive processing power and robust software ecosystem let me run large models and long molecular dynamics simulations that simply would not be possible on a local machine,” he said. “As a result, Lonestar6 has dramatically accelerated my work and strengthened the quality of my results.”

New Potential

In recent studies, Marchin and colleagues have developed an advanced interatomic potential that can more accurately capture the atomic structure of phosphate-based glasses. Improving the accuracy of these models is a critical step toward better predicting material properties, understanding how glasses form during processing, and designing new compositions with enhanced performance.

These models were developed based on highly accurate quantum-mechanical calculations and validated through experimental measurements, according to Marchin.

“In this work specifically, the new aluminophosphate glass model significantly reduces the gap between computer simulations and experimental observations, particularly in describing the atomic environment surrounding aluminum atoms,” he said. “TACC’s Lonestar6 CPU/GPU computing time and useful software packages, like LAMMPS, enabled us to perform large-scale molecular dynamics simulations much more efficiently.”

The researchers used supercomputers to run extensive molecular dynamics simulations of multiple glass compositions, including model development, structural relaxation, property calculations, and statistical analysis.

“Access to high performance computing allows us to simulate larger systems over longer timescales, which was essential for accurately capturing short- and medium-range atomic structures and for systematically refining and validating the new potential.”

A Clearer Picture Emerges

The new model results significantly improve agreement between simulations and experimental data, particularly for aluminum coordination and bond-angle distributions in aluminophosphate glasses. It narrows the gap between computational predictions and laboratory measurements and provides more realistic descriptions of glass structure.

“I’m pleased that technological advancements enable progress in computational materials science,” Marchin said. “Our results show that the gap between modeling and experiments can be narrowed using the latest technologies with strong potential for further improvement in future studies.”

Future work will extend this modeling approach to more complex glass compositions and apply the improved model to predict properties such as chemical durability and thermal behavior, further strengthening the link between simulations, experiments, and materials design.

This work was funded by AGC Inc. and AGC researchers provided experimental validation of some of the simulation results. This work signifies the importance of university-industrial collaborations and integration of HPC based simulations and experiments to address fundamental material science issues.

Source: Faith Singer, TACC

The post TACC: HPC Simulations Shed Light on Atomic Structure of Phosphate Glasses appeared first on HPCwire.

Crystal Hefner says she was removed from her position as president of the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation after raising concerns over the "Playboy" founder's scrapbooks.

The Colorado State Patrol says four people were killed in a crash on I-25 south of Pueblo involving at least 30 vehicles during what are being called "brownout" conditions with low visibility on Tuesday morning.

Remarks by a top administration official appeared to be aimed at dispelling skepticism of its assertions, as President Donald Trump vows to restart U.S. tests.

Rosabella-brand moringa capsules could be linked to Salmonella cases in seven U.S. states, health officials said.

AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 17, 2026 — AI Loves Data (ALD) is the new brand set to energize the community previously known as Data Science Salon (DSS)—one of North America’s most trusted, vendor-neutral communities for AI and data science professionals. The rebrand will be officially announced at the organization’s upcoming event in Austin on February 18, marking a defining milestone as Data Science Salon celebrates its 10-year anniversary.

Founded at a time when “data science” was still emerging into the mainstream, Data Science Salon was among the early communities bringing practitioners together to share real-world learnings, advanced technical insight, and practical applications of machine learning. Over the last decade, that community has grown into a diverse and values-driven network of 225,000+ AI and data science professionals committed to responsible innovation, knowledge-sharing, and building trustworthy systems.

The community’s evolution into AI Loves Data reflects both how far the industry has come—and how much the definition of “data science” has changed.

“Data Science Salon isn’t my first venture—but it’s one of the closest to my heart,” said Anna Anisin, CEO of Data Science Salon and FormulatedBy, the company behind the organization. “Watching it evolve from a niche gathering into a bold, values-driven movement has been deeply rewarding. Our rebrand to AI Loves Data reflects that growth. It’s not just a new name—it’s a statement about who we are now: a diverse community built on trust, inclusivity, and shared curiosity about the future of AI and data.”

A Decade of Community—and a Brand Built for What Comes Next

Over the past 10 years, the industry has undergone a major transformation: AI has rapidly accelerated the practice of data science, shifting the focus from purely analytical exploration to productionized intelligence—where models, automation, and intelligent systems are embedded into business workflows.

In many ways, AI didn’t replace data science—it expanded it, absorbing much of the experimentation and modeling that once defined the “science” side of the field.

AI Loves Data is a brand built for this new era: where applied AI moves faster, reaches more teams, and carries higher stakes—requiring stronger community, clearer leadership, and more collaboration across disciplines.

Leading With Inclusion—and Building Trust Through Community

Since its inception, Data Science Salon has prioritized creating an inclusive and welcoming environment for data science and AI professionals from all backgrounds.

“We are bold in featuring women, people of color, and leaders from a wide range of professional and social backgrounds—so their voices can be heard,” says Anisin. “This rebrand is also for them and by them. The love for data, increased emphasis on AI, and updated voice reflects how their leadership and impact have shaped this community over the years.”

In addition to in-person events hosted across the United States, AI Loves Data will continue to expand year-round programming through webinars, podcasts, newsletters, and articles—strengthening community connection far beyond conference day.

Upcoming Events Under the AI Loves Data Brand

Beginning with Austin on February 18, all events will take place under the AI Loves Data brand, including:

• The Future of Applied AI in Retail and E-commerce – April 8, Virtual
• The Future of Applied AI in Finance and Banking – May 13, New York, NY
• The Future of Applied AI in the Enterprise – September 17, Miami, Florida
• GenAI and Intelligent Agents in the Enterprise – November 5, San Francisco, California

Details about upcoming events, meetings, and meetups will be available on the Data Science Salon website and soon on the AILovesData website.

About AI Loves Data

Since 2016, AI Loves Data (ALD) has cultivated a diverse, vendor-neutral community for data science and AI professionals across North America. With a commitment to eliminating bias in both recruitment and algorithms, ALD provides a trusted platform for learning, collaboration, and responsible innovation through face-to-face and virtual events, AI Loves Data Webinars, podcasts, meetups, and training sessions—creating a casual yet high-value environment where practitioners share best practices and shape a more inclusive future for AI and data science.

Source: AI Loves Data

The post AI Loves Data Launches as Successor Brand to Data Science Salon appeared first on HPCwire.

At Google's annual midyear developer showcase, we expect to see updates for Android, Chrome, XR and everything Gemini.

A US law firm has accused Lenovo of violating Justice Department strictures about the bulk transfer of data to foreign adversaries, namely China. From a report: The case filed by Almeida Law Group on behalf of San Francisco-based "Spencer Christy, individually and on behalf of all others similarly situated" centers on the Data Security Program regulations implemented by the DOJ last year. According to the suit, these were "implemented to prevent adversarial countries from acquiring large quantities of behavioral data which could be used to surveil, analyze, or exploit American citizens' behavior." The complaint states the DOJ rule "makes clear that sending American consumers' information to Chinese entities through automated advertising systems and associated databases with the requisite controls is prohibited." The case states the threshold for "covered personal identifiers" is 100,000 US persons or more and lists a range of potential identifiers, from government and financial account numbers to IMEIs, MAC, and SIM numbers, demographic data, and advertising IDs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

President Trump and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore are feuding over who's responsible for addressing one of the largest sewage spills in U.S. history.

"The Late Show" host Stephen Colbert criticized CBS on Monday night, saying the network blocked his interview with U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico from airing.

The DNA profile was recovered from gloves found during the investigation into the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Arizona.

Germany's Bayer has faced thousands of lawsuits after buying Roundup maker Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion.

Tricia McLaughlin is leaving just over a year into Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem’s tenure leading the department.

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 18 #983.

Here are hints and the answer for today's Wordle for Feb. 18, No. 1,705.

Check out Ponies, the new spy thriller series starring Haley Lu Richardson and Emilia Clarke.

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Feb. 18, No. 717.

Within the major operating system of its day, on popular hardware of its day, ran the utterly dominant relational database software of its day. PC Magazine, February 1984, said, “Independent industry watchers estimate that dBASE II enjoys 70 percent of the market for microcomputer database managers.” Similar to past subjects HyperCard and Scala Multimedia, Wayne Ratcliff’s dBASE II was an industry unto itself, not just for data-management, but for programmability, a legacy which lives on today as xBase.

[…]

Written in assembly, dBASE II squeezed maximum performance out of minimal hardware specs. This is my first time using both CP/M and dBASE. Let’s see what made this such a power couple.

↫ Christopher Drum

If you’ve ever wanted to run a company using CP/M – and who doesn’t – this article is as good a starting point as any.

Interim president José Jerí voted out by country’s congress amid scandal concerning secretive meetings

Peru’s interim president has been forced out of office in an “express impeachment” after a political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen.

Lawmakers voted by 75 votes to 24 to proceed with the removal of José Jerí, who had been at the helm for just four months.

Interest earnings on a $40,000 traditional savings account will be minimal this year, but it isn't the only option.

Residents of Potters Bar, a small town just north of London, are trying to block what would be one of Europe's largest data centers from being built on 85 acres of rolling farmland that separates their community from the neighboring village of South Mimms. Multinational operator Equinix acquired the land last October after the local council granted planning permission in January 2025, and the company intends to break ground this year on a development it estimates will cost more than $5 billion. The UK government's decision to classify data centers as "critical national infrastructure" and a new "gray belt" land designation that loosens building restrictions on underperforming greenbelt parcels helped clear the path for approval -- even though objections from locals outweighed signatures of support by nearly two-to-one during the public consultation. A protest group of more than 1,000 residents has since appealed to a third-party ombudsman and the UK's Office of Environmental Protection, but has so far failed to overturn the decision.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Al Sharpton, Donald Trump and more react to death of the civil rights leader at the age of 84

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

• Share your tributes and memories of Jesse Jackson

Three Democratic former presidents led a wealth of tributes to Jesse Jackson, a “titan” of the civil rights movement and “one of America’s greatest patriots” who has died at the age of 84.

Joe Biden said history would remember Jackson as “a man of God and of the people”, calling him in a social media post : “Determined and tenacious. Unafraid of the work to redeem the soul of our Nation.”

More than half of jobs in manufacturing and transportation could be automated over the next 20 years, according to Oxford Economics.

OpenAI and OpenClaw's alliance may set the stage for a growing trend of agentic AI in 2026.

U.S. Capitol Police that the individual was in custody and that there did not appear to be other suspects or an ongoing threat.

Data analytics firm moves from Denver after about six years and joins host of businesses relocating to south Florida

Palantir announced on Tuesday that it has moved its headquarters to Miami from Denver. The data analytics company, criticized for its role in the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, joins a host of other businesses and billionaires that recently moved to Florida in search of a more business-friendly climate.

Palantir’s move across state lines comes after its chair, Peter Thiel, announced on 31 December that he opened a Miami office for his private investment firm. Thiel already has a mansion in Miami Beach. The company, previously headquartered in Palo Alto, announced the move on X but did not provide further details or respond to a request for comment. Palantir’s stay in Colorado lasted about six years; the company exited California in August 2020 – with its CEO, Alex Karp, citing disagreements with the state’s values.

Could Apple unveil new MacBooks next month? We expect to see M5 chip updates soon with a budget MacBook and OLED MacBook Pros to follow later in the year.

Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman expects "human-level performance on most, if not all professional tasks" from AI, and believes most work involving "sitting down at a computer" -- accounting, legal, marketing, project management -- will be fully automated within the next year or 18 months. He pointed to exponential growth in computational power and predicted that creating a new AI model will soon be as easy as "creating a podcast or writing a blog."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Rimay, a Quantum-Enhanced Feature Extraction Service is made available through the Kipu Quantum Hub platform

BERLIN, Feb. 17, 2025 — Kipu Quantum, a leading provider of quantum software applications, today announced general availability of Rimay Quantum Feature Extraction, a service the company says boost the performance of classical machine learning (ML) models. Rimay integrates into existing ML pipelines and enhances model accuracy by extracting richer quantum features from the same data. This applies particularly to cases where data is scarce, noisy, or imbalanced.

Enterprise users across manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, and energy have already seen evidence of value when using Rimay on IBM Quantum hardware, demonstrating the potential of quantum computers to improve workflows as the technology matures.

High Impact Results Across Sectors

Rimay has supported customer projects, including:

• Komatsu Peru and NTT Data Latam and Europe used Kipu to get trustworthy predictive maintenance insights from scarce equipment data.
• KPMG used Rimay to classify tree species from limited satellite imagery, delivering clearer quantum-enhanced environmental intelligence.
• Moeve used Kipu’s technology to analyze thermal imaging and quantum-enhanced leak detection in oil & gas pipelines.

Organizations have also seen results across a wide range of other industry use cases:

• Credit risk assessment: +5% accuracy vs classical models
• Oil pipeline leak detection: +13% balanced accuracy
• Molecule toxicity prediction: +5–10% accuracy
• Semiconductor fault detection: +20% accuracy
• Drug-induced autoimmune reaction prediction: +7% accuracy
• Company bankruptcy prediction: +4% predictive performance improvement

How It Works: Quantum for Machine Learning

Rimay Quantum Feature Extraction operates as a closed-loop ecosystem where Classical AI and Quantum Computing continuously amplify one another. By mapping complex datasets into a quantum state space, Rimay exposes hidden patterns and high-order correlations that are mathematically invisible to classical computers. At its core, the feature extraction protocol employs digitized counterdiabatic driving to rapidly evolve the system, bypassing typical noise constraints to leverage k-local many-body spin dynamics.

These capture both linear variable-to-variable contributions and higher-order multi-correlations, signal that classical models miss and as a result overfit, and feed them back as superior features to maximize ML performance. Results validate the potential value of integrating IBM’s 156-qubit processors across image, tabular, and time-series data over purely classical methods. Rimay converts theoretical quantum dynamics into practical, immediate industrial quantum usefulness that scales along with hardware roadmaps.

“IBM offers a global fleet of quantum computers today over the cloud, which industries are using today to explore the benefits quantum is poised to deliver as it scales,” said IBM’s Scott Crowder. “We look forward to working with Kipu and our ecosystem to uncover new ways quantum computing can be integrated into computing architectures and transform our approach to problems.”

Rimay is now available on the Kipu Quantum Hub, alongside other quantum services like Illay and Miray Quantum Optimizers. Rimay is the first module of Kipu’s growing QML toolkit.

For more information or to request access, visit https://hubspot.kipu-quantum.com/rimay.

About Kipu Quantum

Kipu Quantum is a Berlin-based software company focused on delivering industrially useful applications powered by quantum computing. The company develops application- and hardware-specific solutions designed to generate measurable impact across industries, including financial services, energy, life sciences, and manufacturing. Through its platform, the Kipu Quantum Hub, more than 300 organisations access advanced tools for quantum-enhanced machine learning, optimisation, and agentic AI, enabling seamless integration into existing enterprise workflows.

Source: Kipu Quantum

The post Kipu Quantum Announces Quantum-Enhanced Feature Extraction Service for Machine Learning appeared first on HPCwire.

Karime Macías, ex-wife of a state governor, is wanted for allegedly pilfering nearly £5m of public money and now lives in London

The Mexican president, Claudia Sheinbaum, has said her government will send a formal letter of complaint to officials in the United Kingdom after the wife of a former governor wanted for allegedly pilfering £4.8m of public money was granted asylum in Britain.

Karime Macías, ex-wife of jailed former Veracruz governor Javier Duarte, is wanted for extradition to Mexico for allegedly siphoning millions from the state welfare office, but has reportedly spent the last few years in London.

Members' question time: What next for Hungary? 14 April 2026 — 12:00PM TO 12:45PM Anonymous (not verified) 17 February 2026 Chatham House and Online

As Hungarians prepare to go to the polls, Grégoire Roos, Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, will outline what the elections mean for Hungary and Europe’s future. Submit your questions in advance.

Following the elections in Hungary on April 12th, Gregoire Roos, Director, Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programmes, will assess the implications for Hungary and the European Union. Submit your questions in advance.

On 12 April 2026, Hungarian voters head to the polls in one of the most consequential elections for Hungary – and for Europe – in over a decade.

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party have dominated Hungary’s political landscape for over 15 years, reshaping the country’s identity at home and abroad. His tenure has been defined by hardline immigration policies, the erosion of judicial independence, and a foreign policy orientation that includes notably close ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin. These choices have placed Budapest in repeated confrontation with the European Union and fuelled ongoing debates about democratic backsliding within the bloc.

This year’s election, however, presents Orbán with his most credible challenge in years. Péter Magyar, leading the emerging TISZA movement, is polling at levels that suggest a potential upset. His pro‑EU stance and centrist positioning represent a stark departure from Fidesz’s direction. A Magyar victory would not only reshape Hungary’s domestic and foreign policy trajectory but could also signal a wider shift in Europe — challenging the momentum of right‑leaning populist parties that have gained ground across the continent.

Join us for a timely conversation with Grégoire Roos, Director of the Europe and Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, who will unpack the immediate aftermath of the vote. He will examine the implications of the result for Hungary’s future, assess the potential recalibration of its European alliances, and explore the broader implications for political currents across the EU.

A $20,000 credit card debt may be more common than you think — but that doesn't make it any less urgent.

• ‘I’m trying to figure out if I can actually do this’

• Woods says he could play in this year’s Masters

Tiger Woods has confirmed he has been asked to captain the USA team at the Ryder Cup next year. Woods, who has not played competitively since the 2024 Open Championship, has also somewhat remarkably left the door open to teeing up in the Masters this year.

With the USA still reeling from defeat by Europe at Bethpage in September, thoughts have turned towards attempts to reclaim the Ryder Cup in Ireland. Woods is the PGA of America’s first choice as captain. The 50-year-old will determine whether he believes he can commit sufficiently to the role.

Secretary of state spoke of ‘golden age’ of US-Hungary relations at time of tense transatlantic relations with traditional allies

Even before he in effect endorsed Hungary’s Viktor Orbán before a crucial parliamentary election, Marco Rubio’s itinerary for Europe promised to be provocative. After meeting US allies at the Munich Security Conference during a particularly tense moment in transatlantic relations, the US secretary of state departed for Slovakia and Hungary – the two EU states most dependent on Russian energy and sceptical of the bloc’s support for Ukraine.

In what bordered on an explicit political endorsement, Rubio told Orbán that relations between Hungary and the US had entered a “golden age” – and would stay like that for as long as Orban remains in power.

Multi‑billion-dollar collaboration strengthens supply chain resiliency and supports growing demand for chips

MALTA, N.Y. and TOKYO, Feb. 17, 2026 — GlobalFoundries (GF) and Renesas Electronics Corporation have announced an expanded strategic collaboration through a multi‑billion-dollar manufacturing partnership that broadens Renesas’ access to GF technologies including its differentiated technology platforms. This agreement reflects a shared commitment to secure, resilient supply chains and aligns with U.S. priorities to strengthen domestic semiconductor production for economic and national security.

Credit: GF

As vehicles become more intelligent and electrified, and factories more automated, the chips inside them are doing far more than basic processing, they enable radar for advanced driver assistance, manage battery systems in electric vehicles and power for secure connectivity for industrial IoT. Reliable semiconductor supply is mission-critical for these applications, and GF’s globally distributed manufacturing footprint—spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia—provides customers with flexibility and supply assurance to meet these challenges.

Under this partnership, Renesas will gain further access to GF’s technology portfolio, including FDX (FD-SOI), BCD and feature-rich CMOS technologies with non-volatile memory features to support its SoCs, power devices and MCUs. Tape-outs under this expanded collaboration are on track to begin in mid-2026.

This expanded partnership, starting with manufacturing in the U.S. and extending to facilities across GF’s global footprint, including in Germany and Singapore, as well as through GF’s manufacturing partnership in China, will help Renesas address the growing demand and requirements of customers developing increasingly advanced systems and products. Renesas and GF are also considering the option of porting select GF process technologies into Renesas’ inhouse fabs in Japan to further enhance manufacturing resilience and support future capacity needs.

“This partnership strengthens a proven relationship and underscores GF’s role as a trusted partner for essential semiconductor technologies,” said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries. “The automotive landscape is changing fast. Semiconductors are now the foundation of innovation, powering advanced driver assistance, battery management and secure connectivity. These systems demand performance and efficiency under extreme conditions, and GF’s differentiated platforms are built for that. We’re focused on delivering what matters most: reliable supply and the technologies that enable the vehicles of tomorrow.”

This initiative is part of a broader effort to onshore essential chip technologies and reinforce U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, while providing Renesas and its customers with secure, localized production options. With the expanded partnership with Renesas, GF now manufactures semiconductors used by the top three automotive MCU manufacturers globally.

“Access to a broader range of GF technologies gives us the flexibility and supply assurance our customers need,” said Hidetoshi Shibata, CEO of Renesas. “This expanded partnership enables a stable, long-term supply of semiconductors while ensuring the highest quality and reliability for our products. These capabilities are essential as we deliver advanced solutions, with demand for electrification and connectivity — and the rapidly growing compute requirements driven by AI applications — accelerating worldwide.”

This expanded collaboration comes as the automotive industry accelerates toward software-defined vehicles, electrification and advanced safety systems—all of which depend on a secure and resilient semiconductor supply chain.

About GF

GlobalFoundries (GF) is a leading manufacturer of essential semiconductors the world relies on to live, work and connect. We innovate and partner with customers to deliver more power-efficient, high-performance products for the automotive, smart mobile devices, internet of things, communications infrastructure and other high-growth markets. With our global manufacturing footprint spanning the U.S., Europe and Asia, GF is a trusted and reliable source for customers around the world. Every day, our talented global team delivers results with an unwavering focus on security, longevity and sustainability. For more information, visit www.gf.com.

About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723) empowers a safer, smarter and more sustainable future where technology helps make our lives easier. A leading global provider of microcontrollers, Renesas combines our expertise in embedded processing, analog, power and connectivity to deliver complete semiconductor solutions. These Winning Combinations accelerate time to market for automotive, industrial, infrastructure and IoT applications, enabling billions of connected, intelligent devices that enhance the way people work and live. Learn more at renesas.com.

Source: GF

The post GlobalFoundries and Renesas Expand US Semiconductor Manufacturing Partnership appeared first on HPCwire.

Anderson Cooper will report multiple stories for "60 Minutes" before the end of the television season in May.

MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, and GRENOBLE, France, Feb. 17, 2026 — Tower Semiconductor, a leading foundry for high-value analog semiconductor solutions, and Scintil Photonics, a technology leader in Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics for next-generation AI infrastructure, today announced availability of the world’s first heterogeneously integrated Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) laser sources for AI infrastructure using Scintil’s SHIP (Scintil Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics) technology.

SHIP leverages Tower’s high-volume silicon photonics platform and combines it with heterogeneous integration of monolithic laser sources, capable of meeting the most demanding DWDM technical requirements for AI. DWDM lasers are an essential component of Co-Packaged Optics (CPO) based next generation of AI infrastructure that aims to deliver ever-growing bandwidth density, ultra-low tail latency, and lower energy per bit, while improving GPU utilization and hyperscaler ROI needed in the agentic AI era.

“The scale-up networking opportunity is about to increase significantly as these server interconnects move to multirack CPO. Scale-up networking will consume an increasing portion of AI Networking’s $200B 2030 market as the market moves towards optical architectures, reducing the constraints on beachhead and copper bandwidth limitations per GPU/XPU,” said Alan Weckel, Founder and Technology Analyst at 650 Group, LLC. “Manufacturing and foundry to vendor alignment is the key to unlocking the CPO market to ensure the reliability and volumes that Hyperscalers need to hit their AI goals.”

Scintil’s SHIP technology has been validated on Tower’s silicon photonics platform. LEAF Light is the industry’s first DWDM-optimized, intelligent external laser source fabricated with SHIP. Tower Semiconductor’s multi-site silicon photonics manufacturing footprint provides resilient capacity and supply continuity aligned with hyperscale deployment needs. This positions the partnership for high-volume hyperscale deployment with the capacity flexibility and supply continuity required at scale.

The collaboration supports customer evaluations for DWDM CPO programs, establishing a defined path from qualification to volume manufacturing.

“Next-generation AI infrastructure demands optical interconnects that deliver more bandwidth per fiber at lower power per bit,” said Matt Crowley, Chief Executive Officer of Scintil Photonics. “DWDM co-packaged optics meets that bar. LEAF Light brings the DWDM laser source technology; Tower’s SiPho platform brings the manufacturing scale. With SHIP now validated on Tower’s production lines, customers have a path from evaluation to millions of units per month.”

“We deeply value our long-term partnership with Scintil, and are excited to bring this revolutionary monolithic DWDM laser technology to market to enable next generations of scale-up architectures,” said Dr. Ed Preisler, VP and GM of RF Business Unit at Tower Semiconductor. “Scintil’s platform complements our PH18M platform already in mass production for optical transceivers at our facilities worldwide.”

As AI data center growth accelerates, hyperscalers need networking solutions that reduce power, improve utilization, and scale with the next generation of models. DWDM CPO, with higher bandwidth density, lower energy per bit, and ultra-low tail latency, are where the industry is heading. LEAF Light is the first production-ready DWDM laser source that uses heterogeneous integration to monolithically integrate active lasers and established silicon photonics on a single chip.

Additional information and OFC: For more detailed information on this and Scintil manufacturing roadmap, please visit Scintil at the OFC 2026 Conference in Los Angeles, March 17-19, booth #5537. To learn more about Tower’s advanced silicon photonics (SiPho) platform and RF & HPA technology offerings, visit Tower’s booth #2221 at the upcoming OFC 2026 conference, March 17-19. Additional information is also available on the company’s website: here. Representatives from both companies will be available for meetings during the event.

More from HPCwire: Scintil Photonics Raises $58M to Scale Integrated Photonics for AI Factories

About Scintil Photonics

Scintil Photonics is the global leader in DWDM laser sources for AI. Using its SHIP (Scintil Heterogeneous Integrated Photonics) technology, Scintil developed LEAF Light, the world’s first single-chip DWDM laser source for high-density optical connectivity in scale-up networks. LEAF Light enables hyperscalers to meet the power, tail latency, utilization, and bandwidth demands of large-scale GPU clusters, leveraging next-generation co-packaged optics (CPO). Headquartered in Grenoble, France, with operations across North America, Scintil is built to support global needs for advanced AI infrastructure.

Source: Scintil Photonics

The post Tower Semiconductor and Scintil Photonics Debut Heterogeneously Integrated DWDM Lasers for AI Infrastructure appeared first on HPCwire.

The scale of the Trump administration’s plans to warehouse human beings is hard to fathom. Here’s one way to put it in perspective: On a given day, New York City’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex holds approximately 7,000 detainees. President Donald Trump’s regime, which is currently holding a record 70,000 people in immigration detention, now plans to develop a network of Rikers-sized concentration camps for immigrants nationwide.

The Department of Homeland Security is racing to buy up and convert two-dozen-plus warehouses into mass detention centers for immigrants, some capable of holding up to 10,000 people. According to documents released last week, Immigration and Customs Enforcement expects to spend $38.3 billion acquiring warehouses across the country and retrofitting them to collectively hold nearly 100,000 beds.

“If these mega-camps are utilized to the full capacity ICE intends, they’ll be the largest prisons in the country, with little real oversight,” noted Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council. “The federal government hasn’t operated a prison camp inside the United States that large since Japanese Internment.”

When Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, last week announced that ICE’s “surge” in Minnesota would wind down, it marked a significant victory for the thousands of Minnesotans who have fought back against the federal forces terrorizing their state; resistance forced the Trump regime to change its plans. But nothing is ramping down when it comes to the deportation machine at large. When billions of dollars are spent to turn industrial spaces into detention camps, authoritarian desires meet market logic: The warehouses must be filled.

Local communities are nonetheless pushing back, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable federal forces with unlimited funding, abetted by powerful private interests who stand to gain from this carceral build-out.

As The Appeal reported last week, investors on a recent quarterly earnings call for private prison giant CoreCivic were worried that ICE’s unprecedented detention numbers were still not high enough. “I think people thought we’d be at that 100,000 level,” one caller reportedly said of the number of people currently held by ICE. “We’re at a little over 70,000.”

The company’s CEO stressed the major financial gains made though Trump’s anti-immigrant campaign and assured callers that the drawdown in Minnesota did not, in his view, portend “meaningful changes in enforcement style or approach.” That is to say, the racial profiling, cruelty, and mass roundups will continue, and private prison corporations like CoreCivic and Geo Group, alongside giants of surveillance infrastructure like Palantir, will collectively make billions from DHS spending. What author John Ganz has called “ICE’s function as an employment program for the Trumpenproletarian mob” — now with 22,000 officers — will also continue to be handsomely funded.

None of this is a surprise: When Congress passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocating ICE nearly $80 billion in multiyear funding, the administration made clear that money would be no object in enacting its project of ethnic cleansing and the expansion of the carceral system for targeted groups of immigrants and opponents. The warehouse purchases and related government contracts have, as The Lever reported, been a boon for Trump-connected real estate brokers and a bailout for “commercial real estate owners, who have struggled to sell their properties over the past year under the weight of macroeconomic headwinds and Trump’s tariff war.”

Economic stimulus based in ethnic cleansing would, of course, be despicable. But the Trump regime can’t even pretend this dizzyingly expensive project serves its own base. Only a small number of interested businesses and parties stand to gain. Meanwhile, as public resistance in both Republican- and Democratic-majority locales has already made clear, everyone else stands to lose. And hundreds of thousands of our immigrant neighbors stand to lose the most.

Trump’s mass deportation plan is estimated by the libertarian Cato Institute to have a fiscal cost of up to $1 trillion over a decade. And the losses? Due to the loss of workers across U.S. industries, the American Immigration Council found that mass deportation would reduce the U.S. gross domestic product by 4.2 to 6.8 percent. It’s money that could be spent improving our collective lives. The $45 billion total budgeted for ICE detention centers is nearly four times the $12.8 billion the U.S. spent on new affordable housing in 2023. The huge budget for ICE mega warehouses reflects the most Trumpian mix: cronyist dealmaking in service of white nationalism.

The historian Adam Tooze has at various points recalled the words of economist John Maynard Keynes, who said in 1942 that “anything we can actually do we can afford.” Keynes was arguing that sovereign governments have extraordinary capacity to mobilize finances; the constraints lie elsewhere. Tooze has stressed that the limits of what a government can “actually do” are political, technical, material, and logistical — and extremely complicated as such. But, he points out, they are not budgetary. The Trump administration has made clear that it can afford anything when it comes to the rounding up and brutalizing of immigrants and antifascist protesters. That, however, does not mean the government can actually do everything it wants.

A number of warehouse owners, facing local backlash and pressure, have already backed out of lucrative sales to ICE. According to Bloomberg, Canadian billionaire Jim Pattison’s company announced that a transaction to sell a 550,000-square-foot warehouse in Ashland, Virginia, “will not be proceeding.” The company made clear that the move was political, saying, “We understand that the conversation around immigration policy and enforcement is particularly heated, and has become much more so over the past few weeks. We respect that this issue is deeply important to many people.”

For ICE, money is no object. But constant and relentless public protest, blockades, boycotts, and local government pressure significantly lessen the appeal for warehouse owners and potential contractors to do this fascist work.

Deals for warehouses near Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, and Byhalia, Missouri, have also fallen through. In each case, warehouse owners faced protests and mounting pressure. In some jurisdictions, backlash to ICE warehouses have come in the worst sort of NIMBY variety — including complaints from Republicans who do not want immigrant detainees brought to their town en masse. Concerns about water and sewage systems and economic strains in remote areas also abound. But if local self-interest becomes a barrier to the expansion of Trump’s deportation regime, that’s no bad thing, given the urgent need to hold back Trump’s deeply unpopular but otherwise unrestrained forces.

We need every possible limit on what Trump and his loyalists can actually do.

The post Can Trump’s Plan for Warehouse Immigrant Detention Camps Be Stopped? appeared first on The Intercept.

Kay Mason Billig accuses Steve Reed of forcing council to agree to poll delay in return for extra funding and powers

• What made ministers think they could delay local elections?

A Norfolk council leader has accused the government of “bullying” her local authority into postponing elections in return for extra funding and powers, as she pulled out of long-awaited devolution deal for the county.

Kay Mason Billig, the Conservative leader of Norfolk county council, said she would no longer take part in local government reorganisation (LGR) or devolution plans in the area, saying the council could not participate in that and simultaneously hold elections.

Feb. 17, 2026 — The first users for Roihu, CSC’s next-generation supercomputer, have now been selected. These pilot projects will run as a part of Roihu’s acceptance phase, providing essential real world workloads to validate the system.

Credit: Pekka Agarth, CSC

A substantial number of high‑quality proposals were submitted by universities, research institutes and companies alike. CSC’s resource allocation group evaluated all 49 applications and selected 28 projects whose computational profiles are best suited to testing the full breadth of the new system.

Together, these projects will ensure that Roihu’s capabilities are exercised comprehensively under demanding, scientifically meaningful conditions. The projects not chosen are moved to a waiting list, from which they can be promoted to pilot projects if any of Roihu’s computing capacity remains unused.

Many of the selected pilot projects utilize artificial intelligence. These include projects developing new language models (Cheng, Ginter, Tiedemann), identifying new areas with mineral potential from complex geophysical datasets (Nidhi), and advancing faster, more efficient and more accurate weather‑forecasting methods (Bouvier).

Tigany Zarrouk investigates solid electrolyte interphase in Li/Na-ion batteries, in which solid electrolyte could significantly improve battery longevity and safety.

Ina Pöhner examines whether experimental data could be used to refine a new AI model—and whether such a model might replace current virtual‑screening approaches in the search for drug candidates.

The chosen pilot projects:

• Lu Cheng, University of Eastern Finland: Large language model for scRNA-seq data
• Jun Yang, University of Helsinki: Data Management for Efficient Machine Learning Pipelines
• Alexander Mahura, University of Helsinki: Seamless multi-scales and -processes meteorology and atmospheric composition modelling for the Pan-Eurasian EXperiment (PEEX) domain
• Dipak Kumar Nidhi, University of Turku: Machine Learning in Mineral Prospectivity Mapping
• Rostislav Kouznetsov, Finnish Meteorological Institute: SILAM Roihu tests
• Clément Bouvier, University of Helsinki: AI-Dream: Does Artificial Intelligence dream of imaginary clouds? – How to use Artificial Intelligence to build the next generation of forecasting system
• Johannes Niskanen, University of Turku: Spectral Informatics,
• Tero Hiekkalinna, University of Helsinki: Assessing the Predictive Accuracy and Biological Relevance of Polygenic Risk Scores in Diverse Genomic Landscapes
• Esa Rahtu, Tampere University: Generative Foley Diffusion Transformer
• Jenni Hultman, Luke: Soil metagenomic assemblies
• Minna Palmroth, University of Helsinki: Vlasiator Ionosphere and GPU Large-scale Unification
• Tatu Pantsar, University of Eastern Finland: SOLUTION: Investigation of the role of water in drug resistance and inhibitor binding
• Till Sawala, University of Helsinki: Effects of Domain Geometry on the Evolution of Structures
• Declan O’Donnell, Finnish Meteorological Institute: FMI Continuing Contribution to Global Climate Modelling
• Filip Ginter, University of Turku: LLM Enhancement and Restoration of Finnish Historical Text Collections
• Tigany Zarrouk, Aalto University: A Foundational X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy model for the Solid Electrolyte Interphase of Li-ion battery anodes
• Maarit Korpi‑Lagg, Aalto University: Dynamos in strongly stratified and rotating convection in spherical shells
• David Weir, University of Helsinki: GRAvitational wave Production in the early universE 2.0
• Alex Bunker, University of Helsinki: Rational Design for drug delivery nanoparticles
• Mikko Karttunen, University of Eastern Finland: Energetics of Lipid And Sterol Temporal Interactions in Cells
• Kuanzg Zhang, University of Helsinki: Evolving HILA: Enabling GH200 Acceleration for the Framework and Its Applications
• Sampo Pyysalo, University of Turku: CommonSynt North: Permissive data and models for Nordic languages
• Karoliina Honkala, University of Jyväskylä: Targeted machine learning interatomic potentials for CO2 and biomass conversion
• Jörg Tiedemann, University of Helsinki: Efficient Multilingual NLP
• Mikko Kurimo, Aalto University: Parakeet Finnish ASR baseline
• Ina Pöhner, University of Eastern Finland: Are We There Yet? Testing Co‑Folding as a Docking Stand‑In for ABL1 Secondary Pockets
• Mariella Särestöniemi, Oulu University: MicroWave and mmWave sensing in medical monitoring applications
• Luigi Acerbi, University of Helsinki: Foundation Learning for Amortized Measurement and Experimentation

The pilot phase for Roihu will begin at the end of March. If the four‑week testing period proceeds without major issues, Roihu will be opened for general use at the end of April.

Roihu is Finland’s next national supercomputing system, set to replace the current Mahti and Puhti supercomputers. Roihu is built on BullSequana XH3000 hybrid system by Eviden.

More from HPCwire

• CSC: Installation of the Roihu Supercomputer Begins
• Eviden to Deliver Finland’s Next National AI Supercomputer Tripling Its Computing Power

Source: CSC

The post CSC: Pilot Users Selected for the Roihu Supercomputer appeared first on HPCwire.

Feb. 17, 2026 — In November, the Department of Energy Office of Science renewed the Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS), hosted by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, with $125 million over the next five years to accelerate breakthroughs in quantum information science.

LLNL scientist Gianpaolo Carosi (right) discusses the inner workings of the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment. Expertise in this cavity technology (shown here plated in copper) is enhancing current efforts in quantum computing. Photo credit: Pat McGiffert/UW.

The investment continues to unite more than 300 experts from 43 partner institutions across national laboratories, universities and industry to advance the next generation of quantum computing, communication and sensing technologies. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is one of those partners, bringing a deep expertise in materials and microwave cavities to the table.

As part of this collaboration, LLNL scientist Keith Ray is studying niobium and tantalum, materials used to create 3D cavities and 2D resonators for superconducting qubits.

“Regardless of the institution you’re at or the qubit design you’re working on, you want more information about the materials that you’re employing,” he said. “It’s great to see a bunch of experimental and theoretical work coming out of SQMS that’s focused on materials for quantum computers. The more data I have on these materials, the more refined my models can be, and the more informative and relevant they can be.”

Niobium cavity superconducting qubits work by trapping single photons inside a hollow chamber, where they resonate with a particular frequency. For those photons to function as qubits and store useful information, they need to bounce back and forth off the cavity while dissipating as little energy as possible. In other words, the niobium surface must be free from imperfections.

“We’ve developed methods to look at these interfaces and what causes loss in superconducting qubits,” said Ray. “A lot of effort has been undertaken on other projects here at Livermore to develop those methods, and we can now apply them to interfaces and materials that are useful for SQMS and potentially leverage our work to do very targeted things for the collaboration.”

SQMS is focused on developing these cavity-based quantum computing platforms. And LLNL’s work on the Axion Dark Matter eXperiment (ADMX) — which uses similar types of 3D cavities to search for axions, a candidate particle for dark matter — provides insights beyond the materials and into the cavities themselves.

“My role with SQMS is to help with the cavity design,” said LLNL scientist Gianpaolo Carosi. “So far, one of their cavities was able to get a photon to exist in that cavity for on the order of a few seconds. It’s kind of crazy, a little trapped photon bouncing around for actual seconds.”

The longer a photon sticks around in the cavity, the more time to compute and the lower the error rate.

This quantum technology also goes beyond computing, circling back to improve the hunt for axions and extending out to a search for “dark photons,” another dark matter candidate. The cavities could also detect gravitational waves, which would physically squeeze and stretch the chamber, changing its resonant frequency.

“I am really curious to see how the designs they have for gravitational wave sensing could be used for other types of sensing that may be applicable to national security,” said Carosi. “I think SQMS has the ability to bring an interesting set of resources together to try and tackle things at a pretty large scale.”

Ray and Carosi emphasized that there are many projects at LLNL that could tie in further with SQMS and its mission. This resonance and potential for amplification, they said, is exciting.

“We can all share ideas to develop better models and simulations to describe these materials and cavities,” said Ray. “All of this adds up to better quantum computers in the long run.”

More from HPCwire: SQMS Center Awarded $125M to Accelerate Quantum Computing and Sensing Research

Source: LLNL

The post LLNL Scientists Advance Superconducting Qubit Materials Through Renewed SQMS Program appeared first on HPCwire.

Case became focal point for immigration after he was deported to El Salvador where he faces gang threats

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cannot re-detain Kilmar Ábrego García because a 90-day detention period has expired and the government has no viable plan for deporting him, a federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

The Salvadorian national’s case has become a focal point in the immigration debate after he was mistakenly deported to his home country last year. Since his return, he has been fighting a second deportation to a series of African countries proposed by Department of Homeland Security officials.

National Crime Agency says rise in child sexual abuse being driven by technology and online forums

Child sexual abuse in the UK is soaring, police have said, with 1,000 paedophile suspects being arrested each month and the number of children being rescued from harm rising by 50% in the last five years.

The National Crime Agency said the growth in offending across the UK was driven by technology and linked to the radicalisation of offenders in online forums, encouraging people to view images of child sexual abuse by reassuring them it was normal.

No database match for sample found two miles from home offers as search for TV host’s mother enters third week

DNA found on a glove about two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s house did not result in any leads on the case, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

Unknown male DNA was found on a glove that resembled one worn by Guthrie’s abductor in the surveillance video from the night of the 84-year-old’s disappearance, the FBI said on Sunday.

Three new strikes against alleged South American drug boats come as the Pentagon pulls its warships back from the region to refocus on the Middle East.

At least 80 film-makers and stars sign open letter after German festival jury president Wim Wenders says they should keep out of politics

More than 80 current and former participants of the Berlinale, including Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton and Adam McKay have signed an open letter condemning the festival’s “silence” on Gaza.

It comes after the film festival was swept up in what it called a “media storm” over the alleged sidelining of political discourse at the event.

The GOP tax and spending bill creates a tax deduction for workers in tipped occupations. Here's what to know.

While the latest generation of GPUs have emphasized lower precision performance that are favored for AI workloads, higher precision computing, such as 64 bit floating point (FP64), is still is “very important” to Genesis Mission and its goal of accelerating scientific discovery through AI, the Department of Energy’s Under Secretary for Science Darío Gil told HPCwire last week.

“In discussions I’ve had with both [AMD CEO] Lisa Hsu and with [Nvidia CEO] Jensen [Huang], they have expressed a strong commitment for FP64, that it will continue,” Gil said in an interview last week. “For us, it’s very important, because we don’t view this [as a] substitution. These are complementary.”

It’s important to have high performance hardware to power the modeling and simulation workloads that have traditionally been the backbone of scientific computing, as well as the performance for newer AI techniques, Gil said, adding that those two types of computing will work together to support Genesis Mission’s goal of pushing the limits in AI-powered science and engineering.

“You have the high-fidelity simulation codes that run with high precision. You use those, once validated, as the basis to generate training examples with which you train a surrogate model that you end up running on an AI supercomputer,” Gil said. “You end up with benefits in terms of productivity, in terms of time to solution, often 10x, 20x, 100x.”

Department of Energy’s Undersecretary of Science Darío Gil speaks with HPCwire last week

The productivity boost that one can get with AI models is massive, he added, but it’s dependent on retaining the loop composed of experimentation, simulation, and training.

“If you break the loop and you say I no longer have the simulation codes, and then you have a problem because you never have enough experimental data to be able to do this,” Gil said. “For us it is fundamental, not only for the legacy codes that we’ve got to continue to maintain, and they’re so important to our mission. But also even to enable the AI workflow. People have to appreciate that there’s this loop occurring. So yes, it’s very important for us that we maintain the different architectural approaches.”

There has been some concern in the HPC community about the lack of performance gains for FP64 in the latest GPUs. The University of Tennessee’s Jack Dongarra brought up the issue during the Top500 press conference at SC25 in November, stating “The floating-point capability of the platform is not improved–not improved–over the previous generation.”

Let’s look at the last three generations of Nvidia GPUs to get an idea of what’s happening here. The Nvidia Hopper H100 chip, which shipped in 2022, featured 34 teraflops of FP64, while the first-generation Blackwell B100 chip featured 30 teraflops. The second-generation Blackwell B200 delivered 37 teraflops, with the GB200 Blackwell featured in NVL4 and NVL72 systems delivered 40 teraflops of FP64 compute.

Data shared by Nvidia last month show the native FP64 performance of the upcoming Rubin GPU will be only 33 teraflops, down from the native FP64 performance of Blackwell and even below that of Hopper. However, Rubin GPU will deliver 200 teraflops of FP64 matrix when the Tensor Core-based emulation feature is turned out. That compares to 150 teraflops of emulated FP64 matrix performance in the Blackwell GPU and 67 teraflops of emulated FP64 in Hopper.

Rubin will deliver 33 teraflops of native FP64 performance (Source: Nvidia blog  “Inside the NVIDIA Rubin Platform: Six New Chips, One AI Supercomputer“)

As Nvidia puts the pedal to the metal to power lower precision AI workloads with its latest Rubin GPUs, it will increasingly rely on cuBLAS, a CUDA-X math library that emulates double-precision computing on Tensor Cores to keep the FP64 metric increasing.

“We’re trying to expose these capabilities to the developer environment so that they can…get the FP64 required,” Dion Harris, the senior director of HPC and AI hyperscale infrastructure solutions at Nvidia, told HPCwire in December.

Nvidia emulation techniques rely on the Ozaki Scheme, which is a technique first described in 2012 by Katsuhisa Ozaki. The method provides a way to perform matrix multiplication with high accuracy by leveraging low-precision computations. “It achieves this by splitting high-precision input matrices into multiple components and then performing matrix multiplications on these components using low-precision arithmetic,” HPCwire contributor Doug Eadline wrote in April 2025. “The results are then combined to obtain the final accurate high-precision matrix product.”

Nvidia says using the Ozaki scheme to emulate higher precision workloads on lower precision Tensor Core hardware is warranted because increasing raw FP64 performance by adding more Cuda Cores won’t actually increase the overall performance of HPC applications.

“Analysis of production simulation codes shows that the highest sustained FP64 performance often comes from matrix-multiply kernels,” Nvidia wrote in a January 5 blog post. “Hopper used dedicated hardware to accelerate these paths. With Blackwell and now Rubin, Nvidia has evolved this strategy, achieving high FP64 matrix throughput via multiple passes over lower-precision tensor cores while preserving architectural flexibility for converged workloads.”

Nvidia shared specs of its upcoming Rubin GPU

“At the same time, dedicated FP64 vector performance remains critical for scientific applications that are not dominated by matrix kernels,” Nvidia continued. “In these cases, performance is constrained by data movement through registers, caches, and high-bandwidth memory (HBM) rather than raw compute. A balanced GPU design therefore provisions sufficient FP64 resources to saturate available memory bandwidth, avoiding over-allocation of compute capacity that cannot be effectively utilized.”

There are a lot of moving parts at play here. Traditional modeling and simulation workloads have a need for some raw FP64 horsepower provided by CUDA Cores in Nvidia GPUs and Stream Processors in AMD Instinct GPUs. At the same time, there is a need for improving AI performance, which runs at lower precision on Tensor Cores in Nvidia Chips and Matrix Cores in AMD chips.

Genesis Mission is likely to generate a variety of AI for science and engineering applications, and each one likely will have slightly different computational needs. Whether Nvidia and AMD have achieved the optimal balance by juicing the matrix math cores and leaning on Ozaki emulation for FP64 has yet to be determined, but it’s certainly a factor that many in the HPC community will be watching.

Related Items:

First Genesis Mission Supercomputers on Track to Launch by June. ‘Unprecedented’ Speed, DOE’s Darío Gil Says

Nvidia Says Rubin Will Deliver 5x AI Inference Boost Over Blackwell

Nvidia Says It’s Not Abandoning 64-Bit Computing

Have You Heard About the Ozaki Scheme? You Will

The post Genesis Mission Will Lean Heavily on Ozaki Scheme for FP64 Capability appeared first on HPCwire.

Feb. 17, 2026 — The European Commission has launched a new call, the Frontier AI Grand Challenge, in collaboration with EuroHPC Joint Undertaking.

The Frontier AI Grand Challenge will fund one project to train a frontier AI model.

The initiative aims to close the strategic gap in high-end AI by supporting the creation of “frontier” general-purpose AI systems capable of adapting across domains with minimal modification, and by leveraging Europe’s world-class supercomputing infrastructure.

The challenge invites leading European actors to develop frontier AI models with a computational capacity equivalent to at least 400 billion parameters. By using efficient, modular architectures like Mixture-of-Experts (MoE), these models are expected to set new benchmarks for performance and efficiency.

By granting access to world-class European supercomputing infrastructure, EuroHPC JU will help ensure that frontier AI systems can be developed and trained within Europe.

Implemented under the EU-funded AI-BOOST project, the Frontier AI Grand Challenge will select one proposal to train a frontier AI model designed to outperform state-of-the-art systems on a range of relevant tasks, using EuroHPC computing resources.

The selected project will receive up to 2.5% of the overall EuroHPC computing capacity for one year on one or more AI-optimized EuroHPC supercomputers.

The deadline for submission of applications is set for April 13, 2026 at 17:00 CET (Brussel’s Time).

See the European Commission’s press release here.

Background Information

This initiative complements wider EU efforts to make Europe the AI continent, as set out in the AI Continent Action Plan, and to strengthen Europe’s AI startup and scale-up ecosystem, ensuring that the most promising innovators have access to the infrastructure needed to compete globally.

The EuroHPC JU is a legal and funding entity that brings together the European Union and participating countries to coordinate efforts and pool resources with the objective of making Europe a world leader in supercomputing.

To equip Europe with a cutting-edge supercomputing infrastructure, the EuroHPC JU has already procured 12 supercomputers, distributed across Europe including JUPITER in Germany, and Alice Recoque, Europe’s first exascale systems.

European scientists and users from the public sector and industry can benefit from EuroHPC supercomputers via the EuroHPC Access Calls no matter where in Europe they are located, to advance science and support the development of a wide range of applications with industrial, scientific and societal relevance for Europe.

Currently, the EuroHPC JU is also overseeing the implementation of 19 AI factories (AIF) across Europe, complemented by 13 AI Factory Antennas, to offer free, customized support to SMEs and startups.

The EuroHPC JU also funds research and innovation projects to develop a full European supercomputing supply chain, from processors and software to applications to be run on these supercomputers and know-how to develop strong European HPC expertise.

With the recent adoption of Council Regulation (EU) 2026/150, the EuroHPC JU’s mandate has been expanded with new action pillars dedicated to the deployment of AI Gigafactories across Europe and the advancement of quantum technologies.

More from HPCwire

• EuroHPC Formalizes Role in Europe’s AI and Quantum Infrastructure Push
• EuroHPC Signs Contract for MareNostrum 5 AI Upgrade Project
• European Commission Launches ‘Resource for AI Science in Europe’
• EuroHPC: Contract Signed for Alice Recoque, Europe’s New Exascale Supercomputer
• EuroHPC JU Selects AI Factory Antennas to Broaden AI Factories Initiative

Source: EuroHPC JU

The post EuroHPC and European Commission Launch Frontier AI Grand Challenge to Train Large-Scale AI Model appeared first on HPCwire.

Britain has lost more than 14,000 pubs since 2009, a decline from roughly 54,000 registered public houses and bars to under 40,000 by 2022, according to a new analysis of UK business register data by data analyst Lauren Leek. The North East, North West, Yorkshire and the Midlands lost 25 to 30% of their stock; London saw the smallest decline. Leek trained a random forest model on 49,840 pubs and found spatial isolation -- how far a pub stood from its nearest neighbour -- was the single strongest predictor of closure. Median nearest-neighbour distance for surviving pubs is roughly 280 metres; for closed pubs, 640 metres. Each closure pushes remaining pubs further into isolation, a dynamic Leek calls a "spatial death spiral." Much of that isolation traces to ownership. Stonegate, Britain's largest pub company and a holding of PE firm TDR Capital, carries over $4 billion in debt from its 2019 leveraged acquisition of Ei Group. PE-backed and overseas-owned companies now control roughly a quarter to a third of all British pubs.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Jackson’s two presidential runs brought the civil rights movement into the heart of the Democratic party and opened doors for others to walk through

• Share your tributes and memories of Jesse Jackson

He witnessed the assassination of Martin Luther King at the Lorraine motel in Memphis, Tennessee. Forty years later, he joined the jubilant crowd in Chicago’s Grant Park to greet Barack Obama’s election victory and had tears streaming down his face.

Jesse Jackson, who died on Tuesday at the age of 84, was hailed by Martin Luther King III and his wife Andrea King as “a living bridge between generations”. He was the most influential African American political voice between King and Obama. His two runs for the Democratic nomination created the imaginative space for a Black president. He was the architect of a “rainbow coalition” that shapes the Democratic party today.

Group says they intend to establish permanent settlement but Mauritius attorney general calls their move a ‘publicity stunt’

Four Chagos Islanders have landed on one of the archipelago’s atolls to establish what they say will be a permanent settlement, in an attempt to complicate a British plan to transfer the territory to Mauritius.

The Mauritius attorney general said the move was a publicity stunt designed to create conflict over a 2025 agreement with Britain on handing over sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory, which is opposed by some Chagossians who accuse Mauritius of decades of neglect. Mauritius has denied the accusations.

The Kennedy-era robin's egg blue that's currently on the planes is being updated to navy, red and gold.

Chair of UK government review says dramatic changes in labour market risks putting ‘a generation on the scrapheap’

On any given day, Poppy Blackman is engaged in the “soul-crushing” process of applying for a new job, and rarely ever hearing anything back.

The 22-year-old has been unemployed since January 2025 and says she applies to an average of 50 roles a month, using one of four different CVs she has written for different types of jobs and sectors.

Hamdan Ballal says violence on West Bank as bad as ever, nearly a year after his Oscar-winning film shocked the world

The co-director of the Oscar-winning No Other Land has said his home and family have come under renewed attack, almost a year after the documentary on Israeli settler and army violence in the West Bank received an Academy Award.

Hamdan Ballal said a group of settlers who had conducted a long-running campaign of harassment against Palestinian villagers came on Sunday to his home in Susya, in the Masafer Yatta area on the southern edge of the West Bank.

One of the sticking points in the standoff between Democrats and Republicans over funding for the Department of Homeland Security has been the Trump administration’s expanded use of administrative warrants to forcibly enter people’s homes to make immigration arrests. Democrats argue the new DHS policy runs afoul of the Constitution and have demanded immigration officers obtain judicial warrants — a higher legal bar that requires a judge’s approval — to forcibly enter a home.

The Trump administration contends that immigrants in the country illegally who have received a final order of removal from immigration judges are not entitled to Fourth Amendment protections — a position many immigration law experts dispute. And several lawmakers have argued that the additional requirement for judicial warrants would significantly curtail immigration enforcement efforts.

Funding for DHS lapsed on Feb. 14 as Republicans have balked at Democrats’ demands to rein in several immigration enforcement measures. Among other requests, Democrats are asking for a ban on ICE agents wearing masks, requirements for displaying identification and using body-worn cameras, and the use of judicial warrants on private property. As Congress failed to pass legislation on Feb. 13, parts of DHS, including the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and Coast Guard, will be affected by the lapse in funding. ICE has enough money to keep operating due to billions in funding from the Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passed last summer.

Debate over the use of administrative versus judicial warrants has emerged as one of the main impediments in the negotiations.

During a press conference on Jan. 30, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries emphasized that Democrats would “not walk away from” their demand that “judicial warrants should be required before ICE can storm homes and rip people out of their cars.” On Feb. 4, Jeffries joined Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer in writing a letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune to propose “targeted enforcement,” where “DHS officers cannot enter private property without a judicial warrant.” In the letter, Jeffries and Schumer proposed 10 “common sense solutions that protect constitutional rights and ensure responsible law enforcement.”

Meanwhile, during a Feb. 1 interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Republican Sen. Ron Johnson called the Democrats’ demand for judicial warrants “completely unacceptable,” stating that “immigration has always been enforced through administrative warrants.” Also, on Feb. 3, House Speaker Johnson said that “adding an entirely new layer of judicial warrants” was “unimplementable.”

We’ll explain the differences between the two types of warrants and how the Trump administration’s use of administrative warrants has departed from past practices.

Judicial vs. Administrative Warrants

According to the National Immigration Law Center, judicial warrants are “formal written [orders] authorizing a law enforcement officer to make an arrest, a seizure, or a search.” They are issued by state and federal courts and signed by judges or magistrate judges. As these warrants allow search, seizures and arrests on private property, they are more specific than administrative warrants, and include details like the address, time frame and targets of the search.

Administrative warrants authorize law enforcement officers with federal agencies to make an arrest or seizure, but not a search. “An administrative warrant does not confer authority to enter a home or private area,” the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service explained in a 2021 report, linking to a 2007 DHS letter.

“Administrative warrants are not reviewed or signed by a federal judge or even an immigration judge, they are reviewed and signed by immigration officers,” John Gihon, an immigration attorney and past chair of the American Immigration Lawyers Association Central Florida Chapter, told us in an email.

There are two forms of administrative warrants, known as I-200 and I-205 forms. According to the American Immigration Council, I-200 forms are issued to arrest “anyone federal agents believe to be present in the United States in violation of federal immigration law.” Conversely, the I-205 form “authorizes an immigration officer to arrest and deport someone who has previously been ordered removed from the United States.”

Under the Trump administration, immigration arrests by ICE have increased considerably, and agents can more quickly obtain administrative, versus judicial, warrants, experts said.

Regarding Speaker Johnson’s characterization of judicial warrant requirements as “unimplementable,” Kathleen Bush-Joseph, a lawyer and U.S. immigration policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, told us in a phone interview that when you consider “the number of arrests that the Department of Homeland Security says that they made last year, which is in the hundreds of thousands … if they had to get judicial warrants for all of those people, that would certainly be a significant administrative burden.”

Historically, Sen. Johnson’s statement that immigration enforcement has “always” been conducted with administrative warrants is accurate. According to Gihon, “immigration law has always been enforced through [administrative] warrants,” as “[u]nder the Immigration and Nationality Act, a judicial warrant is not required to make an immigration arrest.”

However, the Trump administration has determined — contrary to the practice of previous administrations — that administrative warrants allow immigration officers to “arrest illegal aliens with final orders of removal in their homes,” as DHS has said. This position has raised concerns about the Fourth Amendment.

Fourth Amendment and Rights of Noncitizens

The Fourth Amendment protects “[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures.” That has historically prevented immigration agents with only an administrative warrant from forcibly entering homes.

In an analysis updated on Feb. 4, Hannah James, a counsel in the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, wrote that “the home receives the highest protection under the Fourth Amendment,” and reiterated that the ability to enter a home with a judicial versus an administrative warrant is “very different from a Fourth Amendment perspective.”

However, in January, the Associated Press obtained a leaked May 12, 2025, memo written by Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, in which he said: “Although the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not historically relied on administrative warrants alone to arrest aliens subject to final orders of removal in their place of residence, the DHS Office of General Counsel has recently determined that the U.S. Constitution, the Immigration and Nationality Act, and the immigration regulations do not prohibit relying on administrative warrants for this purpose.”

Lyons was referring to the I-205 warrants, which target noncitizens with a final order of removal. According to an American Immigration Council fact sheet, final orders of removal are issued when “an immigration judge finds a noncitizen to be removable” and the noncitizen fails to file an appeal within 30 days, waives the right to appeal or has an appeal dismissed by the Board of Immigration Appeals. The government can then choose to execute the removal order, where it notifies the noncitizen to surrender to ICE for deportation or face arrest.

In using the I-205 warrant, the DHS memo said, immigration officers should knock on a resident’s door and identify themselves. Then, they should “allow those inside the residence a reasonable chance to act lawfully. Should the alien refuse admittance, ICE officers and agents should use only a necessary and reasonable amount of force to enter the alien’s residence, following proper notification of the officer’s or agent’s authority and intent to enter.”

In a Feb. 4 DHS press release setting “the record straight on administrative warrants,” DHS stated that there is “broad judicial recognition that illegal aliens aren’t entitled to the same Fourth Amendment protections as U.S. citizens.” Accordingly, the press release said, “While administrative warrants may satisfy the Fourth Amendment for any arrest of an illegal alien, ICE currently uses these warrants to enter an illegal alien’s residence only when the alien has received a final order of removal from an Immigration Judge.”

Therefore, immigration enforcement agencies have claimed the power to use administrative warrants to enter private homes to arrest noncitizens with final orders of removal. However, immigration experts told us this interpretation runs contrary to constitutional protections, particularly the Fourth Amendment.

Bush-Joseph told us that “the understanding had been that immigrants, like U.S. citizens, were protected by the Fourth Amendment from forcible entry into their homes without a judicial warrant.”

James wrote that the Supreme Court “has never held, nor suggested, that undocumented immigrants within the United States receive lesser Fourth Amendment protection than citizens or noncitizens with legal status.” James explained that “among lower courts, the [prevailing view] is that undocumented immigrants within the United States have the same Fourth Amendment protections as U.S. citizens.”

On Feb. 3, Speaker Johnson described his frustration with limitations on administrative warrants, specifically when someone runs into a private home. Johnson commented that “the controversy has erupt where if someone is … going to be apprehended and they run behind a closed door and lock the door. I mean, what is ICE supposed to do?”

The DHS press release echoed such concerns, arguing that “[b]ecause Congress hasn’t created a mechanism to obtain a judicial warrant, this meant that under previous presidential administrations, ICE would sit outside the homes of fugitive aliens waiting for them to come outside before arresting them.” DHS said, “Illegal aliens quickly identified this loophole” and would “openly taunt the ICE officers” waiting outside.

When asked about the situation Johnson described, Gihon said via email, “Prior to the current Trump term, immigration officers were trained not to enter private residences or private areas of public property without consent or an exception to the 4th amendment’s warrant requirement.”

We reached out to Johnson’s office for comment, but did not receive a response.

The May 2025 DHS memo said that “standard exceptions to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement apply equally in the context of Form I-205 warrants,” including getting consent to go into a person’s home and “exigent circumstances,” such as “hot pursuit,” risks of evidence destruction or potential violence, attempts to flee, and “a substantial risk of harm to the persons involved or to the law enforcement process if the officer or agent must wait for a warrant.”

According to a 2021 Congressional Research Service report, the hot pursuit doctrine “provides that police may pursue a fleeing felony suspect into a home, when they have probable cause to make an arrest and when they set that arrest in motion in a public place.”

However, Gihon told us that the hot pursuit exception wouldn’t apply to arrests for civil immigration violations. “The U.S. Supreme Court has held that hot pursuit does not even extend to all criminal offenses,” he said, citing the 2021 Supreme Court case Lange v. California.

Referring to the DHS concerns about judicial warrants, James wrote that “DHS’s view that it lacks sufficient access to judicial warrants is not a valid basis for the agency to dispense with the requirements of the Fourth Amendment,” and that “constraints on ICE’s ability to obtain judicial warrants … may very well reflect Congress’s decided judgment that civil immigration violations should not be pursued by entering people’s homes.”

Finally, regarding the DHS position that ICE can use administrative warrants to enter a person’s residence when there is a final order of removal, Gihon told us that he was unaware of “any previous controlling interpretation of administrative or constitutional law” that would permit such entry.

Ultimately, the issue could be decided by the courts. James wrote that “the case law in this area is sparse,” citing three rulings by District Courts. “The paucity of case law is likely in part because DHS has historically conceded that administrative arrest warrants do not authorize ICE officers to enter people’s homes to arrest them. As a result, courts have rarely had occasion to comment on the issue.”

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The post The Disagreement over Judicial and Administrative Warrants for ICE appeared first on FactCheck.org.

At the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics, competing under the American banner has put some athletes at odds with their own government, transforming them — in a handful of candid remarks — from cereal-box patriots into political liabilities swiftly pilloried by the conservative establishment.

When reporters asked American freestyle skier Hunter Hess how it felt to wear the U.S. flag in front of the world in this moment, he said it “brings up mixed emotions.” Hess drew a clear line between the country he competes for and the policies coming out of Washington, saying, “Just because I’m wearing the flag doesn’t mean I represent everything that’s going on in the U.S.”

Hess’s plain, honest answer triggered one of the most striking political crosscurrents of these Games: President Donald Trump logged on to Truth Social to call Hess “a real loser” who shouldn’t have tried out for the Olympic team at all. 

Hess wasn’t alone in speaking out. Curler Rich Ruohonen, an attorney and Minnesota native, criticized recent federal law enforcement actions in the state, saying the operations were “wrong” and violated Americans’ constitutional rights. Snowboarder Chloe Kim, whose parents immigrated to the United States from South Korea, defended her fellow teammates, saying Trump’s immigration policies “hit pretty close to home” and that athletes are “allowed to voice” their opinions.  

The response from conservative media was instant: shame, dismissal, and, at times, openly cheering against the very athletes carrying the American flag.

Vice President JD Vance told reporters that Olympians are “not there to pop off about politics” and said they should expect “pushback” if they do. Florida Rep. Byron Donalds went further on social media, telling U.S. athletes that if they don’t want to represent the flag, “GO HOME.” 

Conservative commentators also charged in on behalf of the administration. After U.S. figure skater Amber Glenn, who won gold in the team event, voiced support for her LGBTQ community, conservative podcaster and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly branded her “another turncoat to root against” to her 3.6 million followers. The outrage snowballed, and Glenn said she received a “scary amount of hate/threats,” prompting her to take a break from social media altogether. (She later returned to TikTok with a carousel of images of her and teammate Alysa Liu wearing their team gold medals and addressing her critics: “They hate to see two woke bitches winning.”)

The intensity of the backlash illustrates how symbolic these Games have become — not just for who wins medals, but for who gets to define what national representation means on the international stage. While the Olympic Committee and the U.S. government prefer to present the Games as a neutral display of discipline, athletic poise, and national pride, the truth is less tidy. The Olympics have always served as a global window into the political and social conditions athletes come from — and when that window opens, protest has rarely been far behind.

Seen, Not Heard  

Although the modern Olympic Charter’s Rule 50 aims to ban political, religious, or racial “propaganda” from competition, the idea that the Games have ever been apolitical ignores more than a century of history. Long before the International Olympic Committee tried to censor athletic competition, athletes and states recognized there was no separating sports from politics. At the 1906 Athens Games, Irish track and field star Peter O’Connor protested being listed as a British competitor by climbing a 20-foot flagpole and unfurling a green flag bearing the words “Erin Go Bragh” — Ireland forever — and went on to win gold. 

As the Olympics entered the broadcast era and the audience stretched far beyond the stadium, political leaders were acutely aware they could use the Games’ reach to bolster their legitimacy. By the 1936 Berlin Olympics, Adolf Hitler and his propagandists transformed the Games into a showcase for the Nazi regime’s image and ideology. The widely publicized spectacle of a nation unified under Nazism was engineered to sanitize the Third Reich at home and abroad, cementing the modern Olympics as a global platform for state propaganda — and, inevitably, for those willing to resist it. Jewish organizations, labor leaders, and civil rights groups in the United States and Europe tried to organize a boycott of the event, warning that participation would validate Hitler’s regime and its persecution of Jews, but the effort ultimately failed. Athletes responded with the most direct act of resistance available to them: by winning, in open defiance. Jesse Owens — an African American runner — shattered Hitler’s carefully staged narrative of “Aryan” superiority by winning four gold medals, turning his victories into a de facto rebuke of the regime’s racial ideology. 

Decades later, the 1968 Mexico City Games delivered one of the clearest political statements in Olympic history: sprinters Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising black-gloved fists on the medal stand in protest of racial injustice in the United States — an enduring image that turned the podium into a site of public dissent in front of the world.

The backlash was swift. Olympic officials expelled them from the Games, much of the press cast them as radicals, and both men faced threats and professional fallout for years afterward. Their protest remains one of the most controversial moments in Olympic history — and, as Smith later put it, entirely necessary: “We had to be seen because we couldn’t be heard.”

At the 2024 Paris opening ceremony, Palestinian boxer Waseem Abu Sal wore a shirt depicting the bombing of children in Gaza and told AFP it was meant to represent “the children who are martyred and die under the rubble,” bringing the war’s human toll visibly into the Olympic spotlight.

Across decades and continents, athletes and nations alike have used both participating in and abstaining from the Olympics to make statements about war, occupation, racial oppression, and human rights. This long history underscores a simple truth: When the whole world is watching, both governments and their critics understand the Games are too powerful a platform to leave unused.

More Than a Podium

It’s important that dissent shows up at the Olympics for more than just symbolic reasons: The conditions that shape who gets to compete are deeply connected to the social and political structures in the athletes’ home countries. Sports in America are advertised, sold, and draped in red, white, and blue so completely that they become impossible to separate from nationalism, transforming competition into a ritual where athletic achievement is inseparable from the story the nation tells about itself.

American Olympic success is not a vacuum. An analysis by researchers at George Mason University found that roughly 3 percent of athletes on Team USA at the 2026 Winter Games were born abroad and another 13.5 percent are children of immigrant parents — meaning nearly 17 percent of the delegation has direct ties to immigrant communities. That reality reflects how the United States develops and recruits athletic talent across communities, including immigrant families and underrepresented groups whose contributions have long powered American sports on the world stage.  

For athletes whose families or personal histories intersect with immigration pathways, this shift is not an abstraction. It’s about who has secure status in the United States and who faces potential removal or legal uncertainty. The ways in which these forces shape an athlete don’t stop when they step on the snow or ice, no matter what flag is on their back.

The Games are built on spectacle, but beneath the pageantry is a hard truth: Athletes do not compete only for themselves, they compete as symbols of the nation they represent. When Americans step onto that global stage, they are presented as proof of what the United States claims to stand for — freedom, dignity, equality — even as the country itself struggles to live up to those ideals. That contradiction carries a real moral weight. Competing under the flag is not just an honor; it’s a responsibility to confront the distance between national image and national reality.

The post It’s Correct and Moral to Use the Olympics to Speak Out About Politics appeared first on The Intercept.

Planning to invest in silver soon? Here's how to spot the right dealers and avoid costly mistakes in the process.

Mark Fischbach, the YouTube creator known as Markiplier who has spent nearly 15 years building an audience of more than 38 million subscribers by playing indie-horror video games on camera, has pulled off something that most independent filmmakers never manage -- a self-financed, self-distributed debut feature that has grossed more than $30 million domestically against a $3 million budget. Iron Lung, a 127-minute sci-fi adaptation of a video game Fischbach wrote, directed, starred in, and edited himself, opened to $18.3 million in its first weekend and has since doubled that figure worldwide in just two weeks, nearly matching the $19.1 million debut of Send Help, a $40 million thriller from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios. Fischbach declined deals from traditional distributors and instead spent months booking theaters privately, encouraging fans to reserve tickets online; when prospective viewers found the film wasn't screening in their city, they called local cinemas to request it, eventually landing Iron Lung on more than 3,000 screens across North America -- all without a single paid media campaign.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A lawsuit by radio host David Greene alleges that Google used his voice to train its AI. Google denies the allegation.

Pinterest is giving some settings for you to control AI slop. Here's where to find them.

Official rules say government should keep gifts worth more than £140 unless ministers pay the value over that limit

Keir Starmer has bought a pair of personalised silver cufflinks which were given to him by Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, according to the latest transparency records.

The cufflinks, which were worth more than £140, were an official gift from the Trumps during the US president’s second state visit last September. They were the second gift from Trump that Starmer has chosen to buy, having paid for a personalised necklace last year.

Shooting at hockey game in Pawtucket that left three dead and three injured may have also been a ‘targeted event’

The shooting at a Rhode Island high school hockey game that left three dead and three injured may have been a “targeted event” stemming from a “family dispute”, officials have said, with local media reporting that one of the victims was the suspect’s son.

The Pawtucket police chief, Tina Goncalves, confirmed the suspect was also among the three people who died.

Some universities and colleges have taken action involving faculty or affiliates named in the documents. We want to hear about what’s happening where you study or work

As fallout from the large release of documents connected to Jeffrey Epstein continues, a handful of US universities have taken action against faculty or affiliates named in the files.

At some campuses, professors have been placed under review, research centres closed, conferences cancelled or public explanations issued. Students and staff have responded in different ways, including petitions, open letters and campus forums.

Follow latest updates as public figures praise civil rights leader who was a protege of Martin Luther King Jr and twice ran for Democratic presidential nomination

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

• US political leaders pay tribute to Jesse Jackson

You can watch Jesse Jackson’s famous 1988 speech at the Democratic convention urging Americans to “keep hope alive” below. It quickly became an American political classic and was echoed in the “hope and change” slogan of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign.

The civil rights campaigner, Al Sharpton, has paid tribute to his “mentor” Jesse Jackson, whom he worked closely with over the civil rights era. In a tribute posted to X, Sharpton wrote:

My mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has passed. I just prayed with his family by phone. He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world.

He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits.

"There's something about this administration's attitude toward this, which I think really leads us to conclude they have something to hide," she told the BBC.

The meeting Tuesday occurred against the backdrop of an expanded U.S. military presence in the Middle East, as President Donald Trump threatens to attack Iran if a deal cannot be reached.

Exclusive: ICE more than tripled the amount of data stored in Microsoft’s cloud at the same time that its arsenal of surveillance technology ballooned

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deepened its reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology last year as the agency ramped up arrest and deportation operations, leaked documents reveal.

ICE more than tripled the amount of data it stored in Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform in the six months leading up to January 2026, a period in which the agency’s budget swelled and its workforce rapidly expanded, according to the files.

An anonymous reader shares a report: A moderator on diyAudio set up an experiment to determine whether listeners could differentiate between audio run through pro audio copper wire, a banana, and wet mud. Spoiler alert: the results indicated that users were unable to accurately distinguish between these different 'interfaces.' Pano, the moderator who built the experiment, invited other members on the forum to listen to various sound clips with four different versions: one taken from the original CD file, with the three others recorded through 180cm of pro audio copper wire, via 20cm of wet mud, through 120cm of old microphone cable soldered to US pennies, and via a 13cm banana, and 120cm of the same setup as earlier. Initial test results showed that it's extremely difficult for listeners to correctly pick out which audio track used which wiring setup. "The amazing thing is how much alike these files sound. The mud should sound perfectly awful, but it doesn't," Pano said. "All of the re-recordings should be obvious, but they aren't."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

A prototype that uses an "infinity mirror" has been built by Penn State researchers.

Prof Michael Wooldridge says scenario such as deadly self-driving car update or AI hack could destroy global interest

The race to get artificial intelligence to market has raised the risk of a Hindenburg-style disaster that shatters global confidence in the technology, a leading researcher has warned.

Michael Wooldridge, a professor of AI at Oxford University, said the danger arose from the immense commercial pressures that technology firms were under to release new AI tools, with companies desperate to win customers before the products’ capabilities and potential flaws are fully understood.

Read on for how to tune into the hit show starring Kaitlin Olson on ABC and Hulu.

Claude Sonnet 4.6, released Tuesday, can apparently fill out multistep web forms and use several browser tabs.

The move follows pressure from an activist shareholder group seeking end to DEI requirements

Goldman Sachs is removing race, gender and other diversity-related considerations when evaluating prospective candidates for its executive board after pressure from an activist shareholder group to remove the criteria.

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC), a small Goldman shareholder, quietly submitted a request to the company last September asking the bank to eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) board criteria.

Tricia McLaughlin is leaving the Department of Homeland Security in the coming week, the agency confirmed

Tricia McLaughlin, the Department of Homeland Security’s top spokesperson and one of the most visible defenders of the Trump administration’s deportation raids, is leaving the agency in the coming week, the department confirmed.

McLaughlin’s impending exit, comes at one of the most fraught moments in the department’s history. Public support for the administration’s immigration enforcement push has fallen to its lowest point since Trump took office, after a series of violent confrontations in US cities and the fatal shootings of two US citizens – Alex Pretti and Renee Good – by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis.

Micron has begun mass production of the 9650 series, the industry's first PCIe 6.0 SSD, capable of sequential read speeds up to 28 GB/s and random read performance of 5.5 million IOPS -- roughly double the throughput of the fastest PCIe 5.0 drives available today. The drive targets AI and data center workloads and ships in E1.S and E3.S form factors across two variants: the Pro, available in capacities up to 30.72 TB, and the endurance-oriented Max, topping out at 25.6 TB. Both variants share the same peak sequential and random speeds but diverge on mixed workloads and endurance ratings -- the Max 25.6 TB carries a random endurance rating of 140,160 TBW compared to 56,064 TBW on the Pro 30.72 TB. Power draw holds at 25 watts, unchanged from high-end PCIe 5.0 enterprise SSDs, though the 9650 is Micron's first drive to support liquid cooling alongside air. Consumer platforms are not expected to adopt PCIe 6.0 until 2030.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

In an interview at the Munich security conference, Clinton urged the Trump administration to ‘get the files out’

Hillary Clinton has accused the Trump administration of a “cover-up” over the Epstein files, while claiming that she and her husband are being forced to testify before Congress to deflect scrutiny from Donald Trump.

In an interview with the BBC, Clinton said the US Department of Justice was “slow-walking” the release of documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein’s catalogue of crimes and urged the administration to “get the files out”. Despite periodic document dumps of the files since Congress mandated their release late last year, the justice department is still withholding about 3m files.

PARIS, Feb. 17, 2026 — A 140-qubit neutral atom quantum computer developed by Pasqal has arrived at the DAMA Emilia-Romagna Technopole in Bologna, at the site of CINECA, Italy’s largest public supercomputing operator and a member of ICSC – Italian Center for Research on High Performance Computing, Big Data, and Quantum Computing, making the center even more powerful.

The new quantum computer is co-funded by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking and, through ICSC, by the Italian Ministry of University and Research, which has been investing for years to make Italy a strategic hub of innovation and a leader in artificial intelligence and supercomputing in Europe and worldwide. This installation fits, in fact, into the broader European plan to develop a sovereign infrastructure of hybrid systems that combine high-performance computing (HPC) and Quantum Computing to provide researchers and SMEs with the computing capabilities needed to tackle increasingly complex scientific and industrial challenges in key sectors of the European economy.

The system delivered to Italy is a neutral atom quantum computer with over 140 qubits, engineered for tight integration with the Leonardo pre-exascale EuroHPC supercomputer, one of the world’s most powerful HPC platforms. This hybrid architecture will allow users to seamlessly offload specialized workloads – such as complex optimization problems, advanced materials simulation, and machine learning tasks – to the QPU, while relying on Leonardo for classical processing and large-scale data handling.

“Thanks to the clear strategic vision of the Ministry of University and Research, particularly Minister Anna Maria Bernini’s, synergistic with the European strategy for the development of quantum computing, and its ongoing commitment and support to implement it, Italy can now claim to be at the forefront of advanced computing capabilities at global level”, said Antonio Zoccoli, President of the ICSC Research Center. “When the integration of the Pasqal quantum computer with Leonardo becomes operational in the coming months, the national scientific community and industry will have computing resources at their disposal that will strengthen their competitiveness and be a useful tool for sustainable growth”.

This deployment contributes directly to Europe’s ambition to foster hybrid computing systems adoption across the Union. The integration of the system with Leonardo is expected to become fully operational and available to the academic and industrial research communities in the coming months.

Pasqal, a global leader in quantum computing, co-founded by Physics Nobel Prize winner Alain Aspect, is already operating two quantum devices under the EuroHPC JU project, at CEA/GENCI in France and Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) in Germany. With the Italian installation, Pasqal now powers three of the eight quantum computers deployed under the EuroHPC JU, confirming its position as a key technology leader in the provision of European quantum computing infrastructure and reinforcing European supply chain with pioneering quantum computing capabilities.

“The delivery of this QPU to CINECA is a new milestone for European quantum computing,” said Loïc Henriet, CEO at Pasqal. “By coupling our neutral atom quantum technology with Leonardo, CINECA is enabling researchers to explore computational frontiers that were previously out of reach. This deployment further reinforces Pasqal’s role as a strategic actor to deliver Europe’s hybrid HPC–quantum federated infrastructure in the ground.”

About Pasqal

Pasqal is leading the industrialization and deployment of neutral atom quantum computing, transforming Nobel Prize-winning research into real-world solutions for industry, science, and governments. Since 2019, the company has built high-performance quantum systems and cloud-ready software that tackle the world’s most complex challenges in optimization, simulation, and AI. With a truly global footprint — including teams and facilities across Europe, North America, and Asia — and backed by over $215 million from international investors, Pasqal is accelerating the adoption of robust, high-performance quantum computing.

About ICSC

ICSC – Italian Research Centre on High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing is one of five National Centers established and funded under Mission 4 “Education and Research” of Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP), dedicated to strategic sectors for the country’s development under the “From Research to Business” framework. ICSC’s mission is to carry out, manage, and coordinate research and development activities at both national and international levels, fostering innovation in computational and data storage technologies, including hardware and software solutions for simulation, computing, and data analytics. The Centre aims to build a globally attractive ecosystem that supports research, industry, and society, strengthening Italy’s competitiveness and sustainable growth.

These goals are pursued by federating and enhancing existing national resources and by developing a state-of-the-art cloud-based supercomputing and big data infrastructure. ICSC brings together leading Italian expertise and activities while training highly skilled professionals across its ten key scientific domains.

About CINECA

Founded in 1969, CINECA is a interuniversity consortium bringing together 121 member institutions, including two Italian Ministries (the Ministry of University and Research – MUR, and the Ministry of Education and Merit – MIM), 70 Italian universities, and 49 national public institutions (15 research organizations, 10 university hospitals and IRCCS, 19 AFAM institutions, and 5 agencies and public bodies). CINECA supports and drives digital transformation through innovation, designing and developing advanced technological solutions, building integrated, tailor-made platforms for its members, and delivering services that support public bodies and administrations. It is also one of the world’s leading computing centers and among the most advanced in High Performance Computing (HPC), with activities ranging from infrastructure management to the development of cutting-edge applications, as well as the co-design of technological solutions and research and innovation projects. Acting on behalf of the Ministry of University and Research, CINECA represents Italy in PRACE (the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), serves as a hosting entity of the European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU), and participates in the ITER nuclear fusion project.

Source: Pasqal

The post Pasqal Delivers Italy’s 1st Neutral Atom Quantum Computer appeared first on HPCwire.

Leader says move should end claims of one-man band and shows party is ‘creating a machine for government’

Nigel Farage has unveiled the first part of Reform UK’s frontbench team, saying it shows that the party is no longer reliant entirely on him – while also warning that he will not tolerate any dissent from his colleagues.

Two of the four appointees are recent defectors from the Conservatives: Robert Jenrick, who takes on the Treasury brief, and Suella Braverman, whom Farage has put in charge of education, skills and equalities.

Juliette Bryant says not long after meeting Jeffrey Epstein, he assaulted her, and she realized, "this is not a modeling opportunity, I've been kidnapped."

Iran and the U.S. traded threats and warnings even as negotiators sat down to discuss a deal to avert a war, but Tehran says "we now have a clearer path ahead."

Martin Luther King Jr.'s daughter Bernice King shared a photo on social media of Jackson and King and wrote, "Both ancestors now..."

President Trump and the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who died Tuesday at the age of 84, knew each other for decades.

PHILADELPHIA and TEL AVIV, Israel, Feb. 17, 2026 — Classiq, Comcast and AMD today announced the completion of a groundbreaking trial aimed at improving Internet delivery by leveraging quantum algorithms to supercharge network routing resilience.

“What our customers want is simple: fast, secure and reliable connectivity, but when you operate a network as large and dynamic as ours, delivering on that promise is complex, especially in the face of growing network demand,” said Elad Nafshi, Chief Network Officer, Comcast Connectivity and Platforms. “We launched these trials with Classiq last year with the goal of understanding how quantum software and technology could tackle real network challenges. Our results have shown that quantum computing for network optimization isn’t theoretical – it’s practical, scalable, and grounded in the needs of our customers.”

About the Trial

The joint trial tackled a fundamental network design challenge: identifying independent backup paths for network sites when implementing network maintenance and change management. The goal being that if a network site is taken offline for routine maintenance, should a second site unexpectedly fail during that window, network traffic could be seamlessly rerouted without any disruption or degradation to customer connectivity. To achieve this outcome, operators must identify unique backup paths that are fast, resilient to simultaneous link failures, and optimized for the lowest latency delivery, a task that becomes exponentially harder to identify as networks grow.

The trial applied quantum techniques, alongside high-performance classical computing, to test whether quantum algorithms could successfully identify unique network backup paths in real-time across change management scenarios. It comprised of execution on quantum hardware and in accelerated simulation environments that made use of AMD Instinct GPUs to achieve meaningful computational capacity (qubit scale) not yet possible through quantum hardware alone. With the GPU-accelerated simulations, the teams were able to iterate rapidly and validate algorithm behavior, together with runs executed on quantum hardware to assess implementation success. Review more detailed trial results in this scholarly article authored by the research team and this blog post for quantum developers.

Classiq provided quantum software and engineering support, empowering rapid modeling, optimized implementation and execution across both hardware and simulated environment executions.

Optimization problems in global telecommunications networks represent large combinatorial search spaces that grow exponentially with network size, making them computationally intensive to solve – the perfect challenge for quantum computing.

“Enterprise quantum R&D requires rapid iterations and repeatable workflows,” said Nir Minerbi, co-founder and CEO of Classiq. “This collaboration demonstrates how teams can ideate, model complex optimization problems and then run them quickly and efficiently across different backends, including both GPU-accelerated simulation and quantum hardware, while keeping the work portable as the ecosystem evolves.”

“The future of computing is a convergence of classical and quantum computing,” said Madhu Rangarajan, corporate vice president, Compute and Enterprise AI Products, AMD. “As a leader in high-performance classical computing, we’re exploring how we take our high-performance computing products and use them to support quantum. This collaboration shows a real-world example of how accelerated simulation and quantum execution can co-exist to solve a problem that matters to network operations.”

About Classiq

Classiq, with global offices in the U.S., Europe and APAC is the leading quantum computing software company, providing the technology that makes it practical for enterprises and researchers to access and harness the power of quantum computing. Classiq’s platform leverages AI coding and a high-level modeling language (Qmod) to automatically implement optimized, scalable hardware-ready quantum circuits. Classiq enables quantum teams to develop algorithms faster, optimize for cost and performance, and execute on any quantum hardware.

Source: Classiq

The post Comcast, Classiq and AMD Demonstrate Quantum Algorithm for More Resilient and Reliable Internet appeared first on HPCwire.

MOLLY PENHALE
Staff Reporter

Growing up, I was told that college would be the best four years of my life. Many freshmen go into their new schools with that expectation — I  definitely did. For many, it’s the prime years of discovering yourself, mixed with lessons learned along the way. 

College students have so much pressure on them to achieve good grades, get involved, make friends and find a romantic partner. The weight of it all can feel extreme. For many students aged 18-22, these kinds of obstacles can cause extreme mental health struggles.

Although I’m only a sophomore, I have had my fair share of deep mental health struggles myself. Coming to college as a freshman, I developed depression and my anxiety worsened. The stress of my academics, mixed with trying to find my people, was hard for me. Coming into sophomore year, I tried to have a more positive mindset that this year would be better.

At the beginning of the fall semester, I had a really bad mental health crisis. It caused me to end up in the hospital, leaving me feeling like I had hit rock bottom. I have since learned that it’s okay to not be okay, as well as how important it is to acknowledge mental health struggles.  

How I felt is common among young adults. Everyone struggles at some point and college can add to the stress. I used to feel embarrassed discussing my story with mental health, but after talking to many of my peers about it, I’ve learned that many have had similar feelings. The number of students who take some form of medication for their mental health is a lot more than some may think. 

I decided to ask other students around the university about their mental health experiences to get insight into the struggles that the average student might have.

“Sophomore year was rough,” Matthew Gast, a senior kinesiology major at the university, says. “I had seven family members die over the summer and then I also got broken up with. I didn’t exactly go to class. It made it hard to go to class. I was on a sleep schedule of 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.”

Academics in a college environment are important to most students. They tend to put pressure on themselves to succeed academically by getting good grades and a good GPA which can cause intense stress.

“I think my mental health has affected some of my academics, especially in junior year,” Jared Wierzbicki, a senior mechanical engineering major at the university, says. “It was a really tough semester with extracurriculars or with classes, and that really stressed me out. I had a lot of anxiety, which definitely impacted some of my classes and some of my grades.”

Mental health struggles among college students is extremely common. Everyone has personal battles, so finding ways to cope is important. I asked these same students how they personally cope when they feel down or anxious. 

“I’m a perfectionist and anything less than an A to me is not perfection,” Justin Burger, a senior  computer science major at the university, says. “But as a result of that, a lot of times I stress myself out unnecessarily, and I miss out on hanging out with my friends and spending time with them because I’m so busy locked in my room doing work.”

Professional services are important to utilize when dealing with mental health challenges. Therapy and a psychiatrist can work with someone to ensure their goals and needs are being met. 

This ensures healing happens with the proper support someone may need and to know they are not alone in their healing. There are many little ways to support your mental health day by day that do not require professional help like reaching out to your friends and family for support as well.  

“Mostly by spending time with my friends,” Burger says. “I mean, I’ve been getting better about doing that and taking breaks from my work to spend time with them. It’s my senior year so I want to get in the time with them I have left.” 

Mental health in college can seem overwhelming to manage but small steps to overall mental wellness can go a long way. Making a routine out of going to the gym or just simply moving your body while walking everyday can increase your mood significantly.

“Exercise and working out is a big thing,” Casey Forbes, a sophomore elementary education major at the university, says. “Like even just walking and listening to music is great, but also coloring, like a little coloring book with some nice markers.” 

The initial step of asking for help can be hard, but ends up being so rewarding once someone who is struggling finds what is right for them. There are so many resources at and around  the university that can help. I asked the students what campus resources they have heard of and what their experiences with them were. 

“Sometimes, it’s just good to take a break,” Wierzbicki says. “Other times, if you have frustrations, it’s good to talk to people about it. I found that this is really good for dealing with my mental health.”

Sean’s House was brought up by many students, who had only good things to say.

“I’ve heard of Sean’s House. I went there once and they’re really good,” Wierzbicki says. “They’re actually student-run. They were very, very friendly. They were very understanding. I would highly recommend.” 

Many also brought up TimelyCare, an app with 24/7 support that any student can text or call if they are having a mental health crisis. Additionally, many of the students were familiar with Warner Hall, the university’s Wellbeing Center. 

The university has a variety of resources for students who may be struggling. The first step of asking for help can be difficult, but there are organizations and trained professionals here who care and are here to help. 

Mental health awareness is super important for helping students realize that they are not alone, since so many students may feel similarly.

It's an all-Ligue 1 clash at the Stade Louis II on the Côte d'Azur.

Belgian authorities call the U.S. ambassador's intervention in the case of three Jewish religious figures "dangerous disinformation."

Party leader tells FT journalist she should ‘write some silly story’ after press conference revealing roles for his top team

Nigel Farage is speaking.

He starts by saying that 4.6m voters will get the right to to vote in the local elections because of his party.

I am writing a book on Nigel Farage for @headlinepg.

No holds will be barred.

Want to build your savings by $10,000 this year? Here's exactly how the $27.39 rule can help you achieve that goal.

Up to a third of people worldwide have shoulder pain; it's one of the most common musculoskeletal complaints. But medical imaging might not reveal the problem -- in fact, it could even cloud it. From a report: In a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine this week, 99 percent of adults over 40 were found to have at least one abnormality in a rotator cuff on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The rotator cuff is the group of muscles and tendons in a shoulder joint that keeps the upper arm bone securely in the shoulder socket -- and is often blamed for pain and other symptoms. The trouble is, the vast majority of the people in the study had no problems with their shoulders. The finding calls into question the growing use of MRIs to try to diagnose shoulder pain -- and, in turn, the growing problem of overtreatment of rotator cuff (RC) abnormalities, which includes partial- and full-thickness tears as well as signs of tendinopathy (tendon swelling and thickening). "While we cannot dismiss the possibility that some RC tears may contribute to shoulder symptoms, our findings indicate that we are currently unable to distinguish clinically meaningful MRI abnormalities from incidental findings," the study authors concluded.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Users of Birdex get points for each bird they see and can compete with friends, with 200,000 sightings logged so far

A new app has launched that aims to gamify birdwatching by allowing people to collect digital cards of UK bird species whenever they record seeing one.

Users of Birdex accumulate points for each bird they see, with less common and rare species yielding the greatest rewards. It is possible to add friends and compete over bird sightings. The app has got birdwatchers talking online – though it has raised hackles among some for its use of AI-generated artwork.

It's possible to shorten the duration of a cold. You just have to take the right vitamins and supplements.

The IRS' Fresh Start program could help you catch up on delinquent tax debt — but you'll have to qualify first.

These debt relief companies could help you slash your debt, but there are a few things to know before signing up.

Bankruptcy can wipe the financial slate clean, but in some instances, you may not be allowed to file for it.

Are you looking for a fast way out of credit card debt? Credit card debt forgiveness might help. Here's how.

When it comes to purchasing physical gold, there are plenty of options available. These are the best to consider.

A former aide to Martin Luther King Jr., he launched two historic presidential campaigns while spreading a message of hope and resilience: “I am — somebody.”

The U.S. is brokering a 3rd round of Russia-Ukraine talks, but there's little hope of a breakthrough to end the deadliest war on European soil in 80 years.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier called for ‘justice and strength’ in diplomacy after Russia hit Ukraine with 400 drones and 29 missiles hours before talks

The European Commission is just giving its daily midday press briefing, and it has confirmed plans to adopt the new, 20th, round of sanctions against Russia by 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion on Ukraine.

Foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said:

“We keep on working on measures to deprive Russia of the funds, goods and technologies sustaining its war against Ukraine.

This indeed includes the 20th package that you have mentioned, and indeed we aim to adopt it … by 24 February, as the High Representative [Kaja Kallas] mentioned at the last foreign affairs council. Member states are discussing it.”

China's courts are now handling more than 550,000 intellectual-property cases a year -- making it the world's most litigious country for IP disputes -- as the nation's own companies, once notorious for copying foreign designs and technology, find themselves on the defensive against a domestic counterfeiting epidemic fueled by excess factory capacity. The problem runs from knockoff "Lafufu" plush toys (cheap copies of Pop Mart's wildly popular Labubu dolls, which prompted a nationwide crackdown and a Shanghai police bust of a $1.7 million stash in July) to copied motorcycles and solar panels. Judges in Shanghai, the preferred venue for IP litigation, are working through cases at a rate of roughly one per day, and it still takes three months for a case to land on a court's docket. Chinese companies are also increasingly clashing abroad: patent-related cases involving Chinese businesses in America surged 56% in 2023, according to data from GEN, a Chinese law firm. Luckin Coffee and Trina Solar have both filed suits against foreign-based copycats.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

• Rodman, Thompson and Girma feature in 26-player team

• US will face Argentina, Canada and Colombia in March

Emma Hayes has struck a balance of experience and rising young talent in her squad for the 2026 SheBelieves Cup. The friendly competition will pit the US women against Argentina, Canada and Colombia in early March.

This year marks the first time that teams can select 26 players for their SheBelieves squad, although each coach must determine 23 players who will be available for each game.

Prior of hermitage says digital technologies are designed to be addictive and present ‘challenge for monastic life’

The prior of a hermitage in Tuscany has urged monks living in the secluded retreat to avoid the use of social media and streaming services, arguing that their rooms are sacred places for prayer and “not for Netflix or other platforms”.

Father Matteo Ferrari, the prior general of the Camaldolese congregation and of the Camaldoli monastery and hermitage in Arezzo, Tuscany, said such digital technologies were “specifically designed to create addiction” and “should absolutely be avoided”.

3D printing isn't just a hobby for me. I've been using it to make useful tools and accessories around my home for years. Here's how.

The US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died at the age of 84, his family said on Tuesday. Jackson, an eloquent Baptist minister raised in the segregated south, became a close associate of Martin Luther King Jr and twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination. He had advocated for the rights of Black Americans and other marginalised communities since the civil rights movement of the 1960s

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

LOUISVILLE, Colo., Feb. 17, 2026 — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum computing and quantum sensing powered by neutral-atom technology, today became a publicly listed company trading on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “INFQ” following the completion of its previously announced business combination with Churchill Capital Corp X, a publicly traded special purpose acquisition company.

The strong support from Churchill X’s shareholders resulted in Infleqtion receiving over $550 million of gross proceeds, including nearly 100% of the cash held in Churchill X’s trust account prior to the redemption deadline and more than $125 million of incremental capital raised through a common stock PIPE from leading existing Infleqtion stockholders and new institutional investors.

“Infleqtion was founded on a simple conviction: neutral atoms are the best path for commercializing quantum technology because they are scalable and economical. That architectural advantage, paired with our vertically integrated hardware and software stack that spans quantum computing and sensing, has translated into growing commercial traction across government and industry,” said Matthew Kinsella, Chief Executive Officer of Infleqtion. “As a public company we can accelerate our technology roadmap and expand deployments in areas such as aerospace, defense and critical infrastructure, bringing practical quantum solutions to market at increasing speed and scale.”

Infleqtion’s product portfolio includes quantum computers, quantum optical clocks, RF receivers, and inertial sensors, all engineered for real-world deployment and optimized with Infleqtion’s proprietary software. These systems are already in use by the U.S. Department of War, NASA, and the U.K. government, and also form elements of multiple collaborations with NVIDIA.

Infleqtion will be ringing the opening bell at the NYSE tomorrow, Wednesday, February 18 to celebrate the company’s public listing. A live stream of the event can be viewed by visiting https://tv.nyse.com.

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• Infleqtion and NASA to Fly World’s 1st Quantum Gravity Sensor to Space
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About Infleqtion

Infleqtion, Inc. (NYSE: INFQ) is a global leader in quantum technology, delivering neutral atom solutions for quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security. With a product portfolio spanning quantum computers, quantum optical clocks, RF receivers, and inertial sensors, Infleqtion’s full-stack approach combines high-performance hardware with the company’s proprietary Superstaq quantum computing software platform. Infleqtion’s systems are already in use by the U.S. Department of War, NASA, the U.K. government, and in multiple collaborations with NVIDIA. Infleqtion, in collaboration with NVIDIA, published the world’s first demonstration of a materials science application using logical qubits. With operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Infleqtion meets the demands of government and commercial customers across the space, defense, energy, finance and telecommunications sectors.

Source: Infleqtion

The post Infleqtion Becomes 1st Neutral-Atom Quantum Company to Go Public appeared first on HPCwire.

Waiver from Netflix allows film company to engage with rival bidder if it could lead to a ‘reasonably superior offer’

• Business live – latest updates

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has reopened talks with Paramount Skydance, giving the company seven days to table its best and final offer and top an existing agreement with Netflix.

WBD has so far stuck to its binding agreement with Netflix and rejected a series of sweetened offers from Paramount, resulting in the company pursuing a hostile $108.4bn (£76.8bn) takeover directly with shareholders

Lawmakers say the panel will compel testimony to uncover what happened at Epstein’s Zorro ranch and who knew

New Mexico has approved a “truth commission” to investigate abuse on Jeffrey Epstein’s ranch outside Santa Fe, amid ongoing calls for transparency about the late sex-offender’s crimes.

The move by legislators on Monday follows the justice department’s release of millions of investigative documents into Epstein last month, which has renewed interest into the financier’s Zorro ranch.

Opposition councillor says 20,000-home development in Adlington put forward with ‘no consultation, no scrutiny’

A Cheshire council leader is being urged to resign after it emerged he had written a letter backing a new town of 20,000 homes for the area, which led to it being listed on the government’s list of proposed sites and has since sparked a huge backlash.

Residents said they were blindsided when Adlington appeared on the government’s list of 12 proposed sites for new towns across England, with work on at least three due to start this parliament.

Warner Bros. Discovery said that Paramount Skydance is considering enhancing its buyout offer for the entertainment company.

Mazda, the automaker that for years defended its scroll-wheel infotainment system as a safer alternative to touchscreens, is abandoning the approach entirely in the 2026 CX-5 in favor of a 15.6-inch touchscreen and zero physical buttons. The current lineup -- the CX-50 Hybrid, CX-70 and CX-90 -- still relies on a console-mounted scroll wheel and dedicated action buttons to navigate a tablet-like screen perched atop the dashboard. Upper-trim CX-70 and CX-90 models do have 12.3-inch touchscreens, but touch input only works when parked and only inside CarPlay; it disables automatically once the car is in drive. The new CX-5 goes the other direction entirely, eliminating all hard buttons including the volume knob and physical climate controls that current models still offer. Mazda says the touchscreen is safe because core functions like climate are pinned to a persistent bottom bar -- an approach Ford, Rivian, and most of the industry adopted years ago.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Despite reset in India–US relations, New Delhi retains commitment to strategic hedging Expert comment jon.wallace 17 February 2026

The Modi government may conclude a trade agreement, but its relationship with the Trump administration has been scarred by a year of hostility and tariffs.

In a joint statement issued on 6 February the Trump administration announced it had reached an agreement to lower tariffs on India. The agreement has reduced the reciprocal tariff on India from 25 per cent to 18 per cent, and removed the additional 25 per cent tariff imposed for India’s purchase of Russian crude. In exchange, India will commit to buying $500 billion worth of US products over five years and stop buying Russian oil.

This significantly reduces the US tariff level on India from 50 per cent – which was among the highest in the world – to levels on par with other countries in South and Southeast Asia.

Both sides had noted they were close to concluding a deal for months. The recent appointment of Sergio Gor as US ambassador to India likely helped get this agreement over the line.

Ambiguities persist

The agreement paves the way for a partial reset in the relationship. It is only partial for several reasons.

First, the trade negotiations remain a work in progress. The joint statement will be followed by an interim agreement in March, which will culminate in a bilateral trade agreement. Interestingly, this reflects India’s longstanding position for a phased negotiation process.

There also remain several ambiguities associated with these commitments. India has significantly reduced its purchase of Russian crude – from a peak of 40 per cent of its total imports to less than 25 per cent in December. But so far there is no indication that the Indian government has directed Indian refiners to completely stop buying Russian oil. Private refiners like Reliance – which maintains the world’s largest refinery – have stopped. But state refiners have not. Russia has reaffirmed this point, noting that they have not yet received any communication from the Indian government indicating it will terminate its purchase of Russian crude.

How both sides will square this circle remains unclear. The narrowing price differential between Brent crude and discounted Russian crude will make it easier for Indian refiners to pivot away from the latter. However, New Delhi will remain reluctant to take any action that jeopardizes its longstanding relationship with Moscow.

The direction of travel in the India–Russia relationship is towards a managed decline. French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to India this week may include the conclusion of India’s largest defence deal, reflecting efforts by New Delhi to reduce its dependence on Russian military hardware. But Moscow remains a key strategic partner for New Delhi, as noted by President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi in December.

Related work

Putin’s India visit aims to reaffirm New Delhi–Moscow relations – just as Trump applies pressure to downgrade them

On the same day as the India–US Joint Statement, the White House also issued an executive order in which it threatens to take ‘additional action’ against India if ‘India resumed directly or indirectly imports [of] Russian Federation oil’.

Related to this is the question of what substitutes for Russian oil. India is the world’s third largest crude importer, so any shift in its oil imports can have a knock-on effect on global energy prices – indeed, New Delhi has argued that its purchase of Russian crude helped to stabilize global crude prices.

President Donald Trump has noted that the US and potentially Venezuela could ramp up their exports to India to compensate for the loss of Russian oil. However, Venezuela’s crude production remains low after years of sanctions and under-investment. And Venezuelan crude is of a heavy sour quality, which only a limited number of Indian refineries can process.

India’s purchase of US crude and other products will help to address Trump’s perennial obsession with the trade imbalance. However, meeting the trade agreement’s $500 billion purchase requirement will be no easy task. At present, India imports just over $40 billion from the US.

The $500 billion is over a five-year time horizon and includes energy, defence and technology products. That may make it easier to achieve. And Indian policymakers argue that these commitments are nonbinding.

The most politically significant concessions New Delhi has made related to the country’s agricultural sector, which employs over 40 per cent of the workforce. This had been a key sticking point during the trade negotiations and remains a politically sensitive issue for both leaders.

The Indian government argues that the market access promised by the agreement with the US excludes staples like wheat and rice. That has not prevented renewed farmer protests and criticism from the opposition. The Modi government’s calculation has been that any political blowback is manageable compared to prolonged elevated tariffs, which would have more lasting damage on the wider Indian economy.

Hanging over all of this is the knowledge that there is no guarantee that Washington will not reimpose tariffs on India: the US recently threatened to raise tariff levels on South Korea over its failure to meet the terms of a trade deal the countries concluded last year.

Lasting damage

The reset in relations has been accompanied by positive statements. Trump referred to Modi as ‘one of my greatest friends and a powerful and respected leader of his country’. Modi reciprocated by calling Trump ‘my dear friend’ and saying that ‘India fully supports his efforts for peace’.

However, there is no doubt there has been lasting damage to the relationship. At the start of the second Trump term, India believed that Trump and Modi maintained similar worldviews and that India and the US would maintain a privileged partnership.

Related work

EU and India seek closer relations as Trump upends global order

This has now faded. New Delhi is now likely to maintain a more pragmatic and cautious approach in its engagement with Washington. The hostility of Trump’s tariffs and statements by the president referring to India as a ‘dead economy’ will not be forgotten. Neither will Trump’s outreach to Islamabad in the aftermath of the brief India–Pakistan conflict last year, which has left a permanent scar on the bilateral relationship.

Indeed, in the months since the downturn in India–US relations, New Delhi has doubled down on its longstanding commitment to strategic autonomy in its foreign policy.

On the economic side, India has concluded a string of trade negotiations; three in 2025 alone (with Oman, New Zealand and the United Kingdom) followed by a deal with the European Union in January this year. It has also revived negotiations with countries including Canada, Israel, Qatar, and Peru. This is a significant achievement for a country that is historically seen as protectionist.

These developments demonstrate New Delhi’s efforts to diversify India’s export markets and ensure that it is not beholden to any one country – particularly the United States. They also reflect efforts to enhance India’s attractiveness as a foreign investment destination and make the country a global manufacturing hub.

• LA 2028 committee voted last week to keep Wasserman

• Emails with Ghislaine Maxwell were revealed in files

Pressure is building on Casey Wasserman, the head of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics organizing team, after the city’s mayor urged him to leave over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein’s former girlfriend.

LA mayor Karen Bass told CNN late on Monday that “my opinion is that he should step down” despite Wasserman getting support last week from the LA 2028 organizing board to stay.

Descendants of Jewish brothers forced to sell company to Nazis say appropriation by German far right is ‘repulsive’

The Jewish descendants of a German motorbike manufacturer that was forced by the Nazis to be relinquished have voiced their repulsion at the appropriation of the vehicle by far-right populists.

Members of the family, whose ancestors were forced to flee Germany in the 1930s, say they consider the use of the bike’s name by the anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as a “mockery of our history”.

Marco Rubio arrived at the Munich security conference with a disturbing message for European governments: empire is great

Fresh from toppling the president of Venezuela and taking control of the world’s largest oil reserves, the Trump administration’s top diplomat arrived at the Munich security conference on Saturday with a rather new and very disturbing message for European governments.

Empire is great. Empire is back. Empire is American.

Mehdi Hasan is the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo

Good eye health starts with a healthy diet.

Discussions through Omani intermediaries may pave way for further meeting on nuclear programme, Iran says

Iran has described the latest round of indirect talks with the US as “more constructive” than the previous set earlier this month, and said agreement had been reached on “general guiding principles” that could lead to a further meeting to discuss its nuclear programme.

The talks – held in Geneva through Omani intermediaries – were to discuss the terms for Tehran constraining its nuclear programme under the supervision of the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate. They ended after three and a half hours.

HAMBURG, Germany, Feb. 17, 2026 — ISC High Performance is pleased to share that the workshop committee has selected 24 diverse topics to give this year’s attendees the possibility to explore emerging research, technologies, and operational practices in high performance computing, artificial intelligence, and quantum computing.

The workshops are designed to provide a focused environment for researchers, developers, engineers, and industry professionals to address technical challenges, share knowledge, and explore emerging trends. They will consist of peer-reviewed workshops with proceedings and those without, catering to both formal research dissemination and practical community exchange. The list of selected workshops can be found here.

Workshops with proceedings feature peer-reviewed papers that will be published in Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series, providing academic recognition and contributing to the scientific body of knowledge. Workshops without proceedings emphasize interactive discussion, emerging topics, and collaboration, offering participants opportunities to share operational experience and discuss evolving technologies.

Who Should Attend?

The ISC workshops program serves a broad audience, including academic researchers presenting peer-reviewed work, HPC and AI practitioners optimizing applications and infrastructure, technology developers evaluating emerging architectures, and industry professionals exploring future computing solutions. Students and early-career professionals can also gain valuable technical insights and connect with experts working at the forefront of advanced computing.

All workshops will take place on Friday, June 26, at the Congress Center Hamburg. Attendees must register to participate and can benefit greatly from early-bird registration, which opens on March 25, 2026.

Join ISC High Performance 2026 in #ConnectingTheDots

ISC 2026 returns to the Congress Center Hamburg from June 22 – 26 for its 41st edition. Since its inception in 1986, it has been recognized as the world’s oldest and Europe’s most attended event for the HPC community, and increasingly for AI and quantum professionals interested in performance, energy efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

More from HPCwire

• ISC Forms New Committee to Boost Engagement of Emerging HPC Talent
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Source: ISC

The post ISC 2026 Unveils Workshops for Advanced Computing Community appeared first on HPCwire.

The software industry's decades-old habit of charging companies a flat fee for every employee who uses a product is running into a fundamental problem: AI agents don't sit in chairs, and they don't need licences. As autonomous agents take on tasks that human workers once handled, the per-seat pricing model that made SaaS revenue so predictable is giving way to consumption-based and hybrid alternatives. Snowflake and Databricks (valued at $134 billion) already charge based on usage. Salesforce initially priced its Agentforce customer relations bot at $2 per conversation but faced customer pushback and now offers action-based pricing, upfront credits and fixed fees. ServiceNow's finance chief Amit Zavery said last month that some customers aren't ready for purely consumption-based models. Goldman Sachs estimates US software spending will nearly triple to $2.8 trillion by 2037 as automated tasks blur the boundary between IT and wage budgets, but that money will no longer arrive in the neat recurring instalments that investors and private equity firms have come to expect.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Democrats made their counteroffer on overhauling immigration enforcement on Monday, the latest step in talks to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

MP leads UK tributes to African American campaigner, who has died aged 84

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

• Jesse Jackson tributes – latest updates

Jesse Jackson was a “direct connection to the great era of civil rights”, Diane Abbott said, leading UK tributes to the African American campaigner.

The Rev Jackson was also intimately connected to the battle for racial equality in the UK, where he campaigned for decades to address institutional racism, as well as economic, health and criminal justice inequalities.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and MUMBAI, India, Feb. 17, 2026 — AMD, a leader in high-performance and AI computing, and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), a global leader in IT services, consulting, and business solutions, have expanded their strategic collaboration. TCS, through its subsidiary HyperVault AI Data Center Limited (HyperVault), and AMD will codevelop a rack-scale AI infrastructure design based on the AMD “Helios” platform in support of India’s national AI initiatives.

Credit: Shutterstock

Powered by AMD Instinct MI455X GPUs, next-generation AMD EPYC “Venice” CPUs, AMD Pensando Vulcano NICs and the open ROCm software ecosystem, “Helios” is purpose-built to deliver a rack-scale AI platform supporting sovereign AI factories. “Helios,” combined with TCS’ enterprise expertise and scale, will accelerate deployment and enhance operational efficiencies for enterprises. As part of this strategic collaboration, both companies will offer an AI-ready data center blueprint supporting up to 200 MW of capacity and will work with hyperscalers and AI companies to accelerate data center build-outs in India.

Dr. Lisa Su, Chair and CEO, AMD, said, “AI adoption is accelerating from pilots to large-scale deployments, and that shift requires a new blueprint for compute infrastructure. With ‘Helios,’ we are delivering an open, rack-scale AI platform designed for performance, efficiency, and long-term flexibility. Together with TCS, we are enabling enterprises across India to deploy AI at scale today while building the compute foundation of tomorrow.”

K. Krithivasan, MD and CEO, TCS, said, “This collaboration lays the foundation for AMD’s first ‘Helios’ powered AI infrastructure in India. By combining our strengths in AI, connectivity, sustainable power, and advanced data center engineering, we are poised to deliver state-of-the-art infrastructure solutions for AI companies and global enterprises. We are thrilled to deepen our longstanding partnership with AMD as we expand our participation in the AI ecosystem – Infrastructure to Intelligence.”

TCS established HyperVault in 2025 with the vision of delivering GW-scale, secure, and reliable AI-ready infrastructure for hyperscalers, AI companies, and global enterprises. This announcement builds on the recent strategic collaboration between TCS and AMD to help enterprises scale AI adoption and modernize hybrid environments.

About AMD

AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) drives innovation in high-performance and AI computing to solve the world’s most important challenges. Today, AMD technology powers billions of experiences across cloud and AI infrastructure, embedded systems, AI PCs and gaming. With a broad portfolio of AI-optimized CPUs, GPUs, networking and software, AMD delivers full-stack AI solutions that provide the performance and scalability needed for a new era of intelligent computing. Learn more at www.amd.com.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (BSE: 532540, NSE: TCS) is a digital transformation and technology partner of choice for industry-leading organizations worldwide. Since its inception in 1968, TCS has upheld the highest standards of innovation, engineering excellence and customer service. Rooted in the heritage of the Tata Group, TCS is focused on creating long term value for its clients, its investors, its employees, and the community at large. With a highly skilled workforce of over 580,000 spread across 55 countries and 202 service delivery centers across the world, the company has been recognized as a top employer in six continents. With the ability to rapidly apply and scale new technologies, the company has built long term partnerships with its clients – helping them emerge as perpetually adaptive enterprises. Many of these relationships have endured into decades and navigated every technology cycle, from mainframes in the 1970s to Artificial Intelligence today. TCS sponsors 14 of the world’s most prestigious marathons and endurance events, including the TCS New York City Marathon, TCS London Marathon and TCS Sydney Marathon with a focus on promoting health, sustainability, and community empowerment. TCS generated consolidated revenues of over US $30 billion in the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. For more information, visit www.tcs.com.

Source: AMD

The post AMD Partners with TCS on Rack-Scale AI Platform Supporting India’s National AI Efforts appeared first on HPCwire.

Valve has updated the Steam Deck website to say that the Steam Deck OLED may be out of stock "intermittently in some regions due to memory and storage shortages." From a report: The PC gaming handheld has been out of stock in the US and other parts of the world for a few days, and thanks to this update, we now know why. The update comes shortly after Valve delayed the Steam Machine, Steam Frame, and Steam Controller from a planned shipping window of early 2026 because of the memory and storage crunch. "We have work to do to land on concrete pricing and launch dates that we can confidently announce, being mindful of how quickly the circumstances around both of those things can change," Valve said in a post about that announcement from earlier this month. Its goal is to launch that new hardware sometime in the first half of 2026, and the company is working to finalize its plans "as soon as possible."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

The civil rights icon, who died on Tuesday, used his progressivism as rebellion

By the early 1980s, the Democratic party was facing a crossroads. The 1980 landslide election of Ronald Reagan, who clinched the presidency with a whopping 489 electoral college votes against Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter, swiftly pulled the Democratic party to the right in the political and cultural wave of the “Reagan Revolution”.

For those Democratic constituents left behind, however, a challenge was mounting, mostly within US industrial cities whose economies were ransacked by Reagan’s “trickle-down” economics. Record tax cuts for the wealthy had come at the expense of a contracted social safety net, thus exacerbating inequality and collapsing much of the working class into the poor. Grassroots resistance campaigns spawned across the country in response to this dire urban crisis that had disproportionately devastated African Americans, and between 1982 and 1984 they had registered 2 million new Black voters – the largest gain in registered Black voters since the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

Many voice hope that moment will mark move away from repression and unrest and a chance to revive economy

Bangladesh’s new prime minister has been sworn in, sealing a dramatic comeback for the Bangladesh Nationalist party (BNP) and formally closing the turbulent chapter that toppled Sheikh Hasina in 2024.

The swearing-in of Tarique Rahman restored an elected government after 18 months of caretaker rule led by the Nobel peace prize laureate Muhammad Yunus.

• American fractured tibia in downhill last week

• Vonn was initially treated in Italy for injuries

Lindsey Vonn is back home in the US to continue treatment after she broke her leg during the Winter Olympic downhill.

“Haven’t stood on my feet in over a week… been in a hospital bed immobile since my race. And although I’m not yet able to stand, being back on home soil feels amazing,” Vonn posted on X with an American flag emoji. “Huge thank you to everyone in Italy for taking good care of me.”

One of the US’s most prominent civil rights leaders who was a protege of Martin Luther King and a presidential hopeful

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

The veteran civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, who has died aged 84, made history when he stood for the White House in 1984 and 1988. He was not the first African American to seek the US presidency, but he was the first to mount a serious challenge, breaking through racial barriers, securing millions of votes and, at one point, becoming frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

His run opened the way for Barack Obama two decades later. But Jackson deserves to be remembered as more than a footnote in Obama’s biography. It took courage and self-confidence to stand in the 1980s, with memories of segregation and the civil rights battles of the 60s still raw.

Democrats, who haven’t won statewide race since 1994, aim to gain ground with rising stars as Republicans clash between incumbent and embattled Maga ally

A Texas-sized showdown is brewing deep in the heart of the largest red state in the US. As early voting begins on Tuesday for the Lone Star state’s 3 March primaries, Republicans and Democrats alike face a high-stakes choice that could set the stage for one of the fiercest Senate races of the 2026 midterm cycle.

At the center of the fractious Republican contest is a clash between the party’s old guard and a Maga culture warrior, with four-term incumbent John Cornyn, a conservative fixture of Senate leadership locked in the fight of his political career against the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general, Ken Paxton.

The late Rev. Jesse Jackson might best be remembered as a longtime civil rights leader, but he also played a pivotal role in presidential politics.

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High casualties and economic trouble signal time is no longer on Russia’s side, but Moscow isn’t backing off political and territorial demands to weaken Ukraine.

Integration or deregulation? Europe’s split over how to achieve sovereignty Expert comment thilton.drupal 17 February 2026

Ideological differences risk paralysing the EU at a crucial juncture. But a synthesis offers a path forward.

The Belgian painter René Magritte famously remarked that art was meant to uncover the truth by encouraging the eye to look beyond the obvious, for ‘everything we see hides another thing.’ In our times of permacrisis and geopolitical complexity, Magritte’s view might help us to look past appearances and to understand a fundamental logic of political developments: they are almost always driven by conflicting forces.

The European Industry Summit in Antwerp, which brought together hundreds of European industrialists and top government officials last week under the intellectual and political auspices of Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, offered a good example.  

The summit crystallized a divide that has been brewing for several years within the EU. Opinion is split on a central question: what does European strategic sovereignty actually entail – and how can it be achieved? 

The integrationist camp 

At first glance, the split appears binary. On one side stand those who see sovereignty as requiring deeper integration: joint industrial policy, coordinated fiscal instruments, common borrowing where necessary, and stronger EU-level regulatory capacity. 

This camp includes Emmanuel Macron, whose long-standing advocacy for ‘European autonomy’ has matured into calls for sectoral champions and common financing mechanisms, and Mario Draghi, whose pragmatic federalism favours incremental but irreversible integration in key domains such as defence, energy and digital infrastructure.

The integrationist camp defines strategic sovereignty as the capacity to act collectively in a hostile world. Amid US–China rivalry, weaponized interdependence and volatile supply chains, no single EU member state – not even Germany or France – can secure technological independence, energy resilience or defence credibility alone. The response, therefore, must be transnational: pooled procurement, joint R&D funding, coordinated industrial policy and, crucially, fiscal instruments capable of matching American or Chinese scale.

This logic was visible in the Recovery and Resilience Facility during the pandemic. It is now re-emerging in debates over defence bonds and common energy infrastructure financing. For Macron and Draghi, Europe’s fragmentation is precisely what makes it vulnerable. Sovereignty, in this reading, is indivisible.

The deregulatory growth camp

On the other side, leaders such as De Wever, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni argue that Europe’s malaise stems not from insufficient centralization but from overregulation and anaemic growth. 

Their thesis is straightforward: reduce bureaucratic drag, restore competitiveness, unleash private investment – and autonomy will follow organically. In their view, prosperity is sovereignty’s precondition, not its consequence.

Those in this deregulatory growth camp do not necessarily reject cooperation, but they resist further institutional centralization. They see Europe’s competitiveness gap with the US and parts of Asia as self-inflicted: excessive environmental, digital and financial regulation has raised costs and dampened innovation. The answer is not more Brussels, but better Brussels – slimmer, faster, less intrusive.

De Wever argued for sovereignty through growth and deregulated industry. Merz’s rhetoric about restoring Germany’s economic dynamism, and Meloni’s emphasis on defending national industrial bases, converge on the same theme. Sovereignty is not engineered at the EU level; it is aggregated from strong, competitive member states. 

The risk of fragmentation

This divergence is not a mere theoretical feud over tactics. It risks causing fragmentation in policy strategy that paralyses European decision-making at a crucial juncture.

The risk of a formal rupture in EU institutions, however, remains low. The EU has always contained diversity: from Schengen to the euro, differentiation has been the rule rather than the exception. 

Yet the deeper risk is subtler. Fragmentation could occur not through formal secession or treaty rupture, but through policy incoherence: overlapping initiatives, underfunded ambitions, and divergent national strategies marketed as European sovereignty.

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Rubio to Europe: A softer tone than Vance. But same message?

On defence, this might prove a hindrance that shouldn’t be underestimated. The integrationist view calls for joint procurement and possibly common debt issuance to scale up capabilities. The growth-oriented camp supports rearmament but prefers national spending within looser EU frameworks. The outcome could be duplication rather than synergy – 27 defence revivals rather than one European capability leap.

The show of relative European unity on the need for sovereignty displayed at the Munich Security Conference reinforced the sense that precedence will be given to whatever enables the EU to translate declarations into capability. From this standpoint, the deregulatory growth camp might have a head start on the integrationists. For now.

In energy policy, the tension is similar. Strategic sovereignty could mean common investment in grids, hydrogen corridors and nuclear capacity. Alternatively, it could mean easing state aid rules and letting national champions expand. Both approaches aim at resilience; they diverge on governance.

The German hinge

With France crippled by endemic public debt and parliamentary marasmus, and Macron’s presidency at its nadir, much depends on Berlin. 

If Germany under Merz tilts decisively towards deregulation and fiscal orthodoxy, the Franco-German engine could sputter even further. If, however, Germany accepts selective integration – particularly in defence and technology – while pressing for regulatory simplification, a synthesis may emerge.

Germany’s economic predicament complicates matters. Its industrial model, heavily reliant on exports to China and cheap Russian gas, has been destabilized. Calls for deregulation are therefore politically resonant. 

But Germany also recognizes that scale matters in semiconductors, AI and defence manufacturing. This duality could either bridge or widen the European divide. 

A false dichotomy?

The apparent split is arguably overstated: strategic sovereignty is indeed multidimensional. Regulatory reform can coexist with deeper integration if both are framed within a coherent competitiveness agenda. 

The EU’s challenge is therefore not choosing between federalism and deregulation; it is sequencing and calibrating both. And this precision matters more than we might think.

Want to skip the lengthy cooking time for that dish? Here's how to convert it into a fast and friendly air fryer recipe.

Samsung's lower-cost Galaxy phone hits all the right check boxes, but it's easily overwhelmed when multitasking.

San Francisco’s AI startups are pushing workers to grind endlessly, hinting at pressures soon hitting other sectors

Not long after the terms “996” and “grindcore” entered the popular lexicon, people started telling me stories about what was happening at startups in San Francisco, ground zero for the artificial intelligence economy. There was the one about the founder who hadn’t taken a weekend off in more than six months. The woman who joked that she’d given up her social life to work at a prestigious AI company. Or the employees who had started taking their shoes off in the office because, well, if you were going to be there for at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, wouldn’t you rather be wearing slippers?

“If you go to a cafe on a Sunday, everyone is working,” says Sanju Lokuhitige, the co-founder of Mythril, a pre-seed-stage AI startup, who moved to San Francisco in November to be closer to the action. Lokuhitige says he works seven days a week, 12 hours a day, minus a few carefully selected social events each week where he can network with other people at startups. “Sometimes I’m coding the whole day,” he says. “I do not have work-life balance.”

When daily life feels like a black hole of apps and feeds, it’s no surprise we crave the intimacy of physical media

Usually, my handbag is a medley of digital devices and life essentials – my phone, iPad, chargers, keys, tampons. But lately, you’re likely to also find a half-done newspaper crossword, a ton of stationery, the book I’ve restarted three times, and whatever scraps and trinkets I’ve picked up throughout the day to put in my scrapbook.

Analog is back, and it feels like we need it more than ever. In a world where getting just about anything done means being sucked into a digital black hole of apps, sign-up forms, harrowing social media feeds and carnivorous advertisers, it’s no surprise that we keep reaching back for the comfort of the physical: Polaroids, vinyl records, real birthday cards. It all helps us slow down and appreciate a world where not everything is online.

Retail mogul’s name was this week unredacted from trove of files – how did he and his model town fuel Epstein’s rise?

Les Wexner’s alleged note to Jeffrey Epstein marking his 50th birthday in 2003 included a hand-drawing of a woman’s breasts.

And yet today, the billionaire Wexner’s name and portrait sits front and center across Ohio’s most respected institution – the Ohio State University.

Half of social media users said they want better labels on AI-generated and edited posts.

Sony Group has developed a technology that can identify the underlying music used in tunes generated by AI, making it possible for songwriters to seek compensation from AI developers if their music was used. From a report: Sony Group's technology analyzes which musicians' songs were used in learning and generating music. It can quantify the contribution of each original work, such as "30% of the music used by the Beatles and 10% by Queen," for example. If the AI developer agrees to cooperate for the analysis, Sony Group will obtain data by connecting to the developer's base model system. When cooperation is not attainable, the technology estimates the original work by comparing AI-generated music with existing music. The AI boom has sparked numerous cases in which AI developers are accused of using copyrighted music, video and writing without permission to train machines. In the music industry, AI-generated songs using the voices of well-known singers have been distributed online. The Japanese company thinks the technology will help create a system that distributes revenue generated by AI music to original songwriters based on their contribution.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

CNET's experts have tested dozens of popular electric kettles to find the best for making your favorite hot beverage.

As an assembly member, Mamdani backed the Stop Fakes Act. Now, the NYPD has admitted to spying online – but wielding actual power as mayor is complex

When Zohran Mamdani was a New York state assembly member, he sponsored the Stop Fakes Act, which would have prohibited law enforcement from creating fake electronic communication service accounts and collecting users’ account information.

“Digital dragnet surveillance is widespread and dangerous, yet it continues to go unregulated,” Mamdani co-wrote in a 2023 City & State op-ed. “Although the NYPD claimed in a Department of Justice report to keep detailed records of its undercover accounts, the department refuses to provide any documentation of its social media surveillance policies or practices for public review.”

Make sure your kitchen is well stocked with these tools to keep your health in top form this year.

Huge project by Norwegian-owned Scottish Sea Farms gets go-ahead amid concerns over the environmental cost of fish farming and threat to traditional way of life

At Collafirth, north Shetland, Sydney Johnson is unloading two-dozen bags of scallops by throwing them over his head like medicine balls to the pier above. Johnson, who has just finished a 10-hour shift on his boat, the Golden Shore, is concerned that plans for a new salmon farm will put fishers like him and his two sons out of business.

“They say it’s just one farm,” says Johnson. “But it’s one farm more. There’s only so much water and we’re at saturation point.”

At least 20 federal suits filed against companies like Kalshi and Polymarket as lawmakers call it ‘loophole’ for gambling

• Gen Z in the US: how are you feeling about your finances?

State lawmakers and gaming regulators across the US are escalating their fight against prediction markets, arguing that the fast-growing platforms are “basically gambling but with another name”.

At least 20 federal lawsuits have been filed nationwide, disputing whether companies such as Kalshi and Polymarket should be treated as federally regulated financial exchanges, as they maintain, or as gambling operations that should be regulated like state-licensed sportsbooks.

Follow CNET for all the latest updates and news about all the home tech on display from newcomers and major industry players.

Exclusive: Council in one of England’s poorest areas says it needs urgent help with ballooning children’s social care bill

Keir Starmer is facing a mass resignation of Labour councillors in one of England’s poorest areas over a “betrayal” of funding for children in care.

Labour councillors in Hartlepool, County Durham, said they were “between despair and open revolt” over an “unfair” cash settlement that would leave them unable to balance the books.

A fixture in Democratic politics who ran for the 1988 presidential nomination, Jackson was once close to Martin Luther King Jr. Plus, did a prize-winning novelist steal a woman’s life story?

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Good morning.

The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran a strong campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 84.

What was Jesse Jackson’s role in the civil rights movement? Once close to Martin Luther King Jr, Jackson was a fixture of Democratic politics since the 1960s. In an interview with the Guardian in May 2020, Jackson said: “I was a trailblazer, I was a pathfinder. I had to deal with doubt and cynicism and fears about a Black person running [for president]. There were Black scholars writing papers about why I was wasting my time. Even Blacks said a Black couldn’t win.”

How has the Minnesota governor responded to the news? Tim Walz demanded an “impartial” investigation into the shootings. “Trump’s left hand cannot investigate his right hand,” he said.

Trump’s repeal of landmark climate ruling is a strategic own goal Expert comment LToremark 17 February 2026

The Trump administration’s reversal of the endangerment finding is a brutal assault on global efforts to confront climate change – and an act of economic and strategic self-sabotage.

The Trump administration has revoked the landmark endangerment finding, a 2009 scientific ruling determining that greenhouse gases endanger public health – and the legal basis underpinning US climate regulation. This will limit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, while vehicle emission standards and energy efficiency rules are being rolled back.

The regulatory retreat will result in significantly increased greenhouse gas emissions from the US transport sector. The sector already emits roughly as much each year as the entire Russian economy. If it were treated as a standalone country, the US transport sector would rank as the world’s fifth-largest emitter. Estimates of the impact of the rollback suggest that an additional 7.9 to 15.3 billion metric tons of emissions could be added by 2055, a substantial increase with far-reaching implications.

But for the US, the negative effects of this deregulation go far beyond the climate.

While Washington deregulates…

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What has the first year of Trump 2.0 meant for the climate?

The Trump administration has framed the policy as a win for American consumers and domestic manufacturers. Fewer regulations, it argues, will reduce production costs, lower vehicle prices and improve affordability for consumers, and protect US car manufacturers from bureaucratic overreach.

It might look like this on the surface, but the opposite is true. Deregulation will not reverse the transition to electric transport that is accelerating globally. By attempting to dismantle policies that have been in place for over 15 years and throttle technological progress, President Trump risks postponing, rather than preventing, the ‘Kodak moment’ for traditional automakers unwilling or unable to adapt. 

By removing standards, the Trump administration risks locking the US automotive sector into legacy internal combustion technologies just as the global market accelerates towards electrification. Ford shutting down its battery factory in Kentucky shows how the large car manufacturers are struggling with the shift to new technologies. Ford’s decision followed the July 2025 revocation of Biden-era consumer tax credits of $7,500 for electric vehicles (EVs) – which naturally caused a significant, immediate drop in consumer demand.

US companies like Tesla, which became one of the most valuable companies in the world by manufacturing innovative EVs, will be hit by the deregulation. In September 2025, Elon Musk urged the EPA under the Trump administration to preserve key Biden-era tailpipe emissions rules, which required over 50 per cent of US cars to be electric by 2032. Musk also defended the endangerment finding, arguing that the legal foundation for regulating greenhouse gases should be preserved.

The Trump administration claims that removing efficiency and emissions standards reduces upfront vehicle costs. But it overlooks the total cost of ownership. Outside China, EVs tend to have higher purchase prices, but they generally have lower operating and maintenance costs due to electricity’s relative price advantage over fuel, and fewer moving parts. Multiple studies and consumer surveys show that driving an EV is cheaper than driving a combustion engine vehicle. In the US, for example, driving 100 miles can cost as little as $5 for an EV when charging at home, compared to $13 for a conventional car.   

But the central question is technological primacy. If the objective is to ‘make America great again’, that primacy will not come from doubling down on legacy technologies, but from leading in the industries that are beginning to define the 21^st century, especially batteries, electric mobility, advanced manufacturing and clean energy systems. Retreating from innovation and jettisoning environmental standards does not strengthen American industry, it weakens its competitive position in the global race.

…Beijing innovates

While deregulation may provide short-term relief to incumbent US automakers, it ultimately entrenches China’s strategic, technological and industrial advantage. Vehicle efficiency and emissions rules are not simply environmental measures – they are industrial policy. They drive innovation in batteries, power electronics, lightweight materials and software-defined vehicles. 

China continues to scale EV production, dominate battery supply chains and invest heavily in next-generation mobility. The result: while Washington deregulates, Beijing innovates and builds its competitive advantage. A recent example of cutting-edge Chinese innovation is bringing sodium-ion batteries to the mass-produced passenger car market, as announced by CATL in January 2026. As sodium is abundant and commonplace, such battery chemistries have the potential to lower costs, ease supply chain tensions and reduce environmental impacts. 

US car makers also risk losing export markets to Chinese brands in Europe and Asia, where emissions standards and EV policies will remain in place. In effect, US manufacturers may save on compliance costs today, only to abandon the global market tomorrow. 

An economic and strategic mistake

There are potential strategic implications for national economic security. This policy reversal is not just about the US sidestepping its responsibility to tackle climate change, but also about geopolitical industrial competition. By slowing domestic electrification, the US risks further weakening its position in clean-tech supply chains and undermining its long-term competitiveness in advanced manufacturing. 

The current US administration views low-carbon technologies with suspicion and contempt, dismissing solar panels, wind turbines and EVs as inferior and unnecessary, a means of ‘virtue-signalling’. However, it is a global outlier in this respect. Governments, businesses and consumers around the world are increasingly investing in clean technology for non-climate reasons. Renewables have become the cheapest and fastest way of generating electricity in most countries. EVs are growing in technical sophistication while falling in cost. As the global automotive market continues to go electric – EV sales reached 20.7 million units in 2025, a 20 per cent year-on-year increase – and Chinese EVs and investments in EV manufacturing are being welcomed in many key markets, the US retreat from climate-aligned industrial policy will prove strategically costly. 

The global EV and clean energy transition is not slowing down, therefore US companies competing internationally cannot afford to retreat technologically. They should continue investing in battery innovation, electrification and cost reductions. To access international markets – especially more stringent European and Asian markets – US manufacturers must continue designing vehicles to meet future global standards. 

Born from his civil rights work with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and the product of two separate organizations fighting for social justice, economic opportunity and equal rights, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr.'s legacy lives on in the Rainbow PUSH Coalition.

Nothing promises the Phone 4A will have a "bold new experimentation of color." We think we might know what that means.

Company, which also owns Oasis, Warehouse and Karen Millen, to use cash to cut debts and fund turnaround

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The owner of Boohoo and Debenhams is raising £35m from shareholders in a move that could open a fresh conflict with Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley.

The company, which also owns Oasis, Warehouse, Pretty Little Thing and Karen Millen, said on Tuesday that the new cash would help reduce debts and fund its turnaround plans. These involve slashing costs, selling off a distribution centre and operating Debenhams as an online marketplace for other brands.

Israel accused of denying doctors re-entry into territory after they gave first-hand testimony on conflict

Medics in the UK and US believe they have been denied re-entry to Gaza after speaking out on the conflict.

Following reports of rising refusal rates, medical workers and organisationswho have provided humanitarian aid in Gaza have described what they see as arbitrary denials.

The US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, a pioneer of progressive Democratic politics, close ally of Martin Luther King Jr, and two-time candidate for the presidential nomination, has died at 84

• Jesse Jackson tributes – live updates

• Jesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84

Programme launched by last Tory government was worked on by Deloitte and IBM but was paused in 2024

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The UK government has shelved a project to simplify trade border processes post-Brexit after spending £110m on a contract with Deloitte and IBM for it, according to reports.

The last Conservative government promised in 2020 to create the “world’s most effective border” by 2025 as part of its plan for a new trade system after Britain left the EU.

Billionaire says he exercised ‘terrible judgment’ in maintaining contact with sex offender and Ghislaine Maxwell

The billionaire Thomas Pritzker has stepped down as executive chair of the hotel chain Hyatt, after revelations over his ties with the late child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Pritzker said he had exercised “terrible judgment” in maintaining contact with the sex offender and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted in 2021 for her role in recruiting and grooming underage girls.

Some weekends arrive quietly and leave quietly, slipping into the background of our lives without much ceremony. And then there are weekends like this one, the kind that feel alive while they’re happening, and that stay with you long after the lights go out. It was L.A.’s turn to host the NBA All‑Star festivities this year, and I found myself right in the middle of it, surrounded by the past, the present, and the future of the game I’ve loved for most of my life.

Rookies from left to right: Kyshawn George (Wizards), Tre Johnson (Wizards), Jaylen Wells (Grizzlies), Derik Queen (Pelicans), VJ Edgecombe (76ers), Kon Knueppel (Hornets), and Dylan Harper (Spurs)

The league had invited me to speak with the All‑Star rookies, a group of young men who are just beginning to understand what it means to carry the weight of expectation, opportunity, and responsibility all at once. I’ve always enjoyed spending time with the younger generation. There’s something refreshing about their honesty, their curiosity, the way they’re still forming their identities both as players and as people. They remind me of the early days of my own journey, when everything felt big and new and a little overwhelming.

When I arrived at the Regent Hotel, the room was packed with young talents. All were polite, a little shy, but sharp and focused. I could tell they felt they were right at the start of something important. We broke into small groups, and the conversations flowed easily. We talked about staying grounded and focused, and about navigating the noise that comes with success.

I shared what I could. I told them about the challenges I faced, the moments I stumbled, the times I had to remind myself that the person I was off the court mattered just as much as the one the cameras saw. I talked about the importance of surrounding yourself with people who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear. I talked about the value of humility, of curiosity, of never believing you’ve learned everything you need to know. And as always happens in these conversations, I walked away feeling like I had learned just as much as I had taught. That’s the beauty of these exchanges.

Me with the rookies giving a talk

House of 2K at Cosm was next on my schedule, and I’ll be honest, I had no idea what I was walking into. I’d never been there before. Cosm feels like someone took the game I grew up playing on a real hardwood floor and mixed it with the game kids play today with a controller in their hands.

I’ve been part of the 2K family for a long time, and people love to tease me about it. They’ll say, “How does a traditional guy like you end up in the gaming world?” Well, my manager, Deborah, keeps me trending. When I walked into the House of 2K, the music was loud and the video technology looked so real I almost checked to see if I was in the game. I chatted with a few fans, took some pictures, and then I made a strategic exit before I went completely deaf.

Sunday morning brought a different kind of excitement. I arrived at the YouTube Theater early, partly out of habit and partly because I wanted a few quiet minutes before the whirlwind began. Instead, I walked straight into a reunion. Oscar Robertson and Julius Erving were already there, and seeing them felt like stepping back into a familiar rhythm, the kind of friendship where the years melt away the moment you sit down.

We talked about the old days, the battles we fought, the things we miss, and the things we definitely don’t. At one point we started joking about our knees, and let’s just say the laughter was loud enough to make a couple of staff members peek in to see what was going on. Age has a way of humbling you, but it also gives you the gift of being able to laugh at yourself. There’s a certain freedom in that.

Backstage, Bob Costas joined us. Bob has a memory like a steel trap: dates, scores, arenas, the color of the socks someone was wearing in 1984, he remembers it all. He started telling stories from games we’d long forgotten, and suddenly we were all leaning in like kids around a campfire. And then Magic walked in, carrying that big smile of his, the one that lights up a room before he even says a word. The energy shifted instantly, brighter, louder, warmer. That’s the thing about Magic: he doesn’t just enter a room, he lifts it. Before long, the whole place was filled with laughter, old jokes, and the kind of easy camaraderie that only decades of shared history can create.

Eventually, it was time to head to the backstage. The NBA was presenting me with the Lifetime Achievement Award; and even after all these years, moments like that still make my heart beat a little faster. I stood behind the curtain, listening to the muffled hum of the crowd, holding the acceptance speech I’d written the night before. It wasn’t nerves, exactly, more like a quiet wave of gratitude washing over me. Gratitude for the game, for the people, for the journey. Gratitude for the kid I used to be, who never could have imagined any of this.

You can watch my acceptance speech by clicking here: Lifetime Achievement Award

I walked out onto that stage seeing familiar faces in the audience. The lights, the applause, the crowd, it all blended into one warm, overwhelming moment. I spoke from the heart, thanked the people who shaped me, and tried to honor the lessons this game has given me. And when it was over, when the applause faded and the lights dimmed, I felt something I didn’t expect: a deep, peaceful sense of completion. Not an ending, just a moment of recognition, a pause to appreciate the road behind me before continuing on the one ahead.

On the drive home, I kept replaying the day in my mind: the conversations, the laughter, the memories, the young faces full of hope. And somewhere between the arena and my front door, it hit me how lucky I am. Lucky to have lived long enough to see the game evolve. Lucky to still be part of it, lucky to have a community—all of you, who care enough to read these reflections and share this journey with me.

I was excited to get home, sit down, and write this for you, my loyal subscribers. Writing has become another kind of court for me, a place where I can show up and share what I’ve learned, and stay connected to the people who’ve supported me through every chapter of my life. So, thank you for being here and allowing me to share moments like this.

Some weekends fade. This one won’t.

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Citizen Lab report suggests Cellebrite software was used to break into Boniface Mwangi’s phone while he was under arrest

When Boniface Mwangi, the prominent Kenyan pro-democracy activist who plans to run for president in 2027, had his phones returned to him by Kenyan authorities after his controversial arrest last July, he immediately noticed a problem: one of the phones was no longer password protected and could be opened without one.

It was Mwangi’s personal phone, which he used to communicate with friends and mentors, and contained photos of private family moments with his wife and children. Knowing that its contents could be in the hands of the Kenyan government made Mwangi – who has described harassment and even torture – feel unsafe and “exposed”, he told the Guardian.

We did the math: Here's how much a new fridge model can save you over one that's a decade old.

The Californian once had ambitions of winning gold at the Winter Olympics. But now he is more interested in what skiing can do for the soul

Growing up in the Hayward Hills, just south of Oakland, California, Mallory Duncan lived a hybrid lifestyle throughout his childhood. Weekdays were spent at school, avoiding homework, disrupting class and getting in trouble. Weekends at Alpine Meadows, a ski resort on the north-west shores of Lake Tahoe, were for jumping off cliffs and skiing powder with friends. Every Sunday he would have dinner at his grandad’s house, watch football and listen to jazz.

“I’ve come to accept that I don’t always fit into the ski industry,” says Duncan, a professional skier, award-winning film-maker, entrepreneur and saxophonist. “I live in Portland and love the city life, music and the integration of art into my work. Being exposed to many different types of experiences helps me be more creative in everything I do.”

The Trump administration has bought warehouses across the US that could hold thousands. But resistance is growing

There is a vast building, reportedly the size of seven football fields, in Surprise, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix; ICE bought it for $70m. Another building, along the southern border in San Antonio, Texas, was valued at $37m; it’s 640,000 sq ft. In January, ICE bought a warehouse in Upper Bern Township, Pennsylvania, not far outside of Philadelphia, for $87.4m. In Williamsport, Maryland, outside Hagerstown, the cost of a facility on a nearly 54-acre plot was $102m.

These are massive, industrial spaces, built for holding goods to be shipped elsewhere. Warehouses are drafty and difficult to heat, hard-floored and high-ceilinged, not meant for human habitation. But the Trump administration is aiming to convert them into vast detention camps for immigrants. Some of the buildings could house as many as 9,000 people at a time. The rapid slew of new warehouse purchases by deportation agencies brings to mind the words of the ICE director, Todd Lyons, who told a conference last year that he wanted the effort to operate “like Amazon Prime, for human beings”.

Acolytes of the far-right activist urged employers to fire his critics. Now those who were terminated are suing and claiming their right to free speech

Julie Strebe, a 55-year-old sheriff’s deputy in the small Bible belt town of Salem, Missouri, was on a date with her husband at a Buffalo Wild Wings when her husband slid his phone across the table. On Facebook, people were demanding Strebe’s immediate termination, calling her a “wacko” with “extreme mental health issues”.

It was the afternoon of 13 September 2025, just a few days after Charlie Kirk had been killed by a sniper’s bullet on a college campus. Shortly after his assassination, Strebe had posted on her personal Facebook page: “Empathy is not owed to oppressors.” In comments underneath, she did not mince words. She called Kirk a racist, a sexist, an antisemite and the kind of person who wants to see gay people, like her own son, stoned to death. “I don’t feel bad,” she says, months later, speaking from her home. “I refuse to feel bad for this man, and the hateful things he stood for.”

Bloc also examines ‘addictive design’ of shopping site, including rewards, and its recommender systems

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The EU is to open a formal investigation into the Chinese retailer Shein over multiple suspected breaches of European laws including the sale of childlike sex dolls and weapons.

The European Commission said on Tuesday it had launched the inquiry after demanding information from the fast-growing company last year.

The conditions were treacherous in the Pacific Ocean, hundreds of miles off the Mexico–Guatemala border. There were https://www.weather.gov/mfl/beaufort#:~:text=Sea%20heaps%20up%20and%20white,when%20walking%20against%20the%20wind.&text=Moderately%20high%20waves%20of%20greater,off%20trees;%20generally%20impedes%20progress.&text=Very%20high%20waves%20with%20long,uprooted;%20considerable%20structural%20damage%20occurs.&text=Exceptionally%20high%20waves%20(small%20and,accompanied%20by%20wide%2Dspread%20damage.&text=The%20air%20is%20filled%20with,spray;%20visibility%20very%20seriously%20affected.gale-force winds and 9-foot seas. It https://boattest.com/article/boating-accidents-week-january-7-2023would be dangerous if you https://wbsm.com/new-bedford-boat-sinking-a-holiday-heartbreaker-opinion/were on a boat, nevermind if yours was blown out of the water.

Eight men leapt into those rough seas on December 30 when the U.S. rained down a barrage of munitions, sinking three vessels. They required immediate rescue; chances were slim that they could survive even an hour. In announcing its strike, U.S. Southern Command or SOUTHCOM, said it “immediately notified” the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue protocols to save the men.

But it took the United States Coast Guard almost 45 hours to begin searching the attack zone for survivors, new reporting by Airwars and The Intercept reveals.

Help did not arrive in time. A total of 11 civilians died due to the U.S. attack on December 30 — including the eight who jumped overboard, according to information provided https://theintercept.com/2026/01/08/us-military-boat-strike-deaths-undercount/exclusively to The Intercept by SOUTHCOM, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in and around Latin America and the Caribbean. This represents one of the largest single-day death tolls since the U.S. military began targeting alleged drug smuggling boats last September.

Using open-source flight tracking data, Airwars and The Intercept learned that a Coast Guard plane did not head toward the site of the attack for almost two days. A timeline provided by the Coast Guard confirmed that it was roughly 45 hours before a flight arrived at the search area.

The slow response and lack of rescue craft in the area suggests there was scant interest on the part of the U.S. in saving anyone. It’s part of a pattern of what appear to be imitation rescue missions that since mid-October have not saved a single survivor.

Related

The U.S. Has Killed More than 100 People in Boat Strikes. We’re Tracking Them All.

On December 30, Secretary of War https://x.com/Southcom/status/2006024586643599782Pete Hegseth told the Coast Guard’s parent agency — the Department of Homeland Security — that SOUTHCOM stood ready to provide them with “specialized maritime capabilities” in support of their missions. But just hours later, it was SOUTHCOM that called on the Coast Guard to conduct the search and rescue mission for the eight men.

The Coast Guard told The Intercept that it received the initial report of people in distress from SOUTHCOM at 1:40 p.m. Pacific time on December 30. (The exact timing of the U.S. strike is not known, but when SOUTHCOM posted about the attack on X the following day it wrote that it had “immediately notified” the Coast Guard).

The survivors jumped into the Pacific approximately 400 nautical miles southwest of Ocos, Guatemala. They faced extreme conditions: 9-foot seas and 40-knot winds, according to Kenneth Wiese, a spokesperson for the Coast Guard Southwest District.

The Coast Guard said it soon began contacting Maritime Rescue Coordination Centers in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica; the Central American Air Navigation Services Corporation, which provides regional air traffic control and search and rescue coordination; and eight commercial vessels within 200 nautical miles of the last known position of the survivors. A lone container vessel, the Maersk Eureka, responded to the call. On December 31 at 6:44 a.m. Pacific time, the ship arrived at the last known position of the survivors and found nothing.

That morning at 9:19 a.m. Pacific time, a Coast Guard C-130 search and rescue plane took off from Sacramento, California, and headed to Liberia, Costa Rica, “for refueling and crew rest.” A day later, on January 1 at 7:33 a.m. Pacific time, the aircraft left Costa Rica and headed toward the “search area,” according to the Coast Guard. It finally arrived “on scene” at 10:18 a.m. Pacific time on New Year’s Day.

The Coast Guard said that it suspended its search on January 2, https://www.news.uscg.mil/Press-Releases/Article/4370416/coast-guard-suspends-search-for-individuals-in-the-pacific-ocean/reporting “no sightings of survivors or debris.” A U.S. government official, https://theintercept.com/2026/01/07/boat-strikes-survivors/who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press, said the men were presumed dead when the search was ended.

“Suspending a search is never easy, and given the exhaustive search effort, lack of positive indications, and declining probability of survival, we have suspended active search efforts pending further developments,” said Coast Guard Capt. Patrick Dill, chief of incident management, Southwest District, at the time.

A second government official who spoke with The Intercept said the Coast Guard response didn’t look like “foot dragging,” but questioned why, after months of attacks in the region, search and rescue assets weren’t pre-positioned closer to the Eastern Pacific.

“SOUTHCOM doesn’t want these people alive,” that official said.

Asked for comment on the allegation, Southern Command spokesperson Steven McLoud said: “SOUTHCOM does not comment on speculative or unfounded reporting.”

The Coast Guard confirmed the C-130 sent from Sacramento was its only aircraft in the area. “There were no other Coast Guard assets in the area to assist with the search,” said spokesperson Lt. Cmdr. Lauren Giancola.

The Coast Guard would not explain why it hadn’t pre-positioned assets in the region. “Any questions regarding military operations including recent strikes should be referred directly to the Department of War,” Giancola told The Intercept.

Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson did not return a request for comment.

The search and rescue operation for the boat strike survivors differs starkly from the U.S. response when a U.S. Marine involved in the military campaign in the Caribbean fell overboard from the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima in the SOUTHCOM area of operations this month. It sparked a “nonstop search and rescue operation” that included hundreds of flight hours and extensive aviation support, according to a statement from the Marines’ II Marine Expeditionary Force. Five Navy ships, a rigid-hull inflatable boat, surface rescue swimmers from the Iwo Jima, and 10 aircraft from the Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force joined the search efforts. (Lance Cpl. Chukwuemeka E. Oforah, 21, was declared deceased on Feb. 10, 2026.)

The slow pace of the U.S. search for boat strike survivors suggests the goal wasn’t to save lives, said Brian Finucane, a former state department lawyer who is a specialist in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war.

“It does not appear as if they were eager to rescue additional survivors and then be faced with the question of ‘what do we do with them?’” he told The Intercept. “We’re going to hand off responsibility to the Coast Guard, which is going to arrive in a few days from California and look around and not find anything. So you can draw your own conclusions from that sequence.”

The U.S. military has carried out more than three dozen known attacks, destroying 40 boats, in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 134 civilians.  The most recent attack on Friday – the first known strike in the Caribbean Sea since early November – killed three people.

From the first strike, crewmembers have periodically survived initial attacks, leading the U.S. to employ a hodgepodge of strategies to deal with them, ranging from execution to repatriation. The Intercept was the first outlet to report that the U.S. military killed two survivors of the initial boat attack on September 2 in a follow-up strike. The two survivors clung to the wreckage of a vessel attacked by the U.S. military for roughly 45 minutes before Adm. Frank Bradley, then the head of Joint Special Operations Command, ordered a follow-up strike that killed the shipwrecked men.

Related

U.S. Attacked Boat Near Venezuela Multiple Times to Kill Survivors

Following an October 16 attack on a semi-submersible in the Caribbean Sea that killed two civilians, two other men were rescued by the U.S. and quickly repatriated to Colombia and Ecuador, respectively. President Donald Trump called them “terrorists” in a Truth Social post and said they would face “detention and prosecution.” But both men were released without charges in their home countries. Since this attack, the U.S. appears to have settled on a strategy of calling for what increasingly resemble imitation rescue missions.

Following three attacks on October 27 that killed 15 people aboard four separate boats, a survivor of a strike was spotted clinging to wreckage, and the U.S. alerted Mexican authorities. The man was not found, and he is presumed dead.

Last month, SOUTHCOM again called on the Coast Guard. “On Friday, January 23rd, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified by the Department of War’s Southern Command of a person in distress in the Pacific Ocean,” Coast Guard spokesperson Roberto Nieves told The Intercept. A timeline provided by the Coast Guard shows that it took about 17 hours for a Coast Guard C-130 to arrive at the survivor’s last known position, but that aircraft only conducted an hourlong search before “diverting to El Salvador for fuel and crew rest.” It returned to the last known position of the survivor on January 25, about 51 hours after the initial distress call. The search was suspended that night just before 8 p.m. Pacific time, and that person is now also presumed dead.

Following a strike last week — the third since Marine Gen. Francis L. Donovan became SOUTHCOM’s new commander earlier this month — the command announced that it had once again notified the Coast Guard “to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor.” The Coast Guard, in turn, told The Intercept that Ecuador’s Maritime Rescue Coordination Center “assumed coordination of search and rescue operations, with technical support provided by the U.S. Coast Guard.” The Coast Guard then walked it back and said the U.S. had only “offered” assistance. Ecuador’s rescue authorities did not return multiple requests for an update on the search.

The second government official, who spoke with The Intercept on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment about the boat strikes, said that survivors created “complications and questions” for the U.S. military and intelligence community. Rather than risk exposing intelligence sources and methods by bringing these men to court, the official said it was simpler to leave them to drown. Finucane echoed this assessment. “After rescuing the men in October, it was apparent there would be a strong incentive not to have additional survivors on their hands,” he said.

William Baumgartner, a retired U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral and former chief counsel of that service branch, said the December 30 attack was tantamount to a death sentence. “Once the people jump in the water and you blow up the only thing that could possibly save their lives, that’s essentially killing them,” Baumgartner told The Intercept last month. “The expected result is essentially the same as putting a gun to their head.”

Experts say the survivors of the December 30 attacks likely https://theintercept.com/2026/01/07/boat-strikes-survivors/died within minutes. Accomplished swimmers, clinging to wreckage or flotation devices in warmer waters, could survive longer, some said. None considered that likely in this case.

“The combination of the wind and the waves would force feed water into the victim. If the waves don’t drown you, the hypothermia will kill you,” said Tom Griffiths, the founder of the http://www.aquaticsafetygroup.com/Aquatic Safety Research Group, who previously served as the director of aquatics and safety officer for athletics at Penn State University. “Drowning often takes as little as four to six minutes for a non-swimmer but can be as quick as 90 seconds. I would think under these conditions it could be almost as quick.”

John Fletemeyer, an aquatics expert and co-author of “The Science of Drowning,” said that people have survived in the water for up to two days. But such cases, he said, are “outliers.”

“It can be almost instantaneous, where it can happen in just a couple minutes if someone cannot swim and they go underwater,” Fletemeyer said. A frequent expert in murder-homicide cases, he explained in detail the pain and suffering involved in drowning. There is also the potential for shark attack, he said, due to blood in the water from those killed in the initial strike.

“If we know somebody is in the water dying,” he said, “I think we have a human responsibility to try to save them.”

The post U.S. Sent a Rescue Plane for Boat Strike Survivors. It Took 45 Hours to Arrive. appeared first on The Intercept.

Trump says everyday Americans deserve a chance to buy higher-risk ‘alternative’ investments. Critics say this could lead to big losses for small investors

On a summer day in 2018, Cathy Shubert, then 58, hopped in her Toyota Rav 4 and drove to the Jacksonville, Florida, office of Mario Payne, an investment adviser at the financial services firm Raymond James. She had a lot on her mind. She was not happy with her job at a local bank branch and wanted to see if Payne thought she had saved enough to retire.

“He said what I was retiring with would carry me and everything would be wonderful,” she remembered. “I went home and told my husband, ‘Oh my God, I want you to go meet him.’”

A trailblazer in the civil rights movement and Democratic politics, Jackson championed the rights of Black, poor and working-class people with his ‘rainbow coalition’

• Jesse Jackson dies – latest updates

• Jesse Jackson – a life in pictures

The Rev Jesse Jackson, the civil rights campaigner who was prominent for more than 50 years and who ran strongly for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988, has died. He was 84.

“Our father was a servant leader – not only to our family, but to the oppressed, the voiceless, and the overlooked around the world,” the Jackson family said in a statement.

They call them “box cutters,” but everyone on the flightline knows what the term really means. The blades slide out at the push of a button, revealing high-end knives made and marketed for active combat. They cost the federal government hundreds of dollars each — and come free to maintenance workers in the Air Force who order them through the supply system and hand them out as favors.

For nearly a decade, Air Force maintenance units spent more than $1.79 million in taxpayer funds buying 5,166 high-end knives and other luxury items, including switchblades and combat-style tactical knives with no legitimate maintenance use, The Intercept has found. It’s a drop in the bucket of a U.S. military budget creeping ever closer to a trillion dollars, about $300 billion of which belongs to the Air Force. But with a military budget so bloated, the knife-ordering frenzy illustrates how obviously frivolous spending can go unchecked.

“Everyone knew we didn’t need them,” said a former noncommissioned officer recently honorably discharged from Hill Air Force Base. “There was literally zero justification in any maintenance field.”

The Benchmade Infidel and Mini Infidel, the most popular choices, are sleek and black, with automatic blades that slide straight out the front. Their presence on the flightline, where maintainers work to repair and tune up airplanes between flights, is difficult to justify — and often outright banned. Procurement records obtained via Freedom of Information Act requests show that Air Force maintenance units have been buying the knives as far back as at least 2017 and as recently as June 2025, spanning multiple major commands.

Accounting for roughly a quarter of troops in the Air Force, maintainers are the technicians and mechanics responsible for upkeep of approximately 5,000 planes. They’re chronically understaffed and overworked, as The Intercept previously reported, and maintainers spanning nine bases and major commands said that some of the crucial supplies they need for maintenance — like safety wire, specialized hydraulic fluids, and calibrated test equipment — are difficult to obtain. Maintainers said that while essential tools and materials were often delayed or unavailable, nonessential items like high-end knives moved easily through the supply system, likely due to an apparent misclassification, as a procurement expert explained to The Intercept.

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“It always felt like we were just putting duct tape on these jets to keep them flying,” said an active-duty senior airman who previously served in the 57th Maintenance Wing at Nellis Air Force Base. “Jets would come back with the same broken parts or worse, just so we could meet flight numbers. We never had money for proper tools, but there would be brand-new computers, unit flags, or other items to make the unit look better.”

For some maintainers, the option to order a shiny combat knife for free is something of a silver lining. “This is one of the only good things that maintainers get,” said a former maintainer from Edwards Air Force Base.

In other cases, the knives were markers of inclusion. “Tech sergeants would come in for a short time and get a knife as a welcome present,” said the former maintainer from Hill.

Nine current and former Air Force maintainers who spoke to The Intercept for this story were granted anonymity because they feared retaliation. As is common in the military, maintainers who raise concerns about excessive spending can face ostracization or professional consequences.

 “It wasn’t like higher-ups would be mad if they caught you,” said the source from Hill. “They had knives too.”

“Supply Could Hook Them Up”

“We were told that if you wanted one, all you had to do was be friends with people attached to the supply line,” said a source who worked in the backshop at Nellis. “I knew plenty of people who would do favors for supply troops to get their hands on a knife.”

Six people stationed at Nellis between 2017 and 2024 confirmed that misuse of the supply system was common. One source said they still have six Benchmade knives, gifted by a noncommissioned officer in the 57th Wing. The source said they were never told how those knives were obtained.

More than 59 active-duty Air Force bases in the United States and numerous overseas installations operate under the same supply system. The Intercept submitted requests for procurement data to 28 Air Force bases and received responsive records from 12 installations. Every base that returned records showed similar knife-ordering patterns across its flightline maintenance units.

“Most things were done with handshakes, winks and nods. Definitely a good ol’ boys club,” said Micah Templin, a former weapons troop in the 57th Maintenance Wing at Nellis. “There were quid pro quos and IOUs. If you did someone a favor one day, maybe your chief or leadership would feel comfortable looking the other way on another.”

Sources from U.S. Air Force units in the continental United States, South Korea, and Germany said personnel routinely used the term “box cutters” as a euphemism for the knives. This made them sound simple and practical, several maintainers said, while the knives themselves were prized largely for their appearance, retail price, and the status of owning one rather than any maintenance-related use. Maintainers interviewed by The Intercept said the knives were popular largely because they “look cool.”

While Defense Logistics Agency records show how many knives were purchased overall, FOIA responses from individual bases offer only a partial picture of where those orders originated. But every installation that did provide records showed recognizable patterns, suggesting the practice was not limited to a single base or command.

Several maintainers said they believed leadership used unit funds to purchase high-end items that were later diverted for personal use, describing a culture in which “nothing was given out without a take.” Maintainers said those who resisted or questioned practices could find themselves scrutinized or under extra pressure, which discouraged reporting and allowed misuse of the supply system to continue unchecked.

“I feel like maintainer leadership will legally do everything they can to keep someone from speaking out and do anything to protect their careers. That’s the trend within senior leadership in maintenance,” the backshop source said.

Seven sources from domestic and overseas units said this often means senior enlisted personnel direct junior troops to place orders, move items, or handle deliveries on their behalf. For those with access, it’s easy to order items with minimal oversight. The practice, sources said, allowed leadership to benefit from questionable purchases while shielding themselves from scrutiny and leaving lower-ranking airmen exposed to potential disciplinary or legal consequences.

Knives were the most common example of the misspending, but maintainers described similar practices involving other high-end items. Five airmen who served in the 64th Aggressor Squadron’s maintenance units at Nellis Air Force Base between 2018 and 2020 said senior noncommissioned officers in the squadron’s Combat Oriented Supply Organization routinely ordered new flat-screen televisions for maintenance spaces, then placed the fully functional replaced sets into unit storage areas. According to the airmen, senior noncommissioned officers later removed some of the televisions from unit spaces for personal use.

“I remember a time when a tech sergeant ordered a ton of Yeti coolers and then told me to load them directly into his private vehicle,” said an active-duty avionics troop stationed in Europe, granted anonymity for fear of retaliation. “It was always ordered in ones and twos. Anything else would raise too much suspicion.”

According to Dallas Sharrah, a former staff sergeant who served at Nellis Air Force Base: “People were mainly ordering switchblades or Oakley sunglasses for their buddies. Supply could hook them up a bit before they got yelled at.”

Costly Debris

Outside of toolkits, knives are never allowed on the flightline. They’re considered Foreign Object Debris, according to former maintenance officers, meaning they’re at risk of being sucked into an aircraft intake and damaging the engine.

The Air Force Materiel Management Handbook says that all orders must be justified for official use, but classification issues in the procurement catalog blurred the lines that define what qualifies. The knives are broadly available through standard supply channels, making repeated or bulk orders easy to place. At Nellis, purchases often averaged 20 knives per order, with some as high as 47.

“In the aggregate, someone had to be doing an audit somewhere and said to themselves, ‘Why did we order so many knives? Why are those requisitions restricted to certain bases and certain units? What is going on here?’ Clearly, no one was looking,” said Steve Leonard, a retired senior military strategist, procurement expert, and professor at the University of Kansas.

The procurement catalog is divided into subsections, Leonard explained, and knives were listed as Class IX, a category shared with maintenance-related items. But in his view, the knives should have been considered Class II items, which are intended for individual issue and subject to stricter justification, approval, and accountability requirements.

Items classified as Class II are typically restricted from purchase with unit funds if they primarily benefit individuals, while Class IX repair parts move through maintenance supply channels with far less scrutiny. “Most people aren’t interested in stealing hydraulic valves,” he said.

Defense Logistics Agency procurement records show the knives carry a “J” security code, meaning they are treated as security-related items rather than maintenance equipment, a designation that undermines their classification as routine repair parts.

When asked about the findings, an Air Force spokesperson did not address specific allegations or installations. The Intercept provided the Department of the Air Force with FOIA records, national stock numbers, and other evidence of more than $1 million in suspect knife purchases across six installations.

“The Department of the Air Force takes all allegations of fraud seriously and has processes and procedures in place to investigate them,” the spokesperson wrote in response. “If service members or citizens have concerns or evidence of specific wrongdoing, they are encouraged to report the information to local law enforcement or their Office of Special Investigation.”

Benchmade, the manufacturer of the Infidel and Mini Infidel knives most named in procurement records and troop testimonies, declined to comment.

Limited Oversight

It remains unclear how many knives airmen have obtained in recent months. On June 9, 2025, The Intercept submitted FOIA requests to 28 Air Force bases. Twelve installations provided responsive procurement records, while the remaining bases delayed, obstructed, or did not meaningfully respond.

At Hill Air Force Base, officials falsely claimed records from another installation were their own. Davis–Monthan Air Force Base admitted it had gone months with no staff to process FOIA requests. Joint Base San Antonio–Randolph reported spending only 30 minutes searching eight years of procurement records before declaring no knife purchases existed. At Luke Air Force Base, an officer sent conflicting messages about whether a request had been received, then attempted to delete an earlier acknowledgment email.

Air Force spokesperson Ann Stefanek said she had not previously been aware of the purchases or inconsistencies in the bases’ FOIA replies. “I am literally trying to understand what to look for and who to ask,” she wrote in an email.

The Defense Department’s inspector general system, responsible for oversight of potential fraud and other misconduct, declined to comment on the knife purchases. An inspector general spokesperson said the office does not comment on active investigations and would not say whether any investigation related to the purchases was underway. The IG system is undergoing a major overhaul, with many positions open under the second Trump administration.

At the same time, Air Force inspector general complaint records obtained by The Intercept through FOIA requests show that from January 2016 through December 2022, maintenance and munitions units at Nellis Air Force Base generated at least 274 complaints. The allegations included abuse of authority, reprisal, potential contracting fraud, and hostile work environments.

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Many of the complaints were recorded as “assisted” or closed within days, averaging roughly three complaints per month over six years from the same units later tied to irregular knife purchases documented in this reporting.

Scott Amey, general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a nonpartisan watchdog, said the pattern reflects broader concerns about misuse of government funds and poor oversight. “While every instance might not be fraudulent, I’ll expect many of the knives purchased are for personal use with taxpayers picking up the tab,” he said. “Wasted money and unauthorized use is a bad mix, and only the tip of the iceberg.”

At Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, FOIA-obtained records describe a “recurring problem with physical location and quantity consistency” of supply items and note that “thievery is not out of question.” As a corrective step, the documents say leadership submitted an unfunded request for surveillance cameras through the procurement system.

The post Air Force Maintenance Staff Can’t Stop Buying Fancy Knives With Tax Dollars appeared first on The Intercept.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Over the last two years, Delaware environmental regulators have found that equipment failures and other related operational issues at the Delaware City refinery led to the unpermitted release of hundreds of thousands of hazardous chemicals into the atmosphere. Now the company is appealing some $300,000 in fines and other measures that came in response to those releases. 

State environmental regulators said last week that the Delaware City refinery has appealed their recent orders to install air monitoring equipment, and to pay a $300,000 penalty for releasing hazardous pollutants into the air. 

The appeals will be considered by the state’s Environmental Appeals Board. No hearing dates have been scheduled.

The refinery’s appeals came in response to two state orders, issued in December, that included penalties for an 18-day stretch of emissions that sent nearly a million pounds of sulfur dioxide, and thousands of pounds of other toxic chemicals, such as carbon monoxide, ammonia and hydrogen cyanide, into the air in the spring of 2025.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says that short-term exposure to sulfur dioxide “can harm the human respiratory system and make breathing difficult.”

Less than six months after the spring emissions, the Delaware City Refining Company told DNREC that a “mechanical failure” at the facility had caused another pollution incident – this time an overnight release of 1,000 pounds of butane. The refinery company later revised the report, stating it actually released more than 100 tons of chemicals, including nearly 50,000 pounds of butane alone.

Weeks later, on Dec. 12, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control demanded that the refinery install additional air monitors. 

A spokesperson for the refinery, which is owned by New Jersey-based PBF Energy, declined comment for this story, but shared a Dec. 31 statement from the company that said it would be “technically infeasible” to meet the timeline DNREC set to install fenceline air monitors.

The statement also said the company would work “collaboratively with DNREC to amend and ultimately comply with” that order.

Less than two weeks after the first December order, DNREC issued a second order that outlined multiple air pollution violations spanning 2024 and 2025, including the stretch of continuous emission from May 25 to June 11 of last year. 

In the order, which landed on the Sunday before Christmas, DNREC Secretary Gregory Patterson fined the refinery company $300,000, as an administrative penalty. The order also noted that ongoing problems with boilers at the refinery’s coking unit were supposed to have been resolved following a settlement the facility signed in 2023. 

By law, state regulators can impose fines of up to $10,000 per day for such violations.

In response, Delaware City Mayor Paul Johnson said it was refreshing to see DNREC be more involved with ongoing issues at the refinery. 

“We support anything that’s gonna be done to improve the health and safety of our residents,” he said. 

When DNREC announced the Dec. 12 order requiring the company to install new monitoring equipment, the agency also noted it would pursue new statewide regulations for fenceline air monitoring at industrial facilities like the refinery. That process is now underway, according to a regulatory notice that Patterson signed on Feb. 1.

The agency has also ordered additional air monitoring equipment that will be added to an existing monitoring device on Route 9 downwind of the Delaware City Refinery.

The post Delaware City refinery appeals two state sanctions for past emissions appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

A number of prominent figures have stepped down or are facing investigations after their communications with Jeffrey Epstein and his former longtime companion, Ghislaine Maxwell, were released last month.

Why Should Delaware Care?
The city of Dover is one step closer to implementing a slew of opioid use remedies after a task force appointed by the mayor has finalized its list of recommended proposals. The city plans to use the first round of its 12 designated opioid settlement fund allotments to implement youth-focused initiatives.

An appointed group of Dover city leaders finalized a list of recommendations last week, proposing six ways the capital city could use its quarter-million-dollar share of the state’s opioid settlement commission funds, with a focus on youth outreach.

In response to pushback over Mayor Robin Christiansen’s controversial suggestions last fall for the city to use its share of the settlement funds to build a swimming pool, Christiansen created a “Blue Ribbon Opioid Use Disorder Task Force” to examine how the city could best allocate its first $250,000. 

The recommendation the task force is prioritizing most strongly is a youth-focused campaign allowing kids to express their emotions and struggles with drug use through social media videos and live theater, said City Councilman Roy Sudler, who chairs the task force. 

“We feel as though a unique way to grasp the attention of the youth and do outreach to the youth is through theater, arts, and Tik Tok,” he told Spotlight Delaware.

Sudler, who has a background in mental health and drug abuse research, said the task force is already working on a partnership to carry out the recommendation with the Capital School District – which includes the city of Dover – Delaware State University, and the Biggs Museum of American Art. 

A spokesperson for the Capital School District confirmed the planned partnership in a message to Spotlight Delaware. Representatives from Delaware State University and the Biggs Museum did not respond to requests for comment. 

At the same time, Sudler said, the city will work with the state’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Commission (POSDC) – which distributes money from legal settlements with drug manufacturers to municipalities and local organizations – to set up an online portal for other youth-focused organizations to apply for a portion of the city’s first funding allocation later this spring. 

The other five recommendations include investing funds in a detox treatment center, expanding telehealth services for opioid users and standing up a mobile intervention unit to provide immediate referrals for drug users. 

Sudler said Christiansen is “in total agreement” with the task force’s recommendations, but it will be up to the city council to approve them before the POSDC gives them final approval in late-March. 

Christiansen did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment about the task force.

The POSDC will direct 15% of its total funding to 10 local jurisdictions – including Dover, Wilmington, Seaford and each of the state’s three counties – for the first time this spring, said POSDC Director Brad Owens. 

The amount of money each jurisdiction will receive was determined based on a formula of population size, drug overdose deaths, and the number of admissions to substance use treatment facilities, Owens added. 

A closer look at the recommendations 

Sudler presented the same six recommendations at the first task force meeting in October 2025 that the group ultimately voted to approve this month. 

He initially spent time researching the city’s opioid use environment and having conversations with community members before he first brought the ideas to the task force. 

From there, he said, he gave the task force a chance to propose any amendments or other recommendations, but the group ended up agreeing with his original ideas. 

When asked about the youth initiative at a Feb. 12 task force meeting, member Bernard Pratt, an employee at Delaware State University, said he was just “being a sponge” and absorbing what experts were presenting to the committee. 

Other members, including community activist Chelle Paul, praised the youth recommendation as an effective way to address the problem early and reach the many struggling kids in the community. 

To Tammy Anderson, a University of Delaware professor who studies drug use, the youth initiative is a good way of focusing on prevention, and reaching kids on the platforms they like to use, like Tik Tok. 

“It’s worth investing in because so many young people are tuned into it,” she said. “That’s where you’ll capture them.” 

Anderson also said she’d encourage the city to pursue the task force’s recommendations relating to detox center infrastructure and expanded behavioral health resources. However, she said she is “less enthusiastic about’ the ideas of more telehealth services and a mobile intervention unit, as they have been shown to have fewer results for decreasing drug use. 

While Anderson highlighted the nuances of which recommendations might be more effective, Owens, the POSDC director, said the commission will allow Dover to pursue whichever recommendations the city council elects to focus on with the settlement money. 

“It’s ultimately their discretion,” Owens said. “That’s the whole point to give locals some authority as to how they spend the money.”

Swimming in ideas

At a city council committee meeting in September 2025, Christiansen suggested the city “be creative” with its opioid settlement funding, and put money toward a proposed $20 million pool. 

While Christiansen defended the idea in an interview with Spotlight Delaware in September, the suggestion drew a wide range of criticism from city council members, residents and other state officials. 

Owens told Spotlight Delaware spending the money on a pool would be “a hard stretch.” 

“I told the mayor to focus on initiatives that are more directly linked to opioid use,” Owens said. 

In an effort to quiet concerns about his pool suggestion, Christiansen stood up the task force to create recommendations for how Dover could best use its first round of settlement funds.

The city will continue to receive $250,000 annually for the next 12 years from the POSDC. 

The city of Dover’s first round of money comes on the heels of past controversies involving central Delaware nonprofits misusing opioid settlement funds.

Code Purple Kent County, a nonprofit that provides overnight homelessness services during the winter months, was investigated by the Delaware Department of Justice in the summer of 2024 for misusing the roughly $300,000 it received from the POSDC. 

Karen Wilder, the former director of the Dover Interfaith Mission for Housing, which has men’s and women’s homeless shelters in Dover, was sentenced to prison in January for embezzling $700,000 of the organization’s funds, some of which came from the opioid money.

‘The healing process’

The task force’s final meeting on Feb. 12 included both discussion about the proposed youth-focused initiative and community member perspectives on the opioid use situation in Dover. 

Cammerin Norwood, a community advocate who works in youth violence intervention, said at the meeting that he has found the best way to reach kids is by meeting them where they are. 

“Kids won’t just come out and say things immediately,” Norwood, who founded a youth outreach program, said. “It’s just when they feel that the space is safe.” 

Other attendees spoke to the group about their own struggles with addiction and feeling disenchanted as youth, and the types of outreach that helped push them into recovery. 

According to data from the Delaware Department of Health and Human Services, the city of Dover recorded 34 suspected overdose deaths in 2024. That number was down from 44 deaths in 2023, and 40 in 2022. 

The agency does not yet have numbers for 2025. 

Sudler said it was important to him that the task force meetings be a part of the “healing process, the bonding and the village,” for Dover residents to come together and share experiences. 

City Councilman Brian Lewis, who is not an official member of the task force but was present at the meeting, gave a similar speech about the need for more patience and leadership, especially at a time when the city government has become divided, he said. 

“I think we need to sit back and listen,” Lewis said. “That’s one of the problems right now in this city with the leadership – they don’t listen.” 

Since last fall, the Dover city government has become bitterly divided over discussions of an anti-panhandling ordinance, which have been drawn out over a series of months. Sudler and Lewis have been outspoken critics of the proposal, while Christiansen and City Council President Fred Neil stand in support.

Sudler said he believes the city council used to be open and welcoming with its meetings – like he said the task force has been – but the body is not like that now.

“I hope that city council can get to that point again, he added.

The post Dover task force advances youth-focused opioid recommendations appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Why Should Delaware Care?
Charging people with loitering has been controversial across Delaware in the years since the ACLU sued the state and the city of Wilmington for enforcing such laws unconstitutionally. Wilmington is now aiming to revise its loitering ordinance, but is facing backlash from advocates, who say the bill will perpetuate racial profiling and criminalize homelessness. 

Two years after Wilmington agreed in a settlement to not enforce loitering and panhandling laws, the City Council is now drafting a new proposal that would restrict individuals from lingering on public sidewalks, among other places.

Supporters say the measure would stop individuals from disrupting business and hanging around homes.

But opponents have raised concerns, saying the proposal is vague and could create opportunities for law enforcement to profile residents. 

“There’s no clear standard. It’s whatever the enforcer feels like that day,” Northeast city resident Meme Sebelist said during a City Council Public Safety committee last week.

The proposal comes about three years after the American Civil Liberties Union sued Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings and the City of Wilmington over policing tactics used on homeless people. The two sides settled in 2024, with an agreement that barred local police from arresting individuals who had asked strangers for money or who had lingered in public areas. 

Jennings promised not to enforce existing state and city loitering statutes until they were amended to address questions about their constitutionality. 

In November, City Councilman Chris Johnson proposed the first version of a new loitering ordinance for Wilmington. He says it was not aimed at unhoused individuals, but instead sought to address concerns of homeowners and businesses about individuals obstructing sidewalks, lingering in front of private properties, and engaging in illegal activity. 

Initially scheduled to be discussed during a Feb. 9 City Council meeting, Johnson removed the ordinance from consideration after the ACLU of Delaware sent him a letter calling the measure unconstitutional. In the letter, the organization’s interim legal director, Jason Beehler, asked Johnson to permanently withdraw the ordinance to “prevent the need for a federal lawsuit.”

ACLU staff attorney Jared Silberglied later told Spotlight Delaware that his team is “very concerned” about the ability of unhoused people to exercise rights.

And he said “all options remain on the table as we assess” the ongoing proposals. 

For his part, Johnson has asserted that the ACLU’s letter wasn’t the only reason he pulled the legislation, saying he wants to have more conversations about the ordinance with his colleagues on the Council, police, and with residents.

He noted that he has already been in discussions with the Wilmington Police Department and with Mayor John Carney’s office, and plans to conduct public forums to discuss the legislation with residents.

Asked if Carney supported the bill, a spokeswoman from Carney’s office told Spotlight Delaware that Carney has not been directly involved in conversations about Johnson’s ordinance.

Over the past year, Carney has publicly stated that he plans to restrict homeless encampments to Christina Park in Wilmington’s Eastside. Carney’s spokeswoman Caroline Klinger said the mayor still plans to do so with a separate measure that will be proposed to the City Council or to another regulatory body. 

Klinger did not provide a timeline for when Carney’s proposal would be introduced. 

Johnson told Spotlight Delaware that he plans to re-introduce his loitering legislation later this year. 

‘Not usual for law-abiding individuals’

Despite the plans to rework the ordinance, over a dozen residents voiced their opposition to the proposal during last week’s City Council meeting.

Many asserted the version would disproportionately impact the city’s unhoused population, people of color, and could negatively affect the city’s immigrant community.

“There are no edits that you can make to this bill to make it better,” said Shyanne Miller, a city resident and homelessness advocate. “Just drop the bill.”

The initial draft of Johnson’s loitering proposal would have barred people from obstructing the passage of others, deliberately walking slowly, or lingering within 50 feet of homes, schools, restaurants, entertainment venues, or vacant properties in residential or commercial areas.

When determining whether a person is loitering, the draft ordinance states that a police officer can also consider several factors that fall outside the scope of the general loitering definition. Those include a refusal to provide identification, an attempt to run away or hide, or the use of threatening or harassing conduct or language.

Police could also charge someone with loitering if the time of day was considered “not usual for law-abiding individuals under circumstances that warrant an immediate and reasonable alarm for the safety” of others. 

The bill would have also imposed a $100 fine for a first loitering offense, increasing to $250 for a second offense, $450 for a third offense, and $500 for each additional violation after that. 

Lena Grayson, owner of Lena’s and Ant’ Bumpy’s, a soul food restaurant that has sat on the corner of Shipley and 8th streets for the past five years, told Spotlight Delaware that she hasn’t had any bad experiences with people loitering outside of her business.  

Grayson’s restaurant sits across the street from the Episcopal Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, which provides services to the city’s homeless community. The outside of the church is often frequented by unhoused residents. 

Grayson said sometimes individuals will come in asking for food or money, and at times she will provide a meal before telling them to leave. 

She says the city needs to provide more shelter for the homeless. 

“They have nowhere else to go,” she said. 

The Rev. Patrick Burke, pastor at the Church of Saints Andrew and Matthew, characterized the loitering proposal as one that criminalizes homelessness. As it is currently written, he said it provides police with broad discretion on how to enforce the policy. 

“Criminalizing standing on the sidewalk or on private property, waiting for services, criminalizing that behavior only makes their re-entry into all these different services harder,” Burke said. 

In response to the criticism, Johnson said during the February meeting that his motive behind the proposal is public safety. He also noted that he and other council members have been “on the side of progressive justice” with respect to various reforms in the city.  

He also said that for every 20 opponents of the ordinance, “there’s probably 200, 300 more that actually support this.”  

“Understand that grandmother, that homeowner who owns their house, they have a right to enjoy their house,” he said.

Echoing the concerns of residents at the meeting were Councilman Coby Owens and City Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo. 

Proposal comes amid statewide debate

Johnson’s loitering ordinance comes as the state of Delaware and other municipalities grapple with how to deal with loitering and solicitation. 

The Dover City Council, for example, has divided into factions and is weighing threats of a legal challenge over a proposed ordinance that would prohibit people from stopping and standing on street medians. The city government is set to vote on the measure later this month.

At the state level, Attorney General Kathy Jennings announced last week that her office would draft its own amended state legislation for the Delaware General Assembly to curb loitering and panhandling. 

But that proposed legislation has already caused tension, as some state lawmakers noted they were not unaware that she would be sending over a bill.

Mat Marshall, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office, said the bill has not yet been filed and there is no timeline for when it might be discussed during this year’s legislative session. 

He further stated that the DOJ’s proposal is not the only option available to lawmakers, “but if they want a constitutional loitering [bill], this is something they could use as a solution.”

Marshall noted that the AG’s office had been in discussion with Wilmington officials recently about the issue. He said Jennings’ bill had been sent to Wilmington’s city solicitor and to Claire DeMatteis, who served as chair for Carney’s Homelessness Task Force.  

With regards to Johnson’s proposal, Marshall said the language in the ordinance has “deviated tremendously” from what Jennings has proposed. He said the AG’s office had not been in discussions with Johnson.

The post Debate grows as Wilmington crafts new loitering ordinance appeared first on Spotlight Delaware.

Official says blockade on ‘shadow fleet’ would be illegal, and raises prospect of retaliation against European vessels

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A senior Russian official has said Moscow could deploy its navy to protect Russian-linked vessels from potential European seizures, raising the prospect of retaliatory action against European shipping as pressure on the Kremlin’s so-called shadow fleet intensifies.

Nikolai Patrushev, a former FSB director who heads Russia’s maritime board, said on Tuesday that the country’s navy should be ready to counter what he described as “western piracy”.

Singer-songwriter Sam Battle has built online fanbase through building and playing unusual instruments

The YouTuber and experimental singer-songwriter Look Mum No Computer will represent the UK at the Eurovision song contest in Vienna in May, the BBC has announced.

The performer and self-professed Eurovision fan, whose real name is Sam Battle, launched his YouTube channel in 2016. He has amassed more than 85m views and 1.4 million subscribers and followers across his various social accounts.

An anonymous reader shares a report: The European Parliament has disabled AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity and data protection concerns, according to an internal email seen by POLITICO. The chamber emailed its members on Monday to say it had disabled "built-in artificial intelligence features" on corporate tablets after its IT department assessed it couldn't guarantee the security of the tools' data. "Some of these features use cloud services to carry out tasks that could be handled locally, sending data off the device," the Parliament's e-MEP tech support desk said in the email. "As these features continue to evolve and become available on more devices, the full extent of data shared with service providers is still being assessed. Until this is fully clarified, it is considered safer to keep such features disabled."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Hopes of success remain low after Trump points finger at Zelenskyy and Moscow keeps up hardline demands

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Senior Ukrainian and Russian officials are to meet this week in Switzerland for a third round of talks brokered by the Trump administration, days before the fourth anniversary of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The two-day meeting, kicking off on Tuesday, is expected to mirror negotiations held earlier this month in Abu Dhabi, with representatives from Washington, Kyiv and Moscow in attendance. Despite renewed US efforts to revive diplomacy, hopes for any sudden breakthrough remain low, with Russia continuing to press maximalist demands on Ukraine.

There’s a lesson here for the UK and the anti-WHO Nigel Farage – Trump attacks it in public, but in private he knows he still needs it

Donald Trump is persistent. In his first term as president, he withdrew the US from the World Health Organization (WHO) on 6 July 2020, giving the necessary one-year notice period. Soon after, Joe Biden was elected, and he reversed this executive order within days of being in office, reinstating the US support for the agency on 20 January 2021. While many hoped this would be the end of the story, Trump came back with a vengeance in his second term and immediately signed an executive order withdrawing on 20 January 2025.

This means that – buried under news of other Trump-related chaos – the US formally left the WHO at the end of last month. It is just the second time in the agency’s history a major power has left. In 1949, during the cold war, the USSR withdrew citing unhappiness with the US influence over the organisation. In 1956, with concerns over disease surveillance and spread, the USSR re-engaged with the UN system.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh

Australian Antarctic Program scientists say virus on Heard Island has spread to new species

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The gentoo penguin has become the first bird to test positive for the H5N1 bird flu on an Australian territory, with samples confirming the virus has spread on a sub-Antarctic island.

The deadly and contagious strain of bird flu, which has already killed millions of seabirds, wild birds and poultry overseas, was confirmed in southern elephant seals on Heard Island in November 2025.

Its ‘fibre checker’ tool confirmed I could have a connection, but a month later it changed its mind