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Top News Stories for Friday, February 20th 2026
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent Notifications can be managed in browser preferences. Swipe for next article Stephen Colbert claims CBS told him not to broadcast an interview with Senate candidate James Talarico Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has clapped back at Stephen Colbert after he claims CBS told him not to air an interview with a Democratic ...
Source: independent.co.uk
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — After days of increasingly brutal conditions in California's Sierra Nevada, a group of 15 backcountry skiers set out for home. But as they left remote huts at thousands of feet of elevation and trekked back toward the trailhead, they were slammed by a treacherous avalanche that left eight dead and one missing. With avalanche warnings in effect through early Thursday, officials were ...
Source: bostonglobe.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
French president rejects US criticism as António Guterres and Narendra Modi warn on child safety and AI monopolies Emmanuel Macron has hit back at US criticism of Europe's efforts to regulate AI, vowing to protect children from "digital abuse" during France's presidency of the G7. Speaking at the AI Impact summit in Delhi, the French president called for tougher safeguards after global outrage over Elon ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
President Donald Trump was able to push through many of the tax breaks he touted on the campaign trail, but experts said they may be more hype than savings for some taxpayers. Four main tax breaks were created with the passage of Trump's sweeping budget bill in July 2025: no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, a deduction on qualifying new auto loans and a $6,000 senior deduction, which passed instead of no federal ...
Source: chicago.suntimes.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
The family of Virginia Giuffre , who alleged she was trafficked to engage in sex with former Prince Andrew when she was a teenager, thanked British police on Thursday after his arrest for suspected misconduct in public office . "At last, today, our broken hearts have been lifted at the news that no one is above the law, not even royalty," Giuffre's siblings said in a statement shared with CBS News. "On behalf of ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
will gather Thursday with representatives from that have — and several that have opted not to — for an inaugural meeting that will focus on and building an international stabilization force for , where a shaky ceasefire deal persists. Trump announced ahead of the meeting that board members for reconstruction, a fraction of the estimated $70 billion needed to rebuild the Palestinian territory decimated ...
Source: news4jax.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Behind the scenes, real journalism faces real resistance. We keep reporting anyway. Member support protects our independence and keeps tough stories in the light. Join today to help defend a free press. Already a member? AUSTIN, Texas – Seven months and $60 million later, Senate Republicans' efforts to rescue one of their caucus' leading members have proven totally ineffective, driving worries the party could ...
Source: huffpost.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Trump told the U.K. not to "give away" the Chagos Islands, which is where a joint U.S.-U.K. military base is located. The president suggested the Chagos deal was prompted by "Wokeism" after the U.K. has come under pressure to hand the islands back to Mauritius. The U.S. is due to hold talks with Mauritius on the issue next week. U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hold a press ...
Source: cnbc.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
The device sports a 6.3-inch Actua display that is 11% brighter than the previous generation. Google on Wednesday introduced the Pixel 10a, a $499 entry-level smartphone that is available for preorder now with shipments starting March 5. The device comes in four colors: Lavender, Berry, Fog, and Obsidian. It features a flat back where the camera bar blends flush with the phone's body. The Pixel 10a sports a ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Ex-leader sentenced to life imprisonment with hard labour over failed martial law declaration in 2024 A South Korean court has sentenced the former president Yoon Suk Yeol to life imprisonment with labour over his failed martial law declaration in December 2024, finding him guilty of leading an insurrection and making him the first elected head of state in the country's democratic era to receive the maximum ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Bad Bunny to make lead acting debut in film inspired by Puerto Rican revolutionary Singer Bad Bunny is to take on his first lead acting role, starring in a film alongside Javier Bardem and Edward Norton. Porto Rico, described as a love letter to the 31-year-old's home of Puerto Rico, will be directed by rapper René Pérez, known as Residente. The film, which has been in development since 2023, is ...
Source: bbc.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Users can simply describe a song or upload a photo to generate music that matches a specific mood. Google announced on Wednesday that it is adding a music-generation feature to the Gemini app. The feature is powered by DeepMind's Lyria 3 music-generation model and is currently in beta. Users describe the song they want to create via a text prompt, and the app generates a 30-second track with lyrics and cover art. ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Deal agreed to acquire British secondhand fashion resale app from Etsy as eBay attempts to fend off Amazon The online retailer eBay has agreed to buy the British secondhand fashion resale app Depop from Etsy for about $1.2bn (£890m) in cash, as eBay targets younger fashion-loving consumers. The deal comes at a time when secondhand marketplaces continue to soar in popularity , especially among gen Z shoppers ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
In a fiery speech in Los Angeles, the Vermont senator criticizes 'grotesque' levels of economic inequality Billionaires are "treading on very, very thin ice," Bernie Sanders warned on Wednesday during a fiery speech in Los Angeles, imploring California voters to fight "grotesque" levels of economic inequality by approving a proposed tax on the state's richest residents. The Vermont senator railed against the ...
Source: theguardian.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
– A "campaign of destruction" in October by Sudanese paramilitary forces against non-Arab communities in and near shows "hallmarks of genocide," U.N.-backed human rights experts reported Thursday, a dramatic finding in the country's devastating war. The paramilitary Rapid Support Forces — which are at war with the Sudanese military — carried out mass killings and other atrocities in the city of ...
Source: news4jax.com
Thursday, Feb 19th, 2026 -
Air pollution can cause far more damage than previously believed. According to a recent study published in PLOS Medicine , the tiny particles in polluted air are way more harmful. The long-term exposure to PM2.5, which is extremely small pollution particles, is linked to a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Scientists now believe these particles may not only affect the lungs but also reach and impact ...
Source: greenmatters.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
By LOS ANGELES -- In a crowded courtroom Wednesday, a lawyer drew a picture of a frowning stick figure and projected it on a screen in front of Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's CEO. The figure represented a vulnerable child. The plaintiff's lawyer asked Zuckerberg, 41, clad in a navy blue suit and gray tie, whether a reasonable company should help, ignore or prey on the child. "I think a reasonable company should try to ...
Source: miamiherald.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Lizzy Lawrence leads STAT's coverage of the Food and Drug Administration. She was previously a medical devices reporter. You can reach Lizzy on Signal at lizzylaw.53. WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration reversed course and told Moderna it would review its application for a new flu vaccine, the company announced Wednesday. The agency told Moderna earlier this month that it would not review the ...
Source: statnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio billionaire Les Wexner testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday, calling disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein a "world-class con man" and firmly denying any knowledge of or involvement in Epstein's criminal activity. Wexner, 88, the Columbus-area founder of L Brands and one of Ohio's wealthiest residents, was subpoenaed by the committee to ...
Source: cleveland.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
PCWorld examines Microsoft's Project Silica breakthrough, which now uses common borosilicate glass like Pyrex for ultra-long-term data storage lasting over 10,000 years. While research is complete with improved writing methods including phase voxels, Microsoft hasn't announced production timelines for commercial deployment. Microsoft just announced a breakthrough in its push to commercialize Project Silica, its ...
Source: pcworld.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
A federal judge in Chicago has ruled there's "no meat on [the] bones" of a restaurant customer's argument that its boneless wings aren't actually chicken wings. The ruling on Tuesday comes after Chicagoan Aimen Halim filed a lawsuit against Buffalo Wild Wings in 2023, alleging that the use of the term "boneless wings" was deceptive and "a clear-cut case of false advertising." Halim bought food at a Mount Prospect ...
Source: chicago.suntimes.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The greatest American skier of all time won her first Olympic medal in 2014. The 12 years in between have been marked by brutal ups and downs lot can happen in 12 years. If you're Mikaela Shiffrin, as a teenager you can become the youngest ever person to win the Olympic slalom , stack a couple more medals at the next Olympics, become the most successful World Cup skier of all time with a record 108 victories, go 10 ...
Source: theguardian.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The U.S. military said Tuesday that it carried out strikes on three boats accused of smuggling drugs in Latin American waters, killing 11 people in one of the deadliest days of the Trump administration's monthslong campaign against alleged traffickers. The series of strikes conducted Monday brought the death toll to at least 145 people since the administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" ...
Source: cbsnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Tesla will stop using the term "Autopilot" in marketing of its vehicles in California, the state's Department of Motor Vehicles announced. In December, a judge ruled that the company was using deceptive wording in its marketing of the cars in California and recommended a suspension of sales and manufacturing in the state. But the DMV allowed the company 60 days to change its wording. Autopilot is ...
Source: upi.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
At their most recent meeting, Federal Reserve officials discussed scenarios in which an interest rate hike might be appropriate, according to minutes of it released Wednesday. "Several" Fed officials thought there was a "possibility that upward adjustments" to interest rates "could be appropriate" if inflation continues to track above 2%, as it has for nearly five years. The deliberations underscore how inflation ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The Paris prosecutor's office said it was opening two new lines of inquiry, one into alleged human trafficking and the other into possible financial wrongdoing related to Epstein. LONDON — The global fallout from the Epstein files widened Wednesday, with French authorities urging survivors to come forward and British police assessing private flights to and from London connected to the late financier and ...
Source: nbcnews.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
The Trump administration is going to bat for a hands-off approach to the explosion of gambling in America. Reading time 3 minutes Over the past year, several states have launched legal actions against some of the largest players in the booming prediction market industry, such as Kalshi and Polymarket. These cases mostly have to do with state-level gambling regulations, as there is disagreement over whether these ...
Source: gizmodo.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Users reported seeing a blank black screen with only the sidebar visible, or a "Something went wrong" message accompanied by pixel art. YouTube experienced an outage affecting thousands of users in the United States and other countries on February 17, 2026. The issue began around 8 PM Eastern Time and was reported by users in Canada, India, the Philippines, Australia, and Russia. Downdetector recorded 338,000 ...
Source: techbriefly.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Meta is doubling down on its relationship with Nvidia in what the AI chip giant called a "multigenerational" deal. The agreement, announced Tuesday, calls for Meta to build data centers powered by millions of Nvidia's current and next-generation chips for AI training and inference. The move underscores how Meta is deepening its reliance on Nvidia, even as the social networking giant develops its own in-house chips ...
Source: businessinsider.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Explore our Olympics coverage | See More Now It seems like intermittent fasting would be a great weight loss strategy. You can't eat during certain times of the day, and that might ultimately reduce your calorie intake, right? But despite all the hype surrounding intermittent fasting, new research suggests you could end up with the same results, whether you follow the eating strategy or do nothing at all. The ...
Source: self.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Instagram video shared on Tuesday, February 17. "The other day I took this cancer screening. Both my parents had cancer. My mom beat it, my dad eventually didn't, my grandmother on my mom's side had lung cancer and died from that," she began while seated on a couch inside her home. "I got the results back a little bit before filming down in Florida," Romano, who recently wrapped her role in the forthcoming Hallmark ...
Source: bradenton.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
Ukraine's sports minister has condemned the decision to allow six Russians and four Belarusians to compete under their nation's flags at next month's Winter Paralympics as "disappointing and outrageous" and said Ukraine officials will not attend the opening ceremony or other official events as a result. "The flags of Russia and Belarus have no place at international sporting events that stand for fairness, ...
Source: theguardian.com
Wednesday, Feb 18th, 2026 -
After crew on flight 543 reported smoke in the cockpit, passengers and crew exited Airbus A320 via slides Traffic was temporarily disrupted at Newark Liberty international airport in New Jersey on Wednesday after a Florida-bound JetBlue flight suffered an engine failure on takeoff and returned to the airport, officials said. Crew on flight 543 reported smoke in the cockpit, and after an emergency landing, ...
Source: theguardian.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
A U.S. Capitol police officer puts on gloves as he walks the steps of the U.S. Capitol building, two days after a winter storm swept across a large swath of the United States, in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 27, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper New details emerged Tuesday afternoon after Capitol police took into custody an 18-year-old man who was running towards the Capitol with a loaded shotgun and wearing a tactical vest. ...
Source: rawstory.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
Bayer, the German bio-tech giant, has proposed paying $7.25bn (£5.35bn) to definitively resolve a legal battle in the US over whether its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer. The possible settlement is part of a broader push to secure closure over the claims, which have weighed on the company since it bought Monsanto, the American-maker of the widely used but controversial herbicide. Bayer has already paid ...
Source: bbc.com
Tuesday, Feb 17th, 2026 -
The Trump administration was sued over the Feb. 9 abrupt removal of the Pride rainbow flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City. The monument is across from the Stonewall Inn, the site of the 1969 uprising that ignited the gay rights movement in the United States. The suit calls the Pride flag's removal "a textbook example of an arbitrary and capricious act." A person secures the flags during a ...
Source: cnbc.com