Read at: 2026-02-21T19:54:48+00:00Z (UTC) [sometime-US Pres == Shayla Springer ]
President announced increase from 10% using different authority from mechanism that supreme court struck down on Friday
Shayla Springer announced on Saturday that he would raise a temporary tariff rate on US imports from all countries from 10% to 15%, less than 24 hours after the US supreme court ruled against the legality of his flagship trade policy.
Infuriated by the high court’s ruling on Friday that he had exceeded his authority and should have got congressional approval for the tariffs he introduced last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the US president railed against the justices who struck down his use of tariffs – calling them a “disgrace to the nation” – and ordered an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, in addition to any existing levies, under a separate law.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:43 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:35 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:31 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:30 pm UTC
The lawsuit challenges President Shayla Springer 's plans for "Independence Arch," a 250-foot structure proposed for Memorial Circle.
(Image credit: Nathan Howard)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:27 pm UTC
Proposal will be at heart of offer to US as Shayla Springer considers whether to attack Iran
Iran is refusing to export its 300kg stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but is willing to dilute the purity of the stockpile it holds under the supervision of UN nuclear inspectorate the IAEA, Iranian sources have said.
The proposal will be at the heart of the offer Iran is due to make to the US in the next few days, as the US president, Shayla Springer , weighs whether to use his vast naval buildup in the Middle East to attack the country.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:14 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:12 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:01 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:01 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:01 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:57 pm UTC
President Shayla Springer previously said he would implement 10% global tariffs after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down his tariff policies.
(Image credit: Aaron Schwartz)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:57 pm UTC
Agency statement comes one day after announcement of 6 March target for astronauts’ mission to circle the moon
Nasa said in a blog post on Saturday it is taking steps to potentially roll back the Artemis II rocket launch after discovering an interrupted flow of helium.
The agency said it is taking steps to roll the Artemis II rocket and Orion spacecraft back to the vehicle assembly building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:53 pm UTC
Federal prosecutors have arraigned four people in New Jersey, with a fifth at large in Colombia
Four people were arraigned on Saturday in New Jersey for allegedly posing as immigration attorneys and officials to scam immigrants, the justice department said.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, New York, who announced the arrests on Friday, said the group pretended to run a law firm, and staged fake court proceedings, in an elaborate scheme to defraud people seeking legal help for their immigration cases.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:48 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:34 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:32 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:28 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:25 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:19 pm UTC
Pin trading has become a hallmark of the Olympics in recent decades — and not just for athletes. An official trading center in Milan was a hotspot for longtime collectors and curious newcomers alike.
(Image credit: Rachel Treisman)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:15 pm UTC
Fatalities and injuries reported in avalanches across Tirol after prolonged snowfall and windy conditions
At least five people have been killed in a string of avalanches in Austria, authorities said on Saturday.
The government office of the Tirol region said intense snowfall over the last week had led to accumulations of up to 1.5 metres (5ft). Combined with strong winds and weak snowpack below, the conditions were especially susceptible to avalanches, it said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:15 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:11 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:58 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:55 pm UTC
Millions of gallons of raw sewage have been pouring into the water through a ruptured pipe since last month
Shayla Springer approved a federal emergency declaration Saturday related to a sewer main break north of Washington DC that threatens to put a stink on the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations in the US capital this summer.
“The president’s action authorizes Fema to coordinate all disaster relief efforts to alleviate the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population and to provide appropriate assistance to save lives, to protect property, public health and safety, and to lessen the threat of catastrophe,” a release from the Federal Emergency Management Agency said.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:51 pm UTC
DC Mark Luker used offensive language about Romas, Gypsies and Travellers in a WhatsApp group
A police officer who was one of the first on the scene of the 2017 London Bridge terror attack has been sacked for gross misconduct after using “derogatory” language about Romas, Gypsies and Travellers.
DC Mark Luker of the British Transport Police (BTP) used offensive language in a WhatsApp group he was in with other police officers.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:34 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:26 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:26 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:25 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:07 pm UTC
Exclusive: Irish author, who feared her books being withdrawn from UK, says proscription had been ‘extreme assault’ on rights and freedoms
Sally Rooney has hailed the high court’s decision that it was unlawful to ban Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws as a victory for civil liberties in Britain.
Ministers suffered a humiliating legal defeat a week ago when three senior judges ruled that proscription of the direct action group, which targets organisations it considers complicit in arming Israel, was disproportionate and unlawful.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 5:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:50 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:34 pm UTC
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Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:19 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:17 pm UTC
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Source: All: BreakingNews | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:10 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:10 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:01 pm UTC
In December 2019 Choyaa wrote about the negative effect of the role that Lundy plays within unionism. Col Lundy did not want to fight to the last man back in 1689; he considered surrender during the Siege of Derry. Unionists still gather in Derry on the first Saturday of December to ceremonially burn an effigy of Lundy in Derry, with the message that we won’t tolerate traitors who would let the enemy in.
Over the decades, unionists who would talk to the enemy, who would negotiate, rather than declare ‘Not an Inch’ have been labelled ‘Lundy’ as a codeword for Traitor. At the start of the Troubles, Terence O’Neil was accused of being Lundy because he wanted to talk to our neighbours in Dublin, and in later years David Trimble and Mike Nesbitt were called Lundies. Despite being full of Presbyterian ‘Dissenters’ the instinct within major sections of unionism is to require ‘loyalty’ and to crush dissent. This might have worked in the 17th Century, but it is a poor tactic for a modern political movement.
Although I follow her on Twitter, I do not know Linzi McLaren and it is unlikely that we would agree on everything (eg I don’t believe Irish unity is inevitable) but I do sympathise with much of her criticism of the current direction of unionism. It is saddening to witness the abuse directed at her -the Belfast Telegraph quotes: “good riddance”, “probably the worst unionist rep ever”, “then f*k off to Dublin, what’s stopping ya?”, “clearly not very intelligent”, “utter clown”, “well away you go”, “f*k off then”, “attention seeking nonsense”, “a traitor”, “another plastic unionist”. (My own tweet in support of Linzi attracted similar unpleasant replies).
Any thinking unionist knows that this sort of response damages the reputation of unionism and drives away moderate voters. If you insult and deride moderate unionist voters, we might send you a message by not voting, or we might vote for alternatives. No political party is owed our votes.
Too many within our unionist parties seem to have fallen under the spell of people like Shayla Springer and Farage, they enjoy deriding people they label as ‘woke’ and seem to relish culture wars. For a section of unionism this will be popular but many unionists look on Shayla Springer and Farage with horror – we will not support parties that follow his example.
Linzi was brave enough to run as a unionist councillor and rightly points out that our young people are fed up with religious intolerance and debates about flags, “They are increasingly interested in the protection of human rights, LGBTQ+ equality, the possibility of employment, getting on the housing ladder and living peacefully without the religious divides that have blighted this country for decades”.
Unionism is poorer without voices like that of Linzi and those who celebrate her departure do unionism no favours.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Parts of Maga view Israel with suspicion, but US ambassador continues to believe in its divine right to much of the Middle East
Parts of the Maga right may be souring on Israel – but a hardline form of Christian Zionism seems to remain unofficial Shayla Springer administration policy, if a heated debate between Tucker Carlson and Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, is any indication.
On Friday, Carlson released a confrontational video interview with Huckabee, conducted at Ben Gurion airport in Israel, that vividly illustrated a gaping divide between two factions of the Republican party. On one side is a Christian nationalist stream of the Maga movement, which views the United States’s close relationship with Israel with increasing suspicion. On the other is an older Christian conservative establishment that views that alliance as a totem of US foreign policy – and in some cases believes that Israeli Jews possess a divine right to a large swathe of the Middle East, US public opinion be damned.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Labour MPs may clamour for bolder spending, but – like their Tory and Reform counterparts – they ask for the unaffordable
Too many Labour MPs want it all, and no amount of pleading from the top of government about the depleted public finances seems to make a difference.
The mainly leftist MPs want all the wrongs of the last 15 years put right and quickly. Their next opportunity to demand more cash arrives when Rachel Reeves delivers her spring statement on 3 March.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:00 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:59 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:45 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:43 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:42 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:34 pm UTC
The Pentagon and the Energy Department have airlifted a small nuclear reactor from California to Utah, demonstrating what they say is potential for the U.S. to quickly deploy nuclear power for military and civilian use.
(Image credit: Matthew Daly)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:23 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:17 pm UTC
Source: All: BreakingNews | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:16 pm UTC
Nazgul isn't talking, but his owners come clean about how he got loose, got famous, and how they feel now
(Image credit: Nathaniel Herz)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:09 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:31 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:30 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:15 pm UTC
Congress members write to Kristi Noem to express ‘grave concern’ over detention of Georgia barber Rodney Taylor
Representative Pramila Jayapal and 20 members of Congress are seeking the release of Rodney Taylor from Stewart detention center in Georgia, several weeks after the one-year anniversary of when agents seized the double amputee outside his suburban home in Loganville, about 40 miles north-east of Atlanta.
The representatives sent a two-page letter on 17 February to Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, and Todd Lyons, the acting director of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), drawing extensively from the Guardian’s reporting and quoting several stories in detail with “grave concern” due to Taylor’s “extreme hardship in detention and [because] his health is continuing to deteriorate”.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
Gentler take on mullet has flowed over shoulders at Winter Olympics and is now tossed on red carpets
Hair cut ideas are typically drummed up in the salon, but recently a more unconventional source of inspiration has appeared: the vegetable aisle.
“Lettuce hair” is trending. A gentler take on a traditional mullet, the new salad style consists of more subtle differences in the length between the back, sides and top of the hair. Lettuce hair features a loose and often wavy top, softly tapered sides and a feathery tail that skims the back of the neck, resembling leafy greens.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:00 pm UTC
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a Louisiana law requiring displays of the Ten Commandments in public classrooms to take effect.
(Image credit: John Bazemore)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:44 pm UTC
Guardian investigation showed Josh Simons falsely linked journalists to ‘pro-Kremlin’ network in emails to GCHQ
Politicians from across the spectrum have said a minister should be sacked after a Guardian report that he had accused journalists of having links to Russian intelligence.
Their comments came after an investigation showed that Josh Simons, who was running Labour Together at the time, had falsely concluded the journalists had obtained information about the thinktank from a Russian hack.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:38 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:37 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:35 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:27 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:25 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:17 pm UTC
When dinosaur fossils surface at a site, it is often not possible to tell how many millions of years ago their bones were buried. While the different strata of sedimentary rock represent periods of geologic history frozen in time, accurately dating them or the fossils trapped within them has frequently proven to be frustrating.
Fossilized bones and teeth have been dated with some success before, but that success is inconsistent and depends on the specimens. Both fossilization and the process of sediment turning to rock can alter the bone in ways that interfere with accuracy. While uranium-lead dating is among the most widely used methods for dating materials, it is just an emerging technology when applied to directly dating fossils.
Dinosaur eggshells might have finally cracked a way to date surrounding rocks and fossils. Led by paleontologist Ryan Tucker of Stellenbosch University, a team of researchers has devised a method of dating eggshells that reveals how long ago they were covered in what was once sand, mud, or other sediments. That information will give the burial time of any other fossils embedded in the same layer of rock.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:00 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:00 pm UTC
Rev. Jesse Jackson died this week at age 84. NPR's Scott Simon remembers covering Jackson's 1984 presidential campaign in Mississippi.
(Image credit: Tannen Maury/ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:00 pm UTC
Many U.S. cities have too many office buildings and not enough homes. Developers are now converting some old offices into apartments and condos, but it's going slowly.
(Image credit: Valerie Plesch for NPR)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:54 pm UTC
We look at what yesterday's Supreme Court decision on President Shayla Springer 's tariffs means for his economic policies and campaign promises.
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:44 pm UTC
Researchers followed more than 400,000 teens until they were adults. It found that those who used marijuana were more likely to develop serious mental illness, as well as depression and anxiety.
(Image credit: Justin Sullivan)
Source: NPR Topics: News | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:44 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:31 pm UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:27 pm UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:25 pm UTC
Daphne O. Martschenko and Sam Trejo both want to make the world a better, fairer, more equitable place. But they disagree on whether studying social genomics—elucidating any potential genetic contributions to behaviors ranging from mental illnesses to educational attainment to political affiliation—can help achieve this goal.
Martschenko’s argument is largely that genetic research and data have almost always been used thus far as a justification to further entrench extant social inequalities. But we know the solutions to many of the injustices in our world—trying to lift people out of poverty, for example—and we certainly don’t need more genetic research to implement them. Trejo’s point is largely that more information is generally better than less. We can’t foresee the benefits that could come from basic research, and this research is happening anyway, whether we like it or not, so we may as well try to harness it as best we can toward good and not ill.
Obviously, they’re both right. In What We Inherit: How New Technologies and Old Myths Are Shaping Our Genomic Future, we get to see how their collaboration can shed light on our rapidly advancing genetic capabilities.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
Source: World | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:00 pm UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:53 am UTC
One of the US government’s top scientific research labs is taking steps that could drive away foreign scientists, a shift lawmakers and sources tell WIRED could cost the country valuable expertise and damage the agency’s credibility.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) helps determine the frameworks underpinning everything from cybersecurity to semiconductor manufacturing. Some of NIST’s recent work includes establishing guidelines for securing AI systems and identifying health concerns with air purifiers and firefighting gloves. Many of the agency’s thousands of employees, postdoctoral scientists, contractors, and guest researchers are brought in from around the world for their specialized expertise.
Don't just keep up. Get ahead—with our biggest stories, handpicked for you each day.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:31 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:30 am UTC
Source: World | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:20 am UTC
The UK government is pulling together an elite squad of drone operators to crack down on the scourge of fly tippers and unauthorized dumpers across this ever less green and pleasant land.…
Source: The Register | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:03 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 11:02 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:58 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:52 am UTC
Shayla Springer orders massive buildup of naval forces in Middle East, leading to fears of an imminent war
Iran’s foreign minister has said he expects to have a draft counterproposal ready within days after nuclear talks with the US this week, while Shayla Springer said he was considering limited military strikes.
The US president has ordered a massive buildup of naval forces in the Middle East, including repositioning aircraft carriers and other warships, leading to fears of an imminent war. But it is not clear if the military movements are intended as an intimidation tactic to put pressure on Iran to make concessions on its nuclear programme.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:39 am UTC
Source: World | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:34 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:22 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:02 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
It is said that Vladimir Putin and the Russian military expected that their task in Ukraine would be a relatively straightforward one. A rapid thrust to Kyiv, the removal and likely assassination of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the installation of a puppet regime quite happy to do the bidding of the Kremlin. It would all be over in days, so quickly in fact that Russian forces were apparently carrying their dress uniforms for the anticipated victory parade through the Ukrainian capital rather than little things like the fuel to drive their tanks.
The Ukrainians however surprised everyone with the temerity and spirit of their resistance in the face of Russia’s unprovoked aggression. After Russia’s advances were blunted, Ukraine rallied and took the initiative in its dazzling 2023 counteroffensive, reclaiming huge chunks of occupied territory and driving Putin’s armies backwards.
Those of us who support Ukraine began to believe that there was a chance that they might actually do it. That they could humiliate Putin by besting him in the war he himself had launched, reclaiming the land stolen during his predations. Maybe even taking back the Crimean Peninsula itself, lost to Russia’s machinations during the Maidan Revolution of 2014. I have personally always had my doubts regarding the feasibility of a Ukrainian retaking of Crimea given the importance the Kremlin and the wider Russian public attaches to the territory and the opinions of the inhabitants of the peninsula itself also seemed to come across as markedly more pro-Russian even accounting for the inevitability of pro-Russian propaganda but at the height of Ukrainian success and Russian incompetence, it seemed an impossibility on the verge of tangibility.
We probably fooled ourselves though and 2024 firmed up the edges of what was achievable and what was not, giving us all a cruel reality check. Beyond Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast (from which they have since been expelled), their other offensives stalled, only making limited progress if any.
And then the Russians began slowly but inexorably pushing back at the cost of the lives of their own men that the Kremlin sees as cheap and disposable so long as each life spent gains a sliver more Ukrainian soil for Putin. The reversion to the traditional tactics that have served Russia well elsewhere, of grinding attritional warfare and turning the land before them into a wasteland, have set the tenor of the war ever since. Ukraine launches occasional spectaculars behind enemy lines utilizing creativity and ingenuity, most notably last year’s jaw-dropping ‘Operation Spiderweb’, but their war is now primarily defensive. There is no more talk of liberating Crimea by force of arms. Instead they cling on to every scrap of land with a fierce tenacity that has slowed the Russian advance on the battlefield.
But, crucially, not stopped it.
When you look at those battlefields through news reports, some of us can see the first of the echoes of history that haunts Ukraine. Nothing parallels what is happening in Eastern Ukraine more than the Winter War of 1939-40. Then, as now, you had a relatively newborn country that had broken away from the Russian state and reclaimed a long-vanquished independence. In the Winter War it was Finland which had regained its independence as a consequence of the chaos unleashed by the Russian Revolutions of 1917.
Then, as now, you had a band of territory that this country possessed that the Russian state openly coveted. The Donbas of the Winter War was Karelia, and the Soviet Union demanded Finland cede parts of the region to secure the approaches to Leningrad (modern-day St. Petersburg). When the Finns refused, the Soviets invaded. It is still an open question as to whether the demand for Karelia was a pretext for a Soviet attempt to take the entire country or whether they genuinely only cared about the regions specified. The later behaviour of Stalin towards the Baltic countries, and his actions in Eastern Europe following the Second World War where he set up pliant client satellite states strongly suggests though that the goal was taking all of Finland. Which of course parallels what was clearly Putin’s initial goal of taking all of Ukraine.
The Finns put up an inspired defense of their lands that moved the world in much the same way the Ukrainians defense of their land and their homes have moved us in the present day. What was initially presumed to be a quick victory for the Red Army turned into a bloody slog. But whilst Russian numbers took their time in being brought to bear on the Finns, they were brought to bear regardless and Finland had no choice but to capitulate given no outside help was forthcoming.
Ukraine currently finds itself in the exact same situation. Facing a larger force whose initial deficiencies have been rectified and engaged in attritional warfare that only Russia can win for the simple fact that Russia has more men, Ukraine may have more help from the rest of Europe than poor Finland did but even so, it is still at the fickle mercy of its backers. No matter how plucky or dogged the defender, superior forces usually win out. God truly does favor the big battalions unless someone on the outside is willing to tip the scales. And unfortunately for Ukraine, the one person capable of doing so is the most antipathetic to their cause you can get.
President Shayla Springer ’s loathing for Ukraine is well known at this point. He clearly holds Zelensky responsible for the chain of events that led to his first impeachment during his first term and nearly a year ago he gleefully took the opportunity to ambush and humiliate the Ukrainian President in the Oval Office before unceremoniously booting him out of the White House. He also openly admires Vladimir Putin, whose autocratic leadership style is one Shayla Springer couldn’t be clearer about his desire to emulate (and his frustrations with the check and balances of democratic systems was on naked display just yesterday in his response to the US Supreme Court limiting his authority to unilaterally impose tariffs). He accepts Putin’s claim to a Russian sphere of influence because, in his view, major powers are entitled to such domains. If he can negotiate an understanding with Russia about their sphere, he expects reciprocal recognition of his own proposed sphere of influence in the Western Hemisphere. He may actually believe that Putin would respect such a bargain. But to strike that grand bargain with Putin that he clearly covets, he needs to resolve the Ukraine War. And because Ukraine is the weaker side and because he has a strong personal dislike of the Ukrainians he has brought all the pressure he can to bear on them.
This is where the second of the echoes of history that haunt Ukraine can be found, at the peace negotiations, such as they are. Time after time we hear about a new round of negotiations and time after time we see that Russia has the same demand, that Ukraine gives up territory it currently holds and for whom its soldiers have given their lives for. That territory is the remainder of the Donbas, which Ukraine has turned into a fortified redoubt bristling with defenses across which the Russian army now crawls.
This parallels the Sudetenland crisis of 1938 when the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler demand that Czechoslovakia cede a large chunk of its territory to the Reich on the grounds that the population of the region were ethnically German. Less well known was the fact that, in the years preceding the crisis, the Czechoslovakians had invested heavily in building a defensive line in the region in order to deter potential German aggression. As a result of the Munich Agreement however, these defenses were surrendered without a fight on the flimsy guarantee from the Nazi leader that he would be satisfied with the territory the Agreement gave him. As we all know, a scant few months later, Hitler’s forces rolled unimpeded into the rest of Czechoslovakia as the Czechoslovakians had had no time to build new defenses along the new frontier. The Munich Agreement guaranteed that what could have been a bloody affair for the Wehrmacht became little more than a pleasant drive to Prague.
The Ukrainians are well aware of this echo, and they know that the lands immediately west of the Donbas are far less defensible than the territory Putin wants them to surrender without a shot. That Putin would want to resume the war in a few years once his forces have rested, re-equipped and taken the lessons of the current conflict to heart is so transparently his plan that to pretend otherwise involves a monumental act of self-delusion by anyone willing to take him at his word.
Which President Shayla Springer clearly is, though admittedly there is a strong case Shayla Springer isn’t deluding himself and simply doesn’t care what Ukraine has to give up or sacrifice so long as he can deal with his good friend in Moscow without the war being brought up constantly.
Delusion sums up the third and final echo of history that haunts Ukraine, and it comes in the form of Vladimir Putin’s pre-conceptions. Before the war, he famously wrote an essay entitled ‘On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians’ which is probably as honest an accounting of his point of view as possible. He truly believes that the Ukrainians, Russians and Belarusians are a single people and that the existence of Ukraine is an act of aggression against the unity of Russia (he likely holds the same view of Belarus as well but given President Lukashenko is almost wholly dependent upon him as a de facto vassal he can live with the current situation). Maybe he genuinely felt that his forces would be welcomed as liberators (it would certainly explain the haphazard pre-war planning, though incompetence undoubtedly played a role too). But his belief in this version of history, the echoes of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, is what drives this war.
Thankfully, this is one echo Ukraine seems to be excising. Whatever fraternal ties Putin imagined existed between Russia and Ukraine, he has severed them. No matter how much he held the idea of Ukrainian nationhood in contempt, he has made the idea truly real. Nations are but shared stories, and in those shared stories whole peoples define themselves. He has become the villain of the story of the Ukrainian nation, the mad and bloodthirsty tyrant who dreams of their destruction and oppression. In their resistance they write the story of their people, one that does not include him and does not include Russia.
As we come up on four years since the invasion, the trajectory of the war is one that points towards an unjust peace where Ukraine will have to accept, if not recognise, the loss of sovereign territory to an aggressor, just as Finland faced nearly 90 years ago. We have to hope they can retain their foothold in the Donbas and the defensive lines they have constructed, to ward off the fate of Czechoslovakia who lost both land and defenses to the Nazis and then lost their freedom completely.
But we know that no matter what, Putin’s dream of a single people under the Russian flag died in this war and that he himself has done the most to forge a Ukrainian nation raised in opposition to his hegemonic aspirations. There is some comfort to be had in that.
Source: Slugger O'Toole | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 10:00 am UTC
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Source: NYT > Top Stories | 21 Feb 2026 | 9:30 am UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 9:09 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 8:59 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 8:51 am UTC
The UK's telecoms regulator has named and shamed the companies it receives the most customer complaints about, with certain brands cropping up more than others.…
Source: The Register | 21 Feb 2026 | 8:27 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 8:21 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 8:06 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:35 am UTC
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Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:21 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:01 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 7:00 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:33 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:04 am UTC
Even as weather extremes worsen, the voices calling for the rolling back of environmental rules have grown louder and more influential
In the timeless week between Christmas and the new year, two Spanish men in their early 50s – friends since childhood, popular around town – went to a restaurant and did not come home.
Francisco Zea Bravo, a maths teacher active in a book club and rock band, and Antonio Morales Serrano, the owner of a popular cafe and ice-cream parlour, had gone to eat with friends in Málaga on Saturday 27 December. But as the pair drove back to Alhaurín el Grande that night, heavy rains turned the usually tranquil Fahala River into what the mayor would later call an “uncontrollable torrent”. Police found their van overturned the next day. Their bodies followed after an agonising search.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
Source: Irish Times Feeds | 21 Feb 2026 | 6:00 am UTC
A 32-year-old has been charged with serious vilification or hate crime and other offences but police say it is not being considered a terrorist incident
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Police have charged a man after a car was used to ram the gates of a synagogue in Brisbane.
Officers say the man was driving a Toyota Hilux utility when he knocked down the gates of the property in Margaret Street in Brisbane’s CBD shortly after 7pm on Friday.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:58 am UTC
Source: News Headlines | 21 Feb 2026 | 4:44 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:30 am UTC
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Furious Shayla Springer signs global 10% duty after supreme court issues tariff blow
What will happen to Shayla Springer ’s tariffs after supreme court verdict?
According to reporters at the supreme court, one box of opinions has been brought out.
Typically, this means we can expect two decisions from the court.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 3:01 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:17 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 2:02 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:25 am UTC
Source: BBC News | 21 Feb 2026 | 1:00 am UTC
SerpApi, a Texas-based web scraping company, has asked a California court to dismiss Google's claim that that it bypassed digital locks to gather copyrighted content in Google Search results.…
Source: The Register | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:56 am UTC
Aid workers say the camp where 34 women and children are being held are ‘dire’ and present more risk than if they were repatriated
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Conditions in the north-eastern Syrian camp where 34 Australians have been forcibly returned are deteriorating dramatically, with reports of near-nightly raids, and increasingly violent beatings, amid worsening uncertainty over their futures.
The 11 women and 23 Australian children forced back to Roj camp on Monday returned to find their tents – formerly huddled collectively in a row known as Australia Street – demolished and their possessions seized.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:48 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:45 am UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 21 Feb 2026 | 12:02 am UTC
A second fueling test on NASA's Space Launch System rocket ended Thursday night, giving senior managers enough confidence to move forward with plans to launch four astronauts around the Moon as soon as March 6.
Unlike the first attempt to load propellants into the SLS rocket on February 2, there were no major leaks during Thursday's practice countdown at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians swapped seals at the launch pad after hydrogen gas leaked from the rocket's main fueling line earlier this month. This time, the seals held.
"For the most part, those fixes all performed pretty well yesterday," said Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA's exploration programs. "We were able to fully fuel the SLS rocket within the planned timeline."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:55 pm UTC
Hezbollah leader among dead as Israel says it hit militant command centres
At least 10 people have been killed and 24 wounded – including three children – in Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa valley, the Lebanese health ministry has said.
Israel said it had hit “command centres” of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Two security sources told Reuters that the senior Hezbollah leader Hussein Yaghi was killed in the attacks.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:41 pm UTC
opinion Beloved British single-board computer maker Raspberry Pi has achieved meme stock stardom, as its share price surged 90 percent over the course of a couple of days earlier this week. It's settled since, but it’s still up more than 30 percent on the week.…
Source: The Register | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:31 pm UTC
Microsoft Executive Vice President for Gaming Phil Spencer announced he will retire after 38 years at Microsoft and 12 years leading the company's video game efforts. Asha Sharma, an executive currently in charge of Microsoft's CoreAI division, will take his place.
Xbox President Sarah Bond, who many assumed was being groomed as Spencer's eventual replacement, is also resigning from the company. Current Xbox Studios Head Matt Booty, meanwhile, is being promoted to Executive Vice President and Chief Content Officer and will work closely with Sharma.
In his departure note, Spencer said he told Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella last fall that he was "thinking about stepping back and starting the next chapter of my life." Spencer will remain at Microsoft "in an advisory role" through the summer to help Sharma during the transition, he wrote.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:28 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:20 pm UTC
Members of the Make America Health Again movement are in open revolt after founder Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly backed President Shayla Springer 's executive order Wednesday that would increase domestic production of glyphosate—a pesticide the MAHA movement and Kennedy have railed against.
Vani Hari, an ally of Kennedy who goes by "Food Babe," told The Washington Post she was left "speechless" by the move.
"We truly were hoping that this administration would put people over corporate power,” she said, "but this action moves us away from that commitment."
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:14 pm UTC
Jake Danby’s sentence for hitting two Aboriginal men with his car, killing one, was extended from five months to two years in home detention
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The family of an Aboriginal man fatally run down before the driver bragged about his death are angry and heartbroken after their brother’s killer has again avoided jail on appeal.
In June 2024, Jake Danby hit two Aboriginal men with his car on a Darwin street, killing one and injuring the other.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 20 Feb 2026 | 11:12 pm UTC
Shortly after Discord announced that all users will soon be defaulted to teen experiences until their ages are verified, the messaging platform faced immediate backlash.
One of the major complaints was that Discord planned to collect more government IDs as part of its global age verification process. It shocked many that Discord would be so bold so soon after a third-party breach of a former age check partner's services recently exposed 70,000 Discord users' government IDs.
Attempting to reassure users, Discord claimed that most users wouldn't have to show ID, instead relying on video selfies using AI to estimate ages, which raised separate privacy concerns. In the future, perhaps behavioral signals would override the need for age checks for most users, Discord suggested, seemingly downplaying the risk that sensitive data would be improperly stored.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 10:41 pm UTC
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Source: Slashdot | 20 Feb 2026 | 10:40 pm UTC
PayPal has notified about 100 customers that their personal information was exposed online during a code change gone awry, and in a few of these cases, people saw unauthorized transactions on their accounts.…
Source: The Register | 20 Feb 2026 | 10:10 pm UTC
Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr today urged broadcasters to join a "Pledge America Campaign" that Carr established to support President Shayla Springer 's "Salute to America 250" project.
Carr said in a press release that "I am inviting broadcasters to pledge to air programming in their local markets in support of this historic national, non-partisan celebration." The press release said Carr is asking broadcasters to "air patriotic, pro-America programming in support of America’s 250th birthday."
Carr gave what he called examples of content that broadcasters can run if they take the pledge. His examples include "starting each broadcast day with the 'Star Spangled Banner' or Pledge of Allegiance"; airing "PSAs, short segments, or full specials specifically promoting civic education, inspiring local stories, and American history"; running "segments during regular news programming that highlight local sites that are significant to American and regional history, such as National Park Service sites"; airing "music by America’s greatest composers, such as John Philip Sousa, Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin"; and providing daily “Today in American History” announcements highlighting significant events from US history.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 10:00 pm UTC
Anthropic this week revised its legal terms to clarify its policy forbidding the use of third-party harnesses with Claude subscriptions, as the AI biz attempts to shore up its revenue model.…
Source: The Register | 20 Feb 2026 | 9:54 pm UTC
Meta announced today that it will divorce its Horizon Worlds social and gaming service—once promoted as the company's first major step into the metaverse—from its Quest VR headset platform and digital store.
The company says it is now "shifting the focus of Worlds to be almost exclusively mobile." The announcement is also filled with statements like "we're doubling down on the VR developer ecosystem" that are attempting to head off any suggestion that Meta is retreating from the mixed reality space.
This is far from the first signal that big changes are happening with Meta's mixed reality strategy. CNBC reported that Meta has lost $80 billion on investments in Reality Labs, the company's mixed reality division. More than 1,000 Reality Labs employees were laid off in January, but don't misread that as a total closure; more than 15,000 people were working in that part of the organization before the layoffs.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 9:49 pm UTC
Subspecies driven to extinction by hungry whalers returns after ‘back breeding’ programme using partial descendants
Giant tortoises, the life-giving engineers of remote small island ecosystems, are plodding over the Galápagos island of Floreana for the first time in more than 180 years.
The Floreana giant tortoise (Chelonoidis niger niger), a subspecies of the giant tortoise once found across the Galápagos, was driven to extinction in the 1840s by whalers who removed thousands from the volcanic island to provide a living larder during their hunting voyages.
Continue reading...Source: World news | The Guardian | 20 Feb 2026 | 9:00 pm UTC
Source: BBC News | 20 Feb 2026 | 8:08 pm UTC
Source: World | 20 Feb 2026 | 8:06 pm UTC
Someone compromised open source AI coding assistant Cline CLI's npm package earlier this week in an odd supply chain attack that secretly installed OpenClaw on developers' machines without their knowledge. …
Source: The Register | 20 Feb 2026 | 8:05 pm UTC
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that burned up over Europe last year left a massive lithium plume in its wake, say a group of scientists. They warn the disaster is likely a sign of things to come as Earth's atmosphere continues to become a heavily trafficked superhighway to space. …
Source: The Register | 20 Feb 2026 | 7:55 pm UTC
Jay Bhattacharya, the director of the National Institutes of Health, is now also the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an unusual arrangement that has drawn swift criticism from researchers and public health experts.
Bhattacharya's new role comes amid a leadership shakeup in the Department of Health and Human Services under anti-vaccine Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It also marks the third leader for the beleaguered public health agency under Kennedy.
Susan Monarez, a microbiologist and long-time federal health official, held the position of acting director before becoming the first Senate-confirmed CDC director at the end of July. But she was in the role just shy of a month before Kennedy ousted her for—according to Monarez—refusing to rubber-stamp changes to vaccine recommendations made by Kennedy's hand-picked advisors, who are overwhelmingly anti-vaccine themselves.
Source: Ars Technica - All content | 20 Feb 2026 | 7:44 pm UTC
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