Wednesday, February 18, 2026
Updated 7m ago
Ukrainian and Russian delegations met in Geneva for US-mediated peace talks that ended after about two hours without a breakthrough, and Zelenskyy accused Moscow of delaying the process.
A new analysis found that of 154 claims that generative AI would benefit the climate, only a quarter cited academic research and a third offered no evidence.
Stephen Colbert said CBS barred him from airing an interview with Texas Senate candidate James Talarico on The Late Show; CBS disputed the claim.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, a civil-rights leader who worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and founded the Rainbow Coalition, died, prompting tributes to his decades-long political influence.
European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde planned to resign before France's April 2027 presidential election, the Financial Times reported; the ECB said she had made no decision.
French police arrested 11 people, including a parliamentary aide linked to La France insoumise, over the fatal beating of 23-year-old far-right activist Quentin Deranque in Lyon.
Jeffrey Epstein sought to build a powerful web of ties across the Middle East by cultivating relationships with political and business figures, documents showed.
Big tech firms accelerated spending on AI infrastructure, prompting energy and chip shortages in Europe, spurring investor caution, corporate cost‑cutting and fresh venture funding for AI startups.
Analysts and corporate leaders said AI was rapidly transforming workplace tasks and business models worldwide, boosting productivity potential even as labor statistics lagged and software, data and services stocks fell.
Researchers captured on camera a large shark swimming in near‑freezing, deep waters off Antarctica, surprising scientists who had not expected sharks at such depths.
A study found that chikungunya could be transmitted by mosquitoes across much of Europe as rising temperatures lengthened transmission seasons and invasive tiger mosquitoes spread, researchers said.
Environmental and health groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington federal court after the Trump administration repealed the "endangerment finding" underpinning U.S. climate regulations.
Storm Pedro battered western France, triggering red flood alerts in Charente‑Maritime, Gironde, Lot‑et‑Garonne and Maine‑et‑Loire and forcing evacuations, authorities said.
Tidigare statsminister Göran Persson hamnade i ett uppmärksammat dassbråk med en granne i Sörmland, vilket regissören Ulf Malmros sade inspirerade komedin "Grannfejden".
About 80 filmmakers, including Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton, accused the Berlinale of "silence" and censorship over the Gaza war in an open letter published in Variety.
Mikaela Shiffrin won Olympic gold in the women's slalom at Milan–Cortina on Wednesday, ending her Olympic drought with a dominant final run.
A gray dog ran onto the women's team cross-country sprint course at the Winter Olympics in Lago di Tesero on Wednesday, chased skiers to the finish but didn't affect results.
British police launched a witness appeal and opened inquiries into whether Jeffrey Epstein used London Stansted private flights to traffic women, police said.
Muslims worldwide began fasting for Ramadan on 18 February 2026, observing dawn-to-sunset fasts, while many Christian communities began Lent the same day.
Bruce Springsteen announced a 2026 U.S. tour beginning in Minneapolis and called President Donald Trump a "wannabe king" and urged fans to defend the country.
Singer Xavier Naidoo repeated conspiracy claims that "they eat our children" at a demonstration outside the Chancellery in Berlin, despite earlier publicly distancing himself from such rhetoric.
