Top World News

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Prosecutors drop charges over break-in at Israeli defence firm site after jury cleared six other defendants of offenceProsecutors have dropped aggravated burglary charges against 18 defendants accused of a Palestine Action break-in at an Israeli defence firm’s UK site after a jury cleared six other defendants of the offence.Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Kamio, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Zoe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were all acquitted of aggravated burglary, which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, with respect to the 6 August 2024 raid on the Elbit Systems factory in Filton, near Bristol. Continue reading...

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Apple Inc. is accelerating development of three new wearable devices as part of a shift toward artificial intelligence-powered hardware, a category also being pursued by OpenAI and Meta Platforms Inc.

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Assistant to hard-left parliamentarian among those held over fatal attack on 23-year-old Quentin DeranqueEurope live – latest updatesEleven suspects, including a parliamentary aide to France’s hard-left party, have been arrested in connection with the killing last week of a far-right activist in an incident that has shocked the country and laid bare its deep political divisions.Quentin Deranque, 23, died on Saturday after sustaining a severe brain injury. The Lyon prosecutor, Thierry Dran, said he had been “thrown to the ground and beaten by at least six individuals” during an incident last week. Continue reading...

Feb 18, 2026 - World

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

Feb 18, 2026 - World

Alberto Castañeda Mondragón was hospitalized with eight skull fractures after being arrested by ICE agents in JanuaryMinnesota 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. Continue reading...