Independent News & People Network Desk of News

Major European allies decline to join first meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T19:09:13+00:00

Dozens of world leaders head to Washington for what White House says will largely be a fundraiser on ThursdayDozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC tomorrow for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate.The White House has indicated that tomorrow’s summit for his new ad hoc council at the renamed Donald J Trump Institute of Peace will heavily function as a fundraising round, with Trump announcing on social media that countr

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Mark Zuckerberg testifies in landmark social media trial over teen mental health

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T19:01:26+00:00

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argue that Meta intentionally designed its social media platforms to be addictiveThe Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, is testifying at a landmark trial of social media companies on Wednesday.After arriving at the courthouse, Zuckerberg was asked by a security guard at a metal detector if he had any metal on him. “I have a gold chain on,” he responded, according to the New York Post. Continue reading...

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Good news for Trump before midterms: he’s still more popular than cockroaches

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T19:00:42+00:00

Trump’s disapproval rating indicates he’s less popular with Americans than some insects like ants. Will it mean anything in November? This was originally published in This Week in Trumpland; sign up to receive it in your inbox every WednesdayA couple of years ago, the polling company YouGov asked people about insects. The resulting survey found that butterflies are America’s favorite insect, with eight in 10 people having a “very or somewhat positive” reaction to them.Many journalists will tell you to never trust the polling, and they’ve been proven right many times over. Still, aren’t you cur

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Le Tchad veut mieux rentabiliser son immense cheptel de dromadaires

Source: Le Monde - International · Published: 2026-02-18T19:00:07+00:00

Avec plus de 11 millions de têtes, le pays compte le plus grand troupeau de la planète, mais il est incapable d’exploiter financièrement cette richesse. L’une des ambitions affichées du gouvernement de Mahamat Idriss Déby est de valoriser cet atout. Quitte à faire appel à la Hongrie de Viktor Orban.

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Постачальники смерті: виявлено 160 компаній, що закупають західні військові компоненти для РФ

Source: UNIAN (General) · Published: 2026-02-18T18:22:00+00:00

У 2024 році близько десяти тисяч російських компаній стали імпортерами санкційної продукції на загальну суму понад 22 млрд. доларів.

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Bad Bunny set for first lead acting role in historical drama Porto Rico

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T18:18:16+00:00

The Grammy winner will star alongside Edward Norton and Javier Bardem in a film inspired by an early 20th century revolutionary, directed by rapper ResidenteFresh off his victorious Super Bowl half-time show, Bad Bunny will take on his first lead acting role. The rapper and sometime actor will star in Porto Rico, a love letter to his home of Puerto Rico directed by the veteran rapper René “Residente” Pérez Joglar.As announced by Deadline, the film boasts a starry cast including Viggo Mortensen, Javier Bardem and Edward Norton, as well as executive producer Alejandro G Iñárritu, director of Bir

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Women in California prison accuse staff cook of rape and urge criminal charges

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T18:12:35+00:00

Exclusive: After investigators concluded an abuse incident occurred, women speak out for first time – ‘I was so scared to tell anybody’Two women incarcerated in a California prison are calling for the prosecution of a staff cook who they say sexually assaulted them.The women say Marcus Johnson, a former supervisory cook at the California Institution for Women (CIW), raped them in 2020 while they were working for him in kitchen jobs. The women, who were making under 40 cents an hour, said in federal civil complaints he threatened disciplinary action if they reported him. Continue reading...

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‘Summer is coming!’: Royal Shakespeare Company to stage epic Game of Thrones prequel

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T18:00:42+00:00

Novelist George RR Martin says RSC is ‘obvious choice’ to put on new play The Mad King, which will open after springA new prequel to George RR Martin’s blockbuster fantasy saga Game of Thrones is to be staged this summer by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon.The bestselling author, whose novels have been turned into a juggernaut TV franchise, said the RSC was the “obvious choice” to put on the play, Game of Thrones: The Mad King, because Shakespeare had been a constant source of inspiration to him. “Not only that, he faced similar challenges in how to put a battle on stage,”

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Le secteur de la défense recrute à tour de bras

Source: Le Monde - International · Published: 2026-02-18T18:00:22+00:00

L’emploi dans l’industrie de la défense a progressé de 15 % entre 2022 et 2024. A l’image de Thales, de Naval Group ou de MBDA, les géants du secteur font des annonces ambitieuses pour 2026.

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Countries that do not embrace AI could be ‘left behind’, says OpenAI’s George Osborne

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:57:22+00:00

Without AI you will be a ‘weaker and poorer nation’, warns former UK chancellor two months into job at US firmThe former chancellor George Osborne has warned that countries that do not embrace the kind of powerful AI systems made by his new employer, OpenAI, risked “Fomo” and could be left weaker and poorer.Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of the $500bn San Francisco AI company’s “for countries” programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Impact summit in Delhi: “Don’t be left behind.” He warned that without AI rollouts they could end up with a workforce “less willing to stay put”

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Countries that do not embrace AI could be left behind, says OpenAI’s George Osborne

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:57:22+00:00

Without AI you will be a ‘weaker and poorer nation’, says former UK chancellor two months into job at US firmThe former chancellor George Osborne has said countries that do not embrace the kind of powerful AI systems made by his new employer, OpenAI, risk “Fomo” and could be left weaker and poorer.Osborne, who is two months into a job as head of the $500bn San Francisco AI company’s “for countries” programme, told leaders gathered for the AI Impact summit in Delhi: “Don’t be left behind.” He said that without AI rollouts they could end up with a workforce “less willing to stay put” because the

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NHS hip and knee operations threatened by bone cement supply shortage

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:45:57+00:00

Campaigners say the news is a ‘crushing blow’ to patients waiting for surgeriesA shortage in medical cement could lead to delays in a number of patients getting hip and knee replacements and other pre-planned surgeries, experts have said.There is a global supply issue from the NHS’s main provider of bone cement. Continue reading...

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UK politics: Starmer says Reform’s pledge to restore two-child benefit cap in full is ‘shameful’ – as it happened

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:45:08+00:00

Reform UK’s Robert Jenrick has announced party’s plans to cut welfare spendingRobert 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, w

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Texas Democrat says campaign raised $2.5m in aftermath of Colbert interview controversy – US politics live

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:35:18+00:00

Senate candidate says campaign saw boost in 24 hours since Colbert said CBS told him not to air segment for fear of triggering FCC equal-time ruleOn 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. Continue

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Reform-run council says free library scheme for refugees ‘is not value for money’

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:32:32+00:00

Party withdraws all Lancashire libraries from City of Sanctuary UK programme that supports new arrivals to UK Reform UK has been criticised for withdrawing all Lancashire libraries from a scheme supporting refugees because it was not value for money – despite being free.Nigel Farage’s party said the region’s 63 libraries would no longer be part of the UK-wide Libraries of Sanctuary programme because it was not “an appropriate use of taxpayers’ money”. Continue reading...

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Mamdani threatens to raise New York property tax if wealth tax isn’t passed

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:29:31+00:00

Threat of 9.5% property tax increase puts pressure on Governor Hochul, who is seeking re-election this yearZohran Mamdani, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, has unveiled two new budget proposals for the city, prompting feedback from those in and out of the state.Mamdani’s two proposals include either raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents – which would require approval from New York governor Kathy Hochul – or a “last resort” measure of a 9.5% property tax increase, which could affect “more than 3 million single-family homes, co-ops and condos and over 100,000 commercial building

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Mamdani floats New York City property tax raise if state won’t tax millionaires

Source: The Guardian - World · Published: 2026-02-18T17:29:31+00:00

Threat of 9.5% property tax increase puts pressure on Governor Hochul, who is seeking re-election this yearZohran Mamdani, New York’s democratic socialist mayor, has unveiled two new budget proposals for the city – one to raise income and corporate taxes, or another to raise property taxes – triggering resistance from some political figures in and out of the state.Mamdani’s two proposals include either raising taxes on the city’s wealthiest residents – which would require approval from New York’s governor, Kathy Hochul – or a “last resort” measure of a 9.5% property tax increase, which could a

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En Afrique du Sud, la nomination aux allures de provocation du nouvel ambassadeur américain

Source: Le Monde - International · Published: 2026-02-18T17:25:50+00:00

Le choix de Leo Brent Bozell III, polémiste ultraconservateur critique de l’ANC, le parti au pouvoir héritier de la lutte contre l’apartheid, ne devrait pas améliorer la relation tendue qu’entretiennent les deux pays depuis le retour au pouvoir de Donald Trump.

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