Read Trends

Lead: On 13 February 2026 OpenAI permanently retired GPT-4o, a version of ChatGPT released in 2024 that many users described as unusually warm, witty and flirtatious. The shutdown—announced in January and scheduled for the eve of Valentine’s Day—left devoted users scrambling to migrate memories, pay for alternatives or mourn relationships they said had become emotionally … Read more

This week, early One UI 9 files surfaced and for the first time offered official visual cues pointing to Samsung’s rumored wider Galaxy Z Fold. The animations, found inside the new builds, reference model SM-F971U and the internal codename H8, and present both light and dark UI treatments. While the animations are brief and not … Read more

Lead: The U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed a lawsuit against Harvard University on February 13, seeking court orders to force production of race-related admissions records. The DOJ says Harvard declined or delayed providing individualized applicant data, admissions policies and correspondence tied to race, ethnicity and DEI matters. The complaint frames the action … Read more

Lead In March 2025, physicist Wojciech Zurek of Los Alamos National Laboratory published Decoherence and Quantum Darwinism, a synthesis that argues the long-standing measurement problem in quantum mechanics can be largely addressed within standard quantum theory. Zurek synthesizes decades of work on entanglement and decoherence to show how definite, classical facts emerge from quantum probabilities. … Read more

Lead A large, registry-based study spanning 1996 to 2018 in Finland examined more than 1.27 million singleton births to assess the effects of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressant use during pregnancy. Researchers compared pregnancies with two or more SSRI purchases during gestation to women with diagnosed depression who did not use antidepressants and to women … Read more

On Friday, the Virginia Supreme Court cleared the way for a proposed constitutional amendment to appear on the April 21 special-election ballot, a move that could enable a newly drawn congressional map favoring Democrats to take effect. The decision allows the referendum to proceed despite an earlier lower-court finding that lawmakers had proceeded improperly. Democrats, … Read more

Lead Day 7 of the 2026 Milan–Cortina Winter Olympics on Feb. 13 saw Team USA chasing more medals across marquee events in Italy. Ilia Malinin entered the men’s free skate in strong position after a 108.16 short-program that included a legally landed backflip, holding a 5.09-point lead over Japan’s Yuma Kagiyama. The U.S. women’s hockey … Read more

Lead: The Virginia Supreme Court on February 13 cleared the way for a planned April 21 referendum that would ask voters to approve a Democratic-sponsored congressional redistricting amendment. The order allows the special election to proceed despite an ongoing lawsuit that challenges the legislature’s procedural handling of the measure. While the court did not resolve … Read more

Lead: The International Skating Union (ISU) issued a public defence on Friday of Olympic ice-dance judging after a single judge’s scoring gap shaped the outcome of the Milano Cortina Games free dance. France’s Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron captured gold by a narrow margin over Americans Madison Chock and Evan Bates, a result that … Read more

Lead: Wendy’s announced on Feb. 13, 2026, that it will close roughly 5%–6% of its U.S. restaurants during the first half of 2026 as part of an ongoing turnaround. The company said 28 locations were closed in the fourth quarter of 2025 and that decisions were made in coordination with franchise partners. Wendy’s reported 5,969 … Read more

Lead Feb. 11, 2026 — At the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Madison Chock and Evan Bates of the United States finished second in the ice dance after judges awarded gold to Laurence Fournier Beaudry and Guillaume Cizeron. The International Skating Union (ISU) issued a defense of the panel’s scoring after one judge’s free-dance marks became … Read more

Lead: Union leaders and San Francisco Unified School District officials reached a tentative $183 million contract early Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, ending the city’s first teacher strike in nearly 50 years and clearing the way for classrooms to reopen next week. The two-year deal provides the equivalent of a 6% pay increase for certificated staff, … Read more

Lead Funding for the Department of Homeland Security is set to lapse early Saturday morning, according to reporting on Feb. 13, 2026, unless negotiators reach a last-minute settlement. The impasse stems from a fierce congressional standoff over the Trump administration’s intensified immigration enforcement—heightened after federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis last … Read more

Lead: Federal prosecutors moved on Friday to dismiss felony assault charges, with prejudice, against Alfredo Alejandro Aljorna and Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis after newly disclosed evidence undercut the government’s account of a Jan. 14 incident in Minneapolis that left Sosa-Celis wounded. U.S. Attorney Daniel N. Rosen said the evidence was “materially inconsistent” with allegations in the … Read more

Lead Norway’s Johannes Hoesflot Klaebo added an eighth Olympic gold on Friday in Tesero, Italy, winning the men’s 10-kilometer interval-start at the Milan Cortina 2026 Games. The 29-year-old secured his third gold of these Games in a time of 20:36.2, collapsing at the finish after a punishing final climb. With three individual races still to … Read more