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Lead: On Monday, February 16, 2026, billionaire Tom Pritzker announced he will step down as executive chairman of Hyatt Hotels and will not seek re-election to the board after newly released U.S. Department of Justice documents revealed repeated contacts between him and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Pritzker, who had served as executive chairman since … Read more

Lead On Feb. 16, 2026, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that Australia will not repatriate citizens who traveled to support the Islamic State, after a recent attempt by 34 Australians to leave the Al-Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria was blocked. The group, described in reporting as 11 families of women … Read more

Lead: Former President George W. Bush published a Presidents Day essay Monday through the More Perfect initiative that praised George Washington’s decision to relinquish extraordinary power and to step down after two terms. The essay, the first entry in a new history series called In Pursuit, does not name President Donald Trump but draws on … Read more

Lead: On Feb. 2 in Rome, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni publicly defended her law-and-order agenda while brushing off a controversy over a restored church fresco that has sparked a political row. At a public event she laughed and said, “I’m definitely not like an angel,” framing the episode as a distraction from security priorities. The … Read more

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny died after exposure to the dart-frog toxin epibatidine while imprisoned in a Siberian penal colony on 16 February 2026. Analysts and officials agree the compound is exotic and highly potent, and the UK government has publicly blamed the Russian state for deploying it. Experts say the choice of epibatidine — … Read more

Apple is undertaking an internal cleanup of iOS with the version internally codenamed “Rave,” according to reporting by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman published on February 16, 2026. Engineers are removing legacy code, rewriting select features and making modest app upgrades aimed at improving responsiveness and energy efficiency. The work is being compared to Apple’s Snow Leopard-era … Read more

Lead As Mardi Gras festivities approached Fat Tuesday in Uptown New Orleans, actor Shia LaBeouf spent an extended weekend visiting multiple bars, according to staff and patrons at several drinking establishments. Witnesses say his weekend began on Thursday and included stops at Ms Mae’s, Dos Jefes, 45 Tchoup and Brothers III Lounge; one encounter at … Read more

Lead: Trader Joe’s has added eight addresses to its “coming soon” list, announcing new locations across the United States last week. The California-based grocer currently has stores in 42 states and is expanding into additional markets, including sites in Kansas, Louisiana, Florida, Arizona, Washington, Georgia and Texas. The chain previously disclosed two sites in July … Read more

Lead: On Feb. 16, 2026, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 36, returned from the Munich Security Conference in Germany and told reporters she felt the visit’s substantive arguments were overshadowed by attention to on-camera missteps and speculation about a possible 2028 White House bid. At the conference she sought to press a class-based case against rising authoritarianism, … Read more

Showrunner Meaghan Oppenheimer announced that tonight’s Season 3 finale of Tell Me Lies will serve as the series finale, concluding the Hulu and Disney+ drama after three seasons. Oppenheimer said on Instagram that the ending was the outcome she and her writers had envisioned and that, after considering other possibilities, they concluded the story had … Read more

Lead: The United States has mounted a substantial repositioning of air and naval forces in the Middle East ahead of planned talks with Iran in Geneva on Tuesday. Pentagon assets — including tankers, fighter aircraft and air-defense systems — have been moved closer to the region while carrier strike groups and cargo flights increase logistical … Read more

Lead On Monday afternoon, Feb. 16, 2026, a shooting at the Dennis M. Lynch Arena in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, left two people dead and three others in critical condition, police said. Authorities said the suspected shooter later died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Pawtucket Police described the attack as targeted and possibly linked to … Read more

Lead: On Monday, during Germany’s Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) carnival parades in Cologne, Düsseldorf and Mainz, satirical floats singled out 79-year-old former U.S. President Donald Trump with graphic and provocative imagery. The marches — part of a five-mile procession with roots back to 1823 that draws millions — coincided with the U.S. observance of Presidents Day. … Read more

Lead: The Las Vegas Raiders announced on Monday in Henderson, Nevada, that Travis Smith has been hired as the team’s defensive line coach. Smith returns to the Raiders organization after a one-year stint as the Tennessee Titans’ defensive run game coordinator in 2025 and brings a track record of developing interior and edge defenders. His … Read more

Lead Shortly before 7:45 a.m. on Feb. 16, 2026, a vehicle fleeing U.S. immigration agents collided with a teacher’s car outside Herman W. Hesse K-8 School in Savannah, Georgia, killing the teacher, local police said. The driver, identified as 38-year-old Oscar Vasquez Lopez, was arrested at the scene and later charged with first-degree homicide by … Read more