Benfica has accused critics of running a “defamation campaign” against 19-year-old forward Gianluca Prestianni after UEFA opened an investigation into claims he racially abused Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr during Tuesday’s Champions League match. The tie was halted for around 10 minutes after Vinicius reported the alleged incident to referee François Letexier and left the … Read more
Google is rolling out Lyria 3, its latest AI music model, inside the Gemini app and web interface, enabling users to create roughly 30-second music clips from simple prompts today. The launch extends earlier, developer-facing access in Vertex AI to a consumer-friendly UI; mobile availability is expected within a few days. Generated tracks include an … Read more
Lead In Tesero, Italy on Wednesday, Norway’s Johannes Høsflot Klæbo won the men’s team sprint to take his fifth gold of the Milan Cortina Games and a record 10th Winter Olympic medal overall. Racing with teammate Einar Hegstad Krag, Klæbo finished in 18:28.9, edging the United States by 1.4 seconds. Americans Ben Ogden and Gus … Read more
Lead: Newly released Department of Justice files show federal investigators examined Les Wexner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein over decades, probing whether the billionaire retail magnate had knowledge of or involvement in Epstein’s sex-trafficking network. The records, disclosed in a large DOJ production and reviewed by news outlets, include references to subpoenas, interviews and allegations dating … Read more
Lead Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi was reappointed by Parliament on Wednesday and immediately outlined plans to deepen ties with the United States, including cooperation on rare-earths development, ahead of a planned Washington visit in March. Her reappointment follows a landslide victory that gave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party a two-thirds supermajority in the lower … Read more
Rescuers continued to race against the clock on Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2026, after an avalanche near Castle Peak in the Lake Tahoe region left nine backcountry skiers unaccounted for. The group of 15 — which included four guides staying at the Frog Lake huts near Truckee — was returning to the trailhead on Tuesday when … Read more
Lead: On Feb. 18, 2026, a sizable group of House and Senate Democrats planned to skip President Trump’s first State of the Union of his second term and instead attend a competing event on the National Mall called the “People’s State of the Union.” The rally, coordinated by MoveOn and MeidasTouch and hosted by Joy … Read more
Lead On Feb. 18, 2026, Moderna said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration reversed a recent refusal and agreed to review the company’s influenza vaccine that uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. The agency had rejected the application last week, citing flaws in the study design, but resumed talks and accepted the submission for formal review. … Read more
Lead: The Kansas City Chiefs have converted portions of Patrick Mahomes’ 2026 compensation into a fully guaranteed roster bonus, a move announced on Wednesday that created approximately $43.56 million in immediate cap room. The change repackaged $44.05 million of Mahomes’ 2026 base salary plus a $10.4 million roster bonus into a guaranteed roster bonus. That … Read more
Lead: Representatives from Russia, Ukraine and the United States met in Geneva on Tuesday and Wednesday for trilateral negotiations intended to halt Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The sessions ran late on Tuesday and lasted about two hours on Wednesday, but ended without an agreement on territorial issues, which are central to any ceasefire. Delegations reported … Read more
Lead — U.S. equity benchmarks advanced on Wednesday as traders awaited the Federal Reserve’s January meeting minutes while technology names led gains. The S&P 500 rose about 0.8%, the Nasdaq Composite added roughly 1.2% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 307 points, or 0.6%. Nvidia shares gained after Meta said it will deploy millions … Read more
Lead: In comments reported by the Financial Times, CDU leader Friedrich Merz said a current fighter-jet development effort does not satisfy Germany’s defence requirements. His remarks, made publicly in recent reporting, raise questions about procurement strategy, industrial partnerships and the government’s ability to meet operational needs. The statement has reverberated across Berlin and in partner … Read more
Lead: Federal and local investigators have expanded their probe into the disappearance of 84-year-old Nancy Guthrie, mother of NBC host Savannah Guthrie, using genetic genealogy tools after DNA from gloves recovered near her Tucson home returned an unknown male profile. Guthrie was last seen the evening of Jan. 31, and evidence collected at the scene … Read more
Lead: In mid-February 2026, House Republicans accelerated a push for new federal voting restrictions as they prepare for competitive midterm contests and respond to President Trump’s repeated, but false, claims of widespread voter fraud. A strict voter-identification measure cleared the House on a near-party-line vote, and Representative Bryan Steil (R-Wis.) has unveiled a broader package … Read more
Lead On Feb. 18, 2026, forecasters said the U.S. economy produced abundant output in 2025 while job creation stagnated, with projections pointing to 2.7% GDP growth for the year. The discrepancy — strong aggregate income but weak payroll gains — has prompted comparisons to the early-2000s “jobless recovery.” The contrast raises fresh questions for policymakers, … Read more
