“Poland will use anti-personnel as well as anti-tank landmines to defend its eastern border against the growing threat from Russia, Poland’s deputy defence minister told The Associated Press on Friday, as the country officially left an international convention banning the use of the controversial weapons. The 1997 Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Treaty, also known as the Ottawa Convention, prohibits signatories from keeping or using anti-personnel mines, which can last for years and are known for having caused large-scale suffering among civilians in former conflict zones in countries including Cambodia, Angola and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Poland, which ratified the document in 2012 and completed the destruction of its domestic anti-personnel mine stockpile in 2016, withdrew from the treaty on Friday and says it plans to renew manufacturing weapons.” (02/20/26)
“Pakistan has carried out multiple overnight air strikes on Afghanistan, which the Taliban has said killed at least 18 people, including women and children. Islamabad said the attacks targeted seven alleged militant camps and hideouts near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and that they had been launched after recent suicide bombings in Pakistan. Afghanistan condemned the attacks, saying they targeted multiple civilian homes and a religious school. The fresh strikes come after the two countries agreed to a fragile ceasefire in October following deadly cross-border clashes, though subsequent fighting has taken place.” (02/22/26)
“Nurses and hospitals in New York City have reached a tentative agreement to end the nurses strike after six weeks of picketing. About 15,000 nurses in the New York State Nurses Association went on strike on Jan. 12 from Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Einstein and New York-Presbyterian/Columbia. New York-Presbyterian/Columbia is the only hospital left with striking nurses as the others have all reached deals with the union. The 4,000 nurses at New York-Presbyterian held out for a better deal.” (02/20/26)
“Hungary is threatening to block a proposed 90 billion-euro European Union loan to Ukraine — worth roughly $106 billion — unless oil shipments through the Druzhba pipeline are restored. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó wrote Friday on X that Hungary would oppose the EU funding package until oil transit via the Russian-linked Druzhba pipeline resumes. ‘Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary by halting oil transit in coordination with Brussels and the Hungarian opposition to create supply disruptions in Hungary and push fuel prices higher before the elections,’ Szijjártó said. He further claimed that blocking oil transit violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement and breaches Kyiv’s commitments to the European Union.” (02/22/26)
“A Turkish journalist with German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) was jailed by an Istanbul court on Friday on charges of ‘insulting the president,’ an NGO said a day after his arrest by 30 police officers. Alican Uludag was arrested in Ankara on Thursday evening following a warrant issued by the Istanbul public prosecutor’s office, which said it had opened an investigation into him for “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and ‘disseminating false news’ in connection with ‘certain posts’ on X.” (02/20/26)
“There are a few ways to get out of jury duty. Maybe you have a job you can’t leave, or caregiving responsibilities, or a prohibitively long commute. Or, in the case of an upcoming California trial, you could be one of the many people who despise Elon Musk. On Thursday, federal judge Charles Breyer slashed more than a third of a 93-person jury pool over their biases about the billionaire, according to multiple reports from the San Francisco courtroom. The civil trial is over Musk’s behavior during his 2022 purchase of Twitter. The investor plaintiffs allege that he violated securities law by omitting information from filings and making false statements to drive down the company’s stock price; Musk denies wrongdoing. All told, selection for the nine-person jury took about five hours.” (02/20/26)
“A federal judge rejected Tesla’s request to overturn a $243 million jury verdict over the 2019 crash of an Autopilot-equipped Model S, which killed a 22-year-old woman and severely injured her boyfriend. In a decision made public on Friday, U.S. District Judge Beth Bloom in Miami said the evidence at trial ‘more than supports’ the August 2025 verdict, and Tesla raised no new arguments to set the verdict aside. Tesla, led by Elon Musk, is expected to appeal. Neither Tesla nor its lawyers immediately responded to requests for comment.” (02/20/26)
“Donald Trump has withdrawn his support for the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius because the UK will not agree to the US military using British bases to attack Iran, it has been reported. The Times newspaper reports that the White House is drawing up detailed military plans for a strike against Iran. The plans are understood to involve the use of the Diego Garcia base, in the Chagos Islands, and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire. The English base is home to America’s fleet of heavy bombers in Europe. These bases can only be used for military operations that have been agreed in advance with the UK Government, under long-standing agreements between the US and UK.” (02/19/26)
“The US trade imbalance widened sharply in December 2025, highlighting continued challenges in America’s economic relationship with the world and with key economic competitor China, according to a release from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis on Thursday. For the full year 2025, the US recorded a goods and services trade deficit of US$901.5 billion, a modest decline of 0.2 per cent from 2024, one of the largest since 1960. The total goods and services deficit in 2024 was US$903.5 billion, the report showed. According to the new data, the US goods and services deficit rose to US$70.3 billion in December, a sharp increase of 32.6 per cent from November’s revised US$53.0 billion. Exports fell slightly while imports increased, widening the gap as global demand shifted in the final months of the year.” (02/19/26)
“A federal judge has accused the Trump administration of terrorizing immigrants and recklessly violating the law in its efforts to deport millions of people living in the country illegally. Citing the [murders] of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, the judge said that the White House had also ‘extended its violence on its own citizens.’ … [U.S. District Judge Sunshine] Sykes said the administration had violated her December ruling that found it was illegally denying many detained immigrants a chance for release. She ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide them with notice that they may be eligible for bond and then give them access to a phone to call an attorney within an hour. She also threw out a September ruling by an immigration court that the administration had cited for continuing its mandatory detention policy.” (02/19/26)
