“Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte has said she intends to run for president in the upcoming 2028 election, following in the footsteps of her notorious father, ex-President Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently on trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity. … Duterte also asked her followers for their ‘forgiveness’ over her previous support for incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during the last presidential election. … Despite throwing her support behind Marcos’s election bid five years ago, Duterte and the president have since become bitter rivals, particularly following the launch of a corruption inquiry in 2024 into Duterte’s misuse of government funds.” (02/18/26)
“New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced six new appointments to the Rent Guidelines Board, a nine-member panel tasked with governing rent-stabilized units. Mamdani said in a statement Wednesday that the newly composed board will ‘take a clear-eyed look at the complex housing landscape and the realities facing our city’s two million rent-stabilized tenants, and help us move closer to a fairer, more affordable New York.’ The new Mayor is seeking to fulfill one of his signature campaign promises to freeze rents on the city’s 1 million rent-regulated apartments. Landlords and business groups have contended that, despite rising rents on price-stabilized units, rental income isn’t keeping pace with faster inflation and escalating expenses.” (02/18/26)
“U.S. import tariffs haven’t been enough to stop the United States losing another aluminium smelter, leaving the country with just five primary metal production plants. Century Aluminum suspended production at its Hawesville smelter in 2022 as energy prices spiked in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The company expected to resume operations within a year once power prices abated. But they didn’t, and Century has now sold the Kentucky site to digital infrastructure company TeraWulf. U.S. President Donald Trump hiked aluminium import tariffs to 50% last year with the stated goal of halting the decades-long slide in domestic primary metal capacity. The immediate impact has been limited to Century’s restart of 50,000 metric tons of annual capacity at its Mount Holly smelter in South Carolina. Tariffs helped, but an extension, opens new tab of the current power supply deal with local energy provider Santee Cooper was arguably more important.” (02/18/26)
“A Texas jury has delivered a decisive verdict in a case that once ignited national outrage and dominated headlines. Five years after a classmate accused Asher Vann of racially motivated bullying at a sleepover, jurors awarded Vann — now a college freshman — $3.2 million in damages, finding that false claims and a viral narrative caused severe emotional distress and invaded his privacy. … The case stemmed from a 2021 incident in which 13-year-old SeMarion Humphrey alleged that Vann and several other boys shot him with a BB gun and forced him to drink urine during a sleepover — accusations that were quickly framed as race-based bullying and drew national media attention, protests and involvement from activists. Vann said the accusations were far from the truth.” (02/18/26)
“The Food and Drug Administration will consider whether to approve Moderna’s new flu vaccine after all, resolving a dispute that had blocked the company’s application for the first-of-its-kind shot. Moderna announced the change Wednesday, about a week after revealing that the FDA’s vaccine chief was refusing to review the new vaccine, made with Nobel Prize-winning mRNA technology. The dispute centered over a 40,000-person clinical trial that concluded Moderna’s new vaccine was more effective in adults age 50 and older than one of the standard flu shots used today. In the FDA’s rare ‘refusal to file’ letter, vaccine director Dr. Vinay Prasad faulted the trial for not including another brand specifically recommended for people 65 and older.” (02/18/26)
“A millionaire philanthropist from Maine was shot dead in an assisted living facility in a ritzy Washington, D.C. suburb, according to police. The Montgomery County Department of Police in Maryland said it responded to an early-morning Feb. 14 emergency call at the Cogir Potomac Senior Living, where first responders found Robert Fuller Jr., 87, with severe head trauma. ‘After processing the scene, Homicide detectives confirmed that Fuller had been shot,’ the department said in a release. ‘His death is being investigated as a homicide and he was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for autopsy to determine cause and manner of death.’ An arrest has not been made in the case, and police have no suspects. Fuller was a retired Navy reserve officer and high-powered attorney from Augusta, Maine, where he was known to be a major philanthropist, according to reports.” (02/18/26)
“A court in Germany on Tuesday ordered Elon Musk’s social media site X to hand over data related to the upcoming election in Hungary to researchers for scrutiny. The court in Berlin ruled in favor of rights group Democracy Reporting International in its bid to access data to research influence campaigns and disinformation in the election. The group took its case to court after X in November refused its data access requests. The European Union’s rules for social media platforms, the Digital Services Act, obliges big online platforms like X to grant external researchers access to data to scrutinize how platforms handle risks, including election interference.” (02/18/26)
“Democratic candidates have notched a series of wins in recent special elections — but a new AP-NORC poll finds views of the Democratic Party among rank-and-file Democrats have not bounced back since President Donald Trump ’s 2024 victory. Only about 7 in 10 Democrats have a positive view of the Democratic Party, according to new polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. While the overwhelming majority of Democrats still feel good about their party, they’re much less positive than they’ve been in the past. The midterm elections are still many months away, and lackluster favorability doesn’t spell electoral doom. Other factors could benefit Democrats this year, including broadly negative views of Trump and other Republicans. But the lack of enthusiasm could be a longer-term problem for the party.” (02/18/26)
“Tesla has stopped using the term ‘Autopilot’ to sell its cars in California, thereby avoiding a 30-day sales and manufacturing ban in the state. If you’ll recall, a California administrative law judge ruled in December that the automaker misled consumers by using the terms ‘Autopilot’ and ‘Full Self-Driving.’ The judge recommended the suspension, but the California DMV gave Tesla 60 days to remove any untrue and misleading language in its marketing materials. In its announcement, the DMV said Tesla has taken corrective action and has stopped using Autopilot for marketing. Prior to that, the automaker has already clarified that driver supervision is still needed with Full Self-Driving.” (02/18/26)
“The Metropolitan Police is carrying out ‘initial inquiries’ into allegations relating to close protection officers formerly assigned to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. It comes after an unnamed former senior Met protection officer told LBC that members of the Royalty and Specialist Protection (RaSP) may have ‘wilfully turned a blind eye’ during visits to a private island owned by Jeffery Epstein. Multiple survivors have alleged they were trafficked to and abused on the island, known as Little St James, which Epstein purchased in 1998. In a statement, the Met said it had ‘not identified any wrongdoing’ but ‘initial enquiries into these specific allegations have begun so we can establish the facts’. Speaking to LBC on Tuesday, the former Met protection officer claimed Andrew’s protection team travelled with him to the private island on at least two occasions, including travelling on Epstein’s private jet on one of those occasions.” (02/18/26)
