“Columbia University said Thursday that federal immigration officials [abducted] a student after misrepresenting their purpose for entering a school building. Columbia said that early this morning federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) went into a residential building owned by the university and [abducted] a student. ‘Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,’ said Claire Shipman, acting president of the university. … Shipman said that DHS officers need a judicial warrant or subpoena to enter nonpublic buildings, writing, ‘An administrative warrant is not sufficient.'” (02/26/26)
“Australia’s prime minister has apologised for calling a former Australian of the Year and sexual abuse survivor ‘difficult,’ saying it was only in reference to the hardships she has faced. During a one-word response game, Anthony Albanese used the adjective to describe Grace Tame, who was named the 2021 Australian of the Year for her advocacy for child sexual abuse survivors. Tame, 31, said the description was ‘misogynist’s code for a woman who won’t comply. History tends to call her ‘courageous.” It prompted Albanese to apologise ‘if there was any misinterpretation’ and that Tame ‘has had a very difficult life, but she deserves great credit for turning that into a benefit for others.’ But hours later, Tame dismissed Albanese’s apology …” (02/26/26)
“In a stunning twist, Netflix is declining to raise its bid for Warner Bros., positioning David Ellison’s Paramount as the winner in the battle for the fabled studio. Netflix co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters released a statement Thursday outlining their decision, namely that the deal is ‘no longer financially attractive’ and that it ‘was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price.’ … With Netflix out, Paramount’s latest bid is almost a sure thing to be accepted by the Warners board, which determined earlier Thursday that it was a ‘superior proposal’ to Netflix’s deal.” (02/26/26)
“Delivery company FedEx said in a statement on Thursday that it will return any tariff refund it might get to shippers and customers who paid them. The statement came after FedEx filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade to request a refund on what it paid for tariffs set by President Donald Trump under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. On Friday, the Supreme Court ruled that the IEEPA tariffs are illegal. More than 1,000 companies have filed suit in the U.S. Court of International Trade in efforts to recoup costs from the illegal tariffs, including large U.S. corporations like Costco and Revlon. … The Supreme Court ruling did not address implementation of any system by which the companies and individuals who paid those tariffs could be refunded.” (02/26/26)
“The cost of PC components has been skyrocketing as AI infrastructure buildout creates extraordinary demand amid limited supply. HP says that squeeze is now hitting PC memory especially hard, with RAM now accounting for 35 percent of a system’s overall cost. … AI has been eating up the world’s supply of memory and companies like Micron have even abandoned their consumer brands to focus entirely on B2B supply. Other components like GPUs have also been feeling the pressure.” (02/26/26)
“A court in Bangladesh’s capital on Thursday ordered authorities to request that Interpol issue a red notice for the arrest of a British lawmaker on charges of corruption in a private real estate project. Tulip Siddiq, a former British minister and an MP from Hampstead and Highgate in London, faces charges of corruption in Bangladesh as the country’s Anti-corruption Commission pursues a case against her. Siddiq has already been sentenced to six years in jail in Bangladesh in three other corruption cases all involving her powerful aunt, the country’s former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Hasina was ousted in 2024 in a student-led mass uprising that ended her 15-year rule, and has been in exile in India since Aug. 5, 2024. Siddiq earlier rejected all allegations against her, termed the verdicts as a ‘complete farce,’ and said she is a British citizen, not a Bangladeshi national.” (02/26/26)
“A Homeland Security agent testified in federal court on Thursday that the human smuggling case she initiated against Kilmar Abrego Garcia was strong even as his attorneys tried to persuade a judge to throw out the charges. Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation has galvanized both sides of the immigration debate, claims that the criminal prosecution is vindictive, pushed by officials from President Donald Trump’s administration to punish him after they were forced to bring him back to the United States. While Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen, a court order from 2019 prevents him from being deported to that country. That’s because an immigration judge determined he faced danger in El Salvador from a gang that had threatened his family. (02/26/26)
“Harvey Weinstein has hired Luigi Mangione’s and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’[s] lawyers to represent him at his third New York rape trial, reshaping his legal team after declining to end the case with a guilty plea. The lawyers, Jacob Kaplan, Marc Agnifilo and Teny Geragos, confirmed the move in court papers Tuesday. They take over for Weinstein’s longtime lawyer, Arthur Aidala, who ceded his courtroom role to focus on the ex-studio boss'[s] appeals and pending civil matters. Kaplan was a member of Weinstein’s original defense team in 2018 and is expected to have a leading role in his defense at the third trial, which involves a charge that the Oscar-winning producer raped hairstylist and actor Jessica Mann in a Manhattan hotel in 2013.” (02/25/26)
“Parents using Instagram’s child supervision tools will soon receive alerts if their teen repeatedly searches for suicide or self-harm related terms on the platform. It is the first time parent company Meta will proactively alert parents to searches by their child on Instagram for harmful material, rather than just block searches and direct users to external help. Parents and teens enrolled in Instagram’s Teen Accounts experience in the UK, US, Australia and Canada will be notified about the alerts from next week, with the rest of the world to follow later. But suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation has strongly criticised the measures, warning they ‘could do more harm than good’. ‘This clumsy announcement is fraught with risk and we are concerned that forced disclosures could do more harm than good,’ said its chief executive Andy Burrows.” (02/26/26)
“US and Ukrainian officials were set to meet in Geneva on Thursday for fresh talks, hours after Russia launched a fresh barrage of missiles and drones at its neighbour overnight. The meeting will bring together Ukraine’s lead negotiator Rustem Umerov and US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, with further trilateral talks involving Russia expected to take place in early March. The United States is pushing for an end to the war — the deadliest in Europe since World War II — but has so far failed to broker a compromise between Moscow and Kyiv on key issues, including territory.” (02/26/26)
