“PayPal said on Tuesday it was booting its CEO and replacing him with its board chair Enrique Lores, sparing no ambiguity as to why: ‘The pace of change and execution was not in line with the Board’s expectations,’ it said in a statement. One group that was blindsided was HP, where Lores was until Tuesday serving as CEO, according to people familiar with the matter. Lores’[s] switchup sent them rushing to launch a search process, those people said. HP’s board does have internal candidates which it’s considering for the top job, according to a person familiar with the board’s thinking. As chair of PayPal’s board, Lores played a role in a process evaluating internal and external candidates. It was unclear when or if he recused himself from the final decision to name him as CEO.” (02/03/26)
“NASA early Tuesday announced it was pushing the launch date of its Artemis II mission to March, after engineers encountered a liquid hydrogen leak during a critical prelaunch test. … NASA had initially aimed to launch Artemis II in a Feb. 8-11 window. Moving the mission’s launch window will give teams time to review data and conduct a second wet dress rehearsal, NASA said in a separate statement.” (02/03/26)
“French state prosecutors have asked appeal court judges to maintain a five-year election ban on the far-right leader Marine Le Pen for embezzlement of European parliament funds in a fake jobs scandal. If the judges decide to grant the request, Le Pen would probably not be able to run in France’s 2027 presidential election. The state prosecutors also recommended a four-year prison sentence against Le Pen, three of which would be suspended, and one served at home with an electronic bracelet. They also requested a €100,000 fine.” (02/03/26)
“Eight international NGOs said they would refuse to provide information about their staff in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to Israel, defying new registration requirements as Tel Aviv continues to restrict the flow of aid into the besieged enclave. The eight organisations are ActionAid, Alianza por la Solidaridad, Médecins du Monde, Médicos del Mundo, Première Urgence Internationale, the American Friends Service Committee, medico international, and Medical Aid for Palestinians. Their stance follows similar decisions by Oxfam and Doctors Without Borders (MSF).” (02/03/26)
“Spain has set a new tourism record, welcoming nearly 96.8 million foreign visitors in 2025, according to figures released Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute. The number of international visitors witnessed an increase of 3.2%, compared to 2024, which saw 94 million tourists. Spain is one of the world’s most popular destinations, where tourism accounts for 12.6% of the country’s gross domestic product. It has ranked third as the world’s top tourism earners, after the United Kingdom and France, on the U.N. World Tourism Barometer.” (02/03/26)
“At least 30 people have died and another 324 injured due to heavy snowfall along the Sea of Japan coast over the past two weeks, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday. The highest death toll was seen in Niigata Prefecture, with 12 fatalities, followed by six in Akita Prefecture and four in Aomori Prefecture. Many deaths involved people attempting to remove snow from around their homes. … The Sea of Japan coast continued to see heavy snowfall on Tuesday as a result of wintry pressure patterns bringing freezing cold air above the Tohoku region.” (02/03/26)
“The cybercrime unit of the Paris prosecutor’s office on Tuesday launched a search of the French offices of social media platform X. The raid was connected to an ongoing investigation launched in January 2025 over alleged algorithm manipulation and illicit data extraction that has since expanded to look into allegations of complicity in spreading child sex abuse materials and sexualised deepfakes. … The Paris prosecutor’s office said it launched the investigation after being contacted by a lawmaker alleging that biased algorithms in X were likely to have distorted the operation of an automated data processing system.” (02/03/26)
“China will ban hidden door handles on cars, commonly used on Tesla’s electric vehicles and many other EV models, starting next year. All car doors must include a mechanical release function for handles, except for the tailgate, according to details released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday. Officials said the policy aims to address safety concerns after fatal EV accidents where electronic doors reportedly failed to operate and trapped passengers inside vehicles.” (02/03/26)
“New York’s attorney general announced plans Tuesday to deploy legal observers to monitor federal immigration enforcement actions in the state. The initiative will send observers, who will wear purple safety vests, to areas of reported immigration enforcement activity to collect information ‘that may inform future legal action,’ according to Attorney General Letitia James. Tensions remain high nationwide over President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown, particularly following the [murders] of two U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents in Minnesota. Videos of agents conducting immigration [abductions] throughout the country have drawn criticism over heavy-handed tactics, often going viral online. In a statement, James, a Democrat, said she is ‘proud to protect New Yorkers’ constitutional rights to speak freely, protest peacefully, and go about their lives without fear of unlawful federal action’. ‘We have seen in Minnesota how quickly and tragically federal operations can escalate in the absence of transparency and accountability,’ she said.” (02/03/25)
“The son of Norway’s crown princess has pleaded not guilty to four counts of rape as a trial that has brought fresh scrutiny to a royal family already embarrassed by links to Jeffrey Epstein opened. Marius Borg Hoiby entered his plea on Tuesday as proceedings got under way at the Oslo District Court. A conviction on the most serious of the charges he faces could result in at least 10 years in prison. The son of Crown Princess Mette-Marit and stepson of the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Haakon, Hoiby faces 38 counts, which also include domestic violence, assault and drug possession.” (02/03/26)
