“Børge Brende resigned as president and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF) amid revelations regarding his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Brende wrote in a WEF release he decided to step down ‘after careful consideration’ from a role he has occupied since 2017. He did not mention the late convicted sex offender. … The WEF launched a probe into Brende earlier this month, after documents released by the Department of Justice revealed he attended multiple ‘business dinners’ with Epstein and exchanged emails and text messages with the sex offender, years after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.” (02/26/26)
“Hungary has accused Ukraine of disrupting oil supplies it gets from Russia and has stationed troops at critical energy facilities across the country as Prime Minister Viktor Orban ramps up the rhetoric around energy and national security ahead of parliamentary elections in April. Orban on Wednesday accused Kyiv of imposing an ‘oil blockade’ on Hungary by delaying the reopening of the Druzhba pipeline which supplies it, and neighboring Slovakia, with Russian oil. Ukraine shut the pipeline a month ago, saying a Russian strike had damaged it, but Hungary’s leader accused Kyiv of deliberately keeping the pipeline closed for ‘political’ rather than ‘technical’ reasons.” (02/26/26)
“A rare outbreak of infant botulism that sickened dozens of babies who drank recalled ByHeart formula is over, with no new cases reported since mid-December, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday. In all, 48 babies were sickened since 2023. That’s actually down from the previous case count, because three infants were ultimately diagnosed with other illnesses not tied to botulism, health officials said. All of the children who got sick were hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. It’s still unclear exactly how, when or where the organic, whole-milk powdered baby formula became contaminated with the type of bacteria that can cause serious illness, paralysis and death in children younger than 1, health officials added. Most of the cases had occurred since August, when officials at California’s Infant Botulism Treatment and Prevention program detected an alarming rise in reports of the illness in babies who consumed ByHeart formula.” (02/26/26)
“New York’s attorney general has sued video game developer Valve, claiming the ‘loot boxes’ found in Counter-Strike and other popular video game franchises illegally promote gambling. State Attorney General Letitia James said in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in New York state court that games such as Counter-Strike 2, Team Fortress 2 and Dota 2 illegally charge users for the chance to win rare items held in the virtual containers. In Counter-Strike, the process even resembles a slot machine, with an animated spinning wheel that eventually rests on a selected item, James’[s] office said.” (02/25/26)
“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)
