Image used for representation | Photo credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Spanish police on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026) arrested a 20-year-old man in what they said was the first cybercrime of its kind, allegedly hacking a hotel booking website to reserve luxury rooms for only one percent. The suspect is believed to have tampered with the site's payment system, altering the validation process of the electronic payment platform so that bookings are paid in full.

Ukrainian authorities will boycott next month's Milano Cortina Paralympics after allowing Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete under their flags, Ukraine's Sports Minister Matvyi Bidny said on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026). Ukrainian athletes will still take part in the March 6-15 Paralympics, but Mr Bidny said no Ukrainian official would be at the opening ceremony or any of the Games' events, and he urged other countries to follow suit.

In a call with IAEA chief Rafael Grassi, Mr. Araghchi said "the Islamic Republic of Iran is focused on creating an initial and coherent framework to advance future negotiations", a day after the second round of talks with the US Published - February 18, 2026 07:36 pm IST - Tehran Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghi. file | Photo credit: Reuters …

Gennady Gatilov, Russia's representative to the UN office in Geneva, leaves the Intercontinental Hotel following the conclusion of US-brokered peace talks between Russia and Ukraine on February 18, 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland. | Photo credit: Reuters Ukraine and Russia have made some progress in US-brokered talks in Geneva, but no compromise has been reached on the key issue of territory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026).

According to research, a large number of paper restorers and bookbinders were employed by the Nazis and "directly contributed to genocide" during World War II. A British historian discovered a Europe-wide program in the 1930s and 1940s in which restorers repaired and cleaned historical church and civic records so that the Nazis could clearly identify anyone with Jewish ancestry. Dr Morwenna Blewett, a researcher in conservation history and an associate member of Worcester College at the University of Oxford, found Nazi letters and other material showing the role craftsmen played in restoring registers of births, conversions, baptisms and marriages in search of inherited "ethnic" status.

More than a dozen health and environmental justice nonprofits have sued the Environmental Protection Agency over a legal decision to strengthen US federal climate regulations. Filed in Washington DC Circuit Court, the lawsuit challenges the EPA's rollback of the "endangerment finding" claiming that increased heat-trapping pollution in the atmosphere harms public health and welfare and allowed the EPA to limit emissions from vehicles, power plants and other industrial sources.

Prosecutors have dropped aggravated robbery charges against 18 accused of a Palestinian Action break-in at an Israeli defense firm's UK site after a jury cleared six others of guilt. Charlotte Head, 29, Samuel Corner, 23, Leona Cameo, 30, Fatema Rajwani, 21, Joe Rogers, 22, and Jordan Devlin, 31, were acquitted of aggravated robbery, which took place on August 24, 2018. 2018 2018 2018 2018 2018 2010 carries life imprisonment.

A coalition of refugee aid groups has called for the Home Office to ax the organization, claiming it is putting hundreds of children at risk. The Refugee and Migrant Children's Consortium, which includes more than 100 organisations, including the Refugee Council, Barnardo's and the NSPCC, has published a report analyzing the performance of the Home Office's National Age Assessment Board (NAAB), set up in March 2023 to determine the age of young people newly seeking asylum in the UK.

An aerial view of the Iranian coast and Bandar Abbas harbor in the Strait of Hormuz. file | Photo credit: Reuters Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps began a series of military exercises in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday (February 16, 2026), state media reported, amid talks with the United States. The war games, the duration of which was not specified, are aimed at preparing the Guards for "potential security and military threats" in the strait, after the United States deploys a large naval force to the region, state TV said.

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo asked for special powers after 10 police officers were killed by suspected gang members. | Photo credit: AFP Guatemala lifted its state of emergency on Monday (Feb 16, 2026), a month after President Bernardo Arevalo sought special powers after suspected gang members killed 10 police officers. The measure limited some constitutional rights, allowing officers to make arrests without a warrant issued by a judge.

The Polish army has banned Chinese cars from entering military bases. file image. | Photo credit: GettyImages/iStockphotos The Polish army has banned Chinese cars from entering military facilities, hoping to prevent the collection of sensitive data by technologically advanced automobiles. Modern vehicles equipped with sophisticated sensors and communication systems are "capable of unrestricted collection and use of data," the Polish military wrote in a statement defending the ban.

Election Commission of Bangladesh announced that new members of Bangladesh Parliament will take oath on February 17, 2026 at 10 am | Photo credit: Reuters The new members of the Bangladesh Parliament will be sworn in at 10 am on Tuesday (February 17, 2026), the Election Commission of Bangladesh announced that the "Constitution Reform Commission" will also be sworn in. The event will see the formation of the government in the afternoon as the cabinet headed by BNP Chairman Tariq Rehman will be sworn in.

It's a cold night before Ramadan, and inside Cumbria's partially completed South Lakes Islamic Center (SLIC), a few men are completing health and safety checks. The building is just a shell, with exposed bricks, hanging wires and no installed lights or heaters, but the building materials have been removed in a large area to hold congregational prayers at night. Cumbria's Muslim community is excited that the center will open, but only outside construction times, but word is quietly spreading for fear of being targeted by far-right groups.

Prince William called the prevalence of male suicides in the UK a "national disaster" in a radio show in which he opened up about his approaches to dealing with difficult emotions. William told a special episode of Radio 1's Life Hacks that "we need more male role models" to talk openly about their mental health, to help other men do the same, and to have open discussions that are "second nature to all of us".

Household energy costs in Great Britain are expected to fall by an average of £117 a year from April, after Rachel Reeves announced in the November Budget that the cost of green subsidies would be removed from domestic bills. According to Cornwall Insight, a leading energy consultancy, the government's quarterly cap on energy bills is expected to fall after the chancellor's decision to convert levies used to support renewable energy projects into general taxes and scrap the billpayer-funded Energy Efficiency Scheme.

File photo of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of US journalist and television host Savannah Guthrie, who went missing from her home in Tucson, US, Arizona | Photo credit: Reuters Nancy Guthrie's family are suspects in her abduction, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Monday (Feb. 16, 2026), as the case involving the mother of "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie enters its third week.

Taipei said the Trump administration had approved $11 billion worth of arms to Taiwan in December. file | Photo credit: Reuters US President Donald Trump said on Monday (Feb 16, 2026) that he would soon decide whether to send more weapons to Taiwan, after Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against doing so. "I've been talking to him about it. We had a good conversation and we'll make a decision soon," said Mr Trump, adding that he had a "good relationship" with the Chinese leader, whose country claims the autonomous island of Taiwan as its territory.

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In this 2019 file photo, a man walks his dog next to an apartment building owned by Jeffrey Epstein in Paris. | Photo credit: AP Paris prosecutors on Wednesday (Feb 18, 2026) opened two new investigations into sex abuse crimes and financial wrongdoing linked to Jeffrey Epstein after releasing millions of files on the millionaire financier and convicted sex offender and calling for victims to come forward.

Fifteen members of Congress have written a letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio demanding to know what action the United States has taken over the mistreatment of a Palestinian-American teenager who spent nine months in Israeli detention. The letter, led by Senator Peter Welch and first seen by the Guardian, centers around the case of Florida resident Mohamed Ibrahim, who was 15 when Israeli soldiers arrested him in a February 2025 raid on his family's West Bank home.

No one knows where they came from or how they ended up in Norfolk. But one thing is certain: now, there are two of them. Until last week, experts believed only one wild beaver lived in Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, 20 miles outside Norwich. But on Valentine's Day, the two went for a late-night swim together and were caught on camera making out with each other by the river.

Ministers are considering a slower rise in the minimum wage for young workers, amid fears over rising youth unemployment. Labor promised in its manifesto to equalize national minimum wage rates by the next election, saying it was unfair to pay young workers less. Government sources say mobilization remains on target, but growth may come more slowly. At current rates, those aged between 18 and 20 are paid at least £10 an hour, rising to £12.21 an hour for over 21s.