Trump raises tariffs to 15% on imports from all countries
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

President announced increase from 10% using different authority from mechanism that supreme court struck down on FridayDonald Trump announced on Saturday that he would raise a temporary tariff rate on US imports from all countries from 10% to 15%, less than 24 hours after the US supreme court ruled against the legality of his flagship trade policy.Infuriated by the high court’s ruling on Friday that he had exceeded his authority and should have got congressional approval for the tariffs he introduced last year under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), the US president railed against the justices who struck down his use of tariffs – calling them a “disgrace to the nation” – and ordered an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, in addition to any existing levies, under a separate law. Continue reading...

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Decline in remote jobs risks shutting disabled people out of work, study finds
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

Research project warns fall in homeworking roles could undermine efforts to reduce unemploymentA decline in the number of jobs for people who need to work remotely, including those with disabilities, could undermine the government’s efforts to reverse rising unemployment, according to a two-year study.More than eight in 10 respondents to a survey of working-age disabled people by researchers at Lancaster University said access to home working was essential or very important when looking for a new job. Continue reading...

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Cemented locks and deflated diggers: the war over privately run allotments
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

With waits for council plots in England decades-long, Roots is renting out green space – but some communities are digging inWhen police arrived at the field outside Bristol in October 2023, two old cars, wheels removed, were blockading the gates. Protesters had hauled them across the entrance to stop developers building on the slice of north Somerset green belt. The threat was not housing or industry, but a company building vegetable patches.Roots builds privatised allotments to give city dwelling customers a place to grow food. It was co-founded in 2021 by Christian Samuel, Ed Morrison and William Gay, who were frustrated by a 28-year waiting list for a plot in their area of Streatham, south London. “We thought: ‘This is crazy’,” says Samuel, 32. “‘Why don’t we just build our own?’” Continue reading...

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OpenAI considered alerting Canadian police about school shooting suspect months ago
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

Company behind ChatGPT last year flagged Jesse Van Rootselaar’s account for ‘furtherance of violent activities’ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has said it considered alerting Canadian police last year about the activities of a person who months later committed one of the worst school shootings in the country’s history.OpenAI said last June the company identified the account of Jesse Van Rootselaar via abuse detection efforts for “furtherance of violent activities”. Continue reading...

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The splinternet: how online shutdowns are getting cheaper and easier to impose
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

Iran has shown how plausible blackouts now are, with far-reaching consequences for the internet as we know itDuring the height of Iran’s blackout in January, people could still access a platform that, in some senses, was like the internet.Iranians could message family members on a government-monitored app and watch clips of Manchester United on a Farsi-language video-sharing site. They could read state news and use a local navigation service. Continue reading...

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Borthwick ‘bitterly disappointed’ by latest Six Nations setback against Ireland
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

‘Given the opposition too many points,’ says head coach‘We have let everyone down,’ admits Ellis GengeSteve Borthwick says England have only themselves to blame for their steep decline in this season’s Six Nations. After his side’s record humbling by Ireland on Saturday, Borthwick said his side are being punished for their poor starts to games and are leaving themselves “a mountain to climb” against quality opposition.This was England’s worst Six Nations defeat since they lost 53-10 at home to France in 2023 and Borthwick said he was “bitterly disappointed” with his team’s latest sub-par first-half showing. “Unfortunately, for two weeks now, we have given the opposition too many points and we have not got scoreboard presence. We will be looking closely at that and how I set the team up to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Continue reading...

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Heartbreak for Team GB as Canada take men’s curling gold on last stone
Posted on Saturday February 21, 2026

Great Britain 6-9 CanadaMouat’s side take silver after falling short in last endThe cruel truth is that sometimes the silvers you win are more like golds you lost. After four years of thinking about this Olympics, and 11 days of competing in this Olympics, there is no doubt about how Bruce Mouat and his three teammates will weigh their achievement here after they were beaten by Canada 9-6 in the final. It was an excruciatingly tense game, which twisted and turned on its way to the very final stone of the 10th end. And when it was over, two of the British players were left in tears. Great Britain’s fourth medal of these Olympics was more bitter than sweet.“I’m heartbroken,” said Grant Hardie. “We lost that final four years ago. It took us a long time to get over it and find the motivation to go again and we found it and we were so hungry to go and deliver this time, and unfortunately it just didn’t quite happen.” His cousin Hammy McMillan felt the same way. “It took me four years to get over the first silver,” he said, “so it will probably take a lot longer this time.” Continue reading...

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