Questions swirl over Ohio billionaire Les Wexner’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein
Retail mogul’s name was this week unredacted from trove of files – how did he and his model town fuel Epstein’s rise?Les Wexner’s alleged note to Jeffrey Epstein marking his 50th birthday in 2003 included a hand-drawing of a woman’s breasts.And yet today, the billionaire Wexner’s name and portrait sits front and center across Ohio’s most respected institution – the Ohio State University. Continue reading...
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12-hour days, no weekends: the anxiety driving AI’s brutal work culture is a warning for all of us
San Francisco’s AI startups are pushing workers to grind endlessly, hinting at pressures soon hitting other sectorsNot long after the terms “996” and “grindcore” entered the popular lexicon, people started telling me stories about what was happening at startups in San Francisco, ground zero for the artificial intelligence economy. There was the one about the founder who hadn’t taken a weekend off in more than six months. The woman who joked that she’d given up her social life to work at a prestigious AI company. Or the employees who had started taking their shoes off in the office because, well, if you were going to be there for at least 12 hours a day, six days a week, wouldn’t you rather be wearing slippers?“If you go to a cafe on a Sunday, everyone is working,” says Sanju Lokuhitige, the co-founder of Mythril, a pre-seed-stage AI startup, who moved to San Francisco in November to be closer to the action. Lokuhitige says he works seven days a week, 12 hours a day, minus a few carefully selected social events each week where he can network with other people at startups. “Sometimes I’m coding the whole day,” he says. “I do not have work-life balance.” Continue reading...
Second round of Iran-US nuclear talks open in Geneva
Discussions held amid US naval buildup and Iranian announcement of live-fire exercises in straits of HormuzA fresh round of indirect talks between Iran and the US on Tehran’s nuclear programme has begun in Geneva, focusing on the terms for Iran constraining its nuclear programme under the supervision of the UN nuclear weapons inspectorate.The talks were held against a backdrop of a now familiar slew of contradictory messages from Donald Trump, in which he said he believed Iran wanted a deal but also highlighted the US naval military buildup in the region. Continue reading...
Reform UK would repeal Equality Act, Braverman says as she takes on education and equalities brief – UK politics live
Former Tory home secretary’s new role announced as Nigel Farage also named Robert Jenrick as his ‘shadow chancellor’, Richard Tice as his prospective deputy PM, and Zia Yusuf as home affairs spokespersonNigel Farage is speaking.He starts by saying that 4.6m voters will get the right to to vote in the local elections because of his party.I am writing a book on Nigel Farage for @headlinepg.No holds will be barred. Continue reading...
Trump’s Ambassador to Belgium Is Summoned After Accusing Officials of Antisemitism
The diplomat, Bill White, was then asked to meet with the Belgian foreign minister, at a time of rising tensions between the U.S. and countries in Europe.
Jesse Jackson tributes live: Bernice King and Al Sharpton join family in praising ‘transformative leader’
Ordained minister and activist who twice ran for the Democratic presidential nomination had been living with progressive supranuclear palsyJesse Jackson, civil rights leader, dies aged 84Jesse Jackson – a life in picturesYou can watch Jesse Jackson’s famous 1988 speech at the Democratic convention urging Americans to “keep hope alive” below. It quickly became an American political classic and was echoed in the “hope and change” slogan of Barack Obama’s historic 2008 presidential campaign.The civil rights campaigner, Al Sharpton, has paid tribute to his “mentor” Jesse Jackson, whom he worked closely with over the civil rights era. In a tribute posted to X, Sharpton wrote:My mentor, Rev. Jesse Jackson, has passed. I just prayed with his family by phone. He was a consequential and transformative leader who changed this nation and the world.He shaped public policy and changed laws. He kept the dream alive and taught young children from broken homes, like me, that we don’t have broken spirits. Continue reading...
Nancy Guthrie's family cleared as possible suspects, with search in its third week
Local police say the missing woman's relatives are victims - and "to suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel".
France releases suspected Russian shadow fleet tanker after multimillion-euro fine, as Ukraine peace talks begin in Geneva – Europe live
Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier called for ‘justice and strength’ in diplomacy after Russia hit Ukraine with 400 drones and 29 missiles hours before talksThe European Commission is just giving its daily midday press briefing, and it has confirmed plans to adopt the new, 20th, round of sanctions against Russia by 24 February, the fourth anniversary of the full-scale invasion on Ukraine.Foreign affairs spokesperson Anouar El Anouni said:“We keep on working on measures to deprive Russia of the funds, goods and technologies sustaining its war against Ukraine. This indeed includes the 20th package that you have mentioned, and indeed we aim to adopt it … by 24 February, as the High Representative [Kaja Kallas] mentioned at the last foreign affairs council. Member states are discussing it.” Continue reading...
Israeli settlers displace 15 Palestinian families in West Bank: Official
Israeli settlers forced the families to dismantle homes in the Jordan Valley, a village leader tells Wafa news agency.
India has long promised 'vibrant' border villages, as China speedily builds up
India's government launched a Vibrant Villages Programme almost four years ago. But as China steadily builds up its side, Indian residents wonder what's taking so long.