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A day after a brief shirtless protest disrupted the India AI Impact Summit 2026 at Bharat Mandapam in New Delhi, the Indian National Congress has publicly backed the demonstrators and escalated a political confrontation over the limits of protest at high-profile international events and the substance of India’s trade policy. Protest Screengrab; Via: Ranoj Pegu On February 20, a group of 10 to 15 young men linked to the Indian Youth Congress (IYC), the youth wing of the Congress party, entered Hall No. 5 of the summit venue using valid entry passes or QR codes, according to police statements.  Inside the exhibition hall, they removed white T-shirts printed with red graphics featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face and the words “PM IS COMPROMISED,” held them aloft like placards and chanted slogans targeting the Prime Minister and his government.  Compromised प्रधानमंत्री के खिलाफ युवाओं का 'हल्ला बोल' ✊ pic.twitter.com/FVmGjIuPYn — Congress (@INCIndia) Febr...

United States President Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at the US Supreme Court after it ruled 6–3 that he exceeded his authority under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) by imposing sweeping tariffs, calling the decision “a disgrace” and announcing plans to pursue alternative legal routes to expand import duties. File Photo of POTUS Trump; Via: The Kobeissi Times In two posts on his Truth Social account, Trump said the Court had wrongly concluded that he could not “charge even $1 DOLLAR to any Country under IEEPA,” while allowing him to “cut off any and all Trade or Business” and impose embargoes.  He argued that the ruling effectively confirmed his authority to regulate trade and impose tariffs under other statutes, citing Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s dissent, which noted that “numerous other federal statutes authorize the President to impose tariffs and might justify most (if not all) of the tariffs issued in this case,” including Section 232 of the Trade Exp...

The US Supreme Court on Friday struck down President Donald Trump’s sweeping global tariffs , ruling in a 6–3 decision that he exceeded his legal authority by invoking emergency powers to impose broad import levies without clear congressional approval.  Chief Justice John Roberts, writing for the majority , said the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) does not grant the president unlimited authority to set tariffs, delivering a major setback to Trump’s second-term trade and foreign policy agenda. Representational Image of POTUS; Via: RepsAgainstTrump on X “The president asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope,” Roberts wrote.  “In light of the breadth, history, and constitutional context of that asserted authority, he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it.” The court concluded that the emergency authority relied upon by the administration “falls short,” adding that “The U...

Mani Sankar Mukherjee, the celebrated Bengali writer known by his pen name Sankar, passed away on February 20, 2026, at the age of 92 after being admitted to a Kolkata hospital for age-related ailments. He had been undergoing treatment for some time and died at the hospital. He is survived by his two daughters. Indian PM and WB CM have expressed their condolences. Image Via: ImageCraft26 Born on December 7, 1933, Sankar grew up in Debdoot Sheet Nagar in Howrah, West Bengal. The son of Avaya Mukherjee, he lost his father as a teenager and began working as a clerk to Noel Frederick Barwell, the last British barrister of the Calcutta High Court. While working, he enrolled at Surendranath College, then known as Ripon College, in Calcutta.  In 1962, on a rain-soaked day at the crossing of Central Avenue and Dalhousie in central Kolkata, Sankar conceived Chowringhee, a novel set in an opulent hotel he called Shahjahan. The book became a bestseller and was adapted into a film in 1968. His...

A group of young men said to be linked to the Indian Youth Congress, a major wing of the Indian National Congress which is India's primary Opposition Party, staged a brief shirtless protest inside New Delhi’s Bharat Mandapam on February 20, 2026. They disrupted proceedings at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, a high-profile event that is being attended by global technology leaders and government officials.  Shirtless Protest Snap; Via: TheIndeWire on X Police authorities have been reported saying that around 10 to 15 protesters entered Hall No. 5, which is an exhibition and conference space within the venue, using valid entry passes or QR codes.  They then began removing their shirts and chanting slogans targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. जब विदेश नीति में झुकाव, कॉरपोरेट दबाव और चुप्पी हावी हो… तो साफ है, PM मोदी COMPROMISED हैं!! 🔥 इसी सच्चाई को बेनकाब करने भारतीय युवा कांग्रेस के जाबांज कार्यकर्ता AI Summit पहुँचे और “Compromised PM” के खिलाफ विरोध प...

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of misconduct in public office as part of an investigation by Thames Valley Police into allegations linked to his past dealings with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, in an unprecedented development involving a senior member of Britain’s royal family. Almost tweleve hours after his arrest, the authorities said they had released ex-Prince Andrew "under investigation." The probe centers on allegations he shared confidential material with Jeffrey Epstein; Via: Meidas Touch Police said that at approximately 8am (GMT) on February 19 they arrested “a man in his sixties from Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office” and carried out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk.  Photographs showed unmarked police vehicles and plainclothes officers at Wood Farm on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk, as well as searches at his former residence at Royal Lodge in Windsor. Mountbatten-Windsor wa...

Iran held annual military drills with Russia this week in the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean as a second U.S. aircraft carrier moved closer to the Middle East, with both Washington and Tehran signaling readiness for conflict if long-stalled talks over Iran’s nuclear program collapse. U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he believes “10 to 15 days” is “enough time” for Iran to reach a deal, while warning that failure to secure what he called a “meaningful deal” would bring consequences. “It’s proven to be, over the years, not easy to make a meaningful deal with Iran, and we have to make a meaningful deal. Otherwise, bad things happen,” Trump said. U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing 8 aircraft fly in formation; Via: US Navy The drills came amid mounting U.S. military deployments and heightened rhetoric across the region. The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier was near the mouth of the Mediterranean Sea, bolstering Trump’s ability to conduct a strike should he decide to do so, th...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on February 17 welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron to India for an official visit from February 17 to 19, 2026, saying the trip would take bilateral relations to “new heights”, as India and France announced they were upgrading ties to a “Special Global Strategic Partnership” and jointly launched the 2026 India–France Year of Innovation alongside a slate of outcomes spanning defence co-production, critical technologies, health, education, climate cooperation and connectivity. French President with Indian Prime Minister; Via the former. In posts on X, Modi said India looked forward to “advancing our bilateral ties to new heights” and expressed confidence that discussions would strengthen cooperation across sectors and contribute to global progress, adding that engagements in Mumbai and later in Delhi would provide fresh momentum to the strategic partnership.  The visit included participation in the Artificial Intelligence Impact Summit 2026...

Concerns relating to journalistic attribution and factual inaccuracy arise from a “Special Report” published on February 16, 2026, by The Pioneer , titled “ Indian girl was victim of Epstein, files reveal .” The report cites emails from the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files but does not acknowledge the unearthing of each of the cited documents by another journalist, nor does it adequately distinguish between documented facts and inferred claims. The report cites a set of emails from the recently released Jeffrey Epstein files, part of a disclosure involving more than three million emails made public by the United States Department of Justice . However, all the specific emails referenced in The Pioneer ’s report had already been unearthed a day earlier on X (formerly Twitter) by Saket Suman, editor of IndianRepublic.in , who independently unearthed and contextualised those documents after days of forensic examination of the files. Image Source: Tanmoyofc on X Public interaction ...