The Daily Populous

Thursday February 19th, 2026 day edition

image for Bill Gates cancels keynote speech in India amid questions over Epstein ties

Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote address at the AI Impact Summit in India as he continues to face questions over his relationship with the deceased child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Gates Foundation said in a statement: “After careful consideration and to ensure the focus remains on the AI summit’s key priorities, Mr Gates will not be delivering his keynote address..”.

The move came less than 48 hours after the Gates Foundation had insisted: “Bill Gates is attending the AI Impact Summit.

Gates has said he “regrets” ever knowing Epstein after allegations that he hid a sexually transmitted disease from his then-wife after contact with “Russian girls” surfaced in the latest release of the Epstein files.

“Every minute I spent with him, I regret,” Gates, 70, told Australian news outlet 9News earlier this month.

Melinda French Gates, to whom Gates was married until 2021, described how the recent release of Epstein files brought back “memories of some very, very painful times in my marriage”.

“Whatever questions remain there of what – I can’t even begin to know all of it – those questions are for those people and for even my ex-husband,” French Gates told NPR. »

James Talarico: ‘We have a moral imperative’ to flip Texas in light of Trump backlash

Authored by ms.now

Texas State Rep. James Talarico told Lawrence O’Donnell on The Last Word that Democrats have a “moral imperative” to flip Texas blue in light of backlash against immigration detention centers within the state.

“It’s our job to harness that energy, to channel that backlash into a win at the ballot box.

We have a moral imperative to win this race in November, because if we don’t win, we can’t help people.”. »

Karoline Leavitt says Truth Social posts are straight from Trump – week after staffer blamed for ‘Obama ape’ video

Authored by independent.co.uk

Just weeks after the White House — and the president himself — blamed a staffer for a blatantly racist post that appeared on his Truth Social account, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt assured reporters that anything on Trump’s social media site is “straight from the horse’s mouth.”.

open image in gallery Karoline Leavitt said that any Truth Social post is ‘directly’ from President Donald Trump.

But weeks ago the White House blamed a staffer for a post that many called racist ( AP ). »

Major European allies decline to join first meeting of Trump’s Board of Peace

Authored by theguardian.com

Dozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC on Thursday for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate.

There also was little indication how a Board of Peace could break a key deadlock in negotiations between Israel and Hamas, he added.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, has declined her invitation, and the leaders of key US allies including the United Kingdom, Germany and France have also said they won’t join the Board of Peace. »