Bill Gates Pulls Out Of High-Profile Indian AI Summit As Epstein Fallout Accelerates The Epstein fallout continues to spread by the day, with billionaire Les Wexner saying he was " conned " by Jeffrey Epstein and insisting he "did nothing wrong" earlier this week, and with Prince Andrew (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) being arrested on Thursday morning over allegations that he shared confidential gov...
Bill Gates Pulls Out Of High-Profile Indian AI Summit As Epstein Fallout Accelerates The Epstein fallout continues to spread by the day, with billionaire Les Wexner saying he was " conned " by Jeffrey Epstein and insisting he "did nothing wrong" earlier this week, and with Prince Andrew (Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor) being arrested on Thursday morning over allegations that he shared confidential government trade documents with Epstein. Now, Bill Gates has pulled out of a keynote speech at a high-profile global AI summit in India amid the accelerating Epstein fallout. pic.twitter.com/tGJtEQS97E — Gates Foundation India (@BMGFIndia) February 19, 2026 " 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 Gates Foundation will be represented by Ankur Vora, President of Africa and India Offices, who will speak later today at the Summit," Gates Foundation India wrote on X. The $86 billion philanthropic body's last-minute decision to yank Gates out of a keynote address follows the billionaire's involvement with Epstein for several years. The Gates Foundation CEO recently told employees during a town hall event that the Gates-Epstein relationship had deeply tarnished the nonprofit's reputation, according to a Financial Times report. Related: "I Deeply Regret": Bill Gates, Reid Hoffman Deny Epstein Malarkey, And Here's Some Weird Sh*t New Mexico Launches Probe Into What Happened At Epstein's 'Zorro Ranch' Epstein Ally Was Talking To Feds About Flip, Wanted $3 Million To Keep Quiet, Then Backed Off Deal We asked earlier... Hey @CERAWeek you still going with Bill Gates? https://t.co/za6L33BlOj pic.twitter.com/WsIPUddlgl — zerohedge (@zerohedge) February 19, 2026 It is important to note that Gates has not been accused of involvement in Epstein's sexual abuse. However, draft emails in the Epstein files show that the billionaire allegedly tried to hide a sexually transmitted diseas...
Moleculin Biotech ( MBRX ) entered agreements for the immediate exercise of warrants covering 2.12M shares at $3.90/share. The warrant exercises are expected to generate ~$8.3M in gross proceeds before advisory fees. MBRX will issue new unregistered five-year warrants to purchase up to 6.37M shares. The new warrants will have an exercise price equal to the lesser of $3.90/share or the lowest VWAP ...
Moleculin Biotech ( MBRX ) entered agreements for the immediate exercise of warrants covering 2.12M shares at $3.90/share. The warrant exercises are expected to generate ~$8.3M in gross proceeds before advisory fees. MBRX will issue new unregistered five-year warrants to purchase up to 6.37M shares. The new warrants will have an exercise price equal to the lesser of $3.90/share or the lowest VWAP during the next five trading days. The transaction is expected to close on or about February 20, 2026. Net proceeds will be used for working capital and general corporate purposes. More on Moleculin Biotech Moleculin announces exercise of warrants for $6.8M Seeking Alpha’s Quant Rating on Moleculin Biotech Historical earnings data for Moleculin Biotech Financial information for Moleculin Biotech
Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock via Getty Images Medical Properties Trust ( MPT ) stock jumped 5.2% in Thursday premarket trading after the hospital REIT's Q4 results beat Wall Street expectations as the bankruptcy of what was its largest tenant recedes into the past. "With our recently transitioned portfolio continuing to ramp cash rents as expected and Prospect’s bankruptcy process largely behind us, w...
Arkadiusz Warguła/iStock via Getty Images Medical Properties Trust ( MPT ) stock jumped 5.2% in Thursday premarket trading after the hospital REIT's Q4 results beat Wall Street expectations as the bankruptcy of what was its largest tenant recedes into the past. "With our recently transitioned portfolio continuing to ramp cash rents as expected and Prospect’s bankruptcy process largely behind us, we are squarely focused on continuing to strengthen our balance sheet and position our platform for future growth," said Chairman, President, and CEO Edward K. Aldag, Jr. Q4 normalized FFO per share of $0.18, topping the average analyst estimate of $0.15, rose from $0.13 in Q3 and was unchanged from $0.18 in Q4 2024. The company said it has almost entirely resolved its exposure to Prospect Medical Holdings' in-court restructuring. In Q4 2025, it entered into a 15-year lease for its California hospitals previously leased to Prospect, which is expected to result in stabilized annual cash rent of $45M in December 2026, in line with expected contractual rent from Prospect prior to its restructuring process. Two hospitals in Connecticut were sold in January 2026, leaving only one MPT-owned facility that is under binding agreement and is expected to sell in Q1 2026. Q4 total revenue of $270.3M, exceeding the $244.7M consensus, increased from $237.5M in the previous quarter and $231.8M in the year-ago period. Cash collections from new tenants rose to $22M, as expected from Q3’s $16M, or 96% of scheduled collections. Q4 expenses of $233.7M declined from $246.1M in Q3 and increased from $204.7M in Q4 2024. As of Dec. 31, 2025, MPT’s portfolio included 384 properties and ~39,000 licensed beds leased to or mortgaged by 52 hospital operating companies across the U.S., as well as in the U.K., Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Finland, Colombia, Italy, and Portugal. Conference call at 11:00 AM ET. More on Medical Properties Trust Medical Properties Trust: Why Short Interest Eased Substantially...
Market sentiment among individual investors grew more cautious in mid-February, according to the latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). Bullish sentiment declined to 34.5% for the week ended February 18, down from 38.5% in the prior week, while bearish sentiment edged lower to 36.9% from 38.1%. Equity markets were mixed but showed signs of stabilization during ...
Market sentiment among individual investors grew more cautious in mid-February, according to the latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII). Bullish sentiment declined to 34.5% for the week ended February 18, down from 38.5% in the prior week, while bearish sentiment edged lower to 36.9% from 38.1%. Equity markets were mixed but showed signs of stabilization during the week. Asian stocks led gains, with major indexes in Australia and South Korea reaching record highs, while European equities advanced on fresh inflation and growth data. In the United States, Wall Street closed several sessions higher as technology stocks rebounded and selective buying supported major indexes. Defensive sectors, including large-cap dividend payers, also attracted cautious investors. Fixed-income markets were active amid corporate borrowing flows, and gold drew periodic safe-haven demand. Cryptocurrency markets, including Bitcoin, remained volatile and traded lower. Overall, sentiment improved modestly, though investors stayed selective amid mixed economic signals and uneven market breadth. According to AAII, neutral sentiment, or expectations that stock prices will stay essentially unchanged over the next six months, rose to 28.5 % % from 23.3% a week earlier, suggesting more investors are adopting a wait-and-see stance. The survey has been conducted by the American Association of Individual Investors since 1987, in which it asks respondents for their thoughts on where the market is heading in the next six months. S&P 500 Tracking Funds: (MUTF: FXAIX ), (MUTF: VFIAX ), (MUTF: VFFSX ), (MUTF: SWPPX ), (NYSEARCA: SPY ), (NYSEARCA: VOO ), (NYSEARCA: IVV ), (NYSEARCA: RSP ), (NYSEARCA: SSO ), (NYSEARCA: SH ), (NYSEARCA:SDS), and (NYSEARCA: SPXU ). More on Electrolux: Margin Expansion Signals A Long‑Awaited Comeback Whirlpool: Fairly Valued As Stock Begins 2026 Outperforming Arcadis NV 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation Chinese tech progress ‘rem...
(RTTNews) - Following the strength seen in the previous session, stocks may move back to the downside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.3 percent.
(RTTNews) - Following the strength seen in the previous session, stocks may move back to the downside in early trading on Thursday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures down by 0.3 percent.
Octogenarian leftist, who has defended child marriage, replaces José Jerí, who was voted out after a scandal Peru’s congress elected José María Balcázar, an octogenarian leftist lawmaker who has defended child marriage, as the country’s new interim president on Wednesday ahead of general elections in April. Balcazar is Peru’s ninth president since 2016. The surprise election, in which Balcázar bea...
Octogenarian leftist, who has defended child marriage, replaces José Jerí, who was voted out after a scandal Peru’s congress elected José María Balcázar, an octogenarian leftist lawmaker who has defended child marriage, as the country’s new interim president on Wednesday ahead of general elections in April. Balcazar is Peru’s ninth president since 2016. The surprise election, in which Balcázar beat the favourite, conservative lawmaker María del Carmen Alva, came after lawmakers voted to remove his predecessor José Jerí, on Tuesday , after just four months in office, due to a scandal over secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen . Continue reading...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investors bought the dip of the past few days, looking for bargains, despite the release of the minutes from the latest Fed meeting, which suggested some board members see rate hikes as more likely than cuts. I think that is very unlikely, which is why the market looked the other way. Energy and materials led the charge on the tailcoats of higher oil prices...
J Studios/DigitalVision via Getty Images Investors bought the dip of the past few days, looking for bargains, despite the release of the minutes from the latest Fed meeting, which suggested some board members see rate hikes as more likely than cuts. I think that is very unlikely, which is why the market looked the other way. Energy and materials led the charge on the tailcoats of higher oil prices, while the technology sector rebounded on news that Meta Platforms plans to buy a gazillion chips from Nvidia over the next several years. The most important reason for the market’s rebound was that we had some better-than-expected economic data. Finviz In December, homebuilders started construction on residential properties at the fastest pace in five months, increasing the annualized rate to 1.4 million. The number of single-family homes rose to the highest number since last February. Increasing supply should help further moderate home prices. One caveat is that milder weather boosted the number. Still, we saw starts in 2025 decline for a fourth consecutive year. While January’s weather probably slowed progress, government policies (and strong encouragement) support what should be the first year that we see starts rise. This is a lever of economic growth that has not been pulled for a long time. Bloomberg Another positive on the housing front is that wage growth at 3.7% is finally exceeding home price increases, which are now just 1.4% based on the most recent Case-Shiller Home Price Index. This improves affordability. FRED Lastly, borrowing costs are coming down with the 30-year fixed rate mortgage at 6.09% last week. If we can break below 6%, I think that might trigger more meaningful activity in the existing and new homes sales markets. The bottom line is that wage growth, home prices, and borrowing costs are all moving in a direction that points to an increase in activity this year. Freddie Mac We also had good news on industrial production in January, which increase...
The world is at risk of allowing a handful of companies to dominate artificial intelligence, and such a concentration raises the likelihood that the leading players will abuse their control over the emerging technology, the chief executive officer of France’s leading AI firm warned. “We’re facing too much concentration of power in artificial intelligence,” Mistral AI’s Arthur Mensch said, speaking...
The world is at risk of allowing a handful of companies to dominate artificial intelligence, and such a concentration raises the likelihood that the leading players will abuse their control over the emerging technology, the chief executive officer of France’s leading AI firm warned. “We’re facing too much concentration of power in artificial intelligence,” Mistral AI’s Arthur Mensch said, speaking at the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on Thursday. “We don’t want to be in a world where three or four enormous companies actually own the deployment and the making of AI.” “AI is going to change pretty profoundly the way the economy is being run in the next few years,” he added. “We need to ban excessive leverage.” The conference’s attendees included Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Alphabet Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai . The leaders of some of the world’s best funded and most influential AI companies were also there, including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman , Anthropic PBC CEO Dario Amodei and Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis . All three of those companies are either substantially financed or outright owned by one of the US technology giants, and Mensch was speaking to fears that the huge potential value of AI has been captured by this small, already powerful group of players. Paris-based Mistral is seen as Europe’s top competitor against these companies, even though it has far less money at its disposal than its US rivals. Mensch has been touting his company as more open and collaborative. Read More: Mistral CEO Says AI Dominance Hinges on Openness, Not Geography The flagship models from OpenAI, Google and Anthropic are closed, meaning their code and underlying parameters are not publicly visible or modifiable. Mistral offers “open-weight” models, saying these are easier for governments and enterprises to customize and control. Mistral was valued at almost €12 billion ($14.2 billion) in September after receiving €1.3 billion of investment led by Dutch...
TPG ( TPG ) indirect subsidiary Operating Group II, L.P. intends to offer senior notes due 2031 in a registered public offering. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by TPG and certain of the issuer's direct subsidiaries. Net proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down outstanding debt under the issuer’s revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes. Wells ...
TPG ( TPG ) indirect subsidiary Operating Group II, L.P. intends to offer senior notes due 2031 in a registered public offering. The notes will be fully and unconditionally guaranteed by TPG and certain of the issuer's direct subsidiaries. Net proceeds from the offering will be used to pay down outstanding debt under the issuer’s revolving credit facility and for general corporate purposes. Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Securities, and Morgan Stanley are acting as joint book-running managers for the offering. Source: Press Release More on TPG TPG Inc. (TPG) Presents At Bank Of America Financial Services Conference 2026 Transcript TPG Inc. 2025 Q4 - Results - Earnings Call Presentation TPG Inc. (TPG) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript TPG to acquire majority stake in Sabre Industries from Blackstone TPG expects 2026 capital raising to exceed $50B while scaling fee-related earnings and private wealth expansion
US Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Worsens As Exports Slump Again In December For the second month in a row, US exports declined and imports rose in December, pushing the US trade balance significantly deeper into deficit. Imports rose (+3.6% vs +0.1% MoM exp) and exports fell (-1.7% vs +0.1% MoM exp) for the second month in a row... Source: Bloomberg Industrial Supplies appears to have seen the bigges...
US Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Worsens As Exports Slump Again In December For the second month in a row, US exports declined and imports rose in December, pushing the US trade balance significantly deeper into deficit. Imports rose (+3.6% vs +0.1% MoM exp) and exports fell (-1.7% vs +0.1% MoM exp) for the second month in a row... Source: Bloomberg Industrial Supplies appears to have seen the biggest shift in trade... Gold imports fell back near their lowest since 2019... The result of all this is a second monthly decline in the trade balance (worsening deficit)... ...dramatically worse than the Trump-bragged-about October highs. Tyler Durden Thu, 02/19/2026 - 08:51
(RTTNews) - The Canadian markets might be sliding down on Thursday, after hitting a high on Wednesday, as the market sentiments might be influenced by the U.S.-Iran tensions. The U.S. is reportedly making military build up near the Persian Gulf.
(RTTNews) - The Canadian markets might be sliding down on Thursday, after hitting a high on Wednesday, as the market sentiments might be influenced by the U.S.-Iran tensions. The U.S. is reportedly making military build up near the Persian Gulf.
Sharplink ( SBET ) on Thursday said that its institutional ownership of common stock has risen to a record 46% as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to the latest Form 13F filings, marking one of the largest investor bases among Ethereum-focused digital asset treasury companies. The company said it attracted around 60 new institutional investors in Q4 and held 0.87M ETH worth about $1.72B as of Feb. 15, ...
Sharplink ( SBET ) on Thursday said that its institutional ownership of common stock has risen to a record 46% as of Dec. 31, 2025, according to the latest Form 13F filings, marking one of the largest investor bases among Ethereum-focused digital asset treasury companies. The company said it attracted around 60 new institutional investors in Q4 and held 0.87M ETH worth about $1.72B as of Feb. 15, 2026. Since June 2025, staking activities have generated 13,615 ETH in rewards for Sharplink, with the full amount benefiting stockholders. The company has completed a comprehensive brand refresh, including a redesigned website. Steven Ehrlich has been appointed Head of Research and Communications. Ehrlich previously led digital asset coverage at Forbes and most recently served as Executive Editor at Unchained, where he hosts a weekly crypto and macro podcast. More on SharpLink Gaming Sharplink: An Unfairly Penalized Ethereum Treasury Company SharpLink Vs. Bitmine: Why I Prefer A $1.5B Buyback Over 50 Billion Shares Of Dilution SharpLink Gaming: How To Get Ethereum Exposure At A 17% Discount SharpLink Gaming changes corporate name to Sharplink Coinbase, MSTR, Circle, others retreat after bitcoin's weekend slide
The Polymarket website hosts trading on whether Houthi militias would strike Israeli territory arranged on a laptop computer in Forest Hills neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. | Bloomberg via Getty Images. Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about the love-hate (but mostly hate) relationship between Silicon Valley and Washing...
The Polymarket website hosts trading on whether Houthi militias would strike Israeli territory arranged on a laptop computer in Forest Hills neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York, US, on Sunday, Jan. 4, 2026. | Bloomberg via Getty Images. Hello and welcome to Regulator, a newsletter for Verge subscribers about the love-hate (but mostly hate) relationship between Silicon Valley and Washington. I hope everyone got to celebrate George Washington's birthday in their preferred manner: skiing, staycationing, subscribing to The Verge if you haven't already , etc. Prediction: this is going to be a mess Political alliances are rarely permanent, so it's somewhat predictable that the MAGA-tech bro alliance seems to have fallen apart in the span of a single year. Which side the administration would actually choose, though, was more difficult to foresee. Last winter, it appeared that … Read the full story at The Verge.
Snapseed’s new camera includes pro controls, preset film effects, and a range of color themes for the UI. | Screenshots: Snapseed Google has updated the iPhone version of its photo editing app Snapseed with its own camera, including a suite of manual controls and retro film emulation effects. It's the second major update to the app in less than 12 months, after it had previously been left to langu...
Snapseed’s new camera includes pro controls, preset film effects, and a range of color themes for the UI. | Screenshots: Snapseed Google has updated the iPhone version of its photo editing app Snapseed with its own camera, including a suite of manual controls and retro film emulation effects. It's the second major update to the app in less than 12 months, after it had previously been left to languish by Google for years. The Snapseed camera defaults to an automatic mode, but also includes optional controls for ISO, shutter speed, and focus, along with flash and zoom. It allows you to shoot using saved looks and edit stacks from the app, which can be altered after the shot is taken, along with a range of preset film effects inspired by specific films from Kodak, Fujifi … Read the full story at The Verge.