India's Supreme Court has dramatically banned a new NCERT Class 8 Social Science textbook, citing a chapter on "corruption" in the judiciary as a "deep-rooted conspiracy." The Court ordered the immediate seizure of all copies and issued show-cause notices, ultimately prompting an "unconditional and unqualified apology" from the Ministry of Education after rejecting NCERT's initial explanation.
South Korean stocks soared to an unprecedented record high, with the KOSPI index closing above 6,300, fueled by surging investor confidence in artificial intelligence prospects. This remarkable rally was sparked by Nvidia's stellar earnings report, propelling technology and automobile giants like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix to lead the charge.
Aer Lingus has implemented stricter identification rules for UK flights, now mandating passports for all non-Irish citizens, even within the Common Travel Area, to streamline operations and minimize delays. This significant change coincides with the full activation of the UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) requirement today, February 26, 2026, which impacts 85 nationalities previously traveling visa-free.
The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has launched its groundbreaking real-time alert system, issuing 800,000 scientific alerts on February 24, 2026, to empower scientists worldwide with crucial data for follow-up observations. This revolutionary system, which will eventually generate up to seven million alerts nightly, promises to transform the study of dynamic astronomical events like supernovae and asteroids.
President Donald Trump introduced the "Rate Payer Protection Pledge" during his State of the Union, a bold initiative designed to shield consumers from soaring electricity bills driven by AI-powered data centers. This pledge mandates technology companies to bear the burden of increased power consumption and encourages them to build their own power plants, preventing these costs from being passed on to the general public.
Apple's stock jumped over 2% following the announcement of its Houston facility expansion, which will bring Mac mini assembly to the U.S. for the first time and significantly scale up advanced AI server manufacturing. This ambitious initiative, part of a $600 billion U.S. supply chain investment, is set to double the campus's footprint, create thousands of new jobs, and establish a dedicated training center for American manufacturing.
