While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Feb 11, 2026
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US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick testifying at a Senate hearing on Feb 10.
PHOTO: AFP
Lutnick admits Epstein Island lunch, denies closer ties
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick admitted on Feb 10 to having lunch on the private island of late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein in 2012, but denied closer ties, amid bipartisan calls for his resignation.
A rising number of US lawmakers have called for Mr Lutnick to step down from President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, as files released by the Justice Department contradicted earlier comments that he severed ties with Epstein more than two decades ago.
Among them, records have emerged showing Mr Lutnick’s plans in 2012 to meet Epstein for lunch in Little Saint James, notoriously known as Epstein Island.
“We had lunch on the island, that is true, for an hour,” Mr Lutnick told a Senate committee hearing. But he stressed that he was with his wife, children and nannies. “We were on family vacation,” he said.
Counter terrorism police investigate UK teen stabbing
London police said on Feb 10 they had arrested a 13-year-old on suspicion of attempted murder after he allegedly stabbed two other teenagers at a school, and that its counter terrorism unit was leading the investigation.
The incident occurred at Kingsbury High School in Brent, north-west London, earlier on Feb 10.
Two boys, aged 12 and 13, were stabbed and taken to hospital, where they remain in serious condition.
French ex-teacher charged with abusing 89 minors
PHOTO: AFP
French prosecutors on Feb 10 appealed for more testimony from potential further victims in a mass abuse case against a 79-year-old former teacher charged with the rape and sexual assault of 89 minors since the 1960s across multiple countries.
Prosecutor Etienne Manteaux spoke to reporters in the southeastern city of Grenoble to publicise the case of the man, who had also confessed to killing his terminally ill mother and his elderly aunt.
In an unusual move, French authorities named the suspect: Jacques Leveugle, who was born in 1946 in Annecy, an Alpine town an hour’s drive away from Grenoble.
Russia chokes Telegram as it pushes state-backed app
PHOTO: REUTERS
Russia’s internet watchdog on Feb 10 announced it was throttling the Telegram messenger platform for alleged violations of Russian law, as Moscow tries to push Russians to use a more tightly controlled domestic online service.
Moscow has been threatening a host of internet platforms with forced slowdowns or outright bans if they do not comply with Russian laws.
Those laws require data on Russian users to be stored inside the country, and for efforts to be made to stamp out their use for what Moscow calls “criminal and terrorist purposes”.
Ukrainian athlete vows to wear banned helmet
Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych vowed Feb 10 that he would wear a helmet that depicts victims of the war with Russia “on race day” at the Milan-Cortina Games despite a ban imposed by Olympic chiefs.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had defended Heraskevych’s right to wear the headgear, which carries pictures of Ukrainian sportsmen and women killed since Russian forces invaded in 2022.
International Olympic Committee spokesperson Mark Adams said the helmet contravened guidelines but that the IOC would “make an exception to allow him to wear a black armband during competition to make that commemoration”.
