Feb. 20 (UPI) — Most Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump‘s handling of deporting undocumented immigrants, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released Friday.

The poll of 2,600 people found that 58% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the issue, while 62% oppose the tactics of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The poll was taken Feb. 12-17, after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota.

Broken down by political party, 95% of Democrats disapprove of Trump handling of immigration, while 16% of Republicans agree. The latter figure is up from 13% in October. Independents feel he’s gone too far by 63%, which is up from 54% in October.

Trump’s approval rating on immigration has dropped steadily over the past year, and is down by 10%. He gets higher numbers on his handling of the U.S.-Mexico border, 47%.

Half of Americans support efforts to deport all undocumented immigrants, the poll showed. In October, a poll showed that 45% were in support of expanded ICE operations and 46% were opposed. Today, Americans opposed the expanded operations by 53% to 40%.

A large number — 77% — believe that a warrant from a judge is necessary to enter a person’s home, while 20% believe an administrative warrant is enough.

And though the administration says it is targeting “the worst of the worst,” about 33% of Americans surveyed believe that.

The Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll was conducted Feb. 12-17, 2026, among 2,589 U.S. adults with a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

The U.S. Marine Corps is aiming to acquire a new single “capability” to fill gaps left by the retirement of its AV-8B Harrier jump jets, AH-1Z and UH-1Y helicopters, and legacy F/A-18C/D Hornet fighters. Dubbed the Future Attack Strike (FASt) plan, the current vision is to have the ability to attack targets kinetically and non-kinetically, and to work together with future uncrewed aircraft.

The first public mention of FASt appears to have come in the most recent annual Marine Corps Aviation Plan, released earlier this month. At this early stage, the Expeditionary and Maritime Aviation-Advanced Development Team (XMA-ADT), part of the U.S. Navy’s Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), has been leading the work to refine the FASt plan.

“FASt capability is being developed to provide long range fires and Close Air Support (CAS) to the ground force and to be a Joint Force kill web enabler. FASt continues to evolve through Weapons Integration Risk Reduction (WIRR) trade studies to drive innovation and experimentation,” per the 2026 Marine Aviation Plan. “Conceptual solutions are being analyzed to inform requirements and acquisition pathways. Enhanced capabilities such as kinetic/non-kinetic launched effects, long-range precision fires, advanced survivability, DI [digital interoperability], and EW [electronic warfare] will be further developed.”

“Future Attack Strike (FASt) is a capability being developed to fill a Marine Aviation attack & strike mission gap posed by sundowning F/A-18, AV-8B, AH-1Z, & UH-1Y aircraft, with an initial operating capability being fielded in the mid-2040s,” a Marine Corps spokesperson also told TWZ directly after we reached out for more information. “FASt will employ kinetic and non-kinetic weapons, be capable of Manned Unmanned Teaming (MUM-T), be interoperable with the Joint Force to close long-range kill chains in contested environments, and deliver offensive air support to affect all-domain threats.”

It should be noted here that the previously stated plan for replacing the AV-8B and F/A-18C/D fleets has been the acquisition of a mixture of short takeoff and vertical landing capable F-35B and carrier-based F-35C variants of the stealthy Joint Strike Fighter. We will come back to this later on.

Though not explicitly stated, supplanting the fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters mentioned above with a single platform would require a short, if not vertical takeoff and landing (S/VTOL) capable design. The Marine Corps has said in the past that it is at least monitoring U.S. Special Operations Command’s progress with its High-Speed Vertical Takeoff and Landing (HSVTOL) program. HSTVOL is paired with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Speed and Runway Independent Technologies (SPRINT) effort.

Last year, DARPA selected Bell over Boeing subsidiary Aurora Flight Sciences to move to the next phase of SPRINT. The core goal of SPRINT is to demonstrate a concept for a VTOL aircraft that can cruise at speeds between 400 and 450 knots. Bell’s design centers on wingtip proprotors with blades that fold away after the transition from hover to level flight, as you can read more about here.

HSVTOL Sled Transition Test

HSVTOL and SPRINT have both focused heavily on designs capable of transporting cargo and personnel, but Bell says its design concept is scalable. The company has shown renderings of multiple crewed and uncrewed variations, including types that could be configured for missions more in line with FASt.

The Marine Corps could look to other emerging S/VTOL designs for FASt, as well. The possibility of a Marine Corps derivative of Bell’s V-280 Valor tiltrotor, which serves as the basis for the U.S. Army’s new MV-75, has been put forward in the past. The company’s uncrewed V-247 Vigilant tiltrotor was aimed originally at a Marine requirement, as well. FASt could also end up intertwined with a separate Marine Corps plan to replace its MV-22 Osprey tiltrotors, currently called the Next Generation Assault Support (NGAS) platform.

Speed and range, on top of runway independence, will be key considerations for the Marines when it comes to FASt. The service’s current core vision for future conflicts centers on hub-and-spoke-type expeditionary and distributed deployments with forces positioned at far-flung sites across a broad area. Those units are expected to be able to rapidly deploy and redeploy from one operating location to another, which could be within range of enemy standoff strikes, to disrupt an opponent’s targeting cycles and reduce vulnerability. Island-hopping in the Pacific during a high-end fight with China is a principal scenario.

This all has raised questions, in particular, about the future utility of slower, lower-flying, and shorter-ranged helicopters like the AH-1Z and UH-1Y, and, by extension, how to fill the gaps in close air support and other capabilities they provide. The Marine Corps has already slashed the size of its AH-1Z and UH-1Y fleets, but is also taking steps to ensure the continued relevance of the remaining helicopters. This includes the acquisition of a new standoff strike capability for the AH-1Z in the form of L3Harris’ Red Wolf miniature cruise missile. The UH-1Y is regularly used as an electronic warfare platform when paired with the podded Intrepid Tiger II system, and other future roles for those armed utility helicopters are still being explored.

AH-1/UH-1 “investments also inform Future Attack Strike (FASt) capability development, which will help fill critical gaps in Marine Aviation’s future ACE [air combat element of the Marine Air Ground Task Force],” the 2026 Marine Aviation Plan notes.

“Coming back to that interoperability, it’s multiple pathways and multiple waveforms. I don’t think we say kill chains anymore, because it’s not a linkage of nodes, it’s a linkage of webs,” Col. Nathan Marvel, then commander of Marine Aircraft Group 39 (MAG-39) based at Marine Corps Air Station Camp Pendleton in California, told TWZ in an interview back in 2023. “We may very well be an enabler where you’re pushing data through us via voice and or data, and we may very well be the end of that kill web or that kill chain enabler as well. We may tell someone where something is so they can go kill it or we maintain custody, or someone may tell us where something is so we can go kill it like we have traditionally done. Interoperability is a huge focus for us.”

Col. Marvel had outlined a case to us for the continued relevance of the AH-1Z, as well as the UH-1Y, in a future major fight in the Pacific, which you can find here. Much of what he detailed at the time is in line with how the Marine Corps is now talking about FASt.

“We are going to be able to carry a potpourri of weapons. It would not be unheard of to hang some exquisite fixed-wing fighter weapons on the wing-stub of a Cobra and bring that to a fight,” Marvel also told us last year. “It may be a loitering weapon or maybe an exquisite pod that does only certain things that we’re used to seeing on fixed-wing aircraft and bring that to the fight and put that down at the rotor wing level to enable the battlespace commander and the maneuver element commander to do things that they may or may not have thought they could do before. So that’s kind of where we are with capabilities buildup.”

The expectation that FASt will fill gaps left by the retirement of the AV-8B and the F/A-18C/D may also point to new interest in a future high-low capability mix. As mentioned, the Marine’s primary plan has been to replace both of these types with variants of the F-35, and this looks to still be the case, at least in part. However, FASt could offer a valuable lower-tier companion to the F-35s, which are highly capable, but also very expensive and complicated to operate and maintain, especially in more austere locales. Just in general, the Marines have many day-to-day tactical aviation requirements that do not demand a very costly high-end fighter, as well. TWZ has highlighted the value of high-low mixes in the context of future U.S. Air Force tactical force structure plans on several occasions in the past.

F-35B

With the explicit mention of MUM-T capabilities for FASt, that platform also looks set to benefit from Marine efforts now to acquire fleets of Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) type drones. The first Marine CCAs will be variants of Kratos’ stealthy XQ-58 Valkryie configured for operations from traditional runways, as well as at least runway-independent launches, as you can learn more about here.

The service is also looking at future ‘spiral’ development cycles that could result in purchases of different uncrewed aircraft designs. The Corps just recently announced plans to use General Atomics’ YFQ-42A, one of two drones now in development under the first phase of the U.S. Air Force’s CCA program, as at least a surrogate for future uncrewed tactical aviation capabilities.

It is possible that FASt could turn out to be a family of systems that itself includes uncrewed capabilities in the end, as well. Shield AI has notably been describing its runway-independent X-BAT stealthy jet-powered ‘autonomous fighter,’ which TWZ was first to report on last October, in terms that could be of interest to the Marines for this emerging requirement.

X-BAT: Earth Is Our Runway

All this being said, the 2040s timeline outlined for FASt now means that this platform, however it might evolve, will not be an immediate replacement for the AV-8s or the F/A-18C/Ds. Marine Harriers are set to fly their last sorties in June of this year. The service’s goal now is for the legacy Hornets to be retired around the end of the decade. The AH-1Zs and UH-1Ys are currently expected to serve into the 2040s.

Regardless, the vision the Marines have laid out for FASt points to a very different-looking tactical aviation ecosystem now on the service’s horizon.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Hello! I’m Mark Olsen. Welcome to another edition of your regular field guide to a world of Only Good Movies.

This week we lost two towering figures with the deaths of Robert Duvall and Frederick Wiseman.

Duvall, who died at 95 at his home in Virginia, was known as an actor for roles in films such as “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” “To Kill a Mockingbird” and countless more. As a director, his work included “The Apostle” and a handful of other projects.

Robert Duvall in the movie “Apocalypse Now.”

(CBS Photo Archive / Getty Images)

The movies team published a list of 10 of our favorite performances, including “Tender Mercies,” for which he won an Academy Award, as well as “Network,” “The Great Santini” and “Widows.”

Wiseman, who died at 96 in Cambridge, Mass., directed more than 45 documentary features beginning with 1967’s “Titicut Follies” on through 2023’s “Menus-Plaisirs — Les Troigros.” His work was known for its rigorous examinations of systems and institutions, giving viewers insights into why things functioned the way they did.

Frederick Wiseman, photographed at the Venice Film Festival in 2014.

(David Azia / Associated Press)

“The institution is also just an excuse to observe human behavior in somewhat defined conditions,” Wiseman told the Associated Press in 2020. “The films are as much about that as they are about institutions.”

Tribute screenings have already started to pop up in tribute to Duvall, with presumably more for both men on the way.

‘Sunshine’ in 35mm

Rose Byrne in the 2007 movie “Sunshine.”

(Alex Bailey / Twentieth Century Fox)

The collaboration between director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland has yielded an ongoing examination of societies in varying stages of collapse, lately in their recent revival of the “28 Years Later” series. Among their other works is 2007’s “Sunshine,” which, while seen as something of a disappointment on initial release, has only grown in esteem in the years since. The Academy Museum will screen the movie on 35mm Friday in the Ted Mann Theater.

In 2057, Earth is freezing as the sun has begun to die. An international crew of astronauts — including Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, Hiroyuki Sanada, Benedict Wong and Chris Evans — are dispatched with the improbable mission of reigniting the sun. When they encounter another ship along the way, things begin to go very wrong.

In his review, Kenneth Turan wrote, “Not reflected in a synopsis is the way screenwriter Garland has made ‘Sunshine’ a thoughtful genre film, one with philosophical concerns about God, man and morality. It’s not for nothing that Icarus’ talking computer echoes Hal of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ Garland and Boyle also have devoted time and effort to character psychology, to making the members of the Icarus’ crew into recognizable people and not Hollywood stick figures. … All these good things enable us to buy into ‘Sunshine’s’ story for a considerable span, creating a palpable tension that underlines that no one should feel safe in the far reaches of space.”

John Horn also wrote an extensive production story on the film. Referring to delays in the editing process, which caused a delay in the film’s release, Boyle said, “No director, unless they are contractually obligated, will ever go back and do a sequel set in space. When I finished it in January, I would have said no, it wasn’t worth it. Because I fell out with everybody. To make these movies, you have to be so uncompromising and scorch all of the ground in front of you.”

Slamdance Film Festival

Vondie Curtis-Hall in the movie “The Projectionist,” the opening night film of the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival.

(Slamdance Film Festival)

The Slamdance Film Festival has launched its second year in Los Angeles, running through Feb. 25 with screenings at the DGA, Landmark Sunset and 2220 Arts + Archives. The virtual edition of the festival will run from Feb. 24–March 6 on the Slamdance Channel.

The festival opened with the world premiere of Alexandre Rockwell’s “The Projectionist.” Starring Vondie Curtis-Hall along with Kasi Lemmons and Kevin Corrigan, the film tells the story of a lonely film projectionist confronting his past.

Rockwell, who, in 1992 won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance with “In the Soup,” lauded Slamdance as “a festival that embodies the vital spirit of independent film better than anywhere.”

Among other notable titles in this year’s program is “The Untitled Ruby Slippers Documentary” directed by Seth Gordon and Nikki Calabrese, the story of the theft and recovery of one of the most famous pieces of Hollywood movie memorabilia. Gordon’s “The King of Kong” premiered at Slamdance in 2007.

Points of interest

‘A Thousand and One’

Teyana Taylor in the movie “A Thousand and One.”

(Aaron Ricketts / Focus Features)

Teyana Taylor is an Oscar nominee for her performance in “One Battle After Another.” (She’s also a recent guest on “The Envelope” podcast.) She got that role after “One Battle” director Paul Thomas Anderson saw Taylor’s performance in “A Thousand and One,” written and directed by A.V. Rockwell. Vidiots will show the movie Saturday.

In the film Taylor plays Inez, recently released from jail in New York City and attempting to reconnect with her son who has been in the foster system. When an opportunity presents itself, she impulsively abducts him and tries to get them set up in a new life together.

In her review of the film, Katie Walsh noted that Taylor “brings to her astonishing performance the coiled physicality of a panther ready to pounce.” Walsh added, “The film is utterly absorbing, anchored by the unpredictable performance of Taylor, playing a hopelessly complicated, but deeply caring woman. When faced with dire circumstances, she survives, then dares to imagine a life for Terry beyond the cycle she’s experienced, forging a family unit she never had.”

Sonaiya Kelley spoke to both Rockwell and Taylor about the film. Taylor said of the part, “I was drawn to the role before I even read the whole script. … A lot of the emotions I put onto Inez were real emotions from real triggers.”

‘Dont Look Back’

Bob Dylan in the documentary “Dont Look Back.”

(Criterion Collection)

As part of an ongoing series, the Academy Museum will show D.A. Pennebaker’s 1967 “Dont Look Back” in the David Geffen Theater with doc director Joan Churchill in person to introduce the film.

A pioneering work of cinema verité, the film tags along on Bob Dylan’s 1965 tour of England, capturing a period of heady creative evolution. As Dylan plays a series of shows, he is also seen in various hotel rooms, cutting down journalists and others with a self-regarding wit.

As Charles Champlin said in his 1967 review, “The technical shortcomings deliberately enhance the atmosphere of claustrophobic chaos surrounding a pop idol on tour. And this, after all, is what the film is about. … [Dylan’s] milieu and its hangers-on are by no means uniformaly attractive. But after this skillful and exhaustive piece of film reportage, no one need ask what it and they and he are really like. The camera has become an X-ray.”

One train journey takes a staggering 167 hours to complete, with the railway spanning eight time zones to make it the longest in the world

The longest direct train journey in the world stretches a staggering 5,771 miles and takes almost a week to complete. Passengers on board the train undertake a mammoth journey through eight time zones.

The Trans-Siberian Railroad claims the title of the longest single rail system in the world. It connects east and west Russia, running from Moscow to Vladivostok.

To travel the length of the railway, it takes approximately 167 hours and requires no passenger changes. Heading east from Moscow, the train crosses the country to the Pacific Ocean.

There are even non-stop train options, so all passengers remain on board throughout the seven days. If you prefer to get off and explore the local surroundings, passengers can opt for the stopping service.

However, this takes between 14 and 20 days to complete. The Trans-Siberian railway runs through cities such as Moscow, Yaroslavl, Chelyabinsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Irkutsk, Ulan-Ude, Chita, Khabarovsk, and Vladivostok.

There’s also the Trans-Manchurian line, which runs through northern China to Beijing, and the Trans-Mongolian, which heads to Beijing but passes through Ulan Bator.

A famous train on the Trans-Siberian railway is Rossiya (the Russia), which has second-class sleepers, third-class open-plan sleeper bunks, and a restaurant car.

Passengers can pay for four tickets to ensure sole occupancy of a four-berth compartment, even if they’re the only ones travelling. The bunks convert to seats during the day, with toilets and washrooms at the ends of the corridors.

Many tourists who travelled the route chose not to start or end their journey in Russia. Tourists once began in London and made their way to Moscow before boarding the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

Once in Vladivostok, tourists could then head to Korea, Japan, or China without taking a plane. National Geographic also ran tours along the route, offering tourists the chance to travel on “one of the world’s most legendary railways.”

They described the journey: “Set out on an epic train journey across one-third of the world, travelling from Vladivostok, Russia to the heart of Moscow along the legendary Trans-Siberian Railway.

“From the Mongolian steppe to Lake Baikal’s remote shores to the snow-capped Ural Mountains, trace the history of tsars, exiles, and Mongols in the comfort of our luxury train, the Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express. Encounter remote cultures and the unique architecture of Siberia’s wooden cottages and Moscow’s onion domes.”

Tours like these have been halted, yet the train is reportedly still being used by Russians. The UK Government warn against all travel to Russia.

Official advice from the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office says: “FCDO advises against all travel to Russia due to the risks and threats from its continuing invasion of Ukraine, including security incidents, such as drone attacks, and Russian air defence activity, lack of flights to return to the UK and limited ability for the UK government to provide support.”

The town is the wettest place on Earth, with an average of 11,873mm of rainfall each year – 22 times more than London and 11 times more than Glasgow

The wettest spot on the planet receives 22 times more rain than London and frequently experiences downpours so severe that venturing outdoors becomes hazardous.

In the UK, it has been a truly miserable winter. Cornwall and County Down recorded their wettest January on record, while Northern Ireland saw its wettest January is 149 years. Across the UK, 26 stations set new monthly records for the highest January rainfall. Daily records also fell. Plymouth recorded its wettest January day in 104 years. And February has been no better so far. As of February 9, southern England had seen 72% of its monthly average.

There is a place in India that makes all of this look pathetic.

Mawsynram is tucked within the verdant forests of the Khasi Hills in India’s far eastern reaches, perched above Bangladesh. It boasts stunning scenery, but remains perpetually drenched. The town sees approximately 11,873mm of annual rainfall, nearly 11 times the 1,109mm that drenches notoriously wet Glasgow and a staggering 22 times London’s yearly 585mm.

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Jyotiprasad Oza has spent his entire life in the town, earning his living by guiding inquisitive tourists through the area with TourHQ. Visitors travel from across the globe to witness existence in Earth’s soggiest location, with travellers routinely journeying from America and Britain.

“We get about 10,000 tourists a year. During rainy time people like to visit because it’s very heavy rainfall, especially June to September,” Jyotiprasad explained to the Mirror just as storm clouds – rather unsurprisingly – started gathering overhead.

Mawsynram’s rainfall differs markedly from precipitation elsewhere. Once it begins, it can persist relentlessly for days. Locals often rush indoors when the deluge begins, only to discover the torrent hasn’t ceased for an entire week. Yet it’s not merely duration that sets it apart.

During one extraordinary June day last decade, a staggering 1,003mm of rain drenched the town – double London’s entire annual precipitation. The consequences of such torrential downpours on Mawsynram can be utterly catastrophic.

“During the time of heavy rainfall, it is impossible to go outside. We can’t do our daily walk. We are not supposed to go outside during the rainy time. Sometimes children can’t go to school during the rain. It is quite dangerous,” Jyotiprasad explained.

When the monsoon arrives, landslides and flooding pose severe risks to residents’ safety, whilst power cuts become routine and fresh water systems struggle to cope. But beyond these immediate perils, the unrelenting dampness leaves many locals yearning for drier climes.

“We prefer to move to where it gets less rain,” Jyotiprasad said, noting that hardly anyone chooses to relocate to the region.

Multiple factors contribute to the town’s extraordinary precipitation levels. Perched 1,400m above sea level, Mawsynram experiences a highland climate intensified by humid, tropical air masses that sweep up from the Bay of Bengal throughout the monsoon season, whilst the positioning of the Khasi Hills creates a natural barrier that blocks airflow from the bay.

Locals in Mawsynram have devised ingenious methods to prevent the relentless downpours from completely upending their daily lives. Numerous homes are constructed with soundproofing to block out the thunderous drumming of rainfall.

On days when a heavy waterproof jacket and wellington boots simply aren’t sufficient, traditional full-body umbrellas known as Knups offer popular protection from the deluge. These substantial shell-shaped contraptions are fashioned from bamboo and banana leaves.

The rainfall isn’t the sole attraction drawing people to Mawsynram. The stunning scenery, vantage points and cascading waterfalls throughout the region prove enormously popular with those who appreciate the natural world.

A particular magnet for visitors are the Nohkalikai Waterfalls, ranked as the fourth tallest globally.

Wolves teenager Mateus Mane looks certain to leave Molineux, Liam Delap is wanted on Merseyside and Casemiro has interest from Europe as well as North and South America.

Wolves are resigned to losing Mateus Mane this summer, with Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal keen on the 18-year-old England Youth international. (Caughtoffside), external

Everton have made Chelsea striker Liam Delap their top summer target. The 23-year-old Englishman only arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer from Ipswich Town. (Football Insider), external

Robbie Keane, currently managing Hungary’s Ferencvaros, is a contender to replace Oliver Glasner as Crystal Palace boss. (Talksport), external

As he prepares to leave Manchester United at the end of the season, Brazil international midfielder Casemiro, 33, has drawn interest from Inter Miami, Porto and Sao Paulo. (Sun), external

Aston Villa‘s £35m obligation to buy midfielder Harvey Elliott from Liverpool following his season-long loan can only be triggered by Premier League appearances. The 22-year-old Englishman has played four times in the league so far. (Sky Sports), external

Meanwhile, Aston Villa‘s chances of keeping hold of English forward Morgan Rogers, 23, will not depend on them qualifying for the Champions League. (Football Insider), external

Lennart Karl will sign a new deal with Bayern Munich when he turns 18 this Sunday, heading off interest in the Germany Under-21 international from Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain. (Teamtalk), external

Xavier Vilajoana has initiated contact over the possible signing of Bayern Munich and England striker Harry Kane, 32, should he win Barcelona’s presidential candidate election next month. (ESPN), external

Argentine attacker Tadeo Allende, 27, is committed to Inter Miami, having established himself alongside compatriots forwards Lionel Messi, 38, and 39-year-old Luis Suárez, and midfielder Rodrigo de Paul, 31. (Goal.com), external

Feb. 20 (UPI) — The University of Mississippi Medical Center closed its 35 clinics throughout Mississippi on Friday after being targeted in a ransomware attack.

Medical center officials also canceled all elective medical procedures that were scheduled for the day and rescheduled all but dialysis appointments at the medical center’s location in the Jackson Medical Mall in the state’s capital.

That medical center remained open and provided medical services on Friday. Hospital officials said they and federal law enforcement were in contact with those who carried out the ransomware attack.

“We continue to work with federal authorities and national experts in cyberattack response as we evaluate the extent of the attack and our next steps,” medical center officials said in a Facebook post Thursday.

“We expect this to be a multi-day event and will communicate helpful information when available.”

The university medical center’s hospitals and emergency departments also were open. Officials said they plan to announce any closures that might affect those healthcare service providers if it becomes necessary.

University officials also canceled all online classes Friday, but in-person classes were held.

University Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs LouAnn Woodward confirmed a ransomware attack affected the medical center’s key network systems, including Epic and its medical records.

Woodward said officials at the medical center shut down its IT systems out of precaution and do not know when the matter might be resolved.

In the meantime, doctors and medical center staff were using pen and paper while continuing to provide medical services for patients until the IT system is restored.

The university health clinics provide many services, including treating cancer and chronic pain.

These are the key developments from day 1,458 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Here is where things stand on Saturday, February 21:

Fighting

• The death toll from a Russian attack on a warehouse in Malynivka in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region rose to three after rescuers found two more bodies under the rubble, the State Emergency Service said on the Telegram messaging app.
• A Russian drone attack killed two police officers as they were on their way to evacuate residents near the village of Serednii Burluk in Kharkiv, the National Police of Ukraine said on Telegram.
• Russian forces launched a ballistic missile and 128 drones towards Ukraine overnight on Thursday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence said on Facebook. Ukrainian forces shot down 107 of the drones, the ministry added.
• Russian attacks caused dozens of injuries and damage to homes and infrastructure, including oil and gas facilities in Ukraine’s Poltava region, according to the country’s state-owned oil and gas company Naftogaz.
• Russian forces attacked Komyshuvas in Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region with guided bombs, causing a fire in residential buildings that injured a 22-year-old woman and a 27-year-old man, regional governor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
• In Russia, two people were killed and three were wounded in a Ukrainian drone attack on a car in the rural Maksimovskoye settlement located on the front line in the Belgorod region, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.
• The attack was one of several by Ukrainian forces across Belgorod, including another strike that killed a man in the village of Pochayevo, the regional emergency task force wrote on Telegram.
• Alexander Bogomaz, the governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, said Ukrainian forces attacked a hospital in the village of Voronok with drones, though no casualties were reported.
• A “significant portion” of the northwest of Russian-occupied Zaporizhia was left without electricity due to “a massive attack” by Ukrainian forces on the region’s electric grid, Russia’s TASS state news agency reported, citing a Russian-appointed official, Yevhen Balitsky.
• Yevgeniya Yashina, communications director at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, told TASS that there was heavy Ukrainian shelling in the vicinity of the facility, which has been under Russian occupation since 2022.

Politics and diplomacy

• French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will chair a video conference of Ukraine’s “Coalition of the Allies” on February 24, which will mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Macron’s office said on Friday.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told reporters in a WhatsApp group that no positive movement has been made regarding negotiations over the future of Ukrainian land occupied by Russia in peace talks with Moscow mediated by the United States.
• Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that he cannot yet confirm when and where a new round of talks on Ukraine will take place after TASS reported the next talks will take place in Geneva.

Energy

• The European Commission has allowed the German government to take trusteeship of the German assets of US-sanctioned Russian oil group Rosneft, which supplies most of the fuel to Berlin via its PCK Schwedt refinery, when the current arrangement expires on March 10.

• The US Department of the Treasury has extended a sanctions waiver on Serbia’s Russian-owned oil firm NIS until March 20, giving the Balkan country another month to import crude oil supplies, Serbia’s Energy Minister Dubravka Djedovic Handanovic said in a statement.
• Hungary will block a 90 billion euro ($106bn) European Union loan for Ukraine until oil transit to Hungary via the Druzhba pipeline resumes, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.
• “By blocking oil transit to Hungary through the Druzhba pipeline, Ukraine violates the EU-Ukraine Association Agreement, breaching its commitments to the European Union. We will not give in to this blackmail,” Szijjarto said on X.

Regional security

• Britain and European allies – including France, Germany, Italy and Poland – will work together to develop new low-cost air defence weapons to protect the continent’s skies, the United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement.

Gogglebox was back this week with plenty of memorable TV moments and a sweet relationship update from Ellie Warner.

Gogglebox was back tonight (February 20) on Channel 4 in the wake of what sounded like a romantic Valentine’s Day for one star.

During the show, fans may have missed a sweet relationship insight from show favourite Ellie Warner, who shares a two-year-old son with her partner Nat Eddleston.

As the song Love Is In The Air by John Paul Young and Milk & Sugar, the Gogglebox cast recalled that the romantic holiday was on the horizon.

Reflecting on her upcoming Valentine’s Day celebrations last weekend, Ellie admitted: “I don’t know what has got into Nat lately.

“Bought all my perfume for Valentine’s Day, wants to take me out for a meal, said I deserve a treat…

“What’s he after? Baby number two?” she teased, as her sister Izzie Warner shot back: “You wish.”

After that, the case watched a This Morning segment on what to cook for Valentine’s Night, with TV chef John Torode stepping in to demonstrate how to cook a steak and chips.

Tonight’s episode of Gogglebox features plenty of big TV moments from the past week, including the finale of The Masked Singer on ITV.

The final episode saw all of the Gogglebox cast trying to guess the identity of the mysterious Moth, who won over the audience with her sensational vocals.

Some guessed she was a “member of a UK girl band” while Sophie even narrowed it down to a member of The Sugababes, and in the end it turned out to be Sugababes legend Keisha Buchanan.

Elsewhere in the episode, A Place in the Sun star Jasmine Harman spoke to an expert about the best way to eat at an all-inclusive holiday buffet, earning a decidedly mixed reaction for the niche topic.

There was also a fun news segment on Number 10 Downing Street’s famous resident, Larry the cat, and a look inside the high-octane new Prime Video drama, Steal.

Gogglebox airs Fridays at 9pm on Channel 4.

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President Trump has long spread conspiracy theories about voting designed to explain away his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Now that he’s president again, Trump has stocked his administration with those who have promoted his falsehoods and in some cases helped him try to overturn his loss.

Those election conspiracists now holding official power range from the attorney general to lawyers filing lawsuits for the Justice Department. Kurt Olsen, a lawyer who unsuccessfully pushed the Justice Department in 2020 to back the president’s false claims, is now leading a sweeping probe of the vote from that election.

The most dramatic action from that mandate was the seizure in late January of ballots and 2020 election records from Fulton County in Georgia, a Democratic stronghold that includes Atlanta. The county has long been a target of election conspiracy theorists aligned with Trump, and the affidavit for the search warrant shows the action was based on 2020 claims that in many cases had been thoroughly investigated.

Election officials across the country, especially those in states controlled politically by Democrats, are bracing for more turmoil during this year’s elections, when control of Congress is on the line.

“The election denial movement is now embedded across our federal government, which makes it more powerful than ever,” said Joanna Lydgate, chief executive of States United Democracy Center, which tracks those who promote election conspiracy theories. “Trump and his allies are trying to use all of the powers of the federal government to undermine elections, with an eye to the upcoming midterms.”

Trump has remade the federal government as an arm of his own personal will, and his attorney general, Pam Bondi — who helped try to overturn Trump’s 2020 loss — has declared that everyone working at the Justice Department needs to carry out the president’s demands. Even with all the issues facing him in his second term, from persistent concerns about the economy to his immigration crackdown, Trump continues to push the false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election.

Some of the people who populate his administration are, like Bondi, longtime supporters who continued to help Trump even as he sought to overturn an election. Some played minor roles in supporting the false claims about the 2020 presidential election. Still others have pushed conspiracy theories, often fantastical or debunked, that have helped persuade millions of Republicans that Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him.

Riccardi writes for the Associated Press.

PHOENIX — Flashing bleached hair under his cap as he settles in with his new team, Dodgers closer Edwin Díaz threw his first pitch of Thursday’s live bating practice session to Freddie Freeman. It was called a strike. As Díaz got set for his next pitch, Freeman tapped on his helmet in a playful attempt to challenge the call.

In response, Díaz tapped his cap twice.

These gestures will become the norm in major league baseball this season, starting this weekend, thanks to the Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) Challenge System.

Each team will begin games with two challenges, initiated by a pitcher, hitter or catcher tapping their head within seconds of the call — no dugout consultation allowed. The moment it’s challenged, a graphic will show the result of the challenge on the video board and once the call is confirmed or overturned, the game will go on.

Teams retain challenges when they’re successful and lose them when they’re not.

The added layer of strategy intrigues Stephen Nelson, the Dodgers’ radio play-by-play voice.

“As humans we are naturally resistant to change, especially baseball fans, and I say that as a baseball fan,” Nelson said this week at the team’s Camelback Ranch training facility. “So there’s definitely going to be that early period where everybody’s probably going to hate it, but you got to get through that.”

In recent years, MLB has tweaked the game — implementing a replay system to challenge calls on the field, placing a runner on second base to start extra innings, using a pitch clock. The ABS system has been tested in the minor leagues since 2022, and major leaguers got a taste of it during spring training last year and also in the All-Star Game.

In 288 spring games last year, there was an average of 4.1 challenges per game, adding an average of 57 seconds to it. Pitchers and catchers successfully overturned calls more often than hitters.

So who will be in charge of making challenges during at-bats?

“I will let the catcher dictate if he [wants] to challenge or not,” Díaz said this week. “I won’t do it … he’s been there all day long, they know the strike zone for the umpire.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was hesitant to say the club will have a hard rule on who can call for challenges. He feels more comfortable with his catcher doing it than a hitter or pitcher, but if a catcher decides to challenge, he expects them to be right.

“He better be right,” Roberts said Friday.

“It’s good that we’re practicing in spring, but we’re having conversations about leverage and how to use it to our advantage,” he added.

Roberts said if hitters want to make a call, they need to be honest with themselves about their personal knowledge of the strike zone and their baseball IQ and understand when to challenge a call and when not to.

“There’s no perfect science to it, but we’re just going to keep talking about it, trying to educate our guys,” he said.

Luis Cruz, a former player and now a Spanish-language announcer for the Dodgers, said hitters don’t need to be thinking about challenging a call.

“I don’t want to have another thing in my mind … then you lose your focus on your at-bat,” he said.

Jackson Ferris to start Sunday’s game

Left-hander Jackson Ferris, the Dodgers’ minor league pitcher of the year in 2024, will start Sunday’s game against the San Diego Padres at the Peoria Sports Complex.

Ferris, acquired along with outfield prospect Zyhir Hope from the Chicago Cubs for Michael Busch two years ago, logged a 3.86 ERA and 1.46 walks plus hits per inning pitched across 26 games and 126 innings at double-A Tulsa last season.

“I like Jackson,” Roberts said. “I like the player. He’s a good kid. A lot of talent. I think for me, it’s just trying to harness his arsenal. It’s a good fastball. He needs to continue to get ahead, be able to put hitters away with the secondary pitches, be efficient with his pitches per inning, but I like Jackson. He’s really talented. He’s scratching the surface, but he’s gotta go out there and perform, so I’m excited to see him on Sunday, and throughout the spring.”

Feb. 20 (UPI) — Microsoft Gaming Chief Executive Officer Phil Spencer is retiring after 38 years at the tech giant and is being replaced by Asha Sharma, whom Microsoft hired from Instacart in 2024.

Sharma will become Microsoft’s executive vice president for gaming and report to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella.

Nadella said Spencer last year announced his decision to retire, and the company officials announced the pending change to staff on Friday.

Sharma will move from Microsoft’s CoreAI wing, where he was the company’s president of product development. He formerly was Instacart’s chief operating officer and before that was Meta’s vice president of product development.

Spencer is leaving the tech giant after former business development head Chris Young and Thomas Dohmke, former GitHub chief executive, departed last year.

Microsoft’s security systems head Charlie Bell also changed his role with the company but continues working in an individual capacity.

Microsoft’s video gaming revenues declined by 10% from December 2024 to December 2025, which exceeded the company’s expectations, according to CNBC.

Despite the tech firm’s reduced gaming revenue, it posted a 17% gain in revenue during the fourth quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier.

Microsoft in 2023 bought Activision Blizzard and made its Call of Duty gaming titles available on its cloud service.

Competition for Sony’s proprietary gaming system has impacted Microsoft’s gaming revenues due to its Xbox system not matching Sony’s PlayStation or Nintendo’s Switch in popularity.

Microsoft has closed its gaming development studios that developed new titles.