U.S. Amasses Largest Middle East Air Power Buildup Since 2003, Driving Oil Prices to Multi-Month Highs

Zuckerberg Defends Meta's App Design as Landmark Teen-Harm Trial Tests Social Media Liability

CBO Projects Federal Debt Will Surpass U.S. Economy's Size by Late 2026, Reaching $56 Trillion by 2036

Tech Companies Build Private Power Plants to Fuel AI Data Centers, Bypassing the U.S. Grid

British Police Arrest Prince Andrew on Suspicion of Misconduct in Public Office Tied to Epstein

2026 Winter Olympics medal count

U.S. Amasses Largest Middle East Air Power Buildup Since 2003, Driving Oil Prices to Multi-Month Highs

The United States has assembled its greatest concentration of air power in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, deploying waves of jet fighters, support aircraft and naval ships to the region as the White House weighs whether to launch military strikes against Iran, according to administration and Pentagon officials. The rapid buildup has progressed to the point that President Trump could order action as soon as this weekend, though he has not decided whether to proceed or what the objective would be — options range from halting Iran's nuclear program to dismantling its missile force to attempting regime change. The military posture has already rattled energy markets: Brent crude futures climbed above $71 a barrel on Thursday, extending an 18-percent rally since early January, as analysts warned that an Iranian retaliation could close the Strait of Hormuz, the world's busiest oil chokepoint, and severely squeeze global energy supplies.

WSJ · NYT

Zuckerberg Defends Meta's App Design as Landmark Teen-Harm Trial Tests Social Media Liability

Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg took the witness stand in a Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday in the first of some 3,000 lawsuits alleging that social-media companies should be held liable for designing algorithmic features — including infinite scroll, autoplay and beauty filters — that make it difficult for young users to disengage and have caused measurable psychological harm. Under questioning, Zuckerberg testified that Meta's growth targets reflect a goal of providing utility rather than fostering addiction, and he defended the company's decision to restore beauty filters on Instagram after all 18 members of an expert panel commissioned by Meta concluded the feature was damaging to teenage girls, arguing that an outright ban would amount to an overbearing suppression of expression.

The case, brought by a plaintiff identified as K.G.M. who alleges that social-media use beginning at age 10 led to body dysmorphia, suicidal thoughts, anxiety and depression, is structured as a product-design challenge rather than a content-liability claim, seeking to circumvent the longstanding legal doctrine that shields platforms from responsibility for user-posted material. The trial is expected to last six weeks; Snapchat and TikTok, originally co-defendants, settled with the plaintiff before proceedings began on undisclosed terms, while a parallel case brought by New Mexico's attorney general alleging that Meta's design endangered children and failed to prevent sexual exploitation is playing out in state court.

WSJ

CBO Projects Federal Debt Will Surpass U.S. Economy's Size by Late 2026, Reaching $56 Trillion by 2036

The Congressional Budget Office projects that federal debt held by the public will exceed the size of the entire U.S. economy later this year and balloon to more than $56 trillion by 2036 as annual deficits, driven primarily by rising entitlement spending for an aging population and ballooning interest costs on existing debt, are expected to top $3 trillion — a level previously reached only during the peak of pandemic-era emergency spending. Congressional Republicans have disputed the projections, arguing that the CBO's underlying economic-growth assumptions are too conservative.

WSJ

Tech Companies Build Private Power Plants to Fuel AI Data Centers, Bypassing the U.S. Grid

Facing mounting pushback from utilities, politicians and local residents over the strain their facilities place on the electricity grid, technology companies are constructing a shadow network of private, off-grid power plants — mostly fueled by natural gas — to supply the enormous energy demands of artificial-intelligence data centers, with dozens of sprawling projects planned or already under construction across Texas, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Wyoming, Utah, Ohio and Tennessee. The trend is exemplified by the GW Ranch project, recently approved by Texas environmental regulators on 8,000 acres of West Texas rangeland, which will generate its own electricity from on-site natural gas and solar installations to power computing warehouses that will consume more energy than the entire city of Chicago — without drawing a single watt from the public grid.

Washington Post

British Police Arrest Prince Andrew on Suspicion of Misconduct in Public Office Tied to Epstein

Thames Valley Police on Thursday arrested Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, at his residences in Berkshire and Norfolk on suspicion of misconduct in public office, following accusations that the duke shared confidential government information with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein during his tenure as a British trade envoy, the BBC reported.

NYT

February 19 1847: Donner Party rescued from the Sierra Nevada Mountains

The Sierra Nevada mountains have been claiming lives since at least 1846, when deep snow trapped the Donner Party near present-day Donner Lake, starving 44 of the 89 emigrants and driving survivors to cannibalism before rescue parties arrived months later. Nearly 180 years later and just miles from Donner Summit, an avalanche on Tuesday swept through a group of 15 backcountry skiers near Castle Peak, killing eight and leaving one still missing and presumed dead in what authorities are calling the deadliest U.S. avalanche in nearly half a century.

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Sources

1. Wall Street Journal — Middle East Buildup
2. New York Times — U.S. Military and Iran
3. Wall Street Journal — Markets / Oil
4. Wall Street Journal — Zuckerberg Trial
5. Wall Street Journal — Federal Deficit
6. Washington Post — Data Centers / Power Grid
7. New York Times — Prince Andrew Arrest