5 Big News Stories Overnight - Friday, February 13, 2026

U.S.: Top Goldman Sachs Lawyer Kathy Ruemmler to Resign Over Epstein Ties

FT was first to report that Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathy Ruemmler said she will resign this summer after documents released by the US Department of Justice revealed the extent of her ties with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The New York Times reports:

Ruemmler, resigned on Thursday night in the wake of the Justice Department’s release of emails and other material that revealed her extensive relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier.

Ms. Ruemmler and representatives for Goldman said for years that she had a strictly professional relationship with Mr. Epstein, a convicted sex offender.

But emails, text messages and photographs released late last month showed Ms. Ruemmler requesting and accepting gifts from Mr. Epstein, advising him on how to avoid unflattering media scrutiny and discussing her dating life.

Russia: Bank of Russia Lowers Key Rate to 15.5% Amid Inflation Debate

Pravda reports:

At its meeting on 13 February, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia decided to lower the key rate to 15.5%.

The decision marked the sixth consecutive easing step in monetary policy. The current rate-cut cycle began in June, when the regulator reduced the key rate from 21% to 20% per annum. Subsequent adjustments followed in July (18%), September (17%), October (16.5%), and December (16%).

What the Key Rate Represents

The key rate is the minimum interest level at which the Bank of Russia extends loans to commercial banks and accepts funds on deposit. Financial institutions use this benchmark when setting interest rates for loans and deposits offered to households and businesses.

PHOTO: Kremlin News Service

U.K.: Ban on Palestine Action Unlawful, Rules High Court

The Guardian reports:

The co-founder of Palestine Action has won a legal challenge to the home secretary’s decision to ban the group under anti-terrorism laws.

The proscription of Palestine Action, which categorised it alongside the likes of Islamic State, was the first of a direct action protest group and attracted widespread condemnation as well as a civil disobedience campaign defying the ban, during which more than 2,000 people have been arrested.

From 5 July last year, being a member of – or showing support for – the group became an offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison.

Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, challenged the ban at a trial in the high court in London, part of which was held in secret and which concluded in December.

On Friday, three judges, led by the president of the king’s bench division, Dame Victoria Sharp, ruled the decision to proscribe the group was unlawful but the ban on the group would remain to give the government time to appeal.

Ireland: ‘Is your French girl in town?’

Irish Times reports:

The Jeffrey Epstein files reveal the convicted child sex offender was fascinated by magicians, and detail a years-long relationship between Epstein and David Blaine as well as an FBI investigation into alleged sexual misconduct by David Copperfield.

In May, 2015, Epstein wrote to David Blaine, famous for his illusions and stunts of endurance, to ask him to provide a letter of support for a visa application to the United States for a woman whose name is redacted.

“Would you feel comfortable sending something like the enclosed? I’d appreciate it,” Epstein wrote, according to a copy of the email that was released by the US department of justice among millions of files accumulated during investigations into sex trafficking by the disgraced financier.

Blaine quickly agreed and the two exchanged a series of draft versions of the letter.

“I met Ms. S [redacted] a few years ago through mutual friends and I was highly impressed with her. Aside from being an amazing fashion model, she has a strong passion for children and education,” reads the final letter, signed by Blaine and printed on “David Blaine” headed paper.

‘Your French girl’

Messages exchanged between Epstein and Blaine suggest a bantering familiarity.

“Is your French girl in town,” Epstein wrote to Blaine in an email inviting him to meet in 2013.

“I will stop by. She just landed so jet lagged,” Blaine replied.

Iran - U.S.: U.S. Smuggled Thousands of Starlink Terminals Into Iran After Protest Crackdown

Wall Street Journal reports:

The Trump administration covertly sent thousands of Starlink terminals into Iran after the regime’s brutal crackdown on demonstrations last month, U.S. officials said, an effort to keep dissidents online following Tehran’s stifling of internet access.

After Iranian authorities smothered mounting unrest in January by killing thousands of protesters and severely cutting internet connectivity, the U.S. smuggled roughly 6,000 of the satellite-internet kits into the country, the first time the U.S. has directly sent Starlink into Iran.

The State Department had purchased nearly 7,000 Starlink terminals in earlier months—with most bought in January—to help antiregime activists circumvent internet shut-offs in Iran, officials said. The purchase came after senior Trump administration appointees decided to divert some funds from other internet-freedom initiatives inside Iran to the purchasing of Starlink terminals instead.