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An external review of the Gates Foundation's ties to Jeffrey Epstein has found that staff met more than two dozen times with the disgraced financier.
Discussions centered on a public health fund that never materialized and a grant to the International Peace Institute. Those meetings happened even as staff relayed concerns to Gates about the reputational risk of working with Epstein, a convicted sex offender at the time they were introduced. Gates, who chairs the Gates Foundation, has not been accused in connection with Epstein's crimes and has repeatedly denied any knowledge of Epstein's abuse of girls.
AI stocks lead Street higher as oil tops $91
More gains for makers of computer chips and other AI winners carried Wall Street higher.
The S&P 500 rose 0.9% Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.3%. Micron Technology and Nvidia were the two strongest forces lifting the market as AI stocks climbed for a second straight day after tumbling the week before. Brent crude oil's price got near $92 for the first time in five weeks because of continued attacks in the war with Iran.
FDA still focused on lettuce supplier
Federal health officials have remained focused on lettuce from Taylor Farms as the source of a multistate outbreak despite inaccurate test results reported over the weekend.
Food and Drug Administration officials on Monday briefed reporters on how the government erroneously reported a direct link between a sample of lettuce from Taylor Farms and the parasite that causes severe diarrhea.
Defaults on student loans surge to record
According to an Associated Press analysis, more than 4.2 million people across the country defaulted on student loans between April 2025 and March 2026.
The total number of borrowers in default has reached a record 9.5 million. The surge includes many who went off track in 2024, when loan payments started coming due again after a pandemic-era freeze. Hundreds of thousands more are months behind on payments, and another surge in defaults could be on the way. Borrowers enter default after missing payments for nine months. The consequences can upend people's lives. It hurts credit ratings and can lead to the debt being sent to collections.
Judge approves $1.5B Anthropic settlement
A federal judge has approved a $1.5 billion copyright settlement involving AI company Anthropic. The company will pay thousands of authors about $3,000 per book for using pirated copies to train its Claude chatbot.
On Monday, District Judge Araceli Martinez-Olguin said the settlement provides "meaningful relief" to affected authors and publishers. About 91% of the 482,000 covered works have been claimed. Plaintiff attorney Justin Nelson called it "the largest known copyright recovery in history."
France OKs social media ban for children under 15
French lawmakers have approved a bill banning children under 15 from using social media. The move makes France the first country in the European Union to pass a blanket ban on platforms as concerns grow worldwide over the harmful effects of digital content on kids.
Both chambers of the Parliament voted Tuesday in favor of the measure, a flagship initiative of French President Emmanuel Macron's second term. The bill also bans the use of mobile phones in high schools.