Technologies

Appeals Court Reinstates Trump’s Tariffs After Trade Court Blocks Them

The lower court had ruled that a law invoked by Trump doesn’t give the president «unbounded» authority to impose the duties.

An appeals court on Thursday paused the block imposed against President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs a day earlier.

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted a temporary administrative stay against a decision by a federal court on Wednesday, which had blocked the tariffs after ruling that the emergency powers law invoked by the administration doesn’t give the president authority to impose duties on goods from nearly every US trading partner.

«The judgments and the permanent injunctions entered by the Court of International Trade in these cases are temporarily stayed until further notice while this court considers the motions papers,» the appeals court said Thursday.

Tariffs were blocked a day earlier

The three-judge panel at the New York-based US Court of International Trade had concluded Wednesday that Congress has exclusive authority to regulate commerce with other countries and that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 — the crux of Trump’s argument to impose the tariffs — doesn’t give the president «unbounded» authority to impose the duties.

«An unlimited delegation of tariff authority would constitute an improper abdication of legislative power to another branch of government,» the court wrote in its opinion. «Regardless of whether the court views the president’s actions through the nondelegation doctrine, through the major questions doctrine, or simply with separation of powers in mind, any interpretation of IEEPA that delegates unlimited tariff authority is unconstitutional.»

«The challenged Tariff Orders will be vacated and their operation permanently enjoined,» the panel ruled.

White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Wednesday that trade deficits amount to a national emergency «that has decimated American communities, left our workers behind, and weakened our defense industrial base — facts that the court did not dispute.» He added that «the administration is committed to using every lever of executive power to address this crisis and restore American Greatness.»

Trump has repeatedly said the tariffs would bring back manufacturing jobs to the US and help reduce the federal budget deficit. But since Trump announced his «Liberation Day» tariffs in April, global financial markets were left upended and many business leaders sounded alarms about the economic damage they would cause.

Since then, the president has repeatedly delayed the enforcement of certain rates, most recently kicking a 50% duty against the European Union to July at the earliest, leaving a lot of uncertainty in the present moment.

Lawsuits spurred the tariff block

Wednesday’s ruling was handed down by a panel with three members: Timothy Reif, a Trump appointee; Jane Restani, named to the bench by President Ronald Reagan; and Gary Katzman, an appointee of President Barack Obama.

The ruling came in response to a pair of lawsuits, one filed by the Liberty Justice Center, a nonpartisan organization representing five small US businesses that said they were harmed by the president’s tariffs, and another filed by a group of 12 states, led by Oregon.

«This ruling reaffirms that our laws matter, and that trade decisions can’t be made on the president’s whim,» Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield said in a statement.

The Trump administration appealed the decision earlier Thursday.

Technologies

On Expands Robot Factories to Manufacture Its Cloud-Like Sneakers

This is the second factory the Swiss brand is banking on to produce its shoes.

Popular sneaker brand On announced on Wednesday that it’s expanding its robotic production facility and opening up a new location in South Korea.

The Swiss brand is most known for developing running, training and lifestyle sneakers with a heavily cushioned, cloud-like sole. On opened its first robotic factory in Zurich in July 2025, after four years of development, and began production with four robots to make its first laceless LightSpray Cloudboom Strike LS shoe.

A representative for On did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The process involves a robotic arm that sprays On’s signature LightSpray material onto the shoe, creating a light, one-piece upper in just a few minutes. With the new location, the company plans to increase production by using 32 more automated robots.

As robots and AI continue to move more deeply into companies, there’s controversy about what this could mean for human workers. As recently as this year’s CES event, it’s evident that robots are here to stay, with Hyundai unveiling its Boston Dynamics Atlas humanoid robot among other robot demos. Robot manufacturing companies are also expanding by using humanoid robots to take over specific tasks, and possibly for home use; however, the technology has not yet advanced enough to rely on them completely.

Supporters say robots could help in certain instances, such as social robots assisting kids to build confidence when reading aloud. In other cases, it could increase efficiency in a warehouse or factory setting and help around the home. But critics say automation could lead to more job loss, and even eliminate entry-level jobs.

In addition to the location announcement, On is launching the LightSpray Cloudmonster 3 Hyper, which is the first shoe upper designed at the new factory. According to On, the shoe is an ultimate super trainer for long runs and tempo runs, which are specific training runs where you’re running at a moderate-to-hard pace. The new shoe will be available first in North America on March 5, and then globally on April 16.

On says using robots to manufacture its latest shoes reduces waste and carbon emissions, plus cuts the time it takes to design an upper compared to handcrafted shoes.

«The beauty of LightSpray is that we can precisely program each robot, whether in Zurich or Busan, to execute precisely choreographed movements to craft each shoe’s unique look and feel,» said On’s chief innovation officer, Scott McGuire, in a statement.

On chose South Korea for its second factory location because of the country’s advancements in automation and robotics, and hopes to continue expanding its factories globally over the next few years. The company aims to eventually start production in the Americas and increase production in Europe.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for Feb. 26, #991

Here are some hints and the answers for the NYT Connections puzzle for Feb. 26 #991.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Today’s NYT Connections puzzle is a fun one. One of the groups matches up with the color of its category, which you might spot right away. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including the number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Iconic moment.

Green group hint: Color of this group.

Blue group hint: Try the fish, I’m here all week.

Purple group hint: Polite request.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Pivotal point.

Green group: Green things.

Blue group: Elements of joke-telling.

Purple group: «____ please.»

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is pivotal point. The four answers are crossroads, landmark, milestone and watershed.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is green things. The four answers are grasshopper, shamrock, Statue of Liberty and wasabi.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is elements of joke-telling. The four answers are callback, punchline, setup and timing.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is «____ please.» The four answers are attention, check, drumroll and pretty.

Technologies

The Top 25 Best Pokemon Games of All Time, Ranked

Whether you’re a new fan or a Pokemon master, the famous monster-catcher franchise has a game for everyone. Strap in to catch ’em all, enter a multiplayer online battle arena or solve an engrossing mystery.

There’s a reason your mom knows Pikachu. Over the past three decades, Pokemon has gone from being Satoshi Tajiri’s childhood dream to the highest-grossing entertainment franchise in the world.

The pocket monsters’ legacy includes a wildly popular anime, widely scalped trading cards, a movie starring Ryan Reynolds and many, many games. New entries in the series are dipping into the history of the franchise and dialing up the nostalgia. Pokemon Champions, which is slated to release in 2026, will combine all of the franchise’s battling gimmicks under one unified competitive game.

A Pokemon game exists for nearly every gamer, whether you love exploring new worlds, bonding with cuddly creatures, crawling through dungeons, solving mysteries or battling with other players.

We’ve curated this list of the best Pokemon games you can play, including mainline games and spin-off titles from throughout the franchise’s history.

Read more: Best Pokemon Day Deals: Enjoy Big Savings on Switch Games, TCG, Plushies and More

Best Pokemon games of all time

Recent updates to the list

February 2026: Removed Pokken Tournament DX. Added Pokemon Legends: Z-A, the latest game in Game Freak’s open world Pokemon spin off series.

New Pokemon games coming in 2026

There are multiple new Pokemon games releasing in 2026. Pokemon Champions is a player-versus-player battler that will be released for the Nintendo Switch, Android and iOS allowing players to bring over their favorite monsters from the Pokemon Home app. New set expansions for Pokemon TCG Pocket and new events for Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will also be released throughout the year.

Best Pokemon game FAQs

How we determined CNET’s best Pokemon games

When creating this list of the best Pokemon games, we factored in how unique and enjoyable these games are for most players. We evaluated criteria including graphics quality, innovative gameplay mechanics and compelling narratives. We balanced our picks to include a variety of mainline titles across all nine generations while still representing the wealth of Pokemon spin-offs from other genres. We favored games that hold up well for contemporary gamers and added something new to the iconic franchise. If you’re looking for help choosing your next game, CNET’s top PlayStation 4 list is a good place to start narrowing down your choices.