Category: World

CNA speaks to local leaders and businesses in Indonesia’s Batam on how Nongsa Digital Park is anchoring the city’s push to become a regional digital economy hub, even as challenges around talent and sustainability remain.

Jesica Aulia Pardede moved from Medan to Batam in Indonesia’s province of Riau Islands in 2023 when she saw growing opportunities in the digital sector.

The 24-year-old, who studied Computer Science at the University of North Sumatra, began her career as a web development mentor at Infinite Learning, a digital skills academy based in Nongsa Digital Park – located about a 30-minute drive from the Batam Centre International Ferry Terminal.

Since then, she has watched the digital ecosystem in Nongsa district gain wider recognition, with the academy drawing students not only from Batam but also cities such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Lombok, Aceh and Papua.

“There are a lot of opportunities here in Batam, especially in Nongsa Digital Park,” she told CNA. “We are exposed to global companies, and the digital career pathway here has strong potential to grow.”

Jesica’s determination to develop her career is a direct reflection of Batam’s broader push into the digital economy sector, which seeks to position the city as a major regional data centre hub.

Batam’s information and communication sector has grown from 2.4 per cent of its gross regional domestic product in 2010 to 4.1 per cent in 2024, according to Statistics Indonesia – a government agency which conducts national statistical surveys and data collection.

Experts attribute the growth largely to the expansion of data centres, animation and digital services.

“The acceleration is evident in rising investments, the formation of a digital ecosystem (at Nongsa Digital Park) and the expansion of digital-based public services,” said Rudi Panjaitan, head of the Batam City Office of Communication and Informatics, a local government agency.

More than 500 public services across Batam’s local government agencies have been digitalised as part of its smart city initiative, spanning sectors such as business, healthcare and education, he told CNA.

Local leaders and businesses said the data centre industry and digital education – particularly training in cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI) – are among the most promising growth areas that could position Batam as a regional digital economy hub.

Much of this growth is concentrated in Nongsa Digital Park, a special economic zone (SEZ) that has attracted multinational firms and educational institutions.

But industry players and experts warned that a shortage of skilled workers and environmental pressures due to the proliferation of data centres could constrain Batam’s ambitions if left unaddressed.

DATA CENTRE BOOM

At a business forum on the Batam, Bintan, Karimun region in November last year, Indonesia’s ambassador to Singapore Suryo Pratomo said that the region is undergoing “a significant strategic transformation”, moving beyond traditional manufacturing into high-value sectors.

He pointed to the Nongsa Digital Park – one of the five SEZs in Batam – which he said is rapidly positioning Batam as a data centre hub in Indonesia.

The others are the Batam Aero Technic SEZ, Tanjung Sauh SEZ, Sekupang Health SEZ and Nongsa Tourism SEZ.

Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto echoed this view at the forum, describing the Batam, Bintan, Karimun region as “the place for digital infrastructure” and Batam as a “digital bridge” connecting Indonesia to Singapore, a vision first highlighted by then-president Joko Widodo in 2017.

Batam is about a 50-minute to an hour’s ferry ride from Singapore.

The city’s mayor Amsakar Achmad recently told CNA that Batam offers a “dedicated and integrated ecosystem”, referring to Nongsa Digital Park as a key selling point for investors.

“Batam’s transformation is not an instantaneous shift, but a medium to long-term process,” he said.

“The presence and developments of areas such as the Nongsa Digital Park serve as positive early indicators as they demonstrate investment interest, cross-border partnerships and the growth of activities in the sector.”

Amsakar, who also chairs the Batam Indonesia Free Zone Authority (BIFZA), said the facilities in Nongsa Digital Park could serve as secure data hubs for Indonesian ministries and government institutions.

This was echoed by data centre operator BW Digital, which cited data sovereignty as a key growth driver.

“As Indonesian enterprises and government agencies look for infrastructure that supports local data hosting needs, Batam gains strategic relevance domestically as a data centre location,” said Florent Blot, chief business officer of BW Digital.

He added that Batam’s location as a comparatively “hazard-free zone” in relation to earthquakes and flooding makes it a resilient alternative to cities like Jakarta, which currently hosts about 99 data centres – the highest number in Indonesia.

Headquartered in Singapore, BW Digital sees Batam as a complement to Singapore’s established digital infrastructure system.

This is why it is building a data centre facility in Batam which is expected to begin operations this year.

“With a latency of less than two milliseconds, the location allows the campus to operate almost as an extension of Singapore,” Blot told CNA.

“That makes it practical to manage operations, support customer engagement and maintain seamless integration.”

Latency refers to the time delay it takes for data to travel from one point to another across a network. Low latency enables faster data transfers, a key requirement for many businesses.

Connectivity is another factor, said Blot, adding that Batam’s access to multiple subsea cable systems provides strong international reach and carrier diversity.

Beyond digital connectivity, operators say Batam’s physical infrastructure has also matured significantly.

“Ongoing improvements in utilities, road networks, security and campus services have made the environment increasingly suitable for large-scale digital infrastructure projects,” Blot told CNA.

Nongsa Digital Park currently hosts nine data centres including three sites that have completed construction and are in early stages of operation, BIFZA told CNA.

BW Digital’s facility is currently under construction. Meanwhile, three data centres are in preparation for development and another two are “planning to be operational”.

There are also plans to add four more facilities. BIFZA added.

ENVIRONMENT A LIMITING FACTOR?

With Batam positioning itself as a regional data centre hub, Siwage Dharma Negara – co-coordinator of the Indonesia Studies Programme at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore – told CNA that water demand and usage is of concern.

Data centres need water primarily for cooling the massive heat generated by servers. Meanwhile, Batam’s water supply depends on rainwater reservoirs and it frequently experiences shortages in certain areas, including reports of intermittent supply in some neighbourhoods.

Local media outlet Batampos had reported disruptions in areas such as Taman Baloi Mas, Tanjungsengkuang and Batuaji in September 2024, with residents staging protests over irregular water flow and ageing pipe infrastructure.

In some areas, water was reported to have run only for a few hours in the early morning.

Since 2015, available capacity has increased only marginally, from about 3,500 to 3,850 litres per second, according to Batampos, even as overall demand has risen.

Environmentalist Gari Dafit Semet, who manages a mangrove ecotourism business in Bakau Serip village in Nongsa, said that his community has not yet been directly affected by shortages, as residents there still rely on well water, which remains “clear and usable”.

However, preserving mangroves and forest cover is critical to maintaining water security on the island, he said, as these ecosystems help to recharge groundwater supplies and prevent saltwater intrusion into freshwater sources.

Siwage added that policymakers need to invest in integrated water resources, expand reservoir capacity and improve distribution networks.

“They also need to provide clear regulatory frameworks and environmental standards to ensure data centre growth does not outpace the limited water supply,” he said.

Beyond water resources, land availability may also emerge as another limiting factor, said Khoo Peck Khoon, chief operating officer of Nongsa Digital Park. According to its website, the park already spans an area of about 188 hectares – roughly the size of around 264 football fields.

“We want to grow but we are limited by the amount of land we have … we need the infrastructure to match that growth.”

Environmental considerations also pose challenges.

“The challenge is in trying to protect the environment, we want to be eco-friendly and make sure that the environment is not destroyed, especially as our data centres sit close to forest areas that we want to protect as much as possible,” he told CNA.

Gari, the environmentalist who lives in a village near Nongsa, told CNA that he has observed more forested land being cleared as the area develops.

“We are not opposed to development but the local government must carefully balance industrial expansion with environmental sustainability,” he told CNA.

LACK OF SKILLED LABOUR ANOTHER CHALLENGE

Beyond land and environmental constraints, businesses and local leaders say a shortage of skilled labour remains a long-standing challenge for Batam’s growing digital sector.

“The availability and readiness of human resources with digital and advanced technology competencies remain one of the challenges that require greater attention,” Amsakar told CNA.

Observers and investors, he said, generally highlight a gap between industry needs and the qualifications of the local workforce.

According to BIFZA, senior high school (SMA) graduates make up the largest share of the unemployed in the industrial city.

As of 2024, 26,162 SMA graduates were unemployed, making up more than half of Batam’s unemployed population.

Experts said that this suggests that many school leavers lack the technical skills sought by local employers.

Siwage told CNA that this means that the industrial parks often had to search for skilled labour outside Batam to meet industry needs.

Khoo of Nongsa Digital Park said that while semi-skilled workers are available, shortages in the number of senior personnel remain – a gap it is trying to address through its digital education institutes, which seek to train locals in areas such as cybersecurity and AI.

“As technology improves and changes very often, skillsets need to develop over time … this is an area we find challenging,” he told CNA.

Amsakar added that the issue is not just about numbers, but also the relevance of skills, certifications and work experience required by global industries.

Echoing this, Ari Nugrahanto – who is the programme director of Infinite Learning – said that companies that are coming into the SEZ “are not only local firms, but global, multinational companies”.

To support them, Batam needs talent with “global-standard skills”, Ari said, pointing to gaps also in soft skills such as language proficiency and workplace confidence.

Still, Ari, along with businesses and local leaders CNA spoke to, are optimistic that the gap can be narrowed through targeted training and tech educational programmes embedded within Batam’s growing digital ecosystem.

Infinite Learning, which offers vocational courses and collaborates with schools and universities across Indonesia, has produced about 8,000 graduates since it was established over five years ago..

Most are now working at multinational companies across the country, Ari claimed.

Jesica, the web development mentor at Infinite Learning, said that while opportunities in Batam’s digital sector are growing, the ecosystem remains “more mature” in larger cities such as Jakarta, where project values are higher and career pathways are clearer.

“Working in major cities or at national-scale companies adds value to your portfolio and opens up longer-term opportunities,” she said.

“In Batam, opportunities in the digital sector do exist but they are less diverse. So offers from overseas or bigger cities are often seen as strategic moves.”

Local news outlet Jakarta Post reported in July 2025 that wage rates in Batam are lower than in neighbouring regions.

While sector-specific wage data for the digital economy is limited, the minimum monthly wage in Batam for 2026 is about 5.36 million rupiah (US$320) according to Jakarta Post, compared to around RM1,700 (US$435) in Johor, including for foreign workers.

In Jakarta, Governor Pramono Anung announced in December last year that the capital’s 2026 provincial minimum wage is set at 5.73 million rupiah – about US$340.

“Our role is not only to educate but to bridge the talent gap, helping students from our academy, universities and vocational schools become industry-ready,” he said.

At the government level, BIFZA in December last year launched the “Batam Talent Management (MANTAB)” digital platform, designed to connect job seekers with industry players through data-driven competency matching.

BIFZA said MANTAB is the first-of-its-kind digital platform in Indonesia which integrates collaboration between educational institutions, local government and the manpower ministry.

Several major firms, including PT Volarex Batam, have already used the platform, recruiting more than 20 employees through it, local media reported.

With such initiatives in place, Amsakar said the labour shortages are no longer viewed solely as an obstacle, but as a “strategic challenge and opportunity” to build a more competitive and sustainable talent ecosystem, supporting Batam’s ambitions to become a regional hub for the digital economy and high-technology industries.

For instance, students from across Indonesia are coming to Batam to take part in programmes run by its digital learning institutes.

Among them are Adithya Firmansyah Putra, 22, and Nuraiza Hafiza Karim, 25, from Jakarta and Solo respectively. They recently graduated from a 10-month programme at the Apple Developer Academy, established in Nongsa Digital Park in collaboration with Infinite Learning.

The programme covers coding fundamentals, as well as design, marketing and project management.

“As Batam is an industrial city, there are many opportunities here, it is also strategically located, which allows for more networking with industry professionals, something I did not have back in my hometown (of Solo),” Nuraiza told CNA.

Using the skills acquired at the academy, Nuraiza and Adithya were part of a five-member team which developed an application called Wikan, which provides Bahasa Indonesia-to-Javanese translations and is available on the Apple App Store.

The app aims to preserve the cultural significance of Indonesia’s largest regional language.

Both students told CNA that the programme at Apple Developer Academy had positively shaped their professional and personal development, particularly by exposing them to industry expectations and career pathways that were not covered in their universities.

TALENT, COLLABORATION AND BATAM’S REGIONAL POSITION

While education initiatives are beginning to narrow the skills gap, industry players say Batam’s long-term success will depend on stronger coordination between government, industry and the educational institutions.

Moving forward, Ari of Infinite Learning said improving accessibility to digital education – through measures such as subsidies, scholarships or free laptops – could help more students benefit from training.

Batam’s government is also working to align curriculum with industry needs through collaborations with institutions such as Batam Polytechnic and Batam University, Amsakar told CNA.

And for data centre operators like BW Digital, a consistent long-term policy framework plays an important role.

“Continued local, national and regional support for the digital infrastructure projects help operators plan with greater certainty and accelerate regional integration,” said Blot of BW Digital.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-batam-digital-economy-nongsa-digital-park-talent-data-centres-environment-5929226

A video of multiple humanoid robots skillfully performing kung fu at the China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala was shared online. The clip immediately went viral and left netizens awestruck.

It’s China again– flaunting the impressive technological advancement they currently possess. China recently held a grand Spring Festival- China Media Group (CMG) 2026 Spring Festival Gala- and the videos that came out of that event were nothing but extraordinary and even inspiring. ‘Inspiring’, because what else do you call THIS level of control of technology and art? One of the festival videos showed multiple humanoid robots skilfully performing traditional kung fu. Donning tradition attires, the humanoid robots look like they were straight out of a sci-fi movie. The performance was held on Monday, February 16.

From well-choreographed stunts to synchronised moves– you name it, and the machines were exceptional during the performance. Apart from their smooth moves, the robots also displayed their skills of handling kung fu tools and weapons, like nunchucks, swords and more.

For those not aware, the Spring Festival is a huge and much-hailed event in China, as it basically is a Chinese New Year celebration. The Spring Festival Gala, on the other hand, is also known as ‘Chunwan’. The gala has also been recognised by the Guinness World Records as the “most-watched annual television program on the planet,” as per CGTN.

As soon as the video went viral, netizens began to share amused reactions.

The White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend.

The US military is prepared to strike Iran as early as this weekend; however, President Donald Trump is yet to take a final decision whether he’ll authorise such actions, sources familiar with the matter informed CNN.

According to reports, the White House has been briefed that the military could be ready for an attack by the weekend. The development is coming after a significant military build-up was witnessed in recent days of air and naval assets in the Middle East.

While it is being reported that the US is preparing to strike Iran as early as this weekend, CNN reported that one source has cautioned that Trump has privately argued both for and against the military action. Additionally, he has also polled the advisers and allies on what the best course of action can be taken.

“He is spending a lot of time thinking about this,” the source said.

On Wednesday, it was reported that the United States and Israel could be on the brink of a major military operation against Iran that might begin “very soon”. Sources, cited by Axios, said the plan would be far larger in scope than last year’s 12‑day conflict and could last for weeks if it goes ahead.

Trump has repeatedly emphasised the importance of confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions. In recent days, discussions with allies and advisers have underscored the potential for a military option if negotiations fail to achieve meaningful concessions from Tehran.

Will US Attack Iran?

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday said that Iran was expected to provide more details on its negotiating position “in the next couple of weeks,” but she wouldn’t say whether Trump would hold off on military action within that timespan.

“I’m not going to set deadlines on behalf of the president of the United States,” Leavitt said, adding that diplomacy is always the President’s first option as military action remains on the table.

“There are many reasons and arguments that one could make for a strike against Iran,” she said, adding Trump was relying on counsel from his national security team “first and foremost.”

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to travel to Israel on February 28 to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and update him on the Iran talks, a State Department official told CNN.

Meanwhile, it is being speculated that there are 90 percent chances of strikes on Iran. However, Trump can’t proceed without Congress.

Several US representatives have also stood in his support and said that Congress must vote on war according to our Constitution.

Taking to X, representative Thomas Massie wrote, “Ro Khanna and I will be forcing that vote to happen in the House as soon as possible. I will vote to put America first which means voting against more war in the Middle East.”

Trump Warns UK

Meanwhile, Trump on Wednesday warned Britain against “giving away” the strategic Diego Garcia military base, saying the facility would be crucial if Washington moves ahead with possible strikes on Iran.

In a lengthy post on Truth Social, Trump said he had been pressing UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer not to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, warning that a long-term lease arrangement over the strategic Diego Garcia air base would be a big mistake.

Additionally, Trump has said that if Iran doesn’t make a deal, the US may have to use its military bases located on Diego Garcia and the UK, and warns that an attack from Iran “would potentially be made on the UK, as well as other friendly Countries.”

“Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime — An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease,” he added.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/us-military-prepared-to-strike-iran-this-weekend-trump-to-take-final-call-report-9916454.html

Germany has joined the growing list of EU nations that are considering banning children from social media. Australia has banned youths from social media since December — and its example has lessons for EU governments.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz thinks that sociel media regulations could help prevent “personality deficits and problems in the social behavior of young people.” Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez wants to protect children from the “digital wild west.” And French President Emmanuel Macron has insisted that “the emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated.”

Though no European country has fully implemented a child social media ban, the intent is clear and the wheels are in motion in many places. Norway, Greece, the UK, Denmark, Italy and the Netherlands are among a host of European countries discussing some form of ban, while the EU has increasingly moved toward supporting the principle.

Many governments are likely to look to the experience of Australia, which introduced a world-first social media ban for under-16s in December. This policy relied on policing by the social media firms. Sites including Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube and Reddit — which has filed a lawsuit in opposition to the ban — are now age-restricted but online gaming and messaging sites such as WhatsApp are not.

The country’s eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, reported last month that social media companies “removed access to about 4.7 million accounts identified as belonging to children under 16 in the first half of December” but provided no more recent figures after a DW request.

Headline figures not the whole story

Tama Leaver, a professor of internet studies at Curtin University in Perth, Australia, told DW that the headline figures, which have caught the eye of many in Europe, don’t necessarily tell the whole story.

“We don’t have a breakdown of that number, nor do we know how many new accounts — possibly from teens pretending to be older — were created over the same period of time,” he said.

He added that, anecdotally, “many young people aged 13-15 seem to have circumvented the ban, while others seem to have been banned from some platforms and not others.” This is an observation backed by media reports and other experts. “On a technical level, the limitations and imprecise nature of trying to verify age using selfies and other tools was also pretty much as inaccurate as most people expected in advance,” Leaver said.

Governments ‘jumping too quickly’ to follow Australia?

The flurry of European countries, and others around the world such as India and Malaysia, keen to follow Australia’s lead is a surprise to Susan Sawyer, from Australia’s largest child health research center, the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute.

“I had expected there would be much more of a watchful expectancy of the results of the Australian ban before governments would be jumping in quite as quickly,” she told DW. “We don’t know what the effects of the ban are going to be and we need to evaluate this carefully. Governments need to be careful to avoid thinking that social media bans are a silver bullet to this problem.”

Leaver agrees that Europe would be better watching and waiting for now. “No one really knows what difference this ban will make, but we know for sure it will take years, not months, before a measurable cultural change will exist, if it exists at all. It would make so much more sense for other countries to wait and see what happens in Australia, and really see what lessons can be learnt, before rushing through their own imprecise legislation,” he said.

Has the social media ban confused teens?

Some of Sawyer’s research, which was heard by the Australian Senate Committee ahead of the ban, found that 10–13-year-olds showed the most adverse effects of social media usage, particularly girls. While the age limits of bans vary in European proposals, she said that any changes will likely be a “slow burn”.

“Over the next couple of years the current generation of six to 10-year-olds who don’t yet have access to a smartphone or social media will be older at the time that their parents first allow them access. It’s going to be a change in social norms that’s not going to take place overnight.”

Leaver advocates a staggered introduction of any bans imposed elsewhere and a longer, deeper period of consultation with children.

“The most confused group are those 13-15 year olds who already had social media accounts, were booted off the platforms, and then will come back on at 16,” he said. “It would have made a lot more sense to grandfather the rules, so under 13s can’t get accounts until 16, but those with existing accounts keep access. I think a lot of 13-15 year olds feel like the ban was done to them, rather than with them.”

Can the Australian model even work in Europe?

Given the speed of progress towards bans in Europe and the lack of children’s voices in the conversation thus far, that would likely also be a concern on the continent.

But, Dr. Stephan Dreyer from the Leibniz Institute for Media Research in Hamburg, told DW, that, to his mind, Germany and Europe don’t require such bans anyway.

He said the European Digital Services Act, passed a year ago, addresses many safety concerns and that the way EU law works means obliging the social media companies to police a ban in individual countries would be tricky. While there are different means to achieve similar ends within Europe, he sees the data as unclear.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/europe-looks-to-australias-social-media-ban-for-kids/a-76021753

The top commander overseeing U.S. forces in Latin America, General Francis Donovan, and senior Pentagon official Joseph Humire made a surprise visit to Venezuela on Wednesday for security talks, U.S. officials said.
The trip is the first by a U.S. military delegation since U.S. forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in an audacious raid last month and whisked him to New York to face drug-trafficking charges. The visit was first reported by Reuters.

Venezuela’s government said the U.S. military delegation met interim President Delcy Rodriguez, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino and Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. The two sides agreed to work together to combat drug-trafficking, terrorism and migration, it added.
Both Padrino and Cabello face indictments related to drug trafficking in the United States.
The U.S. military’s visit follows a trip last week by U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright to Caracas.
Together, the two trips highlight President Donald Trump’s efforts to use military might and energy policy to push Venezuela to carry out sweeping reforms.

DIPLOMACY THE PREFERRED PATH

“Pulp Fiction” star Peter Greene died from an accidental gunshot wound, Page Six can confirm.

The “Mask” star, who was found dead inside his Lower East Side apartment on Dec. 12, 2025, at the age of 60, died from the gunshot wound to the left axilla with injury to the brachial artery, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner told us on Wednesday.

According to TMZ, who was first to report the news, that means that Greene accidentally shot himself in the left armpit, and the bullet went on to damage the artery that supplies blood across the body to the arm, elbow, forearm and hand.

Greene was pronounced dead on Dec. 12 after he was found unresponsive at his apartment on Clinton Street around 3:25 p.m. Police told The Post at the time that no foul play was suspected.

The late actor’s death was confirmed by his longtime manager, Gregg Edwards, who remembered Greene as a “terrific guy” in a statement to The Post.

“Truly one of the great actors of our generation. His heart was as big as there was,” Edwards shared. “I’m going to miss him. He was a great friend.”

Edwards also revealed that Greene was scheduled to go under the knife to remove a benign tumor near his lung on the day that he was found dead, and that the actor was “totally normal” during their last phone call.

“He was talking about that and hoping that I was going to be OK and wishing me well as I was wishing him well,” he told The Post regarding their final conversation. “We’re good friends. I love the guy … We were friends for over a decade.”

A neighbor claimed the character actor was found lying “face down” on the floor with a strange note when police discovered his body.

“Peter was lying on the floor, face down, facial injury, blood everywhere…,” the neighbor told the New York Daily News at the time.

“I’m still a Westie,” the strange note, which reportedly refers to the 1970s Irish American gang that operated out of Hell’s Kitchen, allegedly read.

Before his death, Greene was preparing to star in an independent thriller with Mickey Rourke called “Mascots.”

Edwards said that the thriller’s writer and director, Kerry Mondragón, was surprised and “very upset” by the news of Greene’s sudden passing.

“He worked with so many amazing actors and directors,” Edwards noted.

Born in Montclair, NJ, in 1965, Greene made a name for himself portraying villains throughout the ’90s.

Two of his most popular roles were as the sadistic security guard and serial killer Zed in Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” in 1994 and the rogue Mafia officer Dorian Tyrell in Chuck Russell’s “The Mask” that same year.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/18/celebrity-news/pulp-fiction-star-peter-greenes-cause-of-death-revealed/

When a US-imposed ceasefire halted the Gaza War last October, Hamas’s war for survival against Israel switched into a battle for control at home.

The war had left the group’s disciplined military units shattered into guerrilla forces, and most of its leaders killed; Gaza’s buildings and infrastructure were largely destroyed, its population displaced, and its economic life in ruins. More than 72,000 Gazans were killed by Israeli attacks during the conflict, the Hamas-run health ministry says.

Four months on, Gazans say Hamas is again extending its control over security, tax revenue, and government services, raising questions about its long-term strategy, and whether it is prepared to give up its weapons and authority, as now required under the second stage of Donald Trump’s peace plan.

“Hamas regained control of more than 90% of the areas where it is present,” said Mohammed Diab, an activist in Gaza.

“Its police and security agencies have returned, and are now present in the streets, controlling crime and pursuing those it labels as collaborators and people with opinions. Citizens must go to the Hamas authorities for identity cards or health procedures, and it is also reasserting control over the judiciary and courts.”

At markets across Gaza, stallholders describe regular police patrols – and a renewed iron grip on official fees and taxes.

“The markets are quiet, but the municipality keeps pursuing us for rent,” one stallholder said. All those we spoke to there about Hamas control in Gaza asked that we hide their identity.

“Every single day they come to us aggressively, with the same demands and the same determination, saying if we don’t pay they’ll throw us and our goods into the street. They’re asking for 700 shekels ($225; £167) – none of us can afford that.”

The stallholder, who spoke to our colleague in Gaza City, said he and his family of 12 had been displaced from Shujaiya to the east of the city, where he used to run a shop. Shujaiya today is a flat wasteland of rubble.

“Every day, the municipality comes,” said another man selling cigarettes nearby. “Let them count the stock and the sales, cigarette by cigarette, and tell me: should I pay them, or feed my children?”

Since the ceasefire, food and some other basic goods are flowing into Gaza more freely. The few key traders with a licence to bring them in from Israel say Hamas have reimposed strict control over taxing the imports.

One trader, who agreed to share details anonymously, told us force was used against those who refused to pay.

“The taxes imposed by Hamas depend on the type and quantity of goods, but prices start at 20,000 shekels and above,” he said. “If a trader refuses to pay, force is used and in some cases he is kidnapped or threatened. No one can avoid paying taxes on goods.”

He told us that traders used a code-word for Hamas when discussing tax payments, so that Israel wouldn’t learn that money was being siphoned off to the group.

“Hamas now has a database of all the traders who import goods into the Gaza Strip,” said the activist Mohammed Diab. “The trader pays in cash, not through bank transfers, so that the flow of funds cannot be traced. It is gradually restoring the system that was in place in the past, but away from the spotlight so it can’t be monitored.”

A Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem, said the Gaza Strip was in a state of emergency and that “exceptional measures” were required.

“Some traders maintain links with the [Israeli] occupation and attempt to generate excessive profits, so administrative bodies sometimes need to act firmly with traders who refuse to cooperate or meet required obligations,” he said. “This is purely a governmental matter and has no relation to Hamas.”

Gaza’s government has been run by Hamas since 2007. Money is crucial to the group’s grip on power: to pay salaries – and, the Israeli army alleges, for its ultimate goal of rebuilding its war machine.

“Hamas looks at the ceasefire as a time to regroup, to fight against us,” said Lt Col Nadav Shoshani, spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF). “This is why it’s crucial to see them disarmed because they’ve made it clear that if they have weapons, they will use them sometime in the future.”

The Israeli army says there are daily attacks against its forces by Hamas. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began.

Hamas, in turn, points to repeated Israeli attacks, which Gaza’s Health Ministry says have killed 603 Palestinians.

The IDF recently released grainy footage of several figures running through Gaza’s debris, who it identified as “armed terrorists” approaching troops in the area of Gaza temporarily controlled by Israel under Trump’s peace plan.

Asked whether two years of intense military conflict had failed to achieve the destruction of Hamas’s military capabilities – a key Israeli war goal – Lt Col Shoshani said the group had been heavily diminished, but was now trying to rebuild.

“This war is not done until Hamas is disarmed,” he said. “There is an agreement now in place [and] we expect that to happen. If not, there are a lot of tools on the table to make sure that does happen.”

Trump’s new Board of Peace, comprising the heads of state from many countries with a stake in Gaza’s future, will hold its first meeting in Washington on Thursday.

The next stage of Trump’s plan for Gaza – including its reconstruction – hinges on Hamas disarmament, but negotiators are still inching through the detail of what the handover of weapons would mean in practice – who would Hamas hand weapons over to, which weapons would they hand over, and how would that be verified.

“I believe we are capable of addressing the issue of weapons in a way that removes the Occupation’s pretext to renew the war and is also compatible with President Trump’s plan,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told the BBC.

But Hamas, ideologically committed to fighting Israel, has a deeply-rooted and well-armed membership across the Gaza Strip. Verifying its full disarmament will be difficult, and some in the group have reportedly demanded they be allowed to keep personal weapons to defend themselves against enemies at home.

When the fighting with Israel stopped in October, Hamas immediately turned its guns on rival clans who had begun to take advantage of the chaos to extend their power in Gaza City, Rafah and elsewhere.

Footage of the crackdown, including summary executions of blindfolded rivals in the streets, was released to the public.

Israel’s leaders have rejected the idea of Hamas keeping personal arms, and have applied pressure on the group to disarm by threatening a return to war.

In the meantime, an International Stabilisation Force to take over security in Gaza remains in limbo, and the new Palestinian technocratic council meant to take over the running of Gaza’s civilian affairs is waiting in Egypt.

Earlier this month Hamas said it was ready to “transfer authority and governance in all fields” to the new technocratic council.

But the Gaza activist, Mohammed Diab, said there were few signs that Hamas was preparing to hand over power.

“On the contrary,” he said, “we heard last week that Hamas carried out large-scale appointments to vacant positions in the government sector, and announced them on social media and official platforms.”

Hazem Qassem denied any new government recruitment, saying that any appointments would have been technical, low-level positions that did not interfere with the handover of power.

Critics have questioned whether they are an attempt to retain influence inside any future Gaza administration.

The recent transfer of medical cases out of Gaza through the newly-reopened Rafah Crossing also signalled the intention of Hamas to remain in control, despite the new process being designed without the group’s involvement.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c98g1klxnpxo

Rescue teams combing through the backcountry of California’s Lake Tahoe region say they have found the bodies of eight skiers who went missing in an avalanche on Tuesday.

The search for a final missing skier continues but that person is presumed dead, Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon said at a news conference on Wednesday.

Officials said one of the deceased was the spouse of someone on one of the search-and-rescue teams, making continued rescue efforts “challenging emotionally”.

Fifteen skiers were reported missing on Tuesday after a “football-field” sized avalanche came barrelling down in the Castle Peak area around 11:30 local time (19:30 GMT). Six have been rescued.

“I want to offer my condolences to the family in this very trying time,” Placer County Sheriff Wayne Woo said on Wednesday.

The bodies of the eight dead skiers are still trapped in the snow and can’t yet be recovered due to “pretty horrific” conditions, officials said.

Since the avalanche, another 3ft (90cm) of snow has fallen on the area, Tahoe National Forest supervisor Chris Feutrier said.

“The hazard remains high,” he said.

Once the bodies are recovered, they will be transported to the Placer County morgue.

Families of the deceased have been notified. Authorities have not yet released any of their names.

Officials say the victims are seven women and two men.

Sheriff Woo said the rescue operation was a joint effort involving two teams and roughly 50 crew members who had to traverse “extreme weather conditions” using specialised equipment.

At 17:30 local time on Tuesday, search teams arrived to an area roughly two miles (3.2km) from where survivors were sheltering in make-shift tents, and had to ski in from there.

Two of the six survivors had to be carried back and “could not walk because of the injuries they sustained during the avalanche”, Sheriff Moon said. They were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Among the survivors, one was a guide and five were clients of the Blackbird Mountain guided tour.

The entire ski group consisted of a mix of 11 recreational skiers and four ski guides.

The avalanche on Tuesday occurred as they were making their way back at the end of a three-day trip.

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office said in a post on X that state authorities were “co-ordinating an all-hands search-and-rescue effort” with local emergency teams.

Conditions on Wednesday remained dangerous, multiple officials said, with Woo describing the climate as “treacherous”.

“Avoid the backcountry,” he said. “Please allow us to focus all of our resources on continuing to recover these bodies for the family and bring them home.”

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvg19dp4vxgo

A long-awaited ceasefire in eastern DR Congo is set to begin under the 2025 Washington Accords. Analysts remain skeptical, but US interest in Congolese resources could help propel the peace process.

The increasingly unstable situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has occupied politicians and diplomats in recent days, both at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa over the weekend and the concurrent Munich Security Conference in Germany.

DRC President Felix Tshisekedi sent his foreign minister, Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, to Munich.

In an exclusive interview with DW, she affirmed her government intends to honor the ceasefire agreement scheduled for February 18: “We must do everything to keep the weapons silent.”

Mediation efforts have failed so far

The agreement is based on the Washington Accords for Peace and Prosperity, a US-brokered peace deal signed in late 2025, in Washington D.C. between the DR Congo and Rwanda.

Rwanda has long been accused, including by the United Nations, of supporting the M23 militia militarily, financially, and politically — allegations Rwanda denies. Earlier peace efforts by Angola, Kenya, Togo, and Qatar had little lasting impact.

“It’s not the first attempt. We will do everything to fulfill our commitments and hope the other side does the same,” Wagner said, emphasizing that the various peace processes are complementary and reinforce each other.

Kigali: Rwanda is ‘not part of the conflict’

Rwandan President Paul Kagame was absent from the Munich Security Conference, but his Interior Minister Vincent Biruta outlined his country’s position: “The conflict parties are M23 and the government of DR Congo. Rwanda is not a warring party.”

He stressed that the reopening of Goma airport after the ceasefire must be coordinated with the M23, which has become the de facto authority there. Goma, capital of North Kivu, fell to M23 militias in January 2025.

The UN reported at least 3,000 deaths, along with cases of sexual violence and widespread insecurity.

“The de facto authorities controlling the area must be consulted on reopening the airport. That’s logical,” Biruta said.

According to him, Rwanda does not occupy the region: “For us, this is a matter between the Congolese government and the M23 de facto authority.”

For the ceasefire to hold, both sides must respect it and the mechanism must be implemented quickly.

US threatens sanctions for violations

The United States has warned that any party violating the ceasefire — both Rwanda and DRC — could face sanctions. Massad Boulos, US President Donald Trump’s adviser on Africa, told DW: “We will not accept the agreement being ignored by any party.”

He added the US is working closely with African partners such as Angola, Togo, and soon Burundi.

African Union: “African solutions to African problems”

Angolan President Joao Lourenco, AU chair until February 14, 2026, has long been a key mediator and leads the Luanda Process, aimed at de-escalating tensions between Kinshasa and Kigali.

At the AU summit’s conclusion, Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye took over the chairmanship.

In his farewell speech, Lourenco highlighted that the Luanda Process paved the way for the Washington peace agreement. Other African countries, including Kenya, Togo, and now Burundi, continue to seek “African solutions to African problems.”

Despite these efforts, the situation remains precarious, with past ceasefires repeatedly broken and M23 controlling large areas.

Ceasefire ‘unlikely’

Timo Roujean of the German Konrad Adenauer Foundation told DW: “I consider a ceasefire starting Wednesday unlikely.”

Besides the government and M23, Wazalendo militias, which are only partially under Congolese state control, are involved.

Political scientist Jona Thiel, based in Germany, adds: “M23 is not the only actor. Around 120 rebel groups operate in eastern DR Congo, each with its own interests. Achieving a comprehensive peace under a single agreement is almost impossible.”

In addition to Wazalendo militias, the Islamic State-linked Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) militia, originally from Uganda, continues to terrorize communities in North Kivu and Beni, committing massacres and using child soldiers.

US economic interests could promote peace

“The diplomacy is intense, also due to US interests in lasting peace in this resource-rich region. Five resource concessions have been promised to American companies,” Roujean notes.

Thiel adds: “For the Trump administration, the Congo is a way to challenge China’s dominance in the resource sector.”

US companies plan large-scale extraction in Manono, Tanganyika province.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/ceasefire-in-eastern-dr-congo-raises-hopes-for-peace/a-76002969

Germany’s national rail operator says it was hit with a cyberattack on its systems that disrupted ticketing and timetable information.

The company said a so-called DDoS attack hit its IT systems around midday Tuesday, causing outages in travel information and booking tools on its website and in the Navigator app.

What did Deutsche Bahn say about the cyberattack?

“DB has been and continues to be subjected to attacks on its IT systems,” the company stated on Wednesday. “The current attack is specifically targeted at DB and has occurred in waves. The scale of the attack is considerable.”

In a DDoS (distributed denial of service) attack, an IT system is effectively bombarded with requests from a large number of sources, causing it to become overloaded and, in the worst case, crash. Many such attacks are considered a form of digital vandalism.

Deutsche Bahn had informed customers about the disruptions on Tuesday afternoon, and by the evening said the systems were largely running stably again.

On Wednesday morning, further problems occurred, and the company later cited the cyberattack as the cause.

“Our defensive measures took effect in order to keep the impact on our customers as low as possible,” Deutsche Bahn said.

“We will not comment on speculation about the background of the attack,” the firm added. “Our top priority remains the protection of customer data and the availability of our information and booking systems.”

Deutsche Bahn is Germany’s national rail operator, running both passenger and cargo trains as well as suburban commuter railways in many cities.

An Interior Ministry spokeswoman said the company had been in contact with the country’s cybersecurity authorities.

Who is carrying out the attacks?

Germany’s security agencies have warned about transport infrastructure being a prime target for cyber- and physical attacks, especially with heightened tensions around Russia-linked hacking groups and hybrid threats.

Last year saw a string of what Deutsche Bahn has also called “nearly-daily attacks” beginning over the summer.

Crucial rail lines were sabotaged last year between Hamburg and Berlin, and between Cologne and Düsseldorf.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/deutsche-bahn-says-cyberattack-hit-ticket-and-info-systems/a-76024130

Kim Jong Un said the new weapons system was a gift for the Ninth Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party — a landmark meeting set to begin soon.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attended a ceremony to unveil huge, multiple rocket launchers capable of firing nuclear warheads, state media reported on Thursday.

At the ceremony, Kim said the new 600mm rocket launcher system was unique and “appropriate for a special attack, that is, for accomplishing a stategic mission,” North Korean news agency KCNA reported, using a common North Korean euphemism for nuclear weapons.

Kim insisted that the launchers were meant to be a “deterrent” against enemies, without naming its main adversaries, South Korea and the United States. The Korean neighbors are technically still at war, though an armistice has been in place since 1953.

Seoul is less than 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the border that divides North and South Korea.

“When this weapon is used actually, no force would be able to expect God’s protection,” KCNA reported Kim saying. “It is really a wonderful and attractive weapon.”

Pyongyang has long been building its nuclear arsenal and testing its missile technology, which analysts say are aimed at improving its precision strike capabilities.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/north-korea-unveils-nuclear-capable-rocket-launchers/a-76029358

Police said a man died after the car he was driving was trapped in flood waters near the North Island’s Otorohanga.

Heavy rains and strong winds have lashed New Zealand in recent days, killing one man, flooding large areas and cutting off several communities, authorities said.

The severe storm since last Friday (Feb 13) has prompted a state of emergency in the North Island, where the Waikato Regional Council said “one in 100 year” rainfall had caused widespread flooding.

Police said a man died on Friday after the car he was driving was trapped in flood waters near the North Island’s Otorohanga.

The storm has continued down the country, reaching the capital Wellington on Monday before moving towards Christchurch in the South Island on Tuesday.

Energy operator PowerCo said about 10,000 households were without power in the lower North Island on Tuesday, while another electricity company, Orion, said more than 200 households were without power on Banks Peninsula outside Christchurch.

Near Wellington, Wairarapa township Lake Ferry had been cut off after the only road access to the town was washed out.

National broadcaster RNZ reported residents were forming a human chain to pass supplies across a washed-out bridge.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/new-zealand-flood-storm-power-christchurch-wellington-5935516

Om Birla represented India at Tarique Rahman’s swearing-in in Dhaka, delivered Narendra Modi’s invitation, and discussed regional cooperation with leaders from Maldives and Bhutan.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla represented India at the swearing-in ceremony of Bangladesh Prime Minister Tarique Rahman, where he handed over an invitation from Prime Minister Narendra Modi for an official visit to India.

Birla attended the ceremony in Dhaka as the special envoy of the Government of India and conveyed Modi’s greetings and best wishes to Rahman on assuming office. During their meeting, Birla reiterated that India stands ready to support Bangladesh’s efforts to build a democratic, progressive and inclusive nation.

The Lok Sabha Speaker also handed over a formal letter from Modi inviting Rahman to visit India at a mutually convenient time.

“Just concluded a constructive meeting with Prime Minister of Bangladesh @trahmanbnp. I handed over a personal letter from Prime Minister @narendramodi conveying his wishes to PM Rahman and inviting him to visit India at the earliest convenience,” Birla tweeted and shared photos from the meeting.

“I extended warm congratulations on behalf of the people of India and reaffirmed our commitment to deepening the enduring partnership between our two neighbouring countries,” he said.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/om-birla-attends-tarique-rahmans-swearing-in-hands-over-pm-modis-invite-to-visit-india-ws-kl-9910686.html 

Former Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s sister Dr Uzma Khan said he explicitly told her during a recent meeting: “These people will kill me; they have made a plan to kill me”

In a series of explosive claims, former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s sisters said the “Asim Munir regime” wants to “kill” the jailed cricketer-turned-politician, and that they have received threats from interior minister and PCB chief Mohsin Naqvi.

Alleging a “lethal conspiracy” by the Pakistani government and military to eliminate Imran Khan in custody, his sisters — Dr Uzma Khan and Aleema Khan — held a press conference and specifically named army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir and Mohsin Naqvi as being part of such a plan.

Uzma Khan and Aleema Khan referred to them as the “Asim Munir regime”. According to Uzma, during a recent meeting, Imran explicitly told her: “These people will kill me; they have made a plan to kill me.”

Aleema also shared a message from her brother stating that his eye health is deteriorating and that he is being denied access to his trusted medical team.

The allegations come amid an intensifying political standoff centred on a reported medical crisis faced by Imran in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. His medical reports, which have also been presented before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, show that he is facing severe vision loss in one of his eyes.

Imran’s family has categorically rejected the findings of government-appointed medical teams, demanding instead that he be evaluated by his personal physicians, Dr Asim and Dr Faisal.

“You have sent a team of doctors to the jail and ask us to accept it, or to accept the report provided by those doctors — that will not happen,” Aleema said during a press briefing.

The family said it is “absolutely clear” about its demand that Khan be transferred to Shifa International Hospital in Islamabad, where he can be treated in the presence of his own doctors and relatives.

The former PM’s sisters further alleged that they are being personally targeted for speaking out. Uzma claimed that Naqvi has been threatening the family.

“Mohsin Naqvi is threatening us; they have tasted blood,” Uzma said during the briefing, warning the authorities that she has vowed to seek retribution if any harm should come to her brother or them. “If anything happens to Imran Khan or to us, mark my words, we will not spare anyone’s future generations either.”

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/mohsin-naqvi-is-threatening-us-imran-khans-sisters-say-asim-munir-regime-wants-to-kill-former-pm-9911152.html

A luminous outline of Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores loomed over Caracas against the night sky in January. The steady light of hundreds of drones in a show put on by the government in Venezuela, suspended their image in front of the clouds, before rearranging to call for their return: “El pueblo los reclama,” they spelled out, “the people want them back”.

After a lightning operation by the US to spirit the deposed president and his wife out of the country on 3 January, Venezuela has found itself in limbo.

Despite Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president and now acting Venezuelan leader, calling for the return of Maduro and Flores, there are no signs that’s going to happen. The former first couple are in New York in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial for alleged crimes including drug trafficking, all of which they deny.

Nevertheless, Rodríguez – a Maduro loyalist – must maintain a tricky equilibrium: appealing to her socialist base by continuing to support Maduro through anti-imperialist rhetoric, while at the same time changing policies under pressure from US President Donald Trump, with the threat that she could be following Maduro if she won’t comply.

“Trump has implied that Venezuela is now a US protectorate, so she serves at the will of the US president,” says Christopher Sabatini, senior research fellow on Latin America at Chatham House think tank. “She has also been investigated by the DEA – there’s not a conviction, or bounty on her head, or indictment, but that threat has hung out there. The threat is, ‘we have the goods on you’.” The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) did not comment when approached by the BBC.

Rodríguez is now walking a diplomatic tightrope. “President Maduro had already warned of an attack of this nature due to the desperation of the United States’ energy voracity,” Rodríguez said in her first statement after the operation. Yet shortly afterwards, Trump announced that Caracas had agreed to deliver up to 50 million barrels of oil – and that he would manage the money.

And in her first speech to the National Assembly on 16 January, Rodríguez criticised “imperialist expansion by the United States”. That same day, Rodríguez met with CIA Director John Ratcliffe in Caracas. Rodríguez has been contacted for comment.

“Rodríguez’s legitimacy lies in the military strength of the US. And it will last if Trump wants it to. She cannot stand up to him,” says Carmen Beatriz Fernández, Venezuelan political analyst and CEO of DataStrategia, a political consultancy firm.

One question is how long Rodríguez can keep this double act of keeping both the Venezuelan left and the US administration onside? And if she had to choose, would it be a tough choice or does one side very obviously hold the power?

Iran has said it has reached an understanding with the US on the main “guiding principles” to resolve their dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme.

Speaking after indirect talks in Geneva, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi added that work still needed to be done. The US said “progress was made”.

Badr Albusaidi, foreign minister of mediator Oman, said the negotiations “concluded with good progress towards identifying common goals and relevant technical issues”.

The meeting followed repeated US military threats against Iran over its deadly crackdown on anti-government protests and its nuclear activities. President Donald Trump had earlier said he believed Iran wanted to make a deal.

The US and its European allies suspect that Iran is moving towards the development of a nuclear weapon, something that Tehran has always denied.

Before Tuesday’s talks at the residence of Oman’s ambassador in the Swiss city, Iran stated that it would focus on its nuclear programme and the potential lifting of economic sanctions imposed by the US.

Washington has previously indicated it wanted to discuss other issues as well, such as Iran’s missile development.

It was not immediately known what range of issues were discussed in Geneva but a US official told the BBC: “Progress was made, but there are still a lot of details to discuss. The Iranians said they would come back in the next two weeks with detailed proposals to address some of the open gaps in our positions.”

When asked about the talks in an interview with Fox News, US Vice-President JD Vance said: “In some ways, it went well; they agreed to meet afterwards. But in other ways, it was very clear that the president has set some red lines that the Iranians are not yet willing to actually acknowledge and work through.”

Framing the talks as “very important”, US President Donald Trump had earlier said he would be “indirectly” involved and suggested Tehran was motivated this time to negotiate.

“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that Iran learned the consequences of a tough posture in talks last summer when the US bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” he said, referring to the stealth bombers that carried out the bombings. “I hope they’re going to be more reasonable.”

Trump’s threats come amid a US military build-up in the Middle East over the past few weeks.

BBC Verify has confirmed the location of US aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln near Iran using satellite imagery.

The US has also reportedly sent the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest warship, to the Middle East, which could arrive in the region within the next three weeks.

Speaking on Tuesday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to Trump’s threats of military action by saying: “More dangerous than an aircraft carrier is the weapon that can send it to the bottom of the sea.

“He says the US’s army is the strongest army in the world. The ‘strongest army in the world’ may sometimes receive such a blow that it cannot get back up.”

Khamenei also accused the US of attempting to predetermine the outcome of negotiations and said that would be a “wrong and foolish thing to do”.

In addition to the Abraham Lincoln’s arrival, BBC Verify has also tracked an increase of US destroyers, combat ships and fighter jets in the region.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi met with the UN nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, saying in a post on X he was in Geneva to “achieve a fair and equitable deal”.

“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araghchi said.

Iran has responded to the US build-up with its own show of force. On Monday the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched a maritime drill in the Strait of Hormuz, located in the Gulf between Oman and Iran.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwyknjnd706o

US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson died aged 84 on Tuesday morning surrounded by relatives, according to a statement released by his family.

“It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of Civil Rights leader and founder of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the Honorable Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson, Sr,” the family said, adding he died “peacefully.”

His cause of death has not been released, but Jackson had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy and was in hospital late last year.

Tributes poured in for the prominent activist who twice ran to be Democrats’ presidential nominee, including from the first black US president, Barack Obama.

Jackson is survived by his wife Jacqueline and their children: Santita, Jesse Jr, Jonathan, Yusef, Jacqueline and Ashley.

In their statement, Jackson’s family said his “unwavering commitment to justice, equality, and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity”.

“A tireless change agent, he elevated the voices of the voiceless from his Presidential campaigns in the 1980s to mobilising millions to register to vote – leaving an indelible mark on history,” they added.

Along with working with Martin Luther King, Jr, and running for president in 1984 and 1988, Jackson is remembered as the founder of a nonprofit organisation focused on social justice and civil rights, the Rainbow PUSH coalition.

Calling Jackson a “true giant”, Obama said in a statement that Jackson’s “two historic runs for president” had “laid the foundation for my own campaign to the highest office of the land”. Obama added that his wife Michelle “got her first glimpse of political organizing at the Jacksons’ kitchen table when she was a teenager”.

“For more than 60 years, Reverend Jackson helped lead some of the most significant movements for change in human history,” the Obamas also said in the statement.

“From organizing boycotts and sit-ins, to registering millions of voters, to advocating for freedom and democracy around the world, he was relentless in his belief that we are all children of God, deserving of dignity and respect.”

Jackson was admitted to hospital last November, and doctors said he had been diagnosed with a rare degenerative condition called progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) in April 2025, revising an earlier diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease that Jackson had said was made in 2015.

Both diseases affect the brain, nervous system, and muscle control and, according to the American Parkinson Disease Association and the group CurePSP, many people with PSP are initially diagnosed with Parkinson’s because a number of the symptoms overlap.

Born in 1941 in Greenville, South Carolina, Jackson became involved in politics at an early age. He rose to prominence in the 1960s as a leader in Martin Luther King, Jr ‘s Southern Christian Leadership Conference and was with King when he was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1968.

Over the course of his career, Jackson built a movement to bring America’s increasingly diverse population together, with a message that centred on poor and working-class Americans.

After his presidential runs, Jackson later positioned himself as an elder statesman within the Democratic Party.

His son Jesse Jackson, Jr is a former US congressman.

Shortly after his death was announced, politicians and other public figures took to social media to mourn the loss of Jackson.

US President Donald Trump said he knew Jackson “long before becoming president”.

“He was a good man, with lots of personality, grit, and ‘street smarts,'” Trump said. “He was very gregarious – Someone who truly loved people!”

Former President Bill Clinton and his wife Hillary, a former secretary of state, also shared tributes, saying they were friends with Jackson for “almost fifty years”.

“Reverend Jackson championed human dignity and helped create opportunities for countless people to live better lives,” they said in a statement.

House of Representatives Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Jackson “was a legendary voice for the voiceless,” in a tribute to the late civil rights leader posted on X.

“For decades, while laboring in the vineyards of the community, he inspired us to keep hope alive in the struggle for liberty and justice for all,” the Democrat said.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the civil rights leader “never stopped demanding that America live up to its promise”.

“He marched, he ran, he organized and he preached justice without apology,” Mamdani said.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp81l0e1eg5o

Prime Minister Andrej Babis’ new right-wing populist government wants to bring the Czech public broadcaster under its control. One of its reforms is to abolish licensing fees.

Czech Television and Czech Radio currently have the highest audience and listener numbers in the Czech Republic, with licensing fees generating €450 million ($532 million) annually. For three decades, the public broadcaster has functioned successfully and independently.

But during his election campaign, the multibillionaire and right-wing populist Andrej Babis announced that he wanted to weaken the public broadcaster and bring it under his political control. Ultimately, he wants to destroy it.

He won the parliamentary elections in October 2025 and formed a coalition government comprising his own right-wing populist ANO movement and the Motorists for Themselves party, which are both part of the extremist Patriots faction in the lower house of the Czech parliament in Prague, and the far-right Freedom and Direct Democracy party.

Czech government’s model is Fico’s Slovakia

This government has now launched an attack on the financial independence of the public broadcaster. The plan is to abolish licensing fees, which amount to some €8 per household per month.

The government has also promised in a statement “further legislative changes, which will result in an updating of the definition of public broadcaster, more efficient use of resources and the elimination of duplicate costs.” Its model, it said, is Slovakia, which in recent years has come under the complete control of Prime Minister Robert Fico’s government.

Slovakian Culture Minister Martina Simkovicova, who is behind these reforms in her home country, recently came to Prague to assist her counterpart Oto Klempir, from the Motorists party, with the implementation of similar reforms of Czech television and radio.

Slovakia: Loss of public trust in state media outlets

In Slovakia, the abolition of the independence of the country’s public broadcaster (RTVS) triggered one of the largest demonstrations in recent years — but the government pushed its plans through regardless. According to a survey conducted by PMT/Kantar Media in December 2025, only 11.9% of viewers in Slovakia still watch “government television,” with the private channel Markiza enjoying 32.5% of the audience share and its competitor JOJ 21.3%.

“The current financing model, together with other legal safeguards, ensures maximum protection of editorial and institutional decision-making from political or economic influences,” wrote the directors-general of Czech Television, Hynek Chudarek, and of Czech Radio, Rene Zavoral, in a joint letter protesting the government’s plans.

“The current financing system has proven itself over the past 33 years and is also fully in line with the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA), which emphasizes institutional independence, financial stability, and the protection of public service media from political pressure,” they added, pointing out that the Czech Republic had committed itself to complying with EU legislation years ago.

Chudarek and Zavoral asked the Czech culture minister to set up a group of experts to examine the financing of the public broadcaster, but Klempir refused. “I think it is fair that we meet only once new models for financing these media outlets are on the table,” he said, adding that the new solutions would “comply with EMFA regulations.”

Previous Czech government tried to safeguard independence of state media

During the term of Prime Minister Babis’ predecessor Petr Fiala, the center-right government attempted to strengthen the independence of the Czech public broadcaster. It established the rule that one-third of the members of the media councils, which appoint the directors-general of the television channels and radio stations, be selected by the Senate.

Director-generals can now only be dismissed by a two-thirds majority of the media councils. Moreover, under the previous government licensing fees were increased for the first time in 10 years and adjusted to inflation automatically. Further reforms were blocked by Fiala’s own Civic Democratic Party (ODS).

“We achieved the maximum that was possible in the current political situation,” Senator David Smoljak of the opposition Mayors and Independents (STAN) party told DW. “There is not a single objective reason for the changes planned by Babis’ government,” he added, explaining that the government wanted to abolish the current functioning system but had not said with what it wanted to replace it.

“The government clearly wants to weaken and marginalize the public broadcaster,” said Bara Prochazkova, a member of the Czech Council for Radio and Television Broadcasting. “Weakened media are easy to control politically,” she told DW.

However, the current ruling parties have a majority of 108 out of 200 votes in the lower house of parliament, enabling them to override a possible veto by the upper house and pro-European President Petr Pavel.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/czech-republic-government-attacks-public-television-and-radio/a-76009348

Ukrainian and Russian officials are meeting in Geneva for another round of talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine. The talks come just days before the 4-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

Even for a U.S. president long fixated on deal-making, Donald Trump’s assignment of his favorite envoys to juggle two sets of negotiations – the Iranian nuclear standoff and Russia’s war in Ukraine – in a single day in Geneva has left many in the foreign policy world scratching their heads.
The shuttle diplomacy on Tuesday by U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has raised questions not only about whether they are overstretched and outmatched, but about their serious prospects for resolving either of the twin crises, experts say.

Trump, who has frequently boasted about having ended multiple wars and conflicts in the first year of his second four-year term, has made clear he is looking to add more international deals that he can tout in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize.
But the high-stakes negotiations over the two long-running issues were arranged quickly, and the choice of Geneva as the setting for both was never clearly explained, except for the city’s long history of hosting international diplomacy.
“Trump seems more focused on quantity over quality instead of the difficult detailed work of diplomacy,” said Brett Bruen, who was a foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration and now heads the Global Situation Room strategic consultancy. “Tackling both issues at the same time in the same place doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Iran was the opening act in a carefully choreographed diplomatic dance in Geneva, where talks took place under high security in two locations on different sides of the Swiss, French-speaking city.
After 3-1/2 hours of indirect discussions between the U.S. team and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi mediated by Oman, both sides indicated that some progress was made, but there was no suggestion that an agreement was imminent in the longstanding dispute over Iran’s nuclear program.
As long as the diplomatic process continues, Trump can keep expanding his massive military buildup near Iran, making clear that use of force remains on the table. That is likely to keep the Middle East on edge, with many fearing that U.S. strikes could escalate into a wider regional war.
‘OVERSTRETCH’?
With barely a pause on Tuesday, the U.S. delegates went straight from the Iran talks at Oman’s diplomatic mission to the five-star Intercontinental hotel for the first of two days of Russia-Ukraine negotiations over a war that Trump, during the 2024 presidential campaign, had promised to end in a day.

Expectations were low for a breakthrough in the latest round of talks to end Europe’s biggest war since World War Two ended in 1945.
A regional official close to Iran’s leadership said the U.S. team’s double agenda in Geneva reinforced doubts about whether Washington was sincere about either of the diplomatic efforts.
“The approach risks overstretch,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters. “It resembles an emergency room with two critically ill patients and a single doctor unable to give either case sustained attention, increasing the likelihood of failure.”
Mohanad Hajj-Ali of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut said there was too much at stake in the Iran crisis for the U.S. to handle diplomacy this way.
“Having a team of Witkoff and Kushner tasked with resolving all the world’s problems is, frankly, a shocking reality,” he said.

Some experts said the two, both from Trump’s world of New York real estate development, lack the depth of knowledge and experience to go up against veteran negotiators like Araqchi and their Russian interlocutors and that they were in over their heads in such complicated conflicts.
Absent from the Geneva meetings was U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump’s top diplomat, who is known as a foreign policy wonk.
Asked for comment, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Trump and his team “have done more than anyone to bring both sides together to stop the killing and deliver a peace deal” in Ukraine. She denounced anonymous “critics” of the president’s approach but did not provide answers to Reuters’ specific questions for this story.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-envoys-juggle-two-crisis-talks-raising-questions-about-prospects-success-2026-02-17/

New Mexico lawmakers on Monday passed legislation to launch what they said was the first full investigation into what happened at Zorro Ranch, where the late U.S. sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is accused of trafficking and sexually assaulting girls and women.
A bipartisan committee will seek testimony from survivors of alleged sexual abuse at the ranch, located about 30 miles south of Santa Fe, the state capital. Legislators are also urging local residents to testify.

Epstein died in what was ruled a suicide in a New York jail in 2019 while facing federal sex trafficking charges.
The so-called truth commission, comprising four lawmakers, seeks to identify ranch guests and state officials who may have known what was going on at the 7,600-acre property, or taken part in alleged sexual abuse in its hacienda-style mansion and guest houses.
The Democratic-led investigation adds to political pressure to uncover Epstein’s crimes that has become a major challenge for President Donald Trump, weeks after the Justice Department released millions of Epstein-related files that shed new light on activities at the ranch.

The files reveal ties between Epstein and two former Democratic governors and an attorney general of New Mexico.
The legislation, which passed New Mexico’s House of Representatives by a unanimous vote, could pose risks to any additional politicians linked to Epstein in the Democratic-run state, as well as scientists, investors and other high-profile individuals who visited the ranch.
The $2.5 million investigation, which has subpoena power, aims to close gaps in New Mexico law that may have allowed Epstein to operate in the state. The committee starts work on Tuesday, and will deliver interim findings in July and a final report by year-end.
“He was basically doing anything he wanted in this state without any accountability whatsoever,” said New Mexico state Representative Andrea Romero, a Democrat, who co-sponsored the initiative.

Testimony to the committee could be used for future prosecutions, she said.
Victim advocates applauded the move, saying Zorro Ranch had been overlooked by federal investigations that focused on Epstein’s Caribbean island and New York townhouse.
“Many of the survivors had experiences in New Mexico, and as we’ve learned, you know, there were local politicians and other people that were aware of what was happening in New Mexico,” said attorney Sigrid McCawley, whose law firm has represented hundreds of Epstein survivors.
They include the late Virginia Giuffre, who was abused many times at the ranch, she said.
The U.S. Department of Justice passed a request for comment to the FBI. The FBI declined comment.

EPSTEIN OPERATED AT THE RANCH FOR DECADES

Several civil suits accuse Epstein of sexually assaulting girls at Zorro Ranch. He was never charged for the alleged offenses.

Romero said there was no record of federal law enforcement searching what was known locally as “the playboy ranch” where Epstein is accused of sexually abusing a 16-year-old girl as early as 1996.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas launched a probe in 2019 that was put on hold at the request of federal prosecutors to avoid “parallel investigation,” he said in a statement.
New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez has assigned a special agent to probe allegations that may come through the truth commission, spokesperson Lauren Rodriguez said.
A state house committee rejected accompanying legislation to extend New Mexico’s statute of limitations for childhood sexual assault to allow civil actions by Epstein survivors, said state Representative Marianna Anaya, who co-sponsored the legislation to create the truth commission. The legislation raised concerns about increased insurance costs for public institutions facing abuse lawsuits, Anaya said.
Epstein bought the ranch in 1993 from Bruce King, a three-time New Mexico Democratic governor who died in 2009. Epstein’s estate sold the property in 2023 to Texas businessman and politician Don Huffines, according to the Santa Fe New Mexican. Huffines is prepared to cooperate with any law enforcement investigation of the ranch, the newspaper reported on Monday, citing his spokesperson.
Epstein flew in guests and “masseuses” to the ranch, and hired local massage therapists to work there, ranch manager Brice Gordon told the FBI in 2007, according to a report in the Epstein files.
In an unsealed 2016 court deposition, Giuffre testified Epstein’s partner Ghislaine Maxwell told her to give the late former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson a “massage” at the ranch. In Giuffre’s memoir, she said an instruction from Maxwell to provide a “massage” meant a victim should provide a sexual encounter to an abuser.
Richardson’s representative Madeleine Mahoney in a 2019 statement said Giuffre’s allegations were “completely false.”
Gordon told the FBI that most of the masseuses Epstein used at the ranch were hired locally through the spa Ten Thousand Waves, a Santa Fe institution, or by referrals.
Spa spokesperson Sara Bean said in a phone interview last Tuesday that Ten Thousand Waves neither provided nor referred masseuses to Zorro Ranch.
In the documentary “Surviving Jeffrey Epstein,” former Santa Fe massage therapist Rachel Benavidez accused Epstein of sexual abuse when she was hired to work at the ranch.
Investment consultant Joshua Ramo said on Sunday he visited the ranch once for a 2014 lunch on behalf of professors from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, who were present. Ramo, at the time CEO of consulting firm Kissinger Associates, said he and Epstein met with business figures and scientists around 14 times in New York between 2013 and 2016.
“I deferred to the due diligence of the institutions involved, assuming that his presence signaled he had been appropriately vetted,” Ramo, in a statement, said of his ranch visit and other meetings with Epstein. “I feel a deep sense of grief for the survivors of his crimes.”
Emails show Epstein contacted Ramo in 2015 to tell him he was going to Ten Thousand Waves, suggesting they meet for lunch in Santa Fe. Ramo responded, “I assumed we were meeting at the pink bottom ranch.” Ramo, who is currently CEO of consulting firm Sornay LLC, said he had no recollection of that comment, or whether the two met that day.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/new-mexico-approves-comprehensive-probe-epsteins-zorro-ranch-2026-02-17/

Scotiabank’s 1832 Asset Management subsidiary has dissolved its stake in Israeli arms manufacturer Elbit Systems (ESLT.TA), regulatory filings showed, after the Canadian bank faced sharp criticism for the investment.
Activists angered over Elbit’s role in supplying military equipment used by Israel during its war in Gaza had pressured the Scotiabank (BNS.TO), investment arm, which at one point was the biggest foreign investor in the weapons maker.

The investment arm no longer holds shares in Elbit, a change from its reported holding of about 165,000 shares in November, according to the filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday.
The Canadian bank did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the stake sale.
Scotiabank’s exposure to the weapons maker had triggered a number of protests at the bank’s branches, Reuters reported in 2023. It had also disrupted Canada’s prestigious Giller Prize Gala, a literary award that was sponsored by Scotiabank.
The contract between the Giller Prize and Scotiabank ended in February 2025.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/scotiabank-unit-sells-stake-israeli-arms-supplier-elbit-after-backlash-2026-02-16/

U.S. stocks dipped in early trade on Tuesday, while gold slid as investors continue to wrestle with the pros and cons of the artificial intelligence boom and nuclear talks progressed between the United States and Iran.
The three main U.S. stock indexes reversed earlier tentative gains, while the dollar gained strength and gold slipped to a one-week low.

Worries that companies are over-investing in AI, and the extent to which the nascent technology could disrupt labor markets have been contributing to investor jitters in recent weeks. The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index (.SOX), was a clear underperformer.

“The conversation about AI rose to the top of market concerns about two weeks ago, regarding the negative effect on employment in a broad variety of industries, and it’s continuing,” said Peter Tuz, president of Chase Investment Counsel in Charlottesville, Virginia. “There’s a lot of validity in that AI will result in less demand for certain types of workers. It clearly has affected the tone of the market over the last couple of weeks.”
Fed Board Governor Michael Barr is expected to speak on “Artificial Intelligence and the Labor Market” later in the day, while San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly is slated to speak on AI and the economy.

On the bright side, the United States and Iran have reached an understanding regarding the “guiding principles” in continuing negotiations over their nuclear dispute, while stressing that a deal is not necessarily imminent, according to Abbas Araqchi, Iran’s foreign minister.
“It’s an optimistic starting point,” Tuz added. “It’s way too early to tell, but the fact that they’re talking and haven’t gotten more aggressive is positive.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI), fell 319.99 points, or 0.64%, to 49,181.86, the S&P 500 (.SPX), fell 58.83 points, or 0.85%, to 6,778.24 and the Nasdaq Composite (.IXIC), fell 262.64 points, or 1.15%, to 22,286.53.
European investors kept an eye on U.S.-Iran talks while assessing the extent to which AI could reshape business models.
MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe (.MIWD00000PUS), fell 7.68 points, or 0.74%, to 1,034.96.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX), index fell 0.02%, while Europe’s broad FTSEurofirst 300 index (.FTEU3), fell 0.01 points, or 0.00%.
Emerging market stocks (.MSCIEF), fell 2.34 points, or 0.15%, to 1,555.52. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), closed higher by 0.04%, to 796.06, while Japan’s Nikkei (.N225), fell 239.92 points, or 0.42%, to 56,566.49.
The dollar held gains as markets looked ahead to the release of the minutes from the U.S. Federal Reserve’s most recent monetary policy meeting, which could hold clues regarding the central bank’s path forward with respect to interest rate cuts.
The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, rose 0.45% to 97.54, with the euro down 0.37% at $1.1806.

Against the Japanese yen , the dollar strengthened 0.23% to 153.86.
In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin fell 2.86% to $66,873.69. Ethereum declined 2.4% to $1,950.90.
U.S. Treasury yields were mixed in the wake of weaker British economic data and as traders continued to monitor the likely path of Federal Reserve policy.
The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell 1.7 basis points to 4.039%, from 4.056% late on Friday.
The 30-year bond yield fell 2.9 basis points to 4.6701% from 4.699% late on Friday.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/global-markets-global-markets-2026-02-17/

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would be involved “indirectly” in high-stakes talks between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s nuclear program set for Tuesday in Geneva, adding he believed Tehran wanted to make a deal.
“I’ll be involved in those talks, indirectly. And they’ll be very important,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.

Tensions are soaring ahead of the talks, with the U.S. deploying a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East. The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters.

Asked about the prospects for a deal, Trump said Iran has long sought a tough posture in negotiations but learned the consequences of that approach last summer when the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites.
Trump suggested Tehran was motivated this time to negotiate.
“I don’t think they want the consequences of not making a deal,” Trump said.

WASHINGTON PUSHES TEHRAN TO FORGO ENRICHMENT

Prior to the U.S. strikes in June, U.S.-Iran nuclear talks had stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the U.S. views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon.
“We could have had a deal instead of sending the B-2s in to knock out their nuclear potential. And we had to send the B-2s,” Trump said, referring to the bat-winged U.S. stealth bombers that carried out the bombings.

The remarks contrast with those by the U.S. president on Friday, when he embraced potential regime change, in Iran and lamented decades of failed talks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi met with the U.N. nuclear watchdog chief on Monday, saying in a post on X he was in Geneva to “achieve a fair and equitable deal.”
“What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Araqchi said.

QUESTIONS ABOUT URANIUM STOCKPILE

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440 kg (970 pounds) of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-U.S. strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan.
Iran has repeatedly threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation against any attack, which would choke a fifth of global oil flows and send crude prices sharply higher.

Iran held a military drill on Monday in the Strait of Hormuz, a vital international waterway and oil export route from Gulf Arab states, which have been appealing for diplomacy to end the dispute.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/trump-says-he-will-be-involved-indirectly-iran-talks-2026-02-17/

Authorities have likely ruled out Nancy Guthrie’s family as suspects in her kidnapping through alibis, cell phone data and other methods.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Office officially cleared the Guthrie family — including “all siblings and spouses” — of the kidnapping in a statement to Page Six on Monday, as the search for Savannah Guthrie’s missing mom enters week 3.

Former CIA member and FBI special agent Tracy Walder tells Page Six of the methods used to clear the family, “Authorities have been able to alibi all of them and account for their whereabouts on that evening.

“They look at their cell phone data and figure out if it matches up to where they were. They also use license plate scanners to see if they’re driving at the time and if they’re caught on cameras.”

The NewsNation contributor speculated, “The Sheriff can make that statement confidently.”

Second expert Jason Pack, a retired FBI agent, tells Page Six, “This statement appears to be about protecting a grieving family as much as it is about the investigation.

“It seems like they are confident in their work … alibis, phone records, financials, digital forensics and the evidence has told them what they need to know.”

Pack believes of Sheriff Chris Nanos, “He seems to feel a real obligation to step in. He’s running a case and he’s trying to stop additional harm to victim families.”

The full statement from the Pima County Sheriff’s Office read, “To be clear … the Guthrie family – to include all siblings and spouses – has been cleared as possible suspects in this case. The family has been nothing but cooperative and gracious and are victims in this case.

“To suggest otherwise is not only wrong, it is cruel. The Guthrie family are victims plain and simple.”

The announcement means Savannah, her brother Camron, and her sister, Annie, are all cleared, as well as the “Today” show host’s spouse, Michael Feldman, and Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, who was the last person to see her before she was reported missing.

Cioni became the target of online speculation connected to Nancy’s kidnapping after being the last person to see her before the abduction.

The Post reported sources familiar with the investigation are upset over the speculation surrounding Cioni.

“Instead of criticizing law enforcement, maybe criticize the people and outlets who have been reporting certain storylines with zero evidence,” a source told the outlet.

Nancy was reported missing on Feb. 1 when she failed to attend a virtual church service.

Investigators believed she was kidnapped and “harmed,” as a trail of blood — which authorities confirmed was hers — was found outside her front door.

While authorities have questioned a number of people, the investigation enters week 3 with no known suspects.

Authorities released videos and photos of a masked man seen breaking into Nancy’s Tucson, Ariz., home on the night of the abduction.

Cops have determined he stands at around 5-foot-9 or 5-foot 10 and has an “average build.”

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/16/celebrity-news/how-cops-ruled-out-nancy-guthries-family-in-her-disappearance/

With the Tesla CEO’s current net worth at $850 billion, the tech giant is expected to cross the threshold soon.

Elon Musk may just become the world’s first trillionaire in 2026. With the Tesla CEO’s current net worth at $850 billion, the tech giant is expected to cross the threshold soon.

As of February 2026, Musk became the first person to cross the $800 billion mark. With his net worth now at $850 billion, the SpaceX CEO is worth more than the three richest people on the list combined: Google co-founders Larry Page ($251 billion) and Sergey Brin ($231 billion) , and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ($219 billion).

Musk’s momentum towards the trillionaire title is backed by the recent deal between SpaceX and xAI. As per a CNBC report, Musk’s aerospace and defence company SpaceX acquired his artificial intelligence and social media firm xAI last week in a deal that valued the combined entity at $1.25 trillion.

With Musk owning an estimated 43 per cent of the merged company, his stake alone would be worth more than $530 billion, which means SpaceX accounts for nearly two-thirds of Musk’s total wealth.

Musk’s merger of SpaceX and xAI also comes as the artificial intelligence company faces investigations in Europe, Asia, Australia and US’ California.

These investigations were prompted by Grok’s undressing spree on the social media platform where the image generator allowed the creation of explicit deepfake images of women and children.

The road to a trillion

As per Kalshi, which web-based prediction market platform based in Manhattan, New York City, there is a 75 per cent chance Musk will reach the trillionaire status this year.

Based on the current trends available to us, 91 per cent of traders believe the SpaceX CEO will reach this status before 2029. Meanwhile, 86 per cent believe it will happen next year and 72 per cent believe it will happen before 2027.

A key factor that may just cement Musk’s trillionaire title is a potential SpaceX IPO. If done right, going public could boost his net worth to $1.5 trillion.

Source : https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/elon-musk-net-worth-forbes-list-usd-850-billion-tesla-ceo-on-road-to-be-worlds-first-trillionaire-101771296829091.html

Indonesia has been preparing up to 8,000 troops for possible deployment as part of the Gaza International Stabilisation Force, a UN-authorised multinational peacekeeping force outlined in the Gaza peace plan.

Any deployment of the Indonesian military to Gaza will be strictly for humanitarian purposes and not combat operations, the government said as it gears up to send up to 8,000 peacekeeping troops by June this year.

Indonesia has been preparing its forces for possible deployment as part of the Gaza International Stabilisation Force (ISF), a United Nations-authorised multinational peacekeeping force outlined in the Gaza peace plan.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted in November 2025 authorised a US-led Board of Peace and countries working with it to establish the ISF.

In a statement last Saturday (Feb 14), Indonesia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said its mandate on troop deployment would be humanitarian in nature, focusing on protecting civilians, providing medical and humanitarian assistance, reconstruction efforts as well as training and strengthening the capacity of the Palestinian police.

“Indonesian troops will not be involved in combat operations or any action leading to direct confrontation with any armed group,” the ministry said, as quoted by The Jakarta Post.

It added that Indonesia would “terminate participation if the ISF’s implementation deviates” from the agreed terms.

Any deployment would also require the consent of the Palestinian Authority, the foreign ministry said.

According to news outlet Tempo, the statement on Saturday also outlined additional caveats, including that the use of force would be permitted only for self-defence and strictly to maintain the mission’s mandate. The use of force would be a last resort.

The Foreign Affairs Ministry also reiterated that Indonesia consistently supports Palestinian independence through a two-state solution and vowed to reject any demographic changes or forced relocation of the Palestinian people in any form.

“Indonesia’s participation is based on the principle of respect for the preservation of Palestine and the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people,” it was quoted as saying by Tempo.

Separately, Indonesia’s military headquarters said on Sunday that around 1,000 military personnel are expected “to be ready for departure by April 2026”, with full troop readiness targeted no later than June.

In a written statement, Head of the Army Public Relations Division Donny Pramono clarified that being “ready for deployment” does not mean the troops will be sent to Gaza by that date, but they will have met the conditions to be deployed at any time.

“The departure schedule still entirely depends on the state’s (Indonesia) political decision and the applicable international mechanisms,” Donny said, as quoted by Tempo.

He added that the Indonesian military has yet to receive a decision on the date for possible deployment to Gaza, and both the army and the Defence Ministry are still waiting for Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto’s decision.

Indonesian Army Chief of Staff Maruli Simanjuntak previously estimated that between 5,000 and 8,000 military personnel could be deployed, with final numbers “still being negotiated”.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera news network on Wednesday that Palestinians reject any form of foreign guardianship over Gaza.

As quoted by Jordan Daily, Hamdan said that Hamas had communicated directly with Jakarta, saying that any foreign forces must remain neutral and not act in a manner that contradicts Palestinian will or serves as a proxy for Israeli occupation.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-gaza-palestine-israel-peacekeeping-humanitarian-combat-isf-foreign-affairs-ministry-5933846

The special defence budget will be “treated as a top legislative priority” after the Chinese New Year holiday, says a spokesperson for Taiwan’s parliament.

Taiwan’s parliament will prioritise the review of a US$40 billion special defence budget when it resumes work after the week-long Chinese New Year holiday, its speaker said on Monday (Feb 16) following concern about delays from US lawmakers.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te last year proposed the extra defence spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory. But the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has refused to review the proposal and instead advanced its own, less expensive proposals, which only fund the purchase of some of the US weapons Lai wants.

Last week, a bipartisan group of 37 US lawmakers wrote to senior Taiwanese politicians expressing concern about parliament stalling the proposed defence spending.

Parliament speaker Han Kuo-yu said in a joint statement with his deputy Johnny Chiang, who are both from the main opposition party the Kuomintang, that they would facilitate cross-party negotiations on the proposal.

The special defence spending and related proposals will be “treated as a top legislative priority” once the new parliament session starts, they added.

“We value the open, candid, and sincere exchanges between the Legislative Yuan and the US Congress and take your views seriously,” they wrote, referring to parliament’s formal name.

“Taiwan will continue to act with seriousness and resolve to make responsible contributions to its own security and to peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific.”

The government resumes work next Monday after the Chinese New Year holiday is over.

The United States is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties.

Source :https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/taiwan-parliament-defence-budget-lai-ching-te-china-5934676

Launched after the deadly December 13 Palmyra ambush that killed two US soldiers and an interpreter, the campaign has eliminated over 50 terrorists and 100 sites in two months.

The United States has hammered the Islamic State with a relentless barrage, conducting 10 precision strikes on more than 30 terrorist targets across Syria in just the past two weeks. US Central Command (CENTCOM) released the details in a statement Saturday, framing it as part of Operation Hawkeye – a no-holds-barred push to crush ISIS remnants and keep the pressure dialled up.

These strikes, spanning February 3 to 12, zeroed in on ISIS infrastructure, weapons caches, and logistics hubs using a mix of fixed-wing jets, attack helicopters, and drones firing precision-guided munitions. It’s all about choking off the group’s ability to regroup or plot, especially after they ambushed US and Syrian forces in Palmyra on December 13, killing two American soldiers and a civilian interpreter. CENTCOM notes this builds on five earlier strikes from January 27 to February 2 that took out a comms site, key supply lines, and more arms depots – part of a two-month blitz that’s wiped out over 50 jihadists and 100+ targets with hundreds of smart bombs.

Operation Hawkeye was initiated right after the deadly Palmyra ambush that killed two US troops, which CENTCOM ties to an al-Qaeda-linked ISIS operative, Bilal Hasan al-Jasim. A US strike last month neutralised him in northwest Syria, the third retaliation in a chain aimed at avenging the fallen. From the Al Tanf base in southeastern Syria – a dusty US outpost that’s been a thorn in ISIS’s side since 2014 – American forces keep the fight going, backing local allies while hunting high-value targets.

Naureen Niazi, sister of Imran Khan, alleges that her brother, imprisoned since 2023 on multiple charges, faces deteriorating health due to inadequate medical care while in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail. Niazi asserts that the government continues to detain him because of his public support and previous assassination attempts.

Pakistan former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s sister Naureen Niazi has made a chilling claim that her brother Imran Khan, who has been lodged in Rawalpindi’s Adiala jail since 2023 in multiple cases including that of corruption, has faced multiple assassinations because he has the people’s support which the current administration does not like. Speaking of his condition which is deteriorating day-by-day, Niazi once again claimed that Imran has been denied proper health facilities and medical support. He’s facing issues with eyes and several other challenges but the current jail administration is not addressing his causes.

In a purported video that has been shared by RT on X, formerly Twitter, Naureen Niazi said that the former Pakistani PM’s health situation is disturbing. “For 3 months, no family or doctor has been allowed to see him. He has a serious eye condition, yet jail can’t verify his health. All his cases are cleared, but he remains detained”.

In his speech, Yunus leaned heavily on nationalist rhetoric, repeatedly asserting that Bangladesh had reclaimed its “sovereignty, dignity, and independence” in foreign policy and was “no longer guided by others’ directives.”

Facing sustained criticism at home for failing to fully restore democratic normalcy and protect vulnerable minorities, Bangladesh’s outgoing Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus used his farewell address to project defiance abroad, most notably through indirect but provocative remarks touching on India’s northeastern region.

Yunus headed the interim government amid intense domestic pressure following years of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s authoritarian rule, widespread institutional decay, and a surge in law-and-order challenges, especially against the Hindu minority, after the July 2024 uprising in the Islamic nation.

Anti-India Rhetoric 

In his speech, which came at a politically sensitive moment, Yunus leaned heavily on nationalist rhetoric, repeatedly asserting that Bangladesh had reclaimed its “sovereignty, dignity, and independence” in foreign policy and was “no longer guided by others’ directives.”

While framed as a general principle, the language was widely read as directed at New Delhi, Dhaka’s largest and most influential neighbour, especially given the regional references that followed. He spoke of future economic integration involving Nepal, Bhutan, and the “Seven Sisters”– a term often used to refer to India’s northeastern states.

“Our open seas are not just borders—they are gateways to the global economy. With Nepal, Bhutan, and the Seven Sisters, this region has immense economic potential. Economic zones, trade agreements, and duty-free market access can establish us as a global manufacturing hub,” he said.

By grouping India’s northeastern states—an integral part of India—alongside sovereign countries in a single economic vision, Yunus appeared to blur established political boundaries and can be perceived as an attempt to provoke New Delhi and affect the reset of India-Bangladesh ties under the newly elected government.

His remarks suggested a regional economic space centered on Bangladesh’s ports and maritime access, implicitly positioning Dhaka as a gateway not just for neighboring countries but also for India’s landlocked northeast.

Such framing is likely to raise eyebrows in New Delhi. For years, India has invested heavily in connectivity projects through Bangladesh to integrate its northeast with the rest of the country. Yunus’s speech tried to invert that narrative, implying that access and opportunity for the region would increasingly depend on Bangladesh’s strategic choices rather than Indian planning alone.

China Factor

Bangladesh’s outgoing leader’s tone grew sharper as he emphasised “strategic balance” and highlighted deepening ties with China, Japan, the United States, and Europe. He cited progress on Chinese-supported projects, including the Teesta River initiative– located close to India’s strategically important Siliguri corridor– projects that India has historically viewed with caution.

“We have also deepened cooperation with China. Significant progress has been made on the Teesta River project and a 1,000-bed international hospital in Nilphamari,” Yunus said.

Rather than reassuring regional partners, he appeared intent on signalling that Bangladesh would no longer prioritise sensitivities associated with Indian security concerns.

Military Modernisation

His reference to military modernisation further added to the unease. Yunus stated that Bangladesh had begun strengthening its armed forces to “counter any aggression”, a phrase that, while vague, carried an unmistakably hard edge when placed alongside his broader sovereignty narrative.

No Accountability for Failures 

What was striking, however, was what Yunus chose not to say, and he presented his 18-month tenure as a story of reform and recovery. There was no reflection on the interim government’s uneven handling of communal violence, no admission of lapses in protecting minorities, and no acknowledgement of fears among Hindu citizens who looked to the state for reassurance during a period of upheaval. Instead, the speech appeared designed to shift attention outward—toward grand regional visions and foreign policy posturing.

“In foreign policy, we have firmly restored Bangladesh’s sovereignty, national interest, and dignity. Bangladesh is no longer submissive or guided by others’ directives. Today’s Bangladesh is confident, proactive, and responsible. We are committed to building relations based on mutual respect and interest while maintaining strategic balance,” Yunus said, amidst criticism of his foreign policy’s anti-India posture and pro-Pakistan tilt.

Critics have, meanwhile, argued that the interim administration fell short on its core promise: restoring democratic confidence and ensuring basic security for all citizens.

In particular, Yunus’ government has faced sharp scrutiny over repeated attacks on minority Hindus across several districts, including vandalism of temples, targeted violence, and intimidation allegedly carried out by Islamist radical groups in the volatile post-uprising period. Rights groups and minority representatives accused the administration of a slow response, selective enforcement of the law, and an unwillingness to confront extremist elements that emerged emboldened after the collapse of the previous regime. These concerns found no explicit acknowledgement in Yunus’ farewell address.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/bangladesh-news-under-fire-at-home-muhammad-yunus-rakes-up-china-indias-7-sisters-in-exit-speech-11013039?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

Last month at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo, after receiving thousands of tearful goodbyes from Japanese fans, Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei were put on a plane bound for China – the latest symbols of the deteriorating relationship between China and Japan.

The two giant Chinese pandas had to return home after Beijing announced it was taking them back, leaving Japan without any Chinese pandas for the first time in decades.

Since Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made comments that have plunged ties with China to their lowest level in years, Beijing has been piling on the pressure in a wide range of ways – sending warships, throttling rare earth exports, curbing Chinese tourism, cancelling concerts and even reclaiming its pandas.

As Takaichi begins a new term as PM after winning a historically strong public mandate from a recent snap election, analysts warn that both sides will find it difficult to de-escalate – and the China-Japan relationship will not recover anytime soon.

The row began in November, when Takaichi appeared to suggest that Japan would activate its self-defence force in the event of an attack on Taiwan.

China claims self-governed Taiwan as its own and has not ruled out the use of force to “reunify” with it one day. The island counts the US as its key ally, and Washington has pledged to help Taiwan defend itself.

The worry has long been that any attack on Taiwan could result in a direct military conflict between the US and China, and then widen to include other US allies in the region such as Japan and the Philippines.

The issue of Taiwan is an absolute red line for China, which reacts furiously to any comment perceived as “outside interference” and insists that it is a question of sovereignty that only China can decide for itself.

Almost immediately after Takaichi’s remarks, Beijing responded with a flurry of condemnation and demanded a retraction.

Observers have noted that Takaichi’s comments were in line with the government’s position and what other Japanese leaders have said in the past.

But the difference is that it was the first time a sitting Japanese prime minister had voiced such views.

For her part, Takaichi refused to apologise or retract her remarks, a stance that analysts say may likely be vindicated by the strong mandate she has won.

But she said she would be more careful about commenting on specific scenarios, and her government has sent senior diplomats to meet their Chinese counterparts.

This, however, has done little to allay Chinese anger.

This is Kim Jong Un’s latest effort to glorify North Korean soldiers who have died fighting alongside Russian troops against Ukraine.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inaugurated a new housing district in Pyongyang for the families of troops who died in overseas military operations, state news agency KCNA reported on Monday.

The new district symbolizes “spirit and sacrifice” of the dead troops, Kim said in a speech, adding that the homes would allow the bereaved families to “take pride in their sons and husbands and live happily.”

He further pledged to repay the “young martyrs” who “sacrificed all to their motherland.”

Images released by the news agency show the North Korean leader and his daughter, Kim Ju Ae, consoling families of the fallen soldiers while visiting their new homes.

North Korea has sent around 14,000 soldiers to fight alongside Russian troops against Ukraine. Over 6,000 of those soldiers were killed or wounded during their deployment in the war, as per South Korean, Ukrainian and Western estimates.

Kim seeks to appease public

Pyongyang has conducted several public ceremonies over the last few months to honor the fallen soldiers, including a museum and a memorial complex featuring sculptures of troops.

Analysts see the public ceremonies as a way to promote unity and quash potential public discontent stemming from lives lost in a foreign war.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/north-korea-builds-homes-for-kin-of-troops-killed-in-ukraine/a-75984211

Prosecutors in Austria have filed terrorism charges against a 21-year-old who was allegedly plotting to attack a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna in 2024.

According to the Vienna Public Prosecutor’s Office, the suspect, who has been detained since his arrest in August 2024, is facing terrorism charges, criminal organization charges, and other offenses.

The prosecutor’s office statement did not name the suspect, but Austrian media identified him as Beran A. He faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.

Suspect allegedly recieved instructions from ‘Islamic State’

The 21-year-old Austrian is accused of having been a member of a terror organization from May 2023 “by planning and preparing a terrorist attack on the concert of singer Taylor Swift,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

They added that he participated in and “openly aligned himself” with the so-called “Islamic State” group by sharing its propaganda through various messaging services and committing other offenses.

While planning the attack on the concert, the suspect allegedly attempted to obtain weapons, produced a small amount of explosives, worked on creating a shrapnel bomb “specific to IS attacks,” and received instructions from other IS members on handling explosives, according to prosecutors.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/austria-files-terror-charges-in-alleged-taylor-swift-concert-plot/a-75995128

Robert Duvall won an Oscar for “Tender Mercies” and earned nominations for classics including “The Godfather,” “Apocalypse Now,” and “The Great Santini.”

His death was announced in a statement posted by his wife, Luciana Duvall, on Monday. “Yesterday we said goodbye to my beloved husband, cherished friend, and one of the greatest actors of our time. Bob passed away peacefully at home,” she wrote.

“For each of his many roles, Bob gave everything to his characters and to the truth of the human spirit they represented. In doing so, he leaves something lasting and unforgettable to us all,” his wife added.

Remembrances pour in for Robert Duvall

“What a blow to learn of the loss of Robert Duvall,” wrote Francis Ford Coppola, the director of “The Godfather” and “Apocalypse Now” as well as other movies Duvall was in, on Instagram. “Such a great actor.”

Al Pacino, Duvall’s co-star in “The Godfather,” wrote that it was “an honor” to have worked with him.

“He was a born actor as they say, his connection with it, his understanding and his phenomenal gift will always be remembered,” Pacino said in a statement to AP news agency.

Adam Sandler, who starred with Duvall in “Hustle” wrote on X: “Funny as hell. Strong as hell. One of the greatest actors we ever had.”

Son of admiral and actress

Duvall, the son of a Navy admiral and an amateur actress, grew up in Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating from Principia College in Illinois and serving in the US Army, he moved to New York City.

He worked on a variety of television shows and made a strong impression even in small roles, including his first film appearance as the mysterious recluse Boo Radley in “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

He was cast in the part at the recommendation of the film’s screenwriter, Horton Foote, who had enjoyed Duvall’s performance in one of his plays.

One Oscar, seven nominations

Duvall won an Academy Award for best actor in 1983 for his portrayal of a washed-up country singer in “Tender Mercies.” He was nominated six other times.

His most memorable characters include the soft-spoken, loyal mob consigliere Tom Hagen in the first two “Godfather” films and the maniacal Lieutenant Colonel William Kilgore in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 Vietnam War epic “Apocalypse Now.”

Duvall had only a few minutes of screen time in “Apocalypse Now,” but he nearly stole the film. His war-loving character delivers one of cinema’s most famous lines: “I love the smell of napalm in the morning,” as US warplanes bomb a beachfront tree line where he wants to go surfing.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/apocalypse-now-actor-robert-duvall-dies-aged-95/a-75996560

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused help for Australians linked to suspected IS fighters who are trying to return home from Syria’s Roj detention camp.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his ‌government wouldn’t ⁠repatriate Australian citizens held for years in a Syrian camp.

Roj detention camp in northeastern Syria holds families of militants suspected of having links to the so-called “‌Islamic State” group (IS).

“We have a very ‌firm view that ‌we won’t be providing assistance or repatriation,” Albanese told national broadcaster ABC on Tuesday.

“We have no sympathy, frankly, for people who travelled overseas in order to participate in what was an attempt to establish a caliphate to undermine and destroy our way of life,” he said.

“It is unfortunate that children are impacted by this as well, but we are not providing any support.”

Australians released from Roj camp forced to turn back

Albanese’s remarks come a day after a group of Australian women and children released from Roj camp on Monday were forced to return to the detention center.

The 34 women and children from 11 families were travelling from the camp to the Syrian capital, Damascus. They hoped from there to organize their journey back to Australia.

But the families were forced to return to the camp after Syrian government authorities wouldn’t allow them to continue their journey, Australian media reported.

The convoy was being escorted by Kurdish security forces, ABC reported. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) still controlled Roj camp at least up until a recent agreement to integrate into the Syrian army after losing swathes of territory to Syrian government forces in January.

Roj camp director Hakmiyeh Ibrahim stressed that the planned repatriations were being organized by the families of the women and children detained at Roj and not by Australian authorities.

He said the women and children who had been returned on Monday were the last Australians in the camp.

Who is held at Syria’s Roj camp?

Roj camp holds the foreign wives, widows and children of people who have supposed links to the Islamic State extremist group.

Many have been in the camp since late 2018 and early 2019 when the SDF seized former IS territory with support from a US-led coalition.

None of those held in the camps has been charged with crimes.

The detention center held around 2,400 women and children when journalists visited in January, although it is unclear how many may have been released since then.

They come from some 40 to 50 countries, with Russians making up the largest share, camp officials told US broadcaster CNN in January.

Last month, the Syrian government said it planned to permanently close Roj, as well as al-Hol detention camp, although a large number of al-Hol residents had already left by Sunday.

Calls for repatriation of children amid worsening security

Rights groups have repeatedly warned of the dire conditions at Roj camp and called on countries to repatriate the women and children living there. Human Rights Watch has previously called the conditions in Roj and other detention camps “so dire they may amount to torture.”

In 2024, Australia’s High Court refused to hear an application to bring home Australian women and children held in Syria.

Save the Children, who brought the case, said at the time that Australia had a moral obligation to bring the families home.

More recently, amid reports of a breakdown of the security situation inside and around Roj and al-Hol camps, Save the Children said it was deeply concerned about the safety and well-being of children living in such camps.

“Every hour without clear protection measures increases the risk of children being harmed, exploited or coerced by armed actors,” Save the Children said in a statement in late January.

“Children must never be treated as instruments of conflict or punished because of perceived family affiliation.”

The Swedish rights organization Repatriate the Children has also called for governments to end arbitrary detention by taking responsibility for their own nationals through repatriations.

“Children belong in schools, in families, and in protective environments, not in camps shaped by conflict and war,” spokesperson Beatrice Eriksson told news site Middle East Eye last week.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/australia-rules-out-repatriating-citizens-from-syrian-camp/a-75997548

When Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva learned that a samba school in Rio de Janeiro would base its carnival parade this year on his journey from factory worker to president, he broke into tears and then smiled for pictures holding the school’s flag.
But, as Rio’s world‑famous carnival parade approached, the tribute became a political headache.

Opposition parties and politicians have filed a flurry of lawsuits alleging that Lula is benefiting from what they describe as an illegal form of early campaigning ahead of this year’s presidential election. The president hopes to be elected for his fourth nonconsecutive term in October.

Courts have already rejected all but one of the lawsuits, including one that asked judges to stop the parade from taking place. But more could be filed if critics believe politicians used the event, scheduled to happen on Sunday night, to ask for votes, which would be illegal.
Still, Lula is planning to watch samba school Academicos de Niteroi sing and dance to his and his mother’s life stories on Sunday in Rio, his aides told Reuters, but he won’t be speaking at any moment. The president’s wife Rosangela “Janja” da Silva’s plans to take part in the parade are under review, people familiar with the government’s thinking told Reuters.

“It’s not campaigning,” said Tiago Martins, a carnival parade designer at Academicos de Niteroi. “It’s a plot that tells the life story of a warrior of a man, who despite all obstacles got to the presidency.”
Critics disagree, pointing, for example, to mentions of the number 13 in the song’s lyrics, the same one that Lula and his Workers Party use on the ballot box.
“This is the kind of thing you see in a Soviet republic, in North Korea, an ode to the great leader,” said lawmaker Marcel Van Hattem, a leader of the opposition Novo Party, which filed one of the lawsuits against Lula.

PARTY WITH RESTRAINT, MINISTERS ARE TOLD

The parade designed by Academicos de Niteroi describes the president’s childhood in the country’s impoverished Northeastern region and his mother’s journey to Sao Paulo with her children in search of a better life.

“I saw myself in my children’s eyes, frightened and empty. With my heart in pieces, I set out in search of love and of my dreams,” the lyrics say.
Artists at Academicos de Niteroi sought the president’s authorization to use his life’s story last year, before going forward with their plan. After they received it, Lula welcomed Martins and other members of the samba school for a dinner at his Alvorada presidential residence in September.
As they sang the song they had written for the parade, Lula became emotional and cried, people who were in the meeting told Reuters. He later described it as a tribute to his mother, Dona Lindu, rather than to himself.
Lula’s aides acknowledged the political sensitivity of the moment to Reuters. After the lawsuits multiplied, the president’s team consulted legal advisers to clarify what restrictions apply during the pre‑campaign period.

Ministers attending the parade were instructed to remain seated in the audience, refrain from participating in the parade itself, avoid public funds for travel, and not make any election‑related gestures, statements, or live posts on social media. Lula will not speak publicly at the parade.

OPPOSITION SAYS THE TRIBUTE CROSSES LEGAL LINES

Opposition figures argue the precautions show the government knows the tribute crosses legal lines.
They complain that Academicos de Niteroi received hundreds of thousands of dollars of public funds to do the parade.
But government lawyers stressed that all of Rio’s samba schools taking part in official parades received the same amount of resources and that funds are not tied to artistic choices.
All cases have been thrown out because judges either agreed with the government’s arguments or pointed to procedural issues. One case is still pending before the federal accounting court, though a preliminary ruling also rejected blocking funds to the parade.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/carnival-tribute-brazils-lula-rio-sparks-political-backlash-2026-02-15/

The Democratic Party is willing to spend tens of millions on a Virginia redistricting effort that could gain the party four more seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, the chamber’s top Democrat said on Sunday.
Democrats will do “whatever it takes” to ensure a Virginia ballot initiative succeeds in an April voter referendum, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

Their push for new voting maps in Virginia and Maryland to pick up more seats in Congress and offset similar Republican efforts is part of an increasingly partisan approach to redistricting ahead of November’s midterm elections.
Republicans, who currently hold a narrow majority in the House, have passed redistricting plans in Texas, Missouri, Ohio and North Carolina.
Voters in California approved a Democratic-backed redistricting measure. Some Democrats also hope to redraw the congressional map in Maryland to eliminate its sole Republican-held seat, but the state Senate president, Democrat Bill Ferguson, said there is not enough support in his chamber and that he does not plan to hold a vote on the bill.

Jeffries on Sunday said he had not recently spoken to Ferguson, but would have a conversation with him “at some point” if he continues to oppose the redistricting proposal.
The effort to redraw districts comes months ahead of November midterm elections where Democrats will try to wrest control of the U.S. Congress from Republicans. In response to a question about what Democrats would spend on the Virginia effort, Jeffries told CNN the party will do “whatever it takes” to win that April referendum.
The U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 stripped federal courts of their power to police partisan voting maps, opening the door to state-by-state battles to craft congressional districts. Last year, Republican President Donald Trump demanded that his party redraw the maps to their benefit, sparking a battle with Democrats who in turn adopted a more aggressive approach to the issue.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/democrats-willing-spend-tens-millions-reshape-virginia-voting-maps-top-lawmaker-2026-02-15/

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reflected a feeling of profound change among European leaders at this weekend’s Munich Security Conference when she said: “Some lines have been crossed that cannot be uncrossed anymore”.
Transatlantic ties have already been strained over the past year by Donald Trump’s return to the White House. But the U.S. president’s push to annex Greenland dramatically increased European doubts about Washington’s commitment to protect the continent through the NATO alliance.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered limited reassurance to Europeans in his conference speech. Rubio said the U.S. wanted to work with Europe and used a warmer tone than Vice President JD Vance last year. But he was critical of Europe’s recent political course and did not mention NATO, Russia or Moscow’s war in Ukraine – issues on which a gulf has emerged between the U.S. and its partners in the alliance.
With the war about to enter its fifth year and Moscow viewed as an increasing threat by its European neighbours, leaders from the continent declared they would accelerate efforts to boost their own defences and rely less on the U.S.

That, in theory, puts them on the same page as Trump. His administration says it expects Europe to take primary responsibility for the conventional defence of the continent in the coming years. In return, Washington will keep its nuclear umbrella over Europe and uphold NATO’s mutual defence pact.

A ‘EUROPEAN PILLAR’ OF NATO

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged their commitment in Munich to a stronger “European pillar” within NATO. But a stronger home-grown defence is also a hedge against Trump or a future U.S. leader deciding not to defend Europe.
“This new beginning is right under all circumstances. It is right if the United States continues to distance itself. It is right as long as we cannot guarantee our own security on our own,” Merz told the conference on Friday.

In another sign of the nervousness surrounding U.S. security commitments, Merz said he had begun talks with Macron about a European nuclear deterrence.
France holds the only truly independent nuclear deterrent in Europe since Britain’s Trident nuclear missiles are made and maintained by the United States.

WILL DEEDS MATCH WORDS?

The big question for Europe and its leaders is whether they can match their words with deeds – to buy and develop new weapons systems, to fill gaps in their arsenals in areas such as long-range missiles and to coordinate their work.
The signs so far are mixed.
Driven by fears of Russia and exhortations from Trump, European countries have boosted defence spending. NATO members agreed last year to raise spending on core defence from 2% of GDP to 3.5% of GDP, with a further 1.5% to be spent on other security-related investments.

European defence spending has risen nearly 80% since before the war in Ukraine began, von der Leyen told the Munich conference.
European countries are forming consortia to build complex weapons systems. Defence ministers from France, Germany, Italy, Poland and Sweden signed a letter of intent on Thursday to advance work on European Long-range Strike Approach (ELSA), a project to develop “deep strike” missiles.
On the sidelines of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting on Thursday, coalitions of European countries agreed to work together on four projects, including ballistic missile defence and air-launched munitions.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/europe-aims-rely-less-us-defence-after-trumps-greenland-push-2026-02-15/

Iran is pursuing a nuclear agreement with the U.S. that delivers economic benefits for both sides, an Iranian diplomat was reported as saying on Sunday, days before a second round of talks between Tehran and Washington.
Iran and the U.S. renewed negotiations earlier this month to tackle their decades-long dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme and avert a new military confrontation. The U.S. has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the region and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, U.S. officials have told Reuters.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a news conference in Bratislava, said President Donald Trump had made it clear that he would prefer diplomacy and a negotiated settlement, while making clear that may not happen.
“No one’s ever been able to do a successful deal with Iran but we’re going to try,” Rubio said.
Iran has threatened to strike U.S. bases in the Middle East if it is attacked by U.S. forces but on Sunday took a conciliatory line.
“For the sake of an agreement’s durability, it is essential that the U.S. also benefits in areas with high and quick economic returns,” foreign ministry deputy director for economic diplomacy Hamid Ghanbari said, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

“Common interests in the oil and gas fields, joint fields, mining investments, and even aircraft purchases are included in the negotiations,” Ghanbari said, arguing that the 2015 nuclear pact with world powers had not secured U.S. economic interests.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the pact that had eased sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme, and re-applied tough economic sanctions on Tehran.
On Friday, a source told Reuters that a U.S. delegation including envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would meet Iranian officials in Geneva on Tuesday, a meeting later confirmed to Reuters by a senior Iranian official on Sunday.
“Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will be traveling, I think they are traveling right now, to have important meetings and we’ll see how that turns out,” Rubio said, without providing further details.

While talks leading to the 2015 nuclear pact were multilateral, the current negotiations are confined to Iran and the United States, with Oman acting as mediator.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi left Tehran for Geneva to take part in the indirect nuclear talks with the U.S. and meet the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, and others, his ministry said.

OPEN TO COMPROMISE

Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on Sunday that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal.”
The senior official referred to the Iranian atomic chief’s statement on Monday that the country could agree to dilute its most highly enriched uranium in exchange for the lifting of sanctions as an example of Iran’s flexibility.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-open-nuclear-deal-compromises-if-us-discusses-lifting-sanctions-minister-2026-02-15/

An Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle near the Lebanon-Syria border killed four people, with Israel saying the strike targeted Islamic Jihad operatives.

At least four people were killed after an Israeli airstrike targeted a vehicle near Lebanon’s border with Syria, Lebanese authorities said, underlining continued hostilities along Israel’s northern front despite an existing truce.

According to AFP, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported that an Israeli drone struck a car in the Majdal Anjar area near the Lebanese-Syrian border on Sunday.

The country’s health ministry confirmed that four people were killed in the attack.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had targeted operatives belonging to the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad.

Al Jazeera reported that the strike took place early Monday morning and identified one of those killed as Syrian national Khaled Mohammad al-Ahmad, citing Lebanese media.

The Israeli military confirmed the raid in a post on X, claiming the operation targeted members of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) in Lebanon, though it did not provide evidence supporting the claim.

AFP noted that the attack appeared to be the first strike Israel has publicly claimed in Lebanon against Islamic Jihad since a November 2024 ceasefire aimed at ending more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah.

Despite the truce, Israel has continued conducting periodic strikes in Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting Hezbollah fighters but occasionally also striking Palestinian factions allied with the group, including Hamas.

Islamic Jihad fighters were among those killed in Lebanon during clashes that erupted in October 2023 following the Gaza war.

During that period, both Islamic Jihad and Hamas claimed responsibility for attacks and infiltration attempts launched from Lebanese territory.

More than 370 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire took effect, according to an AFP tally based on Lebanese health ministry figures.

Lebanon has since taken steps aligned with the truce.

The Lebanese army announced in January that it had completed the first phase of a government plan to disarm Hezbollah in areas near the Israeli border.

Some Palestinian factions in refugee camps also handed over weapons to Lebanese authorities last year, though Hamas and Islamic Jihad have not announced plans to disarm.

The latest strike comes against the backdrop of the long-running Israel-Palestinian conflict that has repeatedly spilt over to neighbouring Lebanon.

Tensions across the region remain closely tied to unresolved disputes over Palestinian statehood and Israeli control of territories captured during the 1967 Middle East war.

The vision of a two-state solution, long supported by international powers, has faced mounting challenges amid continued violence and political disagreements.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/israel-strikes-vehicle-near-lebanon-border-with-syria-death-toll-israel-lebanon-conflict-middle-east-tensions-ws-l-9905698.html

Pam Bondi says DOJ released all Epstein case materials, naming 305 figures including Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle, Trump, Jay-Z, and Maxwell.

US Attorney General Pam Bondi has informed Congress that the Department of Justice (DoJ) has completed the public release of all materials it was required to disclose in connection with the investigation into late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s case.

According to Bondi, the disclosure includes millions of emails, photographs, and records tied to the notorious sex predator.

As part of her February 14 update to lawmakers, the Justice Department published a comprehensive list of 305 high-profile individuals whose names appear in the documents. Officials emphasised that inclusion in the files does not imply involvement in or knowledge of Epstein’s crimes.

The names span a broad cross-section of public life — entertainers, business leaders, political figures, and others, both living and deceased — and appear in varying contexts, according to a report in Daily Mail.

Michelle Obama, Meghan Markle Named In List

Among those referenced are long-associated figures such as Ghislaine Maxwell and ex-Prince Andrew. High-profile entertainers, including Beyonce, Cher, Bruce Springsteen, and Jay-Z are also mentioned.

Political leaders named in the records include US President Donald Trump, US Vice President JD Vance, former First Lady Michelle Obama, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and members of the Clinton family. Other public figures cited include Robert De Niro, Diana Ross, Melinda Gates, Tucker Carlson, and Meghan Markle.

Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche stated that no information was withheld to shield individuals from embarrassment or political fallout.

The released materials were organized into nine categories, covering topics such as Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, flight logs or travel records, individuals named in connection with Epstein’s criminal activities, details on corporate, nonprofit, academic or governmental entities with ties to Epstein, immunity deals involving Epstein and his associates, internal DOJ communications, all communications relating to the destruction of evidence relating to Epstein, and finally, documentation of Epstein’s detention and death, the report stated.

Source : https://www.news18.com/world/from-trump-clintons-to-beyonce-over-300-high-profile-figures-named-in-full-epstein-list-ws-l-9905705.html

Savannah Guthrie posted another desperate plea to suspected kidnappers to bring her mom Nancy home.

In a new video on Sunday, Savannah said the family still “has hope” despite 84-year-old Nancy’s missing case entering week two.

“I wanted to say to whoever has her, or who knows where she is, that, it’s never too late,” the “Today” anchor said in her latest video. “And you’re not lost, or alone, and it is never too late to do the right thing.”

“And we are here, and we believe,” she continued. “And we believe in the essential goodness of every human being. And it’s never too late.”

Savannah remains in Tucson, Ariz., and will be off the “Today” show for the “foreseeable future” amid the desperate hunt for her mother, sources tell Page Six.

“The entire show and network is rallying together in support of our beloved colleague and friend as we navigate this unimaginable time,” an NBC source tells us.

Nancy has not been seen since Jan. 31.

On Sunday, a major breakthrough in the case was made when an FBI spokesperson said that a glove found during the search for Nancy matches the one the suspect wore in the surveillance footage.

The FBI spokesperson told Fox News that the glove recovered contained DNA and is different from other ones that have been found at the scene.

Investigators are waiting for final lab results before uploading the DNA profile to a national database to identify the individual, the outlet reported.

Multiple gloves have been found in the same spot where the FBI previously collected a black glove that could possibly be connected to the disappearance of Nancy.

Reporters from the NY Post were there when three additional discarded gloves were discovered Sunday afternoon in the Catalina Foothills, approximately two miles from Nancy’s home.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/15/celebrity-news/savannah-guthrie-pleas-with-suspected-kidnapper-of-mom-nancy-in-new-video/

Early analysis of the 2026 election results reveals a clear transfer of votes from the Awami League to the BNP

A defining moment of Bangladesh’s Prime Minister-elect Tarique Rahman’s press conference on Saturday was his response regarding the future of Awami League supporters.

Toward the end of the session, a journalist asked, “Many people in Bangladesh remain supporters of the Awami League. What forms of reconciliation should there be for them?” Tarique Rahman gave a cryptic answer, but it said a lot. Known as a man of few words, Rahman replied, “By ensuring the rule of law”.

Since the July 2024 protests, many Awami League supporters have retreated from public life. Many face criminal charges simply for their association with the party, even if they played no role in the actions described by critics as dictatorial and draconian. However, the reality is that the Awami League still commands a significant vote share; in the party’s absence from the ballot, its supporters largely pivoted to the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).

The incoming BNP government now faces a delicate balancing act. It must address the public’s lingering anger toward the Awami League without descending into the same pattern of indiscriminate political persecution that became common after Sheikh Hasina’s ouster. The challenge will be to dismiss fabricated cases while ensuring that genuine perpetrators of violence do not go unpunished.

Early analysis of the 2026 election results reveals a clear transfer of votes from the Awami League to the BNP, despite the Awami League’s call for a boycott. For those who wished to vote, the choice essentially boiled down to the BNP or the Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami. The majority chose the former.

One major reason for this shift is national identity. Both the Awami League and the BNP recognise the historical significance of the 1971 Liberation War. In contrast, the Jamaat-e-Islami, which sided with Pakistan during the conflict, always had a pro-Pakistan position even after Pakistan had committed horrific atrocities on the Bangladeshi people. Jamaat is still viewed with scepticism by those who prioritise the secular and nationalist foundations of the state.

The BNP also made significant gains among Bangladesh’s minority communities, who have historically leaned toward the Awami League. Tarique Rahman’s promise of an inclusive “equal Bangladesh” resonated with these voters, who saw the BNP as a safer alternative to the Jamaat’s conservatism. Additionally, Rahman also promised that the targeting and persecution of minorities would stop, which was a major issue leading up to the polls.

Women voters were equally pivotal. The Jamaat chief’s recent comments questioning the role of women in leadership, combined with the party’s goal of establishing Sharia law, pushed female voters toward the BNP. Even the Jamaat’s ally, the National Citizen Party (NCP), faced internal dissent over its ties to the Islamist organisation.

Finally, a conspiracy theory regarding the ban on the Awami League likely helped the BNP’s mandate. While many Bangladeshis viewed the 2024 protests as organic, the subsequent ban on the Awami League was seen by some as the work of an external “deep state.” Fearing that any party could be similarly excised from the political system in the future, voters opted to give the BNP an unquestionable mandate to ensure stability.

Source : https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/reconciliation-or-retribution-awami-league-dilemma-before-tarique-rahman-11008030?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

A fresh controversy has erupted after Candace Owens alleged that Erika Kirk ordered the removal of all episodes of The Charlie Kirk Show from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube weeks after Charlie Kirk’s death.

A political dispute has intensified following claims by commentator Candace Owens that Erika Kirk, widow of the late Charlie Kirk, ordered the removal of all episodes of The Charlie Kirk Show from major streaming platforms.

Owens alleged that shortly after Erika Kirk assumed leadership responsibilities at Turning Point USA (TPUSA), every episode of the long-running podcast disappeared from Spotify, Apple Podcasts and YouTube. The claim was made on social media in response to a post encouraging supporters to revisit Charlie Kirk’s archived content.

“Not to be awkward,” Owens wrote online, “but one of the early actions his wife took as the new CEO was to have ALL of the Charlie Kirk Show episodes removed from Spotify, Apple, and YouTube.” She further alleged that the move occurred less than six weeks after what she described as his assassination.

Charlie Kirk, 31, was fatally shot on September 10, 2025, during a campus appearance at Utah Valley University in Orem. Authorities said the shooting occurred during a student question-and-answer session, and a suspect was later taken into custody.

Tarique Rahman, who lived in London in self-exile for 17 years, has emerged as the new face of Bangladesh, with his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) bagging 209 out of 297 seats in the recently concluded national elections.

Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) chief Tarique Rahman on Sunday met Jamaat-e-Islami chief Shafiqur Rahman and National Citizen Party leader Nahid Islam, two days before his party is set to form the next government in Bangladesh, marking a new chapter in Bangladesh politics, which has revolved mainly around the rivalry between Awami League chief Sheikh Hasina and former BNP chief late Khaleda Zia. The BNP swept to power with a two-thirds majority with 49.97 per cent votes and 209 seats, while the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to the country’s 1971 independence from Pakistan, registered its best ever performance with 31.76 per cent votes and 68 seats.

Tarique Rahman visited the Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman at his residence along with the party’s secretary general Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamigir. Soon after, the BNP’s media wing released a photograph showing the two rival party leaders standing side by side with Shafiqur Rahman seen holding a bouquet to be handed over to Tarique Rahman.

“Following the historic landslide victory in the 13th National Parliamentary Election, BNP chairman Tarique Rahman today paid a courtesy visit to the Ameer of Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami, Dr Shafiqur Rahman, at his residence,” the BNP posted on X. The meetings have been described as a “positive political beginning” in post-election Bangladesh.

Athletes from Canada, Sweden, Britain and Germany have found themselves at the center of a curling controversy at the Winter Olympics, with accusations made of illegal “double-touching” when releasing the stone.

The curling competitions at the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Italy, were mired in controversy this weekend after some athletes accused each other of cheating by illegally “double-touching” the stones as they were released down the ice.

The most recent case came in a game between Britain and Germany on Sunday, with Scottish curler Bobby Lammie being accused of double-touching with his team eventually winning 9-4.

How did the Winter Olympics’ curling controversy start?

The issues began on Friday night when Sweden’s men’s team accused their Canadian opponents of the infraction, triggering a heated clash between players and a subsequent media frenzy.

On Saturday, World Curling deployed additional officials to monitor the so-called “hog line” — the point at which curlers must let go of the stones during delivery — resulting in Rachel Homan of Canada’s women’s team having a stone disqualified against Switzerland after she allegedly touched it twice.

Curlers insist the double-touching infraction has never been called out with this level of intensity in past competitions, saying it can be difficult to tell if someone is guilty of it.

Canada slam ‘despicable’ decision, ‘untrained’ officials

Canadian men’s captain Brad Jacobs said he believed he and his compatriots were being unfairly targeted following the initial Swedish complaints.

“What happened with [Homan’s] rock was despicable,” he said. “I felt immediately as Canadian curlers we ​were targeted. To go out and pull her rock like that, I think it was a tragedy.”

Canadian coach Paul Webster questioned World Curling’s decision to set officials at the hog line who he said were not adequately prepared for the role.

“I think ​we have untrained people doing things ⁠that they’ve never done before,” he said. “I ⁠have a lot of respect for people ​that are here volunteering their time but we’re not at some bonspiel in Saskatchewan just trying things out,” he said in reference to regular curling tournaments, “we’re at the Olympics.”

British stone removed vs. Germany

World Curling reversed its decision to ramp up officiating on Sunday but ⁠not ​before even more controversy, as British curler Bobby Lammie also had a rock removed from play against Germany.

Asked about this incident, Canada’s Jacobs said: “If he threw that rock ​that way against us, personally I would never ever want that rock to be removed. He did nothing wrong in my opinion.”

But he at least felt it wasn’t just the Canadians being targeted — “which is good,” he said.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/winter-olympics-hit-by-double-touching-curling-controversy/a-75982720

The move, which eases land purchases for Israeli settlers anywhere in the occupied West Bank, has sparked international criticism. The Palestinian Authority describes it as de facto annexation.

Israel’s government on Sunday approved a contentious plan to make it easier for Israeli settlers to purchase land in the occupied West Bank and further sideline Palestinian authorities.

Under the decision, Israeli authorities will announce certain areas to undergo registration, requiring anyone claiming the land to prove ownership, even though ownership of the biggest part of West Bank land has never been formally registered.

The decision, endorsed earlier by Israel’s security cabinet, allows private Israeli citizens to buy land and also shifts parts of the administration in the territory from the military to civilian authorities.

The Palestinian Authority rejected the move, which marks the first formal land-registration process in the West Bank since 1967.

It also sparked criticism from the European Union and several Arab states.

Germany condemned the security cabinet’s earlier approval last week, with a Foreign Ministry spokesperson calling the measures “a further step towards de facto annexation” and saying they violate international law.

Far‑right ministers welcome the move

Talking to broadcaster N12, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz described Sunday’s approval as “a significant security and administrative step aimed at ensuring full control, enforcement and freedom of action for the State of Israel in the area.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the government was “continuing the revolution in settlement policy and control over all parts of our country.”

He added that, for the first time since Israel captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War, the government was “restoring order and governance” to land administration.

He referred to the Palestinian territory as “Judea and Samaria,” the term some Israelis use for the West Bank.

More than 700,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem alongside roughly 3 million Palestinians. The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state.

According to the Times of Israel, most of the new land registration rules apply to the West Bank’s Area C, where Israel has full military and civilian control.

The newspaper said two-thirds of West Bank land has never been formally registered, including most of Area C.

However, the easing of rules about private land purchases by Israelis and the publication of land registries for the first time, applies beyond Area C, to the broader territory.

PA, Peace Now condemns ‘massive land theft’

The Palestinian Authority, which runs the rest of the West Bank, said the move constitutes “a de facto annexation of occupied Palestinian territory,” which it said was “aimed at entrenching the occupation through illegal settlement activity.”

The Israeli advocacy group Peace Now denounced the government’s decision, saying it amounted to “authorization for a massive theft of land in the West Bank on the way to de facto annexation.”

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/israeli-government-approves-new-west-bank-land-policy/a-75981876

Australia has announced the initial funding to build a new submarine construction yard in Osborne under the AUKUS security pact.

Australian ​Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described the amount as a “‌down payment” on the facility in Osborne, near the southern city of Adelaide

“Investing in the submarine ‌construction yard at Osborne is critical to delivering Australia’s ‌conventionally-armed, nuclear-powered ​submarines,” Albanese said in a statement.

An estimated AU$30 billion is expected to be spent on the facility in the long term, according to official projections.

Australia’s AUKUS ambitions

The tripartite AUKUS deal was announced in 2021 and is Australia’s largest-ever ⁠defense investment.

The pact is believed to be aimed at tackling China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region.

It will see Britain and the US providing Canberra with nuclear-powered submarines from the next decade.

From 2027, US-commanded Virginia-class submarines will be based in Australia, while several Virginia submarines will be sold to Canberra from around 2030.

The defense deal, which is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, will see Britain and Australia building a new class of AUKUS nuclear-powered submarine.

It also includes the technology for Australia to build its own vessels in the future.

Source : https://www.dw.com/en/australia-to-spend-billions-on-new-nuclear-submarines-facility/a-75976951

A former energy minister in Ukraine has been detained while attempting to leave the country, authorities have said.

German Galushchenko, who was forced out of his government role last year after being among officials named in a corruption scandal, was reportedly apprehended while on a train leaving Ukraine. It is unclear where he intended to travel to.

He was one of several government figures implicated in an alleged $100m (£75m) embezzlement scheme in November.

The scandal threatened to engulf Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s administration, which swept to power before Russia’s full-scale invasion on the promise to root out corruption.

Zelensky’s chief-of-staff Andriy Yermak – his closest adviser throughout the war – resigned after his home was searched. Neither the president nor Yermak have been accused of any wrongdoing.

The scandal has, however, increased pressure from the US to hold elections, which have been suspended since the start of the war in 2022 due to provisions in Ukraine’s constitution.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (Nabu) said in a statement on Sunday that its detectives had detained the former energy minister “while crossing the state border”, as part of the Midas case.

It did not name Galushchenko explicitly, but he has been named by several prominent Ukrainian media organisations.

Galushchenko was briefly justice minister, a post he held when he was told by Zelensky to resign in November, having served as energy minister for three years prior to that. His successor, Svitlana Hrynchuk, also resigned after being implicated in the scandal.

Nabu gave no further details on Galuschenko’s detention, but said it would provide updates in due course.

Radio Free Europe reports that he was being transported to Kyiv for further questioning, after border guards were told to alert the authorities if he attempted to flee.

A massive anti-corruption probe, dubbed Operation Midas, was the culmination of 15 months of investigating, Nabu and Ukraine’s other anti-corruption body, the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (Sap), said.

They accused several people of orchestrating a scheme to embezzle money in Ukraine’s energy sector, including at the national nuclear opertor Energoatom.

Galuschenko was among those alleged to have systematically collected kickbacks from Enerhoatom contractors worth between 10% and 15% of contract values.

The anti-corruption bodies also said the huge sums had been laundered in the scheme and published photographs of bags full of cash. The funds were then transferred outside Ukraine, including to Russia, Nabu said.

Galushchenko previously said he would defend himself against the accusations.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Chernyshov was arrested in November on suspicion of “illicit enrichment”, having already been charged with abuse of office.

Timur Mindich, a businessman and a co-owner of Zelensky’s former TV studio Kvartal95, reportedly fled the country after he was flagged as a suspect.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g5380xwqjo

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) has said it has released all of the files required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but lawmakers have argued the release is insufficient.

The letter sent to members of the US Congress on Saturday from US Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy said all documents held by the DoJ had been released and contained a list of names appearing in the files.

Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who co-wrote the law, called for the DoJ to also release internal memos outlining past decisions on whether to charge Jeffrey Epstein and his associates.

Millions of new files relating to the late sex offender Epstein were released by the DoJ earlier this month.

In the letter, Bondi and her deputy Todd Blanche wrote: “In accordance with the requirements of the Act, and as described in various Department submissions to the courts of the Southern District of New York assigned to the Epstein and Maxwell prosecutions and related orders, the Department released all ‘records, documents, communications and investigative materials in the possession of the Department’ that ‘relate to’ any of nine different categories.”

No records were withheld from the DoJ’s release “on the basis of embarrassment, reputational harm, or political sensitivity”, the letter added.

The individuals listed in the letter include people who “are or were a government official or politically exposed person”, and whose name appeared at least once in the files, the letter says.

The names appear in the files in a “wide variety of contexts”, including some people who had “extensive direct email contact with Epstein or Maxwell” and others who were merely referenced in documents or news articles contained in the files, Blanche and Bondi wrote.

Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, and Bill Clinton – who are included in the list – all had documented past relationships with Epstein and Maxwell. There is no suggestion that appearing in the documents implies any wrongdoing and each has denied any involvement in Epstein’s crimes.

But the list also includes the names of deceased musicians Janis Joplin and Elvis Presley.

The letter was addressed to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s chairman Chuck Grassley and ranking member Dick Durbin, as well as the House Judiciary Committee’s chairman Jim Jordan and ranking member Jamie Raskin.

In an interview on ABC This Week on Sunday, Massie argued that, even though the DoJ “wants to say they are done with this document production”, there are more crucial files that should be released.

The DoJ was “signing deliberative process privilege in order not to release some of the documents”, he said.

“The problem with that is the bill that Ro Khanna and I wrote says that they must release internal memos and notes and emails about their decisions on whether to prosecute or not prosecute, whether to investigate or not investigate.”

In response to the letter, California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna, who co-wrote the Epstein Files Transparency Act, accused the DoJ of “purposefully muddying the waters on who was a predator and who was mentioned in an email”.

“To have Janis Joplin, who died when Epstein was 17, in the same list as Larry Nassar, who went to prison for the sexual abuse of hundreds of young women and child pornography, with no clarification of how either was mentioned in the files is absurd,” Khanna wrote on X on Saturday.

“Release the full files,” he added. “Stop protecting predators. Redact only the survivor’s names.”

The BBC has contacted the Department of Justice for comment.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz7genjx9njo

A firm behind a bid to trademark the brand “Swift Home” for a line of bedding products has withdrawn its application over the weekend, following an appeal by pop star Taylor Swift to the US patents office.

A representative for Cathay Home, a company selling home goods through major retailers, told the BBC that the decision was made since the disputed mark was not “essential to its business”.

Swift’s team issued a notice to the US government on 11 February with a request to block the firm’s bid.

Her team argued that there were similarities between the singer’s trademarked designs and the company’s mark, and that it could mislead consumers into thinking that Swift had endorsed the products.

The BBC has contacted Swift’s team for comment.

Cathay Home’s lawyer, Ting Geng from Geng and Associates said in a statement that the trademark application was dropped after evaluating the circumstances.

“Such decisions are often practical and commercially sensible,” she said.

The lawyer added that the firm had previously reached a “consent-to-coexist agreement” with the singer’s team regarding another registered “Swift Home” mark.

Cathay Home, which has offices in North America and China, had applied for a “Swift Home” trademark for its bedding items in late 2025.

In an appeal to the US Patent and Trademark Office filed last week, Swift’s team said that the way Cathay Home has styled the word “Swift” in the branding closely resembled the singer’s trademarked cursive mark.

The mark creates a “false association” to the singer and was done with the intent of using her “goodwill and recognition” for the firm’s brand, Swift’s team argued.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crm87109l3wo

“We will continue to strengthen our national defence and public security efforts, safeguarding national security and maintaining social stability,” said Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te.

Taiwan will strengthen its defence efforts and safeguard the island’s security in the year ahead, President Lai Ching-te said in his Chinese New Year message released on Sunday (Feb 15).

Last year, Lai proposed US$40 billion in extra defence spending to counter China, which views the island as its own territory. But the opposition, which has a majority in parliament, has refused to review the proposal and instead advanced its own, less expensive proposals, which only fund the purchase of some of the US weapons Lai wants.

In his address, recorded at one of Taiwan’s most important military radar stations in the central mountain range, which he visited earlier this month, Lai said he wanted to thank the armed forces for protecting Taiwan around the clock.

“We will continue to strengthen our national defence and public security efforts, safeguarding national security and maintaining social stability,” he said in the message carried on his social media accounts.

The message showed Lai at the high-altitude Hsiaohsuehshan radar station, chatting with officers there.

The video also featured footage of Taiwan’s first domestically developed submarine, which is in the process of undersea trials.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/east-asia/lai-ching-te-taiwan-president-vows-strengthen-defences-message-5932606

The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said this month Timor-Leste had opened its own case against the junta for both war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Myanmar’s junta on Sunday (Feb 15) announced the ejection of Timor-Leste’s top representative in the country, after a rights group said Dili had opened a legal case against the military for war crimes.

Myanmar’s military – which snatched power in a 2021 coup – has for decades been accused of rights abuses, mostly targeting the nation’s ethnic minorities.

The nation is currently defending itself from prosecution at the International Court of Justice over allegations of genocide against the mostly Muslim Rohingya minority.

But the Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) said this month Timor-Leste had opened its own case against the junta for both war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The CHRO – which represents Myanmar’s Chin ethnic minority – said “a senior Timorese prosecutor has been appointed to look into the criminal file” presented by the organisation.

A junta statement said Dili’s reported appointment of a prosecutor to probe the case was a “great disappointment”.

It said Timor-Leste’s charge d’affaires had been summoned on Friday and was given a week to leave Myanmar.

According to the CHRO, its case against the junta includes “irrefutable evidence” of gang rape, a massacre of ten people, the slaughter of religious officials and a hospital air strike.

The organisation entered the complaint under the principle of universal jurisdiction, which allows domestic courts to try international offences.

The case – and increasing diplomatic tension – pits two countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc against each other.

Timor-Leste only joined the bloc in October 2025, becoming its 11th member.

The junta statement accused Timor-Leste of violating ASEAN charter articles that “underscore the importance of upholding respect for sovereignty and non-interference”.

The junta previously expelled Timor-Leste’s top diplomat in August 2023, over a meeting his government held with a banned shadow administration founded in the aftermath of the coup.

It is “quite unusual” for an ASEAN member to be taking such legal action against a fellow member, which signals that Timor-Leste will not give up some of its principles that make it “quite unique” in the bloc, said analyst Susannah Patton.

Source : https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/myanmar-expels-timor-leste-representative-over-war-crimes-case-5932976

The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.
The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran.

U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Saturday that while Trump’s preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, “that’s very hard to do.”
Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action. U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.

Trump, speaking on Friday after a military event at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, openly floated the possibility of changing the government in Iran, saying it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said, “there are people.”
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said.
Trump has long voiced skepticism about sending ground troops into Iran, saying last year, “the last thing you want to do is ground forces,” and the kinds of U.S. firepower arrayed in the Middle East so far suggest options for strikes primarily by air and naval forces. In Venezuela, Trump demonstrated a willingness to rely also on special operations forces to seize that country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, in a raid last month.

Asked for comment on the preparations for a potentially sustained U.S. military operation, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump has all options on the table with regard to Iran.”
“He listens to a variety of perspectives on any given issue, but makes the final decision based on what is best for our country and national security,” Kelly said.
The Pentagon declined to comment.
The United States sent two aircraft carriers to the region last year, when it carried out strikes against Iranian nuclear sites.
However, June’s “Midnight Hammer” operation was essentially a one-off U.S. attack, with stealth bombers flying from the United States to strike Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran staged a very limited retaliatory strike on a U.S. base in Qatar.
RISKS INCREASING

The planning under way this time is more complex, the officials said.
In a sustained campaign, the U.S. military could hit Iranian state and security facilities, not just nuclear infrastructure, one of the officials said. The official declined to provide specific details.
Experts say the risks to U.S. forces would be far greater in such an operation against Iran, which boasts a formidable arsenal of missiles. Retaliatory Iranian strikes also increase the risk of a regional conflict.
The same official said the United States fully expected Iran to retaliate, leading to back-and-forth strikes and reprisals over time.
The White House and Pentagon did not respond to questions about the risks of retaliation or regional conflict.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and crushing of internal dissent. On Thursday, he warned the alternative to a diplomatic solution would “be very traumatic, very traumatic.”
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has warned that in case of strikes on Iranian territory, it could retaliate against any U.S. military base.
The U.S. maintains bases throughout the Middle East, including in Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Turkey.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Trump for talks in Washington on Wednesday, saying that if an agreement with Iran were reached, “it must include the elements that are vital to Israel.”
Iran has said it is prepared to discuss curbs on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions, but has ruled out linking the issue to missiles.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-military-preparing-potentially-weeks-long-iran-operations-2026-02-13/

President Donald Trump’s attack on Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl halftime show – including a gripe that it was mostly in Spanish – has alarmed some Republican Hispanic strategists, politicians and business leaders who warn it risks further eroding his support among Latino voters ahead of November’s congressional elections.
Hispanics were central to the coalition that powered Trump’s re-election in 2024, even after inflammatory rhetoric on the campaign trail, including a comedian calling the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage” at one of Trump’s rallies. But their support has softened amid continued high prices, discontent over tariffs and his administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.

Rodriguez, who is Puerto Rican, said she remains an avid Trump supporter.
Trump slammed Bad Bunny’s February 8 halftime show as “an affront to the Greatness of America” and a “slap in the face” to the country. “Nobody understands a word this guy is saying,” Trump wrote on his social media account, calling the dancing “disgusting” and unsuitable for children.
Even long-time Trump critics like Mike Madrid were baffled by the president’s outburst.
“To see them doubling down on alienating the single most critical constituency they need for survival is beyond belief,” said Madrid, a Republican strategist who is an expert on Latino voting trends.
SOME HISPANICS ALREADY SOURING ON TRUMP
Hispanics are the largest ethnic minority in the U.S., accounting for about a fifth of the population. Trump received 48% of the Hispanic vote in 2024 – more than any Republican presidential candidate in history – up from the 36% share he garnered in 2020, according to the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

But a November survey of more than 5,000 Latino voters by Pew showed Trump is down 12 percentage points among those who backed him in 2024. At the beginning of his second term

“It’s just another illustration of a president who is woefully shooting himself in the foot at every chance he possibly gets,” Palomarez said.
He said that just before the 2024 election, 70% of his members in an internal survey believed Trump was the best candidate to fix the economy. Now that number has dropped to 40%.
Latino-owned businesses in Minneapolis are reporting a 70% drop in sales since the immigration crackdown there began, said Ramiro Cavazos, president of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
TRUMP PLANS TRAVEL TO KEY DISTRICTS
Several Hispanic conservatives told Reuters they weren’t offended by Trump’s comments about Bad Bunny, whose music isn’t universally embraced by the diverse Latino community. Still, he should choose his words more carefully, they said.
“Everybody agrees that we wish he would hold his mouth and hold his temper and be less impulsive,” said Denise Galvez Turros, who co-founded Latinas for Trump for his first run for office in 2016.
Nevertheless, she agrees with Trump’s criticism of the artist and defended the president’s comments about Bad Bunny’s use of Spanish, saying the singer’s Puerto Rican slang and lack of enunciation can make his lyrics hard to understand.
One source close to the White House said Trump needs to better engage with Latino and Black voters who were part of his winning coalition, warning the Bad Bunny episode could hasten their shift back to Democratic candidates.
in January 2025, 93% of Latinos who voted for him approved of the job he was doing. Ten months later, that had fallen to 81%.
Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, did not respond to questions about Trump’s weakening Latino support.
She said Trump received historic support from Latino voters in 2024 “based on his promises to enforce our immigration laws, deport criminal illegal aliens, and tackle Joe Biden’s inflation crisis. He is now fulfilling those promises.”
But Javier Palomarez, president of the U.S. Hispanic Business Council, said many small business owners feel Trump has failed to deliver lower prices and his Bad Bunny comments could add to their disillusionment.

Source: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-vs-bad-bunny-super-bowl-feud-with-possible-midterm-consequences-2026-02-14/

Meghan Markle is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a sweet shot of Prince Harry and Princess Lilibet.

The Duchess of Sussex took to Instagram Saturday to post a photo of the Duke of Sussex holding their 4-year-old daughter in his arms. Lilbet, dressed in a pink dress and matching tights, held onto a bouquet of balloons.

Harry, who also shares son Archie, 6, with the “Suits” actress, could be seen smiling at his daughter.

Despite only sharing glimpses of their children over the years, Lilibet’s face is visible in the shot.

“These two + Archie = my forever Valentines,” Markle, 44, captioned her post.

The sweet post comes on the heels of the “With Love, Meghan” host and Invictus Games founder celebrating the holiday early with a dinner date at Funke in Beverly Hills on Friday.

For the date night out, Markle sported a brown jacket with a black collar and black pants, while Harry donned a black jacket and a pair of matching jeans.

Last year, the mom-of-two shared a sweet tribute to Harry when they had to spend the holiday apart.

“Back home taking care of our babies, and missing my Valentine, as he continues on at the Invictus Games, changing lives and reminding all of us of the power of healing and resilience through these incredible veterans and their families. Beyond proud of my husband and what he’s created,” Markle gushed on Instagram. “My love, I will eat burgers & fries and fish & chips with you forever. Thank you for you. #lovewins. As ever, M.”

The touching caption was accompanied by a black-and-white shot of the lovebirds kissing.

Markle and Prince Harry tied the knot in 2018 before stepping away from their royal duties two years later and moving to Montecito, Calif., with Archie and Lilibet.

Since their relocation across the pond, the pair have remained a united front.

While on “The Jamie Kern Lima Show” in April, Markle reflected on her romance with the royal.

She recalled using the nicknames “M” and “H” for one another at the beginning of their relationship.

“Probably at the beginning of us dating, when everything was in code,” confessed Markle. “People didn’t know we were dating for, talk about memory lane, so long ago.”

“I mean, it’ll be our seven-year wedding anniversary soon. I couldn’t tell anyone who I was dating, and who was keeping [the secret], so I think we were just on a letter basis,” she noted. “It stuck. I love nicknames.”

Markle also took a moment to praise Prince Harry for being such an incredible partner.

“He’s just out there, just constant, like he’s just going to do whatever he can to make sure that our family is safe and protected and we’re uplifted and still make time for date nights,” she explained.

And for Markle, it doesn’t hurt that Prince Harry is easy on the eyes.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2026/02/14/royal-family/meghan-markle-shares-rare-look-at-lilibets-face-in-photo-with-prince-harry/

James Van Der Beek purchased the multimillion-dollar Texas ranch he was renting prior to his death.

According to Realtor.com, the “Dawson’s Creek” star — who, along with his wife, Kimberly, and their children, began renting the sprawling property in 2020 — officially purchased the Austin area ranch for $4.76 million on Jan. 9 in what appears to have been an off-market deal.

The “Varsity Blues” star died on Feb. 11 after a years-long battle with stage 3 colorectal cancer.

Immediately following the beloved actor’s death at the age of 48, friends set up a GoFundMe, which as of Saturday has since pulled in more than $2.5 million in donations.

The massively successful GoFundMe has since received some criticism by people who felt the move was unnecessary, given Van Der Beek’s successful career and expensive house purchase.

The late actor’s rep clarified on Saturday, however, that Van Der Beek secured a down payment for the home with help from friends.

“James secured down payment for the Texas ranch for the family with the help of friends through a trust so they could shift from rent to mortgage,” the rep Page Six on Saturday.

Celebrities, meanwhile, took to social media to defend the GoFundMe against trolls questioning the validity of the fundraiser — including Broadway’s Donna Vivino.

“For those attacking James Van Der Beek’s wife for having a [GoFundMe] may I give you some FACTS,” she wrote on Friday.

“1. They do not OWN the farm they live on, they were renting 2. He was not living off residuals.”

While noting the actor’s prior comments about getting “almost nothing” from residuals from “Dawson’s Creek,” she added that, “cancer treatment is effin expensive even WITH insurance.”

“Not everything is what it looks like online,” she concluded the post. “A little context goes a long way.”

“RHOC” alum Braunwyn Windham-Burke publicly responded to Vivino’s comments — as did Deborah Cox. “Our family is drowning in medical debt because of my dad’s cancer, my parents saved, worked hard and had a great retirement … all gone,” Windham-Burke remarked.

Cox replied, “This industry is shameful.”

Source: https://pagesix.com/2026/02/14/celebrity-news/james-van-der-beek-bought-4-8m-ranch-before-death/

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos admitted the search for Savannah Guthrie’s mother, Nancy, could take “years.”

After hitting several dead ends in the investigation, the weary sheriff promised that his team would remain dedicated to finding Guthrie — even if their search goes on for longer than intended.

“Maybe it’s an hour from now,” Nanos told the New York Times on Friday. “Maybe it’s weeks or months or years from now. But we won’t quit. We’re going to find Nancy. We’re going to find this guy.”

The update arrived shortly after authorities believed they had received a break in their investigation after they detained a delivery driver, Carlos Palazuelos, for questioning on Tuesday.

However, the high was short-lived after Palazuelos allegedly told law enforcement officials he had no knowledge of the “Today” show host or her 84-year-old mother. He was released shortly after.

“This has to to be it, the evidence, everything’s there,” Sheriff Nanos told the outlet on Friday, reflecting on what he called a fleeting high in the 13-day search.

“Then you talk to people, you learn, you do your search, and you think, ‘Maybe not.’”

“It’s exhausting, these ups and downs,” the Sheriff continued before promising that the investigation will continue on. “But we will keep moving forward.”

In the most recent updates, authorities revealed on Friday that officers collected DNA evidence from Nancy’s residence that did not belong to anyone in “close contact” with the grandmother.

Without sharing where the evidence was located, a spokesperson for the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said “Investigators are working to identify who it belongs to.”

Earlier this week, it was reported that law officials took DNA samples from hired workers around Nancy’s residence.

On Friday night, at least four people were detained for questioning as the investigation into Nancy’s purported abduction drags on into its second week.

A SWAT team with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department swarmed a home and vehicle located near Nancy’s property and executed a search warrant on the home after receiving a tip.

As a result, two men and one of their mothers were taken into custody. An additional man believed to have connections to the home was brought in for questioning after police stopped his Range Rover at a Culver’s parking lot.

All four people were released from custody and no arrests were made.

Source: https://pagesix.com/2026/02/14/celebrity-news/exhausted-nancy-guthrie-sheriff-admits-it-could-take-years-to-find-savannahs-abducted-mother/

Former US President Barack Obama responded for the first time to a post on Donald Trump’s social media account that depicted him and first lady Michelle as monkeys.

Former US President Barack Obama criticised a lack of shame and decorum in the country’s political discourse, responding Saturday (Feb 14) for the first time to a post on Donald Trump’s social media account that depicted him and first lady Michelle as monkeys.

The video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account on Feb 5 sparked censure across the US political spectrum, with the White House initially rejecting “fake outrage” only to then blame the post on an error by a staff member and taking it down.

Near the end of a one-minute-long video promoting conspiracies about Trump’s 2020 election loss to Joe Biden, the Obamas – the first Black president and first lady in US history – were shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second.

Obama responded to the video for the first time in an interview with left-wing political podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen released Saturday.

“The discourse has devolved into a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before … ust days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face on an ape’s body,” Cohen said in the interview.

“And so again, we’ve seen the devolution of the discourse. How do we come back from a place that we have fallen into?”

Without naming Trump, Obama responded by saying the majority of Americans “find this behaviour deeply troubling.”

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television, and what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right? That’s been lost.”

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/former-us-president-obama-trump-monkey-social-media-post-decorum-5932401

THE horrific details of a Valentine’s Day missing person and murder case where a young mom’s torso was found hidden in her own garage have been retold by the sheriff who worked on the grisly crime.

Mom of two Tara Grant, 34, was first reported missing by her husband on February 14, 2007, before the case took several sickening turns, former sheriff Mark Hackel told The U.S. Sun.

That month, Tara’s high-flying corporate job had taken her to sunny Puerto Rico, where she commuted during the week before flying home to her family in a Michigan suburb at weekends.

Her children, Ian and Lindsay, were just four and six years-old respectively at the time while husband Stephen, then 37, was a stay-at-home dad who reportedly had political ambitions.

Tara flew back to the US just five days before her disappearance.

When Stephen walked into a police station to make a report on February 14, he told officers he had been searching for her for days and was increasingly worried.

“We thought it was odd from the start,” Hackel told The U.S. Sun, adding that Stephen appeared agitated and initially overly eager to cooperate. Officers were sent immediately to the family home.

In the following days, while Stephen sought the spotlight with media interviews, he started to resist full cooperation with investigators. Yet in a pre-social media era, those interviews became valuable, Hackel said.

Each time Stephen spoke publicly, detectives contacted reporters to gather as much detail as possible.

“I thought his attorney was going to tell him, quit talking to the media,” Hackel later said. “But he didn’t.”

The officer would maintain a close relationship with the local reporters covering a missing person case which had begun to shock a nation.

Hackel says the experience had taught him something important: people under pressure often reveal more than they intend.

“When somebody’s guilty, they’re going to do things, say things that are going to trip them up,” he said confidently.

After three weeks, investigators confirmed Tara had not returned to Puerto Rico and that none of her credit cards had been used.

Dropping clues

The first breakthrough same through a chance discovery when a woman walking in a local park found a blood-soaked bag wedged into a tree containing gloves, metal shavings, and blood that cops identified as Tara’s.

Stephen continued refusing certain police requests, including a polygraph test.

He also declined to provide access to the family computer and would not allow unrestricted entry into the home.

Meanwhile, he continued speaking to media outlets, including reporters from the Macomb Daily.

In one conversation, a journalist noted that Stephen had repeatedly mentioned Stony Creek Metropark, just miles from his home.

He described seeing someone riding a bike there and recalled a previous encounter with Hackel in the park years earlier.

“I didn’t recall that at all,” a bemused Hackel told The U.S. Sun.

After the interview, Hackel said detectives were alerted, and authorities organized a large public search of Stony Creek Metropark. Teams on foot, horseback, and four-wheelers were deployed, supported by helicopters.

During these preparations, Stephen’s attorney requested that he be allowed to observe the search but authorities declined.

Unbeknownst to investigators, Stephen went to the park that same night.

According to later evidence, he had previously buried Tara’s remains there.

Fearing discovery, he retrieved part of the remains, placed them in a bag, and moved them again — eventually transferring them to a storage bin in his garage after ensuring he had not been seen.

Torso discovered

However after the park search on March 2, Hackel and his team brought a warrant to the Grant home to continue the investigation.

Stephen chose to leave, saying he was walking the dog, when cops arrived.

Inside the garage, officers noticed a trash can had been moved. One deputy opened the lid and examined a bag inside that looked ununusual.

Inside was Tara’s clothed torso. From neck to thigh she was dressed in her underwear. Part of her jeans remained too.

Hackel said the breakthrough moment was surreal— a sudden freeze in the mind as officers processed what they had found.

“The hair on the back of your head stood up and you hear people saying that,” he recalled.

“But it’s actually the feeling that I had is that your brain had kind of a brain freeze. You’re like, wait a minute. What did—what did we just find? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Hackel said he had grown close to the family during the investigation and now faced the devastating task of informing Tara’s relatives and her two young children, Lindsay and Ian, that she had been found, but not alive.

Hospital bed confession

As the evidence against Tara’s increasingly anxious husband mounted, he fled. He borrowed a friend’s car, loaded it with alcohol, razor blades, and a fake gun, and drove north into the freezing night.

The next morning, authorities launched another search in a remote wooded area. Within an hour, additional remains were discovered.

The FBI joined the investigation and a full-scale manhunt was underway.

Stephen was located in Wilderness State Park two days later on March 4, a place he and Tara had once visited together. He was found beneath a tree in bitter cold conditions, suffering from severe hypothermia and frostbite.

He was taken to a hospital where he fully confessed to the crime. Once doctors determined he was medically stable, he was formally placed into custody.

Concerned about how Stephen would be presented in court after being a patient, and officials insisted he be dressed as a prisoner.

A jail uniform was brought to the hospital, and he was changed into it before being wheeled out in handcuffs.

“I didn’t want anybody to get the impression that this guy is a poor little patient after what we had all been through,” said Hackle who recalled the freezing, wintry conditions his officers had to work in made the search operation even more challenging.

Nine months after his arrest, the case went to trial and following three weeks of testimony, Stephen Grant was convicted of second-degree murder and mutilation of a corpse.

He was sentenced to 50 to 80 years in prison.

Disturbing details
Investigators later released details of Stephen’s chilling two-hour confession from his hospital bed.

He told detectives an argument on February began in the couple’s bedroom while Tara unpacked from her trip.

In the weeks before, Stephen had pursued a sexual relationship with the family’s 18-year-old German au pair, Verena, who helped care for their children.

He claims, however, that Tara’s work trips were the spark for the argument and not his affair.

Stephen said she slapped him during the dispute and that he struck her in return. He claimed she fell and hit her head and described becoming enraged and placing his hands around her neck, choking her to death as their kids slept.

He then admitted to wrapping a belt around her neck and moving her body down the stairs and described struggling to place her into his vehicle.

At one point, the belt around her neck snapped and her head hit the concrete floor before he put Tara’s body in the back of his SUV and covered her with plastic.

Two days later he brought the SUV to the tire shop where he worked and attempted to chop up Tara’s body with a tree saw which he vomited and drank alcohol to get through, Fox News reported.

After resorting to saw blade to cut up the rest of Tara’s corpse, Stephen wrapped the remains in plastic and placed them into a large storage bin, the charging document stated.

Early the following morning, he transported the bin to Stony Creek Metropark using a sled.

He told detectives the sled slid downhill unexpectedly, spilling its contents, forcing him to gather everything again before burying the remains in multiple locations.

Investigators later determined he had moved the remains several times in an effort to avoid detection. Ultimately, 11 of 14 remains were recovered.

The nanny, Verena, was investigated and cleared after she called cops on the discovery of Tara’s torso and said Stephen had confessed the killing to her on the phone that day.

Detectives concluded the husband had acted alone despite her admitting to an inappropriate relationship between them.

Family recovers
Six months after the trial, Stephen’s father died by suicide. Reports indicated he had been seeking visitation rights with his grandchildren. The children went on to live with Tara’s sister.

Each year, the family participates in Tara’s Walk, raising funds for domestic abuse programs in her memory.

Daughter Lindsay, who majored in psychology at college and son Ian, who studied in Wisconsin were brought up by Tara’s sister Alicia, attend the event and show such incredible bravery when confronting the nightmare of their past.

They have reportedly never had contact with their father who will undoubtedly die in prison.

Hackel served with the Macomb County Sheriff’s Office from 1981 to 2010. Elected sheriff in 2000, he rose through every rank during his three decades with the department.

He is now County Executive, the latest stage of a varied and eventful career.

Yet he said nothing compares to that moment exactly 19 years ago when he first met Stephen Grant.

He knows some people initially believed the killer’s claims that Tara had left on her own accord.

But investigators remained focused on the evidence, he said.

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/15940481/tara-grant-murder-stephen-update/

THIS is dramatic moment US forces unleashed a lethal strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

Footage shows a boat wading through choppy waters before being hit by what the military called “a lethal kinetic strike.”

In the 11-second clip, a huge explosion is seen ripping through the vessel followed by a fire.

Three people have been killed in the assault carried out on Friday at an undisclosed location.

US Southern Command said on social media the boat had been “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes” in the Caribbean and was engaged in “narco-trafficking operations”.

A statement said: “At the direction of SOUTHCOM Commander Gen Francis L. Donovan, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organisations.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transitioning along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”.

No US military forces were injured in the attack, the command added.

Friday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration strikes on alleged drug boats to 133 people, as per official figures.

More than 38 attacks have been carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.

This comes after Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region “have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean.”

The US has offered little evidence to back its allegations that it is killing “narcoterrorists.”

Critics have voiced concerns over the legality of the deadly US strikes in international waters.

“Those being killed by US military strikes at sea are denied any due process whatsoever, their lives ended by missile attacks carried out at the orders of President Trump and Secretary Hegseth, or the Southcom commander, with no basis under either US or international law,” read an analysis by the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy group.

“They are asserting and exercising an apparently unlimited license to kill people that the president deems to be terrorists.”

It added: “Some of those aboard the targeted boats may indeed have been transporting illegal drugs (as Trump officials claim, without presenting evidence).

“But involvement in drug smuggling is not a capital offense under US or international law, much less justification for extrajudicial execution.

“Indeed, the US Coast Guard, with occasional Navy support and modest funding, has decades of experience in boarding vessels suspected of transporting illegal drugs or other contraband and detaining their crews for potential prosecution in US federal courts.“

Source: https://www.the-sun.com/news/15943976/us-bombs-drug-boat-caribbean-three-killed/

Brazilian police have disguised themselves using fancy dress to blend in as Carnival-goers to target phone thieves in Rio de Janeiro.

The undercover officers donned masks depicting Captain America, Batman and Jason Voorhees from Friday the 13th, among others, to nab a pair in the act, Brazil’s Civil Police said.

The two people were arrested after a woman was spotted by a drone grabbing a phone from someone attending Rio’s famed Carnival before passing it to her alleged male accomplice, they said.

The festival, which began on Friday and runs until next Saturday, attracts millions of visitors and locals each year to its street parties and parades – but there is often a spike in petty crime.

Five stolen phones were recovered during the operation in the Santa Teresa neighbourhood and will be returned to their owners, the Civil Police said.

Footage it published showed officers, still in their masks, leading the two suspect away and into a waiting police car. Among the disguises was the red overalls and mask from the Spanish Netflix show Money Heist.

Police said the two seen being detained in the footage had 30 criminal records between them, and that the woman pretended to be pregnant to avoid arrest.

Police added that the arrests form part of Operation Tracking, a state initiative aimed at tacking the theft and resale of mobile phones, which has led to more than 13,000 devices being located and approximately 4,400 being returned.

It is not the first time Latin American officers have used fancy dress while apprehending suspected criminals.

Peruvian police often use the tactics, disguising their agents in elaborate costumes on occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Christmas.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjrq8dv39zwo

It has been described as Germany’s most “spectacular” bank heist in years.

On a quiet weekend just after Christmas, a group of thieves broke into a High Street bank in the western town of Gelsenkirchen, by boring through a wall with an industrial drill.

They looted more than 3,000 safe deposit boxes and made off with millions of euros.

Over a month later, police have yet to make an arrest.

For the bank’s clients, some of whom say they have lost their life savings and precious family jewellery and valuables, this is a time of anger, confusion and shock.

There is a strong sense that trust in institutions has been shaken.

The case has thrown up all sorts of difficult questions, and some of them have been spelled out by Herbert Reul, the interior minister in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Why did no-one notice what was going on? Was it an insider job?

Why did no-one hear the drill and how did the thieves know exactly where the vault was?

Were the bank’s security systems too weak?

Police in Gelsenkirchen are appealing for witnesses to come forward.

Investigators believe the thieves probably broke into the Sparkasse savings bank in Nienhofstrasse through the next-door multi-storey car park in the town’s Buer district.

The thieves may have tampered with an escape door between the car park and the bank, they believe.

Under normal circumstances the door could not be opened from the outside, but the gang managed to make sure it no longer closed properly, allowing them “unhindered access from the car park to the Sparkasse building”.

From there, police believe they overcame several security systems and made their way into an archive room next to the vault, in the bank’s basement.

They set up the drill and bored a hole 40cm (15.7in) wide in the wall leading to the strongroom, where the safe deposit boxes were kept.

The heist must have taken place some time between Saturday 27 and Monday 29 December, according to officials, who think the burglars may almost have been caught shortly before reaching the vault.

Just after 06:00 on 27 December, the fire brigade in Gelsenkirchen and a private security firm received a fire alarm warning from the bank, which may have been triggered by the thieves.

Police and 20 firefighters arrived at the bank at 06:15, “but could not find anything that indicated damage”, police said in a statement.

Graphic showing timeline of heist

The fire alarm had come from the vault, Herbert Reul revealed.

But firefighters could not get in because it was locked with a roll shutter. Reul said they saw “no smoke, no smell of fire, or damage”, so they “concluded it was a false alarm”, which he said was not unusual.

He told a state parliament committee the police did not have the right to search the bank at the time, as it was a matter for the fire brigade. They would have needed a warrant.

Once inside the vault, the thieves opened almost all the 3,250 safe deposit boxes, taking cash, gold and jewellery.

Reul said that computer systems in the bank show that the first box was broken into at 10:45 on 27 December and the last at 14:44. It is not clear whether they managed to open most of the boxes in four hours or if the technology stopped recording data.

Witnesses later told police they saw several men in the stairwell of the car park carrying big bags during the night into 28 December.

Authorities say they do not know exactly how much was taken, but German media estimate the thieves must have got away with up to €100 million (£87m).

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cm2y2538lz8o

Ni hao, we’re all Chinese now.

Or at least that’s what they claim on TikTok, where a trend called “Chinamaxxing” has taken off in the West.

Chinese wellness practices, once associated with the tacky and geriatric, have suddenly found themselves in vogue, largely among Americans.

From warm apple-boiled water to indoor slippers and longevity exercises, people are sharing videos of themselves “learning to be Chinese”. Many come with the Fight Club-inspired caption “you met me at a very Chinese time in my life”, or the hashtag #newlychinese.

As Donald Trump shakes up the world order, the Chinese Communist Party has welcomed this boost to the country’s image.

Chinamaxxing is certainly adding more gloss to the recent flourish of Chinese soft power. Over the past year we’ve seen the world clamour for Labubu dolls, wait in line at brand new stores to buy Mixue bubble tea and Luckin coffee, and scroll through their friends’ holiday feeds in the “cyberpunk city” of Chongqing.

Some say Chinamaxxing stems from young Americans’ disenchantment with their own country, although it’s unclear how much that is really driving the trend.

But like so many internet trends, this one hardly paints the full picture. It’s a celebration of memes and fleeting moments that make up just one slice of Chinese life. Beyond that are young people who, like their American counterparts, are also worried about their future in a sluggish economy and a fast-changing world.

A very Chinese time in our lives
Some Chinese youth may find it strange that parts of their culture – long seen as “uncool” in the Western imagination – are now the object of fascination. Some may find it offensive that Westerners on TikTok are facetiously claiming they’ve been “diagnosed as Chinese”.

But others say Chinamaxxing strikes a different note from derogatory jokes like “bing chilling” – where the punchline is ex-wrestler John Cena’s stilted Mandarin pronunciation – or the “social credit” meme that mocks the Chinese government’s restrictions on personal freedoms.

This time, Chinese people are in on the joke – not the butt of it.

One of the most influential figures behind the Chinamaxxing meme is Sherry Zhu, a Chinese-American TikTok content creator who regularly shares traditional wellness tips with her “Chinese baddies”.

“Tomorrow you’re turning Chinese,” she tells her 740,000 TikTok followers. “And I know that sounds intimidating, but there is no point in fighting it now.”

Few could have seen this coming.

It was not that long ago when the Covid pandemic sparked a wave of Sinophobia. Chinese diaspora spoke of racism and how people were avoiding the community and their businesses.

Then a stunned world watched Beijing put its cities into hellish lockdowns. Reports emerged of residents running out of food and pleading for help from inside their sealed-off neighbourhoods. The restrictions ended only in early 2023 after rare protests. By then expats had left China in droves, many of them saying too much had changed.

There was also an exodus from Hong Kong, where Beijing’s control was reshaping the city. This, along with China’s growing power and assertiveness, strained the relationship with the West, even as the world’s reliance on the Chinese economy became clear.

Meanwhile, China’s investments in tech, infrastructure and exports began to pay off – and became more visible as it reopened post pandemic, relaxing visa rules to bring back tourists.

It was hard to miss: glitzy skyscrapers, a sprawling high-speed rail network, highways packed with electric vehicles, and a boom in green energy, robotics and artificial intelligence. Chongqing – a humid southwestern metropolis which once made global headlines for a corruption scandal and murder – turned popular and cool.

There have been other, smaller triumphs. Young people around the world are snatching Adidas Tang-style jackets off the shelves, bingeing on Chinese micro-dramas and experimenting with powdery make-up looks flaunted by Chinese girls and women on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok.

“As a Chinese person who has been online throughout years and years of heavy Sinophobia, it felt refreshing to have the mainstream opinion finally shift regarding China,” Claire, a Chinese-Canadian TikTok user, tells BBC Chinese.

The 22-year-old, who shares political content on TikTok and would only reveal her first name for that reason, says, for her, the “critical juncture” was last year.

That was when she noticed a shift in attitudes about China. A wave of Americans arrived on RedNote, a popular Chinese social media app, ahead of a TikTok ban in the US.

Within days memes became the currency of these American “TikTok refugees” as two worlds that rarely interact because of China’s internet firewall were brought closer.

A dimming American Dream
“These young people have watched their physical reality remain frozen while China built entire cities,” says Afra Wang, a tech writer and podcaster.

“When you can’t build high-speed rail but you can scroll through videos of Chinese infrastructure, of course the future starts to look Chinese.”

For observers like her, it’s no coincidence that Chinamaxxing comes as the American Dream seems to be dimming.

Americans who came of age after the Iraq War, the 2008 global financial crisis or even the 6 January 2021 Capitol riot face a job market disrupted by globalisation and then AI, Wang says: “American exceptionalism was never something they lived.”

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cz6eljqvyp1o

Former US President Barack Obama has indirectly addressed a racist video posted on President Donald Trump’s social media, telling a podcast host that the “shame” and “decorum” that once guided public officials is now lost.

The offensive video included a clip depicting Obama and his wife Michelle as apes, which drew widespread criticism from Democrats and Republicans.

The White House initially defended the video, calling backlash “fake outrage”. The post was later blamed on a staff member and deleted.

Obama spoke to liberal podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, who asked the first black US president about the tone of political discourse. Cohen cited Trump’s post among several recent controversies.

The clip – set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight – was included at the end of a video Trump’s Truth Social account shared containing unfounded claims about voter fraud in the 2020 election.

The post led to outrage from politicians, including from senior members of Trump’s Republican party.

Senator Tim Scott – the only black Republican senator – described it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.

The clip recalls racist caricatures comparing black people to monkeys, and appears to have been taken from an X post shared by conservative meme creator Xerias in October.

Trump has told reporters that he “didn’t see” the part of the video that showed the Obamas.

“I didn’t make a mistake,” he told reporters when asked whether he planned to apologise.

The 47-minute podcast featuring Obama was released on Saturday. The episode begins with the host asking him to comment on US “discourse”, which he says “has devolved to a level of cruelty that we haven’t seen before”.

Cohen notes claims by the White House that the “victims” of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are “domestic terrorists”, and adds “just days ago, Donald Trump put a picture of you, your face, on an ape’s body”.

Obama responds by saying: “It’s important to recognise that the majority of the American people find this behaviour deeply troubling.

“It is true that it gets attention. It’s true that it’s a distraction.”

But Obama said that while travelling around the US, he found himself meeting people who “still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness”.

“There’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television,” he continued.

“And what is true is that there doesn’t seem to be any shame about this among people who used to feel like you had to have some sort of decorum and a sense of propriety and respect for the office, right?

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c74754j7qwgo

While European leaders cautiously welcomed a softer tone from the US at the Munich Security Conference, American independence and the “Trumpian narrative” remained top of mind for Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Marco Rubio’s speech at the Munich Security Conference didn’t deviate from the themes of Donald Trump’s second term in office.

Europe, he said Saturday, had to speed up its defense spending and army building.

The US secretary of state warned, as the Trump administration has done before, that Europe risked “civilizational erasure.” And he espoused a general view that in a new world order, it was nations — not institutions — that would get an imperfect world on track.

But his tone was far softer than a year ago when US Vice President JD Vance shook the gathering of world political and defense leaders by lambasting Europe’s approach to free speech, immigration and security.

DW Chief International Correspondent Richard Walker said it appeared Rubio was trying to create “a Trumpian narrative of what the West actually is.”

“Rubio’s message was much warmer in its tone, it was really trying to pull on European heartstrings to try and create a sense of common purpose, to create, almost, a unified theory that links security to a different idea of … the West.

“A lot of people here do seem to be relieved that it wasn’t guns blazing like JD Vance, but when you listen closely to what Rubio was saying there was an awful lot of the kind of Trumpian view of nation that was going right through [the speech].”

The last year has seen fears mount that the US wants out of Europe, with Trump eyeing the Danish territory of Greenland and speaking more openly about a sphere of influence focused more intently on the Americas. But Rubio’s speech sought to keep an arm around Europe.

While still asserting a Trumpian view dismissing climate policy and immigration, Rubio cast the US as a “child of Europe.”

He bridged a year of divide by evoking a shared Christian heritage across the Atlantic, and of the European connections that built the US. Rubio also praised partners in Europe for helping broker peace opportunities for Ukraine, while remaining critical of the UN as a forum for effective diplomacy.

Rubio casts ‘civilization’ at heart of US alliance with Europe
But Rubio also maintained a consistent theme of the second Trump administration — echoed by other world leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on the first day of the MSC on Friday — that the global order had changed, and positioned the US as a muscular guardian of Western values and culture.

“We in America have no interest in being polite and orderly caretakers of the West’s managed decline,” said Rubio. “We do not seek to separate, but to revitalize an old friendship and renew the greatest civilization in human history.”

Civilization was an inescapable theme on Saturday morning in Munich, evoked by Rubio a dozen times in his speech and later touched on by his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, who used the label to describe both China and Europe as partner — not rival — civilizations.

While Wang struck a different chord in his address to delegates, calling for improved global governance with the United Nations, Rubio reiterated Trump’s nations-first view on foreign policy and dismissed the UN as an effective arbiter of international relations.

“Rubio thinks very much about the competition between the United States and China,” said Walker, adding that despite the softer tone, Rubio echoed Vance’s message that a show of national strength was “the way to get things done,” and not the “liberal, international” approach promoted by the EU.

“For the European Union, the underlying ideas and the rhetoric Rubio was using here is actually quite troubling because the whole point of the European Union is almost to move beyond the idea of nation, and not to try to express ideas such as that the West is, as Rubio said, the greatest civilization in human history.”

For his part, Rubio sought to keep Europe on the US side of the civilizational theme, describing a shared Western culture that was “unique, distinctive and irreplaceable.” He said it wasn’t “our goal nor our wish” to see the end of the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Cautious welcome of Rubio’s speech
Though a warmer narrative compared to remarks from other US officials, including Trump, since February 2025, Rubio was clearly singing from the administration’s hymn sheet.

He rebuked what he called a “climate cult” amid a US pivot away from the green transition and back toward fossil fuel interests, and said Europe should not fear technology at a time when the EU has sought to assert guardrails against American tech companies.

Those differences were acknowledged by European figures, as they welcomed the US tonal shift.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul told DW in Munich that Rubio’s pitch was “a different category to the speech we heard last year [from Vance].”

But Wadephul also stressed the importance of German and European independence on defense, climate policy and trade.

“Climate change is there, and of course we have to give answers, we have, not to deny that climate change is existing, but I understood his speech in a way that we have to give flexible answers, not to be dogmatic,” he said.

“I wouldn’t say that we have 100% overlapping between our priorities and the priorities from the US side, but I would say this is really a common ground for a bright future between the United States and Europe.”

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/european-leaders-von-der-leyen-starmer-wadephul-welcome-rubio-speech-in-munich/a-75970369

The Ukrainian leader said that the US often asks his country to make concessions, rather than Russia. Earlier, US top diplomat Marco Rubio accused European allies of being too “scared” to defend themselves. DW has more.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told German Chancellor Friedrich Merz that he hoped to upgrade bilateral ties and boost trade, according to a readout from China’s state news agency Xinhua on Sunday morning.

During their meeting on the sidelines of the MSC on Saturday, Wang said that “China is willing to work with Germany to… push the China-Germany all-round strategic partnership to a new level.”

Wang said that China’s commitment to opening-up would provide “tremendous opportunities” for German companies, according to the readout. He also expressed hope that Germany would provide “a more fair and equitable business environment” for Chinese firms.

Wang also met with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand, among others. He hailed the Canadian government’s strategic partnership with Beijing, which the Chinese side called “an entirely correct choice.”

Rubio covers all bases at high-level meetings
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has posted on X about some of meetings with world leaders and foreign ministers at the MSC on Saturday, in which he broached a number of Washington’s more contentious foreign policies.

He met with his counterparts from the Group of Seven advanced economies (G7) with whom he underscored Washington’s mantra of “strength through peace” and discussed both Venezuela and Ukraine.

Rubio said he also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss “deepening defense and economic partnerships.”

“President Trump wants a solution that ends the bloodshed once and for all,” he said on social media.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/rubio-gives-highly-anticipated-speech-at-munich-security-conference-msc/live-75938790

Shuliak’s immigration story – and the stories of several other women revealed in a cache of files released by the US Department of Justice – show how Epstein used student visas, English language courses and sham marriages to make sure the women in his orbit stayed right where he wanted them.

In early 2013, Jeffrey Epstein’s girlfriend, Karyna Shuliak, was stressed about her US visa status. Later that year, she married an American citizen and her worries were gone.

A Green Card followed, and, in 2018, citizenship. Then Shuliak divorced her spouse: a woman named Jennifer who had been in a relationship with Kimbal Musk after Epstein connected them.

“now that she’s an american you should throw her a big ole party,” one of Epstein’s go-to immigration lawyers messaged on the day of Shuliak’s naturalization interview. “with a mechanical bull, red white and blue balloons, and deep fried snickers bars on flag toothpicks.”

Shuliak’s immigration story – and the stories of several other women revealed in a cache of files released by the US Department of Justice – show how Epstein used student visas, English language courses and sham marriages to make sure the women in his orbit stayed right where he wanted them.

The convicted pedophile had arranged for Shuliak’s admission to Columbia University’s dental school, as a transfer student from Belarus who hadn’t finished her degree, via a complicated process that began in 2011. After she got in, communications between her and members of the Ivy League school’s international student office show her immigration case was another hurdle to clear.

“I am so sorry if you were given the run a round with the immigration office today,” an official at Columbia’s dental school wrote to Shuliak in July 2012. “At this time I believe that everything is fine with your immigration status.” Columbia and the official didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Epstein, apparently, wanted to be sure of Shuliak’s immigration status. He reached out to his network seeking help to quietly restore her student visa.

“I don’t want to ask as I prefer her not to be a part of my file,” Epstein wrote in late 2012 to Ian Osborne, a British investor who appears multiple times in the files. “I recall you had a good lawyer friend for immigrarion in washington.”

Osborne said he had someone with links to the highest level at the Immigration and Naturalization Service. That person, Osborne said, was Greg Craig, then a Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom partner, and former White House counsel to President Barack Obama.

Craig “uses an excellent specialist immigration law firm – and then gives Ali Mayorkas over at INS the heads-up,” Osborne wrote, name-dropping the then-head of the US immigration agency, who later served as Secretary of Homeland Security under President Joe Biden. “I will call you later today to coordinate.” Osborne appears to use the old name for the current US Citizenship and Immigration Services.

The email led to Skadden lawyers meeting with Epstein and Osborne on a conference call and enlisting help from an immigration firm they brought in. Craig, according to one message, was also scheduled to join the call. It’s unclear if he did. One Skadden lawyer later suggested Epstein could contact the immigration firm himself, or Skadden could reach out to another one.

Mayorkas isn’t mentioned again in the messages, and there’s no indication he was ever aware of the matter. He didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

“I wholeheartedly regret that I ever met, or had any association whatsoever with, Epstein,” Osborne said in a statement, adding that he was not aware of Epstein’s illegal behavior. Craig, now at another law firm, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

After some back and forth, the feedback that Epstein received was far from straightforward: Shuliak had overstayed her student visa – making reinstatement difficult – and even if she left the country and applied for a new one it might not be granted, one of the lawyers relayed. She also had a pending asylum case, which the lawyer called “directly inconsistent with a temporary intention to remain in the U.S. and return to one’s home country after studies.”

Epstein had a decision to make.

“We will need to decide if pushing the asylum and redoing it, is a more like path to sucess than the prosecutorial descretion re the reinstatement,” Epstein wrote back.

Skadden declined to comment. A person familiar with the situation said Skadden was never engaged to represent Epstein. The Skadden lawyers, this person said, referred Epstein to another law firm and received no payment for their involvement.

It’s not clear exactly when Epstein stopped communicating with Skadden, but the messages dried up.

By August 2013, Epstein was emailing directly with another immigration lawyer: Arda Beskardes.

“we should also talk about the marriage asap. are you in NYC?” Beskardes wrote to Epstein and a redacted email address that month.

A month later, Shuliak was in touch: ” Can we meet sometime tomorrow? That will be me and Jen,” she wrote to the lawyer.

On October 9, 2013, Shuliak got married in New York. The name of the person she married was redacted on their certificate of marriage registration, but both of them were listed as living at 301 East 66th Street in New York, an address that appears repeatedly in the files as somewhere that many women and prominent guests associated with Epstein stayed.

The next day, Shuliak reached out to Beskardes and asked for an appointment. A little over a week later, Beskardes reached out again, “so are we proceeding?”

“Yes Arda, sorry for the delay, waiting for the rest of the info from Jen,” Shuliak wrote back. Records from later that year show that Shuliak and Jennifer had a joint bank account. (Bloomberg News is withholding Jennifer’s last name for privacy reasons.)

In mid-2014, Shuliak applied for a “family based” Green Card, and by December, an interview was scheduled.

“I have received my green card!! Thank you so much for all your help!!!” Shuliak wrote to Beskardes in January 2015.

Three years later, Shuliak was in the process of becoming a naturalized US citizen. By May, she was an American, and Beskardes was suggesting party themes.

In October of the same year, Shuliak was already working on getting divorced. Less than a year later, it was done.

Beskardes, Shuliak and Jennifer didn’t respond to requests for comment.

English Language Schools

Almost a decade earlier, Shuliak had taken an important step in her immigration journey. In November 2010, a transcript shows, she started a course at the Spanish American Institute, an English-language school now in Midtown Manhattan.

The course, and others like it, appear to be a common first step that Epstein took to secure legal US status for foreign women. In many cases, enrollment got the women the paperwork that was required to get a student visa – as long as they could demonstrate sufficient funds (as much as $20,000 today) – either in their bank accounts or from a financial sponsor.

Epstein sponsored and paid fees for multiple women, according to emails, Skype messages and bank statements.

“this is the english language school that anna in paris would like to join,” Epstein wrote in 2017 to a redacted email address, mentioning the American Language Communication Center, a school that closed in 2019. “Get an I 20 issued and get a visa shees russian but staying in paris.”

The English courses often helped them prepare for the TOEFL exam, a standard requirement for foreign students wanting to study at US colleges. Epstein appears to have made sure that the women could study for the test wherever they were staying.

“Jeffrey is in need of TOEFL books again for the island,” one of his employees wrote in a 2015 email. “Can you please go to Barnes and Noble and buy 2 each of the below books (or something similar) Then Fed Ex them to the island for tomorrow delivery.” Epstein later requested 10 TOEFL prep books for his Paris apartment, emails show.

People in Epstein’s orbit also helped keep women in the US. Darren Indyke, Epstein’s long-time legal adviser, filed an application for a work visa on behalf of a woman whose name was redacted in the Justice Department files. The letter cited her work with Epstein’s foundation on a volunteer basis and also referenced her career as a model.

In a separate case, Beskardes provided a lengthy explanation for why someone described as an interior designer should be granted a work visa, after the immigration service requested more information.

The O-1 visa – reserved for foreign workers with “extraordinary ability or achievement” – was a common category that Epstein’s circle used to apply on behalf of various women. Several lawyers, including Arda, filed petitions for the visas, citing the applicants’ extraordinary abilities in fashion modeling, communications and public relations and art curation. It’s unclear how many were successful.

Epstein at one point guaranteed a $1 million credit line to agency MC2 Model Management, according to a sworn deposition by a former company bookkeeper. The agency’s founder, Jean-Luc Brunel, was alleged in a civil lawsuit to have brought girls as young as age 12 to the US for sexual purposes and provided them to his friends including Epstein. Brunel died by suicide in 2022 while facing rape charges.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/how-jeffrey-epstein-used-sham-marriages-student-visas-to-keep-women-bound-to-him-11004778?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

President Donald Trump may have expected his endorsement of a local prosecutor in the race to replace U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene to clear the Republican field. Instead, more than a dozen Republicans are still competing, turning this deeply conservative corner of Georgia into an election-year test of Trump’s hold on his Make America Great Again movement.

Clay Fuller, the former district attorney for four counties in northwest Georgia, became the presumptive frontrunner after Trump threw his support behind him on February 4, describing him as a torchbearer of MAGA.

Trump’s endorsement, however, has not deterred 14 other Republican candidates from pressing ahead in the March 10 special election, with early voting to start on Monday. Three Democratic candidates and one independent are also competing.

Several of the Republican candidates are casting themselves as the true champions of Trump’s right-wing populism, vying to fill the vacuum left by Greene, who resigned her congressional seat in January after a bitter split with the president.

Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, a mostly blue-collar corridor from Atlanta’s exurbs up to the Tennessee border, has established itself as a MAGA stronghold since Greene swept to victory in 2020 and quickly became one of the movement’s most outspoken national figures. Now, with Greene stepping aside, the district’s voters are grappling with what comes next for the party and who should lead it.

Interviews with 22 voters suggest the race remains fluid. Most Republicans said they had not settled on a candidate and that Trump’s endorsement alone won’t decide their vote.

“I’m a Trump supporter, and I respect his opinion, but he doesn’t live in this district,” said John Burdette, a voter who attended a candidate forum this week in the city of Kennesaw. “I think we have a better perspective on who is best to represent us.”

The fight to claim the mantle of MAGA standard-bearer in Greene’s district highlights how the movement nationally is evolving. While fealty to Trump is still the distinct denominator, there is increasingly less agreement on what it means to be “MAGA”, a label that now covers a far more diverse coalition.

These emerging divisions pose a risk for Republicans’ control of Congress in November’s midterm elections, creating potential openings for Democrats to take advantage of any infighting in competitive districts.

With Republicans splitting votes, political observers say the leading Democratic candidate, Shawn Harris, could gain enough support to make a runoff, set for April 7 if no candidate secures a majority.

After losing to Greene by 64.4%–35.6% in 2024, his performance will be watched to see if Democrats can sustain their recent streak of outperforming in special elections, though outright victory is seen as highly unlikely.

A U.S. Air Force veteran, Fuller said he aims to focus on bringing economic development to the district’s poorer rural communities stretching across the foothills of Appalachia. He also vowed to move past Greene’s combative style, marked by conspiracy-mongering and online attacks on Trump’s perceived enemies that drew scrutiny to the district.

“I’ve got the gear for fire and brimstone when the situation calls for it,” he told Reuters after a campaign event. “But I’m my own man. I don’t think the voters want that style again.”

‘GOD, GUNS, TRUMP’

Still, Fuller does sometimes use inflammatory rhetoric in support of Trump’s agenda.

On January 24 – the same day federal immigration officers shot and killed nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis – he pledged in a post on X that, if elected, he would nominate all Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for the Presidential Medal of Freedom and push to triple the agency’s budget.

But no candidate in the race has been as fiery or aggressive in backing the president over the years as Colton Moore, a hard-right former state senator who calls himself “Trump’s #1 Defender” and is running under the slogan “GOD. GUNS. TRUMP.”

A longtime champion of Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, Moore has repeatedly clashed with Georgia’s Republican leadership.

To Charles Stoker, an 81-year-old Republican voter, that confrontational approach is precisely what resonates with grassroots conservatives eager to challenge the establishment. He noted that a string of Georgia Republicans lost their races in the 2022 midterms despite being endorsed by Trump.

“President Trump has been getting bad advice,” he said, voicing disappointment with the Fuller endorsement. “Directions need to come from the people upward.”

Though he missed out on Trump’s endorsement, Moore has secured backing from former national security adviser Michael Flynn, former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz and the Georgia Republican Assembly, a group that represents the party’s far-right wing.
“President Trump’s going to be gone in a few years,” GRA President Nathaniel Darnell told Reuters, arguing that Moore, not Fuller, could be trusted to work in the district’s best interests.

The main differences between candidates are on style rather than substance. Some candidates have embraced the combative approach that defines Trumpism, while some have called for more civility and consensus-building in politics.

Meg Strickland, who voted for Trump, is one of the few self-described moderates in the race. She says the party should chart a new course that would see it return to its small-government roots and move away from caustic, personality-driven politics.

“I don’t think that Trump is a true conservative and I hope that we can get back there,” said the 39-year-old travel consultant and mother of three.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/maga-vs-maga-georgia-election-exposes-divisions-trumps-base-2026-02-13

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to spend $38.3 billion by the end of the year on detention centers to detain and process tens of thousands of immigrants slated for deportation, according to an overview of the plan published by New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte’s office on Thursday.

The document was provided by the Department of Homeland Security after an inquiry Ayotte made following a U.S. Senate hearing on Thursday, her office said in a press release.

ICE plans to buy 16 existing buildings and renovate them to serve as regional processing centers that can hold 1,000 to 1,500 detainees for average stays of three to seven days, according to the plan.

The agency will also open eight large detention centers capable of holding 7,000 to 10,000 detainees for an average of around 60 days that will serve as the “primary location” for immigrants being deported abroad.

In addition, ICE will acquire an additional 10 “turnkey” facilities where the agency already operates, according to the plan.

The plan states that the centers are necessary as ICE prepares for an expected surge of arrests in 2026 after the hiring of 12,000 more agents.

“This new model will allow ICE to create an efficient detention network by reducing the total number of contracted detention facilities in use while increasing total bed capacity, enhancing custody management, and streamlining removal operations,” the document reads.

ICE plans to hire contractors to conduct renovations to the buildings to build detention spaces, medical and dental services, cafeterias, lobbies, recreational areas, dormitories, and courtroom spaces. The facilities will ensure the “safe and humane civil detention of aliens,” according to the document.

The detention centers will be paid for with funds from the massive spending package the Republican-controlled Congress passed in July 2025. That package, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” included an unprecedented $170 billion for immigration enforcement, including $45 billion for detention. The 2024 fiscal year budget included $3.4 billion for immigration detention.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ice-spend-383-billion-detention-centers-across-us-document-shows-2026-02-13

TYRA Banks is returning to television and will be facing her critics head-on when ANTM returns for Cycle 25 with some major changes, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal.

Nearly a decade after America’s Next Top Model went dark, the mogul is plotting a comeback and understands that this time around, she needs to “correct past mistakes,” The U.S. Sun has learned.

ANTM is officially gearing up for Cycle 25, and insiders have exclusively spilled that the revamped season will include at least three big shake-ups that will help right the wrongs from the show’s earlier years.

The iconic modeling competition, created and hosted by Tyra, 52, at the height of her career, originally premiered in 2003 on the UPN network before later moving to The CW.

The series ran for 24 cycles, ultimately ending in 2018.

Now, nearly a decade after its final season, a source revealed that Tyra is determined to reframe the franchise for a new era.

“Tyra wanted to correct the mistakes from the original show,” an insider exclusively told The U.S. Sun. “She did not think that a simple interview would be enough for everything that happened in the original seasons.”

“She knows that the show took it too far and she knows that things that they did back then would not fly by today’s standards.

“This is her chance and her way of trying to have a more positive impact on the modeling industry.

“She learned a lot during the show and has learned a lot from her mistakes and the viewer feedback in the years since it’s been off the air.”

One of the biggest changes? A renewed focus on inclusivity.

According to the insider, Cycle 25 will spotlight “diverse body types, backgrounds, and more modern designers that are going to be a part of the show.”

The group was swept away by an avalanche after venturing off piste in the Val d’Isere area. Heavy snowfall brought by storm Nils has increased the avalanche risk in some French ski resorts.

Three skiers died in the French Alps after they went off piste and were caught in an avalanche, authorities said Friday.

They were part of a group of six that went into the mountains with a ski instructor in the Val d’Isere area in southeastern France.

The identities and nationalities of the victims were not immediately known.

According to local authorities, the group had mandatory safety equipment with them but set off despite a warning of increased avalanche risk.

Storm Nils brought heavy snow to the French Alps this week, prompting some ski resorts to close their slopes entirely on Thursday. Many ski areas in the region remained under the second-highest avalanche warning level on Friday.

The Val d’Isere municipality warned all skiers to stay on marked slopes and follow safety recommendations given the heightened danger.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/avalanche-kills-3-skiers-in-french-alps/a-75962655

US President Donald Trump says regime change in Iran is “the best thing that could happen”, signifying one of his clearest endorsements for replacing the clerical establishment.

“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking. In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives,” he said on Friday.

Trump declined to specify who he wants to lead Iran, but noted “there are people” who could take over. Iran’s clerical ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has not yet responded to Trump’s latest remarks.

Meanwhile, the US sent a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East to add pressure on Iran to secure a nuclear deal.

A Palestinian official in the occupied West Bank has described Israel’s latest expansion of control there as “the end of the road” for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

Asma al-Sharabati, acting mayor of Hebron, said new legal changes recently announced by Israeli cabinet ministers would leave Palestinian authorities shut out of decisions on urban planning and development, even in areas under Palestinian control.

Hebron is a regular flashpoint in the West Bank – a divided city, where soldiers guard hundreds of Israeli settlers living alongside Palestinians in an Israeli military garrison.

After pleading not guilty to federal civil rights charges over his coverage of a protest at a church linked to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Don Lemon called the case an attack on press freedom.

Former CNN anchor Don Lemon pleaded not guilty on Friday (Feb 13) to federal civil rights charges stemming from his coverage of an immigration protest in Minnesota.

Lemon, now an independent journalist, was among reporters who covered a protest last month at a St. Paul church where an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official is a pastor.

Lemon, another reporter and seven other people are accused of conspiring against the right to religious freedom and with interfering with the right to exercise religious freedom at a place of worship.

Lemon, who livestreamed the church protest, pleaded not guilty to the charges during a brief appearance in a federal courtroom in St. Paul, the twin city of Minneapolis.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Lemon said the charges are an attack on the First Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech and of the press.

“This isn’t just about me,” Lemon said. “This is about all journalists, especially here in the United States.”

“For more than 30 years I’ve been a journalist and the power and protection of the First Amendment has been the underpinning of my work,” he said.

“I will not be intimidated. I will not back down. I will fight these baseless charges and I will not be silenced,” Lemon said.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/don-lemon-cnn-minneapolis-immigration-crackdown-ice-trump-us-5930816

The US military said on Friday (Feb 13) it killed three alleged drug traffickers in a strike on a boat in the Caribbean, bringing the death toll in Washington’s anti-narcotics campaign to at least 133.

President Donald Trump’s administration began targeting alleged smuggling boats in early September, insisting it is effectively at war with alleged “narco-terrorists” operating out of Venezuela.

Dozens of strikes have been carried out since then.

Administration officials have provided no definitive evidence that the vessels are involved in drug trafficking, prompting heated debate about the legality of the operations that have expanded from the Caribbean to the Pacific.

“Three narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No US military forces were harmed,” US Southern Command said in a statement on X.

Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/world/3-dead-in-latest-us-military-strike-alleged-drug-boat-in-caribbean-5931086

The referendum sought people’s consent to the July National Charter 2025, which aims to completely change how the country is governed. The July Charter outlines a total of 84 reform points related to state restructuring.

February 12 was more than just general elections for Bangladesh. The results showed that the BNP-led alliance has triumphed in 210 seats, setting the stage for the formation of a new government led by party chairman Tarique Rahman, who is set to become Bangladesh’s first male prime minister in almost 35 years.

However, there was also the national referendum on the implementation of a reform package, which saw a 60.26 per cent voter turnout in Bangladesh, with the ‘yes’ vote winning a clear majority, the Election Commission announced Friday.

Per the official figures, 4,80,74,429 votes were cast in favour of “yes”, while 2,25,65,627 voters chose “no”, EC Senior Secretary Akhtar Ahmed said while talking to reporters at the EC.

What is the July Charter?
The referendum sought people’s consent to the July National Charter 2025, which aims to completely change how the country is governed. The July Charter outlines a total of 84 reform points related to state restructuring.

It was drafted after the July 2024 student-led uprising that resulted in the ouster of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

A Constitutional Reform Council is expected to execute these reforms within 270 working days.

What does the Charter propose?

The Charter’s main aim is to prevent the concentration of executive power to prevent a “recurrence of authoritarian and fascist rule” by fundamentally restructuring key state institutions. Out of the 84 reform proposals, 47 require constitutional amendments, while the rest of the 37 will be implemented through laws or executive orders, according to Bangladesh’s Business Standard.

Term Limits: Implementation of strict term limits for prime ministers to prevent long-serving autocratic rule.

Bicameral Parliament: Creation of a new 100-seat upper house, with seats allocated based on party national vote share, aimed at balancing legislative power.

Reduced Executive Power: Strengthening the role of the president to reduce the concentration of power in the prime minister’s office.

Judicial And Institutional Independence: Measures to ensure the judiciary and other key state institutions are free from political influence.

Opposition Participation: Inclusion of provisions for opposition leaders to head key parliamentary committees and serve as deputy speaker.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/70-bangladeshis-voted-yes-to-july-charter-what-does-it-mean-11001022?pfrom=home-ndtv_topscroll

The administration of President Donald Trump on Thursday announced the repeal of a scientific finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, and eliminated federal tailpipe emissions standards for cars and trucks.
It is the most sweeping climate change policy rollback by the administration to date, after a string of regulatory cuts and other moves intended to unfetter fossil fuel development and stymie the rollout of clean energy.

“Under the process just completed by the EPA, we are officially terminating the so-called endangerment finding, a disastrous Obama-era policy that severely damaged the American auto industry and drove up prices for American consumers,” Trump said, saying it was the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history.
The Environmental Protection Agency said in a press release the endangerment finding had relied on an incorrect interpretation of federal clean air laws meant to protect Americans from pollutants that do harm through local or regional exposure, not through warming the global climate.
“This flawed legal theory took the agency outside the scope of its statutory authority in multiple respects,” it said.

Trump announced the repeal beside EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and White House budget director Russ Vought, who has long sought to revoke the finding and was a key architect of conservative policy blueprint Project 2025.
Trump has said he believes climate change is a “con job”, and has withdrawn the United States from the Paris Agreement, leaving the world’s largest historic contributor to global warming out of international efforts to combat it. He has also signed legislation killing Biden-era tax credits aimed at accelerating deployment of electric cars and renewable energy.
Former President Barack Obama blasted the move on X, saying without the endangerment finding, “we’ll be less safe, less healthy and less able to fight climate change — all so the fossil fuel industry can make even more money.”

“HOLY GRAIL”

Zeldin said the Trump administration took on the most consequential climate policy of the last 15 years, something that the agency avoided during his first term amid industry concern about legal and regulatory uncertainty.
“Referred to by some as the holy grail of federal regulatory overreach, the 2009 Obama EPA endangerment finding is now eliminated,” he said.
The endangerment finding was first adopted by the United States in 2009, and led the EPA to take action under the Clean Air Act of 1963 to curb emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and four other heat-trapping air pollutants from vehicles, power plants and other industries.
It came about after the Supreme Court ruled in 2007 in the Massachusetts vs. EPA case that the agency has authority to regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.
Its repeal would remove the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal greenhouse gas emission standards for cars, but may not initially apply to stationary sources such as power plants.
The transportation and power sectors are each responsible for around a quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas output, according to EPA figures.
The EPA said the repeal and end of vehicle emission standards will save U.S. taxpayers $1.3 trillion, while the prior administration said the rules would have net benefits to consumers through lower fuel costs and other savings.

The Alliance for Automotive Innovation, representing major automakers, did not endorse the action but said “automotive emissions regulations finalized in the previous administration are extremely challenging for automakers to achieve given the current marketplace demand for EVs.”
The Environmental Defense Fund said that the repeal will end up costing Americans more, despite EPA’s statement that climate regulations have driven up costs for consumers.
“Administrator Lee Zeldin has directed EPA to stop protecting the American people from the pollution that’s causing worse storms, floods, and skyrocketing insurance costs,” said EDF President Fred Krupp. “This action will only lead to more of this pollution, and that will lead to higher costs and real harms for American families.”
Under former President Joe Biden, the EPA aimed to cut passenger vehicle fleetwide tailpipe emissions by nearly 50% by 2032 compared with 2027 projected levels and forecast between 35% and 56% of new vehicles sold between 2030 and 2032 would need to be electric.
The agency then estimated that the rules would result in net benefits of $99 billion annually through 2055, including $46 billion in reduced fuel costs, and $16 billion in reduced maintenance and repair costs for drivers.
Consumers were expected to save an average of $6,000 over the lifetime of new vehicles from reduced fuel and maintenance costs.
The coal industry celebrated the announcement on Thursday saying it would help stave off retirements of aging coal-fired power plants.
“Utilities have announced plans to retire more than 55,000 megawatts of coal-fired generation over the next five years. Reversing these retirement decisions could help offset the need to build new, more expensive electricity sources and prevent the loss of reliability attributes, such as fuel security, that the coal fleet provides,” said America’s Power President and CEO Michelle Bloodworth.

UNCERTAINTY UNBOUND

While many industry groups back the repeal of stringent vehicle emission standards, others have been reluctant to show public support for rescinding the endangerment finding because of the legal and regulatory uncertainty it could unleash.
Legal experts said the policy reversal could, for example, lead to a surge in lawsuits known as “public nuisance” actions, a pathway that had been blocked following a 2011 Supreme Court ruling that GHG regulation should be left in the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency instead of the courts.
“This may be another classic case where overreach by the Trump administration comes back to bite it,” said Robert Percival, a University of Maryland environmental law professor.
Environmental groups have slammed the proposed repeal as a danger to the climate. Future U.S. administrations seeking to regulate greenhouse gas emissions likely would need to reinstate the endangerment finding, a task that could be politically and legally complex.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-administration-set-revoke-basis-us-climate-regulation-2026-02-12/

Trump administration officials signed a final reciprocal trade agreement that confirmed a 15% U.S. tariff rate for imports from Taiwan, while committing Taiwan to a schedule for eliminating or lowering tariffs on nearly all U.S. goods.
The document released by the U.S. Trade Representative’s office on Thursday also commits Taiwan to significantly boost purchases of U.S. goods from 2025 through 2029, including $44.4 billion of liquefied natural gas and crude oil, $15.2 billion of civil aircraft and engines, $25.2 billion of power grid equipment and generators, marine and steelmaking equipment.

The agreement adds technical language, and specific details to a trade framework deal first reached in January that cut tariffs on Taiwanese goods, including from its powerhouse semiconductor industries, to 15% from the 20% initially imposed by Trump. That puts Taiwan on an equal footing with its closest Asian export competitors, South Korea and Japan.
“This is a pivotal moment for Taiwan’s economy and industries to ride the winds of change and undergo a major transformation,” Taiwan President Lai Ching-te wrote on his Facebook page.
It will optimize the Taiwan–U.S. economic and trade framework, build trustworthy industrial supply chains and establish a Taiwan–U.S. high-tech strategic partnership, he added.

Taiwan also won exemptions from reciprocal tariffs for more than 2,000 product items exported to the United States, meaning the average tariff on U.S. exports will drop to 12.33%, Lai said.
The deal will need approval by Taiwan’s parliament, where the opposition has a majority.

INVESTMENT PLEDGE

The January agreement included a pledge by Taiwan that its companies would invest $250 billion to boost production of semiconductors, energy and artificial intelligence in the U.S., including $100 billion already committed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (2330.TW). The Taiwan government would guarantee another $250 billion in U.S. investments, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
The final language did not provide further details on those investments, but said Taiwan’s representative office in the U.S. would collaborate with U.S. authorities to facilitate additional new greenfield and brownfield investments “in strategic high-technology manufacturing sectors, including AI, semiconductors, and advanced electronics.”

The deal will immediately eliminate Taiwan’s tariffs of up to 26% on many U.S. agricultural imports, including beef, dairy and corn. But some tariffs, including the current 40% tariff on pork belly and 32% on ham, will only fall to 10%, according to the tariff schedule.

The U.S. said under the deal, Taiwan will remove non-tariff barriers on motor vehicles and accept U.S. auto safety standards as well as those on medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/us-taiwan-finalize-deal-cut-tariffs-boost-purchases-us-goods-2026-02-12/

Americans are shouldering almost all of President Donald Trump’s import tax surge, a report, from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said on Thursday.
The bank said 90% of the tariffs imposed by the president on imported goods are borne by American consumers and companies. The report pushes back against the Trump administration’s argument that the levies are paid by foreigners.

The report evaluated how tariffs impacted the economy last year, when the average of the taxes went from 2.6% to 13%. The report noted that the average level shifted over the course of the year and was at its highest in April and May, when Trump pumped up tariffs on Chinese goods to 125% before lowering them back to a still heady 113%.

The authors based their analysis on how tariffs worked in the first Trump term. When faced with these types of taxes, “our past work found that foreign exporters did not lower their prices at all, so the full incidence of the tariffs was borne by the U.S. That is, there was 100% pass-through from tariffs into import prices.”
The paper said that between January and August of last year Americans took 94% of the hit from Trump’s tariffs. During September and October, that ebbed to 92%, settling to 86% in November.

The New York Fed findings jibe with a report, put out by the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday.

It said “higher tariffs directly increase the cost of imported goods, raising prices for U.S. consumers and businesses.” When it comes to who will pay the tariffs, the CBO said foreign exporters will absorb 5% of the cost, and in the near term, “U.S. businesses will absorb 30% of the import price increases by reducing their profit margins; the remaining 70% will be passed through to consumers by raising prices.”

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday on a wide-ranging set of commitments to improve how the bloc’s border-free internal market works so Europe’s businesses can be competitive and survive aggressive economic rivalry from the U.S. and China.
Meeting at a Belgian castle, the leaders stressed how urgent it was to act and agreed to speed up the completion of a savings and investment union, review merger rules to help create European champions, make it easier for companies to get started and scale up and cut red tape throughout, top EU officials said.

“One Europe one market … this is our ambition,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said, adding that the EU executive would also crack down on additional layers of legislation that member states add when implementing EU decisions.

SPEED THINGS UP

The European Commission will present in March a plan on how to proceed with this deepening of the European Union’s single market of 450 million consumers, with the aim for leaders to agree on a concrete timetable.
That will include allowing a preference for European goods in public purchases in strategic sectors, von der Leyen told a press conference at the end of the meeting.

EU growth has persistently lagged that of the United States and China and EU productivity and innovation in fields such as AI has fallen short, with the bloc also squeezed by tariffs and export curbs by its global rivals.
“The European Union must act quickly and decisively. And this commitment was unanimously emphasized by all participants today,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters.

SAVINGS UNIONS

To speed things up, von der Leyen said the EU executive arm would push on with a long delayed capital markets union that would allow some 10 trillion euros ($11.86 trillion) of savings now languishing in bank accounts to be invested in the EU economy.
“We agreed that we want to be done with phase one of the Savings and Investment Union, that includes market integration, supervision and securitisation by June,” she said.

If it is impossible to move forward quickly with all 27 EU countries at the same time, the EU would push on with the project in a smaller group of at least nine member states, she said.

ACT TOGETHER?

A key question now will be whether the EU’s 27 member states can overcome self-interest and implement a joint plan of action.
While all EU countries want a more competitive bloc, they disagree on how to get there, and have done so for years, on key issues such as whether to issue joint euro bonds, or on how to cut electricity prices.
But European Council chief Antonio Costa, speaking of Thursday’s decisions to speed up unifying Europe’s single market, said: “I think it’s really a game changer.”
One after the other, EU leaders stressed it was urgent to act.
“We share the same sense of urgency. We have to accelerate. We are shaken by competition, sometimes by unfair competition and tariffs,” French President Emmanuel Macron said.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/world/china/eu-leaders-brainstorm-how-compete-with-us-china-castle-retreat-2026-02-12/

Nick Jonas has some words of wisdom for men who love to use a Squatty Potty.

Calling the toilet stool — which allows its user to draw their legs up higher in order to ease bowel movements — “the best thing ever,” Jonas imparted advice to BBC Radio 1 host Matt Edmondson on convincing his own wife to use it.

“I’ve got one, and honestly, it’s not gone down well,” Edmonson told Jonas of his “poop stool” during the Wednesday interview — a tool the hitmaker also admitted to owning.

“Not to give you marriage advice here … you should write a letter explaining why it’s so important to you to have this,” Jonas hilariously explained.

“And even though it gets in the way, it shouldn’t get in the way of your relationship,” he added. “That’s my unsolicited marriage advice for you today.”

Fans joined the conversation in the comments thread of the interview clip. “@nickjonas you are so REAL for this!” one person wrote, while another noted the singer’s “down to earth” attitude.

A third remarked, “As a nutritionist specialist in gastroenterology and gut health, I assure you: the little bench to elevate your feet is the best thing you could do to your intestines health! :)”

Jonas, 33, tied the knot with “Citadel” star Priyanka Chopra, 43, in a lavish, multi-day ceremony back in 2018, and subsequently welcomed daughter Malti Marie via surrogate in 2022.

The “Jealous” hitmaker has shared intimate details of his marriage to the former beauty queen before. In August, he revealed a quirky bedroom habit with Chopra.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/12/celebrity-news/nick-jonas-shares-bathroom-related-marriage-advice/

The FBI has revealed new details about the suspect in Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapping, and increased the reward for key information to $100,000.

FBI Phoenix shared on X Thursday that the suspect is a male who’s approximately 5’9” – 5’10” tall, with an average build.

“Today, the FBI is increasing its reward up to $100,000 for information leading to the location of Nancy Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance,” the post read.

“New identifying details about the suspect in the kidnapping of Nancy Guthrie have been confirmed after a forensic analysis of the doorbell camera footage by the FBI’s Operational Technology Division.”

The FBI noted that the suspect was wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack. They also shared that they’ve already collected over 13,000 tips from the public related to the case.

“Every tip is reviewed for credibility, relevance, and information that can be acted upon by law enforcement,” the post read. “Threat Intake Examiners at the National Threat Operations Center (NTOC) and FBI personnel are supporting a 24-hour command post in which dozens of agents and investigators are assigned leads and tips to action each shift.”

The post concluded, “Continue to submit information to the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or http://tips.fbi.gov to help us bring Nancy home.”

Officials’ last press conference was on Feb. 5, with an initial $50,000 reward offered for “information leading to the recovery of Guthrie and/or the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in her disappearance” at the time.

Guthrie was last seen on Jan. 31. Authorities have been searching the missing 84-year-old’s home in Tucson, Ariz. as well as the neighborhood of her daughter Annie, who also lives in Tucson. Annie’s husband, Tommaso Cioni, was the last one to see Nancy when he dropped her off at home after having dinner with her and his wife.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department noted Thursday that all evidence in the case, including a suspicious black glove found Wednesday, are being “submitted for analysis … as part of the investigative process.”

The Post was first to report news of the glove, which the FBI discovered on a dirt path near Nancy’s house.

Officials are anticipating a “higher presence of law enforcement activity going forward” in the area as they “continue to follow up on viable leads throughout the community … as more leads come in” regarding Nancy’s disappearance.

Source : https://pagesix.com/2026/02/12/celebrity-news/fbi-releases-description-of-nancy-guthrie-kidnapping-suspect-as-they-increase-reward-for-key-information-to-100k/

It felt like the moment the baton was passed on.

Chloe Kim, the greatest women’s halfpipe snowboarder, and Choi Ga-on, the young protege, standing side by side on the podium.

It was expected to be a procession for American Kim to win a third consecutive Winter Olympic gold, a feat no snowboarder has ever achieved. And yet it was 17-year-old Choi on the top step at the Milan-Cortina Games.

The South Korean had defied a brutal fall in her opening run to score 90.25 points on her final attempt, a total 25-year-old Kim could not better.

It was, as Kim told BBC Sport, a “full circle moment”.

The two had met nine years ago, at a test event in Pyeongchang before the 2018 Games in which Kim, then also aged 17, would announce herself on a global stage with her first Olympic gold.

Realising her potential, Kim and her father helped Choi to travel to the United States to train.

Kim’s father, who is from South Korea, was one of the first to embrace Choi and her emotional team after her Olympic gold was confirmed.

“She’s someone I’ve known since she was little,” said Kim.

“It’s such a full circle moment seeing her from when she was so young to now standing next to her on the Olympic podium.”

Olympic gold in Italy marks the realisation of Choi’s potential, a name that has been on the lips of many in the snowboard world for some time but is now catapulted into global consciousness.

In 2023, aged just 14, Choi won X Games superpipe gold, breaking Kim’s record as the youngest rider to win the title.

That same year, she won the first World Cup she entered but was later ruled out of the remainder of that season after fracturing her back.

This Olympic season, however, she underlined her ability by winning every World Cup she entered coming into the Games.

She had managed only sixth in qualification on Wednesday as Kim topped the pile with a score of 90.25 – the exact score Choi would win gold with little more than 24 hours later.

But her final looked to be over on her very first run when she hit the icy lip of the pipe and flipped into its centre, lying motionless for some time.

As heavy snow fell, she eventually brushed herself down and later stunned the onlooking crowd with her spellbinding third run, her coach bursting into tears at the realisation of what Choi had achieved.

“It’s the kind of story you only see in dreams, so I’m incredibly happy,” said Choi.

“During the final, mentally it was so tough. But right now I am the happiest.

“My knees are a bit bad, but I feel like I’m overcoming it all with happiness.”

She later said: “After the first run, I actually cried really hard, thinking maybe I should just quit the Olympics here.

“I cried because I thought I wouldn’t be able to compete. But the thought kept coming back to me: ‘You can do this. You have to go on’. That’s what pushed me forward.”

For Kim, the build-up to the Games had been far from ideal.

With just one competition under her belt this season, she dislocated her shoulder and sustained a torn labrum in what she described as the “silliest fall” in training in Switzerland last month.

In Livigno she was competing with her shoulder in a brace but showed little sign of it affecting her.

Watched on by Team USA ‘honorary coach’ Snoop Dogg and snowboarding legend Shaun White in Thursday’s final, the eight-time X Games champion had looked set for gold after her opening run scored 88.00, with few coming close.

But Choi’s last score, met by both cheers and gasps of shock from the onlooking crowd, piled the pressure on Kim, only for a fall – one of many in what was a chaotic final – to ensure she would leave an Olympics with silver for the very first time.

Japan’s Mitsuki Ono took bronze with a score of 85.00.

Speaking to BBC Sport, Kim – who will now have surgery on her shoulder – said: “I’m so proud of myself.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/sport/articles/cly2jknym20o

Iran has been fortifying an underground complex near one of its nuclear facilities, according to analysis of new satellite images.

This activity comes at a time of heightened tensions as talks between Iranian and US officials continue, with President Donald Trump threatening fresh military action against Iran if it does not agree a new deal on its nuclear programme.

The photos, first analysed by the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), a US-based think tank, show tunnel entrances being strengthened at Mount Kolang Gaz La – also known as Pickaxe Mountain.

Experts say this facility may be designed to protect Iran’s uranium enrichment activities or key equipment, but its exact purpose – and whether it is operational – remains unclear.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and denies it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

However, Trump said Iran was as little as a month away from having a nuclear weapon in June 2025, when he ordered strikes on three underground nuclear sites where centrifuges were being used to produce highly enriched uranium during a 12-day war between Israel and Iran last year.

Trump said the strikes had “obliterated” Iran’s enrichment capacity, but that Iranian officials “were thinking about starting a new site”.

Pickaxe Mountain was not one of the locations attacked in US and Israeli air strikes in June 2025, but the Natanz nuclear facility, located about 2km (1.24 miles) north, was hit.

A satellite image from 10 February shows what appears to be fresh concrete laid on top of one of the Pickaxe Mountain entrance areas.

A boom pump used to deliver concrete can be seen at the location, analysts from both ISIS and UK-based intelligence analysis firm Maiar agreed.

At another tunnel entrance, rock and soil has been pushed back and flattened. There’s also a new concrete-reinforced structure nearby.

Experts at ISIS suggest these changes are intended to strengthen the tunnel entrances and give additional protection against a potential air strike.

ISIS says the ongoing presence of heavy construction machinery and material indicates the facility is not likely to be ready for operations yet.

“In the past, Iran has tied the construction to rebuilding an advanced centrifuge assembly plant, but the size of the facility, as well as the protection provided by the tall mountain, raised immediate concern whether additional sensitive activities are planned, such as uranium enrichment,” they said.

Satellite images also show repair work and defensive strengthening has been taking place at the nearby Natanz nuclear site and at the Isfahan nuclear complex, 125km (77 miles) to the north, in recent weeks.

At Isfahan, all entrances to its tunnel complex now appear to be sealed off with earth, satellite images reviewed by ISIS reveal.

Backfilling the tunnel entrances like this would “help dampen” any air strike, ISIS says, as well as help to defend against a land-based assault to seize or destroy any highly enriched uranium that may be housed inside.

Also at Isfahan nuclear site, a new roof has been constructed. The building, attacked in an Israeli strike last year, is thought have been used in the manufacture of centrifuges.

Above-ground work is also visible at Natanz nuclear facility at a location damaged in air strikes by both Israel and the US last June. Between early December and January a roof has been built over a damaged anti-drone cage at an enrichment plant.

ISIS has assessed the roof was added to block the view of anyone trying to observe what Iran was doing beneath it.

Prof Sina Azodi, director of the Middle East Studies Program at George Washington University in the US, says Iran is “operating under the assumption that the attacks are going to happen and they need to protect the facilities as much as they can”.

“[The] Iranian nuclear programme hasn’t been destroyed,” he added. “Clearly once you have the knowledge and capacity and technology to reconstruct the programme, you can always rebuild everything.”

Rafael Grossi, the head of the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the BBC a new nuclear deal between Iran and the US was possible and was urgently needed.

Source : https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwygxz81330o