Cyclone slams into Madagascar, killing at least 20 people
[unable to retrieve full-text content] Officials in Madagascar say building collapses are responsible for many of the confirmed 20 deaths from Cyclone Gezani.
Atletico Madrid vs Barcelona: Copa del Rey – team news, start time, lineups
All to know as La Liga leaders Barcelona clash with Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Copa del Rey semifinal. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 5 mins info Who: Atletico Madrid vs BarcelonaWhat: Copa del Rey semifinalWhere: Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid, SpainWhen: Thursday at 9pm (20:00 GMT)How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport will have live text and photo coverage of the Copa del Rey semifinal. Spanish football titans Atletico and Barcelona will lock horns on Thursday in Madrid with nothing less than a place in the Copa del Rey final on the line. The match is the opening semifinal leg of the competition. The return leg will be played at Barcelona’s Nou Camp Stadium on March 4. Who are the defending Copa champions? Barcelona are the reigning champions after they won the 2025 final 3-2 against Real Madrid for a record-extending 32nd Copa del Rey title. The match was played on April 26 at La Cartuja Stadium in Seville. There has been no repeat Copa champion since Barcelona won it four years straight from 2015 to 2018. When did Barcelona and Atletico last meet? The teams last played in a La Liga fixture on December 2 with Atletico – arriving at Camp Nou on a seven-game winning run in all competitions – striking first when Spanish international Alex Baena put the visitors up inside 20 minutes. But Barcelona rallied strongly with goals by Raphinha, Dani Olmo and Ferran Torres, handing Madrid their first La Liga defeat in more than three months with a resounding 3-1 result. Ferran Torres, centre, scores Barcelona’s third goal in their 3-1 victory against Atletico Madrid on December 2, 2025 [Nacho Doce/Reuters] How did Atletico and Barcelona reach the semifinals? Atletico Madrid advanced to the last four of the Copa del Rey with an emphatic 5-0 win at Real Betis as new signing Ademola Lookman scored on his Rojiblanco debut. Advertisement Goals by Lamine Yamal and Ronald Araujo helped Barcelona reach the semifinal with a nervy 2-1 win at Albacete. The defending champions were pushed to the end in a tight quarterfinal clash by their second division opponents, who stunned Real Madrid in the previous round. Head-to-head Barcelona and Atletico have faced off 249 times in official competition with the first match dating back to April 19, 1925, in the Copa del Rey. Blaugrana holds the head-to-head advantage with 113 victories compared with Madrid’s 79 wins with 57 draws. Atletico’s team news Manager Diego Simeone may be without duo Marc Pubill (illness) and Nicolas Gonzalez (physical discomfort). Both are listed as questionable, and either could still play a part against Barca. Johnny Cardoso is out after the American sustained a low-grade muscle injury training before Thursday’s Copa del Rey quarterfinal against Real Betis. Midfielder Pablo Barrios remains on the sidelines with a thigh injury. Predicted lineup (4-4-2): Oblak (goalkeeper); Llorente, Pubill, Hancko, Ruggeri; Simeone, Mendoza, Koke, Baena; Griezmann, Lookman Barcelona’s Marcus Rashford, right, will not be joining his teammate Robert Lewandowski on the forward line against Atletico Madrid [File: Albert Gea/Reuters] Barcelona’s team news In a last-minute blow, Marcus Rashford is out of the Atletico clash after receiving a knee knock during Barcelona’s 3-0 win over Real Mallorca on Saturday, according to the official FC Barcelona website. Head coach Hansi Flick could also be without Frenkie de Jong (groin), who is listed as doubtful. Teenager Marc Bernal would be the most likely replacement for the Dutchman in the central midfield role. Brazilian superstar Raphinha (thigh injury) is close to a return but will miss this fixture. Pedri (hamstring) and Gavi (knee) continue to be sidelined with longer-term injuries. Predicted lineup (4-3-3): J Garcia (goalkeeper); Kounde, Cubarsi, E Garcia, Balde; Olmo, Bernal, Lopez; Yamal, Lewandowski, Torres Form Guide: Atletico Madrid: W-L-D-W-L (all competitions, most recent result last) Barcelona: W-W-W-W-W Which team has won the most Copa del Rey titles? Barcelona: 32 Athletic Bilbao: 24 Real Madrid: 20 Atletico Madrid: 10 Valencia: eight Is the Copa del Rey the oldest Spanish competition? Yes. Founded in 1903 and organised by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the Copa del Rey is the oldest Spanish football competition played at a national level. The Copa del Rey winners qualify for the next season’s UEFA Europa League. If the winner has already qualified for Europe through their La Liga ladder position, the Europa League spot is awarded to the next highest placed team that has not yet qualified. The Copa del Rey trophy [File: Fran Santiago/Getty Images] Adblock test (Why?)
Why is the issue of Syrian prisoner repatriation from Lebanon complicated?
Beirut, Lebanon – The Lebanese and Syrian governments have reached a deal to repatriate about 300 Syrian inmates in Lebanese prisons back to their home country in a move that could pave the way for better relations between the two neighbours. The issue of Syrian prisoners in Lebanon has been a priority for Damascus since the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime in December 2024. Relations between the two countries have long been marked by what many Lebanese describe as nearly 30 years of occupation and a tutelage rule by Syria over Lebanon, which ended when Syria withdrew its troops in 2005. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list About 2,400 Syrian prisoners are currently in Lebanese prisons. Some are held on “terrorism” charges while others are held for links to attacks against the Lebanese army. But most have never been tried despite having spent years in jail, largely due to a myriad of issues, including political gridlock, judicial strikes and general political indifference. And while the deal reached on Friday may signal the beginning of a new relationship between Syria and Lebanon – one built on mutual respect rather than Syria’s direct or indirect control of the smaller state on its western border – it did not come about without any public controversy. In Syrian eyes, many of the prisoners are being held for political rather than judicial reasons. The government of President Ahmed al-Sharaa believes they are in prison mostly due to the influence of the former al-Assad regime and its Hezbollah allies in Lebanon. Advertisement But for many Lebanese, anyone accused of attacks against the Lebanese armed forces should not be released. “Lebanon has long insisted that anyone Syrian or otherwise accused of committing serious crimes against the Lebanese army should not be extradited,” David Wood, the senior Lebanon analyst at the International Crisis Group, told Al Jazeera. “That has been one key obstacle to resolving this prisoner agreement up until now.” Political prisoners? Lebanese-Syrian relations have long been complex. Under Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and later his son Bashar, Syrian forces controlled Lebanon from 1976 to 2005. Even after Syrian troops withdrew from Lebanon, Syria maintained influence over Lebanon via its allies there, including the political and military group Hezbollah. When the 2011 Syrian uprising began and was subsequently repressed by Bashar al-Assad’s regime, Syria’s border with Lebanon soon became a hotspot for the transportation of people – both fighters and refugees – weapons and drugs. Under the agreement signed by Lebanese and Syrian officials, about 300 Syrian prisoners in Lebanese jails will be transferred to Syria in the next three months [Wael Hamzeh/EPA] In Lebanon, the Syrian war had a strong impact. It spilled over into clashes in the northern city of Tripoli; the Battle of Abra, which involved firebrand anti-Assad sheikh Ahmad al-Assir and Lebanese-Palestinian pop star Fadel Shaker; battles with Hezbollah and the Lebanese army on one side and ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda-aligned groups on the other; and attacks on Beirut’s southern suburbs. In the intervening years, hundreds of Syrians were arrested by Lebanese authorities and held in Lebanon’s overcrowded prisons. When the al-Assad regime fell, the new Syrian government quickly looked to reframe the relationship with Lebanon, expressing an interest in building ties based on mutual respect and interests. Among Damascus’s priorities were delineating their shared border and economic and security cooperation. But it also prioritised the repatriation of Syrians in Lebanese prisons. “The allegation from Damascus is that in many cases the reason for [imprisonment] is political and specifically due to perceived ties between the inmates and groups that were opposed to the former regime of Bashar al-Assad,” Wood said. In its view, “it was actually Assad’s Lebanese allies who conspired to make sure that these people were imprisoned in Lebanon.” By that logic, the fall of al-Assad and the weakening of Hezbollah after Israel’s 2024 war on Lebanon meant that these prisoners should be released. Advertisement Some Lebanese disagree and see the issue as more of a grey area. Even if the Syrian prisoners in question had fought Hezbollah, it had been at a time when the Shia group had been coordinating with the Lebanese army – and, for many Lebanese, fighting the army is a red line. An important step On Friday, the agreement was signed with a number of Lebanese ministers present, including Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, Deputy Prime Minister Tarek Mitri and the two countries’ justice ministers. “This is a very important first step on the road of a comprehensive treatment regarding Syrian prisoners in Lebanese prisons,” Mitri said to reporters on Friday. Syrian Justice Minister Mazhar al-Wais said: “This step will boost existing confidence, and we hope that relations will progress more.” The agreement reportedly stipulates that over the next three months, about 300 prisoners will be repatriated to Syria and those serving time for serious crimes, such as rape or murder for example, must have served 10 or more years of their sentences in Lebanese prisons to be eligible for repatriation. Lebanese prisoners, such as al-Assir, are not included in the deal. But other issues remain. Among them are Lebanon’s backlogged judicial system and issues related to Lebanese inmates in Syrian prisons. Only about 750 Syrian prisoners out of the 2,400 have been convicted. That means roughly 65 percent of prisoners are not eligible for repatriation yet. Fadel Abdulghany of the Syrian Network for Human Rights described this as a “two-track” problem. On his personal website, Abdulghany noted that the transfer of prisoners convicted with final sentences can be carried out with a “swift step”. However, for those who have yet to be convicted, the issue is not as straightforward. A mechanism for pretrial detention has not yet been agreed by the respective authorities. “This is not merely a Syrian issue but one that touches the very structure of the Lebanese criminal justice system,” Abdulghany wrote. “Therefore, transferring convicts will not resolve the problem, because the root cause is the slow pace of procedures in
Canada school shooting live: 10 dead in British Columbia’s Tumbler Ridge
blinking-dotLive updatesLive updates, At least 27 people have been injured in the shooting at Tumbler Ridge Secondary School in remote town near the Rocky Mountains. Published On 11 Feb 202611 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)
Palestinians sense West Bank annexation after Israel approves new rules
Israeli government moves to change rules around land registration in the West Bank, making it easier for Israeli Jews to buy property in the illegally occupied territory, are raising alarm among Palestinians, fearful that the new rules will establish defacto Israeli annexation. The Israeli cabinet announced the decisions on Sunday. In addition to allowing Jews to buy property in the West Bank – a Palestinian territory that Israel has occupied since 1967 in defiance of international law – the Israeli government has also ordered that land registries in the West Bank be opened up to the public. That means that it will be easier for Israelis looking to take territory in the West Bank to find out who the owner of the land is, opening them up to harassment and pressure. The cabinet also decreed that authority over building permits for illegal Jewish settlements in Hebron, and the Ibrahimi Mosque compound, would pass to Israel from the Palestinian Hebron municipality. Moataz Abu Sneina has seen Israel’s efforts to seize Palestinian land first hand. He is the director of the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron, a Palestinian national symbol and an important Islamic holy site due to its connection to the Prophet Ibrahim, also known as Abraham. Abu Sneina said that the latest Israeli decisions reflect a clear intention to increase Israeli control over Hebron’s Old City, and the Ibrahimi Mosque compound. “What is happening today is the most serious development since 1967,” Abu Sneina said. “We view it with grave concern for the Old City and the Ibrahimi Mosque, which is the symbol and beating heart of Hebron, and the shrine of the patriarchs and prophets.” Advertisement The Ibrahimi Mosque site is also revered by Jews, who refer to it as the Tomb of the Patriarchs. An Israeli Jewish settler killed 29 Palestinians after opening fire on Muslims praying at the mosque in 1994. Shortly afterwards, Israeli authorities divided the site into Jewish and Muslim prayer areas, and far-right Israeli settlers continue to strengthen their control over areas of Hebron. Despite only numbering a few hundred, the settlers have taken over large areas of the city centre, protected by the Israeli military. Abu Sneina explained that Israel has repeatedly attempted to strengthen its foothold inside Hebron and the mosque, and that the latest government moves are a continuation of Israeli policy that has only increased since the October 2023 start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. “This has taken the form of increased settler incursions, restrictions on worshippers, control over entry and exit, and bans on the call to prayer – all part of a systematic policy aimed at complete control over the holy site,” Abu Sneina said. “[Israel] continues to violate all agreements, foremost the Hebron Protocol, closing most entrances to the mosque and leaving only one fully controlled access point,” he added. “This paves the way for a new division or an even harsher reality than the temporal and spatial division imposed since the 1994 massacre.” Taking over Hebron Mohannad al-Jaabari, the director of the Hebron Rehabilitation Committee, a Palestinian organisation focused on the restoration of Hebron’s Old City, said that the Israeli government was already increasing its presence on the ground, in an effort to take control of the city. He pointed to the confiscation of shops belonging to the Hebron Municipality in the Old City, the construction of dozens of illegal settlement units, and the reconfiguration of water pipes by connecting them to an Israeli water company’s network, creating what he described as “a massive apartheid system”. Al-Jaabari warned that the ultimate goal is to establish a Jewish quarter linking settlements to the Ibrahimi Mosque by emptying Palestinian neighbourhoods of their residents. “All Hebron institutions are preparing for a difficult phase,” he said. “We are bracing for a fierce attack on Palestinian institutions, foremost the Rehabilitation Committee.” The Israeli government’s latest decisions open the door for what has happened in Hebron to happen elsewhere, with Israeli settlers establishing a presence in other Palestinian cities, forcing locals out, experts say. Advertisement Nabil Faraj, a Palestinian journalist and political analyst, called the Israeli government’s moves “dangerous” and added that they “have driven the final nail into the coffin of the peace process”. He explained that Israel is reengineering the geographic landscape of the West Bank, expanding infrastructure to serve settlements, and seeking to strip the Palestinian Authority of administrative and security control. The Hebron model Palestinians in Bethlehem are now worried that they will get a taste of what Hebron has already experienced. One of the Israeli cabinet’s decisions on Sunday stipulated that the Bilal bin Rabah Mosque in the city, known to Jews as Rachel’s Tomb, would be placed under Israeli administration for cleaning and maintenance, after previously being under the jurisdiction of the Bethlehem municipality. The mosque’s cemetery has also been affected. “It will affect the living and the dead,” said Bassam Abu Srour, who lives in Bethlehem’s Aida refugee camp. “Annexing the area would prevent burials and visits to the Islamic cemetery. This is extremely serious and completely unacceptable to us.” In Bethlehem, Hebron, and the rest of the West Bank, Palestinians feel powerless to stop what they view as a creeping annexation. Mamdouh al-Natsheh, a shop owner in Hebron, said he now has a growing sense that what is unfolding is an attempt to impose a permanent reality. “The city is being taken from its people step by step,” he said. “Daily restrictions are turning it into a fixed policy that suffocates every detail of life.” He added that the deepest impact is on children and young people, growing up in a city that is “divided and constantly monitored”, stripping them of a natural sense of the future. “I fear the day will come when we are told this area has been officially annexed, and that our presence depends on permits,” al-Natsheh said. “In Hebron, a house is not just walls – it is history and identity. Any annexation means the loss of security
Young and old struggle to get their studies back on track in Gaza
Nuseirat, Gaza Strip – Nibal Abu Armana sits in her tent, where she has been teaching her seven-year-old son, Mohammed, basic literacy and numbers. Nibal, a 38-year-old mother of six, is forced to rely on the dim light from a battery-powered LED lamp. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list After two hours, Nibal and Mohammed’s eyes are exhausted. This is what education is like for many in Gaza. The majority of Palestinians in the enclave live like Nibal and her family: displaced and forced to survive in temporary shelters barely fit for habitation. But Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, has gone on for more than two years, and the necessary reconstruction is unlikely to happen any time soon. The majority of school buildings have been damaged or destroyed by Israel, along with the majority of other structures in Gaza. Many of the school structures that remain are now used as shelters for displaced families. And students – both children at schools and young adults at universities – have largely missed any form of regular education since the war began in October 2023. “My children used to have a routine before the war: wake up early, go to school, get back home, have lunch, play, write homework, and sleep early,” Nibal told Al Jazeera. “There was a sense of discipline.” Now, she said, her children’s days are structured around their basic needs: sourcing water, getting meals from a charity kitchen, and finding something to burn on the fire for cooking and warmth. After all of that, there is little time left in the day to study. Advertisement Nibal, originally from the Bureij camp but now living in central Gaza’s Nuseirat, said her children struggled, especially at the start of the war, when all forms of education stopped for months. And now, even though circumstances are getting better, it is hard to catch up. Many older children, who have missed out on education at a vital period of their lives, are unwilling to resume their studies. “My eldest son, Hamza, is 16 years old, and he entirely rejects the idea of going back to school,” Nibal said. “He has been cut off from learning for so long and lived in displacement that he lost interest in education. He has new responsibilities. He works with his dad as a porter, helping people carry their aid boxes. He focuses on working to get money to buy food for us and buy himself clothes.” “He grew up before his time; he bears the responsibilities and thinks like a parent would for his youngest siblings,” she said. Nibal’s second son, 15-year-old Huzaifa, is eager to keep learning, but uncertain of his future, as he thinks it will take him years to make up for the time he has lost being unable to study properly. For now, he is studying, but he is forced to attend classes in a makeshift tent classroom. “I feel tired sitting on the ground, and my back and neck ache while writing and looking at the teachers,” Huzaifa said. Attacks on education Since Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, 745,000 students have been out of formal schooling, including 88,000 higher education students who have been forced to put their studies on hold. Even with a “ceasefire” being in place since October, which Israel continues to violate, more than 95 percent of the significantly damaged school buildings require rehabilitation or reconstruction, according to UNESCO satellite damage assessments. At least 79 percent of higher education campuses and 60 percent of vocational training centres are also damaged or destroyed. Ahmad al-Turk, the dean of public relations and assistant to the president of the Islamic University of Gaza, said that Israel has been deliberately attacking education. “Targeting professors affects future generations, especially given the experience and skills these professors possess in their fields of specialisation,” al-Turk said. “There is no doubt that the absence of competent professors negatively affects students’ achievement, as well as the research process in the future.” This is particularly worrying for Raed Salha, a professor at the Islamic University and an expert on regional and urban planning. Advertisement “University expertise is not something that can be replaced quickly,” he said. “It is cumulative knowledge built through years of teaching and research. Losing it – whether through death, forced displacement, or prolonged disruption – is a devastating loss for students, academic institutions, and society as a whole.” Most families and university students also struggle with the online education system, as it is difficult to afford to buy electronic devices and mobile phones, even before taking into account the weak internet connection in Gaza. “Teachers are trying to teach; students are trying to follow, but the tools are almost nonexistent,” Salha said. “We cannot recreate the experience of students leaving home in the morning, meeting friends, sitting in university courtyards, libraries, laboratories, or participating in activities and events,” he said. “This experience shaped generations of students’ identities and sense of belonging. Today, it is being taken away from them.” Students sit in a classroom at the Islamic University in Gaza City after partially resuming face-to-face learning [Mustafa Salah/Al Jazeera] University challenges University student Osama Zimmo explained that getting used to online learning has been a challenge. “We became names on screens, not students living a full experience,” the 20-year-old civil engineering student from Gaza City said. Osama had enrolled to study computer systems engineering at Gaza’s al-Azhar University before the war, and completed the first year of his studies. But despite his initial passion for that field, it became difficult to continue his studies online once the university shifted to e-learning. “I found that I didn’t have a laptop, stable electricity, or good internet, and even my phone was old and unreliable,” he said, adding that uncertainty over when the war would end and the impact of artificial intelligence gave him pause about his chosen field. Eventually, he decided to switch his major, starting a
Five employees of Canadian mine found dead in Mexico, authorities say
Mexican authorities say they are working to identify five other bodies after 10 workers were kidnapped last month. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 2 mins info Published On 10 Feb 202610 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Five of 10 employees who were abducted from a Canadian-run mine in Mexico last month have been confirmed as dead, authorities said. Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office said on Monday that authorities have identified five bodies found at a property in El Verde, a rural locality in the state of Sinaloa, and are working to identify the remains of five other people. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “It is important to note that prosecutorial authorities have remained in contact with the victims’ relatives,” the office said in a statement. “In the cases where the bodies have already been identified, they will be transferred to the states of Zacatecas in two cases, as well as to Chihuahua, Sonora, and Guerrero,” it added. Authorities, who last week arrested four people in connection with the case, will continue gathering evidence to ensure the killings “do not go unpunished”, the office said without providing information on a possible motive. Vizsla Silver, the operator of the Panuco gold and silver mine located near Mazatlan, Sinaloa, said earlier on Monday that it had been informed by a number of families that their loved ones had been found dead. “We are devastated by this outcome and the tragic loss of life. Our deepest condolences are with our colleagues’ families, friends and co-workers, and the entire community of Concordia,” Michael Konnert, president and CEO of Vizsla Silver, said in a statement. “Our focus remains on the safe recovery of those who remain missing and on supporting all affected families and our people during this incredibly difficult time,” Konnert said. Advertisement Vizsla Silver, based in Vancouver, reported on January 28 that 10 of its workers had been taken from its project site and that it had informed authorities. Sinaloa has been rocked by escalating gang violence linked to a rivalry between factions affiliated with two cofounders of the Sinaloa Cartel, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, both of whom are in custody in the United States. The western state in Mexico saw more than 1,680 homicides in 2025, making it the most violent year in more than a decade, according to a tally by the Mexican newspaper Milenio. Adblock test (Why?)
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,447
These are the key developments from day 1,447 of Russia’s war on Ukraine. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 6 mins info Published On 10 Feb 202610 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Here is where things stand on Tuesday, February 10: Fighting Russian overnight drone attacks on Ukraine, including in the eastern Kharkiv and Chernihiv regions, killed at least four people. A mother and her 10-year-old son were killed in the attacks, which also knocked out power to tens of thousands of people, Ukrainian officials said. Ukraine’s Air Force said Russia launched 11 ballistic missiles and 149 drones against Ukraine overnight. Of the drones launched, 116 were shot down or neutralised, and some missiles were intercepted and did not reach their targets, the Air Force said. Russian attacks have damaged production sites of Ukraine’s state-run oil and gas company Naftogaz in the Poltava and Sumy regions of the country, the company’s CEO, Sergii Koretskyi, said in a Facebook post. Koretskyi said it was the 20th attack on the company’s infrastructure since the start of this year. Russian forces are trying to press forward around the city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, Kyiv’s military said, hoping to conclude a months-long campaign to seize the strategic hub as Moscow seeks to capture the whole of the Donetsk region. The fall of Pokrovsk would mark Russia’s biggest battlefield victory since it seized the eastern city of Avdiivka in early 2024. Kyiv’s General Staff said its forces still hold the northern part of Pokrovsk, a city with a pre-war population of 60,000, and are also defending the smaller city of Myrnohrad nearby. Pokrovsk has been the site of fierce fighting since last year. Advertisement Weapons Ukraine is opening up exports of its domestically produced weapons, including combat drones, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, as a way for Kyiv to earn money from wartime technology and generate badly needed funds for the country. Zelenskyy said that 10 “export centres” for Ukrainian weapons would be opened in 2026 across Europe. Ukraine and France have agreed to start “large-scale” joint weapons production, Ukrainian Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on the Telegram messaging app, after hosting his French counterpart, Catherine Vautrin, in Kyiv. Fedorov did not specify what arms would be produced with France or when manufacturing would be launched. Politics and diplomacy An agreement on ending Russia’s war on Ukraine must also take into consideration security guarantees for Russia, Russian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Grushko told the Izvestia media outlet. These guarantees include the rejection of any deployment in Ukraine of troops from NATO states, he said. Russia remains open to cooperation with the United States, but is not hopeful about economic ties despite Washington’s ongoing efforts to end the war in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Russia-based media outlet TV BRICS. Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has claimed that suspects held for the shooting of one of the country’s most senior military intelligence officers in Moscow last week, Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev, have confessed that they were carrying out orders from the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). The FSB also claimed that Polish intelligence was involved in their recruitment. Neither Ukraine nor Poland has commented on the allegations. India plans to maintain multiple sources of energy supply and diversify them when needed, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said. The minister’s comments come after US President Donald Trump said last week that New Delhi had “committed to stop directly or indirectly” importing fuel from Russia. Germany has indicted a Ukrainian national in connection with allegations of a plot linked to Russian intelligence to detonate parcel packages in Europe, German prosecutors said in a statement. The suspect was arrested in Switzerland in May of last year and extradited to Germany in December. Moscow has previously denied involvement in the alleged plot. Sanctions The European Union has proposed extending its sanctions against Russia to include ports in Georgia and Indonesia that handle Russian oil, the first time the bloc would target ports in third countries that deal with Russia, the Reuters news agency reported, citing a proposal document. The proposal bars EU companies and individuals from conducting transactions with the ports. The EU also proposed adding two Kyrgyz banks – Keremet and OJSC Capital Bank of Central Asia – to its sanctions list for providing crypto asset services to Russia, as well as banks in Laos and Tajikistan, while removing two Chinese lenders. If approved, the listed banks would be barred from transactions with EU individuals and companies. The EU document proposes the inclusion in the sanctions list of 30 individuals and 64 companies, seeking a freeze on their assets and travel bans. These include Bashneft, a listed subsidiary of Russia’s oil behemoth Rosneft, as well as eight Russian refineries, among them two major Rosneft-controlled plants – Tuapse and Syzran. The proposal stops short of listing Rosneft or Lukoil, already hit by US sanctions. Advertisement Sport Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych said a helmet he has used in training at the Milano Cortina Games with images of compatriots killed during the war in Ukraine cannot be used in Olympic competition, after having been told by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that it violates a rule on political statements. Ukrainian Minister of Sports Matvii Bidnyi has decried actions by the IOC that Kyiv says indicate that the organisation may soon ease restrictions against Russian athletes, allowing them to once again represent their country in future Olympic Games. Bidnyi told The Associated Press news agency that any change would be “irresponsible” and appear to condone Russia’s invasion, as the war’s fourth anniversary approaches. Smoke billows following Russian double-tap Shahed drone attacks against a petrol station in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region, on Monday [Maria Senovilla/EPA] Adblock test (Why?)
US kills two people in attack on boat in eastern Pacific, one survivor
The US military says one person survived the strike on the vessel and that the coastguard has been notified. Listen to this article Listen to this article | 2 mins info Published On 10 Feb 202610 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share The United States military has attacked a boat in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, and notifying the US coastguard that one person survived the strike. The US Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said the “lethal kinetic strike” was carried out on Monday against a vessel, which it alleged was involved in drug trafficking without providing any evidence. Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list “Two narco-terrorists were killed and one survived the strike. Following the engagement, US SOUTHCOM immediately notified U.S. Coast Guard to activate the Search and Rescue system for the survivor,” the military said. Last week, the US claimed responsibility for killing two people in an earlier attack in the eastern Pacific, bringing to three the number of attacks Washington has ordered on vessels since its forces abducted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a bloody nighttime raid on the capital, Caracas, in early January. According to monitors and tallies kept by media organisations, the US has now carried out some 37 attacks against 39 vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean Ocean, killing at least 130 people, including the latest killings on Monday. SOUTHCOM did not provide details on the medical condition of the survivor from Monday’s attack, nor the chances of the person’s rescue by the US coastguard and the likelihood of their survival. The US appears undeterred in carrying out its deadly operations in international waters off Latin America, despite legal scholars, rights workers and regional leaders accusing the US of extrajudicial killing by acting as the judge, jury and executioner in cases of people suspected of drug trafficking. Advertisement Officials in the administration of US President Donald Trump have already come under scrutiny for reports that the first such attack, which took place in September 2025, included a follow-up strike that killed survivors who were clinging to the wreckage of a boat. Legal experts said the US military committed a crime if it killed the survivors of a shipwreck . SOUTHCOM released a 10-second video of the air strike on Monday. In the video, a small, motorised boat can be seen in the military’s crosshairs before it is hit, triggering an explosion seconds later. Some of the boat’s structure appears to remain intact after the explosion, although the vessel slows down. Adblock test (Why?)
Japanese PM after landslide victory: ‘I do not fear any challenges’
NewsFeed Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s coalition won 352 of the 465 seats in the lower house of Parliament, its best result ever at the polls. Experts say the decisive victory will pave the way for a defence expansion that China has condemned as a return to militarism. Published On 9 Feb 20269 Feb 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Adblock test (Why?)