South Korea’s spy agency told lawmakers on Thursday that it believes the teenage daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is close to being designated as the country’s future leader as he moves to extend the family dynasty to a fourth generation. National Intelligence Service officials said they are closely monitoring whether Kim’s daughter — believed to be named Kim Ju Ae, 13 — appears with him before thousands of delegates at the upcoming Workers’ Party Congress. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 09:10 AM IST | Seoul | AgenciesLatvian startup Deep Space Energy is developing a compact radioisotope power generator that it says can deliver the same output as legacy space nuclear systems while using five times less fuel. The system converts heat from radioactive decay into electricity. The heat source comes from radioisotopes extracted from commercial nuclear reactor waste, primarily Americium-241. The generator is designed as an auxiliary or primary power source for satellites operating where solar energy is unreliable or insufficient. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 09:03 AM IST | Riga | AgenciesThe counting of votes was underway on Thursday after Bangladeshis cast ballots in the crucial 13th general elections to elect a new government to replace the interim administration which took charge after the Awami League collapse in 2024. The counting began after voting concluded at 4.30 pm. However, in places where voters were in line inside the polling station, voting was to continue. Meanwhile, a crude bomb blast at Makhati Gurucharan High School poll station in Munshiganj caused a brief disruption. There were no casualties. Discrepancies As polling continued, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Khaleduz Zaman alleged discrepancies. “Someone is sealing the papers without a polling agent present. I have seen this in some places. We were hopeful to win the election, but if this happens, how can we have hopes...” he said. No ‘boat’ symbol For the first time in 30 years, the election symbol of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s Awami League — a boat — didn’t appear in Bangladesh’s general election. The Election Commission had suspended the party’s registration last year. Hindu tea worker killed A bloodied body of a Hindu tea garden worker, Ratan Shuvo Kar, 28, was found with his hands and legs tied with ropes in the Moulvibazar area in northeast Bangladesh, reports said on Thursday. This is the second murder of a Hindu person in as many days. Kar worked at a tea garden 200 km northeast of Dhaka. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 08:57 AM IST | Dhaka | AgenciesAn international research collaboration has developed a nickel-iron battery prototype that recharges in seconds and maintains its performance for over 12,000 cycles. This endurance is equivalent to more than 30 years of daily recharges. It is a good fit for storing excess electricity generated at solar farms during the daytime. However, it does not yet match the energy density of lithium-ion batteries. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 08:54 AM IST | Los Angeles | AgenciesRussia launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities in overnight attacks into Thursday. Russia fired 219 long-range strike drones, 24 ballistic missiles, and a guided aircraft missile at Ukraine, with targets being the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the second-largest city of Kharkiv, Dnipro in central Ukraine, and the southern port city of Odesa. The US has proposed further peace negotiations next week. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 08:51 AM IST | Kyiv | AgenciesLeaders from across the European Union were set to meet on Thursday in the Belgian 16th-century Alden Biesen Castle as the bloc faces antagonism from US President Donald Trump, strong-arm economic tactics from China, and hybrid threats from Russia that have prompted a rethink of Europe’s approach to diplomacy and trade. “We all know we must change course, and we all know the direction,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told a meeting with some European leaders on Wednesday. “Yet it sometimes feels like we’re standing on the bridge of the ship staring at the horizon without being able to touch the helm.” This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever
13 February,2026 08:42 AM IST | Brussels | AgenciesThe events in Balochistan have left the Pakistan establishment embarrassed as the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) has claimed that it killed at least 280 Pakistani personnel during Phase II of "Operation Herof". Reports from Balochistan state that many Pakistani personnel are quickly retreating as they are not able to scale up to the level that the BLA has. The BLA has said that it lost 35 of its fighters. This includes 18 suicide attackers from the Majeed Brigade. Indian officials say that the Pakistan establishment and the Baloch people have been waging a battle for nearly 60 years. However, this is the most intense battle and the Pakistan security establishment is set to face losses that it would have never ever imagined, an official said. Another official said that the establishment in Pakistan should have found a political solution to the problem. It chose violence instead and is now paying the price. The army top brass are too egoistic to sit down and hold talks with the Baloch leaders. They have put themselves in a situation that they are unable to wriggle out of at the moment. On the other hand, groups like the BLA have strengthened themselves. They are using sophisticated weapons and relying heavily on intelligence to battle the enemy. The leadership has young people, and in recent times, even women are playing an active part in the struggle. The expert said that the very fact that many Pakistani personnel are retreating only shows the might of the BLA and the resolve of the Baloch people. Many are not interested in this battle as they know they are fighting a losing one. The same is the case in the fight against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), experts add. An assessment by the Indian Intelligence agencies says that the Pakistan establishment is cornered from every side. There are the Taliban in Afghanistan, the TTP and the Baloch in Pakistan itself. The security forces are in a simultaneous battle with all three groups and hence is finding it hard to deploy enough manpower. It is not in a position to reduce manpower on one front and send it to another, an Intelligence Bureau official said. During this latest battle, the BLA said that it had managed to kill members of the Army, Frontier Corps (FC), police, Counter Terrorism Department (CTD), and death squads backed by the army. This in itself is alarming since there are five different units on the battlefield and yet they are unable to take on a single group, officials added. The BLA has, on the other hand, maintained communication and ensured that all information relating to "Herof 2" is passed on. This has been embarrassing for the Pakistan establishment as the losses are coming out in the open. Earlier, the establishment had managed to conceal its losses, but today it is failing to do so, the experts say. Even Pakistan’s Defence Minister, Khawaja Asif, admitted that the Pakistani security forces were handicapped against the Baloch rebels. This is due to the sheer size of the Balochistan province, he said. The remarks came after simultaneous attacks were launched across multiple towns in the province by the BLA. Asif told the National Assembly that their forces were facing geographical challenges. Balochistan constitutes over 40 per cent of Pakistan geographically, and it is much more difficult than a populated city. He also said that there is a need to deploy a massive amount of forces, and ruled out any talks with the BLA. Officials say that the Defence Minister’s admission says it all. The government may want to hold talks with the Baloch people, but within the army, there are many who will not allow it, even if it means facing losses and more embarrassment, the official added. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 February,2026 03:48 PM IST | New Delhi | IANSIsraeli fire in Gaza killed at least 17 Palestinians, most of them women and children, hospital officials said Wednesday, while Israel said militant gunfire had injured an Israeli soldier. They were the latest Palestinian deaths since a ceasefire, which has been punctuated by deadly Israeli strikes, came into effect on Oct. 10, 2025. More than 530 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since the deal took effect, according to Gaza's health ministry. The attacks and the escalating death toll have rocked the U.S.-backed truce and caused Palestinians in the strip to say it does not feel like the war has ended. "The genocidal war against our people in the Gaza Strip continues," said Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, director of the Shifa Hospital, in a Facebook post. "Where is the ceasefire? Where are the mediators?" Mediators have condemned the attacks and Hamas has called them violations of the deal, but Israel's military says it is responding to Hamas violations or militant attacks on its soldiers. At least three soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire took hold. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 February,2026 02:12 PM IST | Deir Al-Balah (Gaza Strip) | APInstagram CEO Adam Mosseri on Wednesday rejected the notion that users could be clinically addicted to social media, as he testified in a landmark California trial over whether his company knowingly hooked children on its platform for profit. Meta -- the parent company of Instagram and Facebook -- and Google-owned YouTube are defendants in the blockbuster trial, which could set a legal precedent regarding whether social media giants deliberately designed their platforms to be addictive to children. "I think it's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," Mosseri said as he was grilled by plaintiff attorney Mark Lanier. "I'm sure I said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction," he added. Lanier immediately challenged this point, emphasizing that the witness did not have a degree in medicine or psychology. "I've never claimed being able to diagnose addiction clinically," Mosseri responded during the exchange. "I'm sure I was using the word too casually." Facing him, mothers of teenagers who had taken their own lives held back their anger in the public gallery. These representatives of families who have filed complaints against major platforms in the United States had camped out in the rain outside the courthouse to secure seats. - Dopamine dispensers? - Addiction is at the heart of the civil trial, which centers on allegations that a 20-year-old woman, identified as Kaley G.M., suffered severe mental harm after becoming addicted to social media as a young child. She started using YouTube at six and joined Instagram at 11, before moving on to Snapchat and TikTok two or three years later. "The Instagram that Kaley signed up for was very different and presented a much smaller set of risks back then," Mosseri said, noting that the service was "a much smaller, more focused app" before it had to adapt to the changing world. Mosseri described safety features added to Instagram since it was bought by Facebook in 2012, some of which had "negative effects" on engagement and revenue. Mosseri was the first major Silicon Valley figure to appear before the jury to defend himself against accusations that Instagram functions as little more than a dopamine "slot machine" for vulnerable young people. Meta's attorney reasoned in opening remarks that the suffering encountered by the plaintiff was due to troubles in her home life and could not be attributed to use of Instagram or other social media. An attorney for YouTube insisted that the video platform was neither intentionally addictive nor technically social media, but more a viewing venue like Netflix. In front of the jury of six men and six women, Mosseri pushed back against the idea that Meta was motivated by a "move fast and break things" ethos that valued profit over safety. "Protecting minors over the long run is even good for the business and for profit," he said. Mosseri's testimony precedes the highly anticipated appearance of his boss, Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg, currently scheduled for February 18, with YouTube CEO Neil Mohan the following day. - Apps or traps? - In opening remarks this week, plaintiffs' attorney Lanier told the jury that YouTube and Meta both engineer addiction in young people's brains to gain users and profits. Meta and Google "don't only build apps; they build traps," Lanier said. Under questioning, Mosseri said that while teens tended to be trendsetters when it comes to technology, Instagram makes less money from them than from older users because they tend not to click on ads. "They don't have a lot of expendable income to then buy things if they do click on ads," Mosseri added. Social media firms face more than a thousand lawsuits accusing them of leading young users to become addicted to content and suffer from depression, eating disorders, psychiatric hospitalization, and even suicide. Kaley G.M.'s case is being treated as a bellwether proceeding with an outcome that could set the tone for a wave of similar litigation across the United States. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 February,2026 12:46 PM IST | Los Angeles | AFPThe United States and Mexico seized several tons of cocaine from a ship in a "coordinated operation" in the Pacific Ocean, the Mexican navy said Wednesday. The unusual joint action comes despite tensions between the two countries, with US President Donald Trump vowing to strike Mexican drug cartels that he said posed a grave threat to national security. "About 188 packages containing several tons of cocaine" were seized from the vessel off Clarion Island, about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) from the Mexican port city of Manzanillo in Colima state, the Mexican navy said in a statement. Multiple people were arrested, the statement added, without specifying how many. Trump has threatened to slap additional tariffs on Mexico to pressure the country into beefing up drug raids and cartel arrests. A free trade agreement between the two neighbors and Canada is up for renegotiation this year. The Trump administration said Wednesday that Mexican cartel drones around the US-Mexico border had forced a Texas airport to shut down temporary. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum responded that her government had received no reports of drones belonging to cartels along the border. This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.
12 February,2026 12:46 PM IST | Mexico | AFPThe shooter who killed eight people in British Columbia has been identified as a transgender female by officials, who said the person's mother and stepbrother were among the victims. Police also revised on Wednesday the number of victims in Tuesday's shootings at a school and a home downwards to eight because they said they had mistakenly thought a woman being taken to hospital with serious injuries had died, but she was in a serious condition. Including the shooter's suicide, the total toll is nine. Shooter identified as a transgender female As the country mourned the rare massacre in the nation of strict gun laws, Canadian federal police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald identified the shooter as Jesse Van Rootselaar, an 18-year-old male who began transitioning to female six years ago. He said that he would refer to the person as a female. Prime Minister Mark Carney told Parliament that the killings in Tumbler Ridge "left our nation in shock and all of us in mourning". "It is a town of miners, teachers, construction workers -- families who have built their lives there, people who have always shown up for each other there", he said. The shootings reverberated across the small town of only about 2,400 people in a mining area. Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent his condolences, saying in a X post, "India stands in solidarity with the people of Canada in this moment of profound grief". Shooter kills family, six at school before taking own life McDonald said the mother and stepbrother were first killed in their house by Van Rootselaar, who then went on a rampage at the local high school before dying of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He said that a woman educator and five students -- three girls and two boys ranging in age between 12 and 13 years -- were found dead at the school library and on a staircase when police got there within two minutes of being alerted. Van Rootselaar had dropped out of the school about four years ago, McDonald said. Police had been called to the shooter's house several times for mental health issues, and weapons were involved in some instances, McDonald said. He said that weapons had been seized from the house but were given back when the lawful owner petitioned for their return. Unlike the US to the south, Canada has stricter gun laws and has fewer shootings and mass attacks are rare. Canada recalls past mass killings The last major incident involving a school was in Montreal in 1989 when 14 died. The worst Canadian massacre in recent times was in Nova Scotia in 2020, when over two days, a man shot dead 13 people and killed nine others by setting fire. In the US, there have been two recent cases of transgender people carrying out mass shootings linked to schools. In 2023, a transgender male killed three students and three staff members at a Christian school in Nashville. In Minneapolis last year, a transgender female attacked a Catholic church during a prayer service for children from its school. (Inputs from IANS)
12 February,2026 11:28 AM IST | Ottawa | mid-day online correspondentADVERTISEMENT
-1770199807269_d.png "Residents gather during the funeral of a paramilitray soldier killed in a Baloch separatists attack. Pic/AFP")
-1770198144561_d.png "A relative of 6-month-old Mira al-Khabbaz, killed in the Israeli strike earlier in the day, mourns over her body. Pic/AFP")
-1770873548860_d.png "Representational image")
-1770872045602_d.png "Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that flags will be lowered on all federal buildings for a week in mourning of people killed. Pic/PTI")