Chinese robotics firm Agibot showcased its humanoid robots practicing martial arts with monks at China’s historic Shaolin Temple. Earlier this year, the company showcased is Lingxi X2 robot cycling in an open space, and also the robot performing the notoriously difficult Webster flip — a gymnastics move that involves a forward somersault with a back-leg take-off and precise mid-air body control throughout. 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 08:54 AM IST | Beijing | AgenciesThe White House has updated its factsheet on the India-US trade framework a day after its initial release, softening several key assertions. The revisions come after last week's announcement of a framework for an interim reciprocal trade agreement aimed at boosting bilateral commerce. In the original version of the factsheet, it was stated, “India committed to buy more American products and purchase over $500 billion of US energy, information and communication technology, agricultural, coal, and other products.” The revised factsheet now says India “intends” to buy more American products and omits the term “agricultural” from the list of product categories. 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 08:52 AM IST | Washington | AgenciesIran marked the 47th anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution on Wednesday as the country’s theocracy remains under pressure, both from US President Donald Trump and public angr over Tehran’s bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. During a ceremony, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian apologised to “those affected” by the protests and bloody crackdown that followed it, even as he denounced unspecified “Western propaganda” surrounding the protests. “We are ashamed, and we are obligated to assist all those who were harmed in these incidents,” Pezeshkian said. “We are not seeking confrontation with the people,” he said. 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 08:13 AM IST | Dubai | AgenciesBangladesh is set to hold parliamentary elections on Thursday, 18 months after an interim government took charge following the collapse of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s regime. Nearly one million security personnel have been deployed. The contest is mainly between the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) and its once ally Jamaat-e-Islami in the absence of Hasina’s Awami League which was barred from contesting last year. 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 08:11 AM IST | Dhaka | AgenciesIran and the United States are weighing holding a second round of talks over Tehran's nuclear program after Israel launched a 12-day war on the country in June and the Islamic Republic carried out a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests. U.S. President Donald Trump has kept up pressure on Iran, moving an aircraft carrier and other military assets to the Persian Gulf and suggesting the U.S. could attack Iran over the killing of peaceful demonstrators or if Tehran launches mass executions over the protests. Trump has pushed Iran's nuclear program back into the frame as well after the June war disrupted five rounds of talks held in Rome and Muscat, Oman, last year. Trump also has suggested sending a second carrier to the region. A top Iranian security official, Ali Larijani, visited Oman this week and traveled onto Qatar, just after Trump called its ruling emir. It remains unclear how — or if more talks will happen, though Mideast nations fear a collapse in diplomacy could spark a new regional war. US concerns also have gone beyond Iran's nuclear program to its ballistic missiles, support for proxy networks across the region and other issues. Iran has said it wants talks to focus solely on the nuclear program. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has insisted that his nation was “not seeking nuclear weapons and are ready for any kind of verification.” However, the United Nations' nuclear watchdog — the International Atomic Energy Agency — has been unable for months to inspect and verify Iran's nuclear stockpile. Trump began the diplomacy initially by writing a letter last year to Iran's 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to jump start these talks. Khamenei has warned Iran would respond to any attack with an attack of its own, particularly as the theocracy he commands reels following the protests. Here's what to know about Iran's nuclear program and the tensions that have stalked relations between Tehran and Washington since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Trump writes letter to Khamenei Trump dispatched the letter to Khamenei on March 5, 2025, then gave a television interview the next day in which he acknowledged sending it. He said: “I've written them a letter saying, I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it's going to be a terrible thing.'” Since returning to the White House, the president has been pushing for talks while ratcheting up sanctions and suggesting a military strike by Israel or the U.S. could target Iranian nuclear sites. A previous letter from Trump during his first term drew an angry retort from the supreme leader. But Trump's letters to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term led to face-to-face meetings, though no deals to limit Pyongyang's atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental US. Oman mediated previous talks Oman, a sultanate on the eastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has mediated talks between Araghchi and U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. The two men have met face to face after indirect talks, a rare occurrence due to the decades of tensions between the countries. It hasn't been all smooth, however. Witkoff at one point made a television appearance in which he suggested 3.67 percent enrichment for Iran could be something the countries could agree on. But that's exactly the terms set by the 2015 nuclear deal struck under former U.S. President Barack Obama, from which Trump unilaterally withdrew America. Witkoff, Trump and other American officials in the time since have maintained Iran can have no enrichment under any deal, something to which Tehran insists it won't agree. Those negotiations ended, however, with Israel launching the war in June on Iran. It hosted a new first round of talks on Feb. 6. The 12-day war and nationwide protests Israel launched what became a 12-day war on Iran in June that included the U.S. bombing Iranian nuclear sites. Iran later acknowledged in November that the attacks saw it halt all uranium enrichment in the country, though inspectors from the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, have been unable to visit the bombed sites. Half a year later, Iran saw protests that began in late December over the collapse of the country's rial currency. Those demonstrations soon became nationwide, sparking Tehran to launch a bloody crackdown that killed thousands and saw tens of thousands detained by authorities. Iran's nuclear program worries the West Iran has insisted for decades that its nuclear program is peaceful. However, its officials increasingly threaten to pursue a nuclear weapon. Iran now enriches uranium to near weapons-grade levels of 60 percent, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so. Under the original 2015 nuclear deal, Iran was allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent purity and to maintain a uranium stockpile of 300 kilograms (661 pounds). The last report by the IAEA on Iran's program put its stockpile at some 9,870 kilograms (21,760 pounds), with a fraction of it enriched to 60 percent. The agency for months has been unable to assess Iran's program, raising nonproliferation concerns. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has “undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.” Iranian officials have threatened to pursue the bomb. Israel, a close American ally, believes Iran is pursuing a weapon. It wants to see the nuclear program scrapped, as well as a halt in its ballistic missile program and support for anti-Israel militant groups such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas. Decades of tense relations between Iran and the US Iran was once one of the U.S.'s top allies in the Mideast under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who purchased American military weapons and allowed CIA technicians to run secret listening posts monitoring the neighboring Soviet Union. The CIA had fomented a 1953 coup that cemented the shah's rule. But in January 1979, the shah, fatally ill with cancer, fled Iran as mass demonstrations swelled against his rule. The Islamic Revolution followed, led by Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and created Iran's theocratic government. Later that year, university students overran the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, seeking the shah's extradition and sparking the 444-day hostage crisis that saw diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. severed. The Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s saw the U.S. back Saddam Hussein. The “Tanker War” during that conflict saw the U.S. launch a one-day assault that crippled Iran at sea, while the U.S. later shot down an Iranian commercial airliner that the U.S. military said it mistook for a warplane. Iran and the U.S. have seesawed between enmity and grudging diplomacy in the years since, with relations peaking when Tehran made the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers. But Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from the accord in 2018, sparking tensions in the Mideast that persist today. 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.
11 February,2026 11:05 PM IST | Dubai | APA Russian drone smashed into a home in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region overnight, killing a father and his three small children and seriously wounding their mother who is 35 weeks pregnant, officials said Wednesday. The strike completely destroyed the house and set it on fire, with the family trapped under the rubble, according to the Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office. The 34-year-old father and his three children - twin boys aged 2 and their 1-year-old sister - were killed, while rescue workers pulled the mother alive from the rubble, prosecutors said. She sustained blast injuries, a traumatic brain injury, burns and hearing loss, they said. During the almost four years since Russia invaded its neighbor, and despite a new push over the past year in U.S.-led peace efforts, Ukrainian civilians have endured constant aerial attacks. Last year was the deadliest for civilians in Ukraine since 2022 as Russia intensified its aerial barrages behind the front line, according to the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in the country. The war killed 2,514 civilians and injured 12,142 in Ukraine in 2025 - 31% higher than in 2024, it said. The drone that struck the Kharkiv town of Bohodukhiv was identified as a Geran-2, a Russian-made version of an Iranian Shahed drone."We lost what is most precious - our future," Bohodukhiv mayor Volodymyr Bielyi wrote on his Facebook page. "There are no words to console the family; there is no prayer that could heal the heart of a mother who has lost her children." Bielyi said the mother is fighting for her life in hospital and announced three days of mourning, when national flags will be lowered and all entertainment and organized public events will be cancelled. "We will endure. We will remember. We will never forgive this horror on our land," Bielyi wrote. Bohodukhiv has a pre-war population of 15,000. It is located some 22 kilometers (13 miles) from the Russian border. "Each such Russian strike undermines trust in everything being done through diplomacy to end this war, and again and again proves that only strong pressure on Russia and clear security guarantees for Ukraine are the real key to stopping the killings," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. Ukraine's Air Force says Russia launched 129 long-range drones at Ukraine last night. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian drone attack caused a fire at an industrial plant in the city of Volgograd, authorities said. Volgograd region's Gov. Andrei Bocharov said that drone fragments also damaged an apartment building. Eight Russian airports briefly suspended flights overnight because of drone attacks, officials said. 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.
11 February,2026 06:33 PM IST | Kyiv | APAir Canada suspended its services to Cuba, citing an aviation fuel shortage. The airline will operate empty flights to Cuba to pick up and return customers. Air Canada said that it is suspending its service to Cuba due to an ongoing shortage of aviation fuel on the island. Over the following days, the airline will operate empty flights southbound to pick up approximately 3000 customers already at their destination and return them home. Cuba has been facing an energy crisis amid a US blockade of oil to the Caribbean nation. Canadian tourism is vital to Cuba’s economy. 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
11 February,2026 05:31 PM IST | Ottawa | AgenciesAn active incident was reported at Thomas S Wootton High School in Rockville, Maryland, on Monday afternoon, with a 16-year-old student being taken into custody. Officers responded to the school at 2.15 pm, where they found a 16-year-old male student suffering from a single gunshot wound in a hallway. He was moved to a hospital and is in stable condition. Investigators determined that there was no threat to public safety. 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
11 February,2026 05:29 PM IST | New york | AgenciesNine people were killed in a mass shooting allegedly by a person, possibly a woman, who committed suicide in a mining town in British Columbia, according to officials. The area’s federal police Chief Superintendent Ken Floyd said on Tuesday night (local time) that seven people were found dead in a local high school in Tumbler Ridge and two others in a home. The alleged shooter was discovered dead in the school, he said during a virtual news conference. Floyd, who commands the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) northern district in the province, said that about 100 staff and students at the school were safe and were evacuated. Prime Minister Mark Carney said on X that he was “devastated” by the “horrific acts of violence”. There were indications that the shooter was a woman or someone in female attire. Citing privacy reasons and the ongoing investigation, Floyd did not disclose if the shooter was a student or an adult, but confirmed that it was the same person mentioned in an active shooter alert sent to phones in the area. That message described the suspected shooter as a brown-haired female wearing a dress. Two people with serious injuries were airlifted to a hospital, while 25 were checked for injuries at a local medical centre, according to police. British Columbia’s Premier David Eby called the incident an “unimaginable tragedy” and said the “government will ensure every possible support for community members in the coming days”. Floyd said that they have not yet been able to ascertain the motives for the attack. “I think we will struggle to determine the ‘why’, but we will try our best to determine what transpired”, he said. The house was near the school, and the shootings were connected, Floyd said. Tumble Ridge is a small coal mining town of about 2,400 people in an area famed for dinosaur footprints and fossils. Mass shootings are rare in Canada, and the last major incident involving a school was in Montreal in 1989, when 14 died. The worst 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. 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.
11 February,2026 01:15 PM IST | Ottawa | IANSThe White House says President Donald Trump has the right to amend a permit for a new bridge between Canada and Michigan, prolonging the latest dispute between the US and its northern neighbour hours after its prime minister signalled there could be a detente. The Gordie Howe International Bridge, which would connect Ontario and Michigan and would be a vital economic artery between the two countries, is scheduled to open in early 2026. But Trump has now threatened to block the bridge from being opened, calling for Canada to agree to a litany of unspecified demands as the two nations prepare to renegotiate a sprawling trade pact later this year. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said earlier Tuesday that he spoke with Trump and expressed confidence that the spat would be resolved. But a White House official later Tuesday said the ownership structure of the bridge remains unacceptable for the US president. Canada paid for the bridge, named after a Canadian-born Detroit Red Wings hockey star. Construction has been underway since 2018. The official said that all international infrastructure projects require a presidential permit, and that Trump would be within his right to amend that permit. The person was granted anonymity because they did not have permission to speak publicly. "The fact that Canada will control what crosses the Gordie Howe Bridge and owns the land on both sides is unacceptable to the president," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Tuesday. "It's also unacceptable that more of this bridge isn't being built with more American-made materials." The new fight over the bridge is the latest volley in an increasingly sour relationship between the United States and Canada, particularly over trade policy. Trump has also mused publicly about acquiring Canada as the 51st US state, much to the dismay of Canadians. Following his conversation with Trump, Carney said "this is going to be resolved" and noted that he told the US president that the Canadian and Michigan governments shared ownership of the bridge. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer's office has also emphasised that the bridge will be operated under a joint ownership agreement between the state and Canada, even though the Canadian government paid for it. Carney also added that US steel was used in the project, which also employed US workers. According to Carney, Trump told him he'll ask the US ambassador to Canada, former Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, to "play a role in smoothing the conversation in and around the bridge." Hoekstra did not return an immediate request for comment. "I look forward to it opening and what is particularly important is the commerce and the tourism of Canadians and Americans that go across that bridge," Carney said. The project was negotiated by former Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder and paid for by the Canadian government to help ease congestion over the existing Ambassador Bridge and Detroit-Windsor tunnel. Snyder wrote in an op-ed in The Detroit News on Tuesday that Trump was wrong in asserting that Canada owns both the U.S.- and Canadian sides of the Gordie Howe bridge. "Canada and the state of Michigan are 50/50 owners of the new bridge," Snyder wrote. "Canada was wonderful and financed the entire bridge. They will get repaid with interest from the tolls. Michigan and the United States got their half-ownership with no investment." The former governor also emphasized that parts of the bridge construction were exempt from "Buy America" requirements for its steel because half of the project was outside the US and subsequently, US law should not apply to them. "President Trump, I would encourage you to challenge your advisers and the sources for your post to correct the information they have provided," Snyder wrote in the op-ed. He acknowledged some trade issues with Canada, but "picking this bridge as the leverage point doesn't seem to make the most sense given your other tools." 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
11 February,2026 11:32 AM IST | Washington | APThe General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran has warned adversaries of a “more forceful and wider” response to any threats against the country’s territory, according to Iranian state broadcaster Press TV. In a statement issued on Tuesday, on the eve of the 47th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution’s victory, the General Staff praised the Iranian nation’s endurance and pledged a firm defence against external dangers. The declaration comes against the backdrop of a heightened US military presence in the region and Washington’s threats of military action. The General Staff called on citizens to generate a lasting display of strength through widespread participation in the February 11 nationwide rallies, which it said would demonstrate unity and solidarity. US warns its ships in region The US has rolled instructions for US-flagged commercial vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz, urging ships to steer clear of Iran’s territorial waters. It also cautioned against allowing Iranian forces to board US-flagged vessels in the area. 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
11 February,2026 08:39 AM IST | Tehran | AgenciesADVERTISEMENT
-1770822074375_d.png "Iranian citizens wave national flags near a ballistic missile launch vehicle. Pic/AFP")
-1770813902606_d.png "Firefighters working to extinguish a fire at a private house following a Russian drone attack in Bogodukhiv Kharkiv region. Pics/AFP")
