13/02/2026

FRIDAY | FEB 13, 2026

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Bangladesh votes in polls after deadly uprising

At least 31 killed in Madagascar cyclone ANTANANARIVO: A cyclone has killed at least 31 individuals and caused severe devastation in Madagascar, German Press Agency reported on Wednesday, citing local authorities. Several individuals are missing and at least 36 were injured when Cyclone Gezani , which reached the mainland on Tuesday evening, swept across the island at speeds of up to 270kph, the National Office for Risk Management and Civil Protection said. The full extent of the destruction could not yet be determined but it is estimated that more than 250,000 individuals have been affected, it said. By morning, the average wind speed had dropped to around 110kph. The northeastern port city of Toamasina, Madagascar’s second largest city, was particularly badly hit by the heavy gusts of wind and torrential rain. Some 90% of all houses there were damaged, according to authorities of the city that is home to half a million people. The streets were blocked by fallen trees, electricity pylons and debris. A telecommunications network severely disrupted by the storm and an interrupted power supply hampered rescue efforts. In the Atsinanana region where Toamasina is located, around 80% of infrastructure was destroyed. Some 6,000 individuals have been left homeless there, initial counts say. The island nation of around 30 million inhabitants, located in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mozambique, has frequently been roiled by severe tropical storms. Tropical Storm Freddy devastated Madagascar as well as Mozambique and Malawi on the mainland about three years ago and more than 500 individuals died. – Bernama-dpa Kim Jong Un sets daughter as likely heir SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has entrenched his daughter as heir apparent ahead of a landmark party conference, a South Korean lawmaker said yesterday after a briefing from Seoul’s main intelligence agency. The Kim family has ruled North Korea with an iron grip for decades and a cult of personality surrounding their “Paektu bloodline” dominates daily life in the isolated country. Kim’s teenage daughter Ju Ae has long been seen as the next in line, a perception stoked by a string of recent high-profile outings. South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said Ju Ae has been clearly “designated as a successor”, said lawmaker Lee Seong-kweun after a parliamentary briefing with the spy agency. The assessment was made “taking into account a range of circumstances, including her increasingly prominent public presence at official events”, he said. South Korea’s spy agency said last year Ju Ae appeared to be the next in line after she accompanied Kim on a high-profile visit to Beijing. Photos published ahead of a rare political congress in North Korea this month cemented that perception. State media showed Ju Ae in January paying respects alongside her father at the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the bodies of state founder Kim Il Sung and second-generation ruler Kim Jong Il lie in state. Pyongyang is due to hold a landmark party congress at the end of this month, its biggest political event, during which it is expected to lay out its foreign policy, war planning and nuclear ambitions for the next five years. The National Intelligence Service said it would closely monitor Ju Ae’s attendance and the level of protocol accorded to her. Analysts have suggested that she could be elected first secretary of the Central Committee, the second most powerful position in North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party. – AFP

DHAKA: Bangladesh voted yesterday in its first election since a deadly 2024 uprising, as parties crushed under Sheikh Hasina’s rule return to the fray with a powerful political heir facing an Islamist-led coalition. Key party leaders have raised fears of threats or “conspiracies” to derail the vote. More than 300,000 soldiers and police were deployed countrywide, with United Nations experts warning ahead of voting of “growing intolerance, threats and attacks”, and a “tsunami of disinformation”, especially targeting millions of young first-time voters. “This was my first vote. I hope after everything we went through the last few years, now is the time for something positive,” said Dhaka City College student Shithi Goswami, 21. Leading prime ministerial hopeful Tarique Rahman, 60, is confident his Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) can regain power, but he faces a stiff challenge from the Muslim-majority country’s largest Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami. Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman, 67, has mounted a disciplined grassroots campaign and if victorious, the former political prisoner o ‘I hope after everything we went through, now is time for something positive’

absentia for crimes against humanity for the bloody crackdown on protesters during her final months in power, and remains in hiding in India. Yunus has championed a democratic reform charter to overhaul what he called a “completely broken” system of government and prevent a return to one-party rule. The 127 million voters will also decide in a referendum whether to endorse proposals for prime-ministerial term limits, a new upper house of Parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence. Voters will elect 300 lawmakers directly, with a further 50 women chosen from party lists. Counting by hand begins after they close at 4.30pm (1030 GMT). “The crucial test for Bangladesh will be to ensure the election is conducted fairly and impartially, and for all parties to accept the result,” said Crisis Group analyst Thomas Kean. The next government will inherit a battered economy in the world’s second-largest garment exporter, as well as delicate relations with India. Rahman, whose late parents led the country, told AFP ahead of the vote that his first priority, if elected, would be restoring security and stability. Meanwhile, Yunus urged citizens to honour the “sacrifice” of the 2024 uprising. “Please dedicate yourselves to building a new, just and inclusive Bangladesh.” – AFP

could lead the first Islamist-led government in constitutionally secular Bangladesh. The Islamist party, which campaigned on a platform of justice and ending corruption, senses its biggest opportunity in decades, and Rahman said his party “will do whatever is required” to ensure a fair result. Opinion polls vary widely, although most give BNP the lead, with some suggesting a knife-edge race. Police records show that five individuals were killed and more than 600 injured in political clashes during campaigning. Election Commissioner AMM Nasir Uddin said the vote was going “smoothly in a free and fair manner”, but warned of a flood of disinformation, especially AI-generated content “coming from across the border”. He did not give further details but relations with neighbouring India have soured since the 2024 uprising. Interim leader Muhammad Yunus, who will step down once the new government takes power, called the vote “far-reaching”. “It will determine the future direction of the country, the character of its democracy, its durability and the fate of the next generation.” The 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has led the South Asian nation since Hasina’s 15-year rule ended with her ouster in August 2024. His administration has barred her Awami League from contesting the polls. Hasina, 78, was sentenced to death in

Citizens showing their voter slips as they wait in queue to cast their ballots at a polling station in Dhaka yesterday. – AFPPIC

Woman killed in Thai school shooting BANGKOK: A woman died yesterday in southern Thailand after a gunman opened fire at the school where she was director, local police told AFP. the condition of anonymity. The school shared its “deepest condolences on the passing of Sasiphat Sinsamosorn” in a Facebook post.

the shooting, the Public Health Ministry said. A second child suffered an ankle injury after they “fell from a height”, it added. Thailand has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the region, with around 10 million firearms estimated to be in circulation, one for every seven inhabitants. Past promises of tightening gun laws have not prevented repeated tragedies. In 2022, an ex-policeman armed with a gun and knife stormed into a nursery in the country’s north and murdered 24 children and 12 adults, one of Thailand’s deadliest massacres. – AFP

“Although we have lost her, the memories and kindness she left behind will forever remain in our hearts.“ A police officer in the city’s Thung Lung community also confirmed that the school director had died. A representative at the hospital declined to comment, citing privacy regulations. A 14-year-old girl was also hospitalised with gunshot wounds and underwent surgery after

Police shot and arrested the suspect, who local media identified as an 18-year-old man, on Wednesday after he entered the Phatong Prathan Khiriwat School with a gun, authorities said, adding that several shots were fired. “The school director passed away at 3am in the Hat Yai hospital after being sent for surgery,“ an officer in the city of Hat Yai said. “The shooter was also in this hospital for treatment,“ the policeman added, speaking on