Friday 13th February 2026. Bangladesh election. Korea Bitcoin accident. Australia protests. Italy Olympics. Spain, Portugal, France storm...

Good morning. This is Send 7 World News in 7 minutes. I'm Stephen Devon Chenzie. Today is Friday, the 13th of February, 2026. Starting in Asia and Oceania today, in Bangladesh, over 127 million people were eligible to vote in yesterday's general election. This was the first election since Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina resigned and left the country during mass protests in the summer of 2024. And according to most observers, these are probably the first free and fair elections in Bangladesh for 20 years. Hasina's party, the Awami League, was banned last year. The Awami League's long term rival, the Bangladesh Nationalist party, is expected to win the most votes and seats according to most opinion polls. A coalition led by the Islamist Jamat party is also expected to do well. At the time of recording this podcast, results were being counted. In South Korea, Lee Ji-won, the CEO of Cryptocurrency Exchange Bidtham, has spoken in a Parliament committee about Bidtham's mistake a few days ago, in which around 40 billion dollars worth of Bitcoin was accidentally given away to its customers, which is more Bitcoin than Bidtham actually holds. Most of the Bitcoin has been recovered. Lee apologized and said that internal systems had failed. Some parliamentarians said that they needed to be more regulation of the virtual currency market. In Australia, there were protests in Melbourne yesterday against the visits of Israeli President Isaac Herzog, with many people waving Palestinian flags. Speaking on Australian television yesterday, Herzog said that the anti-Semitism in Australia is frightening. I'm saying to my people and to the Jewish people worldwide that I found in Australia, which is different, what was depicted. There is anti-Semitism, it is frightening and worrying, but there's also a silent majority of Australians who seek peace, who respect the Jewish community, and of course want to dialogue with Israel. Europe. In Italy, in the Winter Olympics, Ukrainian skeleton athlete Vladislav Hiraskovich was banned from the competition yesterday for refusing to change his helmet, which has pictures of Ukrainian athletes that have been killed by Russia over the last few years. The International Olympic Committee said that Hiraskovich's helmet breaks rules on political statements. Ukrainian officials have said that the helmet does not break rules because it is about remembrance. Also at the Olympics, Finland's ski jumping coach appears to have been sent home by Finland's Olympic Committee for drinking alcohol during the Olympics, which is against the team's rules. The Winter Olympics continues until the end of next week. At the moment, Norway has won the most gold medals with seven, and Italy has won the most total medals with 17. France, Spain and Portugal have been hit by heavy rain and strong winds with floods in some areas. Portugal's Coimbra region has been particularly affected by floods, and part of Portugal's most used motorway collapsed. Spain's northern regions of Galicia, Cantabria and the Basque Country have been on the highest alert for storms since Wednesday night. In southwest France, 900,000 homes were left without power yesterday. Russia has banned and blocked WhatsApp, saying that it doesn't comply with Russian laws. WhatsApp was the most used messaging app in Russia, being used by more than two-thirds of the population. The government said that people could use the Russian state-owned messaging app MAX, which some critics say is used to spy on its users. In Ukraine, Russian drone and missile strikes yesterday left tens of thousands of people without heat, power and water, and 300,000 people were left without water in the southern city of Odessa. Ukraine's security service, the SBU, has said that it has reached a new record for its long-range drone strikes inside Russia by hitting an oil refinery in the Komi Republic, 1,750 kilometers from Ukraine, which is about the same distance as between Berlin and Istanbul. Africa, the border between Kenya and Somalia, will reopen in April for the first time in 15 years. Kenyan President William Ruto has said, "The border has been closed because of frequent attacks by the Islamist-Jihadist group Al-Shabab, which controls large areas of Somalia near the border." In Madagascar, Cyclone Ghazani has caused widespread damage, and 35 people are reported to have died. Environment Minister Max Andonirina said yesterday that 250,000 people had been affected. Cyclone Ghazani will hit Mozambique today. America's Canadian police have said that the suspect in a deadly school shooting was an 18-year-old trans woman with mental health problems. Jesse Van Rudsela is accused of killing her mother and stepbrother in their home before going to her former secondary school, killing one teacher and five students, and then killing herself. This is the deadliest school shooting in Canada since 1989. In Barbados, the Labour Party has won all 30 seats in the Barbados House of Assembly, and Mia Motley will continue as Prime Minister, as she has been since 2018. And in Brazil's state of Sao Paulo, a new law allows pets to be buried next to their owners. The law was inspired by a dog, nicknamed Bob Corvedo, or Gravedigger, who is reported to have stayed by his owner's grave for 10 years. Relatives are reported to have tried to take the dog away from the cemetery, but he continuously returned until he was adopted by the cemetery staff. When Bob Corvedo died, the city made an exception and allowed him to be buried next to his owner. A big thank you to Ursula in Poland, in British, in Slovakia, and Christoph in Hungary for becoming our newest supporters. If you enjoyed this podcast and you'd like to have access to our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets, and world news quizzes, then you can become a supporter at send7.org. We give 10% of our profit to highly effective charities. Have a great weekend, and we will see you on Monday.