Wednesday 11th February 2026. UK Starmer stays. Norway Russia threat. Italy medal fix. Bulgaria mystery deaths. Costa Rica pencil scandal...

Good morning. This is Send 7 World News in 7 Minutes. I'm Stephen Devon Chienzie. Today is Wednesday 11 February 2026. Starting in Europe today, in the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Sir Keastama has said that he will not resign after calls from some members of his Labour Party recently, including the leader of the Scottish Labour Party. Speaking yesterday in a public event, Stama said that he would not walk away from the country he loves. "For some people in recent days who say the Labour government should have a different fight, a fight with itself instead of a fight for the millions of people who need us to fight for them. And I say to them, I will never walk away from the mandate I've was given to change this country. I will never walk away from the people that I'm charged with fighting for. And I will never walk away from the country that I love." Norway's head of the army has said that it is possible that Russia could invade Norway in order to protect its nuclear capability. Talking to British newspaper The Guardian, General Eric Christopherson said that Russia does not want to conquer Norway in the way that it wants to conquer Ukraine and some other former Soviet territories, but said that Russia could invade Norway to protect their nuclear arsenal, which is largely based on the Cola Peninsula near Norway. Ukraine and France will start building weapons together. Ukraine's Defence Minister Michailov Fedorov has said after a visit from French armed forces minister Catherine Valtera to Kiev. President Volodymyr Zelensky said recently that Ukraine would start to export weapons made in Ukraine that it has more of than it uses. Since Russia invaded Ukraine four years ago, Ukraine has massively expanded its production of weapons. Ukraine now produces more than four million combat drones per year, which is more than all of NATO combined, including the United States. Zelensky also announced that Ukrainian drones would start to be made in Germany very soon. In Italy, the Ukrainian winter Olympian Vladislav Heraskovich, who competes in the skeleton competition, has been told that he is not allowed to wear his helmet, which has photographs of Ukrainian athletes that have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine because of a ban against political messaging. Also in Italy, authorities of the Winter Olympics say that they have fixed the problem of the medals breaking, which they say was happening because of a safety feature in the design of the medals. In Bulgaria, police are investigating six unexplained deaths in the Western mountains close to the border with Serbia. Police have said that it is not clear if the deaths were murders, suicides, or a combination. America's in Costa Rica, the world's largest producer of pencils, has said that a former pencil factory that was donated for humanitarian purposes is instead being used to detain asylum seekers deported from the United States. The German pencil company Faber Castell says that it gave the factory building to the Costa Reacon government on the condition that it would be used for humanitarian purposes, in particular to provide shelter for people migrating through Costa Rica. Faber Castell told the Guardian they did not agree to the building being used as a prison. In the United States, two members of Congress, one Republican and one Democrat, have said that the Department of Justice should release the Epstein files documents without the names of powerful men redacted or hidden. After seeing more documents in person yesterday, California representative Rohkana said that these people need to answer questions. None of this is designed to be a witch-hunt. Just because someone may be in the files doesn't mean that they're guilty. But there are very powerful people who rape these underage girls. It wasn't just Epstein and Maxwell or showed up to the island or showed up to the ranch or showed up to the home knowing underage girls were being paraded around. And some of the assiccning stuff in there about the violence. And what we want to do is have the investigation to get to those people to answer those questions. Asia Indonesia has said that it is preparing to send 8,000 soldiers to Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement that started last year between Israel and Hamas. Asia will be part of the international stabilization force, which should maintain border areas of Gaza and should ensure the demilitarization of Gaza. Armenia has signed an agreement with the United States about nuclear energy cooperation during a visit by Vice President J.D. Vance. Armenia is heavily dependent on Russia and Iran for energy supplies and has recently been considering the construction of new nuclear power plants. Africa in Uganda, information minister Chris Biamunsi has said that the government is not looking for activist and presidential candidate Bobby Wein. Wein has been in hiding since the presidential election last month in which he came second to President Yoyali Musebani, who has ruled Uganda for 40 years. Musebani's son, Mahousi Kainarugaba, who is also the head of the armed forces, has previously threatened to kill Bobby Wein. In an interview with Reuters, minister Biamunsi said that Wein was not being searched for because he had not committed a crime. Just to Libya, 53 people are dead or missing in the Mediterranean Sea. The international organization for migration has said, as a migrant boat attempting to reach Europe capsized. The IOM said that only two women from Nigeria were rescued. And listening to birds is good for well-being, according to a new study in Germany. Doctors at the University of Turingun measured people's blood pressure, heart rate and stress levels of people going for a walk. Everyone showed positive signs, which suggests that just going for a walk is healthy. However, the people who listened to birds singing while they were walking showed even lower levels of blood pressure, heart rate and stress. A big thank you to Claudia in Austria, Bill in China and Anna in Poland for becoming our newest supporters. If you enjoy this podcast, you can help to support us as well and have access to all of our transcripts, vocabulary lists, worksheets and world news quizzes by becoming a supporter at send7.org.