While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Feb 13, 2026
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Supporters of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party chanting slogans as they celebrate unofficial news of Mr Tarique Rahman's win in his constituency, on Feb 12 in Dhaka.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Bangladesh’s BNP wins historic parliamentary election
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) won a landmark parliamentary election on Feb 13, a local TV station showed, as ballots were counted in a pivotal vote that is expected to restore political stability in the troubled South Asian country.
BNP won 151 seats in the 300-member “Jatiya Sangsad”, or House of the Nation, Ekattor TV showed, crossing the halfway mark for a simple majority.
Its main rival, the Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami, had 42 seats. Jamaat chief Shafiqur Rahman indicated the party was conceding even before BNP touched the halfway number.
Votes were cast on Feb 11 and tens of millions of Bangladeshis turned up for what was the first election since the 2024 Gen Z-driven uprising that toppled long-time prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
CIA’s new push to recruit Chinese military informants
Just weeks after a dramatic purge of China’s top general, the CIA is moving to capitalise on any resulting discord with a new public video targeting potential informants in the Chinese military.
The US spy agency on Feb 12 rolled out the video depicting a disillusioned mid-level Chinese military officer, in the latest US step in a campaign to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington’s strategic rival.
It follows a similar effort in May 2025 that focused on fictional figures within China’s ruling Communist Party that provided detailed Chinese-language instructions on how to securely contact US intelligence.
British nursery worker jailed 18 years for child sex abuse
PHOTO: METROPOLITAN POLICE
A UK child-care worker who filmed himself sexually abusing youngsters at a nursery where he worked and downloaded over 26,000 indecent images of children was jailed for 18 years on Feb 12.
Vincent Chan, 45, who admitted a raft of 56 charges including sexual assault, was described in court as “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
Passing sentence, Judge John Dodd told him he was guilty of an “utterly wicked, perverse and depraved” campaign of sexual abuse.
Ukraine says Russia targeting Winter Olympics team
PHOTO: EPA
Ukraine blamed a Russian disinformation campaign on Feb 12 after fake news posted online about its Winter Olympics team, including a story criticising an athlete disqualified for trying to highlight war deaths.
The fake posts, which racked up over a million views across multiple platforms, included a claim about Ukrainian skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych, banned from competing on Feb 12 for wearing a helmet with images of athletes killed in the war.
“Russians have rolled out an information campaign to discredit Ukraine,” Kyiv’s Centre for Countering Disinformation said on Feb 12.
Verstappen slams new cars as ‘Formula E on steroids’
PHOTO: AFP
Four-time world champion Max Verstappen launched a scathing broadside at the new breed of Formula One cars, describing them as “anti-racing” at the end of the second day of testing in Bahrain on Feb 12.
The Dutchman ran his Red Bull for 136 laps on Feb 11, clocking the second quickest time of the day, before watching new teammate Isack Hadjar take to the track on Feb 12.
But speaking at his first press conference of the year, Verstappen was underwhelmed by this year’s rule changes which have led to a complete overhaul of chassis and engines for every team, with a bigger focus on energy management.
