måndag 16 februari 2026
Latest news
Political situation in Hungary
Rubio praises Orban: “Your success is our success”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s leadership during a visit to Budapest on Monday, AFP reports. He also supported Orban and his party ahead of the upcoming elections.
– I can say with confidence that President Trump is deeply committed to your success, because your success is our success, Rubio said during a joint press conference.
Orban has been prime minister since 2010, and also held the post between 1998 and 2002. Ahead of the April election, he is trailing opposition leader Peter Magyar in several polls. He said during the press conference that the next government will be formed in accordance with the will of the people.
– Sometimes I win and sometimes I lose. So I’m not afraid of what happens if we don’t win, because it happens regularly here, he said.
Climate Threat Global Challenges
Warmest January in West Greenland in 109 Years
Greenland's west coast has had its warmest January in 109 years, AFP reports.
The capital Nuuk recorded an average temperature of 0.1 degrees Celsius, which is 7.8 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the past three decades. The warmest day was 11.3 degrees Celsius. The city of Ilulissat further north was also 11 degrees Celsius warmer than average during January.
It is not unusual for warmer air to move over Greenland for a day or two. But the fact that the record extends over such a large area indicates that something is changing, says climate scientist Martin Olesen at the Danish Meteorological Institute.
Extreme weather in Africa
59 people dead after cyclone in Madagascar
59 people have died and 15 people are still missing after cyclone Gezani swept over Madagascar last week. This is reported by the country's National Council for Risk and Disaster Management after an assessment on Monday.
More than 420,000 people are believed to have been affected by the disaster and around 800 people have been injured. The storm moved in on Tuesday and the situation was described as "total chaos", reports the BBC.
The cyclone moved in on the country just ten days after the latest storm Fytia, which killed 14 people.
American UFO debate
Barack Obama: "Joking about aliens"
Former US President Barack Obama attracted a lot of attention this weekend after saying that aliens exist. Now he clarifies on Instagram that the statement was meant jokingly, even though there is much evidence that it is technically correct.
- Statistically, the universe is so big that it is likely that there is life out there, but the distances between the solar systems are so great that the chance that we would have been visited by aliens is low.
Obama continues:
– And I saw no evidence that we had contact with any aliens during my time as president. I promise!
Middle East Crisis
Peace Council
Meloni in attendance when Trump's peace council meets
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to attend as an observer when Donald Trump's newly created "peace council" meets for the first time later this week, writes Bloomberg. The meeting's agenda includes the ceasefire in Gaza.
According to Donald Trump, the members of the peace council have promised to contribute more than five billion dollars in humanitarian aid and to the reconstruction of Gaza.
Trump launched the peace council in January. Among the members are Argentine President Javier Milei, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and representatives of Azerbaijan, Morocco and Bulgaria. However, a number of Western countries have chosen not to participate.
Gaza War
Fresh fruit in Gaza - but few can afford it when they are unemployed
Aid workers testify that there is more fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and household goods in Gaza - but at exorbitant prices. This is reported by The Guardian.
At the same time, it is difficult to get money in Gaza and many are unemployed because there are no jobs to look for. The UN estimates that unemployment is up to 80 percent.
One of those looking is 23-year-old Bisan Mohammad. She lost her husband at the beginning of the war, and her degree in medical laboratory science does not help in the search for a livelihood for her and her daughter.
“I started looking for every job that was available, but without success. Everything requires money; even water, food and a bed cost money. Sometimes it feels like you need money to breathe,” she tells the newspaper.
Israeli IDF: “We are ready to go from defense to offense in Gaza”
Israeli forces in Gaza could escalate their attacks in Gaza again at any time. Commander-in-Chief Eyal Zamir said this in a speech to soldiers in Gaza, reports the Jerusalem Post.
– We are not giving up on the war goal of demilitarizing Gaza and completely disarming Hamas. We are ready to move from defense to offense, says Eyal Zamir according to the newspaper.
Several Israeli media outlets have reported on the plans, despite the current ceasefire. The army is expected to be able to move more aggressively now that there are no longer any Israeli hostages left in Gaza, writes the Times of Israel.
Over 600 people have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since the ceasefire began, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Twelve of them were killed yesterday, among them internally displaced persons in a tent camp, writes AFP. Israel says all attacks are in response to Hamas violations of the ceasefire.
West Bank
Israel's new land decision in the West Bank draws sharp criticism
The Israeli government has approved further measures to register illegally occupied land in the West Bank as "state land". This is reported by several international media outlets.
Israel defends the decision by saying that the measure would "create order" in land registration.
But the decision has been met with strong criticism from Egypt, Qatar and Jordan, among others. Qatar's Foreign Ministry has condemned the decision, which it says "deprives the Palestinian people of their rights".
The decision concerns Area C, which is about 60 percent of the West Bank. Today, about three million Palestinians live in the West Bank. Last week, Israel adopted several rules to strengthen its control over the West Bank, something that the United States has also criticized.
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