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‘Let the practice of democracy continue,’ said Yunus, who has overseen the country’s post-uprising transition since 2024.

Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus has announced he is resigning to pave way for a new government elected several days ago.

Speaking in a farewell broadcast to the nation on Monday, Yunus said the interim government he oversees “is stepping down”.

“But let the practice of democracy, freedom of speech, and fundamental rights that has begun not be halted,” he said.

An 85-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner, Yunus returned from self-imposed exile in August 2024 to serve as Bangladesh’s chief adviser after a student-led uprising toppled the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Bangladesh held its first general elections since that uprising on February 12, and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), led by Tarique Rahman, won a landslide victory.

Rahman, a scion of one of the country’s most powerful political dynasties, is set to serve as prime minister of the incoming government when it is sworn in on Tuesday, according to Bangladeshi media.

Yunus praised the recent elections, which European Union observers called “credible and competently managed” as a “benchmark for future elections”.

“The people, voters, political parties, and stakeholder institutions linked to the election have set a commendable example,” Yunus said.

‘We must remain united’

Rahman’s BNP-led alliance won at least 212 seats in the 300-seat parliament, giving it a strong mandate to lead. In second place was the Jamaat-e-Islami party, which won 77 seats, positioning it as the main opposition party. Hasina’s Awami League party was barred from participating.

Rahman appealed for unity in the wake of his party’s victory, saying “our paths and opinions may differ, but in the interest of the country, we must remain united”.

In addition to electing their new representatives, Bangladeshi voters also endorsed sweeping democratic reforms in a national referendum.

The lengthy document of reforms, known as the “July Charter” after the month when the uprising that toppled Hasina began, proposes term limits for prime ministers, the creation of an upper house of parliament, stronger presidential powers and greater judicial independence. It enshrines a key pillar of Yunus’s post-uprising transition agenda.

The referendum noted that approval would make the charter “binding on the parties that win” the election, obliging them to endorse it.

“Sweeping away the ruins, we rebuilt institutions and set the course for reforms,” said Yunus, praising the reforms.

However, several parties raised questions before the vote, and the reforms will still require ratification by the new parliament.

“The challenge now is to ensure good governance, law and order, and public safety, and to establish a rights-based state, which was at the heart of the aspirations of the 2024 mass uprising,” Rezaul Karim Rony, a Dhaka-based political analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Caracas, February 11, 2026 (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuela’s oil output contracted to a two-year low following  Washington’s month-long naval blockade against the Caribbean nation’s crude exports.

The latest OPEC monthly report placed Venezuela’s January production at 830,000 barrels per day (bpd), down from 917,000 bpd in December, according to secondary sources. The figure is the lowest since May 2024. 

For its part, state oil company PDVSA reported 924,000 bpd produced in January, down from 1.12 million bpd the prior month. The direct and secondary measurements have differed over the years due to disagreements over the inclusion of natural gas liquids and condensates.

The output contraction was a result of the US Navy imposing a blockade on Venezuelan oil exports and seizing several tankers allegedly involved in Venezuelan crude shipments. The exhaustion of storage capacity forced PDVSA and partners to cut back production.

The blockade came on top of draconian sanctions that have stymied the Venezuelan oil industry for years. Since 2017, Washington has levied financial sanctions, an export embargo, secondary sanctions, and a host of other coercive measures aimed at strangling the country’s main source of foreign revenue.

Following the January 3 US military strikes and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Venezuelan oil began to flow once more under an arrangement imposed by the Trump administration. Commodity traders Vitol and Trafigura have been lifting Venezuelan crude, depositing proceeds in White House-administered bank accounts in Qatar, and offering cargoes to customers all over the world.

On Tuesday, the Venezuelan government denied a Bloomberg report that the country had shipped crude to Israel. According to the business outlet, the shipment would be delivered to the Bazan Group, Israel’s largest refiner. Bloomberg did not specify whether the Venezuelan crude cargo was purchased from Vitol, Trafigura, or another source. As part of the new US-imposed arrangement, the sale marks the first time Venezuelan oil will reach Israel since at least 2020, per Bloomberg. 

The Trump administration has sought to leverage its influence over the Venezuelan oil sector to pressure allies such as India to replace imports from US geopolitical rivals, including Russia and Iran. Indian public companies Indian Oil and Hindustan Petroleum are set to join private refiner Reliance Industries in purchasing Venezuelan oil, with 2 million barrels of Merey crude expected to be delivered in the coming weeks. Nevertheless, Venezuelan supplies are not expected to significantly alter global demand given the present output and the extra-heavy nature of Venezuelan crude blends.

US and European firms have likewise acquired Venezuelan cargoes in recent weeks.

For their part, Venezuelan acting authorities have courted foreign investment and enacted a pro-business overhaul of the country’s oil legislation. The reform offers lower taxes and royalties, as well as increased control over operations and sales, to private corporations, reducing the role played by the Venezuelan state.

Trump administration officials praised the oil reform for “eradicating restrictions” on private investment, while the US Treasury Department has issued several sanctions exemptions to boost US corporate involvement in the Venezuelan oil industry.

A January 29 license allowing US companies to purchase and market Venezuelan crude was followed up with a waiver on diluent exports to Venezuela on February 3. On Tuesday, the US Treasury published General License 48 permitting US exports of goods, technology and software for oil exploration to Venezuela.

The sanctions waivers demand that contracts be subjected to US law and forbid any transactions with companies from Russia, Iran, Cuba, North Korea, and China. They also mandate that payments be deposited in accounts determined by the US Treasury.

In early February, US officials confirmed that US $500 million from crude sales had been rerouted to the South American country, to be offered in foreign currency auctions by public and private banks. A further $300 million is expected in the coming days. 

However, the initial deal announced by Trump comprised 30-50 million barrels and an estimated $2 billion. Venezuelan authorities have not disclosed what portion of revenues the country will receive, while Trump has said the US will “keep some” of the income. 

Senior Trump administration officials have vowed to maintain control over Venezuelan oil exports for an “indefinite” period, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio claiming that the Venezuelan acting government headed by Delcy Rodríguez needs to submit a “budget request” before accessing the country’s oil proceeds.

An association of South Korean companies that previously operated at an inter-Korean factory zone in North Korea on Tuesday called on the government to make efforts to allow business owners to visit the now-shuttered complex.

About 80 representatives from 38 member companies of the Corporate Association of Gaeseong Industrial Complex (CAGIC) made the request at a press conference held at the customers, immigration and quota (CIQ) office at Dorasan Station in Paju, just north of Seoul.

The association said its members hope to present the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which has been closed for the past decade, to inspect their business assets there.

“Ten years after the closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, companies that operated there are facing a threat to their survival. We want to return to Kaesong,” CAGIC Chairman Cho Kyung-joo told reporters.

The Park Geun-hye administration shut down the industrial complex on Feb. 10, 2016, in response to North Korea’s nuclear test and long-range missile launches.

Launched in 2004 as a flagship project symbolizing inter-Korean economic cooperation and reconciliation, the complex once employed about 55,000 North Korean workers at 120 South Korean firms.

Cho also urged the U.S. government to play a responsible role in approving visits by South Korean business owners aimed at protecting their assets in Kaesong.

“Just as the United States recently granted sanctions exceptions for humanitarian assistance in several global cases discussed at United Nations meetings, it should make clear that business owners’ visits to inspect their assets in Kaesong do not fall under sanctions”, he said.

Appealing to North Korea, Cho said companies operating at the complex had conducted business in good faith based on inter-Korean agreements and called on Pyongyang to cooperate in allowing business owners to visit the industrial zone.

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‘They should be ready to hear us roar,’ says military ruler Tiani, who thanked Russian troops for defending airbase.

Niger’s military government has accused France, Benin and Ivory Coast of sponsoring an assault on a military base at Niamey’s international airport, while thanking “Russian partners” for repelling the attack.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, who seized power in a 2023 coup, made his claims on state television on Thursday, blaming France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Benin’s Patrice Talon and Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara. He did not offer any evidence to back up those claims.

France, Benin and Ivory Coast have not commented on the claims yet.

The military leader made those claims after visiting the airbase at Diori Hamani International Airport, located some 10km (six miles) from the presidential palace, where explosions and shootings were reported on Wednesday night into Thursday.

Defence Minister Salifou Modi said the attack lasted “about 30 minutes”, before an “air and ground response”. The defence ministry said four military personnel were injured and 20 attackers were killed, with state television saying that a French national was among them.

Eleven people were arrested, it added.

“We have heard them bark, they should be ready to hear us roar,” said Tiani in comments that reflected the recent deterioration of Niger’s relations with France and neighbouring nations that he views as French proxies in the region.

Tiani also thanked Russian troops stationed at the base for “defending their sector”, confirming his nation’s growing ties with Moscow, which has provided military support to tackle a rebellion linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL.

Neither of the armed groups has so far claimed responsibility.

Niger has been led by General Tiani since a coup that overthrew the elected civilian president, Mohamed Bazoum, in July 2023.

The country, which is allied with Sahel neighbours Mali and Burkina Faso in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), has struggled to contain the rebellion, which has killed thousands and displaced millions in the three nations.