Feb. 6, 2026 - Daily News Digest

On this day: in 1840 the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi established New Zealand as a British colony.

QOTD: “It’s really important for us to know that we are not alone in this, that we actually have people from other countries who care about us,” Nuuk Mayor Avaaraq Olsen told the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, which includes POLITICO. “People are scared and they are more and more concerned. Because of Trump’s statements, they get very worse and worse.”

PAKISTAN/SEC - Suicide bomber kills 31 in Shi'ite mosque in Pakistan's capital
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/explosion-rocks-shiite-muslim-mosque-islamabad-casualties-feared-say-police-2026-02-06/

An attacker opened fire at the gates of a Shi'ite Muslim mosque in Islamabad on Friday before setting off a suicide bomb and killing at least 31 people, in the deadliest attack of its kind in Pakistan's capital in over a decade.

More than 170 others were wounded in the explosion, detonated after guards challenged the attacker as he made his way into the Khadija Tul Kubra Imambargah compound on the outskirts of the city, officials said.

mages from the site showed bloodied bodies lying on the carpeted mosque floor surrounded by shards of glass, debris and panicked worshippers. Dozens more wounded were lying in the gardens of the compound as people called for help.

The man blew "himself up in the last row of worshippers," Defence Minister Khawaja Asif wrote on X.

He said the bomber had a history of travelling to Afghanistan and blamed neighbouring India for sponsoring the assault, without providing evidence.

There was no immediate response from New Delhi, which has dismissed Pakistan's accusations of backing militants in the past.

RUSSIA/SEC - Russian General Is Shot in Moscow
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/russian-general-shot-moscow-alekseyev.html

A top Russian general involved in intelligence gathering for the Ukraine war was shot in Moscow on Friday, the authorities said, in the latest high-profile attack on a military leader inside Russia.

The general, Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev, deputy head of the G.R.U., the Russian military intelligence agency, was hospitalized after an attacker shot him in the back inside an apartment building in the north of Moscow, the Investigative Committee of Russia said in a statement on Friday morning.

The general’s condition was not immediately clear. The investigators said that the attacker had managed to escape.

Footage by Russian state television from the scene showed investigators scouring the gated snow-covered yard of what appears to be a regular Moscow apartment building.

The shooting happened the morning after the general’s boss, the head of the G.R.U., Igor Kostyukov, led the Russian delegation in talks with Ukraine in the United Arab Emirates. The talks did not seem to have yielded any results, but both parties said that they would return to the negotiating table at a future date.

The shooting on Friday continues a string of attacks and assassinations of top Russian military officers in Moscow. Ukrainian officials, who claimed responsibility for some of the previous attacks, did not immediately respond to requests for comment about General Alekseyev.

INDONESIA/AUSTRALIA/MIL - Indonesia signs security pact with Australia
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/indonesia-signs-security-treaty-with-australia-prabowo-says-2026-02-06/

ndonesia and Australia signed a security treaty on Friday that commits them to consult each other if either country is threatened, President Prabowo Subianto said after a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Jakarta.

The pact, the full details of which have not yet been disclosed, was first announced in November when Prabowo visited Australia.

"This agreement signals that Australia and Indonesia's relationship is stronger than it has ever been," Albanese said on Friday in Jakarta.
"The treaty is a significant extension of our existing security and defence cooperation. It demonstrates the strength of our partnership and depth of our trust and cooperation."

Prabowo said the deal reflects the relationship between the two countries.

"To Indonesia, this reflects our full commitment to the good neighbour principles and our free and active foreign policy," he said.

"Indonesia and Australia are destined to live side by side, and we chose to build that relationship on the foundations of trust and good intentions."

Indonesia has a non-aligned foreign policy, pledging friendship with any country without joining any formal military bloc.

IRAN/US/NUKES/HOW MUCH ARE THE OMANIS SPENDING TO HOST EXPRESSIONS OF THE OBVIOUS? - Iran Refuses to End Nuclear Enrichment in Talks With U.S.
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/u-s-and-iran-gather-for-high-stakes-nuclear-talks-f4c6174e?mod=world_lead_story

Tehran stuck to its refusal to end enrichment of nuclear fuel in talks Friday between senior U.S. and Iranian officials, but signaled a willingness to keep working toward a diplomatic solution that could head off an American strike.

According to Iranian state media, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his U.S. counterparts that Tehran wouldn’t agree to end enrichment or move it offshore, rejecting a core U.S. requirement.

Araghchi, however, said it had been a good start, and he and Oman’s foreign minister said the parties aimed to meet again.

The two sides didn’t meet face to face but instead held alternating discussions with Omani diplomats. Neither moved much from their initial position, people familiar with the discussions said.

It wasn’t immediately clear where the day’s talks left the broader effort to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear program.

Regional officials and many analysts had low expectations going into the talks, given Iran’s unwillingness to end nuclear enrichment and the U.S. insistence on including Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for regional militias in the negotiations.

DPRK/RUSSIA/UKRAINE/MIL - North Korean Soldiers Provide More Advanced Support for Russia’s War on Ukraine
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/north-korean-soldiers-provide-more-advanced-support-for-russias-war-on-ukraine-f3cfbf92?mod=world_lead_pos1

North Korean forces deployed to help Russia’s war against Ukraine are now operating surveillance drones, removing mines and executing artillery strikes, roles that illustrate the advancement in their combat skills after roughly 15 months of involvement in the conflict.

When North Korean troops first joined Russia’s war effort in 2024, they were deployed in what Western officials described as suicidal waves on the battlefield. Now, they are providing more skilled assistance, according to details released in a Ukrainian military intelligence report this week.

Thousands of the roughly 15,000 North Korean troops returned home last year after helping Moscow retake the southern Russian region of Kursk from Ukrainian occupation. But as of last month, they have been launching artillery—including multiple-launch rocket systems—from southern Russia at Ukraine, according to the Wednesday report.

North Korean soldiers in Kursk are also rotated regularly under a bilateral agreement with Moscow, Kyiv said in the report.

North Korea’s continued involvement in the conflict signals the Kim regime’s commitment to gaining battlefield experience for his own army, while providing Russia with much-needed manpower in exchange for economic help and military technology.

The report comes weeks after a December homecoming ceremony, where North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed returning troops, at one point embracing a soldier in a wheelchair and awarding accolades in remembrance of those killed on the battlefield. In August, North Korea’s top military officers were seen meeting with Kim back in Pyongyang, according to state media photos.

Around 3,000 North Korean soldiers have returned home, many becoming military instructors passing on their experience to the army, according to Kyiv’s intelligence agency.

North Korean deminers have provided “invaluable assistance” in clearing the border of more than 1.5 million explosives, Kursk’s governor said in a social-media post in December. Russian officials have praised North Korean troops for their “heroic acts” in defending Kursk.

Last summer, Kim agreed to dispatch an additional 6,000 specialists in military construction and demining to help rebuild infrastructure in Kursk.

North Korean weapons exports to Russia also appear to have increased in recent months, with activity surging since October at a port from which Pyongyang primarily exports its artillery to Moscow, according to SI Analytics, a South Korean satellite-imagery firm. The surge in shipments appears to be driven by Russia’s intensified winter offensive against Ukrainian energy infrastructure and the return of North Korean troops to combat, the firm said in a Friday report.

US/LIBYA/SEC - US arrests suspect in 2012 Benghazi consulate attack, Bondi says
https://www.reuters.com/world/us-arrests-benghazi-suspect-bondi-says-2026-02-06/

The U.S. has arrested a person suspected of playing a central role in the 2012 attack on its consulate in Benghazi, Libya, Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Friday.

Bondi said Zubayar al-Bakoush has been extradited to the United States and will face murder, arson and terrorism-related charges.

our U.S. personnel were killed in the September 11, 2012, incident, which was initially thought to be a spontaneous reaction to protests but was later identified as a deliberate attack carried out by extremists, some of whom were linked to groups affiliated with al Qaeda. Al-Bakoush is the third person to face criminal charges stemming from the attack. Two others, Ahmed Abu Khatallah and Mustafa al-Imam, are serving lengthy prison terms, while another suspect, Ali Awni al-Harzi, was killed in an airstrike in Iraq in 2015.

Bakoush faces an eight-count indictment that includes charges of murder, attempted murder, arson and conspiracy to support terrorists, said Jeanine Pirro, the top U.S. prosecutor in the District of Columbia.

The attack became a symbol of the chaos in Benghazi and Libya as a whole, highlighting the instability and the presence of terrorism in the region. It led to a series of investigations in the United States, in which congressional Republicans clashed with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ahead of her 2016 presidential run as a Democrat.

MEXICO/CUBA - Mexico's Sheinbaum aims to send humanitarian aid to Cuba by Monday
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-sheinbaum-aims-send-humanitarian-aid-cuba-by-monday-2026-02-06/

Mexico's President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that her government is aiming to send humanitarian aid, including food and other basic supplies, to Cuba by Monday.

"We are planning to send this aid either this weekend or on Monday at the latest," Sheinbaum said at her morning daily press conference.
Sheinbaum also said that her administration is working "on all diplomatic efforts to be able to resume oil shipments to Cuba," as Mexico halted shipments of crude and refined products to the island in mid-January under pressure from the Trump administration.

ARGENTINA/AGRICULTURE - "A blessing": Hopeful Argentine farmers greet rain with relief, but still worried about risks to harvest
https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/blessing-hopeful-argentine-farmers-greet-rain-with-relief-still-worried-about-2026-02-06/

Juan Solari threads his way between rows of corn, brushing past yellowing leaves and undersized ears that bear the marks of January’s heat and lack of rain in Chivilcoy, a normally fertile farming area in Argentina’s Pampas plains.

Argentina, one of the world’s top food exporters, had been on track for a record corn harvest in the 2025/26 season, but unusually high January temperatures, topping 35 degrees Celsius in some areas, combined with low rainfall, strained crops across much of the country’s agricultural heartland.

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange on Thursday trimmed its estimate for Argentina’s grain output to 57 million metric tons, down from a previous forecast of 58 million metric tons. The exchange has not yet published an updated outlook for the soybean crop.

Rains on Wednesday and Thursday - while far from enough to fully quench scorched crops - provided a welcome respite for farmers. With the light showers bringing some relief to his fields, Solari is hopeful there will be more.

“It’s a blessing,” Solari said as a drizzle settled over the Emidelia Solari ranch, where he is a partner and manager. “It changes expectations.”

RUSSIA/GRAIN/TRADE - Sanctions Sank Lukoil-Linked Grain Trader Before It Got Started
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-02-06/sanctions-sank-lukoil-linked-grain-trader-before-it-got-started?srnd=phx-markets

Lukoil PJSC attempted a surprise push into grains trading from Dubai last year, before the plan was quickly scuppered by US sanctions on the Russian oil giant, according to people familiar with the matter.

The effort involved the creation of a company called Teruva FZCO and hiring a couple of senior traders last summer for grains, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private.

But the plan ran into difficulties after the US announced sanctions on Lukoil in October as part of a fresh bid to end Moscow’s war with Ukraine. That made the business unviable because it hindered banking channels and made it harder to deal with counterparties, prompting Teruva to be wound down late last year before it started trading, the people said.

The sanctions on Lukoil stressed the company globally. It has agreed to sell most of its international assets, while its Litasco trading arm has shed staff, and some operations have wound up, including in the Middle East. Lukoil and its subsidiaries mainly focus on oil, gas and petroleum products, so entering agriculture trading would have been an unusual move for the company.

THAILAND/ANOTHER ELECTION - What to know about Thailand’s election as economic growth slows and nationalism rises
https://apnews.com/article/thailand-2026-election-explainer-e6ac40ec705fbf836262f1ea45570dd1

Thailand’s political parties geared up Friday for their last campaign rallies before voters head to the polls on Sunday for a general election being held against a backdrop of chronically slow economic growth and heightened nationalist sentiment.

There also have been accusations of shady financial influence linked to cybercrime and rampant corruption among officials ahead of the election that is likely to be a tight race among three major parties with no outright winner expected.

Here is what to know.

[A nice overview at the link; AP should be available to all without a paywall. -mnno]

SUDAN/MIL - Famine spreading in Sudan's North Darfur, UN says
https://www.dw.com/en/un-warns-famine-conditions-are-spreading-in-western-sudans-darfur-and-kordofan-states/a-75830392

Famine is spreading in North Darfur in western Sudan, United Nations-backed monitors said Thursday.

Millions of people in Sudan have been facing malnutrition since a civil war began in April 2023.

The conflict between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary group Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced nearly 11 million, triggering what has been described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

In a report published on Thursday, the UN's Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), global food security experts said "famine thresholds for acute malnutrition have now been surpassed" in Um Baru and Kernoi, contested areas near the Chad border.

The IPC, which is used by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), said malnutrition in Um Baru was nearly double the famine threshold.

"These alarming rates suggest an increased risk of excess mortality and raise concern that nearby areas may be experiencing similar catastrophic conditions," the IPC report said.

GREENLAND/EUROPE/CANADA - In Greenland’s anxious capital, a show of solidarity from Canada and other allies
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/05/greenland-canada-consulate-nuuk-allies-00768198

Canada will open a new consulate in Greenland on Friday, a show of diplomatic support as rattled Nordic islanders there react to President Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric about acquiring their homeland.

In Nuuk, many say Trump’s attention is leaving them feeling ground down — and yearning to be left alone — in spite of allies in Canada and Europe rallying to support them.

Canada announced its plan to open a Greenland consulate more than a year ago, but the timing could hardly be more unpredictable. The opening comes amid escalating trade tensions and Trump’s revived talk of acquiring Greenland, adding strain to already fraught U.S.-Europe and U.S.-Canada relations.

Canada is adding diplomatic heft to Friday’s consulate opening with the presence of Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, an Inuk who serves as King Charles III’s representative in Canada. The veteran Arctic diplomat is on a week-long Nordic tour, including this autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark.

“I have been working with Denmark and Greenland for many, many years. We understand each other, and it’s important to talk about the lessons learned in each of our countries,” Simon told POLITICO Thursday via videolink from Denmark.

CANADA/SEC - Toronto police officers arrested after investigation reveals mob-linked murder plot, bribery and drug trafficking
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/toronto-police-officers-arrested-mob-linked-murder-plot-bribery-drug-trafficking/

Seven Toronto police officers and one retired officer have been arrested and charged in an organized crime investigation involving bribery, conspiracy to commit murder and drug trafficking, authorities said Thursday.

Police officials at a news conference said the officers had collected personal and private information unlawfully and distributed it to organized crime figures, in some cases for bribes, and that mobsters then carried out shootings and other violent crimes.

"This is a painful and unsettling moment," Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said. "When organized crime penetrates the Toronto Police Service, the harm goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing."

York Police Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan said the investigation began in June when police uncovered a murder plot involving a corrections management employee who was being targeted by mobsters. He said the suspects had passed information to the mobsters about the employee.

Several suspected mobsters went to the corrections manager's home for the purpose of murdering him, but encountered a separate contingent of police officers who were protecting the employee and who arrested the suspected mobsters after they rammed a police car, Hogan said.

Hogan said it was the third time within 36 hours that suspects had gone to the home, and the incident sparked the investigation that revealed Toronto officers had accessed personal information and leaked it to members of an organized crime group.

Investigators allege that Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt gave personal information to Brian Da Costa, a man suspected of several drug trafficking and bribery offenses who was among several suspects allegedly seeking confidential information from officers.