Morning Digest: Centre plans guidelines for books by defence personnel; 18-year-old identified as suspect in Canadian school shooting, and more

The Hindu Morning Digest gives a select list of stories to start the day. Read the top news today on February 12, 2026.

Amid the controversy surrounding former Army Chief General (retired) M.M. Naravane’s unpublished memoir Four Stars of Destiny, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is working on detailed guidelines for serving and retired armed forces personnel who wish to publish books in the future. The proposed guidelines will spell out the process to be followed before any manuscript is cleared for publication. A senior defence official confirmed that a meeting was held recently to frame a new set of rules, during which a detailed presentation was made. The upcoming framework is expected to incorporate provisions of existing service rules as well as the Official Secrets Act.

Police have identified the suspect in a school shooting in Canada as an 18-year-old who had prior mental health calls to her home and who was found dead following the attack that killed nine people in a remote part of British Columbia. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) said Van Rootselaar had a history of mental health contact with police and that the suspect’s mother and stepbrother were also found dead in a home near the school. The motive remained unclear.

The House has voted to slap back President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canada, a rare if largely symbolic rebuke of the White House agenda as Republicans joined Democrats over the objections of GOP leadership. Wednesday’s tally, 219-211, was among the first times the House, controlled by Republicans, has confronted the President over a signature policy. The resolution seeks to end the national emergency Mr. Trump declared to impose the tariffs, though actually undoing the policy would require support from Mr. Trump himself, which is highly unlikely. The resolution next goes to the Senate. Mr. Trump believes in the power of tariffs to force U.S. trade partners to the negotiating table. But lawmakers are facing unrest back home from businesses caught in the trade wars and constituents navigating pocketbook issues and high prices.

The Union Government has said in a set of instructions to States and other government bodies that the national song Vande Mataram should be sung or played before the national anthem Jana Gana Mana when both the songs are played at an event. The fresh set of guidelines was uploaded on the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) website on February 6 but no formal announcement or statement was issued. It states that whenever the official version of the national song, around 3.10 minutes long, is sung or played, the audience shall stand to attention. “However, when in the course of a newsreel or documentary, the national song is played as a part of the film, it is not expected of the audience to stand, as standing is bound to interrupt the exhibition of the film and would create disorder and confusion rather than add to the dignity of the national song,” it said.

Hours before polling, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party on Wednesday (February 11, 2026) accused the largest Islamist Party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) of attempting to sabotage the election process by using money power. The accusation was made after a JeI leader was caught with nearly Taka 74 lakh in Saidpur airport in northern Bangladesh amid social media reports that several such Jamaat leaders have been recorded distributing cash among voters. JeI has countered the accusation and said the incident was a “staged drama” by law enforcement agencies.

A path-breaking finding has shed new light on trade links between ancient Tamilagam, other parts of India and the Roman Empire. Two researchers have identified close to 30 inscriptions in Tamil Brahmi, Prakrit and Sanskrit at tombs in the Valley of the Kings in Egypt. These inscriptions are said to belong to the period between the 1st and 3rd Centuries C.E. These inscriptions were identified during a study carried out in 2024 and 2025 by Charlotte Schmid, Professor at the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) in Paris and Ingo Strauch, Professor at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. The team documented them across six tombs in the Theban Necropolis. They followed the footsteps of French scholar Jules Baillet, who surveyed the Valley of the Kings in 1926 and published more than 2,000 Greek graffiti marks.