03/03/2025

MONDAY | MAR 3, 2025

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Pope spent ‘calm night’ in hospital

ROME: Pope Francis, who has been in hospital for more than two weeks with double pneumonia, spent a “calm night”, the Vatican said yesterday, after reporting he was in a stable condition. “The pope is still resting,” the Holy See said in its latest health update on the 88-year-old head of the Catholic Church. On Saturday evening, it had said the pope’s condition was “stable”, adding that he was still receiving oxygen, had no fever, had been eating, was alert and praying. His haemodynamic parameters – those relating to the flow of blood – were also stable, and he did not have the high white blood-cell count that often indicates an infection, the Vatican said, adding that the prognosis, as in previous days, remained “reserved”. Francis, leader of the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics, was admitted to Rome’s Gemelli hospital on Feb 14 with bronchitis that soon developed into pneumonia in both lungs. Last weekend, the Vatican reported he was in a “critical” condition, suffering a major respiratory attack and requiring blood transfusions, prompting widespread concern. After a series of incremental improvements, there was more alarming news on Friday when the Vatican said Francis “presented an isolated crisis of bronchospasm, which led to an episode of vomiting with inhalation and a sudden worsening of the respiratory picture”. “It will take doctors 24 to 48 hours to evaluate the impact” of Friday’s breathing crisis, a Vatican source said. Andrea Ungar, professor of geriatrics at the University of Florence, said on Saturday that it appeared vomit had entered the pope’s lungs, which “aggravated the pneumonia”. Such an issue normally required a strengthening of antibiotics, ventilation and respiratory exercises, he said. He also agreed that the first 24 to 48 hours after an incident were crucial, adding the pontiff would likely stay in hospital for some time, “at least 10 days” in the most optimistic scenario. – AFP ‘U.S. POLICY SHIFT ALIGNS WITH KREMLIN VISION’ MOSCOW: The Kremlin said in remarks aired yesterday that the United States’ dramatic shift in foreign policy largely aligns with its own vision. President Donald Trump has sought to build ties with Moscow since taking office in January, reaching out to President Vladimir Putin and siding with Russia at the United Nations. “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely coincides with our vision. There is a long way to go, because there is huge damage to the whole complex of bilateral relations. But if the political will of the two leaders is maintained, this path can be quick and successful,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state television. – AFP SAINT-DENIS DE LA REUNION: Residents of the Indian Ocean island of La Reunion took stock of the damage on Saturday after a devastating cyclone barrelled through the overseas French territory, killing four people. Local residents expressed shock at the level of destruction after Cyclone Garance struck the territory of 900,000 people on Friday, uprooting trees, tearing off roofs and flooding homes. Entire streets were inundated and cars washed away. A red alert, ordering the population to stay indoors, was lifted on Saturday after Garance was downgraded to a severe tropical storm. – AFP FOUR DEAD AS ISLAND BATTERED BY CYCLONE

Displaced Palestinians gather to break fast in Rafah. – AFPPIC

Israel blocks aid into Gaza

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the decision would impact the ceasefire talks, adding his group “doesn’t respond to pressures”. Speaking at a news conference with his Croatian counterpart, Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Palestinians in Gaza would not get goods for free and further negotiations should be linked to the release of the hostages. In Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip, medics said one Palestinian was killed and another was wounded in Israeli drone fire. There are wide gaps in key areas regarding a permanent end to the war, including what form a postwar administration of Gaza would take and what future there would be for Hamas. The Israeli military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and left the enclave a wasteland. Israel insists that Hamas can play no part in the postwar future of Gaza and that its military and governing structures must be eliminated. It also rejects bringing into Gaza the Palestinian Authority, the body set up under the Oslo accords three decades ago and which exercises limited governance in the occupied West Bank. The issue has been further muddled by Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and redevelop the coastal enclave as a property project under US ownership. – Reuters notification to Congress. Friday’s announcements marked the second time in recent weeks that President Donald Trump’s administration has declared an emergency to quickly approve weapons sales to Israel. The Biden administration also used emergency authority to approve the sale of arms to Israel without congressional review. On Monday, the Trump administration rescinded a Biden-era order requiring it to report potential violations of international law involving US-supplied weapons by allies, including Israel. It has also eliminated most US humanitarian foreign aid. – Reuters

ceasefire deal. Spokesman Hazem Qassem said on Saturday that the group rejected Israel’s “formulation” of extending the first phase. In the first phase of the ceasefire, Hamas freed 33 Israeli hostages as well as five Thais in an unscheduled release, in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees from Israeli jails and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from some of their positions in Gaza. Under the original agreement, the second phase was intended to see the start of negotiations over the release of the remaining 59 hostages, the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and a final end to the war. However, the talks never began and Israel says all its hostages must be returned for fighting to stop. “Israel will not allow a ceasefire without the release of our hostages,” Netanyahu’s office said, announcing that the entry of all goods and supplies into the Gaza Strip would be halted. “If Hamas persists in its refusal, there will be additional consequences.” Hamas has denounced Israel’s move as “blackmail” and a “blatant coup against the agreement”. “We call on mediators to pressure the occupation to fulfil its obligations under the agreement, in all its phases,” it said, adding that the only way to get the hostages back would be to adhere to the agreement and start talks for the second phase. assistance to Israel to its Middle East ally, now in a fragile ceasefire with Hamas. The Pentagon said on Friday that the State Department had approved the potential sale of nearly US$3 billion worth of bombs, demolition kits and other weaponry to Israel. The administration notified Congress of those prospective weapons sales on an emergency basis, sidestepping a long-standing practice of giving the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees the opportunity to review the sale and ask for more information before making a formal

o Ceasefire mediators urged to intervene

CAIRO: Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza yesterday as a standoff over the truce that has halted fighting for the past six weeks escalated, with Hamas calling on Egyptian and Qatari mediators to intervene. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said earlier it had adopted a proposal by President Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza for the Ramadhan and Passover periods. If agreed, the truce would halt fighting until the end of the fasting period around March 31 and the Jewish Passover holiday on April 20. The truce would be conditional on Hamas releasing half of the hostages on the first day, with the rest released at the conclusion, if an agreement is reached on a permanent ceasefire. Hamas says it is committed to the originally agreed ceasefire that had been scheduled to move into a second phase, with negotiations aimed at a permanent end to the war, and it has rejected the idea of a temporary extension to the 42-day truce. Egyptian sources said on Friday that the Israeli delegation in Cairo had sought to extend the first phase by 42 days, while Hamas wanted to move to the second phase of the WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Saturday he had signed a declaration to expedite delivery of approximately US$4 billion (RM17.8 billion) in military assistance to Israel. The Trump administration has approved nearly US$12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, Rubio said in a statement, adding that it “will continue to use all available tools to fulfil America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats”. Rubio said he had used emergency authority to expedite the delivery of military

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Rubio signs off on US$4 billion military aid