13/02/2026

FRIDAY | FEB 13, 2026

9

Israel joins ‘Board of Peace’

WASHINGTON: The United States is preparing to deploy a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East for a possible attack on Iran, Sputnik/RIA Novosti reported, citing the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. According to the report, US officials said an order for the deployment could be issued “in the coming hours”, adding that a final decision has not yet been made and plans could change. According to the newspaper, a carrier could be deployed within two weeks, likely from the US East Coast. The USS George HW Bush , currently completing training drills off the coast of Virginia, could accelerate those exercises in preparation for deployment, the sources added. On Jan 26, the US Central Command announced that the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group had been deployed to the Middle East to support regional security and stability. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said he is considering the possibility of deploying a second aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East in preparation for a possible failure of negotiations with Iran. He said he expects a second round of negotiations with Iran to take place next week. Last month, Trump said a “massive armada” was heading towards Iran and expressed hope that Tehran would agree to negotiate a fair and equitable deal involving the complete disarmament of its nuclear weapons. Trump warned that if no agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme was reached, any future US strike on the country would be “far worse” than the previous ones. – Bernama-Sputnik/RIA Novosti US mulls second aircraft carrier group in Middle East Cocaine smuggled across border in cream cakes PRAGUE: A suspected drug gang is alleged to have hidden cocaine in cakes in order to smuggle it from Germany to the Czech Republic, the German Press Agency reported. A Czech police anti-drug centre spokesperson said on Wednesday more than 30kg of the drug had been smuggled from Berlin to Prague in this way. “They decorated the cakes with whipped cream so that neither the contents nor the cut they had used to alter the filling could be seen,“ she said. The drug-filled cakes were packed in boxes and transported individually by courier coach from the German to the Czech capital, she added. Each cake contained a brick of cocaine weighing about 1kg. The gang had taken advantage of the fact that the achievable market price for cocaine in the Czech Republic was significantly higher than in Germany. Seven foreigners and one Czech citizen are among the suspects, and five individuals are in custody. If convicted, they could face up to 18 years’ jail, the spokesperson said. Czech police did not disclose the nationality of the foreign suspects for legal reasons. Police accuse the gang of offering cocaine and other drugs, such as crystal meth, ecstasy and LSD, via a chat service on the internet. They are said to have recruited young people in financial need as couriers. Large quantities of drugs, the equivalent of about €20,000 (RM93,238) in cash, a car and several luxury watches were seized during raids. – Bernama-dpa

The board will hold its first meeting on Thursday in Washington to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction. Many rights experts say Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembles a colonial structure. Israel’s presence on the board is expected to bring further criticism as the board does not include any Palestinians. Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation to join the board launched in late January. Many experts are concerned that the board could undermine the United Nations. While some of Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined, many of its traditional Western allies have stayed away. The ceasefire in Gaza has been repeatedly violated, with at least 580 Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October, according to Palestinian and Israeli tallies respectively. The next phase of Trump’s Gaza plan calls for resolving complex issues such as the disarmament of Hamas, which the group has long rejected, further Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and the deployment of an international peacekeeping force. In a separate development, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Volker Turk said recent decisions issued by the Israeli Security Cabinet regarding the expansion of land confiscations in the occupied West Bank represent a further step in a course aimed at annexing Palestinian territory and constitute a clear violation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination. Emirates News Agency reported that Turk said these measures undermine the possibility of establishing a viable Palestinian state, stressing that they contradict the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. He explained that such policies would entrench Israeli control and effectively integrate the occupied West Bank into Israel, reinforcing the reality of unlawful annexation. He added that these actions affect not only Palestinians’ rights to their land, but also extend to their cultural rights linked to sites of particular religious and historical significance. Turk said the developments represent accelerated steps to permanently alter the demographic composition of the occupied Palestinian territory by displacing residents from their land and forcing them to leave. He added that these policies contravene Israel’s obligations as an occupying power to maintain the existing legal order, calling for a reversal of these decisions. – Reuters

WASHINGTON: Israel has joined US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” initiative, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday during his visit to Washington, where he met Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. A United Nations Security Council resolution, adopted in mid-November, authorised the board and countries working with it to establish an international stabilisation force in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire began in October under a Trump plan, on which Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas signed off. Under Trump’s Gaza plan, the board is meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump later said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to address global conflicts. o Presence expected to bring further criticism as body does not include any Palestinians

Destroyed buildings in Gaza as seen from the Israeli side of the border. – REUTERSPIC

Russian missiles target Ukraine capital

KYIV: The Ukrainian capital Kyiv came under a “massive” attack of Russian missiles yesterday, with various buildings hit in the assault, officials said. “A mass attack on the capital is underway,“ said Mayor Vitali Klitschko on Telegram. Klitschko said there have been hits on residential and non-residential buildings on both sides of the Dnipro River bisecting the city. Fragments have fallen near two residential buildings in one district, but no fire has broken out and no casualties were reported. Emergency medical teams have also been despatched. Kyiv military administration head Tymur Tkachenko said at least one hit has been recorded in an eastern suburb. The southeastern city of Dnipro also

the site. He said while there were no casualties, evacuation orders were being carried out in the nearby village of Kotluban “to ensure civilian safety from the threat of detonation during firefighting”. He also said farther north in Russia’s Tambov region, college students had to be relocated after a Ukrainian drone strike started a fire. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of launching strikes that undermine ongoing negotiations to end the nearly four-year long war. Under US pressure, they have opened talks but remain at odds, with Moscow demanding sweeping territorial and political concessions from Ukraine that Kyiv says would be tantamount to capitulation. – AFP

came under attack, said regional Governor Oleksandr Ganzha on Telegram. Some private homes and cars sustained damage, but there were no indications of any casualties. Air raid alerts remained in effect in Kyiv and Dnipro well after midnight. Meanwhile, Russia said yesterday it repelled a missile attack in Volgograd region but debris ignited a fire at a military facility and prompted the evacuation of a nearby village. “Air defence units of the Russian Defence Ministry repelled a missile attack on Volgograd region,“ said regional Governor Andrey Bocharov on Telegram. “Falling debris caused a fire on the grounds of a Defence Ministry facility near the village of Kotluban,“ he added, without elaborating on