17/02/2026

TUESDAY | FEB 17, 2026

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Rio parades kick off with divisive ode to Lula

MOVE FORWARD WITH PLAN, TRUMP TELLS HAMAS WEST PALM BEACH: US President Donald Trump on Sunday urged Hamas to move forward with disarmament under his plan for postwar Gaza, and said members of his so called “Board of Peace: had pledged US$5 billion (RM19.5 billion) to the Palestinian territory’s reconstruction. “Very importantly, Hamas must uphold its commitment to full and immediate demilitarisation,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, ahead of a Feb 19 meeting of the board in Washington. Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority. Both sides accuse each other daily of ceasefire violations. Although originally intended to oversee Gaza’s rebuilding, the charter for the “Board of Peace” does not seem to limit its role to the Palestinian territory. “The Board of Peace has unlimited potential,”Trump said in his post. – AFP LEBANON SAYS FOUR KILLED IN ISRAELI AIRSTRIKE BEIRUT: Lebanon said an Israeli strike on Sunday near the Syrian border in the country’s east killed four people, as Israel said it had targeted operatives from Palestinian group Islamic Jihad. Despite a November 2024 truce that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah, Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon, usually saying it is targeting the group but occasionally also targeting its Palestinian ally Hamas. It appeared to be the first strike Israel has claimed in Lebanon against Islamic Jihad, which is also allied with Hezbollah, since the truce. An Israeli drone “targeted a car on the border”, National News Agency said, adding that “four bodies” were inside the vehicle. The Israeli military said it “struck Palestinian Islamic Jihad gunmen in the Majdal Anjar area”. More than 370 people have been killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon since the ceasefire. – AFP UKRAINE DETAINS FORMER ENERGY MINISTER KYIV: A Ukrainian former energy minister has been detained as a suspect in a high-profile kickback case for crimes such as moneylaundering and participation in criminal activity, anti-graft prosecutors said yesterday, but did not name him. Ukraine’s previous two energy ministers resigned amid fallout from the so-called “Midas” case, centred on an alleged US$100 million (RM390 million) kickback scheme at the state atomic agency that ensnared senior officials and business elites, including a former associate of President Volodymyr Zelensky. The scandal also claimed the job of Zelensky’s chief of staff. All three have denied wrongdoing. “We are talking about the former energy minister of Ukraine (2021 to 2025),”special anti-graft prosecutors said.“He is charged with money laundering and participation in a criminal organisation.” The former minister was detained over the weekend while attempting to leave Ukraine, the prosecutors said. – Reuters WORKER STRIKE DELAYS FLIGHTS AT NAIROBI AIRPORT NAIROBI: Kenya’s main international airport was experiencing flight delays yesterday due to a strike by members of the aviation union, operator Kenya Airports Authority said. Nairobi’s Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is one of the continent’s major air transport hubs. The labour dispute between the aviation workers’ union and the civil aviation authority is over grievances including the failure to conclude a collective bargaining agreement. Last week, the aviation workers’ union issued a seven-day strike notice, after which the Kenya Civil Aviation Authority approached the courts to try to block the strike. “This is a complete strike action. I have not been served with any court order halting the strike,” said union secretary-general Moss Ndiema. Kenya Airways and Tanzania’s Precision Air said air traffic control delays were affecting departures and arrivals. – Reuters

BR I E F S

o Sign of early campaigning, say critics

commentary, mythology or environmental issues. The parade, the first to honour a serving president, made no mention of the election, but did not shy away from politics. The theme song declares “no amnesty” – the leftist chant against efforts to free former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro from a 27 year jail term he is serving for plotting a coup. Brazil’s electoral court, the TSE, on Thursday unanimously rejected requests filed by two opposition parties to stop Academicos from parading on Sunday. The court said it could not block a parade before it happened, but warned it could still investigate after the show. On Friday, the presidency warned officials attending carnival events not to make “statements that could be characterised as early electoral propaganda.” “We did not come here to campaign,” said Leonel Querino, one of the directors of Academicos de Niteroi. “We came here to celebrate the story of a worker in Brazil.” – AFP

There were striking workers, dancers draped in giant lightbulbs to represent access to electricity and those depicting the poor getting benefits in what was also an ode to a raft of leftist concerns. The crowd seated along the 700m avenue sang along to the theme song chosen by Academicos de Niteroi, which included the catchy refrain often used by the president’s supporters: “Ole, ole, ole, ola; Lula, Lula!” Luena Holliday, 51, an events organiser, said she was a fan of the veteran leftist, but she was torn about the choice of theme. “I find it confusing. I support Lula ... but we’re in a very divided moment in the country, and I don’t know how appropriate it is to associate Carnival with Lula,” she said. The parades of the city’s top 12 samba schools – a ferocious competition featuring massive, animated floats, thundering drum sections and scantily-clad samba queens – are the showpiece of Rio’s Carnival. Behind the pomp and glitter, each school chooses an annual theme, often linked to Afro-Brazilian heritage, social or political

RIO DE JANEIRO: A colossal metallic robot depicting Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva towered over Rio de Janeiro’s famed Sambadrome avenue on Sunday, in a parade that has drawn fire for its tribute to a sitting president in an election year. Samba school Academicos de Niteroi kicked off three days of dazzling parades with the homage to Lula, tracing his life as a boy growing up in poverty in the arid northeast, to a metalworker, union leader and then president. The opposition has slammed the parade as veiled early campaigning ahead of October polls in which the 80-year-old Lula is seeking a fourth term. Lula and his wife Rosangela “Janja” da Silva watched the parade from one of the many VIP boxes lining the avenue.

A float depicting Lula on the opening night of the Rio Carnival. – AFPPIC

Officials to meet over US-Iran nuclear talks DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (pic) said he will meet the UN nuclear watchdog chief, ahead of US-Iran nuclear talks to tackle their dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme and avert conflict as US warships Sunday that the ball was “in America’s court to prove that they want to do a deal”. The US has dispatched a second aircraft carrier to the Middle East and is preparing for the possibility of a sustained military campaign if the talks do not succeed, US officials said.

stay for peaceful purposes”. Abbas said he will meet International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Grossi accompanied by nuclear experts “for deep technical discussions”. The IAEA has been calling on Iran for months to say what happened to its stockpile of 440kg of highly enriched uranium following Israeli-US strikes and let inspections fully resume, including in three key sites that were bombed in June last year: Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he told President Donald Trump last week that any US deal with Iran must include the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, not just stopping the enrichment process. Netanyahu said he is sceptical of a deal but it must include enriched material leaving Iran. “There shall be no enrichment capability – not stopping the enrichment process, but dismantling the equipment and the infrastructure that allows you to enrich in the first place,” he said. – Reuters

deploy to the Middle East. The two sides held indirect talks earlier this month in Oman. “I am in Geneva with real ideas to achieve a fair and equitable deal. What is not on the table: submission before threats,” Abbas said on X. While Washington has sought to expand the scope of talks to non nuclear issues like Iran’s missile stockpile, Tehran says it is only willing to discuss curbs on its

Iran’s civil defence organisation yesterday held a chemical defence drill in the Pars Special Economic Energy Zone to strengthen preparedness for potential chemical incidents in the energy hub located in southern Iran. Prior to the US joining Israel in striking Iranian nuclear sites in June, Iran-US nuclear talks had

stalled over Washington’s demand that Tehran forgo enrichment on its soil, which the US views as a pathway to an Iranian nuclear weapon. Iran says its nuclear programme is solely for civilian purposes and is ready to assuage concerns regarding nuclear weapons by “building trust that enrichment is and will

nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and won’t accept zero uranium enrichment. Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht Ravanchi signalled Iran’s readiness to compromise on its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief, telling the BBC on