19/02/2026

THURSDAY | FEB 19, 2026

9 Peru to elect interim leader after ouster

o Former president barred from running

Peru needed “a true leader” to bring much-needed political stability. Prosecutors last week opened an investigation into whether Jeri “exercised undue influence” in government appointments. Jeri has protested his innocence. He found himself in the spotlight over claims revealed by investigative TV program Cuarto Poder that five women were improperly given jobs in the president’s office and the Environment Ministry after meeting Jeri. Prosecutors said there were in fact nine women. Jeri is also under investigation for alleged “illegal sponsorship of interests” following a secret meeting with a businessman with commercial ties with the government. – AFP

The new interim president will serve out the remainder of Jeri’s term. A new leader will then take over following elections on April 12. Paula Jimenez, a 22-year-old saleswoman in the Peruvian capital Lima, said the political crisis was “secondary” compared to the everyday problems of ordinary people. She accused parliament of focusing on internal squabbles rather than the concerns of Peruvians. Peru has been gripped by a wave of extortion that has claimed dozens of lives, high levels of post-pandemic poverty and unemployment, and the domestic rise of gangs such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua. Edgardo Torres, a 29-year-old industrial engineer from Lima, said

Hector Acuna, whose party is tainted by corruption scandals. Alva is one of the favourites to win the vote. Jeri is constitutionally barred from running. Peru’s chronic political instability has seen four of its past seven presidents impeached, and two

Lawmakers will choose a new parliament speaker who will lead the country until July 28, when the next president elected in national polls takes office. Jeri himself became president following the impeachment of his predecessor Dina Boluarte in October. The vote will end a power vacuum of more than 24 hours, unprecedented in the country’s recent history. Four members of Congress have thrown their hat in the ring for the top job: former Congress president Maria del Carmen Alva, left-wing congressman Jose Balcazar, veteran socialist Edgar Raymundo, and

LIMA: Peru’s Congress is set to elect an interim president today to replace Jose Jeri (pic) , who was impeached in a graft scandal just four months after taking office. Jeri, 39, was accused in the irregular hiring of several women in his government and of suspected graft involving a businessman. The new interim president will be Peru’s eighth head of state in 10 years, after the Latin American country burned through a string of leaders who were impeached or investigated for wrongdoing.

resigning before suffering the same fate. Only one completed his intended term, centrist academic Francisco Sagasti. Congress voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to impeach Jeri, who was serving as interim president after massive protests last year ousted Boluarte, Peru’s first woman leader who served for only 22 months.

Vatican will not take part in ‘Board of Peace’ WASHINGTON: The Vatican will not take part in President Donald Trump’s so-called “Board of Peace” initiative, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican’s top diplomatic official, said on Tuesday while adding that efforts to handle crisis situations should be managed by the United Nations. Italy and the European Union have said their representatives plan to attend as observers as they have not joined the board. The Holy See “will not take part in the Board of Peace because of its particular nature, which is evidently not that of other States”, Parolin said. “One concern,” he said, “is that at the international level it should above all be the UN that manages these crisis situations. This is one of the points on which we have insisted.”

Israeli minister pushes for Palestinian emigration TEL AVIV: A senior Israeli far-right minister vowed to encourage “emigration” from the Palestinian territories, despite mounting criticism of recent measures tightening Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank. Since last week, Israel has approved a series of initiatives backed by far-right ministers to consolidate control over the West Bank, including in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority under the Oslo Accords, in place since the 1990s. “We will eliminate the idea of an Arab state,” far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said at an event organised by his Religious Zionism Party late on Tuesday. “We will finally, formally, and in practical terms nullify the cursed Oslo Accords and embark on a path toward sovereignty, while encouraging emigration from both Gaza and Judea and Samaria,” he said, using the Biblical term for the West Bank. “There is no other long-term solution,” said Smotrich, who himself lives in a settlement in the West Bank. Smotrich was speaking at a vineyard near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority, where he presented what he called “Colonisation 2030”, a campaign initiative ahead of national elections scheduled for later this year. In addition to the finance portfolio, Smotrich serves on Israel’s security Cabinet, which takes key decisions regarding the West Bank, making him a central figure in efforts to expand settlements there. The recently approved measures include launching a process to register land in the West Bank as “state property” and allowing Jewish Israelis to buy land directly. Until now, land acquisitions for settlers were typically carried out through intermediary companies. The new measures repeal a decades-old law that barred Jews from directly buying land in the West Bank. “This will allow Jews to buy land in Judea and Samaria exactly as they do in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem,” Smotrich said last week. The steps are also set to increase Israel’s control in parts of the West Bank where the Palestinian Authority exercises power. Under the Oslo Accords, the West Bank was divided into areas A, B and C – under Palestinian, mixed and Israeli governance respectively. The West Bank would form the largest part of any future Palestinian state, but many on Israel’s religious right view it as Israeli land. The Oslo Accords were signed to pave the way for an independent Palestine. – AFP

Washington’s Middle Eastern allies have joined but its Western allies have stayed away so far. The Gaza truce has been repeatedly violated with hundreds of Palestinians and four Israeli soldiers reported killed since it began in October. Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed over 72,000, caused a hunger crisis and internally displaced Gaza’s entire population. Rights experts, scholars and a UN inquiry say it amounts to genocide. Israel calls its actions self-defence after gunmen killed 1,200 people and took over 250 hostages in a late 2023 attack. Leo has repeatedly decried conditions in Gaza. The pope, leader of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics, rarely joins international boards. The Vatican has an extensive diplomatic service and is a permanent observer at the UN. – Reuters Aqsa, Islam’s third-holiest site, located in east Jerusalem, which Israel captured in 1967 and later annexed in a move that is not internationally recognised. The Palestinian Jerusalem Governorate said this week that Israeli authorities had prevented the Islamic Waqf, the Jordanian-run body that administers the site, from carrying out routine preparations ahead of Ramadan, including installing shade structures and setting up temporary medical clinics. – AFP

Pope Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump’s policies, was invited to join the board last month. Under Trump’s Gaza plan that led to a fragile ceasefire in October, the board was meant to supervise Gaza’s temporary governance. Trump thereafter said the board, with him as chair, would be expanded to tackle global conflicts. The board will hold its first meeting in Washington on Thursday to discuss Gaza’s reconstruction.

Many rights experts say that Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s affairs resembled a colonial structure. The board launched last month has also faced criticism for not including a Palestinian. Countries have reacted cautiously to Trump’s invitation, with experts concerned that the board could undermine the UN. Some of

Worshippers to Al-Aqsa Mosque restricted TEL AVIV: Israel announced it would allow 10,000 Palestinian worshippers to attend weekly prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in east Jerusalem during Ramadan, which began yesterday. Ramadan, subject to obtaining a dedicated daily permit in advance,” COGAT, the Israeli Defence Ministry agency responsible for Palestinian civilian affairs in occupied territory said in a statement.

Israeli authorities also imposed restrictions on entry to the mosque compound, permitting access only to men aged 55 and older, women aged 50 and older, and children up to age 12. “Ten thousand Palestinian worshippers will be permitted to enter the Temple Mount for Friday prayers throughout the month of

“Entry for men will be permitted from age 55, for women from age 50, and for children up to age 12 when accompanied by a first-degree relative.” During Ramadan, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians traditionally attend prayers at Al

LIGHTING THE WAY ... Iraqi children with lanterns welcoming the start of the holy month of Ramadan in Mosul. – REUTERSPIC