25/02/2026

WEDNESDAY | FEB 25, 2026 9 Hamas calls for sanctions GAZA CITY: Hamas yesterday called for sanctions against Israel, welcoming a joint condemnation by nearly 20 countries of new Israeli measures aimed at tightening control over the occupied West Bank. Israel has approved a series of initiatives this month backed by far-right ministers, including launching a process to register land in the West Bank as “state property” and allowing Israelis to buy land there directly. Late on Monday, 18 countries including regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and European powers France and Spain, slammed Israel over the recent moves. They “are part of a clear trajectory that aims to change the reality on the ground and to advance unacceptable de facto annexation”, the countries said. “Such actions are a deliberate and direct attack on the viability of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution.” Hamas hailed the condemnation as “a step in the right direction in confronting the occupation’s expansionist plans, which flagrantly violate international law and relevant UN resolutions”. The group in a statement urged the countries involved “to impose deterrent sanctions and exert pressure on the fascist occupation government to halt its policies aimed at entrenching annexation, colonial settlement and forced displacement”. It said the Israeli measures were part of ongoing “aggression” against Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. – AFP AIRCRAFT PARTS BOSS JAILED LONDON: A UK court on Monday jailed a former company director for using forged documents to sell aircraft parts, causing flights to be grounded and costing the aviation industry millions of dollars. Jose Alejandro Zamora Yrala, 38, was sentenced to four years and eight months at Southwark Crown Court after admitting fraudulent trading between 2019 and 2023 through his company, AOG Technics. Planes were grounded in 2023 after British, US and EU aviation regulators issued safety alerts to airlines that may have bought or installed AOG parts. The court heard that Zamora Yrala’s actions resulted in more than 60,000 suspect parts entering the aviation supply chain. It resulted in £39.3 million (RM206.7 million) in losses for airlines and manufacturers. – AFP UK ANNOUNCES SUPPORT LONDON: Britain announced a package of military, humanitarian and reconstruction support for Ukraine. Prime Minister Keir Starmer later led a call of the Coalition of the Willing group of allies, and Foreign Minister Yvette Cooper attended events in Kyiv. The government announced: £20 million (RM105 million) for emergency energy support to protect and repair Ukraine’s energy grid; £5.7 million of humanitarian aid to communities on the frontline; training for Ukrainian pilots to become helicopter flying instructors; and £30 million to support societal resilience, and drive justice and accountability efforts for victims and survivors of war crimes. – Reuters PERSIAN TV MOVES HOUSE LONDON: A London-based Persian language channel on Monday said it had been forced to suspend live broadcasts after UK counter terror police alerted its landlord to a potential threat. Manoto TV said: “Our landlord has informed us of their intention to terminate our tenancy following notification from the UK’s Counter Terrorism Policing regarding a potential threat against us.” Staff had been blocked from entering the building, resulting in the temporary suspension while alternative arrangements were put in place. “Our priority is to return to live broadcasting from a safe and stable location as soon as possible.” – AFP

Zelensky vows to fight on

o Hungary vetoes EU sanctions, loan

Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War Two. Russian forces have also killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilians and destroyed Ukrainian cities with years of missiles and drone strikes. Peace talks with Russia, brokered by the United States, appear to have stalled over the question of territory. Moscow, which is advancing painfully slowly on the battlefield, insists that Ukraine must cede the final 20% of the eastern region of Donetsk, while Kyiv is adamant it will not relinquish land that thousands have died to defend. “We want peace: strong, dignified, lasting peace,” Zelensky said, adding that he had told peace negotiators: “Do not nullify all these years, do not devalue all the struggle, courage, dignity, everything that Ukraine has gone through. We cannot, we must not, give it away, forget it, betray it.” – Reuters

Ukraine says it is trying to repair after a Russian strike last month. Zelensky was due to welcome dignitaries from Western Europe, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in Kyiv for ceremonies to mark the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb 24, 2022. But in contrast to previous years, no major Western leaders were expected. “Putin has not achieved his goals. He has not broken the Ukrainian people. He has not won this war,” Zelensky said in a morning address, extending an invitation to President Donald Trump to come to Kyiv. “Only by visiting Ukraine and seeing our lives and struggles with your own eyes ... can you understand what this war is really about.” Hundreds of thousands of soldiers on both sides have died or been wounded in

KYIV: Ukraine will not betray the sacrifices made by its people in four years of war just to make peace with Russia, President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed yesterday, as divisions among his key allies overshadowed commemorations of the start of the conflict. European nations had hoped to agree to a fresh package of sanctions against Russia as well as a €90 billion (RM413.3 billion) loan for Ukraine but Hungary, which maintains close ties with Moscow, had on Monday kept up its veto on both. Hungary and neighbouring Slovakia accuse Kyiv of deliberately blocking Russian oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline, which

BR I E F S

A girl touches a portrait of her father while she visits with her mother a memorial to fallen Ukrainian defenders in Kyiv yesterday. – REUTERSPIC

Queen Camilla meets French rape survivor Pelicot LONDON: Queen Camilla met French rape survivor Gisele Pelicot on Monday,

Buckingham Palace said in a statement, and told her she had been left “speechless” by her memoir. “This afternoon, Her Majesty received Madame Gisele Pelicot at Clarence House,” the brief statement said, referring to the woman who has become a symbol of the fight against sexual violence. The two women met over tea for about 30 minutes and Camilla told Pelicot that she had read her memoir “in the last two days”. “I couldn’t put it down,” the Press Association news agency reported her saying. “I’ve met so many survivors of rape and sexual abuse I never thought I could be shocked by anything any more, but I was shocked at your case, it left me speechless,” she said. Camilla has long been a campaigner against sexual and domestic violence, speaking out about the issue on many occasions. Last year, she wrote a private letter to Pelicot, 73, who was drugged and raped for a decade by her now ex-husband and strangers he enlisted online.

Camilla (left) speaks to Pelicot (right) at Clarence House in London. – AFPPIC Pelicot, who waived her right to anonymity during the 2024 trial of her ex-husband and dozens of strangers who raped her while she was unconscious, said she had been

“overwhelmed” to receive Camilla’s letter. Pelicot has been in the UK to promote her book, titled A Hymn to Life , which covers the full arc of her 50-year marriage. – AFP