26/02/2026

THURSDAY | FEB 26, 2026

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More than 60% of those killed by Israeli fire were Palestinians reporting from Gaza. The Israeli military maintains that it never deliberately targets journalists. The number of journalists killed in Ukraine and Sudan also increased last year compared to a year earlier. CPJ highlighted a rise in drones being used, with 39 cases documented, including 28 killings in Gaza and five in Sudan. In Ukraine, four journalists were killed by Russian military drones, the highest annual number of journalist deaths in the war since 15 were killed in 2022. Journalists are vulnerable due to a persistent culture of impunity, CPJ said, noting a lack of transparent investigations into killings. – AFP MEXICO CITY: Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Tuesday she is considering legal action following a comment by tech billionaire Elon Musk that alleged she was connected to drug cartels. Musk’s post on X followed the capture and killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho”, by security forces. In the post, Musk responded to a 2025 video of Sheinbaum discussing cartel violence and alleged that she was “saying what her cartel bosses tell her to say”. He did not provide further evidence. “We are considering whether to take legal action,” Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. – Reuters IRAN ARRESTS JAPANESE JOURNALIST TOKYO: Iran has arrested the Tehran bureau chief of Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Media reported Shinnosuke Kawashima had been transferred to Evin Prison. “We at NHK always act with the safety of our staff as our top priority. At this time, we are unable to comment further,” an NHK spokesman said yesterday. Government spokesman Masanao Ozaki said a Japanese citizen had been detained on Jan 20 but declined to give more details. He said the government has been strongly urging the Iranian side to secure Kawashima’s early release. “We are also in contact with him and his family and other related parties, and are providing assistance.” – AFP UK TO RELEASE TRADE ENVOY VETTING FILES LONDON: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government agreed on Tuesday to release documents relating to the appointment of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a trade envoy. Mountbatten-Windsor served as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment between 2001 and 2011. Police began investigating Mountbatten Windsor after the US government last month released emails that appeared to show he had passed documents to Jeffrey Epstein, while he worked as a trade envoy. Trade envoys are barred from sharing such material under confidentiality rules. Junior Trade Minister Chris Bryant said he would try to get the documents released as soon as possible. – Reuters MEXICAN PRESIDENT MULLS SUING MUSK

BR I E F S

Peace activists rallying in Times Square, New York. – REUTERSPIC

Ukraine cannot be divided, says UN

GENEVA: General Assembly adopted by a wide margin on Tuesday a resolution supporting Ukraine, backing its international borders and voicing concern over intensifying Russian attacks on civilians and critical energy infrastructure. The vote by the assembly, which has repeatedly supported Ukraine, passed with 107 in favour, 12 against, and 51 abstentions. The resolution, which is not legally binding but carries political weight, was seen as a test of solidarity with Ukraine on the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion. A breakdown of voting showed that Russia, Belarus and Sudan were among the opponents while China and the United States abstained. Tammy Bruce, the US deputy UN envoy, explained the US abstention, saying that while Washington welcomed the call for an immediate ceasefire, the resolution included language likely to distract from ongoing negotiations, “rather than support discussion of the full range of diplomatic avenues that may pave the way to that durable peace”. The UN PARIS: Iran yesterday dismissed US claims about its missile programme as “big lies”, after President Donald Trump said Tehran was developing missiles that could strike the United States. In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, Trump accused Tehran of “sinister nuclear ambitions”. The two foes are scheduled to meet for a third round of talks today in Geneva in an effort to reach a diplomatic solution. Trump claimed Tehran had “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America”.

Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said Europe was presenting itself as the source of moral standards for others when it brought a “brutal regime of a neo-Nazi ilk” to power in Ukraine. He called the general assembly resolution “another manipulation” that had “nothing to do with reality”. Russia has given various reasons for sending troops into its neighbour, including needing to “demilitarise” Ukraine and respond to the US-led Nato alliance’s eastward expansion in the years since the Soviet Union collapsed. Kyiv and its allies deny posing a threat to Russia, which they accuse of staging a land-grab. – Reuters

o General Assembly calls for truce

to Russia have helped sustain Moscow’s operations in Ukraine. “China remains a decisive enabler of Russia’s war machine. If China truly wants peace, it should immediately end exports of dual-use goods and stop buying Russian oil,” Bruce told the council. China’s UN ambassador Fu Cong responded by accusing the US of fabricating “all sorts of excuses and lies” about China intended “to create division and conflict”, adding that Washington should “stop shifting blame and creating conflicts and wars around the world”. The West believes Iran is seeking an atomic bomb, but Tehran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful. Trump has threatened to launch strikes on Iran if no deal is reached. Tehran has repeatedly said it would respond firmly to any attack, warning that even a limited strike “would be regarded as an act of aggression”. Hours before Trump’s speech, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared that a deal to avoid a military clash was within reach. “We have a historic opportunity to strike an unprecedented agreement that addresses mutual concerns and achieves mutual interests,” Abbas said in a social media post. – AFP

The 15-member UN Security Council has been deadlocked throughout the war and unable to take action on the Ukraine conflict because Russia holds a veto. In a statement to a later Security Council meeting on Ukraine, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the war remained “a stain on our collective conscience” and reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire. The council session saw a clash between the US and China over Washington’s charge that Beijing’s imports of Russian oil and Chinese sales of materials with military uses

Iran dismisses missile, nuclear claims He said Iran wants “to start all over again” with its nuclear programme and is “at this moment again pursuing their sinister nuclear ambitions”.

Israel tops press killings list

NEW YORK: A record 129 journalists and media workers were killed last year, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said yesterday, blaming Israel for two-thirds of the deaths. It was the second consecutive annual record for press deaths and the deadliest year since the CPJ began collecting data more than three decades ago. “Journalists are being killed in record numbers at a time when access to information is more important than ever,” CEO Jodie Ginsberg said. “We are all at risk when journalists are killed for reporting the news.” Over three-quarters of all the fatalities last year were in conflict settings, CPJ said in its report.

But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei yesterday refuted those claims, without mentioning Trump directly. “Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear programme, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest, is simply the repetition of ‘big lies’,” he said on X. The US president had also claimed that Iranian authorities killed protesters during a wave of demonstrations that started in December and peaked on Jan 8 and 9.