04/02/2025

TUESDAY | FEB 4, 2025 9 Criminal probe launched into Israel PM’s wife TEL AVIV: Israeli police are conducting a criminal investigation into Sara Netanyahu, the wife of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the office of the state attorney said in a letter. “A criminal investigation was opened” into suspected criminal offences, the office said in a letter to an Israeli opposition lawmaker who had accused Sara Netanyahu of tampering in her husband’s corruption trial after the broadcast in December of a television news investigation. Naama Lazimi, Knesset member for the Democrats, shared the letter on X on Sunday confirming the criminal investigation was launched on Dec 26, adding that her office had contacted the state attorney following the probe by Channel 12’s Uvda news programme. The show alleged that Sara Netanyahu had tried to intimidate a key witness. She organised demonstrations to harass the attorney general, his deputy and other individuals deemed hostile to her husband, according to the programme. The state attorney’s office said the investigation was being “conducted by the police and the cyber department of the state attorney’s office”. In December, Benjamin Netanyahu testified in the corruption trial in which he faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of public trust in three separate cases, calling the charges against him “ridiculous”. – AFP DUBAI: Fourteen women and one man were killed and 15 other women injured yesterday, in a car bomb explosion on a main road on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Manbij. All of them were agricultural workers, Syria’s civil defence said. There were no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. It was the second blast in three days in the area, after four civilians were killed and nine others, were injured in a car bomb attack in Manbij on Saturday, according to Syria’s state news agency SANA. Manbij city is some 30km south of the Turkish border and to the west of the Euphrates river. – Reuters CHANGES NEEDED, RUBIO TELLS PANAMA PANAMA CITY: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino on Sunday that President Donald Trump has determined China’s influence threatens the Panama Canal and that immediate changes were needed or the US would act. Panama has denied ceding operation of the canal to China and insists it administers the canal fairly. Though the canal itself is operated by Panama, the two ports on either side are run by Hong Kong company CK Hutchinson, while other ports nearby are run by companies from the United States, Singapore and Taiwan. – Reuters SYRIA CAR BOMB BLAST KILLS 15

‘West Bank offensive criminal’

the Jenin camp’s 20,000 residents have been displaced over the past two months. Hamas on Sunday called for an “escalation in the resistance” against Israel following the demolition of buildings in Jenin. The Palestinian Authority, a Hamas rival, exercises limited governance over the West Bank where around three million Palestinians live and over which Israel maintains military control. Israeli forces have engaged in gun battles since the operation began. Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said security forces would stay until the operation is complete, without saying when that would be. At least 25 Palestinians have been killed since the military offensive began in Jenin, including nine members of armed groups, a 73-year-old man and a two-year old girl, according to Palestinian officials. The Israeli military says it has killed at least 35 gunmen and detained over 100 wanted individuals. WAFA also said that a 27-year old man had been killed on Sunday by troops raiding a refugee camp near Hebron. – Bernama/Reuters

It did not say where exactly those images were taken. Jenin Government Hospital Director Wisam Baker told WAFA that part of the hospital was damaged in the explosions but that there had been no casualties. Jenin is home to a crowded refugee camp of descendants of Palestinians who were driven out, or fled their homes, in the 1948 war when the state of Israel was established. The refugee camp has been a centre of political activity for decades and the target of repeated raids by Israeli security forces. Israeli forces, backed by helicopters and armoured bulldozers, began the assault on the city on Jan 21, two days after a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas took effect. Israel regards the West Bank as one part of a multi-front war against groups around its borders, from Gaza to Lebanon and including the Houthis in Yemen, and it turned its attention to the area immediately after the halt to fighting in Gaza.

o Genocidal intent evident, says rapporteur

NEW YORK: The UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese slammed Israel’s actions in the West Bank as “criminal”. “The genocidal intent is evident in the way Israel targets the totality of the Palestinians,” she said on X. She had warned the UN General Assembly about this in her last report in October. She said the genocidal intent is evident in the way Israel targets the totality of the Palestinian people and the entirety of the occupied Palestinian territory, which Israel claims is exclusively designated for Jewish self-determination. The UN official called on the international community to intervene and halt the destruction, which she said has expanded to encompass all occupied territories, not just Gaza. “It’s past the time to intervene to stop it. In Ramallah, the Israeli military blew up buildings in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank on Sunday in an operation that the Palestinian news agency, WAFA, said levelled 20 buildings. TV footage s h o w e d

simultaneous explosions in the densely populated camp. Thick clouds of smoke rose above the Palestinian city where Israeli forces have been conducting a major military operation for nearly two weeks that the military says targets gunmen and the seizure of weapons stockpiles. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a statement urged the United States to end Israel’s military operation and requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council “to stop the Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people”. The Israeli military said 23 structures had been “dismantled” in the northern West Bank after explosives laboratories, weapons and observation posts were uncovered. In a previous statement on Sunday the military shared images of firearms,

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said that almost all of

ammunition, and what appeared to be gas canisters.

BR I E F S

Smoke rises during an Israeli army operation in Jenin on Sunday. – REUTERSPIC

Musk shutting down world’s largest aid donor

WASHINGTON: Elon Musk, who is heading President Donald Trump’s efforts to shrink the federal government, gave an update on the effort early yesterday, saying they are working to shut down the US foreign aid agency USAID. Musk discussed the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in a discussion on X, which he owns. Trump has assigned Musk to lead a federal cost-cutting panel. The conversation, which included former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Republican Senator Joni Ernst, began

Social Security payments, tax refunds and other monies from the government. Democrat Peter Welch, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, called for explanations as to why Musk had been handed access to the payment system and taxpayers’ sensitive data. “It’s a gross abuse of power by an unelected bureaucrat and it shows money can buy power in the Trump White House,”Welch said. Musk’s team have been given access to or take control of numerous government systems. – Reuters

billion) of assistance worldwide on everything from women’s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work. It provided 42% of all humanitarian aid tracked by the United Nations last year. The online chat comes amid concerns about Musk’s access to the Treasury system, first reported by the New York Times , that sends out more than US$6 trillion a year in payments on behalf of federal agencies and contains the personal information of millions of Americans who receive

with Musk saying they were working to shut down the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “It’s beyond repair,” Musk said, adding that Trump agrees it should be shut down. On Sunday Reuters reported the Trump administration removed two top security officials at USAID during the weekend after they tried to stop DOGE representatives from gaining access to restricted parts of the building, three sources said. USAID is the world’s largest single donor. In fiscal year 2023, the US disbursed US$72 billion (RM323