02/10/2025

THURSDAY | OCT 2, 2025

9

Israel ramps up offensive

publishes the conservative daily ABC ; and Unidad Editorial, whose titles include El Mundo and sports daily Marca . Spanish radio and television stations have launched a separate lawsuit against Meta for the same reasons, seeking €160 million in damages. A similar lawsuit has also emerged in France, where 200 media groups, including major television networks and leading newspapers, filed legal action against Meta in April. – AFP during his previous term. – AFP HOUTHIS CLAIM ATTACK ON DUTCH CARGO SHIP SANAA: Yemen’s Houthi force claimed responsibility yesterday for an attack on a Dutch cargo ship this week in the busy shipping lane of the Gulf of Aden. The group has said the attacks on commercial shipping are in support of Palestinians. The cargo ship MV Minervagracht was hit by a projectile on Monday, wounding two people and sparking a fire, its owner said. It was targeted “because its owner company violated the decision to ban entry to the ports of occupied Palestine”, the group said in a statement carried by Saba news agency. British maritime security company Ambrey said the ship had previously been targeted on Sept 23 en route to Djibouti. – AFP WASHINGTON: The US government began shutting down yesterday after lawmakers and President Donald Trump failed to break a budget impasse during acrimonious talks that hinged on Democratic demands for health care funding. Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the deadlock that will impact hundreds of thousands of government workers and the millions of Americans who use the services they provide. The shutdown, which will stop work at federal departments and agencies, comes as deep partisan divisions in Washington have raised fears over what will be the length and consequences of the halt. Trump threatened to punish Democrats and their voters by targeting progressive priorities and forcing mass public sector job cuts during the first stoppage since the one LARGE WARSHIP SEEN NEAR GAZA FLOTILLA ISTANBUL: A large warship was spotted early yesterday near the Global Sumud Flotilla as its organisers reported a state of high alert at sea. Contact has been restored with the Alma ship after being lost for a short time, said an Al Jazeera correspondent on board the flotilla. According to the correspondent, an Israeli vessel came within just 5ft of the Alma , the lead ship in the flotilla, and jammed all of its communication systems as well as its engine, rendering them inoperative. He said participants on board the Alma threw their phones into the sea in line with established security protocols. The correspondent later reported that the Israeli vessel had left the area, allowing the flotilla to resume its course towards Gaza. The flotilla announced that its vessels are about 225km from the enclave. – Bernama U.S. GOVT BEGINS SHUTTING DOWN

demands that the group release the remaining hostages, surrender its weapons and have no future role in running Gaza. The plan sees Israel making few concessions in the near-term and does not lay out a clear path to a Palestinian state, one of the key demands of not only Hamas but the Arab and Muslim world. The plan states that Israel would eventually withdraw from Gaza but does not define a time frame. Hamas has long demanded that Israel must fully withdraw from Gaza for the war to end. – Reuters

thousands of residents who have fled south from returning to their homes, likely deepening fears in Gaza of permanent displacement. It would also stop the transfer by local merchants of goods from south to the north, which could worsen food shortages in Gaza City. The military had taken similar measures in the early months of the war, separating north and south, before later easing those measures in January during a temporary ceasefire. Hamas is yet to publicly comment on Trump’s plan, which

o Evacuees barred from returning north

BR I E F S

CAIRO: of President Donald Trump’s Gaza plan stretched into a third day yesterday, a source close to the group said, as other Palestinian factions rejected the proposal and as Israel again bombed Gaza City. Trump on Tuesday gave Hamas “three or four days” to respond to the plan he outlined this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has backed the proposal to end Israel’s almost two year-old war with the group. “Accepting the plan is a disaster, rejecting it is another, there are only bitter choices here, but the plan is a Netanyahu plan articulated by Trump,” said a Palestinian official, familiar with Hamas’s deliberations with other factions. “Hamas is keen to end the war and end the genocide and it will respond in the way that serves the higher interests of the Palestinian people,” he said, without elaborating. The Israeli military issued new orders for people to leave for the south and said it would no longer allow those to return to the north, as Gaza City came under heavy bombing. Israeli planes and tanks pounded residential neighbourhoods throughout the night, residents in Gaza City said. Local health authorities said that at least 17 people across Gaza had been killed by the military yesterday, most of them in Gaza City. A strike on the old city in northwestern Gaza City killed seven people, while six people sheltering in a school in another part of the city were killed in a separate strike, medics said. In a new development, the Israeli military said that starting yesterday it would no longer allow Hamas’s review WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that his administration had reached a deal with Harvard University after months of negotiations and that the Ivy League school will pay US$500 million (RM2.1 billion). “Linda is finishing up the final details,”Trump said at an event in the Oval Office, referring to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. “And they’ll be paying about MADRID: A Spanish court opened a trial yesterday over a €550 million (RM2.7 billion) lawsuit brought by more than 80 Spanish media organisations against Facebook owner Meta for allegedly breaching European Union data protection rules. EU rules oblige companies to obtain users’ consent to create personalised advertising from their data. Spain’s main media association AMI says the US tech giant, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp,

people to use a coastal road to move from the south to communities in the north. It would remain open for those fleeing south, it said. In recent weeks, few people have moved from the south to the north as the military has intensified its siege on Gaza City. However, today’s decision will put pressure on those who are yet to leave Gaza City and also prevent hundreds of

Smoke rises during an Israeli attack as displaced Palestinians fleeing northern Gaza move southwards. – REUTERSPIC

Harvard, Washington settle for US$500m

wrongly equates criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. The government has not announced probes into Islamophobia. Harvard task forces said in April that the school’s Jewish and Muslim students faced bigotry and abuse during Israel’s war. – Reuters

initiatives, transgender policies, and diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Rights advocates have raised free speech, privacy and academic freedom concerns over the administration’s probes. Trump has said that universities such as Harvard allowed displays of antisemitism during protests. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government

US$500 million and they’ll be operating trade schools. They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things, engines, lots of things.” Harvard had no immediate comment on Trump’s remarks. The Trump administration has threatened schools, universities and colleges with the withholding of federal funds over issues including pro-Palestinian protests, climate created “unfair competition” by “systematically” breaking the law between May 2018 and July 2023. The association alleges unfair competition in digital advertising sales and is seeking €551 million in compensation. “This isn’t a case that affects only AMI’s outlets, it has implications for media worldwide,” AMI director general Irene Lanzaco told reporters before entering the Madrid commercial court where the trial will run until Thursday.

€550m Meta data protection trial starts

“Meta complies with all applicable laws and has provided clear options, transparent information, and a wide range of tools for users to control their experience on our services.” Witnesses were scheduled to testify yesterday, with expert reports and closing arguments expected today. Media groups represented by AMI include Prisa, owner of Spain’s top selling daily newspaper El Pais ; Godo, publisher of the Barcelona-based daily La Vanguardia ; Vocento, which

“What’s at stake is the very survival of news media, which is being threatened by the predatory behaviour of a platform like Meta, acting with no regard for our legal framework.” Meta has denied any damage or violation of EU rules, saying in a statement sent to AFP the AMI lawsuit “is not based on any evidence regarding the alleged harm”. AMI is “deliberately ignoring the evolution of the advertising industry over the past few years,” Meta said.