05/11/2025

WEDNESDAY | NOV 5, 2025

9

Palestinians should govern Palestinians, say allies

GETTY IMAGES LARGELY LOSES LAWSUIT LONDON: Getty Images largely lost its landmark lawsuit against artificial intelligence company Stability AI over its image generator at London’s High Court yesterday. Seattle-based Getty, which produces editorial content and creative stock images and video, accused Stability AI of using its images to “train” its Stable Diffusion system, which can generate images from text input. The company sued Stability AI for trademark infringement and for secondary copyright infringement, alleging that Stability AI imported into the United Kingdom an AI model which breached its copyright. Judge Joanna Smith said in a written ruling that Getty had succeeded “in part” on trademark infringement, but her findings were “both historic and extremely limited in scope”. – Reuter DEATH PENALTY FOR TERRORISTS PROPOSED TEL AVIV: An Israeli parliamentary committee has advanced a Bill proposing the death penalty for “terrorists”, a move pushed for by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The National Security Committee approved the amendment to the penal code, which will now be passed on to the parliament for its first reading. Israel’s hostages coordinator, Gal Hirsch, said he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu backed the measure. Ben Gvir said he would stop his Otzma Yehudit party voting with the governing coalition if the law isn’t voted on by Sunday. While the death penalty exists in Israel, the last execution took place in 1962. The Bill’s explanatory note says “its purpose is to cut off terrorism at its root and create a deterrent.” – AFP CYPRUS MULLS MIDDLE EAST GROUP NICOSIA: Cyprus wants to create a regional organisation to promote security in the Middle East, its president said yesterday, saying it could be a platform to anchor stability in the area. President Nikos Christodoulides said Nicosia was working on “maturing the necessary political conditions” to create a regional safety and cooperation organisation. “A sort of Nato or a sort of OSCE, that would underline the benefits of promoting regional cooperation,” he told a conference here. While Nato is a military alliance, the Organisation for Security and Co operation in Europe is the successor to a body set up during the Cold War. – Reuters RUSSIA TIGHTENS RING AROUND KYIV TROOPS MOSCOW: Russia said yesterday that its forces were tightening their encirclement of Ukrainian troops in the city of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub they have been trying to capture for over a year. With fighting raging in the streets, the Russian Defence Ministry said its soldiers had cleared 35 buildings of Ukrainian troops. It said Russian forces had also surrounded Ukrainian troops near the town of Kupiansk in Kharkiv. Ukraine has denied that its troops are encircled in either location. DeepState, a project that maps the frontline, showed that Russian forces had pushed further into Pokrovsk. – Reuters

BR I E F S

the – diplomatically, institutionally and economically,” Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said after the talks. “Nobody wants to see a new system of tutelage emerge.” The Oct 10 ceasefire – which halted two years of continuous bloodshed – has been tested by fresh Israeli strikes and claims of Palestinian attacks on Israeli soldiers. The talks involved top diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Pakistan and Indonesia. All of them were called to a meeting with President Donald Trump in September on the margins of the UN General Assembly, just days before he best possible way

unveiled his plan to end the Gaza war. “We’ve now reached an extremely critical stage: we do not want the genocide in Gaza to resume,” Fidan said, adding all seven nations supported plans for the Palestinians to take control of Gaza’s security and governance. Fidan, who held talks at the weekend with a Hamas delegation led by its chief negotiator Khalil al Hayya, said the group was “ready to hand Gaza to a committee of Palestinians”. He also expressed hope that reconciliation efforts between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, “will bear fruit as soon as possible”, saying inter-Palestinian unity would “strengthen Palestine’s

representation in the international community”. Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Hamas was “determined to adhere to the (truce) agreement” and urged Muslim states to play “a leading role” in Gaza’s recovery. “We believe the reconstruction plan prepared by the Arab League and the OIC (Organisation of Islamic Cooperation) should be implemented immediately,” he said of the plan unveiled in March. Fidan said it was crucial that the emerging International Stabilisation Force that will monitor the Gaza ceasefire under Trump’s plan, have a “mandate defined by a UN Security Council resolution and a framework for legitimacy”. – AFP

o Self-rule key to Gaza future

ISTANBUL: Gaza’s future must be Palestinian-led and avoid any new system of tutelage, Turkiye and six of its allies said after talks in Istanbul. Turkiye, which played a central role in forging the shaky three-week old ceasefire, is pushing for Muslim nations to bring their influence to bear on the reconstruction of the embattled territory. “Our principle is that Palestinians should govern the Palestinians and ensure their own security, the international community should support this in

A displaced Palestinian man and a woman chipping wood inside a tent in Gaza City on Monday. – AFPPIC

Trump threatens to cut New York City funds WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump endorsed former New York governor Andrew Cuomo for mayor of New York City on Monday and threatened to hold back federal funds to the city if Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the mayoral election. Mamdani in the Democratic primary. him, and hope he does a fantastic job. He is capable of it, Mamdani is not!”Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. Trump said a vote for Sliwa would only help Mamdani.

The New York City election has been closely watched nationally as one that could help shape the image of the Democratic Party as it seeks its identity in opposition to Trump. Mamdani, 34, a self-described democratic socialist who is leading Cuomo in the polls, has energised younger and more progressive voters, but he has also alarmed more moderate Democrats who fear a shift too far to the left may backfire. Republicans have attacked Mamdani’s candidacy throughout the campaign, with Trump casting him as a communist. “Whether you personally like Andrew Cuomo or not, you really have no choice. You must vote for

“If communist candidate Zohran Mamdani wins the election for mayor of New York City, it is highly unlikely that I will be contributing federal funds, other than the very minimum as required, to my beloved first home,” said Trump, a native New Yorker. The US federal government is providing US$7.4 billion (RM31 billion) to New York City in fiscal year 2026, or about 6.4% of the city’s total spending, according to a report from the New York State Comptroller. – Reuters

Trump, a Republican who has offered frequent commentary on the New York mayoral election, injected himself further into the race by crossing party lines to support Cuomo over Mamdani and the Republican candidate, Curtis Sliwa, who trails badly in public opinion surveys in the heavily Democratic city. Cuomo, a longtime stalwart in the Democratic Party, is running as an independent after losing to

Mamdani leads the pack. – AFPPIC