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Rubio, Blair, Kushner in Gaza board

WASHINGTON: The White House on Friday announced some members of a so-called “Board of Peace” that is to supervise the temporary governance of Gaza, which has been under a fragile ceasefire since October. The names include US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair ߑ and Trump’s son-in law, Jared Kushner. US officer to head stabilisation force

cooperation Reem Al-Hashimy, and Israeli-Cypriot billionaire Yakir Gabay, along with some members of the executive board. This additional board will support Mladenov’s office and the Palestinian technocratic body, whose details were announced this week, the White House said. Israel and Hamas have accused each other of ceasefire violations in Gaza, where more than 450 Palestinians, including over 100 children, and three Israeli soldiers have been reported killed during the ߑ truce. – Reuters

Army Major-Gen Jasper Jeffers, a US special operations commander, was appointed commander of the International Stabilisation Force, the White House said. A UN Security Council resolution, adopted in mid November, authorised the board and countries working with it to establish the force in Gaza. The White House also named an 11-member “Gaza Executive Board” that will include Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, UN special coordinator ߑ for the Middle East peace process Sigrid Kaag, United Arab Emirates minister for international

history of ߑ British imperialism. The White House did not detail the responsibilities of each member of the “founding executive board”. The names do not include any Palestinians. The White House said more members will be announced soon. The board will also include private equity executive and billionaire Marc Rowan, World Bank President Ajay Banga and Robert Gabriel, a Trump adviser, the White House said, adding that Nickolay Mladenov, a former UN Middle East envoy, ߑ will be the high representative for Gaza.

Trump is the chair of the board, according to a plan the White House unveiled in October. Israel and Hamas signed off on Trump’s plan, which says a Palestinian technocratic body will be overseen by the international board, which will supervise Gaza’s governance for a transitional period. Many rights experts and advocates have said Trump overseeing a board to supervise a foreign territory’s governance resembled a colonial structure, while Blair’s involvement was criticised last year due to his role in the Iraq war and the

Venezuela sacks Maduro ally CARACAS: Venezuela’s interim president on Friday dismissed businessman Alex Saab, a close ally of deposed leader Nicolas Maduro, from his post as minister of industry. Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said her country is starting a “true transition” to democracy and will become free with support from the United States and President Donald Trump.

Delcy Rodriguez announced the ministry would be combined with a Commerce Ministry and thanked Saab, a Colombian-born Venezuelan, “for his service to the Homeland, he will be taking on new responsibilities”. The change comes amid pressure from Washington. Saab, released in 2023 as part of a prisoner exchange with the United States, was appointed to office in 2024 by Maduro. He had been arrested in Cape Verde in 2020 due to an Interpol notice over accusations he had served as a money launderer for the socialist leader. He was subsequently extradited to the US, where he and his business partner Alvaro Pulido were charged with running a network that exploited food aid destined for Venezuela.

However, Trump has sidelined Nobel laureate Machado and backed former vice-president Rodriguez as interim leader of the oil-rich country following the seizure of Maduro. The opposition leader’s remarks came a day after US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe met Rodriguez in Caracas. Ratcliffe travelled to Venezuela to “deliver the message that the United States looks forward to an improved working relationship”, a US administration official said on condition of anonymity. In an indication of that improved relationship, a US deportation flight carrying 231 Venezuelans landed in Caracas on Friday, the first since Maduro’s overthrow. – AFP

Demonstrators marching in Caracas on Friday demanding the release of Maduro. – REUTERSPIC

Push to disqualify prosecutors in activist murder case PROVO: A Utah judge on Friday heard arguments from a lawyer for the alleged killer of activist Charlie Kirk to dismiss the prosecution team over an alleged conflict of interest. Defence lawyers argued that a decision by the Utah County Attorney’s Office to seek the death penalty for Robinson less than a week after Kirk’s death showed a “strong emotional reaction” from the senior lawyer and prosecution team he supervises. debated students at Utah Valley University in Orem during a tour of colleges. Utah County attorney Jeffrey Gray testified that the senior lawyer’s daughter, a student at Utah Valley University, was just one of thousands of people present when Kirk was shot.

Musk seeks US$134b in ‘wrongful gains’ LOS ANGELES: Elon Musk is seeking up to US$134 billion (RM544 billion) from OpenAI and Microsoft, arguing he deserves the “wrongful gains” that they received from his early support. OpenAI gained between trial, expected to start in April. Musk’s filing says he contributed about US$38 million, 60% of OpenAI’s early seed funding, helped recruit staff, connect the founders with key contacts and lend credibility to the project.

District Court Judge Tony Graf considered the motion to disqualify the Utah County Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the case on grounds the 18-year-old daughter of one of its senior lawyers witnessed Kirk’s Sept 10 killing. Tyler Robinson, Kirk’s alleged killer, appeared relaxed and at times smiled during the hearing in which Graf barred a court videographer from filming close-ups of him talking to his attorney over concerns about lip reading. Kirk is credited with mobilising young conservative voters who helped President Donald Trump win the 2024 election.

US$65.5 billion and US$109.4 billion from the entrepreneur’s contributions when he was co founding OpenAI from 2015, while Microsoft gained between US$13.3 billion and US$25.1 billion, Musk said in a federal court filing. OpenAI has called the lawsuit “baseless” and part of a “harassment” campaign by Musk. A Microsoft lawyer has said there is no evidence that the company “aided and abetted” OpenAI. Musk, who left OpenAI in 2018 and now runs xAI with its competitor chatbot Grok, alleges that ChatGPT operator OpenAI violated its founding mission in a restructuring to a for-profit entity. A judge in Oakland, California, has ruled that a jury will hear the

“Just as an early investor in a startup company may realise gains many orders of magnitude greater than the investor’s initial investment, the wrongful gains that OpenAI and Microsoft have earned are much larger than Mr Musk’s initial contributions,” Musk argues. The filing says Musk’s contributions were calculated by his expert witness, financial economist C. Paul Wazzan. Musk may seek punitive damages and other penalties, including a possible injunction, if the jury finds either company liable, the filing says, without specifying what form any injunction might take. – Reuters

“What she could testify to is uncontested,” said Gray, adding that he saw no conflict of interest in her father’s role in the prosecution. In court documents, Gray said his decision to seek the death penalty was motivated by the nature of the murder, which put other people’s lives in danger. Much of Friday’s hearing dealt with a defence request that the Utah Attorney General’s office respond to its disqualification motion, rather than the Utah County Attorney’s Office. The next hearing in the case is on Feb 3. – Reuters

Robinson’s attorney Richard Novak said the office should be barred from the case as no effort was made to shield prosecutors from the senior lawyer’s conflict of interest. “There was no effort to screen off that prosecutor, and that has now created a problem for the whole office,” Novak told the court, citing text messages the lawyer’s daughter sent him saying Kirk had been shot that were subsequently shared with members of the prosecution team. Robinson, 22, is accused of firing a single round from a rooftop that hit Kirk as he