07/05/2026

THURSDAY | MAY 7, 2026

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US, Iran close to agreement

“On the nuclear issue, China welcomes Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons, while considering that Iran has the legitimate right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy,”Wang said. The US leader is expected to meet Chinese President Xi in Beijing on a visit the White House said will take place May 14-15. Beijing has not confirmed those dates. – AFP NEW YORK: Publishers Elsevier, Cengage, Hachette, Macmillan and McGraw Hill sued Meta Platforms in Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, alleging that the tech giant misused their books and journal articles to train its artificial intelligence model Llama. The publishers, as well as author Scott Turow, alleged in the proposed class action complaint that Meta pirated millions of their works and used them without permission to train its large language models to respond to human prompts. “AI is powering transformative innovations, productivity and creativity for individuals and companies, and courts have rightly found that training AI on copyrighted material can qualify as fair use,” a Meta spokesperson responded in a statement. “We will fight this lawsuit aggressively.” The publishers allege that Meta pirated works ranging from textbooks to scientific articles to novels including The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin and The Wild Robot by Peter Brown for its AI training. They asked the court for permission to represent a larger class of copyright owners and an unspecified amount of monetary damages. “Meta’s mass-scale infringement isn’t public progress, and AI will never be properly realised if tech companies prioritise pirate sites over scholarship and imagination,” Maria Pallante, president of the Association of American Publishers, said in a statement. The lawsuit opens a new front in the copyright battle between creators and tech companies over AI training, in which dozens of authors, news outlets, visual artists and other plaintiffs have sued companies including Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic for infringement. All of the pending cases will likely revolve around whether AI systems make fair use of copyrighted material by using it to create new, transformative content. The first two judges to consider the matter issued diverging rulings last year. Amazon- and Google-backed Anthropic was the first major AI company to settle one of the cases, agreeing last year to pay a group of authors US$1.5 billion (RM5.9 billion) to resolve a class-action lawsuit that could have cost the company billions more in damages for alleged piracy. – Reuters Publishers sue Meta for copyright infringement

missile and drone attacks coming from Iran, though Iran’s military command denied carrying out attacks. The UAE’s Foreign Ministry said the attacks were a serious escalation and posed a threat to the country’s security, adding that the state reserved its “full and legitimate right” to respond. Iran’s Foreign Ministry rejected Abu Dhabi’s statements, saying its armed forces’ actions have been solely aimed at repelling American aggression. US and Iranian officials have held one round of face-to-face peace talks, but attempts to set up further meetings have failed. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has said that peace talks were still progressing with Pakistan’s mediation. – Reuters

will be paused for a short period to see whether or not the agreement can be finalised and signed,” Trump wrote on social media. Iran has effectively sealed off the strait by threatening to deploy mines, drones, missiles and fast attack craft. The United States has countered by blockading Iranian ports and mounting escorted transits for commercial vessels. The US military said on Monday it had destroyed several Iranian small boats, as well as cruise missiles and drones. General Dan Caine, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Iranian attacks against US forces fell “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point”. UAE’s Defence Ministry said its air defences were again dealing with

would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the US agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz, Axios said. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The US State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Pakistani source later confirmed the Axios report. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he would briefly pause an operation to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing “great progress” toward a comprehensive agreement. “We have mutually agreed that, while the blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom ...

o One-page MoU to set framework

WASHINGTON: The White House believes it is getting close to an agreement with Iran on a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations, Axios reported yesterday, citing two US officials and two other sources briefed on the issue. The US expects Iranian responses on several key points in the next 48 hours according to the report which cautioned that nothing has been agreed yet but said this was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began. Among other provisions, the deal

Greek protesters call for the release of Saif and Avila in Athens on Tuesday. – REUTERSPIC

Release Gaza flotilla activists, UN tells Israel

GENEVA: The United Nations yesterday called on Israel to release two activists taken from a Gaza bound flotilla, and demanded an investigation into accounts they had been severely mistreated. Spanish national Saif Abu Keshek and Brazilian Thiago Avila, who are held in a prison in Ashkelon, were among dozens of activists on a flotilla intercepted by Israeli forces in international waters last Thursday. BEIJING: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Beijing would play a “greater role” in ending hostilities in the Middle East during talks with his Iranian counterpart yesterday, a week before US President Donald Trump is due to meet Xi Jinping. Beijing has quietly engaged in efforts to resolve the crisis and its diplomacy is credited with playing an important role in the fragile ceasefire agreed between US and Iran.

accounts of severe mistreatment”, calling for an investigation and insisting “those responsible must be brought to justice”. “We call for an end to Israel’s use of arbitrary detention and of vaguely defined terrorism legislation, inconsistent with international human rights law,” he said. “Israel must also end its blockade on Gaza and allow the entry of humanitarian assistance.” – AFP through the Hormuz strait, according to maritime analytics firm Kpler. Analysts have warned the war’s impact on China will be felt for months. During yesterday’s talks Wang said China hopes “the parties concerned will respond as quickly as possible to the urgent call of the international community” for a resumption of normal and safe maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Gaza, who are in dire need of it.” The flotilla’s vessels set sail from France, Spain and Italy with the aim of breaking Israel’s blockade of Gaza and delivering humanitarian aid to the war-ravaged Palestinian territory. Representatives for Avila and Abu Keshek have accused Israeli authorities of abusing the two men, who have been on hunger strike for the past six days. Kheetan decried the “disturbing negotiate remains essential,” Wang said, according to a statement from his ministry after the talks. Manufacturing giant China has been comparatively sheltered from fuel shortages thanks to oil reserves and renewable energy, but costs of oil-derived materials like plastic and fabric have risen significantly. More than half of the crude imported by sea to China comes from the Middle East and mainly transits

“Israel must immediately and unconditionally release Global Sumud Flotilla members Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Avila, who were detained in international waters and brought to Israel where they continue to be held without charge,” UN rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement. “It is not a crime to show solidarity and attempt to bring humanitarian aid to the Palestinian population in China “will work harder to ease tensions and end the fighting, continue to support the launch of peace talks, and play a greater role in restoring peace and tranquillity to the Middle East”, Wang told Iran’s Abbas Araghchi in Beijing. “China considers that a complete cessation of fighting must be achieved without delay, that it is even more unacceptable to restart hostilities, and that continuing to

China will play ‘greater role’ in ending conflict