14/05/2026

THURSDAY | MAY 14, 2026

9

Spain pushes ahead with social media, AI rules

Court annuls Obelix decision

PARIS:

Europe’s

top

court

yesterday European

overturned

the

Union Intellectual Property Office’s (EUIPO) refusal to prevent a Polish company from using the name Obelix in Europe as a trademark for weapons. In 2022, the EUIPO registered the wordmark Obelix for goods related to firearms, ammunition and explosives for the benefit of a Polish entrepreneur. Les Editions Albert Rene, publisher of the comic book series Asterix & Obelix , applied to have the registration invalidated on the basis of its earlier EU trademark OBELIX and the damage done to the mark’s reputation. The EUIPO rejected the invalidation action, saying proof of the reputation of the earlier trademark had not been sufficiently established. In its annulment decision, the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice of the European Union said the assessment of the reputation of the OBELIX mark carried out by EUIPO was based “on an incomplete and erroneous analysis” that did not correctly take into account examples of various products on which the term “Obelix” or “Obélix” appeared accompanied by the symbol indicating that it was a registered trademark and that disregarded evidence on which that sign had been used in combination with the Asterix sign. The Asterix comic book series dates to 1959 and features a character named Obelix, who is the best friend of the main character, Asterix. A theme park tied to the series, Parc Asterix in the suburbs of Paris, is one of the most visited parks in France. – Reuters

harassment and AI-generated sexual deepfakes targeting children, describing the impact on minors as a mental health pandemic. Spain has positioned itself as one of Europe’s most vocal advocates for what Lopez called “trustworthy AI”, a model he said should protect privacy, democracy, minors and public safety rather than prioritise speed or profit. Asked whether authorities should be able to identify people who use pseudonyms online if they commit crimes, Lopez said anonymity should not shield them from liability. “What isn’t legal in the real world cannot be legal in the virtual world. Full stop.” – Reuters

moment,” Starmer said in a statement. “To press ahead with a plan to build a stronger, fairer country or turn back to the chaos and instability of the past.” He said Britons expected the government to focus on cutting the cost of living, bringing down hospital waiting lists and keeping the country safe in an “increasingly dangerous world”. A package of over 35 Bills and draft Bills will focus on measures to improve the economy, strengthen national security and “reform the state to support a more active government that is on the side of British people”, the government said. – Reuters social media use by teenagers – with a Bill already working its way through parliament – and to adopt legislation holding executives responsible for hate speech on their platforms. The move provoked criticism from X platform owner Elon Musk, who called Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez a tyrant and a totalitarian. Lopez said Spain wanted a common European approach as rules are easier to enforce across the bloc of more than 400 million citizens than country-by-country, and warned that backers of a laissez-faire approach would one day regret defending “the law of the jungle”. He linked the push to growing concern over cyberbullying, sexual

o ‘What isn’t legal in the real world cannot be legal in the virtual world’

LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer promised yesterday to press ahead with plans to reform Britain and warned of chaos if he were to be ousted. Starmer has so far defied calls to quit from around 90 Labour lawmakers who blame him for heavy losses in local elections last week and say he has failed to deliver reforms since coming to power in a landslide 2024 election victory. While almost a quarter of the prime minister’s elected lawmakers have called for him to go and a handful of junior ministers have resigned in protest, potential rivals for his job have yet to trigger a formal leadership challenge. Health Minister Wes Streeting, MADRID: Spain will push ahead with new rules to make social networks and AI safer despite intense lobbying from the tech industry, its Digital Transformation Minister Oscar Lopez told Reuters. “The profit of four tech companies cannot come at the expense of the rights of millions,” he said, adding that “powerful voices” were lobbying against proposed regulation that would curb high-risk AI systems or force companies to TEHRAN: Iran’s chief negotiator said on Tuesday that Washington must accept Tehran’s latest peace plan or face failure, after US President Donald Trump warned the truce in the Middle East war was on the brink of collapse. “There is no alternative but to accept the rights of the Iranian people as laid out in the 14-point proposal. Any other approach will be completely inconclusive; nothing but one failure after another,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a post on X. “The longer they drag their feet, the more American taxpayers will pay for it.” The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the cost of the war had climbed to nearly US$29 billion (RM114 billion), about US$4 billion higher than an estimate offered two weeks ago. Iran sent its latest proposal in response to an earlier US plan, details of which remain limited. Media reports have said the American plan involved a one-page memorandum of understanding aimed at ending the fighting and establishing a framework for negotiations on Iran’s nuclear programme. Iran’s Foreign Ministry said its response called for ending the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon, halting the US naval blockade of

who is seen as a rival who could move against the prime minister, spent less than 20 minutes in Downing Street yesterday for a meeting with Starmer. But an ally of Starmer, Europe Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds, said that no candidate appeared to have the backing of enough lawmakers to trigger a challenge, and that it did not look likely either. “We now have to move on,” he told BBC Radio. Starmer took part in the State Opening of Parliament – a grand ceremony led by King Charles which is used by the government to set out its political priorities and legislative agenda for the year ahead. “Britain stands at a pivotal disclose how their social media algorithms work. His comments echoed those by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who on Tuesday said the Commission was targeting addictive and harmful design practices by social media firms in its upcoming Digital Fairness Act. Amid similar moves by Australia, France and Greece, Spain in February announced plans to ban

Starmer to carry on governing

Starmer and his wife Victoria heading to parliament yesterday. – AFPPIC

US must accept peace plan or face failures, says Iran

This US Navy handout photo released on

Tuesday shows a

Super Hornet and a Growler

taking off from USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday. – AFPPIC

Iranian ports and securing the release of Iranian assets frozen abroad. Trump said ahead of his Tuesday departure for a trip to China that he

would talk with counterpart Xi Jinping about Iran, but that he does not need Beijing’s help to end the war. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said

they carried out drills in Tehran “to confront any movement of the American-Zionist enemy”. Defence Ministry spokesman Reza

Talaei-Nik said if the US declines a diplomatic path, “it should expect a repeat of its defeats on the military battlefield”. – AFP