JERUSALEM: Israel is looking to use Elon Musk’s Starlink to maintain Internet connectivity should there be a potential all-out-war with Lebanese Hezbollah on the northern border that causes power outages in Israel, a newspaper report said on Tuesday.
The Calcalist financial daily said that the finance and communications ministries were seeking to utilize Starlink’s 5,000 low-orbit satellites to ensure stable data and information flow for state authorities during emergencies.
Both ministries did not immediately comment to Reuters.
In February, Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi gave permission to Starlink, the satellite unit of SpaceX, to operate in Israel and the Gaza Strip.
Iran-backed Hezbollah began attacking Israel shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault sparked the war in Gaza, and the sides have been trading blows in the months since then. Hezbollah has said it will not stop until there is a ceasefire in Gaza.
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant headed to Washington on Sunday to discuss the next phase of the Gaza war and escalating hostilities on the border with Lebanon, where exchanges of fire with Hezbollah have stoked fears of wider conflict. A full war in the north could lead to missile attacks on Israel’s power grid and other infrastructure.
Israel eyes use of Musk’s Starlink in event of war with Hezbollah
https://arab.news/g74kb
Israel eyes use of Musk’s Starlink in event of war with Hezbollah
- Financial daily Calcalist says Israeli ministries plan to use Starlink’s satellite to ensure stable data and information flow during emergencies
Meta faces row over plan to use European data for AI
- Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies
- Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe
VIENNA: A Vienna-based privacy campaign group said Wednesday it has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Meta, after the tech giant announced plans to train its artificial intelligence models with European users’ personal data.
The move comes after Meta said last month it would push ahead with plans to use personal data from European users of its Instagram and Facebook platforms for AI technology training from May 27, despite criticism over its legality.
Meta has been hit with multiple privacy complaints in Europe, but cited a “legitimate interest” to process personal data for AI training.
The privacy group, the European Center for Digital Rights — also known as Noyb (“None of Your Business“) — threatened to file an injunction or class-action lawsuit against Meta if it does not halt plans.
“Meta’s absurd claims that stealing everyone’s (personal) data is necessary for AI training is laughable,” Noyb founder Max Schrems said in a statement.
“Other AI providers do not use social network data — and generate even better models than Meta,” he added.
When Meta AI first launched in the European Union in late March, the tech giant was at pains to point out that the chatbot was not trained on data from European users.
Its rollout on the continent was delayed by more than a year as a result of overlapping European regulations on emerging technologies, including user data, AI and digital markets.
Following the complaints, Meta temporarily put its AI plans on hold in June 2024, before recently announcing it would go ahead with them.
“It is... totally absurd to argue that Meta needs the personal data of everyone that uses Facebook or Instagram in the past 20 years to train AI,” Schrems said, adding the plans were “neither legal nor necessary.”
“Meta simply says that (its) interest in making money is more important than the rights of its users,” he said, adding that users could simply be asked for their consent.
With about 400 million estimated Meta users in Europe, the approval of 10 percent of them would “already clearly be sufficient” for AI language training and the like, Schrems said.
Launched in 2018, Noyb has taken several court proceedings against technology giants, often prompting action from regulatory authorities.
Israeli strike on Gaza hospital kills wounded journalist, Hamas says
- Hamas said the strike killed a journalist and wounded a number of civilians
- The CPJ says at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza
JERUSALEM: The Israeli military said it struck a Gaza hospital housing Hamas militants in a raid Tuesday that, according to the Palestinian group, killed a journalist wounded in an Israeli attack last month.
The strike, which Hamas said happened at dawn, ended a brief pause in fighting to allow the release of a US-Israeli hostage.
The military said in a Telegram post that “significant Hamas terrorists” had been “operating from within a command and control center” at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis, southern Gaza’s main city.
“The compound was used by the terrorists to plan and execute terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and IDF (army) troops,” it said.
In a statement, Hamas said the strike killed a journalist and wounded a number of civilians.
“The Israeli army bombed the surgeries building at Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis at dawn on Tuesday, killing journalist Hassan Aslih,” said Gaza civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal.
Aslih, head of the Alam24 news outlet, had been at the hospital for treatment after being wounded in a strike on April 7, he told AFP.
Two other journalists, Ahmed Mansur and Hilmi Al-Faqaawi, were killed in that bombing, according to reports at the time.The Israeli military said the April strike had targeted Aslih, alleging he operated for Hamas “under the guise of a journalist.”
It said Aslih had “infiltrated Israeli territory and participated in the murderous massacre carried out by the Hamas terrorist organization” on October 7, 2023.
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the strike.It said Aslih had worked for international media outlets until 2023, when the pro-Israeli watchdog HonestReporting published a photo of him being kissed by then-Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.
The CPJ says at least 178 journalists and media workers have been killed in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, Israel and Lebanon since the start of the war.
Israel had paused military operations in Gaza to allow for the release of Edan Alexander, a 21-year-old US-Israeli soldier who had been held hostage since October 2023.
Alexander, believed to be the last surviving hostage with US citizenship, was released Monday ahead of a Middle East visit by US President Donald Trump.
Israel resumed its military offensive in Gaza on March 18 after a two-month truce in its war against Hamas, which was triggered by the Palestinian group’s October 7 attack.
The attack on southern Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday at least 2,749 people have been killed since Israel resumed its campaign, bringing the overall death toll since the war broke out to 52,862.
600+ film and media insiders sign open letter demanding BBC airs delayed Gaza documentary
- Actors Susan Sarandon, Indira Varma, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson among those calling for immediate broadcast of ‘Gaza: Medics Under Fire’
- The film was delayed pending an investigation into another documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,” after it emerged the narrator of that film is the son of a Hamas official
DUBAI: More than 600 prominent figures from the film and media industries have signed an open letter urging the BBC to broadcast the delayed documentary “Gaza: Medics Under Fire.”
The signatories include actors such as Susan Sarandon, Indira Varma, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson, along with journalists, filmmakers and other industry professionals. One-hundred-and-thirty of them chose to remain anonymous; at least 12 were said to be BBC staff members.
The letter, addressed to BBC Director General Tim Davie, states: “Every day this film is delayed, the BBC fails in its commitment to inform the public, fails in its journalistic responsibility to report the truth, and fails in its duty of care to these brave contributors.
“No news organization should quietly decide behind closed doors whose stories are worth telling.”
The film was originally scheduled to air in January. BBC bosses said they decided to delay it while an investigation is carried out into another documentary, “Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone,” which was pulled from the schedules when it emerged that the narrator of that film is the son of a Hamas official.
Samir Shah, chairperson of the BBC, said this revelation was “a dagger to the heart of the BBC’s claim to be impartial and to be trustworthy” and that was why he and fellow board members were “determined to ask the questions.”
The writers of the letter said: “This is not editorial caution. It’s political suppression. The BBC has provided no timeline, no transparency. Such decisions reinforce the systemic devaluation of Palestinian lives in our media.”
“Gaza: Medics Under Fire” production company Basement Films said in the letter that it was “desperate for a confirmed release date in order to be able to tell the surviving doctors and medics when their stories will be told.”
The document concluded with a demand for the film to be released “NOW.”
A spokesperson for the BBC told Variety magazine the documentary will be broadcast “as soon as possible,” but the organization had taken “an editorial decision not to do so” while there was an “ongoing review” of the other Gaza-related film.
Former UK PM Theresa May to speak at Most Powerful Women summit in Riyadh
- Former Conservative Party leader will give her views on fractured trade ties, the erosion of multilateralism, and the race toward a greener economy
- The event on May 20 and 21 is Fortune’s first international summit in the region and aims to gather 125 of the world’s most influential female business leaders
DUBAI: The speakers and special guests at the Fortune Most Powerful Women International Summit in Riyadh on May 20 and 21 will include the UK’s former prime minister, Theresa May, organizers revealed on Monday.
She will close the summit, at the St. Regis, with a talk moderated by Ellie Austin, the editorial director of Fortune Most Powerful Women, an invitation-only community of leaders from a wide range of industries worldwide.
The former leader of the Conservative Party, who was Britain’s prime minister from 2016 until 2019, will give her views on fractured trade ties, the erosion of multilateralism, and the race toward a greener economy. She will also talk about navigating globalization, seizing opportunities in the energy transition, and the need for bold and creative leadership in a volatile world.
The summit, which has the theme “A New Era for Business: Partnering for Global Prosperity,” is Fortune’s first international summit in the Middle East region. It aims to bring together 125 of the world’s most influential female business leaders.
The full lineup of speakers features public-sector leaders including: Ambassador Haifa Al-Jedea, Saudi Arabia’s permanent representative to the EU; Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo; Neema Lugangira, a member of Tanzania’s parliament; and Silvana Koch-Mehrin, president and founder of non-profit organization Women Political Leaders.
Representatives from the private sector include: Amel Chadli, Gulf cluster president of Schneider Electric; Leah Cotterill, Cigna Healthcare’s CEO for the Middle East and Africa (excluding Saudi Arabia); Shazia Syed, general manager of the Personal Care Business Group with Unilever Arabia (GCC), Turkey, Pakistan and Bangladesh, and head of Unilever Arabia; and Julie Sweet, the CEO of Accenture.
French-Lebanese Saade holding company buys stake in Pathe cinemas
- Acquisition of one of the world’s oldest film company was announced on Monday for an undiscolsed amount
- Investment will focus on expanding Pathé’s international presence and modernizing its movie theaters, Saade said
PARIS: French-Lebanese billionaire Rodolphe Saade’s family holding Merit France has acquired a 20 percent stake in French cinema chain Pathe for an undisclosed amount, privately owned Pathe said on Monday.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Saade and his shipping company CMA CGM have already become leading players in the French media landscape in recent years, buying up several newspapers as well as Altice Media, which owns 24-hour news channel BFM TV.
The investment in Pathe builds on the family’s interests in media and culture.
CONTEXT
Pathe, owned by French businessman Jerome Seydoux, is one of the world’s oldest film companies, and is a leading producer as well as movie theater operator in Europe and Africa.
The investment will help Pathe accelerate its development in producing films and series with an international reach, and to modernize its movie theaters, the statement said.
KEY QUOTE
“We are committed to contributing to the development of the sector and promoting French film culture around the world,” said Rodolphe Saade.
