Headline

US Holds Direct Talks With Hamas

Published

7 months ago

March 6, 2025

The United States on Wednesday confirmed unprecedented direct talks with Hamas on hostages, as Israel threatened to renew its military campaign in Gaza despite a fragile ceasefire.

The White House said that President Donald Trump’s envoy on hostage affairs, Adam Boehler, held the talks which focused on Americans among the remaining hostages in Gaza.

“Israel was consulted on this matter,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.

“Look, dialogue and talking to people around the world to do what’s in the best interest of the American people is something that the President” believes is right, she said.

The United States had refused direct contact with the Palestinian militants since banning them as a terrorist organization in 1997. But Leavitt said that the hostage envoy in his role “has the authority to talk to anyone.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office confirmed Israel was consulted and said in a statement that it “expressed its opinion” on direct talks.

The talks were first reported by Axios, which said Boehler met with Hamas in Qatar about the US hostages but also as part of a longer-term truce.

Five Americans are believed to remain among the hostages seized in the massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Four of them have been confirmed dead and the other, Edan Alexander, is believed to be alive.

– Warning by Israel –

The first phase of a ceasefire ended over the weekend after six weeks of relative calm that included exchanges of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase until mid-April, Hamas has insisted on a transition to the second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.

But Israel announced at the end of the first phase that it was halting all entry of goods and supplies into Gaza, which has been reduced to rubble after the relentless year and a half of Israeli operations.

“Hamas has indeed suffered a severe blow, but it has not yet been defeated. The mission is not yet accomplished,” Israel’s new military chief Eyal Zamir warned.

His remarks echoed warnings by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of “consequences that you cannot imagine” if Hamas does not hand over hostages.

Of the 251 captives taken during Hamas’s attack, 58 remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military has confirmed are dead.

France, Britain and Germany jointly Wednesday called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “catastrophic,” and urged Israel to ensure the “unhindered” delivery of aid.

South Africa said Israel’s restriction of aid into Gaza since the weekend amounted to using starvation as a weapon of war.

The Hamas assault resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, most of them civilians, while Israel’s military retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,440 people, also mostly civilians, data from both sides show.

– Doubts on Arab plan –

Trump has promised sweeping support to Israel and has floated a proposal to take over the Gaza Strip and displace its people, an idea that has drawn wide condemnation around the world.

Arab leaders have sought support for an alternative plan they put forward that would finance Gaza’s reconstruction through a trust fund.

A draft of the plan seen by AFP outlined a five-year roadmap with a price tag of $53 billion — roughly the amount the United Nations estimated for Gaza’s reconstruction — but the figure was not included in the summit’s final statement.

The summit also called for representation to be unified under the Palestine Liberation Organization umbrella group that is the dominant political force within the Palestinian Authority — a move that could sideline Islamist Hamas, which is not a member.

But the prospect of the Palestinian Authority governing Gaza remains far from certain, with Israel having ruled out any future role for the body in the territory ruled by Hamas since 2007.

Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the new plan was “far more realistic than what the Trump administration is proposing in terms of being able to be operationalized.”

But Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian political analyst and former PA minister, was skeptical whether it could realistically happen, noting the lack of details on financing and the political hurdles it would face.

“The only two players in Gaza, the only two parties who have influence in Gaza are Israel and Hamas, and… their positions are not coherent with this plan,” he said.

“It doesn’t make sense to expect Israel to drop the plan of Trump and to adopt the plan of the Arabs. There’s no chance.”

AFP

Headline

Saudi Arabia’s Grand Mufti Is Dead

Published

10 hours ago

September 23, 2025

Editor

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz, has died at the age of 82.

According to a statement from the Royal Court, the revered cleric passed away on Tuesday morning.

Born in Mecca in November 1943, Sheikh Abdulaziz rose to become one of the most influential religious authorities in the Kingdom.

He served as head of the General Presidency of Scholarly Research and Ifta, as well as the Supreme Council of the Muslim World League.

Headline

Antitrust Trial: US Asks Court To Break Up Google’s Ad Business

Published

2 days ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year, following a similar government demand to split up its empire that was shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.

Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

According to filings, the US government will argue that Google should spin off its ad publisher and exchange operations. The DOJ will also ask that after the divestitures are complete, Google be banned from operating an ad exchange for 10 years.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

“We’ve said from the start that DOJ’s case misunderstands how digital advertising works and ignores how the landscape has dramatically evolved, with increasing competition and new entrants,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s Vice President of Regulatory Affairs.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.

Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

This remedy phase of the US trial follows a first trial that found Google operated an illegal monopoly. It is expected to last about a week, with the court set to meet again for closing arguments a few weeks later.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.

Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.

Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.

AFP

Headline

Google Faces Court Battle Over Breakup Of Ad Tech Business

Published

2 days ago

September 22, 2025

Editor

Google faces a fresh federal court test on Monday as US government lawyers ask a judge to order the breakup of the search engine giant’s ad technology business.

The lawsuit is Google’s second such test this year after the California-based tech juggernaut saw a similar government demand to split up its empire shot down by a judge earlier this month.

Monday’s case focuses specifically on Google’s ad tech “stack” — the tools that website publishers use to sell ads and that advertisers use to buy them.

In a landmark decision earlier this year, Federal Judge Leonie Brinkema agreed with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google maintained an illegal grip on this market.
Monday’s trial is set to determine what penalties and changes Google must implement to undo its monopoly.

Google will argue that the divestiture demands go far beyond the court’s findings, are technically unfeasible, and would be harmful to the market and smaller businesses.

In a similar case in Europe, the European Commission, the EU’s antitrust enforcer, earlier this month fined Google 2.95 billion euros ($3.47 billion) over its control of the ad tech market.
Brussels ordered behavioral changes, drawing criticism that it was going easy on Google as it had previously indicated that a divestiture may be necessary.

The trial begins in the same month that a separate judge rejected a government demand that Google divest its Chrome browser, in an opinion that was largely seen as a victory for the tech giant.

That was part of a different case, also brought by the US Department of Justice, in which the tech giant was found responsible for operating an illegal monopoly, this time in the online search space.
Instead of a major breakup of its business, Google was required to share data with rivals as part of its remedies.

The US government had pushed for Chrome’s divestment, arguing the browser serves as a crucial gateway to the internet that brings in a third of all Google web searches.
Shares in Google-parent Alphabet have skyrocketed by more than 20 percent since that decision.

Judge Brinkema has said in pre-trial hearings that she will closely examine the outcome of the search trial when assessing her path forward in her own case.

These cases are part of a broader bipartisan government campaign against the world’s largest technology companies. The US currently has five pending antitrust cases against such companies.