Revealed: Microsoft deepened ties with Israeli military to provide tech support during Gaza war
Thu 23 Jan 2025 11.00 GMT
Leaked documents shed light on how Israel integrated the US tech giant into its war effort to meet growing demand for cloud and AI tools
The Israeli military’s reliance on Microsoft’s cloud technology and artificial intelligence systems surged during the most intensive phase of its bombardment of Gaza, leaked documents reveal.
The files offer an inside view of how Microsoft deepened its relationship with Israel’s defence establishment after 7 October 2023, supplying the military with greater computing and storage services and striking at least $10m in deals to provide thousands of hours of technical support.
Microsoft’s deep ties with Israel’s military are revealed in an investigation by the Guardian with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and a Hebrew-language outlet, Local Call. It is based in part on documents obtained by Drop Site News, which has published its own story.
ICC prosecutor seeks arrest of Afghanistan's Taliban leaders
An International Criminal Court prosecutor has called for arrest warrants for Afghanistan's Taliban leaders over the persecution of women.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor on Thursday said he had filed for the arrest warrants of Taliban leaders in Afghanistan, including Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada.
The charges are of crimes against humanity for widespread discrimination against women and girls.
Why were the warrants requested?
Prosecutor Karim Khan said there were reasonable grounds to suspect that Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani bore "criminal responsibility for the crime against humanity of persecution on gender grounds."
Air pollution crisis finally in focus ahead of tight Delhi election
India’s capital of over 33 million people has long suffered from toxic air, but this has never really registered as a key political issue. That’s changing this election season, as Stuti Mishra reports from Delhi
Vibha Chawla never paid much attention to air pollution. But when her elderly mother almost died of a severe coughing fit during the Diwali holidays late last year, she decided to act.
Chawla, a 50-year-old resident of Delhi’s affluent Siri Fort area, barged into a meeting where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was preparing its manifesto for the upcoming election in the capital, where she says she was one of the few voices to raise the issue of air pollution.
“I stood up and said, ‘We’re choking here and no one is talking about it.’ Some people nodded, but I could tell most just didn’t care,” she tells The Independent.
With Gaza quiet, Israel is turning its focus on the West Bank. Here’s why
The Israeli military has intensified operations across the occupied West Bank, targeting Palestinian militant cells, imposing roadblocks and cutting communities off from the outside world.
The sudden expansion of Israeli security operations in the West Bank has killed at least 10 people and follows the start of the delicate ceasefire process in Gaza, by which Israeli hostages are released in stages and will also see the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.
The move also comes as the Israeli right, and many in the settler movement, feel emboldened by the words of some officials in the Trump administration who have suggested Israel has the right to annex much or all of the West Bank, home to more than three million Palestinians.
Reddit groups ban X links in protest at Musk arm gesture
Tom Gerken
More than 100 Reddit communities have banned users from posting links to X in protest at owner Elon Musk's controversial arm gesture at a rally celebrating Donald Trump's return to office.
The billionaire twice extended his arm out straight as he thanked the crowd for "making it happen."
Critics, including some historians, said it was a Nazi salute - Mr Musk has dismissed that, saying comparisons with Hitler were "tired" and "dirty tricks."
Federal employees are told to name colleagues who work in DEI roles or risk 'adverse consequences'
Federal employees received emails Wednesday warning that they could face repercussions if they do not report on co-workers who work in diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility positions that might have gone unnoticed by government supervisors.
"We are aware of efforts by some in government to disguise these programs by using coded or imprecise language," said emails sent to government employees and obtained by NBC News.
Employees were directed to notify the Office of Personnel Management if they are "aware of a change in any contract description or personnel position description since November 5, 2024 to obscure the connection between the contract and DEIA or similar ideologies."
No comments:
Post a Comment