Page 8 - AHATA

A6 WORLD NEWS
Wednesday 4 september 2024
Salvagers abandon effort to tow burning oil tanker in Red Sea

targeted by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

By JON GAMBRELL tiles and a drone boat. A
Associated Press French destroyer operating
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- as part of Operation Aspi-
ates (AP) — Salvagers des rescued its crew of 25
abandoned an initial ef- Filipinos and Russians, as
fort to tow away a burn- well as four private security
ing oil tanker in the Red personnel, after they aban-
Sea targeted by Yemen’s doned the vessel and took
Houthi rebels as it “was not them to nearby Djibouti.
safe to proceed,” a Euro- Last week, the Houthis re-
pean Union naval mission leased footage showing
said Tuesday, leaving the they planted explosives on
Sounion stranded and its 1 board the Sounion and ig-
million barrels of oil at risk of nited them in a propagan-
spilling. da video, something the
While a major spill has yet to rebels have done before in
occur, the incident threat- their campaign.
ens to become one of the The Houthis have targeted
worst yet in the Iranian- more than 80 merchant
backed rebels’ campaign vessels with missiles and
that has disrupted the $1 This frame grab from video released by the Ansar Allah Media Office, the media arm of Yemen’s drones since the war in
trillion in goods that pass Houthi rebels, on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, shows explosions striking the Greek-flagged oil tanker Gaza started in October.
through the Red Sea each Sounion in the Red Sea after Yemen’s Houthi rebels boarded and set explosives on the tanker, They seized one vessel and
which was earlier abandoned after the Houthis repeatedly attacked it, setting off blasts that put
year over the Israel-Hamas the Red Sea at risk of a major oil spill. sank two in the campaign
war in the Gaza Strip. It also Associated Press that has also killed four
has halted some aid ship- sailors. Other missiles and
ments to conflict-ravaged plored by the private com- The U.S. State Department salvage operation to take drones have either been
Sudan and Yemen. panies.” has warned a spill from place, but critics say the intercepted by a U.S.-led
“The private companies The EU mission did not re- the Sounion could be “four rebels have used the threat coalition in the Red Sea
responsible for the salvage spond to questions from The times the size of the Exxon of an environmental disas- or failed to reach their tar-
operation have concluded Associated Press about the Valdez disaster” in 1989 off ter previously involving an- gets, which have included
that the conditions were announcement. The safety Alaska. other oil tanker off Yemen Western military vessels as
not met to conduct the issue could be the fire burn- Meanwhile, there’s the to extract concessions from well.
towing operation and that ing aboard the vessel. Sat- threat of attacks by the the international commu- The rebels maintain that
it was not safe to proceed,” ellite images from Planet Houthis, who on Monday nity. they target ships linked to
the EU’s Operation Aspi- Labs PBC taken Tuesday targeted two other oil tank- The Houthis initially at- Israel, the U.S. or the U.K.
des mission said, without afternoon and analyzed by ers traveling through the tacked the Greek-flagged to force an end to Israel’s
elaborating. “Alternative the AP showed the Sounion Red Sea. The Houthis have Sounion tanker on Aug. 21 campaign against Hamas
solutions are now being ex- still ablaze. suggested they’ll allow a with small arms fire, projec- in Gaza. q

Clearview AI fined $33.7 million by Dutch data protection

watchdog over ‘illegal database’ of faces

By MIKE CORDER Tuesday issued facial rec- cy called an “illegal data- in the database amounted of up to 5.1 million euros
Associated Press ognition startup Clearview base” of billion of photos of to serious breaches of the ($5.6 million) on top of the
THE HAGUE, Netherlands AI with a fine of 30.5 million faces. European Union’s General fine.
(AP) — The Dutch data euros ($33.7 million) over its The Netherlands’ Data Pro- Data Protection Regula- Mulcaire said in his state-
protection watchdog on creation of what the agen- tection Agency, or DPA, tion, or GDPR. ment that Clearview
also warned Dutch compa- “Facial recognition is a doesn’t fall under EU data
nies that using Clearview’s highly intrusive technol- protection regulations.
services is also banned. ogy, that you cannot sim- “Clearview AI does not
The data agency said that ply unleash on anyone have a place of business in
New York-based Clearview in the world,” DPA chair- the Netherlands or the EU,
“has not objected to this man Aleid Wolfsen said in it does not have any cus-
decision and is therefore a statement. “If there is a tomers in the Netherlands
unable to appeal against photo of you on the Inter- or the EU, and does not un-
the fine.” net and doesn’t that apply dertake any activities that
But in a statement emailed to all of us? then you can would otherwise mean it is
to The Associated Press, end up in the database of subject to the GDPR,” he
Clearview’s chief legal of- Clearview and be tracked. said. In June, Clearview
ficer, Jack Mulcaire, said This is not a doom scenario reached a settlement in
that the decision is “unlaw- from a scary film. Nor is it an Illinois lawsuit alleging its
ful, devoid of due process something that could only massive photographic col-
and is unenforceable.” be done in China,” he said. lection of faces violated
Hoan Ton-That, CEO of Clearview AI, demonstrates the The Dutch agency said that DPA said that if Clearview the subjects’ privacy rights,
company’s facial recognition software using a photo of himself building the database and doesn’t halt the breaches a deal that attorneys esti-
in New York on Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2022. insufficiently informing peo- of the regulation, it faces mate could be worth more
Associated Press
ple whose images appear noncompliance penalties than $50 million. q