CAIRO: The League of Arab States has expressed solidarity with Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, and called for their protection.

May 11 has been designated a day of global solidarity with the Palestinian media as it marks two years since the Israeli occupation forces’ assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was carrying out her duties with the Al Jazeera Media Network.

Ambassador Ahmed Rashid Khattabi, the league’s assistant secretary-general and supervisor of the Media and Communication Sector, said the move “symbolizes a powerful demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian media community.”

This support is particularly significant given the plight of the Palestinians and the continued Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.

The aggression has resulted in the deaths of more than 34,000 people, including 142 journalists, since October.

This figure exceeds the number of journalists who lost their lives in areas of armed conflict worldwide in 2023, a total of 99, according to the US Committee to Protect Journalists.

Khattabi urged global organizations to support the freedom of the press and protect Palestinian journalists covering the conflict.

Khattabi said it was imperative to ensure journalists’ safety under the principles of international humanitarian law, given the grave conditions in which they work.

He criticized the Israeli authorities for closing down Al Jazeera in Israel and confiscating its equipment, viewing these actions as illegal measures against the Palestinian media and other media institutions, and constituting a blatant violation of international conventions.

He added that it was unacceptable to violate fundamental rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international declarations promoting freedom of opinion and access to information.

These violations acted against the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the  International Federation of Journalists’ declaration, he said.

ISTANBUL: Turkey’s competition board fined Meta Platforms 1.2 billion lira ($37.20 million) on Wednesday after concluding two separate investigations on data-sharing in its Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads platforms.

The board launched an investigation into Meta in December over a possible violation of competition law by linking its social media platforms Threads and Instagram. The board in March imposed an interim measure on Meta meant to hinder data sharing between those two platforms.

Meta said last month it would temporarily shut down Threads in Turkey to comply with the interim order.

The board said on Wednesday it imposed a fine of 898 million lira for the compliance process and the investigations launched into Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, as well as an additional 336 million lira fine for a separate investigation into Threads.

Users will be able to merge personal data between Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp with their own consent and will be notified about data usage, according to the board decision. Users will be able to change their settings later, if needed, using an “accounts centre” on the platforms, it said.

In January, the board also fined Meta $160,000 per day for failing to provide sufficient documentation as part of another previous investigation. It had also imposed a daily fine of 4.8 million lira per day in March over a notification message about data-sharing.

Both those penalties ended May 3.

In 2022, the board also decided to fine Meta 346.72 million lira for violating competition law.