BRUSSELS: EU antitrust regulators are set to beef up an investigation into Apple, triggered by Spotify, with new evidence but not new charges, in the hope of speeding up the case, people familiar with the matter said.
The European Commission last year told the iPhone maker that its App Store rules, which require developers to use its own in-app payment system and also prevent them from informing users of other purchasing options, distorts competition in the music streaming market.
Apple found itself in the European Commission’s crosshairs after Spotify had complained that the US tech company unfairly restricted rivals to its own music streaming service Apple Music on iPhones.
The EU competition enforcer set out its charges in a so-called statement of objections or charge sheet.
The watchdog subsequently considered sending a supplementary statement of objections, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier this year.
Such documents usually lay out new charges or changes to the original charges.
The Commission is now expected to send a letter of facts to Apple instead, other people familiar with the matter said, adding that there was no final decision yet.
A letter of fact typically contains new evidence reinforcing the original charges against companies which can then counter with a written submission.
The Commission declined to comment.
Apple, which risks a fine as much as 10 percent of its global turnover if found guilty of breaching EU antitrust rules, did not respond to emailed requests and phone calls for comment.
The company was hit with another EU antitrust charge in May related to its mobile payment system Apple Pay.
The alleged practices in both cases will be illegal under new EU tech rules known as the Digital Markets Act that will come into force next year with penalties as high as 10 percent of a company’s global turnover.
EU likely to bolster Apple probe with new evidence, no new charges
https://arab.news/js6qg
EU likely to bolster Apple probe with new evidence, no new charges
- The European Commission last year told the iPhone maker that its App Store rules distorts competition in the music streaming market.
To infinity and beyond: Grendizer’s 50 years of inspiring Arabs
- 50 years after its creation, the Grendizer anime series continues to capture Arab imagination
- Arab News Japan speaks to creator Go Nagai, Middle Eastern fans and retells the story behind the UFO Robot tasked with protecting our planet
LONDON: Few cultural imports have crossed borders as unexpectedly, or as powerfully, as Grendizer, the Japanese giant robot that half a century ago became a childhood hero across the Arab world, nowhere more so than in Saudi Arabia.
Created in Japan in the mid-1970s by manga artist Go Nagai, Grendizer was part of the “mecha” tradition of giant robots. The genre was shaped by Japan’s experience during the Second World War, and explored themes of invasion, resistance and loss through the medium of science fiction.
But while the series enjoyed moderate success in Japan, its true legacy was established thousands of kilometers away in the Middle East.
The anime “UFO Robot Grendizer” arrived on television in the region in 1979, dubbed into Arabic and initially broadcast in Lebanon during the Lebanese civil war. The story it told of the heroic Duke Fleed, a displaced prince whose planet had been destroyed by alien invaders, struck a chord with children growing up amid regional conflict and occupation by Israel.
Its themes of defending one’s homeland, standing up to aggression and protecting the innocent were painfully relevant in the region, transforming the series from mere entertainment into a kind of emotional refuge.
Much of the show’s impact came from its successful Arabization. The powerful Arabic dubbing and emotionally charged voice-acting, especially by Lebanese actor Jihad El-Atrash as Duke Fleed, lent the show a moral gravity unmatched by other cartoons of the era.
The theme song for the series, performed by Sami Clark, became an anthem that the Lebanese singer continued to perform at concerts and festivals right up until his death in 2022.
By the early 1980s, “Grendizer” had spread across the Middle East, inspiring fandoms in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and beyond. For many, it was not only their first exposure to anime, it also delivered lessons on values such as justice and honor.
Grendizer was so influential in the region that it became the subject of scholarly research, which in addition to recognizing the ways in which the plight of the show’s characters resonated with the audience in the Middle East, also linked the show’s popularity to generational memories of displacement, particularly the Palestinian Nakba.
Half a century later, “Grendizer” remains culturally alive and relevant in the region. In Saudi Arabia, which embraced the original version of the show wholeheartedly, Manga Productions is now introducing a new generation of fans to a modernized version of the character, through a video game, The Feast of The Wolves, which is available in Arabic and eight other languages on platforms including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch, and a new Arabic-language anime series, “Grendizer U,” which was broadcast last year.
Fifty years after the debut of the show, “Grendizer” is back — although to a generation of fans of the original series, their shelves still full of merchandise and memorabilia, it never really went away.
