Head of Microsoft’s Israel branch to step down after inquiry into dealings with Israeli military
The head of Microsoft’s Israeli subsidiary will step down in the wake of an inquiry that has scrutinised its business dealings with the Israeli military.Microsoft ordered the inquiry last year in response to a Guardian investigation revealing the military had used the company’s technology to operate a powerful surveillance system that collected Palestinian civilian phone calls on a mass scale.The joint investigation with the Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and the Hebrew-language outlet Local Call found the military’s elite spy agency, Unit 8200, had used Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform to store a vast trove of intercepted calls from Gaza and the West Bank.The inquiry commissioned by Microsoft is understood to have recently concluded.Its findings are unclear; however, sources familiar with the situation said they prompted an announcement last week that Microsoft Israel’s general manager, Alon Haimovich, would leave the company.
The Israeli business newspaper Globes reported on Monday that Haimovich’s departure followed a major controversy at the subsidiary relating to violations of Microsoft’s code of ethics.It reported that several other managers had also left their positions.Within weeks of launching the inquiry, Microsoft concluded that its initial findings showed Unit 8200 had violated its terms of service, which prohibit the use of its technology to facilitate mass surveillance.As a result, the company terminated the unit’s access to cloud services and AI products used to support the surveillance project.Equipped with Azure’s near-limitless storage capacity and computing power, Unit 8200 built an indiscriminate system allowing its intelligence officers to collect, play back and analyse the content of millions of Palestinian cellular phone calls every day.
Details of the surveillance programme’s reliance on Azure sparked concerns among senior executives at Microsoft that some of its Israel-based employees may not have been fully transparent with headquarters about how Unit 8200 used the company’s technology.Sources familiar with the inquiry, which involved lawyers at Covington & Burling, a US firm, said this had been one area of focus.According to Globes, Haimovich was summoned by the inquiry team after they visited Microsoft Israel’s offices near Tel Aviv.Documents seen by the Guardian suggest Haimovich played a role in developing the relationship between Microsoft Israel and Unit 8200 following a 2021 meeting between Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, and the unit’s then commander.This included overseeing a partnership with the spy agency to build a segregated area within Azure to store sensitive intelligence material.
Once complete, Unit 8200 began to move the expansive archive of everyday Palestinian communications into Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure,Haimovich did not respond to a request for comment,In an email to staff announcing his departure last week, he said he had positioned Israel as “one of Microsoft’s fastest-growing markets worldwide”,Microsoft has previously said its senior executives such as Nadella were unaware Unit 8200 was using Azure to store intercepted Palestinian communications,The company’s vice-chair and president, Brad Smith, said last year: “We do not provide technology to facilitate mass surveillance of civilians.
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Australian workers have been hard done by and tax reforms in the budget only begin to return some fairness | Greg Jericho
Wages are growing at a much slower pace than inflation, according to the latest data. This fits the story of the budget: that those earning a living off wages have been left behind by those who make their money through investments and tax minimisation schemes such as discretionary trusts.So I have some good news for the governor of the Reserve Bank, Michele Bullock. She can relax. Because, as has been the case for roughly 35 years, there is no evidence of a wage-price spiral
US Senate confirms Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair, replacing Jerome Powell
The US Senate confirmed Kevin Warsh as chair of the Federal Reserve, one of the most powerful roles in the federal government that holds enormous sway over the economy.The 54-45 Senate vote on Wednesday was split along party lines, with the exception of the Democratic senator John Fetterman from Pennsylvania, who joined the Republican majority. It was most divisive confirmation vote for the position in history.Warsh was confirmed for a four-year term as chair and a 14-year appointment on the Fed’s rate-setting board.Warsh will officially step into the role on 14 May, when the term of outgoing Fed chair, Jerome Powell, ends
Sam Altman defends OpenAI in courtroom showdown with Elon Musk
The OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, took the stand on Tuesday to defend himself and his company against a lawsuit by Elon Musk. Altman is set to be one of the final witnesses in the trial, which has pitted two of the tech industry’s most powerful men against each other in a dramatic courtroom showdown.Musk has accused Altman and OpenAI of breaking the AI firm’s founding agreement by restructuring it into a for-profit enterprise, alleging that Altman essentially swindled him into co-founding the company and providing tens of millions in financial backing. Musk also claims Altman unjustly enriched himself in the process and is seeking the CEO’s removal from OpenAI, the redistribution of $134bn to the firm’s non-profit and the undoing of its for-profit conversion.OpenAI and Altman have rejected all of Musk’s claims, arguing that he is motivated by jealousy after a failed bid to take over the AI firm in 2018 and a subsequent departure from its board
Florida students boo graduation speaker who called AI ‘next Industrial Revolution’
Though college graduations usually consist of a speaker giving advice to students, one recent ceremony featured students giving the speaker their opinions – loudly.The University of Central Florida’s 2026 graduating class booed as a real estate development executive spoke about how “the rise of artificial intelligence is the next Industrial Revolution” and about “living in a time of profound change”.The crowd of students was so loud that Gloria Caulfield paused, turned away from the podium and threw her hands up in the air.“Woop, what happened?” she asked, before letting out a nervous laugh: “OK, I struck a chord. May I finish?”As the crowd calmed down, Caulfield proceeded
Jim Furyk tells US players they need to make Ryder Cup more of a priority
Jim Furyk has admitted the United States need to make the Ryder Cup more of a priority as the 56-year-old plots a reversal of fortunes at Adare Manor in September 2027.Speaking expansively for the first time since being handed the US captaincy for a second time, Furyk pointed towards an overhaul of approach to the biennial event. He also suggested he will be keen to involve Tiger Woods on his backroom team.Victory for Europe at Bethpage last year means the US have won two of the past eight Ryder Cup stagings. The PGA of America wanted Woods to assume the captaincy for Adare, a scenario that was subject to delay before it was rendered impossible by the 15-time major winner’s Florida car crash in March
England v New Zealand: second women’s cricket ODI abandoned – as it happened
England’s one-day international against New Zealand on Wednesday was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.Following their narrow-squeak win in Sunday’s game, England had named a new-look XI at Northampton which contained both Alice Capsey and Sophie Ecclestone. Capsey is now fully recovered from a bout of sickness, while Ecclestone’s inclusion was particularly welcome news as it suggests the quad problem which kept her out of Sunday’s match will not be a problem in next month’s T20 World Cup.However, after hours of back-and-forth between the groundstaff and the covers, persistent showers through the afternoon forced the umpires to call off the match at 4.40pm
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