An opinion poll on Friday showed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party would form the largest single party in parliament.

That would be if an election were held now, underlining a gradual recovery since the Oct. 7 attacks last year.

The poll, published in the left-wing Ma’ariv daily, showed Likud winning 24 seats, against 32 at present, its highest score in the Ma’ariv poll since Oct. 7.

It put the National Unity Party led by centrist former general Benny Gantz on 21. 

Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition with a clutch of nationalist-religious and ultra-Orthodox parties would lose any election held now, with 53 seats in the 120-seat parliament, against 58 for the main opposition bloc, according to the poll.

Nevertheless, Likud’s advance shows how far Netanyahu has moved since last year when his standing was hit by public fury at the security failures when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages.

Earlier in the war against Hamas in Gaza, opinion polls regularly showed Likud gaining no more than 16-18 seats in parliament.

The survey also showed Netanyahu’s standing as prime minister recovering, with respondents favouring him over any alternative potential candidate apart from former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who is now out of politics.

Despite the coalition, tensions between Netanyahu and several ministers, and regular protests by Israelis demanding a deal to bring home the Gaza hostages, the government has held together for almost two years.

An election is not due until 2026.

Netanyahu has clashed with Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, from his party, and two hardliners – National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

While Likud has climbed steadily, support has not followed for the two nationalist religious parties, Jewish Power, led by Ben-Gvir, and Religious Zionism, under Smotrich, giving both parties an incentive not to leave the government. 

– Reuters

Congolese Interior Minister, Jacquemain Shabani on Tuesday said 129 people have been killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo in an attempted prison break.

On his X account, Shabani said authorities shot dead 24 inmates of the Makala prison in the capital Kinshasa, while dozens of others were suffocated or trampled to death.

According to the minister, some female prisoners were raped during the chaos on Monday night.

He said at least 59 people were also injured. The police and army were able to bring the situation under control.

Shabani said the number of victims is preliminary.

The property damage was considerable. The Administrative buildings, the infirmary and the food depot had been completely burnt down, the minister added.

Security forces held an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the case.

Prison breaks are a frequent occurrence in the conflict-torn Central African country. Hundreds of inmates often manage to escape together. 

– dpa

A Federal judge from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that Google has violated the U.S. antitrust law by maintaining a monopoly in the online search market.

Judge, Amit Mehta on Tuesday agreed with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) that Google has a monopoly in “general search services” and the general search text ads market.

”Having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reached the following conclusion:

”Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly,” according to the court’s ruling.

It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

Google controls about 90 per cent of the online search market and 95 per cent on smartphones, said the ruling, capping a years-long case.

The DOJ reportedly sued in 2020 over Google’s dominance in online search, which was the first time in a generation that the U.S. government accused a major corporation of an illegal monopoly.

This landmark decision holds Google accountable, DOJ antitrust Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter said in a statement.

It said that it paves the path for innovation for generations to come and protects access to information for all Americans.

Kent Walker, Google’s president of Global Affairs, said the company intended to appeal to Mehta’s ruling.

This decision recognised that Google offered the best search engine, but concluded that we shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available, according to the statement.

“As this process continues, we will remain focused on making products that people find helpful and easy to use.”

Google’s fate will be decided in the next phase of proceedings, which could determine potential fixes possibly including a breakup of Google’s parent Alphabet.

The next separate antitrust trial between the DOJ and Google would start on Sept. 9 in Virginia.

However, the case would focus on whether Google has illegally monopolised advertising technology.

Amazon, Apple, and Meta will now all face monopolisation lawsuits from the U.S. government. 

– Xinhua