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Livestreamed footage shows crew members of the Alma vessel sitting on deck as they sail for Gaza
The Israeli navy has intercepted boats carrying aid to Gaza and detained the activists aboard, including Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry said several vessels that form part of the Global Sumud Flotilla (GSF) had been “safely stopped” and that those aboard were being transferred to an Israeli port.
It added that the navy had told the vessels to change course as they were “approaching an active combat zone”.
The GSF described the interception as “illegal” and “not an act of defence” but “a brazen act of desperation”.
The group has alleged that one vessel within the flotilla was “deliberately rammed at sea” and said additional boats were hit by water cannons.
“It clearly reveals the extreme lengths to which the occupier will go to ensure Gaza remains starved and isolated,” GSF wrote on social media.
“They will attack a peaceful civilian mission because the success of humanitarian aid means the failure of their siege.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the flotilla had been informed it was “violating a lawful naval blockade” that covers the waters next to Gaza – though it is unclear if the boats had entered the blockade zone.
It posted footage from the interception showing Thunberg sitting on the deck of a boat, being handed water and a jacket by a member of the Israeli military.
Livestreams from the boats suggest not all of the 44 vessels have been boarded and evacuated.
The Israeli government, which has branded the GSF’s attempt to transport humanitarian aid to war-torn Gaza as “provocation”, said: “Greta and her friends are safe and healthy.”
The GSF said multiple ships including the Alma, one of the main vessels, as well as the Surius and the Adara, had been intercepted and boarded.
Prior to that, it accused the Israeli military of “intentionally damaging ship communications, in an attempt to block distress signals and stop the livestream of their illegal boat boarding”.
It said the flotilla had been 70 nautical miles from Gaza’s shoreline when the intervention had occurred. The group had hoped its vessels would arrive in Gaza on Thursday morning.
People have gathered Greece, Italy, Tunisia and Turkey to protest Israel’s interception of the flotilla.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has expelled all remaining Israeli diplomats from the country in response to the interception, and denounced it as an “international crime by Netanyahu”.
Petro also terminated Colombia’s free trade agreement with Israel, which has been in place since 2020, and called for the release of two Colombians who were aboard the flotilla.
Irish Deputy Prime Minister Simon Harris called the reports “concerning” and said he expects Israel to uphold international law, with at least seven Irish citizens among the detained, including Sinn Féin senator Chris Andrews.
Israeli foreign ministry
The Israeli foreign ministry released footage of its forces detaining Swedish activist Greta Thunberg from one of the boats
Israel has already blocked two attempts by activists to deliver aid by ship to Gaza, in June and July.
While the Israeli government has characterised the flotilla as a “selfie yacht”, Thunberg has pushed back against that criticism, telling the BBC on Sunday: “I don’t think anyone would risk their life for a publicity stunt.”
International aid agencies have been attempting to get food and medicine into the Palestinian territory but note Israel is restricting the flow of supplies.
Israel claims it is attempting to stop those supplies falling into the hands of Hamas. It and the US have backed an alternative food distribution system, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) which the UN refuses to co-operate with, describing its set-up as unethical.
A UN-backed group confirmed last month that there was famine in Gaza and the UN’s humanitarian chief said it was the direct result of Israel’s “systematic obstruction” of aid entering the territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called this an “outright lie”.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement that France had ensured “that any possible boarding operation would take place under the best possible security conditions”.
Italy’s foreign minister said he had been reassured by Israel that its armed forces would not use violence against the 500 people aboard, including French and Italian politicians.
Antonio Tajani said: “The boarding was planned, we are talking about it… with [Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon] Saar so that there would be no violent actions on the part of the Tel Aviv armed forces, and this has been assured to me.”
Simon Harris, Ireland’s tánaiste (deputy prime minister), said his country “expects international law to be upheld and all those on board the flotilla to be treated in strict accordance with it”.
In Gaza, Israel is stepping up its assault on Gaza City as Hamas weighs its response to a new US plan to end the war. Arab and Turkish mediators are understood to be pressing Hamas for a positive response, but a senior Hamas figure has said the armed group is likely to reject it.
Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz issued a final warning to the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in the city to evacuate southwards, saying those who remained during the offensive against Hamas would be “terrorists and supporters of terror”.
The International Committee of the Red Cross stated that “under international humanitarian law, civilians must be protected whether they stay or leave Gaza City”.
Before David Risher was tasked with scripting a “comeback story” for ride-sharing company Lyft, he made a career move so audacious that it prompted a direct, and blunt, intervention from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. In a recent appearance on Fortune‘s Leadership Next podcast, Risher shared the moment Gates told him he was making “the stupidest decision I’ve ever heard anyone made.”
The year was 1996, and Risher was enjoying a successful career at Microsoft during the heyday of Windows. In fact, Risher noted he and his wife just had their 30th wedding anniversary, having met “on the first day” at Microsoft. He said it was a very formative time for him and his career at a very competitive company.
But he had been in talks with a man named Jeff Bezos, who was running a brand-new startup called Amazon. When Risher decided to leave the tech giant to join the fledgling online retailer, Gates himself sent an email and called him into his office.
“He says, ‘Hold on for a second. You mean to tell me you’re leaving this company for some tiny, little internet bookstore that nobody’s ever heard of … that has got to be the stupidest decision I’ve ever heard anyone made,’” Risher recalled.
While Risher admitted the move wasn’t “entirely rational,” he said he was drawn to the opportunity. He had first connected with Bezos a year earlier, when the Amazon founder was conducting a reference check. What ultimately convinced Risher to take the leap was Bezos’s intense focus on the customer. “He was very customer-obsessed,” Risher said, noting Bezos’s logic that on the internet, “everyone is one click away from somebody else, so you have to create a great customer experience.” (In fact, Bezos’s management style stressed to Amazonians that they should approach every day from a “day one” mindset.)
Bezos also laid out a compellingly ambitious vision: to grow the then-$15.6 million business into a billion-dollar company by the year 2000. Risher, an avid reader, was captivated by the chance to build something new at the “crazy intersection of technology and culture.” He joined Amazon as its 37th employee, tasked with helping build the “everything store” by adding music, video, and toy categories. The company hit its billion-dollar target a year early, in 1999. The move paid off so well that a “Thank You” letter from Bezos to Risher, dated February 2002, remains on Amazon’s website to this day.
One of the great comebacks
Now, as CEO of Lyft, Risher is applying that same foundational principle of customer obsession to engineer what he hopes will be “one of the world’s great comeback stories.” He said when he took the job in 2023, the company had “lost its way” a little bit, as it was losing market share, and it wasn’t profitable. (Lyft stock is down roughly 20% over the last five years, but has risen 60% year-to-date.) Risher’s strategy has been to return to the basics: understanding what customers actually want.
To achieve this, he famously works “undercover” as a Lyft driver in Napa Valley and San Francisco to learn firsthand about the rider and driver experience. A conversation with a passenger stressed by variable pricing led directly to the creation of Lyft’s “Price Lock” feature. He insists on viewing drivers as customers, too, which led to a 70% earnings guarantee—ensuring drivers always receive at least 70% of what riders pay, a move that has given Lyft a 19-point advantage in driver preference over competitors.
This obsessive focus on improving the service is part of Risher’s fight against what he calls “enshittification,” borrowing the phrase from Cory Doctorow that was named the “word of the year” by both an Australian dictionary and the American Dialect Society for how it summed up widespread frustration with the tech sector, even with modern life. Risher described it as the gravitational pull that makes services worse over time due to profit and investor pressures. By breaking down problems piece by piece, his team has drastically improved the user experience, cutting the driver cancellation rate from a “super irritating” 15% down to below 5%.
From receiving a stark warning from a tech titan to earning a permanent thank-you from another, Risher’s unconventional career has been defined by taking on ambitious challenges. Now, he’s betting that the same customer-first philosophy that turned a small online bookstore into a global empire can drive Lyft’s next chapter of growth.
For this story, Fortune used generative AI to help with an initial draft. An editor verified the accuracy of the information before publishing.
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Moroccan authorities have arrested more than 400 people during violent protests demanding reforms in the public health and education sectors, the Ministry of Interior says.
A fifth night of youth protests was under way on Wednesday in cities across the North African country, but authorities said the fourth night had turned more violent than before. They reported 263 members of the security forces and 23 civilians were injured as demonstrators torched cars and ransacked shops.
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The demonstrations have been organised online by a loosely formed, anonymous youth group calling itself GenZ 212, using platforms including TikTok, Instagram and the gaming application Discord.
On Tuesday night, young men brandished knives and threw Molotov cocktails and stones, an Interior Ministry spokesperson said in a statement. He said 409 people were taken into police custody.
Members of the security forces detain a man as they prevent a protest demanding reforms in education and healthcare from taking place in Rabat [Ahmed El Jechtimi/Reuters]
Administrative buildings, banks and shops were looted or vandalised in the Souss region cities of Ait Amira, Inezgane, Agadir and Tiznit as well as the eastern city of Oujda, he said.
Videos circulating on social media and verified by Al Jazeera showed damaged ATM machines and a bank building that appeared to have been looted with broken glass scattered across the ground.
In posts discussing the protests, the GenZ 212 group said it rejected violence and was committed to continuing peaceful protests. It said it had no argument with security forces, only with the government.
The Interior Ministry statement said 142 vehicles belonging to the security forces and 20 private cars had been set on fire.
Peaceful protests over economic and social conditions have been recurrent in Morocco, but this week’s demonstrations are the most violent since at least 2016 and 2017 when protesters clashed with security forces in the Rif region in the north.
The Interior Ministry will uphold the right to protest in accordance with legal procedures and will respond with “restraint and self-control, avoiding provocation”, the spokesperson said.
Senior Spotify executive David Kaefer is exiting the business after seven years, MBW has learned.
Kaefer, the exec in charge of Spotify’s music business and audiobooks business, has decided to leave Spotify at the end of October.
Succeeding him as SVP and Global Head of Music is Charlie Hellman, a Spotify veteran who joined in 2011 to start Spotify’s US product team.
Kaefer has led Spotify’s music licensing and partnerships for over seven years. He joined the company in 2018 as VP, Global Leader, Business Affairs, and oversaw the launch of Spotify’s Audiobook Business starting in 2023.
In December 2023, he took on the official title of VP, Global Leader, Music and Audiobook Businesses at the streaming platform.
Kaefer’s departure was confirmed in an internal memo sent to Spotify’s music team today (October 1) by Alex Norström, Spotify’s co-President and Chief Business Officer (and incoming co-CEO).
“I’ve always valued [David Kaefer’s] strategic saviness and unique blend of toughness and humor.”
Alex Norström
“It has been a pleasure to work with and learn from David Kaefer, particularly in his leadership of key music functions, including Editorial, Partnerships, and GTM, as well as his extensive experience navigating innovative industry deals,” wrote Norström in the memo, obtained by MBW.
He added: “On a personal note, I’ve always valued his strategic saviness and unique blend of toughness and humor.”
Hellman, the exec succeeding Kaefer, built some of the company’s first recommendation and social features in the early years of the platform. He then went on to work on Spotify for Artists and the suite of fan engagement, promotion, and monetization tools within it.
He also oversees Spotify’s music policy and economics work, including Loud & Clear, anti-fraud protections, and royalty system processes.
In his memo to Spotify’s music team today, AlexNorström explained that “as we enter our next era of scale, we are centralizing all music functions under his leadership”.
Added Norström: “Charlie’s proven ability to think strategically, advocate for both artists and Spotify’s role in growing Music, and collaborate effectively across the company and our industry make him the ideal leader for the Music organization of tomorrow.”
“After seven years, I’m moving on from Spotify and entering a new phase in my career. I’ll be advising and investing in tech, media, and sustainability while working closer to home on the West Coast.”
David Kaefer
Confirming the news himself in a social media post published on Wednesday morning, Kaefer said: “After seven years, I’m moving on from Spotify and entering a new phase in my career. I’ll be advising and investing in tech, media, and sustainability while working closer to home on the West Coast.”
Added Kaefer: “I’m extremely grateful to DanielEk, AlexNorstrom, and GustavSöderström for trusting me to lead Spotify’s music and audiobooks businesses. Also – thank you to a long-time mentor, Horacio Gutierrez, for recruiting me.
“I owe a huge debt to my bandmates for their friendship and tremendous work. I will miss you.
“I also owe a huge debt to the many external partners I’ve worked with at Spotify and, before that, at Microsoft. I remain inspired by how collaboration and partnership can have a profoundly positive impact on the world. Many in my network are among the best in the world at this type of work and building partnerships has never been more important.”
You can read AlexNorström’s internal memo in full below:
Team,
I would like to take a moment to share some thoughts on the future of our Music team and its leadership.
It has been a pleasure to work with and learn from David Kaefer, particularly in his leadership of key music functions, including Editorial, Partnerships, and GTM, as well as his extensive experience navigating innovative industry deals. On a personal note, I’ve always valued his strategic saviness and unique blend of toughness and humor.
From the moment that he shared his plans for a new, ideally West Coast-based adventure a few months ago, I’ve felt a deep sense of gratitude for his incredible run. David will remain with us until October 24th.
This brings me to our new head of Music vertical, Charlie Hellman. Charlie’s fifteen-year journey here is legendary; in addition to hiring and serving as a mentor to more successful Spotifers than I can count, he drove the creation of the US R&D team, Spotify for Artists, and so many of our music experiences from our very first radio feature to our expansion into music video. As we enter our next era of scale, we are centralizing all music functions under his leadership.
Charlie’s proven ability to think strategically, advocate for both artists and Spotify’s role in growing Music, and collaborate effectively across the company and our industry make him the ideal leader for the Music organization of tomorrow.
Finally, this is about all of you. Music is and always will be the beating heart of Spotify. We are still in the early chapters of our story, and we’re setting our sights higher than ever. Our success rests on your work to deliver for artists, songwriters, and fans.
Charlie joined when we were celebrating a then massive one million subscribers, and I can’t wait for the day when you’re telling a new hire that you remember when we hit our first billion.
Best,
Alex
News of Kaefer’s departure arrives just a day after the company revealed that its founder and Chief Executive Officer, Daniel Ek is stepping away from the CEO role and will transition to Executive Chairman effective January 1, 2026.
The company also announced Gustav Söderström, co-President and Chief Product and Technology Officer, and Alex Norström, co-President and Chief Business Officer, as its co-Chief Executive Officers.
These changes will all be effective January 1, 2026.Music Business Worldwide
9/15 @ Hopkins- 7-0 W, 9/17 vs Taft- 4-1 W, 9/20 vs King- 5-0 W, 9/21 vs The Episcopal Academy (PA)- 1-3 L, 9/21 vs Springside Chestnut Hill (PA)- 2-2 T OT, 9/24 vs Choate- 4-1 W, 9/26 vs Rye Country Day- 3-0 W
9/16 @ Wilton- 0-0 T, 9/17 @ Fairfield Warde- 5-0 W, 9/20 vs Manheim Twp (PA)- 2-0 W, 9/21 @ Mount St. Joseph Academy (PA)- 2-4 L, 9/25 vs Staples- 1-2 L, 9/26 vs New Canaan-6-1 W
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