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Asharq News debuts AI anchor on air

The AI version of the Saudi-based channel’s anchor can speak languages including Russian, Spanish and Mandarin during live broadcasts. (Supplied)
The AI version of the Saudi-based channel’s anchor can speak languages including Russian, Spanish and Mandarin during live broadcasts. (Supplied)
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Updated 12 March 2024
Arab News
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Asharq News debuts AI anchor on air

Asharq News debuts AI anchor on air
  • Channel introduces virtual lookalike of ‘Colours of the East’ presenter Hadil Eleyan 
  • Clip of the multilingual AI presenter garnered more than 1m views online
Updated 12 March 2024
Arab News
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LONDON: A multilingual AI lookalike of Asharq News anchor Hadil Eleyan has been debuted by the channel on air.

The AI version of the Saudi-based channel’s anchor can speak languages including Russian, Spanish and Mandarin during live broadcasts.

The multi-platform Arabic news channel unveiled the service during its Monday evening show, “Colours of the East.”

Steven Cheak, director of creative services at Asharq News, described the AI presenter as a “symbiotic relationship between artificial intelligence and human ingenuity.”

AI should enhance human productivity rather than replace it, he added.

The AI-generated lookalike — which Eleyan interacted with — presented the segment in a range of languages, showcasing the cutting edge of AI technologies.

A clip of the segment posted online garnered more than 1 million views on social media.

Nabeel Alkhatib, Asharq News general manager, said that the network is committed to innovation, including incorporating AI into newsrooms to boost efficiency and creativity in editorial processes.

Asharq News aims to provide a seamless and engaging experience for its Arabic-speaking viewers through the use of innovative technology and digital strategies, he added.

This includes cutting-edge graphics, augmented reality and virtual reality systems, all aimed at enriching the network’s visual storytelling capabilities.

Topics: Asharq News Eye On AI

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Palestinian Authority clashes with Al Jazeera over Jenin coverage

Palestinian Authority clashes with Al Jazeera over Jenin coverage
Updated 25 December 2024
Reuters
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Palestinian Authority clashes with Al Jazeera over Jenin coverage

Palestinian Authority clashes with Al Jazeera over Jenin coverage
  • Palestinian Authority security forces have battled Islamist fighters in Jenin, as they try to control one of the historic centers of militancy in the West Bank ahead of a likely shakeout in Palestinian politics after the Gaza war
Updated 25 December 2024
Reuters

JERUSALEM: Al Jazeera television has clashed with the Palestinian Authority over its coverage of the weeks-long standoff between Palestinian security forces and militant fighters in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.
Fatah, the faction which controls the Palestinian Authority, condemned the Qatari-headquartered network, which has reported extensively on the clashes in Jenin, saying it was sowing division in “our Arab homeland in general and in Palestine in particular.” It encouraged Palestinians not to cooperate with the network.
Israel closed down Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel in May, saying it threatened national security. In September, it ordered the network’s bureau in Ramallah, to close for 45 days after an intelligence assessment that the offices were being used to support terrorist activities.
“Al Jazeera has successfully maintained its professionalism throughout its coverage of the unfolding events in Jenin,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
Palestinian Authority security forces have battled Islamist fighters in Jenin, as they try to control one of the historic centers of militancy in the West Bank ahead of a likely shakeout in Palestinian politics after the Gaza war.
Forces of the PA, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank, moved into Jenin in early December, clashing daily with fighters from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, both of which are supported by Iran.
The standoff has fueled bitter anger on both sides, deepening the divisions which have long existed between the Palestinian factions and their supporters.
Al Jazeera said its broadcasts fairly presented the views of both sides.
“The voices of both the Palestinian resistance and the Spokesperson of the Palestinian National Security Forces have always been present on Al Jazeera’s screens,” Al Jazeera said.
 

 

Topics: Palestine Gaza US Al Jazeera

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‘Like a dream’: AFP photographer’s return to Syria

Syrian AFP photographer Sameer Al-Doumy talks with people from his old neighborhood in the city of Douma near Damascus.
Syrian AFP photographer Sameer Al-Doumy talks with people from his old neighborhood in the city of Douma near Damascus.
Updated 25 December 2024
AFP
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‘Like a dream’: AFP photographer’s return to Syria

Syrian AFP photographer Sameer Al-Doumy talks with people from his old neighborhood in the city of Douma near Damascus.
  • “We didn’t dare to imagine that Assad could fall because his presence was so anchored in us,” said Al-Doumy
  • Award-winning photographer has spent the last few years covering migrant crisis for AFP’s Lille bureau in northern France
Updated 25 December 2024
AFP

DOUMA: AFP photographer Sameer Al-Doumy never dreamed he would be able to return to the hometown in Syria that he escaped through a tunnel seven years ago after it was besieged by Bashar Assad’s forces.
Douma, once a militant stronghold near Damascus, suffered terribly for its defiance of the former regime, and was the victim of a particularly horrific chemical weapons attack in 2018.
“It is like a dream for me today to find myself back here,” he said.
“The revolution was a dream, getting out of a besieged town and of Syria was a dream, as it is now being able to go back.
“We didn’t dare to imagine that Assad could fall because his presence was so anchored in us,” said the 26-year-old.
“My biggest dream was to return to Syria at a moment like this after 13 years of war, just as it was my biggest dream in 2017 to leave for a new life,” said the award-winning photographer who has spent the last few years covering the migrant crisis for AFP’s Lille bureau in northern France.
“I left when I was 19,” said Sameer, all of whose immediate family are in exile, apart from his sister.
“This is my home, all my memories are here, my childhood, my adolescence. I spent my life in Douma in this house my family had to flee and where my cousin now lives.
“The house hasn’t changed, although the top floor was destroyed in the bombardments.
“The sitting room is still the same, my father’s beloved library hasn’t changed. He would settle down there every morning to read the books that he had collected over the years — it was more important to him than his children.
“I went looking for my childhood stuff that my mother kept for me but I could not find it. I don’t know if it exists anymore.
“I haven’t found any comfort here, perhaps because I haven’t found anyone from my family or people I was close to. Some have left the country and others were killed or have disappeared.
“People have been through so much over the last 13 years, from the peaceful protests of the revolution, to the war and the siege and then being forced into exile.
“My memories are here but they are associated with the war which started when I was 13. What I lived through was hard, and what got me through was my family and friends, and they are no longer here.
“The town has changed. I remember the bombed buildings, the rubble. Today life has gone back to a kind of normal as the town waits for people to return.”
Douma was besieged by Assad’s forces from the end of 2012, with Washington blaming his forces for a chemical attack in the region that left more than 1,400 people dead the following year.
Sameer’s career as a photojournalist began when he and his brothers began taking photos of what was happening around them.
“After the schools closed I started to go out filming the protests with my brothers here in front of the main mosque, where the first demonstration in Douma was held after Friday prayers, and where the first funerals of the victims were also held.
“I set up my camera on the first floor of a building which overlooks the mosque and then changed my clothes afterwards so I would not be recognized and arrested. Filming the protests was banned.
“When the security forces attacked, I would take the SIM card out of my phone and the memory card out of my camera and put them in my mouth.”
That way he could swallow them if he was caught.
In May 2017, Sameer fled through a tunnel dug by the militants and eventually found himself in Idlib with former fighters and their families.
“I took the name Sameer Al-Doumy (Sameer from Douma) to affirm that I belonged somewhere,” even though he was exiled, he said. “I stopped using my first name, Motassem, to protect my family living in Damascus.
“In France I have a happy and stable life. I have a family, friends and a job. But I am not rooted to any particular place. When I went back to Syria, I felt I had a country.
“When you are abroad, you get used to the word ‘refugee’ and you get on with your life and make a big effort to integrate in a new society. But your country remains the place that accepts you as you are. You don’t have to prove anything.
“When I left Syria, I never thought one day I would be able to return. When the news broke, I couldn’t believe it. It was impossible Assad could fall. Lots of people are still in shock and are afraid. It is hard to get your head around how a regime that filled people with so much fear could collapse.
“When I returned to the Al-Midan district of Damascus (which had long resisted the regime), I could not stop myself crying.
“I am sad not to be with my loved ones. But I know they will return, even if it takes a while.
“My dream now is that one day we will all come together again in Syria.”

Topics: Fall of Assad Syria

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Rights group condemns Sudan’s RSF for journalist’s ‘heinous’ killing

Rights group condemns Sudan’s RSF for journalist’s ‘heinous’ killing
Updated 24 December 2024
Arab News
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Rights group condemns Sudan’s RSF for journalist’s ‘heinous’ killing

Rights group condemns Sudan’s RSF for journalist’s ‘heinous’ killing
  • Hanan Adam and her brother died during an attack on their home in Wad Al-Asha
Updated 24 December 2024
Arab News

The International Federation of Journalists has condemned the killing of Sudanese journalist Hanan Adam by the Rapid Support Forces, describing it as a “heinous” crime.

The media rights group called for urgent action to address the escalating climate of fear and violence against journalists in Sudan.

Adam, who worked for the Ministry of Culture and Information in Gezira state and was a correspondent for Al-Maidan, the newspaper of the Sudanese Communist Party, was killed alongside her brother, Youssef Adam, during an RSF attack on their home in Wad Al-Asha on Dec. 8.

“We mourn the loss of our colleague, Hanan Adam, and her brother Youssef, and extend our deepest condolences to the family,” IFJ General Secretary Anthony Bellanger said in a statement on Tuesday.

“The IFJ calls on the Sudanese government to launch an investigation and take concrete action to end the climate of fear and violence that journalists endure in the country.”

Her employer, Al-Maidan newspaper, released a statement on Facebook mourning Adam’s death, highlighting her dedication to journalism armed with “only paper and pen.”

Adam is the sixth journalist killed in Sudan this year, making it the deadliest country for media professionals in Africa in 2024.

The RSF has been directly implicated in the deaths of at least five journalists since the conflict erupted in April 2023, cementing its reputation for targeting members of the press and media workers.

The IFJ’s call for justice comes amid growing international scrutiny of the RSF and the deteriorating safety of journalists in Sudan with the country mired in a conflict fueled by a power struggle between rival generals.

 

Topics: Sudan Sudan Unrest rapid support forces (RSF) journalist

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Iran lifts ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, state media says

Iran lifts ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, state media says
Updated 24 December 2024
Reuters
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Iran lifts ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, state media says

Iran lifts ban on WhatsApp and Google Play, state media says
  • Most of US-based social media remain blocked
Updated 24 December 2024
Reuters

DUBAI: Iranian authorities have lifted a ban on Meta’s instant messaging platform WhatsApp and Google Play as a first step to scale back Internet restrictions, Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.
The Islamic Republic has some of the strictest controls on Internet access in the world, but its blocks on US-based social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are routinely bypassed by tech-savvy Iranians using virtual private networks.
“A positive majority vote has been reached to lift limitations on access to some popular foreign platforms such as WhatsApp and Google Play,” Iran’s official IRNA news agency said on Tuesday, referring to a meeting on the matter headed by President Masoud Pezeshkian.
“Today the first step in removing Internet limitations... has been taken,” IRNA cited Iran’s Minister of Information and Communications Technology Sattar Hashemi as saying.
Social media platforms were widely used in anti-government protests in Iran.
In September the United States called on Big Tech to help evade online censorship in countries that heavily sensor the Internet, including Iran.

Topics: Iran Meta WhatsApp Google

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Slovenia calls for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision 2025

Slovenia calls for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision 2025
Updated 24 December 2024
Arab News
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Slovenia calls for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision 2025

Slovenia calls for Israel’s exclusion from Eurovision 2025
  • Slovenia threatened to withdraw from Eurovision if its demand to exclude Israel over Gaza attacks is rejected by the European Broadcasting Union
  • Organizers cautioned that Israel’s plan to privatize its Kan broadcaster could lead to the country’s removal from the competition
Updated 24 December 2024
Arab News

LONDON: Slovenia has called on the European Broadcasting Union to disqualify Israel from the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest over its ongoing military actions in Gaza, Israeli media reported.

Slovenia’s public broadcaster, RTV SLO, formally submitted a letter to the EBU urging Israel’s exclusion, citing its attacks on the Gaza Strip as grounds for disqualification.

The broadcaster warned that Slovenia might withdraw from the contest entirely if its request is denied.

The controversy follows Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar’s recent comments condemning Israel and Russia for violating the UN Charter with their respective wars in Gaza and Ukraine. She emphasized that Israel’s actions were on a “much larger scale.”
Eurovision, which celebrates its 69th edition next year, has faced repeated criticism over Israel’s participation.

In the most recent competition, several artists called for Israel’s boycott, arguing that its military operations in Gaza conflicted with the contest’s values.

Protests also erupted earlier this year in Malmo, Sweden, during Israel’s qualification for the finals.

Organizers resisted calls to disqualify Israel maintaining that Eurovision is a “non-political event” and noting that Russia’s exclusion in 2022 was due to the suspension of Russian broadcasters from the EBU for “persistent breaches of membership obligations and violations of public service values.”

Israel’s place in Eurovision faces further uncertainty amid domestic moves to privatize Kan, the country’s public broadcaster.

While Israel qualifies for Eurovision as a member of the EBU, the union warned this week that Kan’s privatization would result in Israel’s removal from the organization.

“Privatising Kan would lead to its removal from our union, limit Israel’s role in international events like Eurovision and prevent Israeli viewers from accessing content such as the 2026 World Cup” the letter from EBU read.

Alon Gellert, Kan’s representative in the Knesset, described attempts to exclude Israel from Eurovision as part of efforts by “antisemitic organizations and Palestinian activists.”

He warned, however, that dismantling Kan could inadvertently achieve those objectives.

“The state of Israel fights tirelessly to prevent such exclusion. Now, through our own actions, we risk achieving their goals,” Gellert said.

The Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to take place in May 2025 in Basel, Switzerland, following the country’s victory in 2024 with Nemo’s song “The Code.”

Topics: War on Gaza Israel Eurovision Slovenia European Broadcasting Union

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