JEDDAH: Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy has joined Arab News as a weekly political columnist, it was announced this week.
The seasoned media executive joins a raft of other high-profile writers on the newspaper’s Opinion pages.
The news comes as it was confirmed that El-Menawy has also been appointed managing director of Al-Masry Al-Youm, where he is set to update the Egypt-based media group’s publications.
El-Menawy has a long history in the Arab media, having worked on the launch of several private and governmental news channels.
The media executive began his career as a journalist in 1982, and later joined the London-based Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, where he became head of its Cairo office.
He has also served as editor in chief of Majalla magazine and later worked as head of Egypt’s state TV news under former President Hosni Mubarak.
His assignments as a journalist have included the war in Bosnia and he has reported from Sudan, Libya, Algeria, France, Hong Kong and Germany among other locations.
In addition to his work in media, El-Menawy has published many books, notable among them being “Tahrir: The Last 18 Days of Mubarak,” and “Copts, the Church or the Nation?”
El-Menawy has presented many news programs through several Egyptian and Arab channels, and interviewed many leaders, presidents and senior policymakers around the world.
He is one of the several new contributors to the Opinion pages of Arab News. Other writers include: Turkey’s former Foreign Minister Yasar Yakis; Chris Doyle, director of the Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU); Frank Kane, an award-winning business journalist based in Dubai; and Baria Alamuddin, an award-winning journalist and broadcaster.
Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy joins Arab News as weekly political columnist
Egyptian journalist Abdellatif El-Menawy joins Arab News as weekly political columnist
UAE outlines approach to AI governance amid regulation debate at World Economic Forum
- Minister of State Maryam Al-Hammadi highlights importance of a robust regulatory framework to complement implementation of AI technology
- Other experts in panel discussion say regulators should address problems as they arise, rather than trying to solve problems that do not yet exist
DUBAI: The UAE has made changes to 90 percent of its laws in the past four years, Maryam Al-Hammadi, minister of state and the secretary-general of the Emirati Cabinet, told the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.
Speaking during a panel discussion titled “Regulating at the Speed of Code,” she highlighted the importance of having a robust regulatory framework in place to complement the implementation of artificial intelligence technology in the public and private sectors.
The process of this updating and repealing of laws has driven the UAE’s efforts to develop an AI model that can assist in the drafting of legislation, along with collecting feedback from stakeholders on proposed laws and suggesting improvements, she said.
Although AI might be more agile at shaping regulation, “there are some principles that we put in the model that we are developing that we cannot compromise,” Al-Hammadi added. These include rules for human accountability, transparency, privacy and data protection, along with constitutional safeguards and a thorough understanding of the law.
At this stage, “we believe AI can advise but still (the) human is in command,” she said.
Authorities in the UAE are aiming to develop, within a two-year timeline, a shareable model to help other nations learn and benefit from its experiences, Al-Hammadi added.
Argentina’s minister of deregulation and state transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, warned against overregulation at the cost of innovation.
Politicians often react to a “salient event” by overreacting, he said, describing most regulators as “very imaginative of all the terrible things that will happen to people if they’re free.”
He said that “we have to take more risk,” and regulators should wait to address problems as they arise rather than trying to create solutions for problems that do not yet exist.
This sentiment was echoed by Joel Kaplan, Meta’s chief global affairs officer, who said “imaginative policymakers” often focus more on risks and potential harms than on the economic and growth benefits of innovation.
He pointed to Europe as an example of this, arguing that an excessive focus on “all the possible harms” of new technologies has, over time, reduced competitiveness and risks leaving the region behind in what he described as a “new technological revolution.”
