KHARTOUM: Sudanese security forces have released two journalists from Asharq television channel, a day after detaining them as deadly violence flared during renewed protests against the military government, the station said Friday.
During Thursday’s protests in and near Khartoum, “five uniformed security officers” held journalists Maha Al-Talb and Sally Othman and their teams in their office for several hours, the channel said.
Sudan has been gripped by turmoil since military leader Gen. Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan launched a coup on Oct. 25 and detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok.
Hamdok was reinstated on Nov. 21, but mass protests have continued as demonstrators distrust Burhan’s promises of seeking to guide the country toward full democracy.
Protesters charge that the deal simply aims to give the cloak of legitimacy to the generals, whom they accuse of trying to continue the regime built by former autocratic President Omar Bashir, who was toppled in 2019 following mass protests.
In the worst street clashes since Hamdok’s return, five demonstrators were killed and dozens wounded by bullets on Thursday, said the independent Doctors’ Committee, which is part of the pro-democracy movement.
Authorities also cut phone lines and the internet and cracked down on media, also including the satellite channel Al-Arabiya.
Othman was interrupted by soldiers in the middle of a live broadcast and can be heard saying in a clip shared widely on social networks: “I will not be able to continue, the authorities are now forbidding me to continue with you.”
Sudanese police blamed the incident on “reprehensible individual actions” which would be investigated.
The Doctors’ Committee charged that “crimes against humanity” were committed in Omdurman, twin city of the capital Khartoum, on Thursday.
It said five demonstrators were killed by bullets to the head or chest, and that ambulances were blocked and at least one seriously injured person was forcibly removed from an ambulance by the security forces.
Street clashes since the October coup have claimed 53 lives.
Two TV journalists freed in Sudan after mass street protests
https://arab.news/rx8uj
Two TV journalists freed in Sudan after mass street protests
- Authorities cut phone lines and the internet and cracked down on media, also including the satellite channel Al-Arabiya
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.”
