GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera said Tuesday two of its journalists were severely wounded in an Israeli strike in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah.
Reporter Ismail Abu Omar’s life is at risk after he had his right leg amputated, while doctors are attempting to save the left one, Al Jazeera said quoting an emergency physician.
Cameraman Ahmad Matar was described by Al Jazeera as being in a “serious condition” after being targeted by an Israeli drone in northern Rafah.
The two journalists have been admitted to the European Hospital, on the southern edge of Khan Yunis city.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said the two were hit in a strike from an Israeli warplane in the Moraj area.
Hamas’s government media office said it “condemns in the strongest terms the Israeli occupation army’s targeting of the Al Jazeera crew.”
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the strike when contacted by AFP, saying only it would check the details of the incident.
Two other journalists with the broadcaster have been killed during Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, while bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh was wounded.
His son and fellow journalist Hamza Wael Al-Dahdouh was killed when Israeli forces targeted a car last month, along with another video journalist, Mustafa Thuria.
The network’s cameraman Samer Abu Daqqa was killed in a separate strike in December.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has recorded the deaths of at least 85 journalists and media workers — 78 of them Palestinian — since the war erupted on October 7.
Al Jazeera says journalist severely wounded, another has leg amputated after Israeli strike on Gaza
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Al Jazeera says journalist severely wounded, another has leg amputated after Israeli strike on Gaza
- The broadcaster’s bureau chief Wael Al-Dahdouh was wounded earlier, and his son and fellow journalist Hamza was killed last month
- Reporter Ismail Abu Omar’s life is at risk after he had his right leg amputated
170 speakers and 1,000+ delegates gather for Gulf Creatives Conference at Harvard University
- The 3-day event aims to be ‘the premier gathering for creative minds from the Gulf in the US,’ and to ‘empower, inspire and support Gulf creatives to drive positive change’
- It is organized by The Diwan, a student-run organization intended to provide a platform for discussion of topics relevant to the Arab world, and particularly the Gulf region
BOSTON: A Gulf Creatives Conference will begin on May 10 at Harvard University, bringing together more than 170 speakers and over 1,000 delegates from sectors such as arts and culture, business and innovation, nonprofits and public policy, healthcare, and science and technology.
The three-day event is organized by The Diwan, a student-run organization at the university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Abdulla Almarzooqi, chairperson of the organization’s UAE Committee, and a graduate student at Harvard, told Arab News the aim is for the conference to “become the premier gathering for creative minds from the Gulf in the US,” and to “empower, inspire and support Gulf creatives to drive positive change.”
The Diwan was founded in the fall of 2023 as a platform for experts, academics, policymakers and students to discuss topics relevant to the Arab world, and particularly the Gulf region, including entrepreneurship, the empowerment of women and young people, and education, he added.
It organized a conference in November last year titled “Shaping the Arab World: Navigating Opportunities and Challenges” that addressed the geopolitics of the region and the ongoing war in Gaza. Almarzooqi said it was the largest gathering of Arab ambassadors in the history of Harvard University.
Now the organization is hosting the Gulf Creatives Conference, at a time when emotions are running high on many college campuses in the US amid protests against the conflict in Gaza by students and, in some cases, faculty members. However, the Harvard event will focus on “creativity and showcasing the region’s most promising talents,” said Almarzooqi.
“Amid the rising tensions on US college campuses, we believe firmly in the power of creativity and the arts in healing wounds and bridging divides,” he added.
The conference will include 24 discussion sessions and five workshops, covering topics such as public policy, innovation strategies, and the future of healthcare, in which all delegates are encouraged to actively participate, organizers said.
The speakers include prominent figures such as: Dr. Mahmoud Al-Yamany, sector head of health and well-being at the NEOM urban development megaproject in Saudi Arabia; Majid Ibrahim Al-Fayyadh, CEO of the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center in Riyadh; and Deemah Al-Yahya, secretary-general of the Digital Cooperation Organization.
The Gulf Creatives Conference will take place from May 10 to 12 at Harvard University.
‘Vision 2030 has set a blueprint for the future of the Kingdom,’ says TBWA\RAAD’s Saudi MD
- Ad agency’s new Riyadh office to serve as a central hub for local, regional, global brands looking to succeed in Saudi Arabia
DUBAI: Advertising agency TBWA\RAAD appointed Dan Leach as its managing director for operations in Saudi Arabia following the establishment of a new office in Riyadh earlier this year. It is now bidding to cement its presence in the Kingdom.
The agency has been working with clients such as KFC, NEOM, and Nissan in the Kingdom for 20 years and now, with its new office, it aims to strengthen and serve as “a central hub for local, regional, and global brands looking to make their mark in the country,” Leach said.
He told Arab News: “The Middle East is renowned for its leadership and bold ambition, and Saudi Arabia exemplifies these qualities. But what I believe makes the Kingdom stand out further is its single-minded approach to disrupting the status quo … of everything.
“From building the largest vertical city in the world in NEOM; redefining luxury in the Red Sea; bringing the world’s sporting events to the country and more, there is no blueprint for what Saudi Arabia is doing.”
Staffing the new office is a “critical aspect of our expansion strategy” and the company is currently focusing on making “strategic hires,” including a new local senior management team, with the objective of ensuring “we have the right talent in place to meet the dynamic needs of our clients, driving our success not only in Riyadh, but across Saudi as a whole,” Leach said.
Saudi’s Vision 2030 has accelerated the growth of multiple industries, as well as technology and innovation, presenting new opportunities for advertising agencies like TBWA\RAAD.
Leach added: “Saudi’s story now belongs on the world stage, which implies that storytelling must be characterized by award-winning strategic and creative thinking.”
The country’s ambition to be at the forefront of technology such as artificial intelligence aligns with the agency’s vision.
Leach said: “We need to keep pace with the ambition of the Kingdom in this area and ensure our clients are benefiting from transformative innovation that can reach new customers.”
This ambition is evident in the growth of the creative and media industry, which is already seeing an “influx of bold award-winning campaigns fueling the emergence of incredible, young creative talent that will see the sector thrive for years to come,” he added.
Contrary to the common belief that Saudi lacks creative talent, Leach’s experience has been quite the opposite.
He said: “I have had a number of discussions with young creatives, and there is a genuine passion and hunger from this next generation to be at the forefront of the industry.”
He believes it is important for the industry to foster this talent in order to bolster the growth of the industry. The agency is therefore working with local universities to implement a graduate and internship program to help identify and support creative talent in the Kingdom.
Saudi Arabia’s growth and vision have attracted global attention and investment, with brands stepping up their game in the Kingdom. Leach, however, cautions brands against entering the market with a copy-and-paste approach.
He said: “We’re seeing a lot of brands come into the Kingdom with the approach of simply localizing copy and thinking that is enough to win; it’s not.”
He explained that Saudi consumers are savvy and can distinguish between brands that are being opportunistic and those truly embracing local culture.
Brands can also find success in aligning their story with that of the Kingdom and its leadership, Leach said.
He added: “Brands are entering a country that has near unlimited ambition — they need to match that energy.”
They do so by embracing new technology and aiming big, he said, and this also means brands should experiment and do things differently.
He said: “The Kingdom is an incredibly exciting place where there is room and opportunity to challenge the status quo.”
TBWA\RAAD, for example, has made significant advances in adopting AI — such as partnering with Core42 last year to harness the potential of Arabic large-language model Jais in the creative sector and launching its own ChatGPT-based tool Co-Pirate — to support clients.
The agency is also working on bringing new products to the Kingdom, including dedicated social media programs, retail initiatives and internal communications platforms.
Leach said: “Our ambition is not to be the largest agency in the Kingdom but creatively the most exciting, and Saudi Arabia presents the perfect canvas upon which we can deliver that ambition.”
TikTok to label AI-generated images, video from OpenAI and elsewhere
- Content Credentials technology denotes how images were created and edited
- For the system to work, both AI maker and platform must adhere to use the industry standard
LONDON: TikTok said on Thursday it would start using a technology aimed at helping it label images and video generated by artificial intelligence and uploaded to the video sharing service.
TikTok said it would adopt “Content Credentials,” a digital watermark that denotes how images were created and edited. The Content Credential technology was spearheaded by Adobe but is open for other companies to use and already has been adopted by companies such as ChatGPT creator OpenAI.
Researchers have expressed concerned that AI-generated content could be used as misinformation in an attempt to interfere with US elections this fall. TikTok was already among a group of 20 tech companies that earlier this year signed an accord pledging to fight it.
YouTube, owned by Alphabet’s Google, as well as Meta Platforms, which owns Instagram and Facebook, have also said they plan to use Content Credentials.
For the system to work, both the maker of the generative AI tool used to make content and the platform used to distribute the contents must both agree to use the industry standard.
If a person uses OpenAI’s Dall-E tool to generate an image, for example, OpenAI attaches a watermark to the resulting image. If that marked image is then uploaded to TikTok, it will be automatically labeled as AI-generated.
TikTok, which is owned by China’s ByteDance, has 170 million users in the United States, which recently passed a law requiring ByteDance to divest TikTok or face a ban. TikTok and ByteDance have sued to block the law, arguing it violates the First Amendment.
TikTok already labels AI-generated content made with tools inside the app but the latest move would apply a label to content generated outside of the service.
“We also have policies that prohibit realistic AI that is not labeled, so if realistic AI (generated contents) appears on the platform, then we will remove it as violating our community guidelines,” Adam Presser, head of operations and trust and safety at TikTok, said in an interview.
Arab League affirms its solidarity with Palestinian journalists
- Ahmed Rashid Khattabi urges global organizations to support freedom of the press
- Khattabi criticized the Israeli authorities for closing down Al Jazeera in Israel and confiscating its equipment
CAIRO: The League of Arab States has expressed solidarity with Palestinian journalists in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, and called for their protection.
May 11 has been designated a day of global solidarity with the Palestinian media as it marks two years since the Israeli occupation forces’ assassination of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh while she was carrying out her duties with the Al Jazeera Media Network.
Ambassador Ahmed Rashid Khattabi, the league’s assistant secretary-general and supervisor of the Media and Communication Sector, said the move “symbolizes a powerful demonstration of solidarity with the Palestinian media community.”
This support is particularly significant given the plight of the Palestinians and the continued Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip.
The aggression has resulted in the deaths of more than 34,000 people, including 142 journalists, since October.
This figure exceeds the number of journalists who lost their lives in areas of armed conflict worldwide in 2023, a total of 99, according to the US Committee to Protect Journalists.
Khattabi urged global organizations to support the freedom of the press and protect Palestinian journalists covering the conflict.
Khattabi said it was imperative to ensure journalists’ safety under the principles of international humanitarian law, given the grave conditions in which they work.
He criticized the Israeli authorities for closing down Al Jazeera in Israel and confiscating its equipment, viewing these actions as illegal measures against the Palestinian media and other media institutions, and constituting a blatant violation of international conventions.
He added that it was unacceptable to violate fundamental rights as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international declarations promoting freedom of opinion and access to information.
These violations acted against the UN Plan of Action on the Safety of Journalists and the International Federation of Journalists’ declaration, he said.
BBC investigation finds half of water facilities in Gaza have collapsed
- Over half of desalination plants and borehole systems have been damaged or destroyed
- Damage to wastewater treatment plants has caused a surge of waterborne illnesses
LONDON: A BBC investigation has revealed that half of Gaza’s water and sanitation facilities have collapsed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
Satellite footage from BBC Verify showed just over half of the 603 desalination plants and borehole systems used to supply water to Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, along with four of the six wastewater treatment plants.
According to an aid agency cited by the BBC, the remaining two treatment plants have shut down due to lack of fuel or supplies. Repair efforts have been severely disrupted by damage to a major depot.
The collapse of facilities has led to a surge in waterborne illnesses, posing serious health risks to the population and particularly to children and pregnant women.
The number of cases of diarrheal disease, hepatitis A, and in some cases, cholera, have all spiked dramatically.
Dr. Natalie Roberts, executive director of Medecins Sans Frontieres UK, said the destruction of water and sanitation facilities had resulted in “disastrous health consequences for the population,” leading to fatalities.
She highlighted Rafah and the southern border region as particularly affected areas.
The BBC said as the exact condition of each facility could not be determined, there was no distinction between classifying them as “destroyed” or “damaged”.
It also acknowledged that not all damage was visible from the satellite images — mostly in northern Gaza or the area around the southern city of Khan Younis — so some affected facilities could have been missed.
The situation has been exacerbated by damage to Gaza’s Coastal Municipalities Water Utility and the main service depot of UNICEF, making repairs challenging.
Human rights experts argue facilities critical to civilian survival should be protected.
Leila Sadat, a former special advisor on crimes against humanity at the International Criminal Court, suggested the pattern of destruction indicated either a “reckless approach” to civilian infrastructure or intentional targeting.
She added it was possible that “these were not all mistakes.”
In response to BBC’s findings, the Israel Defense Forces said Hamas used civilian infrastructure for military purposes, storing weapons and ammunition.
It maintains water facilities were primarily struck during airstrikes targeting Hamas fighters and denies intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure.
