VINCENNES, France: A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli strike on south Lebanon carried Sunday the Olympic torch in Paris to honor journalists wounded and killed in the field.
The torch relay, which started in May, is part of celebrations in which about 10,000 people from various walks of life were chosen to carry the flame across France before the Games opening ceremony on July 26.
Christina Assi, of Agence France-Presse, was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling on Oct. 13 2023 while reporting on fire exchange along the border between Israeli troops and members of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group. The attack killed Reuters videographer Issam Abdallah. Assi was severely wounded and had part of her right leg amputated.
AFP videographer Dylan Collins, also wounded in the Israeli attack, pushed Assi’s wheelchair as she carried the torch across the suburb of Vincennes Sunday. Their colleagues from the press agency and hundreds of spectators cheered them on.
“I wish Issam was here to see this. And I wish what happened today was not because we were struck by two rockets,” Assi told The Associated Press, struggling to hold back her tears. “I wish I could have honored journalists this way while walking and in my best health.”
AFP, Reuters and Al Jazeera accused Israel of targeting their journalists who maintained they were positioned far from where the clashes with vehicles clearly marked as press, while international human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, said the attack was a deliberate attack on civilians and should be investigated as a war crime.
“This is a chance to continue talking about justice, and the targeted attack on Oct. 13 that needs to be investigated as a war crime,” said Collins.
The Israeli military at the time said that the incident was under review, maintaining that it didn’t target journalists.
While holding the torch, Assi said participating in the relay “is to send a message that journalists should be protected and be able to work without fearing that they could die at any moment.”
In late November 2023, Rabih Al-Maamari and Farah Omar of the pan-Arab television network Al-Mayadeen were also killed in an apparent Israeli drone strike in southern Lebanon while covering the conflict.
Assi doesn’t believe there will be retribution for the events of that fateful October day but hopes her participation in the Olympic torch relay can bring attention to the importance of protecting journalists. “For me, justice comes the day I can stand up again, hold my camera, and get back to work,” she said.
The watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists, in a preliminary count, said at least 108 journalists have been killed since the start of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, the majority in the Gaza Strip.
The war was triggered by the Palestinian militant group Hamas’ sudden attack on southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people and abducting 250 others. Israel says Hamas is still holding about 120 hostages — about a third of them thought to be dead. Israel retaliated with an offensive that has killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Hezbollah militants have traded near-daily strikes with the Israeli military along their border over the past nine months.
Lebanese photojournalist, wounded in Israeli strike, carries Olympic torch to honor journalists
https://arab.news/rat7x
Lebanese photojournalist, wounded in Israeli strike, carries Olympic torch to honor journalists
- Christina Assi, of Agence France-Presse, was among six journalists struck by Israeli shelling on Oct. 13 2023
Meta bans RT and other Russian state media networks
- The ban marks a sharp escalation in actions by the world’s biggest social media company against Russian state media
NEW YORK: Facebook owner Meta said on Monday it was banning RT, Rossiya Segodnya and other Russian state media networks from its platforms, claiming the outlets had used deceptive tactics to carry out covert influence operations online.
“After careful consideration, we expanded our ongoing enforcement against Russian state media outlets. Rossiya Segodnya, RT and other related entities are now banned from our apps globally for foreign interference activity,” the social media company said in a written statement.
Enforcement of the ban would roll out over the coming days, it said. In addition to Facebook, Meta’s apps include Instagram, WhatsApp and Threads.
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The ban marks a sharp escalation in actions by the world’s biggest social media company against Russian state media, after it spent years taking more limited steps like blocking the outlets from running ads and reducing the reach of their posts.
It came after the United States filed money-laundering charges earlier this month against two RT employees for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 election.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that countries should treat the activities of Russian state broadcaster RT as they do covert intelligence operations.
RT has mocked the US actions and accused the United States of trying to prevent the broadcaster from operating as a journalistic organization.
In briefing materials shared with Reuters, Meta said it had seen Russian state-controlled media try to evade detection in their online activities in the past and expected them to continue trying to engage in deceptive practices going forward.
Reboot of ‘Mansour’ cartoon series launches on Shahid
- Animated show expected on MBC3 channel in October
- Show focuses on themes of family, friendship, innovation
DUBAI: Animated series “Mansour: Age of AI” debuted on MBC’s streaming platform Shahid on Sunday and is expected to launch on free-to-air channel MBC3 in October.
Produced in the UAE by Bidaya Media with the support of Mubadala Investment Company and the Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority, the show is a modern take on the “Mansour” series which follows 12-year-old tech enthusiast Mansour and his adventures with his friends.
In “Mansour: Age of AI,” Mansour will be accompanied by a new friend, a sentient AI named Blink, as he navigates a technologically advanced world, covering themes such as family, friendship, and innovation.
The show will be available in both English and Arabic to audiences across the Middle East and North Africa region, said Noura Al-Hammadi, general manager of Abu Dhabi Entertainment Company.
She added that artificial intelligence will transform the “lives, education, and careers” of young people, and Bidaya Media was committed to supporting youth by “fostering early awareness in a fun and informative way” to “help equip them to navigate a rapidly evolving world.”
For MBC, the series adds to its “Arabic content offering for our young and family-focused audiences” and “aligns with our vision to foster education and entertainment that transcends borders,” said Tareq Al-Ibrahim, director of MBC1, MBC Drama and Shahid content at MBC Group.
MBC Media Solutions partners with Mobily to sponsor the Roshn Saudi League
- Mobily to advertise through SSC channels and the Shahid platform
LONDON: MBC Media Solutions has partnered with the Etihad Etisalat Company, which is widely known as Mobily, to sponsor live broadcasts of the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League season.
Mobily will advertise through SSC channels and the Shahid platform, both official broadcast partners of the league across the Middle East and North Africa.
Noura Al-Shiha, senior vice president of brand and corporate communications at Mobily, said: “Our partnership with MMS to sponsor the broadcasting of Saudi Roshn League matches embodies our firm commitment to contributing to the development of the sports sector in the Kingdom.”
Al-Shiha added that the partnership aligned with the company’s strategic goal of “supporting and developing vital sectors” in Saudi Arabia, highlighting Mobily’s role as a “national digital enabler.”
Ahmed Al-Sahhaf, the CEO of MMS, said the partnership aimed to build on the growing popularity of the Roshn Saudi League.
He said: “The Saudi league has today become an attraction for major companies both locally and globally, and to keep pace with this development we have worked through (MMS Sports) to develop a package of advertising and investment solutions that caters to the sports viewer’s journey and contributes to generating returns for our partners.
“We are fully confident that the partnership signed with one of the largest telecommunications companies, Mobily, will benefit the brand and contribute to the business growth of all partners.”
Mobily joins the list of sponsors backing Saudi Arabia’s top football league. PepsiCo earlier this year signed a multi-brand partnership with the league, which runs to the end of the 2024-25 season, while, since 2022, real estate company Roshn, a division of the Public Investment Fund, has been the league’s title sponsor.
Four columnists quit Jewish Chronicle amid Gaza fabricated articles scandal
- Jonathan Freedland, Hadley Freeman, David Baddiel and David Aaronovitch said they resigned due to outlet’s low editorial standards, ideology
- Jewish Chronicle was found to have published high-level stories by Elon Perry that were allegedly not true
LONDON: Four prominent columnists have resigned from the Jewish Chronicle following allegations that the London-based newspaper published fabricated articles concerning Israel and its conflict with Gaza.
Jonathan Freedland and Hadley Freeman announced their resignations on social media early Sunday. They were joined by fellow columnists David Baddiel and David Aaronovitch.
Freedland criticized the JC for showing only minimal contrition, while Freeman stated that recent events made her continued association with the paper untenable.
A statement from a spokesperson for Baddiel said on Sunday the comedian also had “no plans to write any more columns” for the JC.
The controversy erupted on Friday after the Israel Defense Forces revealed details from an investigation into the JC’s articles, finding some to be untrue.
The JC has since removed the disputed articles and severed ties with Elon Perry, a freelance journalist and former IDF member responsible for several high-profile stories.
One of Perry’s articles, published on Sept. 5, claimed that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar was planning to escape to Iran through the Philadelphi Corridor.
The story, purportedly based on leaked intelligence documents, was widely reported and shared by media in Israel, including by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s son.
However, the IDF later stated it had no knowledge of such documents.
To whoever is interested in such things, I’ve resigned as a columnist from @JewishChron. I’m immensely grateful for all the support I’ve had from the editors during my time there, and enjoyed writing for it enormously. But recent events have made it impossible for me to stay.
— Hadley Freeman (@HadleyFreeman) September 15, 2024
The JC conducted an internal review and concluded that while Perry’s military background was verified, it could not substantiate some of his claims.
Consequently, the JC issued a statement on Friday saying it had removed Perry’s articles from its website and ended its association with him.
“While we understand he did serve in the Israel Defense Forces, we were not satisfied with some of his claims,” it said. “We have therefore removed his stories from our website and ended any association with Mr. Perry.”
Freedland, a senior columnist for The Guardian, said on Sunday that he was quitting the JC, which he has contributed to for 26 years, saying the latest scandal “brings great disgrace on the paper.”
On X, he said: “Too often, the JC reads like a partisan, ideological instrument, its judgements political rather than journalistic.”
Freeman, who is also a contributor to The Sunday Times, told BBC Radio 4 on Monday that she and the other resigning columnists “felt there had not been editorial standards” applied to Perry “because this journalist adhered to an ideology that perhaps was similar to that of the editorial board.”
In response, Perry claimed that the JC’s statement was a “huge mistake” and suggested that the criticisms were driven by “jealousy.”
Al Arabiya expands international reach with new programs in English
- Rosanna Lockwood, Tom Burges Watson to present daily shows
- Move is part of broader strategy to strengthen the network’s global presence
LONDON: Al Arabiya news network has announced the global expansion of its English-language programming, introducing new shows led by well-known international journalists.
The network has tapped prominent figures like Rosanna Lockwood and Tom Burges Watson to anchor its new segments, which will cover a wide range of topics, from global politics and current affairs to cultural and human-interest stories.
The move is part of a broader strategy to strengthen the Riyadh-based network’s global presence.
Mamdouh Al-Muhaini, the network’s general manager, said: “We are delighted to introduce Al Arabiya news network’s English-language programming lineup. This international expansion reflects our dedication to providing our viewers with diverse perspectives and insightful analysis on the issues that matter most.
“We are looking forward to reaching new audiences around the world, providing them (with) the trusted and accurate news coverage that our original Arabic network is known for.”
Lockwood, a British journalist known for her work with the BBC, Reuters, and CNBC, will host “Global News Today,” a daily show covering major world events, including US elections and global developments.
Burges Watson, a former CNN International presenter, will lead “WE News,” focusing on major news stories from around the globe.
Both programs are expected to cater to an international audience by providing in-depth analysis and expert insights on the most pressing global issues.
According to Al Arabiya, the new programs are part of its commitment to delivering “high-quality, comprehensive news coverage” to viewers worldwide, expanding beyond its well-established Arabic-language platforms.
“Global News Today” and “WE News” will broadcast daily. Both programs will be available via free-to-air satellite TV and Al Arabiya’s digital platforms, including YouTube and Facebook.
