‘There aren’t many white, male anchors left,’ says British presenter Tom Bradby
Updated 57 sec ago
‘There aren’t many white, male anchors left,’ says British presenter Tom Bradby
- ITV’s main competitiors – the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News – recently announced a more diverse lineup of presenters for their election coverage than in previous years
Updated 57 sec ago
Arab News
LONDON: A top British news presenter has said “there aren’t many white, male anchors” left in the industry ahead of his hosting of UK election coverage.
Journalist and ITV presenter Tom Bradby made the remarks in an interview with Radio Times.
The News at Ten host said: “There aren’t many white male anchors left, dare I say, so I feel a bit less nervous about that (the lineup) than, possibly, I should.”
ITV’s rivals, including the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky News, recently announced a more diverse lineup of presenters for their election coverage than in previous years.
Radio Times asked Bradby, 57, whether he felt “exposed to the winds of change” as he might be considered “pale, male and stale.”
He replied: “I don’t particularly because that’s not my decision. That will be someone else’s decision.”
“You just put your head down, do a good job and try to be as nice as you can to everyone around you.
“As you get older you think: ‘Will I be remembered as somebody who was decent to work with?’ Because that’s what you want to be remembered for.
“It’s much easier to have that perspective when you’re older.”
Bradby presented ITV’s election night coverage in 2015, 2017 and 2019. He will be the only white, male presenter anchoring solo on election night on Britain’s major channels.
Statistics released in 2023 by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism revealed that white journalists comprised 94 percent of Britain’s journalistic workforce.
Black journalists in British newsrooms represented only 0.2 percent of the journalistic workforce despite making up 3 percent of the British population, according to the Reuters Institute’s data.
Asian Britons make up 2.5 percent of the journalistic workforce and 7 percent of the population.
A survey earlier this year by FT Strategies, the consulting arm of the Financial Times, found that diversity and inclusion in Britain’s news industry were “still not a priority in practice.”
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Israeli minister uses explicit language, vows annexation of West Bank
Updated 24 June 2024
Israeli minister uses explicit language, vows annexation of West Bank
- Bezalel Smotrich says government ‘will establish sovereignty first on the ground and then through legislation’
- Rhetoric comes after reports of Israeli plans to pass ‘authority over the territory into hands of civilians’
Updated 24 June 2024
Arab News
LONDON: Israel’s far-right minister Bezalel Smotrich has made one of the most explicit and forceful declarations yet regarding the annexation of the Palestinian Authority-controlled West Bank.
Speaking at a meeting of his Religious Zionism party, Smotrich, who serves as Israel’s finance minister and also holds a ministerial role in the Defense Ministry, used unequivocal language, referring to the West Bank as Judea and Samaria, asserting that they are “an integral part of Israel.”
Smotrich declared at the conference: “We will establish sovereignty … first on the ground and then through legislation. I intend to legalize the young settlements.”
He stressed that his “life’s mission is to thwart the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
Smotrich’s remarks represent a new escalation in the Israeli government’s rhetoric, marking a clear and unambiguous stance on the annexation issue.
The use of explicit language underscores the minister’s hardline position and his commitment to changing the status of the West Bank through legal and practical measures.
This development follows revelations in The New York Times and The Guardian last week accusing the Israeli government of planning to “quietly pass authority over the territory into the hands of civilians” and other pro-settler civil servants, instead of the military.
Smotrich explained in leaked recorded remarks made at a gathering of supporters in the West Bank that these “mega-dramatic” administrative changes would transfer powers to the Civil Administration, led by Smotrich within the Defense Ministry.
The transfer would reduce the likelihood of legal checks on settlement expansion and development, as the Civil Administration is responsible for planning and construction in Area C of the West Bank, which is about 60 percent of the total land.
Smotrich added that the new system would result in the government avoiding international criticism by keeping the Defense Ministry involved, making it seem as if the military remained the main player in governing the West Bank.
“It will be easier to swallow in the international and legal context,” he said.
Smotrich’s comments are likely to further inflame tensions in the region and draw sharp criticism from Palestinian leaders and the international community, who view the annexation plans as a violation of international law and a significant obstacle to peace efforts.
Smotrich, who has pushed to legalize illegal settlements in the West Bank and approve thousands of new homes in Palestinian territories since becoming a minister, has been at the center of controversy in recent times.
US media have speculated that he could face sanctions for his role in destabilizing the West Bank.
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Lebanon minister threatens to sue The Telegraph over ‘ridiculous’ airport weapons-storage claims
Updated 24 June 2024
Lebanon minister threatens to sue The Telegraph over ‘ridiculous’ airport weapons-storage claims
- Hezbollah storing Iran-made weapons at Beirut airport, says report
- Ali Hamieh invited media and officials to inspect the site on Monday
Updated 24 June 2024
Arab News
LONDON: Lebanon’s Public Works and Transport Minister Ali Hamieh has threatened to sue The Telegraph for reporting claims that Hezbollah was using Beirut-Rafic Hariri Airport to smuggle weapons into the country.
At a press conference in Beirut on Sunday, Hamieh, the caretaker minister affiliated with Hezbollah, denied the allegations and described them as “ridiculous.”
He called for an “open to all” inspection of the site on Monday and announced plans to sue The Telegraph for defamation.
“The airport has been always a target of the Israeli enemy, and everything written in The Telegraph is untrue; no weapons are entering or leaving through the airport,” Hamieh said.
He said Lebanon’s customs officials “represent the state in protecting Beirut airport, and their integrity cannot be questioned,” and that they have “nothing to hide.”
The Telegraph published the report on Sunday alleging that Hezbollah was storing huge quantities of Iran-sourced weapons, missiles and explosives at Beirut-Rafic Hariri Airport.
The cache allegedly includes Iran-made Falaq unguided artillery rockets, Fateh-110 short-range missiles, road-mobile ballistic missiles, M-600 missiles that can reach up to 321 km, and other precision-guided weapons.
It also mentioned quantities of RDX, an explosive known as cyclonite or hexogen.
The British outlet cited an “anonymous airport worker” as the sole source of the claims.
Hamieh claimed The Telegraph had not consulted the British Department of Transport, which conducted a field visit of the airport in January.
He added that The Telegraph had initially claimed its source was an official from the International Air Transport Association, but later changed it to an unnamed worker.
“Is it conceivable that a reputable newspaper would change its sources within an hour?” Hamieh asked.
The Air Transport Union in Lebanon has denied the claims, stating that they were “mere illusions and lies aimed at endangering Beirut Airport and its civilian workers, as well as travelers to and from it, all of whom are civilians.”
The report was met with skepticism by some social media users, who slammed the British daily’s allegations as propaganda aimed at destabilizing the country.
Apple holds talks with rival Meta over AI: report
Updated 24 June 2024
Apple holds talks with rival Meta over AI: report
- Pressure has been on Apple to persuade doubters on its AI strategy, after Microsoft and Google rolled out products in rapid-fire succession.
Updated 24 June 2024
AFP Reuters
WASHINGTON: Apple is talking to major rival Meta about integrating the Facebook parent company’s generative AI into its products, as it tries to catch up with rivals on artificial intelligence, the Wall Street Journal reported Sunday.
The report comes after Apple also struck a deal with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to help equip its Apple Intelligence suite of new AI features for its coveted products.
For months, pressure has been on Apple to persuade doubters on its AI strategy, after Microsoft and Google rolled out products in rapid-fire succession.
It has developed its own, smaller artificial intelligence but said that it will turn to others such as OpenAI to boost its in-house offering.
According to the Journal, which cited sources close to the matter, Meta has held discussions with Apple over integrating its own generative AI model into Apple Intelligence.
Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi said in early June that Apple also wanted to integrate capabilities from Google’s generative AI system, Gemini, into its devices.
The iPhone maker is also expected to discuss partnerships with other AI companies in different regions like China, where Microsoft-backed OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT is banned.
AI startup Anthropic has been in discussions with Apple to bring its generative AI to Apple Intelligence, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Meta and Anthropic declined to comment, while Apple did not respond immediately to request for comment outside business hours.
AI search startup Perplexity has also been in discussions with Apple about bringing its generative AI technology to Apple Intelligence, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The big challenge for Apple has been how to infuse ChatGPT-style AI — which voraciously feeds off data — into its products without weakening its heavily promoted user privacy and security, according to analysts.
Apple Intelligence will enable users to create their own emojis based on a description in everyday language, or to generate brief summaries of emails in the mailbox.
Apple said Siri, its voice assistant, will also get an AI-infused upgrade and now will appear as a pulsating light on the edge of your home screen.
Launched over 12 years ago, Siri has long since been seen as a dated feature, overtaken by the new generation of assistants, such as GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest offering.
According to Canalys, 16 percent of smartphones shipped this year will be equipped with generative AI features, a proportion it expects to rise to 54 percent by 2028.
The discussions have not been finalized and could fall through, WSJ reported, adding that deals with Apple would help AI companies to obtain a wider distribution of their products.
The size of potential financial windfall is unclear, but the talks involved AI companies selling premium subscriptions to their services through Apple Intelligence, the report said.
Topics: AI
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Reuters denies reporting imminent Israeli attack on Lebanon following social media claims
Updated 23 June 2024
Reuters denies reporting imminent Israeli attack on Lebanon following social media claims
Updated 23 June 2024
Reuters
LONDON: Reuters denied on Saturday that it had reported that Israel would attack Lebanon within 48 hours, after reports circulated on social media citing the news agency as saying this.
“Any claims that Reuters reported that Israel will attack Lebanon within the next 48 hours are false. Reuters did not report this,” a Reuters spokesperson said.