WASHINGTON: A bipartisan group of seven US lawmakers including Senators Ted Cruz, Ron Wyden and Marco Rubio and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday urged Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook to restore the HKMap app used in Hong Kong.
Earlier this month, Apple removed the app that helped Hong Kong protesters track police movements, saying it was used to target officers.
Apple declined to comment.
The group separately wrote Activision Blizzard Inc’s chief executive Robert Kotick, calling on him to reverse the company’s decision to ban a player who voiced support for pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. Activision Blizzard did not immediately comment on Friday.
“You have said publicly that you want to work with China’s leaders to effect change rather than sit on the sidelines and yell at them. We, too, believe that diplomacy and trade can be democratizing forces. But when a repressive government refuses to evolve or, indeed, when it doubles down, cooperation can become complicity,” the members wrote to Cook.
Apple said on Oct. 9 that it had begun an immediate investigation after “many concerned customers in Hong Kong” contacted it about the app and the company found it had endangered law enforcement and residents.
It said the HKMap app “has been used to target and ambush police, threaten public safety, and criminals have used it to victimize residents in areas where they know there is no law enforcement.” Critics said Apple acted after pressure from Beijing in a commentary in the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper.
The lawmakers said Apple has censored at least 2,200 apps in China, citing the nonprofit group GreatFire.
Apple’s action came amid a furor surrounding the US National Basketball Association after a team official tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests, which led Chinese sponsors and partners to cut ties with the NBA.
Last week, Blizzard reduced the punishment dealt out to Chung Ng Wai, a Hong Kong-based Hearthstone esports gamer, for his public support of pro-democracy protests after its decision sparked controversy among players and the public.
Blizzard Entertainment, a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, said initially that it would suspend the player from competition for a year and strip him of prize money.
US lawmakers urge Apple to restore HKMap app used in Hong Kong
US lawmakers urge Apple to restore HKMap app used in Hong Kong
- The lawmakers said Apple has censored at least 2,200 apps in China, citing the nonprofit group GreatFire
Media watchdogs call on new Syrian authorities to safeguard journalists
- Syria ranks 179 out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index
- Demands for perpetrators to face justice over deaths, detention of media workers
DUBAI: Media watchdogs have called on Syria’s new leaders to ensure the safety of all journalists in the country, and bring to justice those responsible for killing, imprisoning, and harassing media workers during Bashar Assad’s regime.
“While we wait for the missing to return and the imprisoned to be released, we call on the new authorities to hold the perpetrators to account for the crimes of killing, abducting, or jailing reporters,” said Carlos Martinez de la Serna, program director of the Committee to Protect Journalists.
CPJ is also urging the new government to allow journalists and media workers access to information and locations without the fear or risk of being detained or questioned.
Syria is among the most dangerous countries for journalists ranking in 179th place out of 180 countries in the latest World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders.
Since 2011, more than 181 journalists have been killed — 161 by regime forces and 17 by Russian airstrikes — in addition to multiple others tortured and imprisoned by the Syrian regime and its supporters, according to RSF data.
Jonathan Dagher, head of RSF’s Middle East desk, said: “We demand that Bashar Assad be prosecuted for his crimes. Justice, long overdue, must finally be served for all victims of his abuses.”
He added that RSF is also aware of crimes against journalists committed by the Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, which has taken control in Syria, and called on the Islamist group to “hold their responsible members accountable, and to release all journalists still detained in the country, including those they have taken hostage.”
Dagher added: “Syria’s future leaders, whoever they may be, must ensure the safety of journalists and allow a free press to flourish.”
CPJ’s Global Impunity Index, which calculates the percentage of unsolved journalist murders in each country relative to its population, has seen Syria make the list for the last 11 years, including as the top offender in 2023.
Since the Assad regime’s collapse, HTS has been releasing prisoners, with RSF confirming the release of two journalists: Syria Media Monitor’s Hanin Gebran, who was detained in June 2024, and blogger Tal Al-Mallouhi, who was detained in 2009.
Award-winning Syrian filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab says ‘chapter of Assad has finished’
DUBAI: Waad Al-Kateab, activist and award-winning Syrian director of the film, “For Sama,” has spoken out since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“The past couple of days have been so emotional for me and so many other Syrians,” Al-Kateab said in an Instagram post.
She continued: “We carry a pain bigger than this world, and because of our trauma, we don’t know how to celebrate, and we cannot believe that tomorrow might really hold something better.
“Today, there’s a huge joy but it doesn’t feel real.”
Her film, “For Sama,” won several awards at the BAFTA and British Independent Film Awards and was nominated at multiple prestigious international film festivals including the Oscars.
The film documents her family life in Aleppo over five years, including her marriage and the birth of her first child, Sama, who the film is named after.
“The greatest heartbreak of my life is that I can’t take my daughters to live in or even visit the place where they should belong to; the place where they should grow up,” Al-Kateab said.
“For Sama” was a “promise to myself and my daughters that I will never forget Aleppo.”
In 2016, Al-Kateab and her husband fled to the UK.
She said: “Before we left, we said goodbye to everything. We left our hearts and moved forward, terrified that we might not even make it out.”
The collapse of Assad’s regime is a monumental event for many Syrians living abroad.
Al-Kateab has been disconnected from her family in Syria because contacting them could put them at risk, but now she looks forward to visiting her home country, she told The Times.
She said: “This was the first time I called my auntie (and) uncle. I managed to talk to my cousins, who were five or six years old when I left, and now they are teenagers.
“We are waiting to get British citizenship — without the British passport I won’t be able to travel for that.”
Looking forward, Al-Kateab added: “The chapter of Assad has finished and I don’t want anything for his system or mentality or rules to be taken with us to the next chapter.”
She called for foreign powers to leave Syria saying: “I really hope to see the minimizing of outside intervention.”
Al-Kateab also appealed to the international community to implement a no-fly zone to protect civilians.
“Everyone who has different fears agrees that the biggest risk and the threat is coming from the sky — the Syrian and Russian airstrike attacks. And for that, the international community needs to prioritize protecting civilians from such attacks,” she said on Instagram.
Al-Kateab’s other work includes “We Dare to Dream” and “Death Without Mercy”.
American prisoner found in Syria is not journalist Austin Tice
WASHINGTON: The American prisoner reportedly found in Az-Zyabeyeh district south of Damascus was not journalist Austin Tice, AlArabiya reported on Thursday.
There have been conflicting reports earlier on whether Tice has been found, with Syria TV citing sources the individual found in the Damascus countryside was not the missing journalist.
AlArabiya later reported that the individual was named Travis Timmerman, who illegally traveled into Syria from Lebanon seven months ago and has been held in captivity since.
A video posted on social media meanwhile showed Timmerman telling the interviewer that he went to Syria on a ‘religious pilgrimage.’
الأميركي الذي عثر عليه "ترافيس تيمرمان" للعربية: أتيت إلى سوريا في رحلة دينية منذ عدة أشهر#قناة_العربية#سوريا pic.twitter.com/kn7cKX6kEd
— العربية (@AlArabiya) December 12, 2024
“The American who was found in Syria is not Austin Tice. He told me his name is Travis. He refused to give a last name. He said he was a “pilgrim” and that he crossed into Syria by foot before he was detained. He was held in prison for seven months and said he was well treated,” journalist Matt Bradley posted on X.
“When I asked him about the religious beliefs that compelled him to cross the mountains from Lebanon into Syria, he told me he had “been reading the scripture a lot” lately but others interrupted before he could elaborate.”
The American who was found in Syria is not Austin Tice.
— Matt Bradley (@MattMcBradley) December 12, 2024
He told me his name is Travis. He refused to give a last name.
He said he was a “pilgrim” and that he crossed into Syria by foot before he was detained.
He was held in prison for seven months and said he was well treated.
President Joe Biden said Sunday that the US government believes missing American journalist Austin Tice, who disappeared 12 years ago near the Syrian capital, is alive and that Washington is committed to bringing him home after Bashar Assad’s ouster from power in Damascus.
“We think we can get him back,” Biden told reporters at the White House, while acknowledging that “we have no direct evidence” of his status. “Assad should be held accountable.”
Biden said officials must still identify exactly where Tice is after his disappearance in August 2012 at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus.
“We’ve remained committed to returning him to his family,” he said.
Tice, who is from Houston and whose work had been published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and other outlets.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Syria has publicly denied that it was holding him.
The United States has no new evidence that Tice is alive, but continues to operate under the assumption he is alive, according to a US official. The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the US will continue to work to identify where he is and to try to bring him home.
His mother, Debra, said at a news conference Friday in Washington that the family had information from a “significant source,” whom she did not identify, establishing that her son was alive.
“He is being cared for and he is well — we do know that,” she said.
The Tice family met this past week with officials at the State Department and the White House.
“To everyone in Syria that hears this, please remind people that we’re waiting for Austin,” Debra Tice said in comments that hostage advocacy groups spread on social media Sunday. “We know that when he comes out, he’s going to be fairly dazed & he’s going to need lots of care & direction. Direct him to his family please!”
NEOM Media, Hakawati Entertainment sign deal to make 9 feature films
- Partnership ‘an important milestone’ for Saudi media industry, NEOM executive says
- Agreement will also include initiatives to support development of local talent
RIYADH: NEOM Media and Hakawati Entertainment have announced a strategic partnership to produce up to nine feature films and establish a production services division in NEOM, further accelerating the growth of Saudi Arabia’s film industry.
The partnership with Hakawati, a leading Saudi-based film, TV and literary management company, will localize screen production activities across future NEOM productions, according to a statement.
By using NEOM Media’s infrastructure, including high-end soundstages, diverse shooting locations and extensive production support, the collaboration will enable high-quality content creation, it said.
Two of the nine films are set to go into production in the first half of next year and further projects are under review.
Hakawati plans to establish an operational presence within NEOM’s media hub by creating a production services division designed to meet the needs of international, regional and local productions. This will be supported by Hollywood-level talent and significant financial investments.
The partnership will also help the sector’s evolution into a creative industries hub, while streamlining project execution and elevating filmmaking standards.
Michael Lynch, sector head of entertainment, culture and media at NEOM, said: “This partnership with Hakawati marks an important milestone in our shared commitment to advancing Saudi Arabia’s media industry … (and) reinforces our position as a center for innovation and growth, reflecting the industry’s confidence in our vision.
“Together, we are poised to unlock significant opportunities, drive the Kingdom’s creative ambitions forward and establish a world-class media ecosystem.”
Hakawati CEO Osama Al-Khurayji said: “While film and television production remain at the heart of our business, this partnership goes beyond content creation. Together with NEOM, we are committed to building a sustainable, world-class filmmaking ecosystem that will not only support our industry’s expansion but also contribute to Saudi Arabia’s ambitious vision of becoming a global leader in entertainment and media.”
The partnership will also focus on developing Saudi talent through multidisciplinary programs and workshops that provide intensive training, shadowing opportunities and job placements for the local and international media markets.
A Hakawati community will be established at NEOM in early 2025, in collaboration with NEOM Media’s industry learning department, to support talent development.
Also, a working group will identify and implement at least three new training programs by the end of 2025, ensuring ongoing opportunities for Saudi creatives.
Saudi Journalists Association, Dar Al-Yaum launch media training initiative
- Program will provide education for 100 journalism graduates, industry professionals
- Subjects will include AI, metaverse journalism, virtual reality
RIYADH: The Saudi Journalists Association and Dar Al-Yaum for Media, supported by the Al-Waleed Al-Mubarak Charitable Foundation, have signed an agreement with the University of Missouri to nurture talent in the field of digital media.
The project — titled the Journalists and Media Professionals Skills and Competencies Development Program — will provide 70 seats for recent journalism graduates and 30 for employees of media institutions.
Dar Al-Yaum for Media Chairman Al-Waleed Al-Mubarak said the program was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and would cover new digital media formats like metaverse journalism, augmented and virtual reality technology and artificial intelligence.
“We believe it is our duty to support aspiring Saudi journalists and media professionals and help them open broader horizons in their careers,” Al-Mubarak said.
The initiative would contribute to achieving the goals of Vision 2030, he said.
SJA Chairman Adhwan Al-Ahmari thanked Dar Al-Yaum for hosting the initiative and said that while Saudi journalism was capable of keeping up with global developments, there was a need to educate its workforce by applying new technologies ethically and professionally.
He said the initiative aligned with Vision 2030, which aims to enhance the digital economy and build a knowledge-based society founded on innovation, and would aid the development of the media in the Eastern region and solidify the Kingdom’s position as a global center for digital media.
