New York Times editorial board calls on Biden to leave race

US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden board Marine One upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, New York on June 28, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 29 June 2024
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New York Times editorial board calls on Biden to leave race

  • His determination to run again is a “reckless gamble,” it said, adding: “the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election”

NEW YORK: : America’s most influential newspaper, The New York Times, called in an editorial Friday for President Joe Biden to step aside and allow another Democrat to challenge Donald Trump for the White House in November.
Describing Biden as “the shadow of a great public servant,” the newspaper’s editorial board — which is separate from its newsroom — said Thursday’s debate between the president and Trump proved the 81-year-old “failed his own test.”
His determination to run again is a “reckless gamble,” it said, adding: “the greatest public service Mr. Biden can now perform is to announce that he will not continue to run for re-election.”
 

 


New season of MBC’s ‘Top Chef’ to be shot in NEOM

Updated 01 July 2024
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New season of MBC’s ‘Top Chef’ to be shot in NEOM

  • ‘Visionary location aligns food show with city’s futuristic and sustainable values,’ MBC director of production says

LONDON: MBC Group announced on Monday that the new season of its popular show “Top Chef” will be filmed in NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s futuristic city.

Samar Akrouk, MBC Group’s director of production and MBC Studios’ general manager, said that moving the show to NEOM offers more than just a new location, providing a “visionary setting” that aligns with the city’s futuristic and sustainable values.

“This eighth season will merge the high-energy competition that viewers expect with a strong emphasis on ecological awareness and sustainable living, reflecting the core values of NEOM as a city of the future,” Akron said.

“Top Chef,” originally launched by Bravo in the US, features chefs competing in various culinary challenges, judged by a panel of professional chefs and notable personalities from the food and beverage industry. Contestants face elimination at the end of each episode.

Akrouk explained that this season will introduce a new layer of difficulty.

Contestants will not only be judged on their culinary skills and creativity but also on their “sustainable approach” to cooking.

“These challenges have been designed to inspire contestants to think about food in its relation to the environment,” she added, emphasizing that the program “echoes the principles upon which NEOM is built.”

In the region, the Arabic version of “Top Chef” by MBC Group has previously been filmed in locations across the UAE, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia.

NEOM marks the latest location for the program in the Kingdom, underscoring efforts to position the region as a premier filming destination for local, regional, and international productions.

The new season of “Top Chef” is currently in production and is set to be released later this year.


India human rights body says Reuters story on Foxconn hiring raises discrimination concerns

Updated 01 July 2024
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India human rights body says Reuters story on Foxconn hiring raises discrimination concerns

  • Reuters investigation alleges that Foxconn rejected married women from iPhone assembly jobs due to family responsibilities
  • National Human Rights Commission has requested detailed reports from the Indian and Tamil Nadu governments regarding the accusations

NEW DELHI: India’s human rights watchdog said on Monday it had asked government officials to examine reported discrimination by Foxconn, after a Reuters investigation found the major Apple supplier has been rejecting married women from iPhone assembly jobs in the country.
In a statement, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it had issued notices to the secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s labor ministry and the chief secretary of the state government of Tamil Nadu, site of a major iPhone factory, calling for a detailed report within a week.
“NHRC observes that the matter, if true, raises a serious issue of discrimination against married women causing the violation of the right to equality and equal opportunity,” it said.
The Reuters story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, calls from women groups, including within Modi’s party as well as opposition parties to investigate the matter. Modi’s federal government has also asked Tamil Nadu state for a “detailed report.”
Modi’s labor ministry, Apple and Taiwan-based Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Tamil Nadu government spokesman referred questions to its labor department, which did not respond.
The Reuters investigation found Foxconn systematically excluded married women from jobs at its main India iPhone plant on the grounds they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts. Foxconn hiring agents and HR sources cited family duties, pregnancy and higher absenteeism as reasons for not hiring married women.
Responding to the investigation, published last week, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and said they had worked to address the issues. All the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters at the Tamil Nadu plant, however, took place in 2023 and 2024. The companies didn’t address those instances.
Foxconn has said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple has said all its suppliers, including Foxconn, hire married women and “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022 we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.”
Indian law does not bar companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, though Apple’s and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.
The NHRC said it “noted the fact that gender equality is not only required in the Indian constitution but the international treaty and covenants.”
State authorities must ensure that all companies follow the norms and regulations relating to labor laws, it added.


Meta risks fines over ‘pay for privacy’ model breaking EU rules

Updated 01 July 2024
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Meta risks fines over ‘pay for privacy’ model breaking EU rules

  • Latest case focuses on Meta’s new ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram, which has sparked multiple complaints over privacy concerns

BRUSSELS: The EU accused Facebook owner Meta on Monday of breaching the bloc’s digital rules, paving the way for potential fines worth billions of euros.
The charges against the US tech titan follow a finding last week against Apple that marked the first time Brussels had levelled formal accusations under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The latest case focuses on Meta’s new ad-free subscription model for Facebook and Instagram, which has sparked multiple complaints over privacy concerns.
Meta’s “pay or consent” system means users have to pay to avoid data collection, or agree to share their data with Facebook and Instagram to keep using the platforms for free.
The European Commission said it informed Meta of its “preliminary view” that the model the company launched last year “fails to comply” with the DMA.
“This binary choice forces users to consent to the combination of their personal data and fails to provide them a less personalized but equivalent version of Meta’s social networks,” the EU’s powerful antitrust regulator said in a statement.
The findings come after the commission kickstarted a probe into Meta in March under the DMA, which forces the world’s biggest tech companies to comply with EU rules designed to give European users more choice online.
Meta insisted its model “complies with the DMA.”
“We look forward to further constructive dialogue with the European Commission to bring this investigation to a close,” a Meta spokesperson said.
Meta can now reply to the findings and avoid a fine if it changes the model to address the EU’s concerns.
If the commission’s view is confirmed however, it can slap fines of up to 10 percent of Meta’s total global turnover under the DMA. This can rise to up to 20 percent for repeat offenders.
Meta’s total revenue last year stood at around $135 billion (125 billion euros).
The EU also has the right to break up firms, but only as a last resort.
Under the DMA, the EU labels Meta and other companies, including Apple, as “gatekeepers” and prevents them forcing users in the bloc to consent to have access to a service or certain functionalities.
The commission said Meta’s model did not allow users to “freely consent” to their data being shared between Facebook and Instagram with Meta’s ads services.
“The DMA is there to give back to the users the power to decide how their data is used and ensure innovative companies can compete on equal footing with tech giants on data access,” the EU’s top tech enforcer, commissioner Thierry Breton, said.
The commission will adopt a decision on whether Meta’s model is DMA compliant or not by late March 2025.
The EU has shown it is serious about making big online companies change their ways.
The commission told Apple last week its App Store rules were hindering developers from freely pointing consumers to alternative channels for offers.
The EU is also probing Google over similar concerns on its Google Play marketplace.
Apple and Meta are not the only companies coming under the scope of the DMA. Google parent Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and TikTok owner ByteDance must also comply.
Online travel giant Booking.com will need to adhere to the rules later this year.
Meta has made billions from harvesting users’ data to serve up highly targeted ads. But it has faced an avalanche of complaints over its data processing in recent years.
The European data regulator in April has also said the ‘pay or consent’ model is at odds with the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which upholds the privacy of users’ information.
Ireland — a major hub for online tech giants operating in the 27-nation bloc — has slapped Meta with massive fines for violating the GDPR.
The latest complaint by privacy groups forced Meta last month to pause its plans to use personal data to train its artificial intelligence technology in Europe.


2 Algerian journalists arrested for publishing video showing businesswomen protesting

Updated 01 July 2024
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2 Algerian journalists arrested for publishing video showing businesswomen protesting

  • Journalists in Algeria have faced mounting repression since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power four years ago

ALGIERS, Algeria: Algerian authorities arrested two journalists for publishing a video showing businesswomen protesting how they were treated at a government-sponsored event.
Journalists in Algeria have faced mounting repression since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power four years ago, with possible long jail time on flimsy charges, experts say. Many news outlets have also shuttered due to mounting legal fees.
Sofiane Ghirous and Ferhat Omar of the news website “Algerie Scoop” were detained last week for broadcasting material authorities claimed “constituted incitement and hate speech,” according to a statement from the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, a local watchdog group, on Saturday.
In the video, women start-up founders accused the government of “humiliating” and treating them with “contempt” at an innovation event organized by the Ministry of Education and Professional Training.
Ghirous is the editor-in-chief of Algerie Scoop — accredited by the government in 2021— and Omar is the website’s director.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has recently downranked Algeria on its freedom of expression index to 139th out of 180 in 2024 while decrying the country’s “pressure on independent media and threats to arrest journalists.”
In June, the popular news website Radio M announced it would cease publication due to “impossible conditions” while its editor, Ihsane El Kadi, serves a five-year prison sentence on charges alleging his media company accepted foreign funds for his coverage, which was often critical of the government.
Also over the weekend, authorities raided the Librairie Gouraya bookstore in the city of Bejaia, nearly 240 kilometers (149 miles) east of the capital, to prevent the sale of “Shared Kabylia” where a book signing was scheduled for its French author, Dominique Martre. They briefly arrested Martre, the Algerian publisher and several others, including journalists and activists.
In the book, Martre recounts her experiences teaching French in the mountainous region of Kabylia in the 1970s.
Those arrested were released later in the evening, attorney Mokrane Ait Labri — whose journalist brother was among the arrested — said.
The crackdown on freedom of expression comes as Algeria gears up for an election in September. Tebboune will likely seek a second term as president.


Student anger mounts over Harvard findings on campus antisemitism, Islamophobia

Updated 28 June 2024
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Student anger mounts over Harvard findings on campus antisemitism, Islamophobia

  • ‘Our voices were ignored,’ says Palestinian student organizer after divestment demands rejected
  • Task forces describe pro-Israel students’ situation as ‘dire,’ and claim pro-Palestinian students face ‘climate of intolerance’

LONDON: Students have criticized two Harvard University inquiries into antisemitism and Islamophobia on campus, accusing the investigative bodies of failing to listen to student concerns.

The university, long ranked one of the best in the world, set up two task forces earlier this year to investigate alleged antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias in the wake of campus unrest over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In findings handed down on Wednesday, each found a climate of discrimination and harassment on campus, and proposed ways to combat the problem.

The task force reports described the situation facing pro-Israel students as “dire,” and also said that pro-Palestinian students’ freedoms were being suppressed.

However, both Muslim and Jewish groups claimed the findings failed to fully address concerns voiced by students during the investigation.

These included demands that the university end its links with companies profiting from Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza.

One task force was accused of focusing on a narrow segment of the Jewish community, ignoring anti-Zionist Jewish students.

The investigation focused “on one type of Jew,” a student said.

“By conflating being pro-Israel with being Jewish, the task force erases my identity and endangers Jews by transforming our religious identity into political hegemony.”

In another criticism, Mahmoud Al-Thabata, a Palestinian student and Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee organizer, said: “In all of the ‘listening sessions’ I have been to with the task force, the largest concern raised was Harvard’s complicity in every Israeli massacre against Palestinians.

“None of our voices, however, were listened to, as the task force’s report failed to suggest divestment from the apartheid and genocidal regime.”

The investigation into alleged anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias on campus found that Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students’ freedom of expression had been broadly suppressed, leaving them in “a state of uncertainty, abandonment, threat, and isolation,” and facing “a pervasive climate of intolerance.”

Many students believed that the words “Palestine” and “Palestinian” had become taboo on campus.

However, the antisemitism task force found that Jewish students felt singled out for their position on the Gaza issue, and repeatedly faced “derision, social exclusion, and hostility.”

While each task force reported hearing different experiences from community members, some common themes emerged, including a perception that the university has fallen short of its stated values, specifically those that celebrate diversity while respecting difference.

To address these issues, the task forces recommended measures that include anti-harassment training for students, appointing a visiting professor in Palestinian studies, and recruiting tenure-track faculty members to expand the school’s curriculum related to Palestinian studies.

The investigations also suggested clarifying policies around bullying and bias, and improving kosher and halal food options in campus dining halls.

Harvard University announced the task forces in January amid struggles to manage its campus response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Last week, Stanford University released reports from its own task forces, which found pervasive antisemitism and suppression of pro-Palestinian speech on campus.

The formation of the task forces followed the resignation of Harvard University President Claudine Gay, who faced a backlash over her congressional testimony on antisemitism, as well as accusations of plagiarism.

Some Jewish students filed a lawsuit against Harvard earlier this year, accusing the university of becoming “a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.”

Toward the end of the academic year, pro-Palestinian students and activists set up camps on university campuses around the US, including at Harvard, in protest at the war. Police were called to dismantle the sites on some campuses.

Protesters at Harvard voluntarily took down their tents last month after university officials agreed to meet to discuss their questions.

However, the protesters remained at odds with the university after it announced that 13 students who took part in a protest camp would not be able to receive diplomas alongside their classmates.

With AP