WASHINGTON: A US appeals court on Friday rejected an emergency bid by TikTok to temporarily block a law that would require its Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest the short-video app by Jan. 19 or face a ban.
TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking for more time to make its case to the US Supreme Court.
The companies warned that without court action the law will “shut down TikTok — one of the nation’s most popular speech platforms — for its more than 170 million domestic monthly users.”
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US court rejects Tiktok request to temporarily halt pending US ban
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US court rejects Tiktok request to temporarily halt pending US ban
- TikTok and ByteDance on Monday filed the emergency motion with the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking for more time to make its case to the US Supreme Court
Dubai Lynx announces 2025 jury president lineup
- Festival to evolve beyond annual event, host year-round sessions
- Award categories updated to better reflect ‘current state of play’Award categories updated to better reflect ‘current state of play’
DUBAI: Dubai Lynx, a prominent creative festival and awards program organized by Cannes Lions, has announced the jury presidents for the 2025 awards.
They will gather in Dubai early next year, along with the jury panelists, to judge the entries. The deadline for entries is Jan. 23 and winners will be announced at the awards ceremony on April 9.
Jury presidents “play a pivotal role” in upholding the festival’s values of creativity and innovation “bringing their unparalleled expertise and unique perspectives to the judging process,” said Dubai Lynx chairman Philip Thomas.
They come from creative and advertising agencies in different markets including the UK, US, India, Australia and Germany.
The jury presidents for the 2025 edition include Chris Beresford-Hill, global chief creative officer of BBDO; Ryan McManus, chief creative officer of VML UK; Chioma Aduba, president of Droga5 New York; Mayuri Nikumbh, head of design at Conran Design Mumbai, India; Mihnea Gheorghiu, global chief creative officer of LePub; and Neo Mashigo, chief creative officer of The Up&Up Group, South Africa.
The others are Matt Murphy, global chief creative officer of 72andSunny; Aisha Blackwell, head of production services, Serviceplan MAKE Germany; Roberta Raduan, managing director, Klick Health, Latin America; Fiona Johnston, CEO of media, client and commercial at dentsu Australia; and Vanessa Ho Nikolovski, chief client and growth officer for Asia Pacific at Weber Shandwick.
The festival recently announced changes to its structure “designed to support the evolution of the industry across the Middle East and North Africa,” said Kamille Marchant, director of Dubai Lynx.
One change is the introduction of a mandatory requirement to provide cultural context when submitting an entry.
“This is something that we’ve seen play an increasingly important role in the jury rooms,” Marchant told Arab News.
“The question is designed to help the jury understand the cultural nuances, but also how the brand connects with this particular cultural insight and why it’s relevant at that particular moment in time,” she explained.
Additionally, instead of hosting one event a year, the festival will feature a year-round program offering “more intimate, focused, and high-impact experiences that cater to our community’s needs year-round,” Marchant said.
Based on roundtable discussions at Dubai Lynx 2024, the festival team has identified key areas that will inform the topics of upcoming meetups, C-suite roundtables, brand breakfasts and talent and training programs hosted by the festival.
“Our audience is looking for more than just a standalone event; they want opportunities to engage, learn, and celebrate throughout the year,” Marchant said.
The 2025 Dubai Lynx awards will also see changes to some categories such as the evolution of the Digital Lynx category to the Digital Craft Lynx.
This change is meant to celebrate “technological artistry” and reflects “the rapid shifts in the digital landscape, where groundbreaking ideas are infused with high-level craft to create impactful and immersive experiences across a growing range of digital platforms,” Marchant explained.
Other changes include an update to the Audio & Radio category to reflect the expansion of audio work beyond radio.
There will also be tweaks to the PR Lynx category to accurately reflect the current PR industry “not only in amplifying brand and campaign messages, but also in managing perceptions and connecting brands with culture,” she added.
Dubai Lynx has also introduced a Use of Humor sub-category in the Culture & Context category in response to feedback from the industry “who wanted us to create space for work that uses humor to engage audiences to be championed,” Marchant said.
“Over the past couple of years there has been a shift in (the) tone of the work that has been winning — with a lot more irreverence and playfulness — so the timing felt right to create a category where this kind of work can compete,” she added.
Lastly, new sub-categories have been added to the Social & Influencer category to “recognize the increasingly significant role creators play in shaping and amplifying brand messages,” Marchant said.
The changes to the awards are a result of industry collaboration. Dubai Lynx has an awards research and development team that speaks to experts across industries and countries to gather their input on “the current state of play while also previewing the future direction of the industry,” she added.
StarzPlay partners with Falcon Films to bring over 50 exclusive titles to the platform
- New content will be added in 2025
- Lineup includes ‘Weekend in Taipei,’ ‘The Surfer,’ ‘Oh, Canada’
DUBAI: Streaming company StarzPlay has partnered with independent movie distributor and producer Falcon Films to bring the latter’s library of films to the platform.
The partnership will see StarzPlay add more than 50 exclusive titles from Falcon Films’ roster throughout 2025. The titles will be available in all 22 Middle East markets in which StarzPlay is available.
StarzPlay CEO Maaz Sheikh said: “With this strategic partnership, Falcon Films’ movies — including blockbuster hits and upcoming releases — will join our library, reinforcing StarzPlay’s status as the go-to platform for premium content in the region.
“With over 3 million subscribers across 22 countries, and through collaborations like this, we are expanding our portfolio of exclusive offerings, while simultaneously strengthening the local entertainment system to meet the evolving demands of our audience.”
The lineup includes films like “Weekend in Taipei,” “The Surfer,” “Oh, Canada,” starring Richard Gere, and “Monster Summer,” with Mel Gibson.
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!”
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