Redesign features enhanced personalization and improved recommendations, as well as vertical videos on mobile devices
Updated 07 May 2025
Zaira Lakhpatwala
DUBAI: Streaming giant Netflix will begin rolling out a major revamp of its TV app’s homepage next week.
The new design “is simpler, more intuitive, and better represents the breadth of entertainment on Netflix today,” the company’s chief product officer, Eunice Kim, said on Tuesday.
It includes a navigation bar at the top of the screen, rather than the current position on the left, and more-responsive recommendations while a user browses the app.
Netflix’s chief technology officer Elizabeth Stone said that in making these recommendations the service “will pull in more signals,” such as search history and the trailers watched by a user.
“And because everything will happen seamlessly in the background, you won’t even notice it happening — it will just be magically easier to find something to watch,” she added.
The overall design will be more minimalist and cleaner, providing all the relevant information about a title in one place so as to reduce “eye gymnastics” and help users make an “informed choice,” Kim said.
The mobile app is also getting an overhaul, as Netflix tests the use of the favored video format on social media: vertical viewing. The vertical feed will feature clips from movies and TV shows that users can browse and then click on to visit to a title’s home page.
Netflix has previously used artificial intelligence technology across the platform for features such as recommendations but now, with advances in generative AI, it aims to go a step further by showcasing titles in more languages and including chatbot-like functionality.
For example, viewers can use conversational phrases such as “I want to watch something scary but not too scary” to search for content.
“Believe it or not, that search phrase will actually yield results in the new experience,” said Stone.
The company is also investing further in its content-delivery network, Open Connect, which optimizes streaming globally across differing internet speeds.
“Open Connect has given us a really strong foundation and now we’re building on that foundation as we deliver a broader and more complex variety of entertainment, including live events and games on TV,” Stone said.
“Entertaining the world is hard but technology makes it easier.”
Israeli army blocks Oscar media tour of villages in West Bank
Soldiers bar journalists from visiting Palestinian residents on trip organized by award winners
Updated 02 June 2025
AP
JERUSALEM: Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie “No Other Land.”
The directors of the film, which focuses on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territory, said they had invited the journalists on the tour Monday to interview residents about increasing settler violence in the area.
In a video posted on X by the film’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli soldier tells a group of international journalists there is “no passage” in the area because of a military order.
Basel Adra, a Palestinian co-director of the film who lives in the area, said the military then blocked the journalists from entering two Palestinian villages they had hoped to visit.
‘They don’t want the world to see what is happening here’
“They don’t want journalists to visit the villages to meet the residents,” said Adra, who had invited the journalists to his home. “It’s clear they don’t want the world to see what is happening here.”
Some of the surrounding area, including a collection of small Bedouin villages known as Masafer Yatta, was declared by the military to be a live-fire training zone in the 1980s.
Some 1,000 Palestinians have remained there despite being ordered out, and journalists, human rights activists, and diplomats have visited the villages in the past.
Palestinian residents in the area have reported increasing settler violence since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and kick-started the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli soldiers regularly move in to demolish homes, tents, water tanks, and olive orchards — and Palestinians fear outright expulsion could come at any time.
Adra said the journalists were eventually able to enter one of the villages in Masafer Yatta, but were barred from entering Tuwani, the village where he lives, and Khallet A-Daba, where he had hoped to take them.
Adra said settlers arrived in Khallet A-Daba on Monday and took over some of the caves where village residents live, destroying residents’ belongings and grazing hundreds of sheep on village lands.
The military demolished much of the village last month.
“No Other Land,” which won the Oscar this year for best documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages.
The joint Palestinian-Israeli production was directed by Adra, Hamdan Ballal, another Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, along with Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
The film has won a string of international awards.
Israel captured the West Bank in the 1967 Mideast war, along with the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want all three for their future state and view settlement growth as a major obstacle to a two-state solution.
Israel has built well over 100 settlements, home to over 500,000 settlers who have Israeli citizenship.
The 3 million Palestinians in the West Bank live under seemingly open-ended Israeli military rule, with the Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
‘No safe place’: Writer’s group PEN International calls for arms embargo on Israel
NGO says Palestinian writers have built growing body of evidence demonstrating systematic Israeli efforts to erase the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage
Open letter details ‘irreversible loss of much of Gaza’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage’
Updated 02 June 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Writer’s group PEN International on Monday urged the international community to impose an arms embargo on all parties involved in the war in Gaza, calling specifically for a ban on weapons used by Israel in attacks that have targeted Palestinian civilians across the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
In an open letter, the London-based association expressed outrage at what it described as the global community’s failure to hold Israel accountable for the “ongoing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.”
The letter condemned the daily killing of civilians and the prolonged blockade, calling for immediate action to halt the assault.
“PEN International has documented harrowing testimonies of Palestinian writers across the OPT, all of whom have reported and corroborated the growing body of evidence demonstrating concerted and systematic efforts by Israel to erase the Palestinian people and their cultural heritage, particularly in Gaza,” the open letter said.
The group said it shared the view of other international organizations that “genocide is being perpetrated against Palestinians in Gaza through various means,” and reported that at least 23 writers — excluding artists and other cultural workers — have been killed in Israeli bombardments since Oct. 7, 2023.
Describing the current period as “the deadliest for writers since the Second World War,” PEN International said the assault on Palestinian culture — through the destruction of heritage sites, cultural spaces, and the targeting of writers and journalists — was “a deliberate strategy to silence and erase the Palestinian people.”
The NGO joins a growing number of organizations, experts and legal scholars that have concluded Israel’s conduct in Gaza meets the threshold of genocide.
The International Court of Justice ruled last year that Palestinians face a “plausible risk of genocide,” and UN experts, aid agencies, and hundreds of legal specialists and genocide scholars have echoed that assessment.
Even former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, writing in Haaretz, recently described the offensive as a “war of extermination,” though he stopped short of using the term “genocide.”
PEN International’s letter also detailed the “irreversible loss of much of Gaza’s tangible and intangible cultural heritage,” including independent cultural institutions, personal libraries and literary work, many of which were created under extreme restrictions and later destroyed in the war.
As of the end of May, UNESCO confirmed damage to 110 cultural sites in Gaza since the war began, including religious landmarks, historic buildings, museums and archaeological sites.
Testimonies gathered by PEN International also described the conditions faced by Palestinian writers amid the persistent threat to their lives.
“The relentless Israeli military operations, the indiscriminate bombardment of so-called ‘safe zones’ with high explosives, unexploded ordnance, sniper attacks targeting civilians, and the ongoing arbitrary restrictions and ban on humanitarian aid — are a grim, daily reality,” the letter read.
“All writers who spoke to PEN International have consistently stressed that: ‘There is no place safe in Gaza’.”
Founded in London in 1921, PEN International has grown into a global cultural institution. It has not remained untouched by the rippling political effects of the Gaza war.
In September 2024, the group passed a resolution condemning the rise in targeted killings, arbitrary detentions, and restrictions on access to information in both Palestine and Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks. The resolution placed primary responsibility for these violations on Israeli authorities.
In April 2025, PEN America, the group’s US branch, was forced to cancel its annual literary awards after several authors boycotted the event over what they viewed as the organization’s failure to take a clear stance against Israel’s war on Gaza.
The decision followed an open letter signed by dozens of authors and translators who withdrew their work from the awards in protest.
Missing US journalist Austin Tice was detained by Assad regime despite denials, BBC claims
Top-secret documents are most definitive evidence yet tying the Syrian government to his disappearance
Though he vanished in August 2012 while covering Syrian civil war, US intelligence believes Tice is still alive
Updated 02 June 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Top-secret Syrian intelligence files have confirmed that missing American journalist Austin Tice was held in detention by the regime of Bashar Assad, the BBC claimed on Monday, marking the most definitive evidence yet tying the former regime to his disappearance.
Tice, a former US Marine turned freelance journalist, vanished in August 2012 near Darayya, a suburb of Damascus, just days after his 31st birthday while reporting on the escalating conflict.
For years, the Syrian regime has consistently denied any involvement.
However, files obtained by the BBC — alongside testimonies from former Syrian officials — appear to corroborate longstanding suspicions by US authorities that the Assad regime was behind his abduction.
The documents include internal communications between branches of Syrian intelligence that explicitly name Tice and detail aspects of his detention following his capture near the capital, the BBC claimed.
Shortly after his disappearance, the only public evidence of Tice’s status came in the form of a video posted online showing him blindfolded, surrounded by armed men, and reciting the Islamic declaration of faith.
Although the footage suggested extremist involvement, US intelligence at the time raised doubts about its authenticity, with one analyst calling it possibly “staged.”
Austin Tice in Cairo in March 2012. (AFP/File)
In early 2013, Reuters reported that “an American man, dressed in ragged clothing,” was seen attempting to escape through the streets of Damascus’ upscale Mazzeh neighborhood before being recaptured after more than five months in captivity.
He has not been seen since, and no group has ever claimed responsibility for holding him.
The BBC’s investigation, part of a long-running project for Radio 4, claimed that Tice was held in a regime-run detention facility believed to be the notorious Tahouneh prison in Damascus.
A former senior Syrian intelligence officer testified that Tice was detained by the pro-Assad National Defence Forces “until at least February 2013.”
According to the report, Tice suffered from stomach problems while in the NDF’s captivity and was treated by a doctor at least twice, including for a viral infection.
A witness who saw him during detention said Tice “looked sad” and “the joy had gone from his face,” though he was reportedly treated more humanely than Syrian inmates due to his perceived value.
A former member of the NDF, described by the BBC as having “intimate knowledge of Austin’s detention,” said the regime saw Tice as a “card” to be used in negotiations with the US.
The files also confirm that he attempted to escape through a window but was quickly apprehended and later interrogated at least twice, the BBC claimed.
These newly uncovered documents appear to be the first hard evidence directly tying the Assad regime to Tice’s imprisonment, undermining more than a decade of Syrian denials.
The investigation was conducted in collaboration with a Syrian war crimes investigator, who granted BBC reporters access to the intelligence archive.
Screengrab taken from a video on YouTube on October 1, 2012 shows Austin Tice, 31-years-old, blindfolded with men believed to be his captors at an undisclosed location in Syria.
Despite the collapse of the Assad regime in December, no trace of Tice was found among the prisoners released. Yet hope remains. In the immediate aftermath, then-US President Joe Biden reiterated his belief that Tice was still alive.
That view was echoed by Nizar Zakka, head of a US-based hostage advocacy group, who claimed Tice was likely being held by “very few people in a safe house in order to do an exchange or a deal.”
Two days before Biden’s remarks, Tice’s mother, Debra, said a “significant source” had confirmed her son was alive and being treated well. In early May, she told The Washington Post that the US government was aware of his location, though no further details were disclosed.
President Donald Trump also placed a spotlight on the case during his recent visit to the Gulf.
After meeting the Syrian Arab Republic’s new president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, in Riyadh, Trump told reporters, “Austin has not been seen in many, many years,” without elaborating.
The comment came days after Sky News Arabia falsely reported that Tice’s body had been discovered in a cemetery in northern Syria, a claim the family condemned as “deeply disrespectful.”
The Tice family, who have led a decade-long campaign for answers, are aware of the new evidence, as are US officials and Syrian human rights groups.
Tice, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan before studying law at Georgetown University, is believed to be one of the longest-held American hostages in history.
According to the Syrian Network for Human Rights, more than 100,000 people disappeared during Assad’s rule.
Google judge mulls softer remedies in US search antitrust case
Judge floats contingent end to Apple payments
Says AI products likely to compete with search
Updated 31 May 2025
Reuters
WASHINGTON: A federal judge in Washington suggested on Friday he is considering making Alphabet’s Google take less aggressive measures to restore competition in online search than the 10-year regime proposed by antitrust enforcers.
US District Judge Amit Mehta heard closing arguments on Friday at a trial on proposals to address Google’s illegal monopoly in online search and related advertising.
“Ten years may seem like a short period, but in this space, a lot can change in weeks,” he said, citing recent developments such as ChatGPT maker OpenAI buying a device startup.
The DOJ and a coalition of states want Google to share search data and cease multibillion-dollar payments to Apple and other smartphone makers to be the default search engine on new devices.
At the hearing, the judge floated the possibility of limited data sharing and ending the payments only if other measures do not increase competition. He also grappled with the rise of artificial intelligence products that could replace traditional search engines.
An alternate default search engine in Apple’s Safari browser is unlikely to come from existing rival search engines like DuckDuckGo or Bing, the judge said.
“If anything it’s going to be one of these AI companies that can do more than just search. And why? Because maybe people don’t want 10 blue links anymore,” he said, referring to earlier iterations of Google’s search engine.
The case has already rattled Google’s share price by exposing Apple’s plans to offer AI-based search options.
The trial began in April and Judge Mehta has said he aims to rule by August. AI “rivals”?
Antitrust enforcers are concerned about how Google’s search monopoly gives it an advantage in AI products like Gemini and vice versa.
Nick Turley, OpenAI’s product head for ChatGPT, testified that the ChatGPT creator is years away from its goal of being able to use its own search technology to answer 80 percent of queries and that having access to Google search data would help it focus on improving ChatGPT. Turley also said OpenAI would be interested in buying Chrome if Google is forced to sell it.
But Mehta questioned whether companies like OpenAI or Perplexity should be considered Google competitors who would be given access to any data Google is required to share, given that the case focused on search engine competitors.
“It seems to me you now want to kind of bring this other technology into the definition of general search engine markets that I am not sure quite fits,” the judge said to DOJ attorney Adam Severt.
Severt replied that while the first part of the case focused on the past, the remedies must be forward-looking.
John Schmidtlein, an attorney for Google, said at the hearing that while generative AI is influencing how search looks, Google has addressed any concerns about competition in AI by no longer entering exclusive agreements with wireless carriers and smartphone makers including Samsung Electronics , leaving them free to load rival search and AI apps on new devices.
Schmidtlein argued it would be inappropriate to give successful AI companies like OpenAI technology that Google has spent 20 years perfecting.
“Coming to Google and asking Google for a handout when they are the market leader seems completely disproportionate to what this case is about,” he said.
Israel kills another journalist in Gaza as global criticism intensifies
Moataz Mohammed Rajab was killed by an airstrike on a civilian vehicle
Latest casualty comes amid mounting international calls for sanctions on Israel
Updated 29 May 2025
Arab News
LONDON: Israeli forces killed Moataz Mohammed Rajab, a Palestinian photojournalist and video editor for Al-Quds Al-Youm TV, in an airstrike on Gaza City late Wednesday, amid mounting international condemnation of Israel’s conduct in the war.
According to the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, Rajab was killed while covering Israeli attacks near Al-Nafaq Street, when an airstrike hit a civilian vehicle. He died instantly along with other civilians.
The Government Media Office in Gaza condemned what it called the “systematic targeting and assassination” of Palestinian journalists, accusing Israel of a deliberate campaign against the press.
“This is not random,” the office said in a statement. “Israel is deliberately assassinating Palestinian journalists.”
It urged the International Federation of Journalists, the Arab Journalists Union and global press freedom organizations to move beyond statements and take tangible action.
Rajab’s death comes amid mounting pressure on Israel to deescalate its assault on Gaza and ease a months-long blockade that has plunged the enclave’s 2.3 million residents into a severe humanitarian crisis.
Calls for restraint have grown increasingly urgent in recent days. Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Israeli actions had taken “tragic and unacceptable forms,” and urged an immediate end to the bombings and resumption of humanitarian aid. He added that the forced displacement of Palestinians “is not and never will be an acceptable option.”
In one of the strongest public criticisms yet from a close ally, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this week questioned the justification for continued Israeli airstrikes, calling them “no longer comprehensible” and suggesting they go beyond the stated aim of defeating Hamas. Observers say the remarks reflect a growing shift in German public opinion.
As the war passes the 600-day mark, international calls for a ceasefire are gaining traction.
At least 44 people were killed in Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The latest attacks came a day after desperate civilians looted a World Food Programme warehouse in central Gaza, highlighting the deepening humanitarian crisis.
Since the war began on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 54,000 people have been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of them civilians, including thousands of children.
The toll on journalists has also been staggering. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 181 media workers have been confirmed killed: 173 Palestinian, six Lebanese and two Israeli.
The organization said that at least 17 journalists and two media workers were deliberately targeted by Israeli forces in what CPJ classifies as murder.
In a report issued Wednesday, CPJ said Israel’s blockade and hunger crisis are severely hampering the ability of the press to cover the war, with Gaza’s media sector now described as “dismantled” and “exhausted.”
