The World Today for December 11, 2023

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Burying the Lede

ISRAEL/ GAZA

Israeli Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi recently gained the power to halt foreign media broadcasts and confiscate foreign media equipment on the grounds of national security.

The new regulations, approved Oct. 20, mainly targeted Al Jazeera, the state-owned, Qatar-based news organization that Karhi claimed was “harming national security and inciting violence,” according to the Times of Israel.

But it would allow authorities to temporarily shut down any media outlet that it believes is “undermining national security, public order or serving as a basis for enemy propaganda.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken even became involved in the issue, telling American-Jewish leaders that he asked the prime minister of Qatar to “tone down Al Jazeera’s rhetoric about the war in Gaza,” according to an Axios article.

Now Karhi is waiting on word from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on whether he should shutter Al Jazeera, Voice of America wrote. In the meantime, added Al Jazeera, the Israeli government blocked the websites and broadcasts of the Lebanon-based, pro-Iranian channel Al Mayadeen.

These complicated political and diplomatic happenings, among other attempts to stifle free speech and reporting, have alarmed advocates for a free press, are occurring as Israel battles Hamas in the Gaza Strip, inflicting massive casualties on civilians in an enclave regularly described as an open-air prison.

Hamas killed around 1,200 people and took more than 200 hostages in a terror attack on Oct. 7. More than 17,000 people have been killed in Gaza so far in the offensive that Israel launched in response.

Among those killed are a shockingly high number of journalists who have died while covering the war, either in Gaza or in Lebanon.

The International Federation of Journalists said that 68 journalists have died since the Oct. 7 attacks, reported the Associated Press. These deaths are controversial because they potentially attest to imprecision or a lack of discretion among Israeli forces as the war unfolds.

“The dead include Palestinian freelance journalists working for international news services, and others who work for local news outlets crucial for local understanding of what’s happening,” wrote Macquarie University journalism professor Peter Greste in the Conversation. “Many have died in air strikes on their homes, some alongside their children and families.”

These claims have been substantiated. Reuters, for instance, extensively investigated how an Israeli tank crew killed a Reuters reporter and injured six other journalists in Lebanon in October. Israeli forces have denied the allegations.

Meanwhile, in another example of keeping a tight grip on the free flow of information into and out of the Gaza Strip, Karhi also recently sealed a deal with Elon Musk that allows the Israeli government to cut off Gaza’s access to Musk’s Starlink satellite, the Hill reported.

Some are trying hard to control the narrative. Others, meanwhile, are losing their lives in it.

THE WORLD, BRIEFLY

Order, Order

EUROPEAN UNION

Lawmakers in the European Union agreed to new rules aimed at regulating artificial intelligence, one of the world’s first comprehensive attempts to control its use amid concerns about the global impact of the rapidly evolving technology, the New York Times reported.

The AI Act will set a new benchmark for nations trying to exploit the potential benefits of the technology, while protecting against its possible risks, such as automating jobs and endangering national security.

The new law focused on AI’s riskiest uses by firms and governments. Companies building AI systems will face new transparency rules, including proof of risk assessments and assurances that the software does not cause harm, for example, by perpetuating racial biases.

Software used to create manipulated images – such as “deepfakes” – needs to clarify to users that they are seeing AI-generated media. Certain practices, such as the unrestricted harvesting of images from the Internet for the purpose of forming a facial-recognition database, would be prohibited.

Meanwhile, police and governments would face limits on using facial-recognition software, except for specific safety and national security situations.

Companies that violate the new regulations could face fines of up to 7 percent of their global sales.

The need to impose regulations on AI has grown following the release of ChatGPT by the US-based firm OpenAI, which showed the world some of the capabilities of the technology.

The EU has been working on the AI Act since 2018, as the bloc attempts to bring a new level of oversight to tech firms.

Still, EU policymakers have been divided on the law’s wording and how to better regulate the technology, amid fears that it would hinder European companies seeking to compete with their US counterparts, which face a less stringent regulatory regime.

There will be more debate over the rules before they gain final approval. Observers are also wondering how effective the law may be and how it would be enforced.

Political Theater

HONG KONG

Hong Kongers voted in the city’s first “patriots only” district council elections Sunday, a vote that saw the absence of pro-democracy candidates after Beijing tightened its control of the semi-autonomous territory, Al Jazeera reported.

Voters were restricted to only choosing pro-China candidates, with turnout being only a little more than 27 percent, according to Reuters.

The election came months after the city introduced an electoral overhaul that allowed only hand-picked Beijing loyalists to run for the council. Even so, only 88 of 470 seats will be directly elected and candidates must be approved by government-appointed committees.

The Democratic Party – Hong Kong’s biggest opposition party – failed to secure nominations for any of its candidates. Meanwhile, centrist and pro-Beijing moderate candidates also complained of being shut out by the new rules.

Meanwhile, the territory’s pro-China government mobilized thousands of officers to patrol across the city and warned against any attempts to undermine the vote. Police arrested three members of the League of Social Democrats after it announced plans to demonstrate outside a polling station.

Exiled pro-democracy activists lamented that the polls were “a complete joke.”

Sunday’s vote and electoral overhaul underscores mainland China’s ongoing efforts to secure its hold on the former British colony in recent years.

In 2019, Hong Kong experienced mass protests over Beijing’s encroachment on the semi-autonomous territory’s freedoms, which is supposed to enjoy freedoms not found in mainland China under an arrangement known as “one country, two systems.”

During that year’s district elections, pro-democracy candidates won by a landslide, dealing a blow to the pro-Beijing establishment. Turnout for that election was 71 percent – the highest in Hong Kong’s history.

In response, China passed a controversial national security law in 2020 that has nearly wiped out democratic activism in Hong Kong, with many activists being arrested and others forced into exile.

Lowering the Temperature

DENMARK

Denmark’s parliament passed a new law that will criminalize the desecration of any holy text in the country, a move that follows a series of protests involving the burning of the Quran in recent months that have triggered angry protests in Muslim-majority nations, the Associated Press reported.

The new law will make it illegal “to inappropriately treat, publicly or with the intention of dissemination in a wider circle, a writing with significant religious significance for a religious community or an object that appears as such.”

The ban does not apply to artwork where “a minor part” includes desecration, as long as it’s part of a bigger artistic creation.

People violating the new rules could face fines and up to two years in prison.

The legislation comes after Denmark and neighboring Sweden have seen in recent months anti-Islam protesters burning the Quran in front of embassies of Muslim countries, places of worship and immigrant neighborhoods.

Denmark’s ruling coalition has tried to distance itself from the book burnings while emphasizing that freedom of expression is one of the most important values of Danish society.

Even so, the incidents prompted anger from many Muslim countries, boycotts of Scandinavian goods and concerns over security threats in the European nations.

In August, the Danish government introduced a draft of the law, saying it was necessary to counter “the systematic mockery” that has contributed to intensifying the threat of terrorism in Denmark.

However, left-leaning and far-right lawmakers chided the government for being “cowards,” adding that the bill was a capitulation to Islam and that it was bowing down to countries that “do not share (our) set of values.”

This is not the first time Denmark stirred controversy among Muslim countries.

In 2006, Denmark faced global Muslim outrage when a newspaper published 12 cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, including one with a turban resembling a bomb.

The images sparked violent protests by Muslims worldwide, who consider images of the prophet sacrilegious.

DISCOVERIES

Footprints in the Mud

A new study on fossilized footprints suggested that the ancestors of modern birds roamed the planet more than 210 million years ago, earlier than previously thought, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

Previous research has shown that modern birds evolved from a group of carnivorous, bipedal dinosaurs that were able to survive the mass extinction event around 66 million years ago.

But when they exactly emerged remains a big mystery, Cosmos Magazine noted.

In their paper, paleontologists re-analyzed three-toed footprints found in various sites across the small African nation of Lesotho.

The prints date to the Late Triassic and Early Jurassic periods, with the researchers noting they are older than the earlier known fossils from ancestors of modern avian species, which are 150 to 160 million years old.

The researchers explained that the tracks belonged to Trisauropodiscus – a type of three-toed dinosaur whose fossils are present in other parts of southern Africa.

Examination of the footprints showed two distinct morphologies: One resembled non-avian dinosaur tracks, while the other was closely similar to birds.

However, the findings bring up more questions about the enigmatic Trisauropodiscus because scientists are still not clear how many species belong to the genus or what it looked like.

And their relationship with modern birds is still murky.

The authors added that footprints might have been created by an early dinosaur, possibly belonging to a lineage closely related to birds. Alternatively, there could have been another reptilian species that independently developed feet resembling those of present-day birds.

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