Cleopatra film heats up debate over differences between fact and fiction

Short Url
Updated 05 May 2023
Follow

Cleopatra film heats up debate over differences between fact and fiction

Cleopatra film heats up debate over differences between fact and fiction

CHICAGO: A controversial Netflix film that casts an African American actress as the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra has pulled the curtain off of a simmering Hollywood drama on the blurred line that often exists between fact and fiction in movies.  

The docu-drama “Queen Cleopatra,” produced by Jada Pinkett-Smith, has drawn the ire of Egyptians and Arabs who are insistent that their history be accurately reflected in Hollywood films, while riling many black people who say they have been victims of generations of racism on a global level.  

During interviews on “The Ray Hanania Radio Show” on Wednesday, renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass and African American radio talk show host Perri Small debated whether fact or fiction is driving the Cleopatra story, and the impact the production has on the public perceptions of Arabs, Egyptians and black people.   

Hawass, who this month launches a 26-city US tour where he will reveal more discoveries from Egyptian history, said the casting of an African American actress, Adele James, to play Cleopatra is intended to reinforce assertions that black Africans are the origins of Egyptian history.  

“If you do a documentary, you have to be strict with history and you have to consult an Egyptologist. If the film is drama, you have to write it as fiction and you can do what you want. And therefore, if you look at history, we have statues of Cleopatra,” Hawass said, arguing that there is significant evidence in unearthed ancient relics that point to Cleopatra’s white lineage.  

“Cleopatra was a Macedonian. All the queens and princesses of Macedonia were not black. Also, she was the daughter of Ptolemy XII,” he said. 

“I really think that the reason this film is shown now (is) because some people want to say that the origins of Ancient Egypt were black.”   

Hawass argued that if Pinkett-Smith wanted to cast Cleopatra with a black actress, she should redefine the project as fiction rather than as a documentary.  

“I don’t think it is fair to make a documentary to show that Cleopatra was black. This is changing history,” Hawass said.  

Small, the morning host on America’s oldest black radio station, WVON AM 1690 in Chicago, said the Cleopatra controversy has been a major topic of discussion on her radio show and among America’s black community. 

“I would not even begin to argue with a scholar that Cleopatra VII was (of) Macedonian, Greek descent. I wouldn’t even argue that. I am not a scholar in that. But Egyptians are arguing that the documentary requires those in charge of its production to investigate accuracy and rely on historical and scientific facts, and I get that. Can we please do that? Does anybody have Cleopatra’s DNA?” Perri said.  

“It seems to us that it is more of an anti-blackness. I do respect the (Egyptian) culture. They say it is not racism. They say it is not ethnicity. But let’s face it, there is an anti-blackness globally. It is an anti-blackness, and I don’t think that people of your community and other communities even understand that.

Small explained that many African Americans look at the Cleopatra controversy through the eyes of their experiences, which has been dominated by racism and discrimination and cultural denial over many centuries.  

But Hawass insisted that, despite feelings that viewers may have for or against the casting of a black actress to represent Cleopatra, the debate is not about race or racism but is rather an issue of accuracy.  

 

“This has nothing to do with race at all. I said if this documentary showed Cleopatra as blonde, I would object. Cleopatra was not black. Cleopatra was not blonde,” Hawass said.  

 “If she (Pinkett-Smith) writes at the beginning of the film, that this movie is fiction and has nothing to do with history, I would accept that.” 

Hawass said that Pinkett-Smith’s intent may have been to create a controversy all along in order to generate attention for the film.  

“It is actually the purpose, in my opinion, of this movie … to show that the black (Africans) were the origins of ancient Egypt, but this is not true,” Hawass insisted.  

“The Ray Hanania Radio Show” is broadcast on the US Arab Radio Network every Wednesday at 5 p.m. in Detroit, Michigan on WNZK AM 690 and in Washington, D.C. on WDMV AM 700.  

You can listen to the radio show’s podcast by visiting ArabNews.com/rayradioshow.


Amazon steps up AI race with $4 bn Anthropic investment

Amazon steps up AI race with $4 bn Anthropic investment
Updated 26 September 2023
Follow

Amazon steps up AI race with $4 bn Anthropic investment

Amazon steps up AI race with $4 bn Anthropic investment
  • Amazon is to leverage Anthropic’s technology to power its cloud, other services

PARIS: Amazon said on Monday it would invest up to $4 billion in AI firm Anthropic, as the online retail giant steps into an AI race dominated by Microsoft, Google and OpenAI.
The success of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a chatbot released last year that is able to generate poems, essays and other works with just a short prompt, has led to billions being invested in the field.
Amazon had already announced it aimed to soup up its Alexa voice assistant with generative AI, which the firm said would allow users to have smoother conversations.
San Francisco-based Anthropic is seen as a leader in the field and has its own chatbot, Claude, a competitor to ChatGPT.
“We have tremendous respect for Anthropic’s team and foundation models, and believe we can help improve many customer experiences, short and long-term, through our deeper collaboration,” said Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
The giant firms and wealthy investors of Silicon Valley have poured money into artificial intelligence as they seek to find a killer application to justify the interest.
ChatGPT’s instant success threw much of the focus onto chatbots and sparked imitators and rivals, not least from Google with its Bard chatbot.
Chinese titans Tencent and Baidu have also launched bots they claim can rival ChatGPT.


As part of Monday’s deal, Anthropic will use Amazon’s chips to develop its next models.
The AI firm will also use Amazon’s cloud services — the data centers that store and process data on a vast scale — for “mission critical workloads.”
Amazon said it would take a “minority ownership position” in the AI firm, which has already raised more than $1 billion since it was set up in 2021.
The statement announcing the deal focuses on the benefits to clients of Amazon’s cloud computing arm, Amazon Web Services (AWS).
It promises that “Claude,” which is the name of the Anthropic’s chatbot and its model, will “help customers of all sizes to develop new generative AI-powered applications to transform their organizations.”
The deal intensifies competition between Amazon and Google, which had earlier opened its cloud services to Anthropic and invested $300 million to acquire 10 percent of the company.
AI models require huge computing power so AI firms rely on data centers provided by the likes of AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure.
As tech giants push their own AI ambitions, they have been increasingly looking at tie-ins with smaller AI firms — Microsoft leading the way with a multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI.


British media organizations condemn Meta’s decision to ditch Facebook News

British media organizations condemn Meta’s decision to ditch Facebook News
Updated 26 September 2023
Follow

British media organizations condemn Meta’s decision to ditch Facebook News

British media organizations condemn Meta’s decision to ditch Facebook News
  • In a letter to the company’s global affairs president they also slammed Meta for dumping a scheme through which it funds local journalism in the UK
  • They said: ‘Particularly as we near a general election, these deliberate actions pose an urgent threat to democracy by choking trusted news’

DUBAI: British media organizations have condemned a decision by Meta to phase out Facebook News, a dedicated tab in the bookmarks section of Facebook that spotlights news, in some countries. They also slammed the company’s plans to end a scheme through which it funds local journalism in the UK.

Reach, one of the UK’s largest newspaper publishers, and the News Media Association sent Meta’s global affairs president, Nick Clegg, a letter criticizing moves they described as “financially damaging” and “deeply concerning for democracy and society.”

They added: “Particularly as we near a general election, these deliberate actions pose an urgent threat to democracy by choking trusted news — both financially for the media industry and practically, for audiences accustomed to trusting your platform for information.”

In addition to Clegg, a former leader of the Liberal Democrats who served as the UK’s deputy prime minister in his party’s coalition government with the Conservatives from 2010 to 2015, the recipients of the letter reportedly included Lucy Frazer, the UK’s culture secretary, and Michelle Donelan, the technology minister.

Meta announced this month that it plans to “deprecate” Facebook News in early December in the UK, France and Germany, as part of an “ongoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most.”

The company, which has increasingly been shifting its focus to short-form video and other new-tech services, said people do not come to Facebook for news and political content.

“News makes up less than three percent of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, so news discovery is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people,” Meta said.

However, the organizations that sent the letter of protest argued that “platforms such as Facebook continue to be key discovery routes for news for millions of people, and indeed voters, as Ofcom’s News Consumption in the UK 2022/23 report showed earlier this year.”

Reach, which owns national and local newspapers, including the Daily Mirror, Daily Express and Daily Star, previously attributed a financial decline to Facebook.

In its half-year earnings, the publisher revealed a revenue drop of 6.1 percent year-on-year, and overall its titles experienced a 16 percent decline in website page views. The company said at the time that had Facebook not made a change that deprioritized news, it would have expected page views to decline by only 2 percent.

The letter also admonished Meta for its decision to cancel funding for its Community News Project, introduced in 2018, through which Meta pledged £4.5 million ($5.5 million) to help fund 80 new community journalists in the UK.

“We recognize the important role Facebook plays in how people get their news today and we want to do more to support local publishers,” Meta said at the time of launch.

The letter’s signatories reminded the company of its commitment, saying: “If Meta truly believes, as it stated only 18 months ago, that ‘local newspapers are the lifeblood of communities,’ then it is crucial that the company acts to support, rather than undermine, the sustainability of journalism in the UK by continuing these valuable and successful initiatives.”

The News Media Association and Reach called for a meeting with representatives of Meta to discuss how it can support news publishers and the distribution of trustworthy reports and information.


Cadillac Arabia launches gaming-focused campaign for Saudi National Day

Cadillac Arabia launches gaming-focused campaign for Saudi National Day
Updated 25 September 2023
Follow

Cadillac Arabia launches gaming-focused campaign for Saudi National Day

Cadillac Arabia launches gaming-focused campaign for Saudi National Day
  • Game parade will feature cars decorated in KSA flags or colors 

DUBAI: Cadillac Arabia invited Saudi gamers to “Maseerat Cadillac,” the brand’s first game parade on the video game Forza Horizon 5, to celebrate Saudi National Day on Sept. 23 at 7 p.m.

The campaign draws inspiration from Saudis’ passion for gaming and combines it with the tradition of decorating cars with KSA flags or colors to take part in parades across the country, Cadillac said.

The brand has partnered with local influencer Powr Rakan, who livestreamed the parade on his Twitch channel.

Embed post: https://www.instagram.com/p/CxVsH1VvIJB/?hl=en

Gamers were invited to join the parade on Forza Horizon 5 by designing their Cadillac cars around the Saudi National Day theme. They could also submit their designs through Discord for a chance to win prizes by Rakan.

The first-prize winner will receive an Xbox Series X bundle with Forza Horizon 5, and the second and third-prize winners will take home an Xbox Series S and Xbox Elite Series II Controller, respectively.

Participants could also win prizes by joining the Twitch stream and commenting on the livestream.

Saudi Arabia is home to a growing gaming community, and the Kingdom has made significant efforts to bolster the local gaming industry.

In February, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund became the biggest outside investor in Nintendo, and earlier this year, the Kingdom hosted a major gaming tournament, Gamers8.


Iran International TV returns to air from high-security studio

Iran International TV returns to air from high-security studio
Updated 25 September 2023
Follow

Iran International TV returns to air from high-security studio

Iran International TV returns to air from high-security studio
  • London-based broadcaster suspended operations in February over threats to staff
  • UK authorities claimed Iranian government behind threats, Tehran denied involvement

LONDON: Iran International returned to air on Monday from a new high-security studio in London.

The Farsi-language news broadcaster closed in February following alleged threats from the Iranian government.

But the TV channel’s head of news, Aliasghar Ramezanpoor, told The Sunday Times: “We are saying, ‘you are back — you are finding your voice again.’ As a journalist, I feel it is my moral obligation. People are putting their trust in us.”

British authorities claimed broadcast staff, particular those born in Iran, had been the target of “multiple threats,” adding that due to the studio’s former location in Chiswick Business Park police could not guarantee workers’ safety.

The station’s offices have been relocated to a new, high-security site in north London with steel barriers and armed patrols.

Following the decision to shut down the station in mid-February based on recommendations from Scotland Yard, the channel and parts of its staff were relocated to Washington as a temporary solution.

Ramezanpoor, who has reportedly received three credible death threats since last year, said that the suspension of the London operation had been a major blow to the broadcaster and expressed hope that the channel and its journalists would be able to reconnect with viewers.

Iran International, which is owned by private investors, including a British Saudi businessman, claimed to have 30 million viewers in Iran and among the Iranian diaspora.

The broadcaster, which provided round-the-clock updates during the protests that erupted in the country following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody last year, said it relied heavily on amateur footage sent in by citizens in Iran.

Saeid Habil, a senior television and radio journalist at Iran International, said that the channel’s coverage of the events prompted the government to try and shut down its operations.

The Iranian government has denied any involvement in threats against Iran International staff. However, Iran’s intelligence minister, Esmail Khatib, recently described the station as a “terrorist network” and said the regime would take “offensive security measures … whenever and wherever we deem appropriate.”

The channel’s return to air comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and the West.

Tehran has been accused of providing drones to Russia for use in the war in Ukraine, and it is also facing international pressure over its nuclear program.

And an Iranian government official was recently accused by Iran International of attacking one its journalists covering President Ebrahim Raisi’s stay in New York.


Indonesia may issue regulations on social media e-commerce this week

Indonesia may issue regulations on social media e-commerce this week
Updated 25 September 2023
Follow

Indonesia may issue regulations on social media e-commerce this week

Indonesia may issue regulations on social media e-commerce this week
  • Trade Ministry likely to impose strict regulations
  • Social media platforms are threatening offline markets, ministry said

JAKARTA: Indonesia may issue on Tuesday a regulation on the use of social media to sell goods in the country, President Joko Widodo said, a move intended to quell threats to offline markets in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy.
Ministers have repeatedly said that e-commerce sellers using predatory pricing on social media platforms are threatening offline markets in Indonesia, with some officials specifically citing the video platform TikTok as an example.
“We just...decided on the use of social media for e-commerce. Tomorrow it will perhaps come out,” Widodo, who is commonly known as Jokowi, said in a streamed video address on Monday.
“What the people are expecting is that the advancement of technology can create new economic potential, not kill existing economies.”
Jokowi did not mention any specific companies or offer further details on the regulation, which is being formulated by the trade ministry.
Current trade regulations do not specifically cover direct transactions on social media.
Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga said earlier this month that “social media and social commerce cannot be combined,” vowing to ban the mix of the two and citing TikTok’s “live” features which allow people to sell goods.
A TikTok Indonesia spokesperson declined to comment. TikTok is owned by Chinese tech company ByteDance.
The company said that its app had 325 million Southeast Asian users that were active every month, of whom 125 million were in Indonesia. The company has said that there were 2 million small businesses on TikTok Shop in Indonesia.