Appreciating the feedback and thoughts on my book ‘Islamic Algorithms‘ from Reading Religion's James Riggan: " ... Bunt’s volume is an important step forward in understanding the importance of digital discourse to contemporary Islamic traditions and Muslim communities."

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone to hear that there is NO EVIDENCE for Donald Trump’s claim about Sharia law in London fullfact.org/world/donald...

Google's new, cheaper AI Plus plan is now available in more than 40 countries, including Angola, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Senegal, Uganda, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

I'm a couple of days late to this story:

AI Indonesia development: "The company [OpenAI] launched its sub-$5 ChatGPT Go paid plan for the country’s users last month and now is rolling out the same plan in Indonesia for Rp75,000 ($4.50) per month." @techcrunch.com

Slightly digressing here, but I'm interested in Egyptian hieroglyphics and would like to try this app...

UAE AI Officers on tour: "The programme, which began on September 14, has taken the group from California’s Bay Area to Seattle, where they will spend the next two days meeting executives at Amazon and Microsoft. The delegation has already visited Meta, Google, OpenAI, Palantir and Nvidia and IBM."

British-Egyptian activist reunited with family after release from prison www.bbc.com/news/article...

He was arrested in 2019 in Egypt and sentenced in 2021 to five years in jail for “spreading false news”.

Egypt's president pardons British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah www.bbc.com/news/article...

Interesting headline on Nvidia/UAE collaboration.

A significant investigation in the current climate: How Russian-funded fake news network aims to disrupt election in Europe - BBC investigation www.bbc.com/news/article...

At least 76 killed in Gaza City alone as 450,000 flee Israeli attacks on the coastal enclave’s main urban centre.

Trump’s allies now control X, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, & TikTok. They own Fox News, CBS, WaPo, WSJ & NY Post. They own Sinclair Broadcasting which has 200 tv stations and local news in 100 markets. “Freedom of speech” is now what Trump and his billionaire pals say it is.

NEW: Criminals are using "SMS blasters"—a version of cell-site simulators used by police to surveil phones in a certain area—to flood people nearby the devices with scam texts. @mattburgess1.bsky.social reports www.wired.com/story/sms-bl...

This editorial from @thenationalnews.com is based on the announcement of a new Arabic digital library "How the UAE is maintaining Arabic's place in the information era"

We’re at the post WWII inflection point: the state created for survivors of the most notorious genocide in history itself commits genocide. At the same time, 100,000 Britons march for fascism in London. Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, UN commission of inquiry says www.bbc.com/news/article...

Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, UN probe finds

Following my earlier post …

An important episode of The Crime Agents on Global Player, with detailed discussion on this underrepresented issue share-lbc.globalplayer.com/podcasts/epi...

This Assassin's Creed story about new content (presented here by @thenewarab.bsky.social) has featured on multiple channels. Did Saudi Arabia pay for Assassin's Creed new Al-Ula content? www.newarab.com/news/did-sau...

UAE influencer development

AI UAE development continues…

"Consider the implications if ChatGPT started saying “I don’t know” to even 30% of queries ... Users accustomed to receiving confident answers to virtually any question would likely abandon such systems rapidly."

This is such an important archive initiative :

Gary Lineker doubled down on using social media to speak out on Gaza after picking up the best presenter prize at the National Television Awards

Gary Lineker just won best Presenter he was the only one to stand up for Palestine. Well done Gary. 🇵🇸

Defying those who told him to "stick to football", Gary Lineker chooses to use his platform to speak up against Israel's genocide in Gaza and for the rights of refugees in the UK. Congratulations to Gary Lineker for winning Best TV Presenter at the National Television Awards.

Some positivity for your news feed ...

On this anniversary of 9/11, a reminder that the terrible events of that day set a whole host of devastating long term consequences in motion, fueled in no small measure by subsequent American (mis-)responses. Its tentacles reach into nearly everything that ails us. For a sobering snapshot, see:

"Egypt's President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Tuesday ordered officials to study the possibility of pardons for Egyptian-British activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah and six other convicts."

Details on the UAE's K2 via @wired.com: "It is not a complete large language model but rather a model specialized for reasoning, capable of answering complex questions through a simulated kind of deliberation rather than quickly synthesizing information to provide an output."

"Pakistan's spy agencies can monitor at least 4 million mobile phones at a time through its Lawful Intercept Management System (LIMS), while a firewall known as WMS 2.0 that inspects internet traffic can block 2 million active sessions at a time, Amnesty said."

Today sees the launch of My Family Legacy (www.myfamilylegacy.org.uk) a new campaign to raise awareness of South Asian service in the world wars and preserve the stories of those who fought for Britain. [Thread]

Anti-Islamic US biker gang members run security at deadly Gaza aid sites www.bbc.com/news/article...

Israel’s latest strategy

Oman AI initiatives and intentions discussed here:

Banksy’s new High Court mural is thought to criticise Britain’s crackdown on Palestine Action protests.

Meta seeks Chatbot creators: "As reported by Business Insider, Meta is offering up to $55 for an hour to candidates who are fluent in Hindi, Indonesian, Spanish and Portuguese." www.msn.com/en-in/money/...

Meanwhile, in Turkey: "Netblocks, a global internet monitor, said on Monday that access to online platforms including X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and WhatsApp has been restricted in Turkey on multiple networks."

more info on the Azure hit

Azure Cloud hit Microsoft cloud services disrupted by Red Sea cable cuts

This is who the Labour gov is arresting. This is who the Labour government calls terrorists. Hundreds more of them. www.instagram.com/reel/DORapkR...

NEW: An Oxford report warns that misleading media coverage is shaping public debate on immigration and human rights. The study finds the ECHR is frequently misreported in deportation cases, fueling misconceptions that erode trust in the legal system. 🧵 [1/8]

Important reporting from Christine Ro @forbes.com on digital violence in Syria (and beyond).

"Each time I go, I think it can't possibly be worse than the previous time - but each time it's much worse..." UK medic Nick Maynard vows #Gaza return despite 'barbaric' attack on hospital where he worked. @goldbergradio.bsky.social @bylinetimes.bsky.social podfollow.com/byline-podca...

AI UAE job-bots scam

A useful piece on Arabic AI issues