TheLittleTwentieth – Renowned Papers Edition, AI Infused

Local sources from Israel: גלובס, כלכליסט.
UK coverage: BBC.

As the world continues to grapple with the effects of the pandemic, Google’s use of cookies and data to deliver and maintain its services, track outages, and measure audience engagement has come under the spotlight. The tech giant has been under scrutiny for its data collection practices, with users now given the option to accept all cookies or reject them altogether. Accepting all cookies means that Google will use the data to develop new services, measure ad effectiveness, and show personalized content and ads based on settings and past activity. Rejecting all cookies means that Google will not use them for these additional purposes.

In the Middle East, the situation is no different. Against the backdrop of the ongoing relentless war, the global media lens reveals unique perspectives on what is happening in the region. In a recent article from גלובס, a British Telegraph journalist accompanied the IDF in a battle with Hamas militants in the city of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. The journalist described how Israeli fighter jets, tanks, and infantry conducted a battle against the remaining Hamas militants from a group of 1,000, who barricaded themselves inside an Indonesian hospital and a nearby school.

Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Khalid Al-Falih, the Saudi Arabian Minister of Investment, said that talks of normalization of relations with Israel are still on the table. In the coming days, Saudi Arabia will hold separate summit meetings with Arab countries, African countries, and Islamic countries, whose short-term goal is to promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

Elsewhere, Australia and the Philippines have made efforts to evacuate citizens from Gaza. Australia has provided assistance to 76 people, while 40 Filipinos have already left Gaza. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the Filipinos are now on their way to Cairo, from where they will depart and return home to the Philippines in the coming days.

In the US, a rare rebuke in the Congress saw 22 Democrats, along with the majority of Republicans, support the condemnation of Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib for her statements regarding the Israeli conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Tlaib’s critics voted against her use of the phrase ‘from the river to the sea,’ which some interpreted as a call to end Israel’s existence.

Finally, The Guardian tells the story of the restaurant with one of the best hummus in Berlin, which reopened six days after Hamas attacked Israel. The restaurant, ‘Canaan,’ owned by an Israeli and an Israeli-Palestinian, has long sought to address the conflict through a cultural fusion in dishes like lasagna-shakshuka and ragout hummus. The two owners will meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to share their thoughts on how to best deal with the local tension that has arisen from the conflict in the Middle East.

As Google’s use of cookies and data continues to shape global news and events, it is clear that the implications of this technology are far-reaching. From the Middle East to the US, and from Australia to Germany, the effects of this technology are being felt around the world. With the help of reliable sources such as גלובס and כלכליסט, we can gain a better understanding of the impact of Google’s data collection practices on the world around us.