Egyptian court orders one-month ban on YouTube
Cairo, May 27: Egypt's top administrative court ordered on Saturday to block YouTube streaming website for one month over hosting a video that denigrates Prophet Muhammad of Islam, the Egyptian lawyer who filed the lawsuit said.
"The ruling is final, unappealable and enforceable," Xinhua quoted lawyer Mohamed Hamed Salem as saying.
A lower administrative court has previously ordered the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (NTRA) to do so, but the latter appealed against the ruling, citing it was hard to implement.
The top administrative court rejected the NTRA appeal on Saturday and upheld the temporary ban as a final, unappealable ruling.
The lawsuit dates back to 2013 when the Egyptian lawyer demanded to ban YouTube in Egypt until the offensive clip on Prophet Muhammad and other anti-Islamic videos are removed.
"The ruling is a punishment for YouTube website that will cost it massive economic losses," Salem said.
Privately funded and produced in California, the controversial video first appeared on YouTube in 2012, raising a wave of anti-American outrage in the Muslim world where Prophet Muhammad is highly revered.
The lawyer said that "the offensive video" led some fanatic Islamists to assault the U.S. and British embassies in Cairo at the time.
It is unclear how the temporary ban will be implemented, as YouTube was still working in Egypt until Saturday evening.
"The NTRA is responsible for implementing the ban and there is no technical difficulty to do so," the lawyer said, warning "I will file a lawsuit against the NTRA chief if the ban is not implemented."
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Karnataka approves AI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru's Electronics City
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka government has approved the establishment of a CoE for AI in Biotechnology at IBAB in Electronics City (Phase 1), here.
The decision, taken by the state Cabinet on Thursday night, marks a significant step towards strengthening Karnataka’s leadership in emerging technologies, IT and biotechnology, Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge said on Friday.
The centre will be established over four years with a total outlay of Rs 20 crore, in partnership with the Institute of Bioinformatics and Applied Biotechnology and the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP), according to a statement from the minister’s office.
"Karnataka has consistently been at the forefront of technological innovation. As we enter the decade of deep tech, our focus is on building future-ready capabilities at the intersection of artificial intelligence and biotechnology," Minister for IT and Biotechnology said.
"This Centre of Excellence will strengthen our research ecosystem, accelerate innovation and enable Karnataka to lead in high-impact next-generation technologies," he added.
Priyank added that the state government, through the Departments of Electronics, IT, Biotechnology, and Science & Technology, is actively investing in emerging technologies and taking steps to strengthen Karnataka’s AI and deep-tech ecosystem.
The minister said the Cabinet has also approved the transfer of a 51 per cent stake in the Karnataka Technology & Innovation Museum Foundation (KTIMF) to the Unboxing BLR Foundation.
KTIMF was established by the Government of Karnataka as a not-for-profit organisation to promote innovation, technological awareness, startup culture and public engagement in science and technology, aligned with the state’s vision of building a robust innovation ecosystem, he said.
The Technology & Innovation Museum will be developed at the NGEF campus in Baiyappanahalli, Bengaluru, under a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, with a total project cost of Rs 100 crore. Of this, Rs 49 crore will be contributed by the state government and Rs 51 crore by the private partner, he said.
