MELBOURNE: The city of Melbourne came to a standstill after tens of thousands marched demanding better working condition. The rally comes ahead of the national elections slated for May.

The opposition Labor party wants to make moribund wages a focus of its election campaign, with its union allies claiming “Australians have seen the largest fall in their living standards in 30 years”.

The governing conservative Liberal-National coalition has been arguing that company tax cuts were the best way to boost wages.

SYDNEY: Facebook Inc said it would toughen measures to fight fake news in Australia, media reports said.

It said it will also ‘briefly block’ foreigners from buying political advertisements in the lead-up to a national election, which is due in a few weeks, according to reports.

In Australia, it is, however, not clear which foreigners sought to buy campaign ads. However, the government warned in 2017 of Chinese interference attempts and said in February a foreign government had hacked parliament’s computer network.

Facebook’s move also comes particularly in the wake of the mass shooting at a mosque in New Zealand.

According to reports, foreigners would be forbidden from buying advertising mentioning political parties, slogans and logos. (Agencies)

CANBERRA: Australia’s Parliament passed legislation on Thursday that could imprison social media executives if their platforms stream violent images such as the New Zealand mosque shootings.

Critics warn that some of the most restrictive laws about online communication in the democratic world could have unforeseen consequences, including media censorship and reduced investment in Australia.

The government introduced the bills in response to the March 15 attacks in Christchurch in which an Australian white supremacist apparently used a helmet-mounted camera to broadcast live as he shot worshippers in the two mosques, killing 50 people and wounding dozens.

The government wanted the House of Representatives to pass the law on Thursday, Parliament’s last sitting day before elections are expected to be held in May.

SYDNEY: A Nepali living in Australia was severely injured while his Nepali friend has been taken under custody following a brawl in Sydney CBD on Monday midnight.

Police said the 22-year-old Nepali was allegedly punched, and was left with a “fractured skull and bleeding on the brain”. Police have arrested his 25-year-old friend.

The events took a nasty turn as they were involved in an argument with two brothers while crossing the path at George Street.

The brothers, who were also arrested, have been released on bail. One of the brothers punched the Nepali youth, who is on a hospital bed.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand: Thousands of people stand and listen silently in a Christchurch Park today as the names of 50 people shot dead in two mosques were read out at a national memorial service, media reports said.

Speaker called for the legacy of the tragedy to be a kinder, more tolerant New Zealand.

Several representatives of governments from around the world joined New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at the remembrance service in Hagley Park.

PM Ardern said that the challenge now is to make the very best of us a daily reality.

Ardern, wearing Maori cloak known as a kakahu during the service, said the world had to end the vicious cycle of extremism. (Agencies)

Facebook Inc has banned praise, support and representation of white nationalism and white separatism.

This has been a move that drew qualified approval from New Zealand where a massacre of 50 people in mosques was live streamed this month.

Civil rights groups have alleged social media giants of failing to confront extremism. It was under the spotlight earlier in March after a suspected white supremacist broadcast live footage of the attacks in Christchurch of New Zealand.

Facebook has tightened its content monitoring teams.

Earlier, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern called for social media platforms to be accountable for what users post. (Agencies)

PARIS: A group representing Muslims in France said it was suing Facebook and YouTube. The group has accused the social media platforms of inciting violence by allowing the streaming of footage of the Christchurch massacre.

The group, French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), said the social media companies disseminated materials that encouraged terrorism. The group also alleged that the disseminated materials on Facebook and YouTube harmed the dignity of human beings.

It should be noted that the March 15 shooting at two mosques in New Zealand killing 50 people was live-streamed on Facebook, and then copied and shared on social media sites.

Later Facebook, however, said it removed hundreds of thousands of such copies. (Agencies)

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has received death threats on social media. Police are investigating death threats to Jacinda Ardern on social media. A Twitter post containing a photo of a gun and captioned, “You are next” was sent to the Prime Minister.

The post had been up for more than 48 hours before the sender’s Twitter account was suspended before 4 pm after it was reported by various people. Another post tagged to Ardern and NZ Police and had the same photo with “next it’s you.”

I’ve just reported some death threats against our Prime Minister, complete with pictures of guns, that were tweeted 48 hours ago – if you wouldn’t mind sorting those out while you’re here standing with us.

— Aimee Gulliver (@aimeegulliver) March 22, 2019

The suspended account contained anti-Islamic content and white supremacist hate speech. A police spokeswoman said, “Police are aware of a comment made on Twitter and are making inquiries.”

The Prime Minister’s office and Twitter were contacted for comment. The posts were pointed out to Twitter itself after the social networking giant tweeted a message of support following the two Christchurch mosque attacks last Friday which left 50 people dead.

Twitter Public Policy’s tweet – promoted by Twitter Australia – read: “Kia Kaha. We stand together with New Zealand.” The message came at 1.48 pm, closely after the nationwide two-minute silence for the mosque victims.

(Agencies)

JAKARTA: The death toll in floods of Papua Province of Indonesia has reached 107, media reports said on Thursday.

The number of casualties may go even higher as a large number of people are still missing, Indonesian officials say.

According to them a total of 93 people are still missing and a search and rescue operation is underway.

They went missing in the floods and landslides that occurred in Jayapura district of Papua Province since last Saturday.

Officials said they have evacuated over 7,000 flood-affected victims to safer areas. Over 350 buildings, three bridges, eight schools, eight religious sites, infrastructures including roads were damaged in the floods and landslides.

(Agencies)

CHRISTCHURCH: New Zealand said it will ban the military-style semi-automatic and assault rifles under tough new gun laws.

The decision to this effect was made following the killing of 50 people in New Zealand’s worst mass shooting, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.

Prime Minister Ardern has termed the attack as terrorism. She said New Zealand’s gun laws would change.

She said that on 15 March the country’s history changed forever and said the country’s law will too. (Agencies)