标签： Oceania

In a sharp public rebuke released Thursday, global technology conglomerate Meta has launched a fierce attack on Australian federal government plans to force major digital platforms to compensate local news publishers for hosting their content, labeling the proposed legislation as “grossly unfair” and economically ill-conceived.

The draft regulatory framework, which is set to be tabled before Australia’s parliament later this year, specifically targets three large foreign-owned tech platforms: Meta, Google and TikTok. The policy structure gives the firms an initial window to negotiate direct, voluntary licensing agreements with Australian news outlets. If no deals are reached, a mandatory annual levy equal to 2.25% of the companies’ total domestic Australian revenue would be imposed. The three corporations were selected for this regulation based on their high local revenue and massive domestic user bases, according to Australian government framing.

Meta, the parent company of major social platforms Facebook and Instagram, left no room for ambiguity about its stance in the official statement. “Our position is clear: this law is poorly designed, grossly unfair, and will fail to deliver a diverse and sustainable news industry,” the company said. “We are vehemently opposed to this legislation. It is discriminatory, economically incoherent, and will not deliver the sustainable news sector that Australian journalists and audiences deserve.”

The firm doubled down on its criticism of the policy’s selective targeting, arguing that the regulation amounts to a targeted tax on a small group of foreign corporations, while domestic and competing platforms offering similar news-hosting services face no equivalent requirements. “Call it what it is: a discriminatory, retroactive tax targeting a handful of foreign companies while competitors offering comparable services face no equivalent obligation,” Meta added.

The proposed legislation is the latest iteration of Australia’s long-running effort to reform the relationship between big tech and traditional news media, an industry that has faced growing existential pressure globally. As audiences have increasingly shifted to social media to consume news content, legacy newsrooms have seen their advertising revenue bases collapse, leaving many outlets struggling to fund original journalism.

Proponents of the new law argue that digital platforms generate massive user engagement and advertising revenue by hosting news content created by traditional publishers, without sharing any of that economic benefit with the organizations that invest in reporting. Backed by research from the University of Canberra showing that more than half of all Australian adults now rely on social media as their primary source of news, supporters say the regulation is long overdue to correct a fundamental market imbalance.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has repeatedly defended the need for the policy, stating earlier this year that “Large digital platforms cannot avoid their obligations under the news media bargaining code.” Albanese added that quality journalism needs to have “monetary value attached to it. It shouldn’t be able to be taken by a large multinational corporation and used to generate profits with no compensation.”

This is not the first time Australia has advanced this type of regulation. When Canberra first floated similar rules in 2024, Meta responded by restricting access to the dedicated “news” tab for all Australian users. The company has also already moved to end voluntary content deals with news publishers in the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Germany, signaling its broader global opposition to paying for news content on its platforms.

Australia has positioned itself as a global leader in regulating big tech platforms in recent years, ahead of many other Western democracies. Most recently, in December 2024, the country implemented a world-first policy banning all users under the age of 16 from accessing a wide range of popular social media platforms, a move designed to curb online bullying and protect young users from harmful algorithmic content.

A fresh wave of political violence has shaken central Mogadishu, after Somalia’s former prime minister Hassan Ali Khaire accused government forces of launching a targeted attack against his compound just 24 hours before planned mass opposition demonstrations against President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s controversial term extension. The outbreak of heavy gunfire on Wednesday has deepened a months-long political crisis that has split the fragile Horn of Africa nation, pitting the federal government against a united bloc of opposition figures and regional leaders.

The current crisis ignited after Mohamud’s presidential mandate was scheduled to expire on May 15. Instead of stepping down or holding a long-promised national election, the president pushed through a parliamentary vote in March that approved a new constitutional framework extending his tenure by an additional 12 months. Opposition groups have uniformly rejected this move, labeling it an unconstitutional power grab, and organized large-scale peaceful protests set to take place across the capital on Thursday.

In preparation for the demonstrations, Khaire relocated from his secured residence in the airport-adjacent Green Zone, a heavily fortified area that houses most international missions and senior government officials, to his private home in the capital’s Howl Wadaag district. Shortly after his arrival, heavy weapons fire erupted across the neighborhood. In an urgent social media statement following the clash, Khaire confirmed the confrontation was an unprovoked attack ordered by the presidency.

“An attack was launched against us by forces commanded by the president whose term has expired,” Khaire wrote, noting that his group had been making preparations for a “peaceful demonstration” against Mohamud’s power grab. Reporters from Agence France-Presse on the ground captured footage of panicked residents fleeing the area, with continuous gunfire audible in the background. Multiple witnesses confirmed the clash involved armed opposition supporters and Somali federal police, with heavy weaponry including rocket-propelled grenades deployed during the 15-minute confrontation.

“The shooting lasted for about 15 minutes before it subsided. They even used RPGs, and the sound of the explosions could be heard across the surrounding neighbourhoods,” local resident Saleban Mahad told AFP.

Mohamud has framed his term extension as a necessary step to complete a years-long transition to full democratic elections, replacing the country’s long-standing clan-based power-sharing system. He argues that the March parliamentary approval of the new constitutional framework gives his extra year in office full legal legitimacy, allowing the government time to organize inclusive national polls across the country. Critics, however, point out that little progress has been made on election organizing outside a handful of small local districts: large swathes of southern Somalia remain under the control of al-Shabaab, a violent Islamist insurgency, and deep political divides between rival clan factions have stalled all efforts to unify the country around a shared electoral process.

Opposition and regional leaders argue Mohamud’s power grab is a deliberate attempt to consolidate centralized power at the expense of regional autonomy and democratic representation. Another senior opposition figure, former president Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, has also relocated to central Mogadishu to join Thursday’s protests, and he issued a sharp rebuke of the attack on Khaire in a post on X. Ahmed called the assault proof that Mohamud, who he says holds no legitimate mandate, is willing to escalate bloodshed to hold onto power, adding that the violence would not deter demonstrators from gathering.

“This attack will not stop the demonstrations by residents of the capital who are protesting against injustice, displacement, and the abuse of government power,” Ahmed wrote.

This is not the first time a Somali president has extended his term beyond the official end of his mandate to hold onto power. In 2021, former president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo stayed in office for more than a year after his mandate expired, triggering widespread violence and broad international condemnation. International powers including the United States and United Kingdom have attempted to mediate negotiations between Mohamud’s government and the opposition bloc to find a peaceful resolution to the current crisis, but those efforts have so far failed to produce any breakthrough.

A landmark policy shift is set to transform the lives of hundreds of thousands of registered medicinal cannabis users across New South Wales (NSW), Australia, after the state Labor government unveiled long-awaited reforms that eliminate automatic penalties for motorists who test positive for trace amounts of THC after lawful use of their prescription medication.

Announced to the public on Thursday, the reform package will be tabled before NSW parliament with the explicit goal of introducing what government officials describe as a “commonsense approach” to balancing the needs of legitimate medicinal cannabis patients and non-negotiable road public safety. The plan introduces a graduated three-strike framework, designed to account for the reality that even compliant patients can retain measurable THC levels in their system for days or weeks after lawful use, without experiencing any driving impairment.

Under the new rules, all motorists will still undergo standard roadside drug testing, and any driver who tests positive for THC will face an immediate 24-hour driving suspension while lab analysis confirms the exact concentration of the compound. If test results show THC levels fall below the official maximum threshold, no criminal charges or further disciplinary action will be taken against the driver, provided the patient is enrolled in the official registration scheme.

For drivers who record THC levels at or above the legal threshold, the new graduated penalty structure applies: a first or second positive detection within a 24-month window will only result in an official warning letter. A third positive detection within two years will carry a fine of up to AU$704 and a minimum three-month driver’s license suspension. If alcohol, additional illicit substances, or multiple drugs are detected alongside THC, standard driving under the influence penalties will apply as usual.

Currently, an estimated 1 million Australians across the country rely on legally prescribed medicinal cannabis to manage chronic pain and other health conditions, with roughly one third of all national users based in NSW. Industry data also shows the number of approved cannabis-based medicinal products has nearly doubled over the past 12 months, reflecting growing clinical acceptance of the treatment. The reforms have therefore been framed as a critical update to out-of-date legislation that failed to keep pace with modern medical practice.

NSW Premier Chris Minns emphasized that while the reforms represent a major shift, road safety would remain the core priority of every element of the policy rollout. “For thousands of people, medically prescribed cannabis is life-changing medication that is necessary for people to go about their daily lives,” Minns said. “Our current laws enable people to safely and legally drive while taking a wide range of prescription medications but that doesn’t include cannabis prescribed by a medical practitioner. These changes strike a careful balance of providing a more practical approach for medicinal cannabis users while maintaining strong road safety protections for the community.”

NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley echoed this commitment, stressing that the changes do not weaken law enforcement’s ability to remove impaired drivers from public roads. “These reforms do not change the ability of NSW Police to take dangerous drivers off our roads,” Catley said. “NSW Police will operationalise this reform as part of their role to enforce our laws, including roadside drug testing and action against impaired drivers. Every driver has a personal responsibility to know what they are taking and never get behind the wheel impaired.”

The new framework aligns directly with recommendations put forward by the state’s 2025 Drug Summit, and fulfills a longstanding demand from patient advocacy groups. Following the summit, Unions NSW publicly called on the government to speed up regulatory changes that would place legally prescribed cannabis on equal footing with other controlled prescription medications for road law purposes.

To qualify for the new protections, motorists must meet strict eligibility criteria. Drivers must register as a legitimate medicinal cannabis user with Transport for NSW, provide official documentation of a valid medical prescription, and complete a mandatory online education program covering the interaction between cannabis use and driving safety. The reforms only apply to NSW motorists holding full unrestricted driver licenses: learner drivers, provisional P-plate drivers, and commercial vehicle operators are explicitly excluded from the new protections. Registered users will still be required to undergo blood or urine testing following any serious motor vehicle crash, and will still face full criminal charges if they are proven to be driving while impaired.

To ensure the policy works as intended, the entire regulatory framework will be subject to a full formal review one year after it is implemented, to adjust any provisions as needed based on real-world outcomes.

Tensions have erupted in southern England following the conviction of a murderer and the release of bodycam footage showing dying 18-year-old Henry Nowak being handcuffed by police, with far-right activists triggering violent clashes that have drawn sharp condemnation from Prime Minister Keir Starmer. The controversy began on Monday, when 23-year-old Vickrum Digwa was sentenced to a minimum of 21 years in prison for stabbing Nowak to death with an 8-inch ceremonial knife during a dispute over a mobile phone in Southampton. Digwa, a Sikh man, misled responding officers by falsely claiming Nowak had racially abused him, leading police to initially restrain the fatally wounded teenager rather than provide urgent medical aid. Bodycam footage from the December incident captured Nowak repeatedly telling officers he could not breathe as he lay bleeding, before he lost consciousness moments later. The case has become a flashpoint for political polarization in the UK, after far-right figures including former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and ex-English Defence League leader Tommy Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) seized on the incident to push their unsubstantiated claim of so-called “two-tier policing” — the false assertion that British police treat ethnic minority suspects more leniently than white people. Farage went so far as to call on the public to respond to Nowak’s death with “pure cold rage”, a comment Starmer labeled unforgivable. On Tuesday, a protest organized by far-right figures descended into chaotic violence in Southampton, despite an explicit plea from Nowak’s father not to use his son’s murder to fuel “further division, hatred or tension”. Agence France-Presse reporters on the scene documented that roughly 100 protesters tore down residential garden fences, hurled bricks, flares and chairs at officers, and rolled a burning bin toward police lines. Eleven officers were injured in the clashes, and two protesters were arrested by the end of the night. More than 1,000 people attended the wider rally, many waving Union Jack and English flags, where Robinson told the crowd that white British people are treated as “second-rate citizens” by UK law enforcement. Addressing lawmakers in Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Starmer stressed that regardless of public grief over Nowak’s death, there is no excuse for the violence that unfolded. “No matter the pain we feel, there is no justification for more violence and disorder,” Starmer said. “This is a time for serious work, not rage. We will ensure anyone found engaging in disorder meets the full force of the law.” The prime minister, a former Director of Public Prosecutions for England and Wales, described the police bodycam footage of Nowak’s final moments as “harrowing” and acknowledged there are “serious questions” that must be answered about the officers’ handling of the incident. An investigation by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), the UK’s policing watchdog, is already underway and is expected to release its findings within three months. Hampshire Police confirmed three of the four officers involved in the incident remain in active service, while one resigned for reasons unrelated to Nowak’s murder. Starmer and his newly elected Labour government have flatly rejected far-right claims that two-tier policing exists in the UK, and he accused Farage — whose Reform UK party currently leads national opinion polls ahead of the next general election — of exploiting the tragedy for political gain. “Farage is exploiting this tragedy to create grievance and division,” Starmer told parliament. In a surprising development that has amplified the controversy, American tech billionaire Elon Musk has announced he will fund a private prosecution against police over their handling of the case. Amid the growing political pressure, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) announced it would review its existing Race Action Plan, guidance introduced last year to address well-documented racial disparities in British policing. Official statistics show Black people in the UK are more than twice as likely to be arrested as white people, leading the NPCC to introduce guidance that stated the organization’s commitment to racial equality “does not mean treating everyone ‘the same’ or being ‘colour blind’”. Far-right activists have misrepresented this guidance as proof of preferential treatment for ethnic minority suspects. NPCC chair Gavin Stephens said the organization would address legitimate concerns about the wording of the guidance and make adjustments where needed. “We are listening to legitimate concerns about how some of these commitments are worded or phrased, and where needed we can and will make changes, but this should not detract from the intent, which is to improve the quality of policing,” Stephens said. UK Policing Minister Sarah Jones backed the review, saying it was “right” that the guidance be re-examined.

A high-profile Australian One Nation politician has openly acknowledged that his anti-abortion position does not align with the majority public opinion in the country, following his public appearance at an anti-abortion gathering in Sydney last week.

Barnaby Joyce, the federal MP for New England, was among attendees at the Sydney Life Rally on Tuesday evening. The event was organized to build public support for a private member’s bill that will be debated this week in the New South Wales (NSW) state parliament, which aims to criminalize abortions performed exclusively for the purpose of sex selection.

Notably, sex-selective abortion is already prohibited under existing NSW Health policy, and the NSW parliament formally rejected restrictions on abortion access in 2019, when a cross-party majority voted to decriminalize the procedure across the state. In a social media statement shared after the rally, Joyce argued that sex selection can never be a justified reason for terminating a pregnancy, adding that clear legislative boundaries are necessary in this debate. “This law in NSW must be passed or otherwise we all accept that sex selection is appropriate,” his post read.

In a heated interview with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday, Joyce reaffirmed his self-identification as pro-life, and conceded when prompted that this position is not held by most Australians. “I would agree to that,” he stated. “I don’t go out to engage in this debate to become popular. If I wanted to be, I’d stay away from it. I engage with it because I believe it is the correct thing to do and I feel I would be an unsubstantial person if I start stepping away from my beliefs.” When asked about widespread public disagreement with his views, Joyce noted that dissent against his positions is not a new occurrence, and repeatedly clarified that he is not advocating for a full nationwide ban on abortion.

Citing a 2023 Edith Cowan University analysis of national birth data collected between 1994 and 2015, Joyce claimed that only around 13 to 14 out of 15,000 studied abortions were explicitly self-reported as being for sex selection. Still, he argued that even one case of sex-selective abortion is unacceptable. Joyce also pushed back against criticism of a line in his social media post that critics interpreted as implying that girls are inherently less valuable than boys, explaining the comment was intended as rhetorical, and distorted by political opponents who refuse to engage with his argument in good faith.

The Tuesday rally also drew prominent anti-abortion voice Dr Joanna Howe, an academic at the University of Adelaide who last year launched a threat of a grassroots campaign against former NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman over his support for legislation to expand abortion access in the state. At that time, NSW Premier Chris Minns condemned Howe’s activism as “American-style misinformation”.

The current bill before parliament was put forward by Libertarian Member of the Legislative Council (MLC) John Ruddock. If enacted, it would impose penalties of up to AU$22,000 in fines or five years of prison for anyone convicted of performing or facilitating a sex-selective abortion. While the bill will be introduced for debate this week, a formal vote on the legislation is not scheduled for some time, and political analysts widely expect it to fail, with neither the ruling Labor Party nor the left-wing Greens expected to support the measure.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday alongside an announcement expanding the NSW Labor government’s program allowing pharmacists to prescribe and dispense contraceptive pills, Premier Minns reiterated that sex-selective abortion is already illegal in NSW, and official demographic data shows no evidence of systemic sex selection termination occurring in the state. “I’ve looked at the data. The demographic data does not indicate that there is sex selection terminations taking place in NSW and we know that because we see in minute detail the number of people and pregnancies that are born each and every year,” Minns said. He added that while protesters have a legal right to gather and express their views, he would not support the bill even if it advanced to a vote in the NSW Legislative Assembly.