Mogul vs Mogul: Australia’s tech law pits Murdoch against Zuckerberg

SYDNEY — Australia’s push to regulate tech giants has become a power struggle between two of the world’s most powerful men, with Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg locked in a generational battle for media dominance.

Efforts in Australia to make Google and Facebook pay for news has garnered worldwide attention, creating what some call a defining moment for the web and for journalism, and even a litmus test for democracy.

But beyond the high-sounding rhetoric lies a more base struggle, with the barons of traditional media fighting back against their digital heirs.

Sydney tech billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes went as far as calling the Australian push to force payments for content a “shakedown.”

The landmark legislation may carry the seal of government, but media and political insiders see the fingerprints of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp all over it.

“This has been a passionate cause for our company for well over a decade,” said News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson, hailing his boss’ “fervent, unstinting support” for the cause.

“For many years, we were accused of tilting at tech windmills, but what was a solitary campaign, a quixotic quest, has become a movement, and both journalism and society will be enhanced.”

For decades, the Melbourne-born billionaire behind Fox News, The Sun and Sky News Australia has bestraddled politics in the United States, Britain and Down Under.

Today, he controls roughly two-thirds of daily newspaper circulation in Australia’s major cities, with complete monopolies in Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart and Darwin.

That has prompted critics to paint the 89-year-old in almost cartoonish terms — as an all-powerful political puppetmaster.

While he still wields political power, the rise of Facebook and Google has seriously challenged Murdoch’s preeminence — gouging ad revenues that kept many of his publications in the black.

‘Frightened of Murdoch’

At the turn of the millennium, newspapers had 96 percent of Australia’s classified revenues. Now, that is down to around 12 percent.

For every $100 spent by Australian advertisers today, $49 goes to Google and $24 to Facebook, according to the country’s competition watchdog, which proposed the law in direct response to this duopoly.

“Let’s not kid around, this was very deliberately designed to put money in the pockets of a very few specific companies — News Corp and others,” Lucie Krahulcova of advocacy group Digital Rights Watch told AFP.

An initial draft of the law even cut out public broadcaster ABC — which Murdoch’s outlets and Australia’s conservative government have long attacked — from receiving Google and Facebook payments.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd, an outspoken Murdoch critic, told lawmakers in Canberra on Friday that the proposed laws solved the digital dominance problem “by enhancing the power of the existing monopoly -– that’s Murdoch.”

“Everyone is frightened of Murdoch,” he maintained.

Everyone, it seems, except Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who made a worldwide splash last week by refusing demands to pay Murdoch’s News Corp and other Australian media.

Rather than follow Google and reach agreements to pay for content, Zuckerberg went nuclear, removing news from Australia on the platform and sparking a global backlash.

Enormous political power

The two men were born more than three decades part and come from staggeringly different eras, but both wield enormous political power.

Where Murdoch could hobble governments or torpedo campaigns with a rapier front-page splash, Zuckerberg’s platform can change the tenor of a US election campaign.

Like Murdoch, Zuckerberg has come under fierce scrutiny for his influence over society.

It is also not the first time they have tussled.

Murdoch’s bid for social media dominance failed spectacularly when MySpace was left in the dust of Zuckerberg’s rapidly growing Facebook.

According to reports by tech magazine and website Wired, the pair had a testy exchange in Sun Valley, Idaho in 2016, with Zuckerberg allegedly warned to offer publishers a better deal or expect New Corp to lobby regulators around the world.

Those lobbying efforts are now bearing fruit in Australia, with Google agreeing to pay the company for news in a three-year deal.

The amounts were not disclosed, but similar Google deals with other Australian media groups were said to be worth around US$23 million a year.

Supporters have cheered that as a victory for journalism — a struggling industry long in decline — although questions remain about whether the money will be ploughed back into reporting.

With legislation in the works in Canada, Europe and perhaps even the United States, Murdoch’s “quixotic quest” against the tech giants is unlikely to stop in Australia.

-reuters-

Hong Kong commemorates 31st anniversary of Tiananmen Square protests

Protesters take part in a candlelight vigil at Victoria Park in Hong Kong on Thursday to mark the 31st anniversary of the crackdown of pro-democracy protests at Beijing's Tiananmen Square in 1989, after police rejected a mass annual vigil on public health grounds. The vigil comes amid increasing tensions after Beijing gave the green light last week to move ahead with a controversial national security law that would broaden its power over the financial hub. 

-reuters-

READ: Management Association of the Philippines' statement on ABS-CBN shutdown

Editor's note: We are publishing in full statements issued by various groups and institutions in support of ABS-CBN Corp., which went off the air on May 5, 2020 following a cease and desist order from the National Telecommunications Commission. The company's franchise expired on May 4, while bills for its franchise renewal, some filed since 2016, continued to languish in Congress.


FULL STATEMENT OF MAP PRESIDENT FRANCISCO ED. LIM ON THE CLOSURE OF ABS-CBN


It’s a sad day for media freedom and the thousands of people and their families who will be adversely affected by the closure of ABS-CBN.

We in the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) had fervently hoped that this day would never come as we, together with other business organizations, strongly urged Congress to consider in a timely and judicious manner the renewal of ABS-CBN’s broadcasting franchise.

We reiterate in the strongest possible terms our plea for Congress to act swiftly, especially at this time when we all must act as one nation for the sake of our country.

Francisco Ed. Lim

MAP President

news.abs-cbn.com

Switzerland divided over new law against homophobia

GENEVA - For gay rights campaigner Jean-Pierre Sigrist, the new law being voted on in a referendum in Switzerland on Sunday might have stopped him getting beaten up 4 decades ago.

"And maybe I would not have been laughed at when I went to the police," said the 71-year-old, who believes the law will be "an added safeguard against homophobia."

The new law would widen existing legislation against discrimination or incitement to hatred on ethnic or religious grounds to include sexual orientation.

The change was passed by the Swiss parliament in 2018.

But the populist right wing Swiss People's Party (SVP) and the Federal Democratic Union of Switzerland (EDU), a small party based on Christian values, are opposed.

Critics of the law, who have forced a public referendum on the issue, believe it will end up censoring free speech.

Eric Bertinat, a UDC local lawmaker in Geneva, told AFP that he believed the law was "part of an LGBT plan to slowly move towards same-sex marriage and medically assisted reproduction" for gay couples.

UDF chief Marc Frueh has called it a "censorship law."

But Sigrist, founder of Switzerland's association of gay teachers, said it would counter growing intolerance.

The retired teacher said he supports freedom of expression, "but not the freedom to say anything at all."

All of Switzerland's major parties except the UDC, the biggest political force in parliament, support the law.

NO TO 'SPECIAL TREATMENT'

Under the new law, homophobic comments made in a family setting or among friends would not be criminalized.

But publicly denigrating or discriminating against someone for being gay or inciting hatred against that person in text, speech, images or gestures, would be banned.

The government has said it will still be possible to have opinionated debates on issues such as same-sex marriage, and the new law does not ban jokes -- however off-color.

"Incitement to hatred needs to reach a certain level of intensity in order to be considered criminal in Switzerland," Alexandre Curchod, a media lawyer, told AFP.

But he admitted that there could be exceptions "if it can be shown that, under the cover of artistic production or joking, someone is in fact engaging in incitement."

Gay rights campaigners are divided over the legislation.

A group called "No to Special Rights!" is opposed, arguing that the gay community does not need special protection.

"I fight for the acceptance and normalization of my sexuality. But for me that also means not asking for special treatment," said Michael Frauchiger, co-head of the group.

Opinion polls show that the Swiss as a whole are broadly in favor of the law, but that the margin between supporters and opponents has narrowed in recent months.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Encryption battle reignited as US govt at loggerheads with Apple

WASHINGTON — Apple and the US government are at loggerheads for the second time in 4 years over unlocking iPhones connected to a mass shooting, reviving debate over law enforcement access to encrypted devices.

Attorney General Bill Barr claimed Monday that Apple failed to provide "substantive assistance" in unlocking 2 iPhones in the investigation into the December shooting deaths of 3 US sailors at a Florida naval station, which he called an "act of terrorism."

Apple disputed Barr's claim, while arguing against the idea of "backdoors" for law enforcement to access its encrypted smartphones.

"We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation," the company said in a statement.

"Our responses to their many requests since the attack have been timely, thorough and are ongoing."

The standoff highlighted the debate between law enforcement and the tech sector about encryption -- a key way to protect the privacy of digital communications, but which can also make investigations difficult, even with a court order.

The latest battle is similar to the dispute between Apple and the US Justice Department after the December 2015 mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, when the iPhone maker rejected a request to develop software to break into the shooter's iPhone.

That fight ended in 2016 when the government paid an outside party a reported $1 million for a tool that circumvented Apple's iPhone encryption.

Barr last year called on Facebook to allow authorities to circumvent encryption to fight extremism, child pornography and other crimes. The social network has said it would move ahead with strong encryption for its messaging applications.

OPENING WRONG DOORS? 

Digital rights activists argue that any privileged access for law enforcement would weaken security and make it easier for hackers and authoritarian governments to intercept messages.

"We have always maintained there is no such thing as a backdoor just for the good guys," Apple's statement said.

"Backdoors can also be exploited by those who threaten our national security and the data security of our customers."

Apple and others argue that digital "breadcrumbs" make it increasingly easy to track people, even without breaking into personal devices.

The government's latest demand "is dangerous and unconstitutional, and would weaken the security of millions of iPhones," Jennifer Granick of the American Civil Liberties Union said in a statement.

"Strong encryption enables religious minorities facing genocide, like the Uighurs in China, and journalists investigating powerful drug cartels in Mexico, to communicate safely."

Granick added that Apple cannot allow the FBI access to encrypted communications "without also providing it to authoritarian foreign governments and weakening our defenses against criminals and hackers."

Kurt Opsahl of the Electronic Frontier Foundation echoed that sentiment, saying Apple "is right to provide strong security" for its devices.

"The AG (attorney general) requesting Apple re-engineer its phones to break that security is a poor security trade-off, and imperils millions of innocent people around the globe," Opsahl tweeted.

James Lewis of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank, said he believes it's possible to allow law enforcement access without sacrificing encryption.

"You're not weakening encryption, you're making it so it's not end-to-end," Lewis told AFP.

"It means that there's a third party who can look at it under appropriate authority."

But Lewis said he does not expect either side to come out a winner in the battle, and that US officials will likely find another outside party to crack the 2 iPhones belonging to the shooter, Royal Saudi Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamran, who died in the attack.

"It's a repeat of the movie we saw in San Bernardino," he said.

"It's going to be harder because Apple probably fixed the trick that worked in San Bernardino."

Agence France-Presse 

US Treasury reverses currency manipulator label for China

WASHINGTON — The United States on Monday removed the currency manipulator label it imposed on China last summer, in a sign of easing tensions between the two economic powers after nearly 2 years of conflict.

Just 2 days before President Donald Trump is set to sign a "phase one" trade agreement with China, the US Treasury said in its semi-annual report to Congress that the yuan has strengthened and Beijing is no longer considered a currency manipulator.

Although Treasury refrained from slapping the label on China in its report last May, Trump in August angrily accused Beijing of weakening its currency "to steal our business and factories," re-stating a long-standing grievance.

Chinese authorities in August allowed the yuan to fall below 7 to the dollar for the first time in a decade, sending shudders through stock markets at the time and stoking Trump's ire.

"Over the summer, China took concrete steps to devalue its currency," the yuan or renminbi (RMB), and those moves "left the RMB at its weakest level against the dollar in over 11 years," Treasury said.

However, more recently was strengthened to 6.93 to the dollar and Treasury said the trade pact addresses currency issues.

"In this agreement, China has made enforceable commitments to refrain from competitive devaluation and not target its exchange rate for competitive purposes," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in a statement.

However that commitment is identical to the one Beijing has long made as part of the Group of 20 major global economies.

SYMBOLIC MOVE 

Though the semi-annual currency report always gains attention as a key sign of relations between the powers, the currency manipulator designation was largely symbolic.

The label calls for the US Treasury committed to work with the International Monetary Fund to "eliminate the unfair competitive advantage" created by China's alleged actions and to consult with Beijing about the matter.

However, many economists questioned the decision to label China a manipulator.

"China shouldn't have been designated to start with. Small current account surplus/GDP; scant intervention," Mark Sobel, a former Treasury official, said on Twitter.

While he acknowledged the large trade surplus, he said "economists disregard those."

"RMB fell in response to Trump's tariffs. Designation was blatant/errant political act," Sobel tweeted.

As part of the trade deal "China has also agreed to publish relevant information related to exchange rates and external balances."

Mnuchin said the phase one deal is significant and "will lead to greater economic growth and opportunity for American workers and businesses."

However, Treasury said Beijing still needs to take steps "to stimulate domestic demand and reduce the Chinese economy’s reliance on investment and exports."

Top Chinese trade envoy Liu He arrived Monday in Washington on Monday ahead of Wednesday's expected signing of the agreement.

After multiple rounds of tariffs, the US trade deficit in goods through November 2019 was running at over $320 billion, which is about $62 billion below the same period of 2018.

"Treasury remains disturbed by the persistent and excessive trade and current account imbalances that mark the global economy," the report said.

The US Trade Representative's Office announced over the weekend that as part of the initial trade deal, Washington and Beijing will hold "at least bi-annual" meetings -- something that previous administrations did for years but that Trump scrapped in favor of a more aggressive approach.

Mnuchin and Federal Reserve Governor Jerome Powell are also will conduct macro-economic meetings with top Chinese officials "on a regular basis," USTR said.

The currency report had eight other countries on the "monitoring list" due to concerns about their currency practices: Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Switzerland, and Vietnam.

Agence France-Presse

At least 2 dead after police open fire amid raging India protests

NEW DELHI—At least 2 people are dead after police opened fire at a demonstration, an official said Thursday, as fresh protests erupted across India against a contentious citizenship law that critics say is anti-Muslim.

The men -- Abdul Jalil, 49, and Samshir Kudroli, 23 -- "died in police firing during the protests," Qadir Shah, a spokesman for the deputy commissioner of the southern city of Mangalore, told AFP, adding that a curfew had been imposed in the city with schools, restaurants and bars shut.

Another man taken to the King George's Medical University Trauma Centetr in Lucknow in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh with a gunshot injury died soon after, a hospital source told AFP.

His death has not been confirmed by local police, but his father told the Times of India newspaper his son was shot after getting caught in a crowd of protesters while he was out to buy groceries.

Four others were being treated at a hospital in Mangalore "with bullet injuries following the clashes," a district medical officer told AFP.

Shah said police fired their weapons after some 200 demonstrators refused to stop their march.

"They marched towards the busiest area of Mangalaru. This led to lathi (big, wooden sticks) charge. Then the tear gas was fired. When the protestors still didn't stop, the police had to open fire after that," he said, using an alternate name for the city.

Security forces and protesters had clashed in Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Karnataka states, while elsewhere police bundled demonstrators onto buses, shuttered Delhi metro stations and cut cellphone access in some areas.

The protests were sparked by a new law easing citizenship rules for people fleeing persecution from 3 neighboring countries but not Muslims, stoking accusations at home and abroad that Modi wants to reshape India as a Hindu nation, which he denies.

Seven months after Modi swept to a second term, the past week has seen 6 other people killed in the northeastern state of Assam and dozens injured, while on Thursday, authorities banned gatherings across swathes of the world's biggest democracy that together are home to hundreds of millions of people.

DEMONSTRATORS DRAGGED

Fresh violence erupted in Samhbal, Uttar Pradesh, where hundreds of protesters set fire to vehicles and threw stones at security forces who responded with tear gas, local police chief Yamuna Prasad told AFP.

In Modi's home state of Gujarat, police said they baton-charged demonstrators and arrested 50 people.

As others ignored the assembly bans in Delhi and elsewhere, authorities ordered telecom firms to cut calls, text messages and data in parts of the city.

India is already the world leader in cutting the internet, activists say, and access was also restricted in parts of the northeast and in Uttar Pradesh, home to a large Muslim minority.

In Delhi, prominent rights activist Harsh Mander was detained, while in Bangalore globally renowned historian Ramachandra Guha was among those dragged onto a police bus.

Around 20,000 people took to the streets in the northeast, where the protests began last week—albeit for different reasons.

The day's biggest demonstration took place in Malegaon district of Maharashtra state with as many as 60,000 people, police said.

'SOMETHING HAS CHANGED'

In Mumbai, a crowd of thousands including tattooed students and older Muslim men wearing skullcaps brandished Indian flags, posters of Mahatma Gandhi and handed out copies of the constitution.

"Something has changed. This is the first time in a long time that people in Mumbai have come out in such large numbers to register dissent," said consultant Karishma V.

A crowd of around 40,000 people in eastern West Bengal's Kolkata city was led by the state's chief minister Mamata Banerjee, a strong Modi critic.

The protests have been fuelled by anger about alleged police brutality including at a university in Delhi on Sunday night.

Security forces in the capital have fired some 450 tear gas shells in the past 5 days, the Hindustan Times daily reported. One student reportedly lost an eye.

The demonstrations in the city have at times turned violent with vehicles set on fire and protestors hurling stones at police in heavily Muslim areas on Wednesday.

"If they show us the lathi (police baton), we will show them roses," a student in Delhi, Shivanji, told AFP as she handed flowers to police on Thursday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Scotland pardons gay men convicted under homophobic laws

LONDON - Gay and bisexual men in Scotland prosecuted for consensual same-sex activity will receive an automatic pardon under a law which came into effect on Tuesday aiming to correct a "historic wrong".

The law will cover anyone convicted for same-sex activity which is no longer illegal, ranging from gay sex to kissing or flirting, and those affected can apply to have their former police record 'disregarded' or wiped clean.

Hundreds of men in Scotland were living with criminal records as a result of such discriminatory former laws, estimated LGBT+ rights group Equality Network, which said the convictions had hampered careers and overshadowed men's lives.

"We know of people who were prosecuted as late as the early 1990s for things like kissing their boyfriend in the street," said director Tim Hopkins, adding that for men prosecuted in earlier decades especially it could have been "devastating".

"A conviction like this could have meant the end of your career, it could have meant losing your friends, it could have meant losing your family, all of those huge impacts," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"The pardons and the disregard can't undo all of the harm done by these discriminatory laws but they do at least give some comfort to people."

Scotland legalized same-sex activity between men in 1980, though it was not until 2001 that the age of consent was equalized between gay and heterosexual couples.

Thousands of men are thought to have been prosecuted for consensual same-sex contact over the last 150 years, said the Equality Network.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon offered a public apology to those convicted in such cases for a "historic wrong" as the draft law was first published in 2017, and it was passed unanimously by Scottish parliament the following year.

The new bill will pardon all those affected, including those that are no longer living.

However, they must apply to have their criminal records wiped, a free process that the government and campaigners say it necessary because the offences are so wide-ranging it is not possible for authorities to proactively identify them.

The bill is wider-ranging than a similar law introduced in England and Wales, which only automatically pardons those who are dead and which has also been criticized for not including all of the former offences used to target gay men.

"There is no place for homophobia, ignorance and hatred in modern Scotland," said justice secretary Humza Yousaf in a statement on the eve of the law coming into effect.

"This legislation makes good on the commitments made by the First Minister, who gave an unqualified apology for the now outdated and discriminatory laws, and for the harm they caused to many."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

California becomes first US state to push back school start time

LOS ANGELES - California has become the first state in the country to push back start times at most public schools in the hope the measure will help adolescents perform better in class.

The new law signed on Sunday by Governor Gavin Newsom calls for middle schools to ring in classes no earlier than 8:00 am and high schools no earlier than 8:30 am.

The measure would become effective by July 1, 2022 or when a school district’s three-year bargaining agreement that is operative on January 1, 2020, expires.

Most California schools currently start the day around 8:00 am and some require students to be in class before 7:30 a.m.

"The science shows that teenage students who start their day later increase their academic performance, attendance and overall health," Newsom said in a statement.

"Importantly, the law allows three years for schools and school districts to plan and implement these changes."

While the measure has received backing from several medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the California Medical Association, the bill has run into opposition by some lawmakers and school districts.

"We can all agree that our students need a sufficient amount of sleep, and that sleep time is a significant and important factor in overall health, but improving sleep time for students requires more than just later start times," state senator Connie Leyva told the Sacramento Bee.

"I believe that school start times should continue to be determined at the local level, because it is inappropriate to say that a one-size-fits-all approach should guide all schools or all communities."

Leyva and other critics also noted that the time change will prove to be a hardship for many working parents who may not be able to adjust their schedules.

Janet Napolitano, president of the University of California, said the state would do better to carry out a pilot study on later start times before imposing it on school districts.

"As much as I sympathize with sleepy students, we must also carefully consider how the change would affect families and schools," she said.

According to numerous studies, there is a link between the amount of sleep adolescents get and school performance.

The American Academy of Pediatrics says it "recognizes insufficient sleep in adolescents as an important public health issue that significantly affects the health and safety, as well as the academic success, of our nation's middle and high school students."

jz/to

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Indonesia police fire tear gas at students protesting sex, graft laws

Police fired tear gas and water cannon to disperse protesters outside Indonesia's parliament Tuesday as thousands demonstrated nationwide against a new criminal code that would, among other things, outlaw premarital sex and weaken the country's anti-graft agency.

Protesters covered their faces and scattered in all directions as chaos erupted in the center of the sprawling capital, Jakarta.

Police also fired teargas at rock-throwing protesters in Makassar on Sulawesi island, while demonstrators broke down a barrier outside the governor's office in Semarang on Java island.

"(We) forcibly dispersed student because they were carrying out anarchist acts, damaging government property and throwing stones at police," said Dicky Sondani, a South Sulawesi police spokesman.

The police action came after flag- and placard-waving demonstrators gathered across the Southeast Asian archipelago -- including in cultural capital Yogyakarta and holiday hotspot Bali -- for a second day in a row.

On Tuesday, lawmakers debated a wide-ranging legal overhaul including hundreds of new laws that would criminalize premarital sex, restrict sales of contraceptives, make it illegal to insult the president, and toughen the Muslim majority country's blasphemy laws.

A vote on the bill was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but President Joko Widodo last week called for a delay in passing the proposed changes after a public backlash.

The mooted changes could affect millions of Indonesians, including gay and heterosexual couples who might face jail for having sex outside wedlock, or having an affair.

Widodo's call for a delay came as the Australian embassy in Jakarta issued a fresh travel advisory, warning that the legislation could put unmarried foreign tourists in the crosshairs.

Millions of tourists visit Bali and other beach destinations in the Southeast Asian nation.

Widodo this week stood firm on plans to pass a separate bill that critics fear would dilute the investigative powers of the corruption-fighting agency -- known as the KPK -- including its ability to wire-tap suspects.

Updating Indonesia's criminal code, which dates back to the Dutch colonial era, has been debated for decades and appeared set to pass in 2018 before momentum fizzled out.

A renewed push this year, backed by conservative Islamic groups, was met with a wave of criticism over what many saw as a draconian law that invaded the bedrooms of a nation with some 260 million people -- the fourth most populous on Earth.

An online petition calling for the bill to be scrapped garnered half a million signatures, while hundreds of thousands took to social media to vent their frustration.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Hong Kong protesters run riot in legislature, smashing up doors, walls

HONG KONG - Hong Kong protesters ran riot in the legislature building on the 22nd anniversary of the city's 1997 return to Chinese rule on Monday, smashing up paintings, doors and walls amid widespread anger over proposed laws that would allow extraditions to China.

Some carried road signs, others corrugated iron sheets and pieces of scaffolding upstairs and downstairs as about a thousand gathered around the Legislative Council building in the heart of the former British colony's financial district.

A small group of mostly students wearing hard hats and masks had used a metal trolley, poles and scaffolding to charge again and again at the compound's reinforced glass doors, which finally gave.

The council, the mini-parliament, issued a red alert, ordering the protesters to leave immediately.

It did not say what would happen if they didn't. Police did not immediately intervene.

Riot police in helmets and carrying batons fired pepper spray as the standoff continued into the sweltering heat of the evening. Some demonstrators removed steel bars that were reinforcing parts of the council building.

Banners hanging over flyovers at the protest site read: "Free Hong Kong."

The protesters, some with cling film wrapped around their arms to protect their skin in the event of tear gas, once again paralysed parts of the Asian financial hub as they occupied roads after blocking them off with metal barriers.

Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam suspended the bill on June 15 after some of the largest and most violent protests in the city in decades, but stopped short of protesters' demands to scrap it.

The Beijing-backed leader is now clinging on to her job at a time of an unprecedented backlash against the government that poses the greatest popular challenge to Chinese leader Xi Jinping since he came to power in 2012.

"The kind of deafness that I see in the government this time around despite these protests is really worrying. The complete disregard for the will of the people is what alarms me," said Steve, a British lawyer show has worked in Hong Kong for 30 years.

"If this bill is not completely scrapped, I will have no choice but to leave my home, Hong Kong."

Opponents of the extradition bill, which would allow people to be sent to mainland China for trial in courts controlled by the Communist Party, fear it is a threat to Hong Kong's much-cherished rule of law and are demanding it be scrapped and Lam step down.

Hong Kong returned to China under a "one country, two systems" formula that allows freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, including freedom to protest and an independent judiciary.

Beijing denies interfering but, for many Hong Kong residents, the extradition bill is the latest step in a relentless march towards mainland control.

China has been angered by criticism from Western capitals, including Washington and London, about the legislation. Beijing said on Monday that Britain had no responsibility for Hong Kong any more and was opposed to its "gesticulating" about the territory.

THOUSANDS RALLY

Tens of thousands marched in temperatures of around 33 degrees Celsius (91.4°F) from Victoria Park in an annual rally. Many clapped as protesters held up a poster of Lam inside a bamboo cage.

More than a million people have taken to the streets at times over the past three weeks to vent their anger.

A tired-looking Lam appeared in public for the first time in nearly two weeks, flanked by her husband and former Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa.

"The incident that happened in recent months has led to controversies and disputes between the public and the government," she said. "This has made me fully realise that I, as a politician, have to remind myself all the time of the need to grasp public sentiment accurately."

PROTEST MOVEMENT REINVIGORATED

Beijing's grip over Hong Kong has intensified markedly since Xi took power and after pro-democracy street protests that gripped the city in 2014 but failed to wrestle concessions from China.

The extradition bill has sent jitters across all sectors of Hong Kong in an unprecedented backlash against the government.

Tensions spiralled on June 12 when police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at anti-extradition protesters near the heart of the city, sending plumes of smoke billowing among some of the world's tallest skyscrapers.

The uproar has reignited a protest movement that had lost steam after the failed 2014 demonstrations that led to the arrests of hundreds.

Activists raised a black bauhinia flag to half mast outside the Legislative Council building before the rally and turned Hong Kong's official flag, featuring a white bauhinia flower on a red background, upside down.

The turmoil comes at a delicate time for Beijing, which is grappling with a trade dispute with the United States, a faltering economy and tensions in the South China Sea.

Opponents of the extradition bill fear it would put them at the mercy of China's justice system, where human rights are not guaranteed.

Beyond the public outcry, the extradition bill has spooked some of Hong Kong's tycoons into starting to move their personal wealth offshore, according to financial advisers, bankers and lawyers familiar with the details. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Leaderless and livid: The youngsters on Hong Kong front lines

Young Hong Kongers who marshaled the fight against a police force that was armed with tear gas and rubber bullets have spoken of how they were pushed into embracing more confrontational tactics by the failure of years of peaceful protests.

In a series of interviews with AFP, the young men and women -- most of them university students on leafy campuses -- said they had become disillusioned with marches and civil disobedience failing to sway the city's largely unelected pro-Beijing leadership.

And with key leaders of earlier pro-democracy movements now languishing in jail, they have switched to small, leaderless cells in a bid to evade capture.

Hong Kong witnessed unprecedented scenes on Wednesday as youngsters clashed with riot police outside parliament to stop lawmakers debating a hugely unpopular bill that would allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland.

One of those on the front lines, 18-year-old student Sharon, said the moment she felt peaceful rallies no longer worked came three days earlier.

That day a record crowd -- organizers say more than a million -- marched peacefully through the streets of the international finance hub calling for the bill to be scrapped.

But shortly before midnight, Sharon's phone lit up with a statement from the government saying the bill would go ahead.

"I suddenly had this realization that even though one million people marched, there wouldn't be an impact," she said, asking -- like the other students -- not to be identified.

"This time people realized peaceful protests don't really work," she added.

For people like Sharon, it was time to switch tactics in a city where democracy activists have held huge annual marches since 2003 but made limited progress.

GOGGLES AND SANITART PADS



Andrew, 22, said he and a group of seven friends had gone to Wednesday's protests prepared for police tear gas and pepper spray.

They brought equipment like goggles, gloves and cling film -- to protect their arms from tear gas burns -- and sanitary pads to staunch any bleeding.

But he described their actions as organic and spontaneous, with small groups of trusted friends acting together within a larger mass, without taking directions from any centralized leadership.

"No one is going to announce that I must use force or stand on the front line," he said.

He said the decision to charge police and try to reach parliament happened without anyone making any order.

"It might not be up to you to choose," he explained as he described the crowd dynamic that day.

"It could be because of the passion of the crowds or what police officers have done (to make you very angry)."

Those tactics contrast with 2014 when similar crowds of young people took over key intersections in Hong Kong for more than two months calling for the right to elect the city's leader.

Apart from occasional clashes with police, the so-called "Umbrella Movement" protests were peaceful and orderly and had key leaders.

But it failed to win any concessions and many of the movement's figures -- like student leader Joshua Wong and academic Benny Tai -- are currently in jail.

"We choose this option because what we've done so far isn't enough to make the government feel the people's anger and discontent towards this bill. That's why we are choosing to charge," Andrew said, admitting it would be easier to coordinate if they had leaders but that few would want to take that risk.

POLICE ON DEFENSE


Police have since labelled the protest a riot with a senior superintendent usually involved in organised crime investigations calling those involved "organised, premeditated, prepared, radical and violent people".

The city's police chief has defended his officers, saying potentially deadly projectiles like bricks and metal poles were being thrown.

He has received the backing of the city's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam, who also called demonstrators rioters and refused to apologize for the clearances, even as she suspended the bill on Saturday saying she had misjudged the public mood.

In recent days police and Lam have faced a growing backlash over accusations officers used excessive force against the crowds.

Rights activists and influential legal groups have called the response disproportionate, videos of the most violent police beatings have gone viral and parents have rallied holding signs reading: "Don't shoot our kids."

Chris, a protester who went into battle on Wednesday with the phone number of a lawyer written on his stomach in case of arrest, said he believes there has been a sea-change among Hong Kong's often conservative public.

"Those who had been a bit squeamish or resistant to more radical acts in Hong Kong society are starting to slowly accept them," he said.

Andrew, who said he was beaten by police batons, agreed.

"People wearing suits and professional types, they would come over to the supply stations set up further back and ask what we needed," he recalled.

He believes peaceful and forceful tactics can co-exist, recalling how Christians held hours-long hymn sessions and security guards in upscale malls helped protesters shelter from the tear gas.

'FEARED PAIN, NOT ARREST'


The possibility of jail and arrest has weighed on the protesters as they study for degrees.

But Leung, a student who said she'd been to all previous protests in recent years, said she felt her generation had "nothing to lose" at this point.

"I'd cast my worries aside. At the scene, I feared pain more than arrest," she recalled.

For Andrew, his fear of arrest or a hit to future job prospects is eclipsed by what the extradition law would mean for Hong Kongers.

"Even if I chose comfort and became a banker, when this law is passed, I'd still be under threat," he said. "If you think about it realistically, you're just waiting to be attacked."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Billionaire Branson urges business to back LGBT+ rights

LONDON - British billionaire Richard Branson urged fellow business leaders on Thursday to use their clout and put pressure on countries such as Brunei that persecute citizens for their sexuality.

Brunei's decision to impose the death penalty for gay sex had spurred the call for action, Branson wrote in a blog posted on Virgin.com. He was joined by 20 other top executives, who put their names to a wider initiative in support of LGBT+ rights.

"Why take action now? The answer is simple. I feel that every opportunity to stand up for what we believe in is a good opportunity to shift the conversation on a global scale," said Branson, who made his fortune from a conglomerate of enterprises bearing the Virgin name.

John Fallon, chief executive of education group Pearson, and Paul Polman, former chief executive of consumer goods company Unilever, were among 21 signatories of an initiative supported by Open For Business, a coalition of global firms promoting LGBT+ inclusion.

"It is time for all of us, as business leaders and as human beings, to stand up to ensure that people are free from the fear of abuse for who they love," the 21 signatories wrote.

"This is our responsibility to our employees, to our customers and to communities all over the world."

The initiative calls for businesses to create inclusive workplaces, actively support criminalized LGBT+ communities, and engage with repressive regimes on their policies.

More than 70 countries worldwide, including Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, enforce anti-LGBT+ laws.

Brunei, a small Southeast Asian country of about 400,000 people, sparked outcry last month when it rolled out laws penalizing sodomy, adultery and rape with the death penalty.

Celebrities, from actor George Clooney to singer Elton John, have galvanized support, with protesters boycotting the Dorchester Collection of hotels, owned by the Brunei Investment Agency.

A growing list of banks, including Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank, Citi and Nomura, have banned staff from using the hotels.

STA Travel and London's transport network have also begun to cut ties with businesses owned by the sultanate.

In a letter to the United Nations, Brunei has defended the imposition of strict sharia laws, which it began introducing in 2014, as more for "prevention than to punish."

Matt Cameron, managing director of investment industry organization LGBT Great, called for a boycott of countries that enacted anti-gay and anti-transgender laws.

"The financial services sector is a massive part of the global economy and carries a lot of clout," he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

"I do think there's a responsibility and an accountability for the industry to step up and use its force."

However, Daniel Winterfeldt, a partner in law firm Reed Smith's global capital markets practice, stressed the value of talking with governments, whatever their views.

"Engagement is incredibly important. If you build up a barrier, things can actually get worse," Winterfeldt said.

"When (business leaders) attend high-level meetings with governments, it is important that on their lists of concerns are equality issues." 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Kim Kardashian studying law, wants to become attorney

NEW YORK - American television star Kim Kardashian, known for her reality shows and marriage to hip-hop artist Kanye West, is studying law and hopes to pass her California bar exams by 2022, the magazine Vogue reported on Wednesday.

The 38-year-old lifestyle mogul, who has 134 million Instagram followers, has been interning at a California law firm since last year. She said she was inspired to study law after successfully petitioning US President Donald Trump last year to pardon Alice Marie Johnson.

Johnson, a 63-year-old great-grandmother, had served nearly 22 years of a life sentence for cocaine trafficking.

A week after meeting with Kardashian, Trump -- also a former reality television star -- pardoned Johnson in June 2018.

The star of "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" said she had been invited on a different occasion to the White House to participate in a working group on pardons and clemency. 

"I just felt like I wanted to be able to fight for people who have paid their dues to society," she told Vogue. 

"I just felt like the system could be so different, and I wanted to fight to fix it, and if I knew more, I could do more," said the mother-of-3 whose own father Robert was an attorney who helped defend OJ Simpson in his murder trial.

Admission to law school in the United States usually requires a bachelor's degree in any discipline. Kardashian never graduated from the college she attended, Pierce, having dropped out before she completed her course. 

But some states including California do allow would-be attorneys to intern in a law firm for 4 years before taking the bar exam.

Kardashian has been apprenticing at a San Francisco law firm since last year and hopes to pass her exams by 2022.

In the meantime, she said she is taking an interest in other cases of inmates calling for early release from prison.

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New Zealand passes new gun laws in wake of Christchurch terror attack

New Zealand's Parliament passed on Wednesday tough new gun laws including a ban on most types of semi-automatic weapons, less than a month after a gunman stormed two Christchurch mosques, killing 50 people.

The Arms Amendment Bill was opposed by only one lawmaker when it passed its final reading in the legislature.

Under the amendment, all weapons used by the gunman during two mass shootings on March 15, including military-style semiautomatic guns, will be banned. Parts, magazines and ammunition that can be used to convert a firearm into a semiautomatic will also be banned.

Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recounted the moment she found out many of the weapons used in the incident -- New Zealand's worst-ever terror attack -- were legally bought and sold.

"I could not fathom how weapons that could cause such destruction and large-scale death could have been obtained legally in this country," she said.

The prime minister went on to say she could not face the surviving victims of the attack and tell them "hand on heart that our system and our laws allow these guns to be available and that is O.K. Because...it was not."

Accused shooter Brenton Tarrant held an entry-level "Class-A" gun license, which he used to make multiple online purchases of guns and ammunition.

Tarrant is alleged to have made illegal modifications, using high-capacity magazines, effectively turning the weapons into military-style semi-automatics.

The country's new gun laws follow an announcement earlier in the day by Police Minister Stuart Nash that outlines the framework for a gun buyback scheme.

Under the buyback, gun owners will be compensated for surrendering weapons banned under the newly amended laws.

The government initially estimated the buyback would cost up to NZ$200 million ($135 million) however as New Zealand does not require the vast majority of individual firearms to be registered, the exact number of banned weapons is unknown. As a result, the government can only estimate the total cost.

Tarrant has been charged with 50 counts of murder and 39 counts of attempted murder, and is due to next appear in court on June 14.

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Mississippi moves to ban abortion if heartbeat detectable

MIAMI - Lawmakers in the southeastern US state of Mississippi passed a bill Tuesday banning abortion of pregnancies where a heartbeat is detectable -- from six weeks -- as human rights groups vowed to fight the move.

The "Heartbeat Bill" makes exceptions for medical complications, but not for cases of incest or rape.

"Except when a medical emergency exists that prevents compliance with this section, no person shall perform an abortion on a pregnant woman before determining if the unborn human individual that the pregnant woman is carrying has a detectable fetal heartbeat," the law states.

In a tweet, Governor Phil Bryant said he looked forward to signing the bill into state law "very soon."

Elisabeth Smith, an attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, said the law would "ban abortion before most women know that they're pregnant."

Last year, the state passed another law banning abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but a judge blocked it before it was ruled in November that it violated women's rights.

"Already, Mississippi has a slew of abortion restrictions and only one abortion clinic, making it nearly impossible to access abortion before six weeks of pregnancy," Smith added in her statement.

Last week, the state of Kentucky passed a similar law banning abortion where a heartbeat is detectable, but it was immediately blocked by a judge.

And there was a similar scenario in Iowa -- that law was blocked in January.

Lawmakers in Tennessee and Georgia, both southeastern states, are considering their own versions of the "Heartbeat Bill."

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No decision made on spending for Trump's wall: Pentagon chief

WASHINGTON - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Saturday that no decision has been taken on funding President Donald Trump's border wall with Mexico, a project that may come partly from redirected military funds.

Trump on Friday declared a national emergency to address what he called an "invasion" of drugs, gangs, human traffickers and undocumented migrants over the US border with Mexico.

The declaration means he would be able to sidestep Congress to access federal funds from elsewhere to help pay for building the border wall. The move however was immediately challenged in court.

"So very deliberately, we have not made any decisions. ... There has been no determination by me," Shanahan said on the way home from Germany.

Trump wanted Congress to authorize $5.7 billion for a wall along parts of the border, but lawmakers provided just $1.375 billion for barriers, not a solid concrete wall.

The White House said Friday that Trump will access $6.1 billion from two Pentagon sources: $3.6 billion from a military construction fund, and $2.5 billion from Defense Department counter-drug activity funds.

"We always anticipated that this would create a lot of attention and since money potentially could be redirected, you can imagine the concerns this generates," Shanahan said.

The Pentagon chief said he would "review that analysis now that the emergency has been declared. Based on that analysis, we can do an assessment of what would be appropriate."

He added: "We are following the law. We are using the rules. We are not bending the rules."

As a candidate, Trump repeatedly vowed that Mexico would pay for a wall.

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Saudi women to be told of divorce by text message under new law

LONDON/BEIRUT - Women in Saudi Arabia will be notified by text message if they are divorced under a new law designed to protect them from having their marriage ended without their knowledge, the government said on Sunday.

The new law, that came into effect on Sunday, was seen as a way to end secret divorces and ensure women are fully aware of their marital status so they can protect rights such as alimony.

The move comes as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has started to give women more rights in the conservative kingdom, which included lifting a ban on women driving last year.

"Saudi courts have started to send such (divorce) notifications ... a step aimed at protecting the rights of female clients," the Saudi Ministry of Justice said in a statement on their website.

It said women could check their marital status on the ministry's website or visit the relevant court to get a copy of divorce papers.

"In most Arab countries, men can just divorce their wives," said Suad Abu-Dayyeh from global rights group, Equality Now.

"At least women will know whether they are divorced or not. It is a tiny step, but it is a step in the right direction," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by phone.

But Abu-Dayyeh said knowing about a divorce does not mean a woman will get alimony or the custody of her children.

In recent years women in Saudi Arabia have been allowed to enter sports stadiums for the first time, vote in local elections, and take a greater role in the workforce as Saudi Arabia tries to diversify its oil-dependent economy.

But many Saudi women have taken to social media to push from more freedom, including protesting against the country's strict dress codes with women required to wear an abaya - a loose, all-covering robe - when in public.

Campaigners said the main sticking point remained Saudi Arabia's guardianship policy, whereby women must have permission from a male relative to work, travel, marry, and even get some medical treatment.

"The male guardianship system is a core issue and it must be dismantled. It controls women in each and every step of their lives. This system strangles Saudi women," said Abu-Dayyeh.

Although many have hailed the Saudi government's reforms, these have been accompanied by a crackdown on dissent with about a dozen female activists arrested.

In November, rights groups Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch accused Saudi Arabia of torturing and sexually harassing some detained female activists - allegations denied by a Saudi official to Reuters.

A group of British parliamentarians and lawyers on Wednesday requested an "urgent response" from the Saudi ambassador by Jan. 9 to allow them to speak with the detained activists.

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Protesters march against Italy's tough new anti-migrant law

ROME - Several thousand people marched in Rome Saturday in protest at Italy's tough new anti-migrant law which makes it easier to expel new arrivals.

The protesters waved flags and donned yellow vests emblazoned with the slogan "Get up! Stand Up! for your right" in a reference to the famous Bob Marley song.

The new law would "only increase the number of people without papers in Italy and force people underground", protester Kone Brahima, originally from Ivory Coast, told AFP.

Another, Tony Scardamaglia, from Palermo, said: "We are still building more walls, more barriers," adding that the anti-migrant and security degree adopted last month would just cause more "difficulties".

The decree, adopted by parliament on November 28, also limits residence permits in a country that has become the main gateway for migrants crossing the Mediterranean.

A populist coalition government made up of the far-right League and anti-establishment Five Star Movement took power in Italy in April 2018.

Interior Minister Matteo Salvini's anti-immigrant League has since surged in popularity, with opinion polls putting the party on 30 percent, up from the 17 percent it won in the election.

"First of all, we started two years ago criminalizing those who save thousands of lives at sea" and ended up "closing ports to boats loaded with survivors", said Project Rights, a collective bringing together various human rights groups.

"Today with the Salvini decree, we have abolished humanitarian protection, creating an endless stream of people forced into hiding," it said in a statement.

The decree also ends two-year "humanitarian protection" residency permits -- a lower level of asylum status based on Italian rather than international law -- that were awarded to 25 percent of asylum seekers last year.

Instead, residency permits will be awarded under stricter conditions such as a one-year "special protection" status or a six-month "natural disaster in country of origin" status.

A new procedure to fast-track the expulsion of "dangerous" asylum seekers will also be implemented.

The Italian Refugee Council has said it is "seriously concerned" by the new law.

The United Nations refugee agency has also said it does "not provide adequate guarantees, especially for the vulnerable or those with particular needs such as victims of abuse or torture".

This year some 22,500 migrants landed on Italy's coasts, representing a drop of more than 80 percent compared to 2017.

source: news.abs-cbn.com